to live in continence with fear and trembling, so that you do not appear unworthy of the honor, and so that the members of Christ do not become members of a harlot! This word can fortify every soul in continence; this word easily quenches burning concupiscences. Just as a shower of rain falling upon a fire does not so easily extinguish the flame as that word, when admitted into the soul, makes evil concupiscences wither. The great Job can also speak these same words to us, who was not only a diligent practitioner of continence, but also set a law for his eyes, so that they might not look upon the face of a virgin, lest perhaps her beauty might radiate into his mind and captivate it (Job 31:1): yet who would not wonder and be astonished, seeing this man fight manfully against the devil, and conquer all the machines of the wicked one, and yet flee from the face of a virgin, and turn his eyes away from the sight of a beautiful girl? Seeing the devil approaching indeed, he did not flee, but remained like a lion, trusting in his strength: but having seen a virgin, he did not stand, nor did he delay in contemplating her beauty, but immediately retreated. He judged, forsooth, that in the battle against demons, a manly and bold spirit is needed; but in the preparation for continence, victory is granted, not through familiarity with virgins, but through retreat. Whoever, therefore, promises virginity, let him accept the counsels of the most continent of all men, who himself, even before Christ was incarnate, was so diligent a guardian of continence. For it is not to be heard negligently that, before Christ was incarnate, just men appeared exhibiting such a specimen of continence. For there was not that which compelled them with such force toward that virtue, nor was the neglect of the possession of continence a crime for virgins. But how is this? Because for the sake of this cause, God the exalted, the Maker of all things, took our form, so that He might bring down the sanctity of the angels from heaven. When, therefore, men, after so great an honor, deliver themselves over to pleasures, the magnitude of their rashness cannot be told, by which, making the members of Christ the members of a harlot, they offend the mercy of the Lord, B and as much as is in them, render it vain. The demons hear, and they fear, because God does not connive so that they may be joined to Him, but He joins us to Himself. And do some of the faithful dare to cut themselves off from Christ, so as to join themselves to harlots? It is not as great an evil to fall from heaven into the mire, as it is a great evil to have been made a member of Christ, to fall away from divine honor, and to become a member of a harlot. When evil concupiscence inflames the soul, immediately remember Christ, think that Paul is standing by you, exhorting you and saying: "Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? Bearing the members of Christ, will you make them the members of a harlot?" (1 Cor. 6:15). If you have remembered those words, you will immediately see the pleasure fleeing. For if a chaste and modest mistress makes her handmaids, given over to turpitude, modest by a single look: what is the wonder if the memory of Christ immediately puts to sleep the titillating pleasure? Always hold the radiant cross before your eyes, and you will depart pure from sins for that period of time. For just as the pillar of the cloud, an image of our cross, protected the multitude of the Hebrews, so that it might suffer no evil from the Egyptians (Exod. 13:21); so the cross seen before the eyes immediately drives away all evil pleasure. For this is the salvation of the soul, and a salutary antidote for foul concupiscences. For the infirmities of the body are healed by the arts of physicians, but the sick soul is healed immediately by the words of Christ. Therefore, we pray and entreat those who have sinned, and who still serve the pleasures of the flesh, that they may be awakened and return to their senses, so that they may not be entirely conquered by their affections, nor carried away by impulse, nor voluntarily subject themselves to bitter servitude, but that they may oppose them in battle, and strengthen their mind with the fear of Christ, and cast out the grave mistress from the fortress: so that, with every stain cast away, and the crowd of sinners [removed], with a holy and incorrupt soul we may be able to approach the divine and reverend sacraments of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: to whom be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.
A NOTICE ON THE FOLLOWING TWO WORKS.
