the proclamation of the prophets, whom these men, turning away, do not perceive, having insulted the apostles more than the prophets. A On this account, they insult the New Testament; and again in a second way, by cutting away the greater part of it. Nevertheless, the power of those things which remain in it is so great that it makes the wickedness of these men evident even from the very remnants; for the severed members cry out and wail, seeking harmony with their own members.
5. How, then, shall we prove that one and the same is the Lawgiver of both the New and the Old Testament? From those apostolic words left with them, which, although they seem to involve an accusation against the Law, in fact establish it most strongly, and show it to be a divine oracle coming from above. And this was done by the wisdom of the Spirit, so that those who accuse the Law, being lured by the surface meaning, might—unwillingly and unknowingly—receive the defense written on its behalf: so that, if they should be willing to look toward the truth, they might have the instruction that leads them by the hand; but if they should persist in unbelief, they might receive no further pardon, disbelieving even against their own salvation those whom they claim to believe. Where, then, does the New Testament say that it and the Old have the same Lawgiver? It says so in many places B and often; but we are currently endeavoring to bring forward that passage which still survives even now among the Manichaeans. What, then, is this? "Tell me," it says, "you who desire to be under the Law, do you not hear the Law, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman?" (Gal. IV, 21-22). The heretics heard, "one by the slave-woman," and they immediately leaped upon it; for they thought what was said was an accusation of the Law; and having cut it off from the rest of the sequence, they keep it as if it were pleading their cause. Come, then, let us show from this very passage that there is one Lawgiver. "Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-woman, and one by the free woman; these," it says, "are allegorical." What is it, "are allegorical"? Those things which came to pass in the Old Testament were types of those who have come into the grace. For just as there were two women there, so here there are two Testaments. First, in this, he shows the kinship of the New with the Old, whenever the former things are a type of the latter. For the type C of the truth is not an opposite, but a relative. If the God of the Old Testament were opposed to the God of the New, He would not have been going to prefigure the preeminence of the New Testament through the women. If, however, He did prefigure it, Paul ought not to have used the type. But if they say that he was doing this to condescend to the weakness of the Jews, he ought also, when preaching to the Gentiles, to have introduced Greek types and to have made mention of the events that had occurred among the Greeks. But he did nothing of the sort; and with very good reason. For those things had nothing in common with the truth, but these are oracles of God and Law; wherefore the old things have much kinship with the New Testament.
6. The second argument from the same history. Not a few, having been led by the Old Testament, do not fear. In the first place, therefore, this argument is: the Old Testament is in all ways in harmony with the New. Second—which is no less than this—it is taken from the history itself. For just as then there were two women of one husband, so also now there are two Testaments of one Lawgiver; since, if there were one Lawgiver for the New and another for the Old, he would have introduced the history to no purpose. For the husband of Sarah was not one, and the husband of Hagar another, but one and the same. So that, when he says, "For these are the two D testaments," he is saying nothing other than that they have one Lawgiver, just as those women had one husband, Abraham. "But," he says, "the one was a slave, and the other was free." And what of that? For the time being, the question was whether there is one Lawgiver for both. Let them concede this first, and then we will answer them regarding that. For if you force them to concede this, and they are persuaded, their entire doctrine will vanish. For when the Old Testament is found to be of the same Lawgiver—as it indeed is—the entire dispute we have with them is resolved. But so that this does not trouble you, let us attend exactly to the wording. For he did not say, "The one was a slave, and the other was free"; but, "The one was born into slavery." Yet the one who gives birth into slavery is not necessarily a slave; and the very fact of being born into slavery is not an accusation against the one who gave birth, but against the children who were born. Since they deprived themselves of freedom through their own wickedness, and fell away from their nobility, God disciplined them as ungrateful slaves with continual fear, punishing them with torments and threats. For many fathers [E] even now raise their own children not as sons, but with the fear appropriate to servants; and the accusation is not with the fathers, but with the children who prepared their fathers to use those who are free as though they were slaves. Thus did God also lead that people then with as much fear and punishment as it was fitting to lead an ungrateful servant; but what was occurring was not an accusation of God, nor an accusation of the Law, but of the Jews who were kicking against the goad and had need of a harsher bridle. In the Old Testament itself, therefore, many will be found who were not led in this way, such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and all the others who emulated the philosophy found in the New. For they did not become such as they were through fear and punishment, nor through threat and torment, but through divine love and a burning affection for God. For they did not have need of commands, nor of precepts and laws, in order to choose virtue and avoid wickedness, but like noble and free children, having recognized their own worth, they went over to virtue without any fear and punishment; whereas all the other Jews, since they had inclined toward wickedness, had need of the bridle according to the Law. When, therefore, they made the calf, and worshiped the graven image, then they heard: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one"; because they committed murder, and defiled the wives of their neighbors, then they heard—
