Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| The Oration on Holy Baptism.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Oration XL.
The Oration on Holy Baptism.
Preached at Constantinople Jan. 6, 381, being the day
following the delivery of that on the Holy Lights.
I. Yesterday we
kept high Festival on the illustrious Day of the Holy Lights; for it
was fitting that rejoicings should be kept for our Salvation, and that
far more than for weddings and birthdays, and namedays, and
house-warmings, and registrations of children, and anniversaries, and
all the other festivities that men observe for their earthly
friends. And now to-day let us discourse briefly concerning
Baptism, and the benefits which accrue to us therefrom, even though our
discourse yesterday spoke of it cursorily; partly because the time
pressed us hard, and partly because the sermon had to avoid
tediousness. For too great length in a sermon is as much an enemy
to people’s ears, as too much food is to their bodies.…It
will be worth your while to apply your minds to what we say, and to
receive our discourse on so important a subject not perfunctorily, but
with ready mind, since to know the power of this Sacrament is itself
Enlightenment.4009
| 4009 Enlightenment
(φωτισμός) is one
of the most ancient names for Holy Baptism; the name, in fact, which S.
Gregory uses throughout this Oration, and which his Latin translator
almost invariably renders by Baptismus. |
II. The Word recognizes three Births for us;
namely, the natural birth, that of Baptism, and that of the
Resurrection. Of these the first is by night, and is servile, and
involves passion; but the second is by day, and is destructive of
passion, cutting off all the veil4010
| 4010 This Veil is Original
Sin, by which the soul is darkened and as it were covered. | that is
derived from birth, and leading on to the higher life; and the third is
more terrible and shorter, bringing together in a moment all
mankind,4011
| 4011 All Mankind
(πᾶν τὸ
πλάσμα). πλάσμα would not be
correctly rendered by Creation. It is a word belonging solely to
Man, who was formed by the Hand of God, and who, alone among creatures,
has to give an account of his past life to his Creator at the Last
Day. (Edd. Bened.) | to stand before its
Creator, and to give an account of its service and conversation here;
whether it has followed the flesh, or whether it has mounted up with
the spirit, and worshipped the grace of its new creation. My Lord
Jesus Christ has showed that He honoured all these births in His own
Person; the first, by that first and quickening Inbreathing;4012
the second by His Incarnation and the
Baptism wherewith He Himself was baptized; and the third by the
Resurrection of which He was the Firstfruits; condescending, as He
became the Firstborn4013
among many
brethren, so also to become the Firstborn from the dead.4014
III. Concerning two of these births, the
first and the last, we have not to speak on the present occasion.
Let us discourse upon the second, which is now necessary for us, and
which gives its name to the Feast of the Lights. Illumination is
the splendour of souls, the conversion of the life, the question put to
the Godward conscience.4015
| 4015 This is the literal
version of the passage, which is somewhat loosely quoted from
1
S. Peter iii. 21, where
the A.V. renders “the answer of a good
conscience towards God,” and the R.V.,
“The interrogation (Marg. inquiry) of a good conscience,
etc.” The passage is usually explained as referring to the
Interrogatories in Holy Baptism, answered by the threefold Vow which
enlists us “under Christ’s banner against sin, the world,
and the Devil,” professes the Faith, and promises
obedience. | It is the aid
to our weakness, the renunciation of the flesh, the following of the
Spirit, the fellowship of the Word, the improvement of the creature,
the overwhelming of sin, the participation of light, the dissolution of
darkness. It is the carriage to God, the dying with Christ, the
perfecting of the mind, the bulwark of Faith, the key of the Kingdom of
heaven, the change of life, the removal of slavery, the loosing of
chains, the remodelling of the whole man. Why should I go into
further detail? Illumination is the greatest and most magnificent
of the Gifts of God. For just as we speak of the Holy of Holies,
and the Song of Songs, as more comprehensive and more excellent than
others, so is this called Illumination, as being more holy than any
other illumination which we possess.
IV. And as Christ the Giver of it is called by
many various names, so too is this Gift, whether it is from the
exceeding gladness of its nature (as those who are very fond of a thing
take pleasure in using its name), or that the great variety of its
benefits has reacted for us upon its names. We call it, the Gift,
the Grace, Baptism, Unction, Illumination, the Clothing of Immortality,
the Laver of Regeneration, the Seal, and everything that is
honourable. We call it the Gift, because it is given to us in
return for nothing on our part; Grace, because it is conferred even on
debtors; Baptism, because sin is buried with it in the water; Unction,
as Priestly and Royal, for such were they who were anointed;
Illumination, because of its splendour; Clothing, because it hides our
shame; the Laver, because it washes us; the Seal because it preserves
us, and is moreover the indication of Dominion. In it the heavens
rejoice; it is glorified by Angels, because of its kindred
splendour. It is the image of the heavenly bliss. We long
indeed to sing out its praises, but
we cannot worthily do so.
V. God is Light:4016
the highest, the unapproachable, the
ineffable, That can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with
the lips,4017
That giveth life to
every reasoning creature.4018
He is in the
world of thought, what the sun is in the world of sense; presenting
Himself to our minds in proportion as we are cleansed; and loved in
proportion as He is presented to our mind; and again, conceived in
proportion as we love Him; Himself contemplating and comprehending
Himself, and pouring Himself out upon what is external to Him.
That Light, I mean, which is contemplated in the Father and the Son and
the Holy Ghost, Whose riches is Their unity of nature, and the one
outleaping of Their brightness. A second Light is the Angel, a
kind of outflow or communication of that first Light, drawing its
illumination from its inclination and obedience thereto; and I know not
whether its illumination is distributed according to the order of its
state, or whether its order is due to the respective measures of its
illumination.4019
| 4019 S. Thomas Aquinas
(Summa I qu. 108) seems to solve this question in accordance with the
second of these alternatives. | A third Light
is man; a light which is visible to external objects. For they
call man light4020
| 4020 φώς (masc) is a common poetical word for
Man. It is probably derived from the root (Indo-Eur. Bha) of
φάω, which also
appears in φημί
and modified in φαίνω. | because of the
faculty of speech in us. And the name is applied again to those
of us who are more like God, and who approach God more nearly than
others. I also acknowledge another Light, by which the primeval
darkness was driven away or pierced. It was the first of all the
visible creation to be called into existence; and it irradiates the
whole universe, the circling orbit of the stars, and all the heavenly
beacon fires.
VI. Light was also the firstborn commandment
given to the firstborn man (for the commandment of the Law is a lamp
and a light;4021
and again, Because
Thy judgments are a light upon the earth);4022
although the envious darkness crept in and wrought wickedness.
And a Light typical and proportionate to those who were its subjects
was the written law, adumbrating the truth and the sacrament of the
great Light, for Moses’ face was made glorious by it.4023
And, to mention more Lights—it
was Light that appeared out of Fire to Moses, when it burned the bush
indeed, but did not consume it,4024
to shew its
nature and to declare the power that was in it. And it was Light
that was in the pillar of fire that led Israel and tamed the
wilderness.4025
It was Light
that carried up Elias in the car of fire,4026
and yet did not burn him as it carried him. It was Light that
shone round the Shepherds4027
when the Eternal
Light was mingled with the temporal. It was Light that was the
beauty of the Star that went before to Bethlehem to guide the Wise
Men’s way,4028
and to be the
escort of the Light That is above us, when He came amongst us.
Light was That Godhead Which was shewn upon the Mount to the
disciples—and a little too strong for their eyes.4029
Light was That Vision which blazed out
upon Paul,4030
and by wounding his
eyes healed the darkness of his soul. Light is also the
brilliancy of heaven to those who have been purified here, when the
righteous shall shine forth as the Sun,4031
and God shall stand in the midst of them,4032
gods and kings, deciding and distinguishing the ranks of the
Blessedness of heaven. Light beside these in a special sense is
the illumination of Baptism of which we are now speaking; for it
contains a great and marvellous sacrament of our salvation.
VII. For since to be utterly sinless belongs
to God, and to the first and uncompounded nature (for simplicity is
peaceful, and not subject to dissension), and I venture to say also
that it belongs to the Angelic nature too; or at least, I would affirm
that nature to be very nearly sinless, because of its nearness to God;
but to sin is human and belongs to the Compound on earth (for
composition is the beginning of separation); therefore the master did
not think it right to leave His creature unaided, or to neglect its
danger of separation from Himself; but on the contrary, just as He gave
existence to that which did not exist, so He gave new creation to that
which did exist, a diviner creation and a loftier than the first, which
is to those who are beginning life a Seal, and to those who are more
mature in age both a gift and a restoration of the image which had
fallen through sin, that we may not, by becoming worse through despair,
and ever being borne downward to that which is more evil, fall
altogether from good and from virtue, through despondency; and having
fallen into a depth of evil (as it is said) despise Him;4033
but that like those who in the course of a
long journey make a brief rest from labour at an inn, we should be
enabled to accomplish the rest of the road fresh and full of
courage. Such is the grace and power of baptism; not an
overwhelming of the world as of old, but a purification of the sins of each individual,
and a complete cleansing from all the bruises and stains of sin.