These two works, in the Latin interpretation which alone survives, nevertheless display the invention and eloquence of Chrysostom, and are altogether worthy of the holy doctor. Yet a certain suspicion arises, that they were not edited by our John himself in the order and rite in which they appear here, but by some other person, who patched these together from various of his places. Be that as it may, these are clearly worthy to be published under the name of Chrysostom. We prefix, however, the Admonition of our Benedictine brethren, who saw to the Edition of the Works of the divine Augustine, and in the sixth Volume, p. 259 and seqq., published these works, and prefixed this Notice: «These two sermons exist in an ancient Corbie Codex, described, it seems, a thousand years ago, the first indeed entitled with this title: *Here begins the sermon of saint John on the Consolation of death.* The second, however, joined most closely to the first without a title, and having nothing else at the end but, *Explicit on the Resurrection.* Moreover, this other sermon comes out now for the first time more complete in its third part, which it lacked in previous printings, from the praised Corbie exemplar: and that part contains a recapitulation of those things which were said in the first sermon, and by other not uncertain arguments is known to pertain to this work. Furthermore, we suppose that John who is designated at the front of the first sermon is none other than Chrysostom. Compare his Homily 41 on 1 Cor. 15, and Homily 1 on 2 Cor., and Homily 64 on John, and finally Homily 7 to the people of Antioch, etc.»ON THE CONSOLATION OF DEATH. FIRST SERMON.
1. Offer silence, brothers, so that a useful and timely sermon may not pass you by. For then there is especially need of medicine when a grave sickness is born: and then the eye-salve must be carefully applied, when the eye has been troubled by pain. Whoever, therefore, does not have this pain, let him not make a disturbance, but rather listen, because it does not hinder one who is healthy to know the medicine that is beneficial. But he who has his eye troubled by this misfortuneA of the mind and is tormented by grief, let him be all the more intent to open his eye to receive the salve of the salvific Word, by which he may attain not only consolation, but also a remedy. For it is certain that he whose eye is aching, if he should refuse to open it to a physician pouring in salve, the salve is indeed poured out outside the pupil, but the eye remains in pain: so also the mind of the grieving person, if because of excessive sorrow it shuts itself against the Word, not receiving the healthy admonition, it will begin to suffer more, and perhaps experience what is contained in Scripture: "For the sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Cor. 7:10). The blessed apostle Paul, the teacher of the faithful, the healing physician, said that there are two sorrows: one good, and the other evil; one useful, and the other useless; one that saves, and another that destroys. And lest what I say seem doubtful to anyone, I shall recite his very words. For he says: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of" (ibid.): this is that good sorrow. He then follows: "But the sorrow of the world worketh death": this is that evil one.
2. Whether grieving is profitable or not. Let us see, therefore, brothers, whether this sorrow which is now at hand, which now stirs in the breast and is heard in the voice, is useful or useless, whether it has the power to profit or to harm. Behold, the lifeless body lies there; man lies upon the bier without his humanity, limbs devoid of spirit; he is cried out to, and does not answer; he is called, and does not hear; the pale face lies there, with its form changed, by which death itself is discerned; furthermore, his eternal silence is thought upon, the delights are thought upon, or what was the utility, or what was to be future; the necessities are thought upon, the most sweet words come into the mind, long custom is sought. These are, without doubt, the things that move tears, incite wailing, and plunge the whole soul into deep sorrow. Against these weapons of grief, so valid and so strong, this must first of all be put forward, that everything which is born in this world must necessarily die. For this is the law of God and the immutable sentence which, after the failing, the prince of the human race received, God saying: "Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go" (Gen. 3:19). What new thing has therefore happened, if man, born for this, has satisfied the divine law and sentence? What new thing has occurred if, born of mortals, he has rendered up what belongs to his own nature, because he could not excuse it? It is not unusual which is ancient; it is not unheard of which is daily; it is not peculiar which is common. If we know that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers have departed by this way of death, if we have heard that finally the very patriarchs and prophets from Adam the first-formed have moved from this life not without an end, let us lift our soul out of the depth of sorrow: for what was owed, this he has rendered. And when a debt is rendered, what sorrow can one have? This is truly a debt which no money can redeem: this is a debt which neither virtue can excuse, nor wisdom, nor power, nor, finally, can the kings themselves decline it. Clearly I would urge that you would increase your sorrow if it were such a thing that, while it could be redeemed by your fortune, or delayed, it had come about through negligence or parsimony. But since God's decree is firm and immutable, we grieve in vain, and search within ourselves why he has died, when it is written: "Of the Lord God are the issues of death" (Ps. 67:21). If, therefore, this common condition of life be received into the mind, the burdened eye of the heart will begin, as if by a first infusion, to be relieved.