A *Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery*, and all the rest likewise. B For it is no accusation against the law that it inflicts punishment and chastisement, and corrects servants as if they were base, but it is a mark of its great excellence, and no ordinary praise, that it was able to deliver those who had fallen into such extreme wickedness from their evils, to soften them and make them obedient, and to pave the way, as it were, for this new philosophy. For the same Spirit was dispensing all things in both the Old and the New Testament, although it did so in different ways. Therefore Paul said: *Having the same Spirit of faith, as it is written, I believed, therefore I have spoken.*
The probity of morals must be joined with the sincerity of faith. C And not only for this did he say "the same Spirit," but also for another cause, not less than the one mentioned, which I wished to bring forward now; but fearing that, being burdened by many things, you might forget what has already been said, I shall reserve it for you for another day, exhorting you in the meantime to store up the whole present discourse in your memory, and to hold it fast, that you may join Christian virtues with the purity of doctrines: *That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work* (II Tim. III, 17): since it will profit us nothing to think rightly, if life meanwhile is corrupted by evil morals: just as, on the other hand, a life without blemish profits nothing, unless sincerity of faith also be added. D Therefore, that we may attain complete utility, let us provide for ourselves on both sides, bringing forth generous fruits in other respects as well: and first of all, alms, concerning which I also spoke to you recently, exercising them with great liberality and readiness. *For he who sows sparingly*, says the Scripture, *shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, shall also reap of blessings* (II Cor. IX, 6). What is, *in blessings*? With great liberality. In secular matters, both the harvest and the sowing are of the same seeds: for he who sows, sows wheat or barley, or something similar, and he who reaps, reaps the same thing; but in alms, it does not happen that way. A But you scatter money, and collect confidence before God: you give money, and you receive the remission of sins: you offer bread and clothing, and for these the kingdom of heaven is prepared for you, and those infinite goods, *which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the heart of man* (I Cor. II, 9): and what is the sum of all good things, you become like God, as far as it is possible for man. For when Christ had discoursed concerning alms and kindness, he subjoined: *That you may be like your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and rains upon the just and the unjust* (Matt. V, 45). You cannot command the sun to rise, nor send forth rain, nor be beneficent to the whole world so widely and far-reaching: use your faculties for beneficence, and you have become like him who commands his sun to rise, in so far as it is permitted for a man to become like God.
[Regarding the idle, Paul does not so much turn them away from benevolence.] B Observe diligently what I say: *Upon the good and the bad*, he says. Therefore you too, as often as you give alms, do not examine the life, nor require an account of morals. For alms, that is mercy, is so called, that we may provide even for the unworthy: for he who shows mercy, does not pity the one who lives correctly, but the one who is begging; for he who lives correctly is worthy of praise and a crown; but he who sins, of pardon and mercy. Therefore in this part too we shall imitate God, if we do not withdraw our kindness even from the wicked. For consider how many blasphemers, criminals, and sorcerers inhabit the world, filled with all vices; yet God feeds even these daily, teaching us that we should embrace all men with beneficence. C But we do all things in the contrary way: for we not only turn away from men who are evil and wicked, but even when any healthy man comes to us, either on account of his probity, or on account of his frankness, or perhaps even on account of his laziness (that I may add this too), living in poverty, we cast reproaches, insults, and countless taunts at him, and we send him away with empty hands, upbraiding his health, objecting his idleness, demanding punishment. Have you been ordered, O man, to rebuke and scold the needy? God commanded you to pity and relieve their poverty, not to demand an account and rail at them. D But do you wish to correct his morals, and to call back an idle man from his sloth to apply himself to some work? Give first, and then at last rebuke, that you may not be suspected of cruelty, but may carry away the praise of kindness. For the pauper turns away from him who, giving nothing, only upbraids, and he bears it ill, and does not even sustain to look at him; and deservedly so. For he thinks that he is not a rebuker