VIII. And since we are double-made, I mean of body
and soul, and the one part is visible, the other invisible, so the
cleansing also is twofold, by water and the spirit; the one received
visibly in the body, the other concurring with it invisibly and apart
from the body; the one typical, the other real and cleansing the
depths. And this which comes to the aid of our first birth, makes
us new instead of old, and like God instead of what we now are;
recasting us without fire, and creating us anew without breaking us
up. For, to say it all in one word, the virtue of Baptism is to
be understood as a covenant with God for a second life and a purer
conversation. And indeed all need to fear this very much, and to
watch our own souls, each one of us, with all care, that we do not
become liars in respect of this profession. For if God is called
upon as a Mediator to ratify human professions, how great is the danger
if we be found transgressors of the covenant which we have made with
God Himself; and if we be found guilty before the Truth Himself of that
lie, besides our other transgressions…and that when there is no
second regeneration, or recreation, or restoration to our former state,
even though we seek it with all our might, and with many sighs and
tears, by which it is cicatrized over (with great difficulty in my
opinion, though we all believe that it may be cicatrized). Yet if
we might wipe away even the scars I should be glad, since I too have
need of mercy. But it is better not to stand in need of a second
cleansing, but to stop at the first, which is, I know, common to all,
and involves no labour, and is of equal price to slaves, to masters, to
poor, to rich, to humble, to exalted, to gentle, to simple, to debtors,
to those who are free from debt; like the breathing of the air, and the
pouring forth of the light, and the changes of the seasons, and the
sight of creation, that great delight which we all share alike, and the
equal distribution of the faith.
IX. For it is a strange thing to substitute
for a painless remedy one which is more painful; to cast away the grace
of mercy, and owe a debt of punishment; and to measure our amendment
against sin. For how many tears must we contribute before they
can equal the fount of baptism; and who will be surety for us that
death shall wait for our cure, and that the judgment seat shall not
summon us while still debtors, and needing the fire of the other
world? You perhaps, as a good and pitiful husbandman, will
entreat the Master still to spare the figtree,4034
and not yet to cut it down, though accused of unfruitfulness; but to
allow you to put dung about it in the shape of tears, sighs,
invocations, sleepings on the ground, vigils, mortifications of soul
and body, and correction by confession and a life of humiliation.
But it is uncertain if the Master will spare it, inasmuch as it cumbers
the ground of another asking for mercy, and becoming deteriorated by
the longsuffering shewn to this one. Let us then be buried with
Christ by Baptism,4035
that we may also
rise with Him; let us descend with Him, that we may also be exalted
with Him; let us ascend with Him, that we may also be glorified
together.
X. If after baptism the persecutor and
tempter of the light assail you (for he assailed even the Word my God
through the veil,4036
| 4036 i.e., the Sacred
Manhood. | the hidden Light
through that which was manifested), you have the means to conquer
him. Fear not the conflict; defend yourself with the Water;
defend yourself with the Spirit, by Which all the fiery darts of the
wicked shall be quenched.4037
It is Spirit,
but That Spirit which rent the Mountains.4038
It is Water, but that which quenches
fire. If he assail you by your want (as he dared to assail
Christ), and asks that stones should be made bread, do not be ignorant
of his devices.4039
Teach him
what he has not learnt. Defend yourself with the Word of life,
Who is the Bread sent down from heaven, and giving life to the
world.4040
If he plot
against you with vain glory (as he did against Christ when he led Him
up to the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, Cast Thyself
down4041
as a proof of Thy Godhead), be not overborne
by elation. If you be taken by this he will not stop here.
For he is insatiable, he grasps at every thing. He fawns upon you
with fair pretences, but he ends in evil; this is the manner of his
fighting. Yes, and the robber is skilled in Scripture. On
the one side was that It is written about the Bread, and on the other
that it Is written about the Angels. It is written, quoth he, He
shall give His Angels charge concerning thee, and they shall bear thee
in their hands.4042
O vile
sophist! how was it that thou didst suppress the words that follow, for
I know it well, even if thou passest it by in silence? I will
make thee to go upon the asp and basilisk, and I will tread upon
serpents and scorpions, being fenced by the Trinity.
If he wrestle against thee to a
fall through avarice, shewing thee all the Kingdoms at one instant and
in the twinkling of an eye, as belonging to himself, and demand thy
worship, despise him as a beggar. Say to him relying on the Seal,
“I am myself the Image of God; I have not yet been cast down from
the heavenly Glory, as thou wast through thy pride; I have put on
Christ; I have been transformed into Christ by Baptism; worship thou
me.” Well do I know that he will depart, defeated and put
to shame by this; as he did from Christ the first Light, so he will
from those who are illumined by Christ. Such blessings does the
laver bestow on those who apprehend it; such is the rich feast which it
provides for those who hunger aright.
XI. Let us then be baptized that we may win
the victory; let us partake of the cleansing waters, more purifying
than hyssop, purer than the legal blood, more sacred than the ashes of
the heifer sprinkling the unclean,4043
and providing
a temporary cleansing of the body, but not a complete taking away of
sin; for if once purged, why should they need further
purification? Let us be baptized today, that we suffer not
violence4044
| 4044 There is here an
untranslatable play upon words. | to-morrow; and let
us not put off the blessing as if it were an injury, nor wait till we
get more wicked that more may be forgiven us; and let us not become
sellers and traffickers of Christ, lest we become more heavily burdened
than we are able to bear, that we be not sunk with all hands4045
| 4045 Again a play upon
words. Βαπτἰζεσθαι
is sometimes used in the sense of to be drowned. The word
primarily means to Immerse, and this of course, when applied to a ship,
is to sink her. The practice of immersion in Holy Baptism was
undoubtedly universal in the primitive ages, except where in cases of
necessity persons were baptized in sickness, or in prison under
sentence of death; and in such cases this “Clinic” Baptism,
though recognized as valid, and therefore not to be repeated, was
viewed as irregular, and disqualified its recipient from subsequently
receiving Holy Orders. Affusion was gradually allowed, probably
for climatic reasons, to become the prevailing practice of the West,
though immersion predominated as late as the Twelfth Century. It
is, however, a remarkable fact that the Didache, a Manual of
instruction which some date within the lifetime of the Apostles, and
nearly all are agreed in placing not later than the early years of the
Second Century, expressly permits affusion, without any hint of
irregularity, or mention of any circumstance of necessity except
scarcity of water. | and make shipwreck of the Gift, and lose all
because we expected too much. While thou art still master of thy
thoughts run to the Gift. While thou art not yet sick in body or
in mind, nor seemest so to those who are with thee (though thou art
really of sound mind); while thy good is not yet in the power of
others, but thou thyself art still master of it; while thy tongue is
not stammering or parched, or (to say no more) deprived of the power of
pronouncing the sacramental words; while thou canst still be made one
of the faithful, not conjecturally but confessedly; and canst still
receive not pity but congratulation; while the Gift is still clear to
thee, and there is no doubt about it; while the grace can reach the
depth of thy soul, and it is not merely thy body that is washed for
burial; and before tears surround thee announcing thy decease—and
even these restrained perhaps for thy sake—and thy wife and
children would delay thy departure, and are listening for thy dying
words; before the physician is powerless to help thee, and is giving
thee but hours to live—hours which are not his to give—and
is balancing thy salvation with the nod of his head, and discoursing
learnedly on thy disease after thou art dead, or making his charges
heavier by withdrawals, or hinting at despair; before there is a
struggle between the man who would baptize thee and the man who seeks
thy money, the one striving that thou mayest receive thy Viaticum, the
other that he may be inscribed in thy Will as heir—and there is
no time for both.
XII. Why wait for a fever to bring you this
blessing, and refuse it from God? Why will you have it through
lapse of time, and not through reason? Why will you owe it to a
plotting friend, and not to a saving desire? Why will you receive
it of force and not of free will; of necessity rather than of
liberty? Why must you hear of your death from another, rather
than think of it as even now present? Why do you seek for drugs
which will do no good, or the sweat of the crisis, when the sweat of
death is perhaps upon you? Heal yourself before your extremity;
have pity upon yourself the only true healer of your disease; apply to
yourself the really saving medicine; while you are still sailing with a
favouring breeze fear shipwreck, and you will be in less danger of it,
if you make use of your terror as a helper. Give yourself
occasion to celebrate the Gift with feasting, not with mourning; let
the talent be cultivated, not buried in the ground; let some time
intervene between the grace and death, that not only may the account of
sins be wiped out, but something better may be written in its place;
that you may have not only the Gift, but also the Reward; that you may
not only escape the fire, but may also inherit the glory, which is
bestowed by cultivation of the Gift. For to men of little soul it
is a great thing to escape torment; but men of great soul aim also at
attaining reward.
XIII. I know of three classes among the saved; the
slaves, the hired servants, the sons. If you are a slave, be afraid of the
whip; if you are a hired servant, look only to receive your hire; if
you are more than this, a son, revere Him as a Father, and work that
which is good, because it is good to obey a Father; and even though no
reward should come of it for you, this is itself a reward, that you
please your Father. Let us then take care not to despise these
things. How absurd it would be to grasp at money and throw away
health; and to be lavish of the cleansing of the body, but economical
over the cleansing of the soul; and to seek for freedom from earthly
slavery, but not to care about heavenly freedom; and to make every
effort to be splendidly housed and dressed, but to have never a thought
how you yourself may become really very precious; and to be zealous to
do good to others, without any desire to do good to yourself. And
if good could be bought, you would spare no money; but if mercy is
freely at your feet, you despise it for its cheapness. Every time
is suitable for your ablution, since any time may be your death.
With Paul I shout to you with that loud voice, “Behold now is the
accepted time; behold Now is the day of salvation;”4046
and that Now does not point to any one time,
but is every present moment. And again “Awake, thou that
sleepest, and Christ shall give thee light,”4047
dispelling the darkness of sin. For as
Isaiah says,4048
In the night hope
is evil, and it is more profitable to be received in the
morning.