3. Excessive grief is alien to reason and even dangerous. But you say: I know that this case is common; I know that he who is dead pays a debt; but I think of the delight, I recall the necessities, I seek the custom. If you are afflicted with sorrow because of these, you are led by error, you are not governed by reason. For you ought to know that the Lord, who had given this delight, can give another that is better, and he who has brought this necessity upon you is sufficient to supply it through another occasion. But as for utility, just as you see your own, you must also think of his who has departed: for it perhaps was expedient for him, just as it is written: "He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding. For his soul pleased God, therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquity" (Wis. 4:11, 14). But what shall I say of custom, which, while time passes, makes one so forget that it seems never to have been? What time and days therefore accomplish, reason and good meditation ought to accomplish much more. And that too must be thought upon most of all, which the divine sentence through the Apostle defined: "For the sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Cor. 7:10). But if as much the delight as the present utility, or custom, are things of the world and the joys of the age are transitory, take care, lest in casting down the soul and saddening the spirit because of these, it be a truly deadly malady. But I shall say it again and again: "For the sorrow of the world worketh death" (ibid.). And why does it work death? Because excessive sorrow is wont to lead either to doubt or to pernicious blasphemy.
4. Sorrow is lawful for those who were before Christ. Why did Christ weep for Lazarus? It is no longer lawful to mourn the dead.—But someone will say: Do you prohibit mourning the dead, when even the patriarchs were lamented, and that Moses, the servant of God, and many prophets thereafter, especially when Job, the most just, even tore his garment over the death of his children (Job 1:20)? I do not prohibit mourning the dead, but the Apostle, the illuminator of the gentiles, who says thus: "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13). The clarity of the Gospel cannot be obscured if those who were before the law, or were placed under the shadow of the law, wept for their dead. And deservedly they wept, because Christ, who dried that fountain of tears with his resurrection, had not yet come from heaven. They deservedly wept, because as yet
A they had not seen Him for whom they hoped. Finally, Simeon, one of the ancient saints, who had previously been anxious about his own death, after he had received the Lord Jesus, while yet a child in the flesh, into his arms, rejoiced at his own departure, saying: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart, O Lord, in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luc. 2. 29, 30). O blessed Simeon! Because he had seen what he hoped for, he now reckoned his own death as peace and rest. But you might say: Lo, it is read in the Gospel that the ruler of the synagogue wept for his daughter (Luc. 8. 52), and that the sisters of Lazarus wept for Lazarus (Joan. 11. 31). They were still weeping according to the old law, because they had not yet seen Christ rise from the dead. Indeed, the Lord himself wept for Lazarus already buried, not that he gave a pattern of weeping for the dead, but that he might show, through his tears, that he had truly assumed a human body. Or certainly, he wept out of human love for the Jews, because even with such a sign shown to them, they were not going to believe in him. For the death of Lazarus could not be the cause of tears, he whom Jesus himself had said was asleep, and had promised he would raise up, as indeed he did.
5. The ancients therefore kept to their custom and their fragility, preceding the advent of Christ. But now, since the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, since the last Adam solved the sentence given to the first Adam, since he destroyed our death by his own death, and the Lord rose from the netherworld on the third day, death is no longer terrible to the faithful: the sunset is not feared, because the Orient comes from on high. The Lord himself, who cannot lie, cries out: "I am," he says, "the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: and every one that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever" (Joan. 11. 25, 26). B The divine voice is clear, dearly beloved brothers, that whoever believes in Christ, and keeps his commandments, even if he should die, shall live. The blessed apostle Paul, receiving this voice and holding it with the full strength of his faith, taught: "I will not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are asleep, that you be not sorrowful" (1 Thess. 4. 12). O wondrous pronouncement of the Apostle! In one word, before he even presents his doctrine, he commends the resurrection. For he calls those who are dead "them that are asleep," in order that, by saying they are sleeping, he may declare without doubt that they are to rise again. "Be not," he says, "sorrowful concerning them that are asleep, even as others who have no hope." Let them be sorrowful; but we, who are sons of hope, let us rejoice. And what our hope is, he himself commemorates, saying: "If we believe that Christ died and rose again: even so them who have slept, God will bring through Jesus with him" (1 Thess. 4. 13). For Jesus is to us salvation both here while we live, and life when we depart from here. "To me," says the Apostle, "to live is Christ: and to die is gain" (Philipp. 1. 21). Gain, indeed, because the death that hastens on gives as profit what a longer life possesses.
