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| Chapter VII.
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Chapter VII.
But (as we had begun to remark)
it is not sufficient for a Christian to keep himself from wickedness,
unless he also has fulfilled the duties implied in good works, as is
very distinctly proved by that statement in which the Lord threatened
that those will be doomed to eternal fire, who, although they have done
no evil, have not done all that is good, declaring, “Then will
the king say to those who are on his right hand: depart from me, ye
cursed, into eternal
fire,
which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was
hungry, and ye gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no178
drink,” with what follows. He did
not say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, because ye have committed
murder, or adultery, or theft”; for it is not because they had
done evil, but because they had not done good, that they are condemned,
and doomed to the punishments of the eternal Gehenna; nor because they
had committed things which were forbidden, but because they had not
been willing to do those things which had been commanded. And from this
it is to be observed what hope those can have, who, in addition, do
some of those things which are forbidden, when even such are doomed to
eternal fire as have simply not done the things which are commanded.
For I do not wish you to flatter yourself in this way,—if you
have not done certain things, because you have done certain other
things, since it is written, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet offend in one point, has become guilty of all.”179
For Adam sinned once, and died; and do you
think that you can live, when you are often doing that which killed
another person, when he had only done it once? Or do you imagine that
he committed a great crime, and was therefore justly condemned to a
severer punishment? Let us consider, then, what it was he really did.
He ate of the fruit of the tree, contrary to the commandment. What
then? Did God punish man with death for the sake of the fruit of a
tree? No: not on account of the fruit of the tree, but on account of
the contempt of the commandment. The question, therefore, is not about
the nature of the offense, but about the transgression of the
commandment. And the same being who told Adam not to eat of the fruit
of the tree, has commanded you not to speak evil, not to lie, not to
detract, not to listen to a detractor, to swear not at all, not to
covet, not to envy, not to be drunken, not to be greedy, not to render
evil for evil to any one, to love your enemies, to bless them that
curse you, to pray for them that malign and persecute you, to turn the
other cheek to one smiting you, and not to go to law before a worldly
tribunal, so that, if any one seeks to take away your goods, you should
joyfully lose them, to flee from the charge of avarice, to beware of
the sin of all pride and boastfulness, and live, humble and meek, after
the example of Christ, avoiding fellowship with the wicked so
completely that you will not even eat with fornicators, or covetous
persons, or those that speak evil of others, or the envious, or
detractors, or the drunken, or the rapacious. Now, if you despise him
in any such matter, then, if he spared Adam, he will also spare you.
Yea, he might have been spared with better reason than you, inasmuch as
he was still ignorant and inexperienced, and was restrained by the
example of no one who had previously sinned, and who had died on
account of his sin. But after such examples as you possess, after the
law, after the prophets, after the gospels, and after the apostles, if
you still set your mind on transgressing, I see not in what way pardon
can be extended to you.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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