XIV. Sow in good season, and gather
together, and open thy barns when it is the time to do so; and plant in
season, and let the clusters be cut when they are ripe, and launch
boldly in spring, and draw thy ship on shore again at the beginning of
winter, when the sea begins to rage. And let there be to thee
also a time for war and a time for peace; a time to marry, and a time
to abstain from marrying; a time for friendship, and a time for
discord, if this be needed; and in short a time for everything, if you
will follow Solomon’s advice.4049
And it
is best to do so, for the advice is profitable. But the work of
your salvation is one upon which you should be engaged at all times;
and let every time be to you the definite one for Baptism. If you
are always passing over to-day and waiting for to-morrow, by your
little procrastinations you will be cheated without knowing it by the
Evil One, as his manner is. Give to me, he says, the present, and
to God the future; to me your youth, and to God old age; to me your
pleasures, and to Him your uselessness. How great is the danger
that surrounds you. How many the unexpected mischances. War
has expended you; or an earthquake overwhelmed you; or the sea
swallowed you up; or a wild beast carried you off; or a sickness killed
you; or a crumb going the wrong way (a most insignificant thing, but
what is easier than for a man to die, though you are so proud of the
divine image); or a too freely indulged drinking bout;4050
| 4050 Some
mss. read “A flooded
river.” | or a wind knocked you down; or a horse ran
away with you; or a drug maliciously scheming against you, or perhaps
found to be deleterious when meant to be wholesome; or an inhuman
judge; or an inexorable executioner; or any of the things which make
the change swiftest and beyond the power of human aid.
XV. But if you would fortify yourself
beforehand with the Seal, and secure yourself for the future with the
best and strongest of all aids, being signed both in body and in soul
with the unction, as Israel was of old with that blood and unction of
the firstborn at night that guarded him,4051
what then can happen to you, and what has been wrought out for
you? Listen to the Proverbs. “If thou sittest, he
says, thou shalt be without fear; and if thou sleepest, thy sleep shall
be sweet.”4052
And listen to
David giving thee the good news, “Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, for mischance or noonday demon.”4053
This, even while you live, will
greatly contribute to your sense of safety (for a sheep that is sealed
is not easily snared, but that which is unmarked is an easy prey to
thieves), and at your death a fortunate shroud, more precious than
gold, more magnificent than a sepulchre, more reverent than fruitless
libations,4054
| 4054 Billius
suggests, though without adopting it in his text, a slight conjectural
alteration, which would read “Than funeral games and
libations;” but this, though it gives a very good sense, is a
needless departure from the mss. | more seasonable
than ripe firstfruits, which the dead bestow on the dead, making a law
out of custom. Nay, if all things forsake thee,4055
or be taken violently away from thee; money,
possessions, thrones, distinctions, and everything that belongs to this
early turmoil, yet you will be able to lay down your life in safety,
having suffered no loss of the helps which God gave you unto
salvation.
XVI. But are you afraid lest you should destroy
the Gift, and do you therefore put off your cleansing, because you
cannot have it a second time? What? Would you not be afraid
of danger in time of persecution, and of losing the most precious Thing you
have—Christ? Would you then on this account avoid becoming
a Christian? Perish the thought. Such a fear is not for a
sane man; such an argument argues insanity. O incautious caution,
if I may so. O trick of the Evil One! Truly he is darkness
and pretends to be light; and when he can no longer prevail in open
war, he lays snares in secret, and gives advice, apparently good,
really evil, if by some trick at least he may prevail, and we find no
escape from his plotting. And this is clearly what he is aiming
at in this instance. For, being unable to persuade you to despise
Baptism, he inflicts loss upon you through a fictitious security; that
in consequence of your fear you may suffer unconsciously the very thing
you are afraid of; and because you fear to destroy the Gift, you may
for this very reason fail of the Gift altogether. This is his
character; and he will never cease his duplicity as long as he sees us
pressing onwards towards heaven from which he has fallen.
Wherefore, O man of God, do thou recognize the plots of thine
adversary; for the battle is against him that hath, and it is concerned
with the most important interests. Take not thine enemy to be thy
counsellor; despise not to be and to be called Faithful. As long
as you are a Catechumen you are but in the porch of Religion; you must
come inside, and cross the court, and observe the Holy Things, and look
into the Holy of Holies, and be in company with the Trinity.
Great are the interests for which you are fighting, great too the
stability which you need. Protect yourself with the shield of
faith. He fears you, if you fight armed with this weapon, and
therefore he would strip you of the Gift, that he may the more easily
overcome you unarmed and defenceless. He assails every age, and
every form of life; he must be repelled by all.
XVII. Art thou young? stand against thy
passions; be numbered with the alliance in the army of God:4056
| 4056 The Benedictine
Editors punctuate differently, and render “Stand against passions
with the assistance (of Baptism), be numbered in the army of
God.” remarking that David fought Goliath without allies, leaning
on God’s assistance; and that S. Gregory here certainly means
that a Christian who relies on the aid of his Baptism is to stand firm
in the battle against the Devil. | do valiantly against Goliath.4057
Take your thousands or your
myriads;4058
thus enjoy your
manhood; but do not allow your youth to be withered, being killed by
the imperfection of your faith. Are you old and near the
predestined necessity? Aid your few remaining days. Entrust
the purification to your old age. Why do you fear youthful
passion in deep old age and at your last breath? Or will you wait
to be washed till you are dead, and not so much the object of pity as
of dislike? Are you regretting the dregs of pleasure, being
yourself in the dregs of life? It is a shameful thing to be past
indeed the flower of your age, but not past your wickedness; but either
to be involved in it still, or at least to seem so by delaying your
purification. Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get
any opportunity, but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his
very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Fearest
thou the Seal on account of the weakness of nature? O what a
small-souled mother, and of how little faith! Why, Anna even
before Samuel was born4059
promised him to
God, and after his birth consecrated him at once, and brought him up in
the priestly habit, not fearing anything in human nature, but trusting
in God. You have no need of amulets or incantations, with which
the Devil also comes in, stealing worship from God for himself in the
minds of vainer men. Give your child the Trinity, that great and
noble Guard.
XVIII. What more? Are you living in
Virginity? Be sealed by this purification; make this the sharer
and companion of your life. Let this direct your life, your
words, every member, every movement, every sense. Honour it, that
it may honour you; that it may give to your head a crown of graces, and
with a crown of delights may shield you.4060
Art thou bound by wedlock? Be
bound also by the Seal; make it dwell with you as a guardian of your
continence, safer than any number of eunuchs or of doorkeepers.
Art thou not yet wedded to flesh? Fear not this consecration;
thou art pure even after marriage. I will take the risk of
that. I will join you in wedlock. I will dress the
bride. We do not dishonour marriage because we give a higher
honour to virginity. I will imitate Christ, the pure Grooms-man
and Bridegroom, as He both wrought a miracle at a wedding, and honours
wedlock with His Presence.4061
Only let
marriage be pure and unmingled with filthy lusts. This only I
ask; receive safety from the Gift, and give to the Gift the oblation of
chastity in its due season, when the fixed time of prayer comes round,
and that which is more precious than business. And do this by
common consent and approval. For we do not command, we exhort;
and we would receive something of you for your own profit, and the
common security of you both. And in one word, there is no state of life and no
occupation to which Baptism is not profitable. You who are a free
man,4062
| 4062 ἐν
ἐξουσιᾳ evidently means Tui
juris—your own master. | be curbed by it; you who are in slavery, be
made of equal rank; you who are in grief, receive comfort; let the
gladsome be disciplined; the poor receive riches that cannot be taken
away; the rich be made capable of being good stewards of their
possessions. Do not play tricks or lay plots against your own
salvation. For even if we can delude others we cannot delude
ourselves. And so to play against oneself is very dangerous and
foolish.
XIX. But you have to live in the midst of
public affairs, and are stained by them; and it would be a terrible
thing to waste this mercy. The answer is simple. Flee, if
you can, even from the forum, along with the good company, making
yourself the wings of an eagle, or, to speak more suitably, of a
dove…for what have you to do with Cæsar or the things of
Cæsar?…until you can rest where there is no sin, and no
blackening, and no biting snake in the way to hinder your godly
steps. Snatch your soul away from the world; flee from Sodom;
flee from the burning; travel on without turning back, lest you should
be fixed as a pillar of salt.4063
Escape to the
Mountain lest you be destroyed with the plain. But if you are
already bound and constrained by the chain of necessity, reason thus
with yourself; or rather let me reason thus with you. It is
better both to attain the good and to keep the purification. But
if it be impossible to do both it is surely better to be a little
stained with your public affairs than to fall altogether short of
grace; just as I think it better to undergo a slight punishment from
father or master than to be put out of doors; and to be a little beamed
upon than to be left in total darkness. And it is the part of
wise men to choose, as in good things the greater and more perfect, so
in evils the lesser and lighter. Wherefore do not overmuch dread
the purification. For our success is always judged by comparison
with our place in life by our just and merciful Judge; and often one
who is in public life and has had small success has had a greater
reward than one who in the enjoyment of liberty has not completely
succeeded; as I think it more marvellous for a man to advance a little
in fetters, than for one to run who is not carrying any weight; or to
be only a little spattered in walking through mud, than to be perfectly
clean when the road is clean. To give you a proof of what I have
said:—Rahab the harlot was justified by one thing alone, her
hospitality,4064
though she receives
no praise for the rest of her conduct; and the Publican was exalted by
one thing, his humility,4065
though he received
no testimony for anything else; so that you may learn not easily to
despair concerning yourself.