But now the Apostle describes the order and habit of our hope. "This," he says, "we say to you in the word of the Lord, that we who live, who are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them who have slept: for the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment and with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ into the air: and so shall we be always with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4. 14–16). This is what he says: that when the Lord comes, he will find many Christians in the body who have not yet experienced death; and yet they will not be caught up to heaven before the holy dead have risen from their monuments, awakened by the trumpet of God and the voice of the archangel. But when they have been awakened, joined equally with the living, they will be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and thus they will always reign with him. Nor indeed can it be doubted that bodies, however heavy they may be, can be lifted into the air: since at the Lord's command Peter, having a body itself, walked upon the waves of the sea (Matth. 14. 29). Elias also, for the confirmation of this hope, was caught up to heaven through this air in a chariot of fire (4 Reg. 2. 11).
6. What shall we be after the resurrection? — But perhaps you ask: What shall they be who have risen from the dead? Hear your Lord himself saying: "Then," he says, "the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matth. 13. 43). Why should I mention the splendor of the sun? Since it is necessary that the faithful be transfigured to the brightness of Christ the Lord himself, as the apostle Paul testifies: "Our conversation," he says, "is in heaven: from whence also we look for the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory" (Philipp. 3. 20, 21): this mortal flesh will be transfigured without doubt, conforming to the brightness of Christ, putting on mortal immortality: because "That which was sown in infirmity, shall rise in power" (1 Cor. 15. 43). The flesh will fear corruption no more, will not suffer hunger, nor thirst, nor sicknesses, nor adverse accidents. For it is a safe peace and a firm security of life. Other, indeed, is the celestial glory, where joy without cessation will be provided.
7. More to be desired than lamented, but not to be self-inflicted. — Having this in mind and before his eyes, the blessed Paul said: "I desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better" (Philipp. 1. 23). And still teaching openly: "While we are," he says, "in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith and not by sight. But we are of good courage," he says, "and have a good will to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5. 6-8). What are we to do, men of little faith, who are anxious and faint if any of our loved ones migrates to the Lord? What
do we accomplish, those of us who find more pleasure in a pilgrimage in this world than in being present with Christ? Truly, truly, everything we live is a pilgrimage: for just as strangers in the world, we hold uncertain dwellings, we labor, we sweat, walking difficult paths full of dangers: everywhere traps are set, from spiritual and from bodily enemies A, everywhere the snares of errors are prepared. And since we are hard-pressed by such great dangers, not only do we ourselves not desire to be delivered, but even when they are delivered, we weep and lament them as if they were lost. What benefit has God bestowed upon us through His Only-Begotten, if we still fear the event of death? Why do we boast that we are reborn from water and the Spirit, if a pilgrimage from this world saddens us? The Lord Himself cries out, *If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my minister be* (John 12. 26). Do you think that if an earthly king were to call someone to his palace or banquet, he would not hurry with thanksgiving? How much more should we run to the heavenly King, who will make those whom He receives not only guests, but even co-regents B, as it is written: *If we be dead with him, we shall live also with him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him* (2 Tim. 2. 11-12). And I do not say this so that anyone should lay hands upon himself, or kill himself against the will of God the Creator, or expel his soul from the lodging of his body; but I say this so that he who is glad and rejoicing, whether he himself is called or his neighbor, may both go, and congratulate those who are going. For this is the sum of the Christian faith: to wait for the true life after death, to hope for a return after our departure. Having received, therefore, the voice of the Apostle, let us now with confidence give thanks to God, who has given us the victory against death through Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and power now and for ever and ever. Amen.
SERMON II
1. *The resurrection, whence it is doubtful among unbelievers.* — In my previous little book C, I touched briefly upon the consolation of mortality, and on the hope of resurrection: now we hasten to speak of these same things more fully and more powerfully. If indeed these things which I have spoken are certain to the faithful, yet to the unbelieving and the doubtful they seem to be fables, and to them let us address a few words somewhat strictly. Certainly, whoever you are among the unbelieving, you maintain every doubt regarding the substance of the body. For it is disbelieved by some that the flesh, turned into dust, can rise again, can live again. But as for the soul, no man can doubt: since indeed regarding the immortality of the soul even the philosophers themselves, though they be pagans, do not dissent. For what is death, but a separation of body and soul? For when the soul departs, which always lives, which knows not how to die, because it is of the breath of God, only the body dies: because one thing in us is mortal, the other immortal. But the departing soul, which is not seen by carnal eyes, is received by angels D and placed either in the bosom of Abraham, if it is faithful; or in the custody of the prison of hell, if it is sinful: until the appointed day comes, when it receives its own body, and renders an account of its works before the tribunal of Christ the true judge. Therefore, because the entire hesitation is regarding the flesh, its infirmity must be defended, and its resurrection must be confirmed.