XX. But some will say, What shall I gain,
if, when I am preoccupied by baptism, and have cut off myself by my
haste from the pleasures of life, when it was in my power to give the
reins to pleasure, and then to obtain grace? For the labourers in
the vineyard who had worked the longest time gained nothing thereby,
for equal wages were given to the very last.4066
You have delivered me from some
trouble, whoever you are who say this, because you have at last with
much difficulty told the secret of your delay; and though I cannot
applaud your shiftiness, I do applaud your confession. But come
hither and listen to the interpretation of the parable, that you may
not be injured by Scripture for want of information. First of
all, there is no question here of baptism, but of those who believe at
different times and enter the good vineyard of the Church. For
from the day and hour at which each believed, from that day and hour he
is required to work. And then, although they who entered first
contributed more to the measure of the labour yet they did not
contribute more to the measure of the purpose; nay perhaps even more
was due to the last in respect of this, though the statement may seem
paradoxical. For the cause of their later entrance was their
later call to the work of the vineyard. In all other respects let
us see how different they are. The first did not believe or enter
till they had agreed on their hire; but the others came forward to do
the work without an agreement, which is a proof of greater faith.
And the first were found to be of an envious and murmuring nature, but
no such charge is brought against the others. And to the first,
that which was given was wages, though they were worthless fellows; to
the last it was the free gift. So that the first were convicted
of folly, and with reason deprived of the greater reward. Let us
see what would have happened to them if they had been late. Why,
the equal pay, evidently. How then can they blame the employer as
unjust because of their equality? For all these things take away
the merit of their labour from the first, although they were at work
first; and therefore it turns out that the distribution of
equal pay was just, if you measure
the good will against the labour.
XXI. But supposing that the Parable does sketch
the power of the font according to your interpretation, what would
prevent you, if you entered first, and bore the heat, from avoiding
envy of the last, that by this very lovingkindness you might obtain
more, and receive the reward, not as of grace but as of debt? And
next, the workmen who receive the wages are those who have entered, not
those who have missed, the vineyard; which last is like to be your
case. So that if it were certain that you would obtain the Gift,
though you are of such a mind, and maliciously keep back some of the
labour, you might be forgiven for taking refuge in such arguments, and
desiring to make unlawful gain out of the kindness of the master;
though I might assure you that the very fact of being able to labour is
a greater reward to any who is not altogether of a huckstering
mind. But since there is a risk of your being altogether shut out
of the vineyard through your bargaining, and losing the capital through
stopping to pick up little gains, do let yourselves be persuaded by my
words to forsake the false interpretations and contradictions, and to
come forward without arguing to receive the Gift, lest you should be
snatched away before you realize your hopes, and should find out that
it was to your own loss that you devised these sophistries.
XXII. But then, you say, is not God
merciful, and since He knows our thoughts and searches out our desires,
will He not take the desire of Baptism instead of Baptism? You
are speaking in riddles, if what you mean is that because of
God’s mercy the unenlightened is enlightened in His sight; and he
is within the kingdom of heaven who merely desires to attain to it, but
refrains from doing that which pertains to the kingdom. I will,
however, speak out boldly my opinion on these matters; and I think that
all other sensible men will range themselves on my side. Of those
who have received the gift, some were altogether alien from God and
from salvation, both addicted to all manner of sin, and desirous to be
bad; others were semivicious, and in a kind of mean state between good
and bad; others again, while they did that which was evil, yet did not
approve their own action, just as men in a fever are not pleased with
their own sickness. And others even before they were illuminated
were worthy of praise; partly by nature, and partly by the care with
which they prepared themselves for Baptism. These after their
initiation became evidently better, and less liable to fall; in the one
case with a view to procuring good, and in the other in order to
preserve it. And amongst these, those who gave in to some
evil are better than those who were altogether bad; and better still
than those who yielded a little, are those who were more zealous, and
broke up their fallow ground before Baptism; they have the advantage
over the others of having already laboured; for the font does not do
away with good deeds as it does with sins. But better even than
these are they who are also cultivating the Gift, and are polishing
themselves to the utmost possible beauty.
XXIII. And so also in those who fail to
receive the Gift, some are altogether animal or bestial, according as
they are either foolish or wicked; and this, I think, has to be added
to their other sins, that they have no reverence at all for this Gift,
but look upon it as a mere gift—to be acquiesced in if given
them, and if not given them, then to be neglected. Others know
and honour the Gift, but put it off; some through laziness, some
through greediness. Others are not in a position to receive it,
perhaps on account of infancy,4067
| 4067 That S. Gregory did
not reject infant Baptism is clear, from the directions given later on
in this Oration (c. xxviii; and cf. c. xvii. s. fin.). He is here
referring simply to the inability of infants to bring themselves to the
font whereby through the mistaken scruples of parents many must have
died unbaptized. | or some perfectly
involuntary circumstance through which they are prevented from
receiving it, even if they wish. As then in the former case we
found much difference, so too in this. They who altogether
despise it are worse than they who neglect it through greed or
carelessness. These are worse than they who have lost the Gift
through ignorance or tyranny, for tyranny is nothing but an involuntary
error.4068
| 4068 i.e., The sins which
are due altogether to external tyranny do not involve guilt, inasmuch
as they are involuntary, whereas the guilt of sin is in the will. | And I think
that the first will have to suffer punishment, as for all their sins,
so for their contempt of baptism; and that the second will also have to
suffer, but less, because it was not so much through wickedness as
through folly that they wrought their failure; and that the third will
be neither glorified nor punished by the righteous Judge, as unsealed
and yet not wicked, but persons who have suffered rather than done
wrong. For not every one who is not bad enough to be punished is
good enough to be honoured; just as not every one who is not good
enough to be honoured is bad enough to be punished. And I look
upon it as well from another point of view. If you judge the
murderously disposed man by his will alone, apart from the
act of murder, then you may reckon
as baptized him who desired baptism apart from the reception of
baptism. But if you cannot do the one how can you do the
other? I cannot see it. Or, if you like, we will put it
thus:—If desire in your opinion has equal power with actual
baptism, then judge in the same way in regard to glory, and you may be
content with longing for it, as if that were itself glory. And
what harm is done you by your not attaining the actual glory, as long
as you have the desire for it?
XXIV. Therefore since you have heard these
words, come forward to it, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not
be ashamed4069
through missing the
Grace. Receive then the Enlightenment in due season, that
darkness pursue you not, and catch you, and sever you from the
Illumining. The night cometh when no man can work4070
after our departure hence. The one is
the voice of David, the other of the True Light which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world.4071
And
consider how Solomon reproves you who are too idle or lethargic,
saying, How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard,4072
and when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? You rely upon this or
that, and “pretend pretences in sins;”4073
am waiting for Epiphany; I prefer Easter; I
will wait for Pentecost.4074
| 4074 The Festivals of
Easter and Pentecost were set apart as early as the Second Century for
the solemn administration of Holy Baptism; and S. Siricius Bishop of
Rome about the time of S. Gregory of Nazianzus, states that all the
Churches agreed in keeping these exclusively. But this is a
mistake (though Van Espen says (II., c. i., tit. 2, c. 4) that S.
Siricius acknowledges the existence of the different custom, but
condemns it, and gives reference to ad. Himerum Tarraconensem, c. 2),
for there is evidence that in many Churches the Epiphany also was thus
observed, and in some Christmas also. But Tertullian (De Bapt.)
says that no time is unsuitable. In the Western Church, however,
Papal decrees, Conciliar Canons, and Imperial Capitularies from the
VIth to the XIIIth. Centuries abound, limiting the administration,
except in cases of sickness, to the two seasons of Easter and
Pentecost, on the Vigils of which it is still provided for in the
Missals. No doubt it was felt to be a very useful limitation,
when most persons who were presented for Baptism were adults, and
required preparation. When this ceased to be the case the rule
gradually became obsolete, and has long ceased to be observed. | It is better
to be baptized with Christ, to rise with Christ on the Day of His
Resurrection,4075
to honour the
Manifestation of the Spirit. And what then? The end will
come suddenly in a day for which thou lookest not, and in an hour that
thou art not aware of; and then you will have for a companion lack of
grace; and you will be famished in the midst of all those riches of
goodness, though you ought to reap the opposite fruit from the opposite
course, a harvest by diligence, and refreshment from the font, like the
thirsty hart4076
that runs in haste
to the spring, and quenches the labour of his race by water; and not to
be in Ishmael’s case, dried up for want of water,4077
or as the fable has it, punished by thirst
in the midst of a spring.4078
It is a sad
thing to let the market day go by and then to seek for work. It
is a sad thing to let the Manna pass and then to long for food.
It is a sad thing to take a counsel too late, and to become sensible of
the loss only when it is impossible to repair it; that is, after our
departure hence, and the bitter closing of the acts of each man’s
life, and the punishment of sinners, and the glory of the
purified. Therefore do not delay in coming to grace, but hasten,
lest the robber outstrip you, lest the adulterer pass you by, lest the
insatiate be satisfied before you, lest the murderer seize the blessing
first, or the publican or the fornicator, or any of these violent ones
who take the Kingdom of heaven by force.4079
For it suffers violence willingly, and
is tyrannized over through goodness.