2. *How the dead will rise again.* — If anyone, doubting and incredulous, should ask of me, "How will the dead rise, and with what manner of body will they come?" I will answer him with the mouth and words of the Apostle: *Senseless man, that which you sow is not quickened, unless it first die: and that which you sow, you sow not the grain of wheat or of some other seed* (1 Cor. 15. 36-37), dead and dry without moisture; and when it has rotted, it rises more fruitful, and it becomes clothed with husks, armed with stalks. He therefore who arouses the grain of wheat for your sake, will He not be able to arouse you for His own sake? He who daily arouses the sun as if from the sepulcher of night, and repairs the moon as if from its destruction, and recalls the passing seasons for our benefit: will He not seek us ourselves, for whom He repairs all things, and will He suffer us, whom He kindled with His own breath, whom He animated with His own spirit, to perish once and for all? And will the man who has lovingly known and worshiped Him no longer exist for eternity? But you still doubt, that you can be repaired after death, restored after your ashes and bones are consumed? O man, tell me, what were you before you were conceived in your mother's womb? Nothing at all. God, therefore, who created you from nothing, will He not more easily be able to repair you from something? Believe me, He will more easily be able to remake what already was, who was able to create what was not. He who commanded you to grow from a drop of formless liquid in your mother's womb into nerves, veins, and bones, will be able, believe me, to generate you again from the womb of the earth. But do you fear lest perhaps your dry bones cannot be clothed with their pristine flesh? No, do not, in accordance with your own impotence, estimate the majesty of God. That God, the Creator of all things, who clothes the trees with leaves, and the meadows with flowers, will be able, in the time of spring, to clothe your bones at the resurrection. The prophet Ezechiel himself had doubted this at some point, and being questioned by the Lord whether dry bones would live, which seemed scattered across the field, he answered, *You know, Lord* (Ez. 37. 3). But after, at God's command and by his own prophesying, he saw the bones running to their places and joints, after he saw the dry bones bound with nerves, interlaced with veins, covered with flesh, clothed with skin, afterwards he prophesied in the spirit, and the coming spirit entered into those lying bodies, and they rose again, and soon stood up: thus the prophet, confirmed regarding the resurrection, wrote the vision, so that knowledge of such a great thing might reach posterity.
A Well, therefore, does Isaiah cry out: *The dead shall rise, and those who are in the tombs shall awake, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from thee is health to them* (Isai. 26. 19). For truly, just as seeds moistened by dew germinate and spring up, so shall the bones of the faithful germinate by the dew of the Spirit.
3. *Another argument.* — But you doubt, how can the whole man be restored from small bones? Truly, you yourself waken a great flame from a small spark; shall God not be able to reintegrate the whole of your little body from the small leaven of your ash? For even if you say: Nowhere do the remains of the flesh itself appear; for perhaps they have been consumed by fire, or devoured by beasts: know this first, that whatever is consumed is contained in the bowels of the earth, from where it can again be produced at God's command. For look at yourself: when fire is not apparent, you take a small stone and a little iron, and you strike from the bowels of the stone as much fire as is needed. Since, therefore, through your own industry and wisdom, which God himself has granted to you, you do this—to produce what is not apparent—shall that divine majesty not be able, by its own power, to strike forth those things which meanwhile are not seen? Believe me, God can do all things.