XXV. Take my advice, my friend, and be slow
to do evil, but swift to your salvation; for readiness to evil and
tardiness to good are equally bad. If you are invited to a revel,
be not swift to go; if to apostasy, leap away; if a company of
evildoers say to you, “Come with us, share our bloodguiltiness,
let us hide in the earth a righteous man unjustly,”4080
do not lend them even your ears. Thus
you will make two very great gains; you will make known to the other
his sin, and you will deliver yourself from evil company. But if
David the Great say unto you, Come and let us rejoice in the
Lord;4081
or another Prophet, Come and let us ascend
into the Mountain of the Lord;4082
or our Saviour
Himself, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest;4083
or, Arise, let us
go hence, shining brightly, glittering above snow, whiter than
milk,4084
| 4084 The A.V. is here used, as more accurate than the LXX. The passage is quoted freely from
Lam. iv. 7. | shining above the sapphire stone; let us not
resist or delay. Let us be like Peter and John, and let us
hasten;4085
as they did to the
Sepulchre and the Resurrection, so we to the Font; running together,
racing against each other, striving to be first to obtain this
Blessing. And say not, “Go away, and come again, and
tomorrow I will be baptized,”4086
when you may
have the blessing today. “I will have with me father, mother,
brothers, wife, children, friends, and all whom I value, and then I
will be saved; but it is not yet the fitting time for me to be made
bright;” for if you say so, there is reason to fear lest you
should have as sharers of your sorrow those whom you hoped to have as
sharers of your joy. If they will be with you, well;—but do
not wait for them. For it is base to say, “But where is my
offering for my baptism, and where is my baptismal robe, in which I
shall be made bright, and where is what is wanted for the entertainment
of my baptizers, that in these too I may become worthy of notice?
For, as you see, all these things are necessary, and on account of this
the Grace will be lessened.” Do not thus trifle with great
things, or allow yourself to think so basely. The Sacrament is
greater than the visible environment. Offer yourself;
clothe yourself with Christ, feast me with your conduct; I rejoice to
be thus affectionately treated, and God Who gives these great gifts
rejoices thus. Nothing is great in the sight of God, but what the
poor may give, so that the poor may not here also be outrun, for they
cannot contend with the rich. In other matters there is a
distinction between poor and rich, but here the more willing is the
richer.
XXVI. Let nothing hinder you from going on,
nor draw you away from your readiness. While your desire is still
vehement, seize upon that which you desire. While the iron is
hot, let it be tempered by the cold water, lest anything should happen
in the interval, and put an end to your desire. I am Philip; do
you be Candace’s Eunuch.4087
Do you also
say, “See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be
baptized?” Seize the opportunity; rejoice greatly in the
blessing; and having spoken be baptized; and having been baptized be
saved; and though you be an Ethiopian body, be made white in
soul. Do not say, “A Bishop shall baptize me,—and he
a Metropolitan,—and he of Jerusalem (for the Grace does not come
of a place, but of the Spirit),—and he of noble birth, for it
would be a sad thing for my nobility to be insulted by being baptized
by a man of no family.” Do not say, “I do not mind a
mere Priest, if he is a celibate, and a religious, and of angelic life;
for it would be a sad thing for me to be defiled even in the moment of
my cleansing.” Do not ask for credentials of the preacher
or the baptizer. For another is his judge,4088
and the examiner of what thou canst not
see. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looketh on the heart. But to thee let every one be trustworthy
for purification, so only he is one of those who have been approved,
not of those who are openly condemned, and not a stranger to the
Church. Do not judge your judges, you who need healing; and do
not make nice distinctions about the rank of those who shall cleanse
you, or be critical about your spiritual fathers. One may be
higher or lower than another, but all are higher than you. Look
at it this way. One may be golden, another iron, but both are
rings and have engraved on them the same royal image; and thus when
they impress the wax, what difference is there between the seal of the
one and that of the other? None. Detect the material in the
wax, if you are so very clever. Tell me which is the impression
of the iron ring, and which of the golden. And how do they come
to be one? The difference is in the material and not in the
seal. And so anyone can be your baptizer; for though one may
excel another in his life, yet the grace of baptism is the same, and
any one may be your consecrator who is formed in the same
faith.
XXVII. Do not disdain to be baptized with a
poor man, if you are rich; or if you are noble, with one who is
lowborn; or if you are a master, with one who is up to the present time
your slave. Not even so will you be humbling yourself as Christ,
unto Whom you are baptized today, Who for your sake took upon Himself
even the form of a slave. From the day of your new birth all the
old marks were effaced, and Christ was put upon all in one form.
Do not disdain to confess your sins, knowing how John baptized, that by
present shame you may escape from future shame (for this too is a part
of the future punishment); and prove that you really hate sin by making
a shew of it openly, and triumphing over it as worthy of
contempt. Do not reject the medicine of exorcism, nor refuse it
because of its length. This too is a touchstone of your right
disposition for grace. What labour have you to do compared with
that of the Queen of Ethiopia,4089
who arose and came
from the utmost part of the earth to see the wisdom of Solomon?
And behold a Greater than Solomon is here4090
in
the judgment of those who reason maturely. Do not hesitate either
at length of journey, or distance by sea; or fire, if this too lies
before you; or of any
other, small or great, of the hindrances that you may attain to the
gift. But if without any labour and trouble at all you may obtain
that which you desire, what folly it is to put off the gift:
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters,”4091
Esaias invites you,
“and he that hath no money, come buy wine and milk, without money
and without price.” O swiftness of His mercy: O
easiness of the Covenant: This blessing may be bought by you
merely for willing it; He accepts the very desire as a great price; He
thirsts to be thirsted for; He gives to drink to all who desire to
drink; He takes it as a kindness to be asked for the kindness; He is
ready and liberal; He gives with more pleasure than others
receive.4092
Only let us
not be condemned for frivolity by asking for little, and for what is
unworthy of the Giver. Blessed is he from whom Jesus asks drink,
as He did from that Samaritan woman, and gives a well of water
springing up unto eternal life.4093
Blessed
is he that soweth beside all waters, and upon every soul, tomorrow to
be ploughed and watered, which today the ox and the ass tread, while it
is dry and without water,4094
and oppressed with
unreason. And blessed is he who, though he be a “valley of
rushes,”4095
is watered out of
the House of the Lord; for he is made fruitbearing instead of
rushbearing, and produces that which is for the food of man, not that
which is rough and unprofitable. And for the sake of this we must
be very careful not to miss the Grace.
XXVIII. Be it so, some will say, in the case of
those who ask for Baptism; what have you to say about those who are
still children, and conscious neither of the loss nor of the
grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger
presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously
sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated.
A proof of this is found in the Circumcision on
the eighth day, which was a sort of typical seal, and was conferred on
children before they had the use of reason. And so is the
anointing of the doorposts,4096
which preserved the
firstborn, though applied to things which had no consciousness.
But in respect of others4097
| 4097 i.e. when there is no
danger. | I give my advice to
wait till the end of the third year, or a little more or less, when
they may be able to listen and to answer something about the Sacrament;
that, even though they do not perfectly understand it, yet at any rate
they may know the outlines; and then to sanctify them in soul and body
with the great sacrament of our consecration. For this is how the
matter stands; at that time they begin to be responsible for their
lives, when reason is matured, and they learn the mystery of life (for
of sins of ignorance owing to their tender years they have no account
to give), and it is far more profitable on all accounts to be fortified
by the Font, because of the sudden assaults of danger that befall us,
stronger than our helpers.
XXIX. But, one says, Christ was thirty years
old when He was baptized,4098
and that although
He was God; and do you bid us hurry our Baptism?—You have solved
the difficulty when you say He was God. For He was absolute
cleansing; He had no need of cleansing; but it was for you that He was
purified, just as it was for you that, though He had not flesh, yet He
is clothed with flesh. Nor was there any danger to Him from
putting off Baptism, for He had the ordering of His own Passion as of
His own Birth. But in your case the danger is to no small
interests, if you were to depart after a birth to corruption alone, and
without being clothed with incorruption. And there is this
further point for me to consider, that that particular time of baptism
was a necessity for Him, but your case is not the same. He
manifested Himself in the thirtieth year after His birth and not
before; first, in order that He might not appear ostentatious, which is
a condition belonging to vulgar minds; and next, because that age tests
virtue thoroughly, and is the right time to teach. And since it
was needful for Him to undergo the passion which saves the world, it
was needful also that all things which belong to the passion should fit
into the passion; the Manifestation, the Baptism, the Witness from
Heaven, the Proclamation, the concourse of the multitude, the Miracles;
and that they should be as it were one body, not torn asunder, nor
broken apart by intervals. For out of the Baptism and
Proclamation arose that earthquake of people coming together,4099
| 4099 “All the
City was moved.” A.V., lit.
“shaken as by earthquake.” | for so Scripture calls that time;4100
and out of the multitude arose the shewing
of the signs and the miracles that lead up to the Gospel. And out
of these came the jealousy, and from this the hatred, and out of the
hatred the circumstance of the plot against Him, and the betrayal; and
out of these the Cross, and the other events by which our Salvation has
been effected. Such are the reasons in the case of Christ4101
| 4101 i.e., the reasons why
He was not baptized till He was thirty. | so far as we can attain to them. And
perhaps another more secret reason might be found.
XXX. But for you, what necessity is there
that by following the examples which are far above you, you should do a
thing so ill-advised for yourself? For there are many other
details of the Gospel History which are quite different to what happens
nowadays, and the seasons of which do not correspond. For
instance Christ fasted a little before His temptation, we before
Easter. As far as the fasting days are concerned it is the
same,4102
| 4102 Here is an indication
that the Forty Days of Lent were a well known observance in S.