4. *Christ testifies to the future resurrection. Item: the apostles and martyrs, and the mother of the Maccabees.* — Require only this: whether He has promised to effect the resurrection. And when you have learned that it is promised by the testimonies of so many, nay, when you have the most certain caution of Christ the Lord himself, confirmed in faith, cease now to fear death. For he who still fears, disbelieves; and he who disbelieves contracts an incurable sin, because by his incredulity he dares to assert that God is either impotent or certainly a liar. But the blessed apostles do not approve this, nor do the holy martyrs. The apostles, because of this preaching of the resurrection, preach that Christ has risen, and announce that the dead are to be raised in Him, and they refused neither death nor torments nor crosses. If, therefore, *in the mouth of * B *two or three witnesses every word stands* (Matth. 18. 16), how can the resurrection of the dead be called into doubt, when there exist so many and such suitable witnesses, who testify to it with the shedding of their blood? But what of the holy martyrs? Did they have a certain hope of resurrection, or not? If they had not, they would surely not have accepted death through such tortures and punishments as the greatest gain; they were not thinking of present torments, but of the rewards that follow. They knew the saying: *Things which are seen are temporal; but things which are not seen are eternal* (2 Cor. 4. 18). Hear, brethren, an example of virtue. The mother encouraged her seven sons, and she did not lament, but rather rejoiced: she saw her sons being flayed with nails, torn to pieces by iron, fried in a pan; and she did not shed tears, she did not raise up wailings, but anxiously exhorted her sons to tolerance. For she was not, indeed, cruel, but faithful: she loved her sons, not delicately, but strongly. She exhorted her sons to the passion, which she herself also accepted joyfully. For she was secure regarding her own resurrection and that of her sons. Why should I speak of men, why of women, why of boys, why of girls? How they triumphed over this death, how with the greatest speed they passed to the celestial militia! They could certainly have lived for the present if they had wished, because it was placed in their own hands to live by denying Christ, or to die by confessing Him: but they preferred instead to throw away temporal life, and to assume life everlasting, to be excluded from the earth, and to inhabit heaven.
5. *Fear of death is excluded.* — Meanwhile, brothers, what place is there for doubt? Where can the fear of death still reside? If we are children of the martyrs, if we wish to be found their companions, let us not be saddened by death, let us not mourn those dear to us who precede us to the Lord. For if we wish to lament, the blessed martyrs themselves will insult us, and say: O faithful ones! O you who desire the kingdom of God! You who mourn and weep with sadness for your loved ones dying delicately in beds and on pillows, what would you have done if you had seen them being tortured and killed by the Gentiles for the name of the Lord? Or has an example not preceded you? Abraham the patriarch, offering his only son in sacrifice, slaughtered him with the blade of obedience (Gen. 22. 10): nor did he spare him whom he loved with so much affection, so that he might be proved obedient to the Lord. But if you say that he did this because of God's commandment: you also have a commandment, that you should not be sad for those who are asleep. Who, therefore, does not keep the lesser things, when will they keep the greater? Do you not know that a mind which is broken in such things is found reprobate for stronger ones? Who, fearing a stream, ever enters the sea? So, he who laments a loss impatiently, when will he be able to arrive at the contest of martyrdom? For he who is constant and magnanimous in these things, already prepares for himself a step toward better things.
6. *The excellent example of David. Vestments of mourning in grief.* C — Let these things suffice, brothers, for the contempt of death, and for the confirmation of future hope. It remains that I bring forward one example from the ancients, which may provide all consolation, and which I also wish all to hear with patient ears of the heart. David, a great king, bore the illness of his beloved son, whom he loved as his own soul, most impatiently (2 Reg. 12. 16 seqq.): and when human aids were now of no avail, he turned himself to the Lord, having laid aside his royal glory; he sat upon the earth, lay in sackcloth, he did not eat, he did not drink, praying to God for seven days, in case perhaps his son might be granted to him. The elders of his house approached, and as they comforted him, they asked that he might take bread, fearing that perhaps, while he wished the son to live, he himself might fail first. They could not extort, they could not compel; for impatient love is wont to despise dangers themselves. The king lies in the squalor of sackcloth while his son is ill: nor do words provide consolation, nor does the necessity of food even call to him. The mind…