Gregory’s time. At the Council of Nicæa this period
was taken for granted. The Great Fast of the Eastern Church
begins on the Monday after the Sunday corresponding to our
Quinquagesima, and the Fast is kept to some extent even on Sunday. | but the difference in the seasons is no
little one. He armed Himself with them against temptation; but to
us this fast is symbolical of dying with Christ, and it is a
purification in preparation for the festival. And He fasted
absolutely for forty days, for He was God; but we measure our fasting
by our power, even though some are led by zeal to rush beyond their
strength. Again, He gave the Sacrament of the Passover to His
Disciples in an upper chamber, and after supper, and one day before He
suffered; but we celebrate it in Houses of Prayer, and before
food,4103
and after His resurrection. He rose
again the third day; our resurrection is not till after a long
time. But matters which have to do with Him are neither abruptly
separated from us, nor yet yoked together with those which concern us
in point of time; but they were handed down to us just so far as to be
patterns of what we should do, and then they carefully avoided an
entire and exact resemblance.
XXXI. If then you will listen to me, you
will bid a long farewell to all such arguments, and you will jump at
this Blessing, and begin to struggle in a twofold conflict; first, to
prepare yourself for baptism by purifying yourself; and next, to
preserve the baptismal gift; for it is a matter of equal difficulty to
obtain a blessing which we have not, and to keep it when we have gained
it. For often what zeal has acquired sloth has destroyed; and
what hesitation has lost diligence has regained. A great
assistance to the attainment of what you desire are vigils, fasts,
sleeping on the ground, prayers, tears, pity of and almsgiving to those
who are in need. And let these be your thanksgiving for what you
have received, and at the same time your safeguard of them. You
have the benefit to remind you of many commandments; so do not
transgress them. Does a poor man approach you? Remember how
poor you once were, and how rich you were made. One in want of
bread or of drink, perhaps another Lazarus,4104
is
cast at your gate; respect the Sacramental Table to which you have
approached, the Bread of Which you have partaken, the Cup in Which you
have communicated,4105
| 4105 Note that this
allusion implies that Communion in both Kinds was given separately, as
in the Anglican Church, not by intinction, as in the present Orthodox
Eastern Church. | being consecrated
by the Sufferings of Christ. If a stranger fall at your feet,
homeless and a foreigner, welcome in him Him who for your sake was a
stranger, and that among His own,4106
and who came
to dwell in you by His grace, and who drew you towards the heavenly
dwelling place. Be a Zaccheus,4107
who yesterday
was a Publican, and is to-day of liberal soul; offer all to the coming
in of Christ, that though small in bodily stature you may show yourself
great, nobly contemplating Christ. A sick or a wounded man lies
before you; respect your own health, and the wounds from which Christ
delivered you. If you see one naked clothe him, in honour of your
own garment of incorruption, which is Christ, for as many as were
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.4108
If you find a debtor falling at your
feet,4109
tear up every document, whether just or
unjust. Remember the ten thousand talents which Christ forgave
you, and be not a harsh exactor of a smaller debt—and that from
whom? From your fellow servant, you who were forgiven so much
more by the Master. Otherwise you will have to give satisfaction
to His mercy, which you would not imitate and take as your
copy.
XXXII. Let the laver be not for your body only,
but also for the image of God in you; not merely a washing away of sins
in you, but also a correction of your temper; let it not only wash away
the old filth, but let it purify the fountainhead. Let it not
only move you to honourable acquisition, but let it teach you also
honourably to lose possession; or, which is more easy, to make
restitution of what you have wrongfully acquired. For what profit
is it that your sin should have been forgiven you, but the loss which
you have inflicted should not be repaired to him whom you have
injured? Two sins are on your conscience, the one that you made a
dishonest gain, the other
that you retained the gains; you received forgiveness for the one, but
in respect of the other you are still in sin, for you have still
possession of what belongs to another; and your sin has not been put to
an end, but only divided by the time which has elapsed. Part of
it was perpetrated before your Baptism, but part remains after your
Baptism; for Baptism carries forgiveness of Past, not of Present sins;
and its purification must not be played with, but be genuinely
impressed upon you; you must be made perfectly bright, and not be
merely coloured; you must receive the gift, not of a mere covering of
your sins, but of a taking them clean away. Blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven4110
…this is done
by the complete cleansing…and whose sins are hidden…this
belongs to those who are not yet healed in their deepest soul.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.…This is
a third class of sinners, whose actions are not praiseworthy, but who
are innocent of intention.
XXXIII. What say I then, and what is my
argument? Yesterday you were a Canaanite soul bent
together4111
by sin; today you
have been made straight by the Word. Do not be bent gain, and
condemned to the earth, as if weighed down by the Devil with a wooden
collar, nor get an incurable curvature. Yesterday you were being
dried up4112
by an abundant
hæmorrhage, for you were pouring out crimson sin; today stanched
and flourishing again, for you have touched the hem of Christ and your
issue has been stayed. Guard, I pray you, the cleansing lest you
should again have a hæmorrhage, and not be able to lay hold of
Christ to steal salvation; for Christ does not like to be stolen from
often, though He is very merciful. Yesterday you were flung upon
a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no one when the water
should be troubled to put you into the pool.4113
Today you have Him Who is in one
Person Man and God, or rather God and Man. You were raised up
from your bed, or rather you took up your bed, and publicly
acknowledged the benefit. Do not again be thrown upon your bed by
sinning, in the evil rest of a body paralyzed by its pleasures.
But as you now are, so walk, mindful of the command,4114
Behold thou art made whole; sin no more lest
a worse thing happen unto thee if thou prove thyself bad after the
blessing thou hast received. You have heard the loud voice,
Lazarus, come forth,4115
as you lay in the
tomb; not, however, after four days, but after many days; and you were
loosed from the bonds of your graveclothes. Do not again become
dead, nor live with those who dwell in the tombs;4116
nor bind yourself with the bonds of your own
sins;4117
for it is uncertain whether you will rise
again from the tomb till the last and universal resurrection, which
will bring every work into judgment,4118
not to be
healed, but to be judged, and to give account of all which for good or
evil it has treasured up.
XXXIV. If you were full of leprosy, that
shapeless evil, yet you scraped off the evil matter, and received again
the Image whole. Shew your cleansing to me your Priest, that I
may recognize how much more precious it is than the legal one. Do
not range yourself with the nine unthankful men, but imitate the
tenth.4119
For although
he was a Samaritan, yet he was of better mind than the others.
Make certain that you will not break out again with evil ulcers, and
find the indisposition of your body hard to heal. Yesterday
meanness and avarice were withering your hand; to-day let liberality
and kindness stretch it out.4120
It is a noble
cure for a weak hand to disperse abroad, to give to the poor,4121
to pour out the things which we possess
abundantly, till we reach the very bottom; and perhaps this will gush
forth food for you, as for the woman of Sarepta,4122
and especially if you happen to be feeding
an Elias, to recognize that it is a good abundance to be needy for the
sake of Christ, Who for our sakes became poor. If you were deaf
and dumb, let the Word sound4123
in your ears, or
rather keep there Him Who hath sounded. Do not shut your ears to
the Instruction of the Lord, and to His Counsel, like the adder to
charms.4124
If you are
blind and unenlightened, lighten your eyes that you sleep not in
death.4125
In
God’s Light see light,4126
and in the Spirit
of God be enlightened by the Son, That Threefold and Undivided
Light. If you receive all the Word, you will bring therewith upon
your own soul all the healing powers of Christ, with which separately
these individuals were healed. Only be not ignorant of the
measure of grace; only let not the enemy, while you sleep, maliciously
sow tares.4127
Only take
care that as by your cleansing you have become an object of enmity to
the Evil One, you do not again make yourself an object of pity by sin. Only be
careful lest, while rejoicing and lifted up above measure by the
blessing, you fall again through pride. Only be diligent as to
your cleansing, “setting ascensions in your
heart,”4128
| 4128 Ps. lxxxiv. 6. So LXX. and Vulgate. Various interpretations are given
of these Steps, but they differ only by indicating different virtues
and good works as especially intended, and may well be summed up under
the three heads of the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways of
salvation. A man can set in his heart such a “going
up” by the co-operation of grace and free
will.—Neale & Littledale in
Pss. | and keep with all
diligence the remission which you have received as a gift, in order
that, while the remission comes from God, the preservation of it may
come from yourself also.
XXXV. How shall this be? Remember
always the parable,4129
and so will you
best and most perfectly help yourself. The unclean and malignant
spirit is gone out of you, being chased by baptism. He will not
submit to the expulsion, he will not resign himself to be houseless and
homeless: He goes through waterless places, dry of the Divine
Stream, and there he desires to abide. He wanders, seeking rest;
he finds none. He lights on baptized souls, whose sins the font
has washed away. He fears the water; he is choked with the
cleansing, as the Legion were in the sea.4130
Again he returns to the house whence
he came out. He is shameless, he is contentious, he makes a fresh
assault upon it, he makes a new attempt. If he finds that Christ
has taken up His abode there, and has filled the place which he had
vacated, he is driven back again, and goes off without success and is
become an object of pity in his wandering state. But if he finds
in you a place, swept and garnished indeed, but empty and idle, equally
ready to take in this or that which shall first occupy it, he makes a
leap into it, he takes up his abode there with a larger train; and the
last state is worse than the first, inasmuch as then there was a hope
of amendment and safety, but now the evil is rampant, and drags in sin
by its flight from good, and therefore the possession is more secure to
him who dwells there.
XXXVI. I will remind you again about
Illuminations, and that often, and will reckon them up from Holy
Scripture. For I myself shall be happier for remembering them
(for what is sweeter than light to those who have tasted light?) and I
will dazzle you with my words. There is sprung up a light for the
righteous, and its partner joyful gladness.4131
And, The light of the righteous is
everlasting;4132
and Thou art
shining wondrously from the everlasting mountains, is said to God, I
think of the Angelic powers which aid our efforts after good. And
you have heard David’s words; The Lord is my Light and my
Salvation, whom then shall I fear?4133
And now
he asks that the Light and the Truth may be sent forth for
him,4134
now giving thanks that he has a share in it,
in that the Light of God is marked upon him;4135
that is, that the signs of the illumination given are impressed upon
him and recognized. One light alone let us shun—that which
is the offspring of the baleful fire; let us not walk in the light of
our fire,4136
and in the flame
which we have kindled. For I know a cleansing fire which Christ
came to send upon the earth,4137
and He Himself is
anagogically4138
called a
Fire. This Fire takes away whatsoever is material and of evil
habit; and this He desires to kindle with all speed, for He longs for
speed in doing us good, since He gives us even coals of fire to help
us.4139
I know also a fire which is not
cleansing, but avenging; either that fire of Sodom4140
which He pours down on all sinners,4141
mingled with brimstone and storms, or that
which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels4142
or
that which proceeds from the face of the Lord, and shall burn up his
enemies round about;4143
and one even more
fearful still than these, the unquenchable fire4144
which is ranged with the worm that dieth not but is eternal for the
wicked. For all these belong to the destroying power; though some
may prefer even in this place to take a more merciful view4145
| 4145 i.e. To view the Fire
there spoken of as Temporal punishment, with a purpose of correcting
and reforming the sinner. This is not S. Gregory’s own view
of the meaning of the passage, though he admits it to be tenable. | of this fire, worthily of Him That
chastises.
XXXVII. And as I know of two kinds of fire,
so also do I of light. The one is the light of our ruling power
directing our steps according to the will of God; the other is a
deceitful and meddling one, quite contrary to the true light, though
pretending to be that light, that it may cheat us by its
appearance. This really is darkness, yet has the appearance of
noonday, the high perfection of light. And so I read that passage
of those who continually flee in darkness at noonday;4146
for this is really night, and yet is thought
to be bright light by those who have been ruined by luxury. For
what saith David? “Night was around me and I knew it not,
for I thought that my luxury was enlightenment.”4147
But such are they, and in this
condition; but let us kindle for ourselves the light of
knowledge.4148
This will be
done by sowing unto righteousness, and reaping the fruit of life, for
action is the patron of contemplation, that amongst other things we may
learn also what is the true light, and what the false, and be saved
from falling unawares into evil wearing the guise of good. Let us
be made light, as it was said to the disciples by the Great Light, ye
are the light of the world.4149
Let us be
made lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life;4150
that is, let us be made a quickening power
to others. Let us lay hold of the Godhead; let us lay hold of the
First and Brightest Light. Let us walk towards Him shining,
before our feet stumble upon dark and hostile mountains.4151
While it is day let us walk honestly
as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness,4152
which are the
dishonesties of the night.
XXXVIII. Let us cleanse every member,
Brethren, let us purify every sense; let nothing in us be imperfect or
of our first birth; let us leave nothing unilluminated. Let us
enlighten our eyes,4153
that we may look
straight on, and not bear in ourselves any harlot idol through curious
and busy sight; for even though we might not worship lust, yet our soul
would be defiled. If there be beam or mote,4154
let us purge it away, that we may be able to
see those of others also. Let us be enlightened in our ears; let
us be enlightened in our tongue, that we may hearken what the Lord God
will speak,4155
and that He may
cause4156
us to hear His lovingkindness in the
morning, and that we may be made to hear of joy and gladness,4157
spoken into godly ears, that we may not be a
sharp sword, nor a whetted razor,4158
nor turn under
our tongue labour and toil,4159
but that we may
speak the Wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden Wisdom,4160
reverencing the fiery tongues.4161
Let us be healed also in the smell,
that we be not effeminate; and be sprinkled with dust instead of sweet
perfumes,4162
but may smell the
Ointment that was poured out for us,4163
spiritually
receiving it; and so formed and transformed by it, that from us too a
sweet odour may be smelled. Let us cleanse our touch, our taste,
our throat, not touching them over gently, nor delighting in smooth
things, but handling them as is worthy of Him, the Word That was made
flesh for us; and so far following the example of Thomas,4164
not pampering them with dainties and sauces,
those brethren of a more baleful pampering,4165
| 4165 Quia gula est parens
immunditiæ et luxuriæ. |
but tasting and learning that the Lord is good,4166
with the better and abiding taste; and not for a short while refreshing
that baneful and thankless dust, which lets pass and does not hold that
which is given to it; but delighting it with the words which are
sweeter than honey.4167
XXXIX. And in addition to what has been
said, it is good with our head cleansed, as the head which is the
workshop of the senses is cleansed, to hold fast the Head of
Christ,4168
from which the
whole body is fitly joined together and compacted; and to cast down our
sin that exalted itself, when it would exalt us above our better
part. It is good also for the shoulder to be sanctified and
purified that it may be able to take up the Cross of Christ, which not
everyone can easily do. It is good for the hands to be
consecrated, and the feet; the one that they may in every place be
lifted up holy;4169
and that they may
lay hold of the discipline4170
of Christ, lest the
Lord at any time be angered; and that the Word may gain credence by
action, as was the case with that which was given in the hand of a
prophet;4171
the other, that
they be not swift to shed blood, nor to run to evil,4172
but that they be prompt to run to the Gospel
and the Prize4173
of the high
Calling, and to receive Christ Who washes and cleanses them. And
if there be also a cleansing of that belly which receiveth and
digesteth the food of the Word, it were good also; not to make it a god
by luxury and the meat that perisheth,4174
but rather to give it all possible cleansing, and to make it more
spare, that it may receive the Word of God at the very heart, and
grieve honourably over the sins of Israel.4175
I find also the heart and inward parts
deemed worthy of honour. David convinces me of this, when he
prays that a clean heart may be created in him, and a right spirit
renewed in his inward parts;4176
meaning, I think,
the mind and its movements or thoughts.
XL. And what of the loins, or reins, for we must
not pass these over? Let the purification take hold of these
also. Let our loins be girded about and kept in check by
continence, as the Law bade
Israel of old when partaking of the Passover.4177
For none comes out of Egypt purely, or
escapes the Destroyer, except he who has disciplined these. And
let the reins be changed by that good conversion by which they transfer
all the affections to God, so that they can say, Lord, all my desire is
before Thee,4178
and the day of man
have I not desired;4179
for you must be a
man of desires,4180
but they must be
those of the spirit. For thus you would destroy the dragon that
carries the greater part of his strength upon his navel and his
loins,4181
by slaying the
power that comes to him from these. Do not be surprised at my
giving a more abundant honour to our uncomely parts,4182
mortifying them and making them chaste by my
speech, and standing up against the flesh. Let us give to God all
our members which are upon the earth;4183
let us consecrate them all; not the lobe of the liver4184
| 4184 Levit. iii. 4. The Mosaic Law ordered that
the upper part of the liver and the kidneys, together with the fat,
should in creation sacrifices be consecrated to God; signifying that
anger (which was intimated by the liver, which produces bile), and lust
(signified by the kidneys and the fat) should especially be sacrificed
to God. Again Moses assigned the shoulder and the breast of some
sacrifices to the Priests, hinting obscurely at this, that we ought to
take care to offer our hearts to the Priests by confession (for the
heart is signified by the breast which protects it) and also our
actions, which are intended by the shoulder, that by the Priest they
may be presented to God. But the Apostle bids us mortify all our
members which are upon the earth, and offer ourselves entire as a
sacrifice to God, destroying with the sword of the Word of God all our
evil and corrupt affections.—Nicetas. | or the kidneys with the fat, nor some part
of our bodies now this now that (why should we despise the rest?); but
let us bring ourselves entire, let us be reasonable
holocausts,4185
perfect sacrifices;
and let us not make only the shoulder or the breast a portion for the
Priest to take away,4186
for that would be a
small thing, but let us give ourselves entire, that we may receive back
ourselves entire; for this is to receive entirely, when we give
ourselves to God and offer as a sacrifice our own salvation.
XLI. Besides all this and before all, keep I
pray you the good deposit, by which I live and work, and which I desire
to have as the companion of my departure; with which I endure all that
is so distressful, and despise all delights; the confession of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. This I commit unto you
to-day; with this I will baptize you and make you grow. This I
give you to share, and to defend all your life, the One Godhead and
Power, found in the Three in Unity, and comprising the Three
separately, not unequal, in substances or natures, neither increased
nor diminished by superiorities or inferiorities; in every respect
equal, in every respect the same; just as the beauty and the greatness
of the heavens is one; the infinite conjunction of Three Infinite Ones,
Each God when considered in Himself; as the Father so the Son, as the
Son so the Holy Ghost; the Three One God when contemplated together;
Each God because Consubstantial; One God because of the
Monarchia. No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined
by the Splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I
am carried back to the One. When I think of any One of the Three
I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater
part of what I am thinking of escapes me.4187
| 4187 i.e. If I think of One
Blessed Person, the other Two are not in my mind, and so the greater
part of God escapes me. | I cannot grasp the greatness of That
One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the Rest. When I
contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide
or measure out the Undivided Light.
XLII. Do you fear to speak of Generation
lest you should attribute aught of passion to the impassible God?