is fed by grief, the heart is restored by sorrow, and the eyes flow with tears instead of drink. In the midst of this, A that which God had decreed occurred: the boy dies. The wife is in mourning; the whole house is in lamentation; they are terrified and anxious as to what might happen. For no one dared to announce to the master that his son was dead, fearing, indeed, that he who was still weeping so impatiently for the living might, if he heard of the dead, put an end to his own life. While the servants were whispering among themselves, while those who were sad were either persuading or forbidding one another to speak, David realized it; he anticipated the messengers, and asked whether his son had breathed out his life. They could not deny it; they indicated the event with tears. There was an unusual commotion, B great expectation and fear that perhaps the pious father might do himself some harm. But King David immediately rose from the sackcloth; he rose cheerful, as if he had heard that his son was safe. He goes to the baths, he washes his small body, he goes to the temple, he worships God, he dines with his friends, having suppressed his sighs, having cast aside all groaning, with a face now cheerful. The household marvels, the friends are stunned by this strange and sudden conversion, C and they finally dare to ask what this meant: that he had grieved so much for his son while he was alive, yet did not grieve for him when he was dead? That man, preeminent in greatness of soul, replied: “It was necessary, while the son was still alive, for me to humble myself, to fast, and to mourn in the sight of the Lord; for there was hope of obtaining a reprieve of his life. But indeed, after the will of the Lord was done, it is foolish and impious to weary the soul with useless lamentation,” saying thus: “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Kings 12:28). Behold an example of greatness of soul and of virtue! If that David, still set under the Law—under that necessity, I do not say license, of lamentation—so separated his mind from irrational mourning, so checked his own sorrow and that of his people: how can we, who are now under grace, under the sure hope of the resurrection, to whom every sorrow is forbidden, with what face do we bewail our dead in the manner of the Gentiles, raising up insane howlings, D acting like revelers of another sort, rending our tunics and baring our breasts, singing empty words and dirges around the body and the tomb of the deceased? Finally, by what reason do we dye our garments black, except to prove ourselves truly faithless and miserable, not only by our tears but also by our clothes? These things are alien, brothers; they are strange, they are not permitted; and even if they were permitted, they would not be fitting. But as for some of our brethren and sisters, even though their own faith and the precept of the Lord make them strong, the opinion of their parents and neighbors weakens and breaks them, lest they be judged stony and cruel if they spare their clothing, if they have not been raving with insane griefs. And how vain this is, how inept, to ponder the opinions of erring men and not to fear lest one fall short of the faith one has received! Why does he who is such not rather learn tolerance? Why does he not learn faith from me, he who is doubtful? For even if such pain of heart is great, he should silently digest his grief and not make it public through the levity of his mind.
7. *On mourning for the dead who are Gentiles, Jews, and catechumens.* I still want to propose one example to correct those who think that the dead ought to be bewailed. Now, the example is from pagan history. There was a certain pagan prince, who had an only son, and one who was loved enough. While he was sacrificing in the Capitol to his idols, through a Gentile error, it is announced to him that that only son had passed away. He did not leave the sacred rites that he was holding in his hands; he did not weep, nor did he sigh at all; but what did he reply? Listen: “Let him be buried,” he said; “for I remember that I begot a mortal son.” See the response, see the virtue of a pagan man, in that he did not even require himself to be expected, or that the son be delivered to burial in his presence. What are we doing, brothers, if at the day of judgment the devil produces this man before Christ and says: “This is my worshiper, whom I deceived with my illusions, so that he would serve blind and deaf idols, to whom I had promised neither resurrection from the dead, nor paradise, nor the kingdom of heaven; this man did not grieve nor groan for the death of his noble only son, nor did he desert my sacred rites at such a message. But your Christians, your faithful, for whom you were therefore crucified and died, so that they might not fear death themselves, but be secure in the resurrection—they not only mourn the dead with voice and habit, but are even ashamed to proceed to the church; some of your own clergy and pastors even interrupt their ministry, occupied with mourning, as if insulting your will? Why? Because those whom you willed, you called from the darkness of the world to yourself.” What shall we be able to answer to these things, brothers? Shall not confusion seize us, when in this part we are found inferior to the Gentiles? And yet the pagan, who knows not God, ought to mourn, who as soon as he dies, proceeds by a straight path to punishment. The Jew ought to be bewailed, who, not believing in Christ, has consigned his soul to perdition. We ought surely to grieve for our catechumens, if, either by their own incredulity or the negligence of their neighbors, they have departed without saving baptism. But he who has been sanctified by grace, signed with faith, proven by his conduct, or secure in his innocence, who departs from this world, is to be beatified, not bewailed; he is to be missed, not mourned; but he is to be missed with moderation, since we know that we ourselves shall follow in the coming times.
8. *What is salutary sorrow.* Therefore wipe away your tears, put an end to your sighs, stifle your groaning, O faithful one, and for this sorrow put on that salutary sorrow which the blessed Apostle reported to be according to God, which is accustomed to produce lasting salvation (2 Cor. 7:10); namely, repentance for crimes committed. Search your own heart, questioning your own conscience, and if you find something to be repented of...