I on the other hand fear to speak of Creation, lest I should destroy
God by the insult and the untrue division, either cutting the Son away
from the Father, or from the Son the Substance of the Spirit. For
this paradox is involved, that not only is a created Life foisted into
the Godhead by those who measure Godhead badly; but even this created
life is divided against itself. For as these low earthly minds
make the Son subject to the Father, so again is the rank of the Spirit
made inferior to that of the Son, until both God and created life are
insulted by the new Theology. No, my friends, there is nothing
servile in the Trinity, nothing created, nothing accidental, as I have
heard one of the wise4188
| 4188 S. Gregory
Thaumaturgus. | say. If I yet
pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ, says the
Apostle;4189
and if I yet
worshipped a creature, or were baptized into a creature, I should not
be made divine, nor have changed my first birth. What shall I say
to those who worship Astarte or Chemosh, the abomination of the
Sidonians, or the likeness of a star,4190
a
god a little above them to these idolaters, but yet a creature and a
piece of workmanship, when I myself either do not worship Two of Those
into Whose united Name I am baptized, or else worship my
fellow-servants, for they are fellow-servants, even if a little higher
in the scale; for differences must exist among
fellow-servants.
XLIII. I should like to call the Father the
greater, because from him
flows both the Equality and the Being of the Equals (this will be
granted on all hands), but I am afraid to use the word Origin, lest I
should make Him the Origin of Inferiors, and thus insult Him by
precedencies of honour. For the lowering of those Who are from
Him is no glory to the Source. Moreover, I look with suspicion at
your insatiate desire, for fear you should take hold of this word
Greater, and divide the Nature, using the word Greater in all
senses, whereas it does not apply to the Nature, but only to
Origination. For in the Consubstantial Persons there is nothing
greater or less in point of Substance. I would honour the Son as
Son before the Spirit, but Baptism consecrating me through the Spirit
does not allow of this. But are you afraid of being reproached
with Tritheism? Do you take possession of this good thing, the
Unity in the Three, and leave me to fight the battle. Let me be
the shipbuilder, and do you use the ship; or if another is the builder
of the ship, take me for the architect of the house, and do you live in
it with safety, though you spent no labour upon it. You shall not
have a less prosperous voyage, or a less safe habitation than I who
built them, because you have not laboured upon them. See how
great is my indulgence; see the goodness of the Spirit; the war shall
be mine, yours the achievement; I will be under fire, and you shall
live in peace; but join with your defender in prayer, and give me your
hand by the Faith. I have three stones which I will sling at the
Philistine;4191
I have three
inspirations against the son of the Sareptan,4192
with which I will quicken the slain; I have three floods against the
faggots with which I will consecrate the Sacrifice with water, raising
the most unexpected fire;4193
and I will throw
down the prophets of shame by the power of the Sacrament.
XLIV. What need have I any more of
speech? It is the time for teaching, not for controversy. I
protest before God and the elect Angels,4194
be
thou baptized in this faith. If thy heart is written upon in some
other way than as my teaching demands, come and have the writing
changed; I am no unskilled caligrapher of these truths. I write
that which is written upon my own heart; and I teach that which I have
been taught, and have kept from the beginning up to these hoar
hairs.4195
| 4195 Supposing S.
Gregory’s birth to have been in 325, the earliest date which
seems at all probable, he would be under 60 in 381, when this Oration
was delivered; so that the expression on the text must be held to be a
rhetorical exaggeration. Suidas, however, pushes back the date of
his birth as far as 299 or 300; which does not fit in well with the
chronology of his life, as given by himself. | Mine is the
risk; be mine also the reward of being the Director of your soul, and
consecrating you by Baptism. But if you are already rightly
disposed, and marked with the good inscription, see that you keep what
is written, and remain unchanged in a changing time concerning an
unchanging Thing. Follow Pilate’s example in the better
sense; you who are rightly written on, imitate him who wrote
wrongfully. Say to those who would persuade you differently, what
I have written, I have written.4196
For
indeed I should be ashamed if, while that which was wrong remained
inflexible, that which is right should be so easily bent aside; whereas
we ought to be easily bent to that which is better from that which is
worse, but immovable from the better to the worse. If it be thus,
and according to this teaching that you come to Baptism, lo I will not
refrain my lips,4197
lo I lend my hands
to the Spirit; let us hasten your salvation. The Spirit is eager,
the Consecrator is ready, the Gift is prepared. But if you still
halt and will not receive the perfectness of the Godhead, go and look
for someone else to baptize—or rather to drown you: I have
no time to cut the Godhead, and to make you dead in the moment of your
regeneration, that you should have neither the Gift nor the Hope of
Grace, but should in so short a time make shipwreck of your
salvation. For whatever you may subtract from the Deity of the
Three, you will have overthrown the whole, and destroyed your own being
made perfect.
XLV. But not yet perhaps is there formed
upon your soul any writing good or bad; and you want to be written upon
today, and formed by us unto perfection. Let us go within the
cloud. Give me the tables of your heart; I will be your Moses,
though this be a bold thing to say; I will write on them with the
finger of God a new Decalogue.4198
I will write
on them a shorter method of salvation. And if there be any
heretical or unreasoning beast, let him remain below, or he will run
the risk of being stoned by the Word of truth. I will baptize you
and make you a disciple in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost;4199
and These Three
have One common name, the Godhead. And you shall know, both by
appearances4200
and by words that
you reject all ungodliness, and are united to all the Godhead.
Believe that all that is in the world, both all that is seen and all
that is unseen, was
made out of nothing by God, and is governed by the Providence of its
Creator, and will receive a change to a better state. Believe
that evil has no substance or kingdom, either unoriginate or
self-existent or created by God; but that it is our work, and the evil
one’s, and came upon us through our heedlessness, but not from
our Creator. Believe that the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who
was begotten of the Father before all time and without body, was in
these latter days for your sake made also Son of Man, born of the
Virgin Mary ineffably and stainlessly (for nothing can be stained where
God is, and by which salvation comes), in His own Person at once entire
Man and perfect God, for the sake of the entire sufferer, that He may
bestow salvation on your whole being, having destroyed the whole
condemnation of your sins: impassible in His Godhead, passible in
that which He assumed; as much Man for your sake as you are made God
for His. Believe that for us sinners He was led to death; was
crucified and buried, so far as to taste of death; and that He rose
again the third day, and ascended into heaven, that He might take you
with Him who were lying low; and that He will come again with His
glorious Presence to judge the quick and the dead; no longer flesh, nor
yet without a body, according to the laws which He alone knows of a
more godlike body, that He may be seen by those who pierced
Him,4201
and on the other hand may remain as God
without carnality. Receive besides this the Resurrection, the
Judgment and the Reward according to the righteous scales of God; and
believe that this will be Light to those whose mind is purified (that
is, God—seen and known) proportionate to their degree of purity,
which we call the Kingdom of heaven; but to those who suffer from
blindness of their ruling faculty, darkness, that is estrangement from
God, proportionate to their blindness here. Then, in the tenth
place, work that which is good upon this foundation of dogma; for faith
without works is dead,4202
even as are works
apart from faith. This is all that may be divulged of the
Sacrament, and that is not forbidden to the ear of the many. The
rest you shall learn within the Church by the grace of the Holy
Trinity; and those matters you shall conceal within yourself, sealed
and secure.
XLVI. But one thing more I preach unto
you. The Station in which you shall presently stand after your
Baptism before the Great Sanctuary4203
| 4203 The word here used is
Bema, which properly means a Platform. In an Oriental Church the
East end of the building is raised by one or more steps above the
choir. A little distance East of these steps is a great Screen
called the Iconostasis, from the picture (Icons) with which it is
covered. It has three doors, one in the centre, called the Royal
Gates, leading to the Altar; one on the left hand, leading to the
Prothesis, or Credence; and one on the right to the Sacristy. The
whole raised portion is called the Bema, or sometimes the Altar, the
Altar proper being known as the Throne. | is a foretype
of the future glory. The Psalmody with which you will be received
is a prelude to the Psalmody of Heaven; the lamps which you will kindle
are a Sacrament of the illumination there with which we shall meet the
Bridegroom, shining and virgin souls, with the lamps of our faith
shining, not sleeping through our carelessness, that we may not miss
Him that we look for if He come unexpectedly; nor yet unfed, and
without oil, and destitute of good works, that we be not cast out of
the Bridechamber. For I see how pitiable is such a case. He
will come when the cry demands the meeting, and they who are prudent
shall meet Him, with their light shining and its food abundant, but the
others seeking for oil too late from those who possess it. And He
will come with speed, and the former shall go in with Him, but the
latter shall be shut out, having wasted in preparations the time of
entrance; and they shall weep sore when all too late they learn the
penalty of their slothfulness, when the Bride-chamber can no longer be
entered by them for all their entreaties, for they have shut it against
themselves by their sin, following in another fashion the example of
those who missed the Wedding feast4204
with which the
good Father feasts the good Bridegroom; one on account of a newly
wedded wife; another of a newly purchased field; another of a yoke of
oxen; which he and they acquired to their misfortune, since for the
sake of the little they lose the great. For none are there of the
disdainful, nor of the slothful, nor of those who are clothed in filthy
rags and not in the Wedding garment even though here they may have
thought themselves worthy of wearing the bright robe there, and
secretly intruded themselves, deceiving themselves with vain
hopes. And then, What? When we have entered, then the
Bridegroom knows what He will teach us, and how He will converse with
the souls that have come in with Him. He will converse with them,
I think in teaching things more perfect and more pure. Of which
may we all, both Teachers and Taught, have share, in the Same Christ
our Lord, to Whom be the Glory and the Empire, for ever and ever.
Amen.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