because he wishes him well, but because he does not want to give; just as it is in reality. But he who upbraids *after* he has given, makes his upbraiding be received with a willing mind: because he seems to apply the rebuke not on account of inhumanity, but on account of benevolence. So also Paul did; for when he had said: *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat* (II Thess. III, 10), he immediately added: *And you, brethren, doing good, do not fail* (ibid. v. 13). And yet these precepts seem to be contrary. For if it is not proper for the idle to take food, how do you command to do good to such? But they are not contrary: far from it. For I said this, he says, *He who does not wish to work, let him not eat*, not to turn away those who were otherwise about to give from giving alms, but to recall those living in idleness from their laziness. Therefore when he says, *Let him not eat*, he stirs them up to labor, holding them terrified with a threat: but when he says, *Doing good, do not fail*, he excites these to beneficence, moved by useful exhortation. For lest some should withdraw their hands having heard with what threat those are struck, he provokes them to beneficence with these words: *Doing good, do not fail.* Therefore even if you give to an idle man, you have done good. [For when he had said: *If anyone does not obey our words by this epistle, note him, and do not mingle with him* (II Thess. III, 14), and in this way had cast the man out of the Church, again he reconciles him in another way, bringing him back into favor with those from whom he had been ejected: ]
A he says, "Do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." Just as therefore, once he had said, "If anyone is not willing to labor, let him not eat," he commanded the masters to take great care of them again; so too here, once having said, "Do not associate with him," he did not withdraw the hearers from the care of him, but rather exhorted them strongly to take hold of them, adding and saying, "And do not regard him as an enemy, but as a brother." You have been separated from his company, but do not be separated from your guardianship; you have cut him off from the assembly, but do not cut him off from love. For he commanded this very thing to be done out of love, so that by being separated he might become better and return to the rest of the body; since even fathers cast their children out of their own house, not so that they remain outside forever, but so that by having fallen out of the house they might become more sober-minded and return to the house again.
As for those who accuse him of laziness, these things are sufficient. But since there is also another argument, practiced by many as an excuse, which is full of inhumanity and cruelty, it is necessary to refute this too, not so that we may deprive them of an apology, B but so that we may persuade them to lay aside the apology that does not exist and does not profit, and to practice constantly through their deeds that which does exist and can stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What then is this cold and useless apology of the many? I am bringing up children, he says, I manage a household, I support a wife, I have many necessary expenses, because of which I have no means to show mercy to those who approach me. What are you saying? You are raising children, and for this reason you do not show mercy to those who approach you? For these very reasons, you ought to show mercy to the needy—because of your children and their protection—so that from a few funds you may make God, the giver of those children, gracious to you; so that you may leave Him as their protector even after your death; so that you may draw down to them from above much favor from the wealth of those things spent on God. Do you not see that many men possess wealth and are in positions of power, having no relation to them at all, yet they often brought them into their own wills and made them co-heirs with their own children, for no other reason than to secure their own children's possessions with a few funds? And this, without knowing how those who become partners in the inheritance will be disposed toward their children after their own passing. But you, knowing the humanity and kindness and gentleness of your Master, C will you not make Him a partner in your will? Will you not make Him a co-heir of your children? And this, tell me, when you are a father who loves his children? For if you care for the children you have brought forth, leave behind for them a document in which you have God as guarantor. This is the greatest inheritance, this is wealth, this is security. Introduce Him into the inheritance here, so that He may introduce you along with your children into the inheritance there. This is a noble heir, humane, kind, powerful, wealthy, so that there is no room to suspect his partnership.
For this reason, almsgiving is called seed; since the thing is not an expenditure, but an income. But as for you, when it is time to sow, you do not pay attention to the fact that you are emptying your storehouses of old grain, but you pay attention to the harvest of crops not yet present—and this, without knowing that it will come to be. For even blight, and hail, and locusts, and the irregularity of the seasons, and many things thwart our hope for a future harvest; but when you are about to sow into heaven, where all irregularity of the seasons is cast out, and the cause of all grief and plotting is removed, do you hesitate and draw back? And what excuse will you find, when you have confidence while casting into the earth and do so with eagerness, but when you are about to cast into the hand of God, you hesitate and are negligent? For if the earth gives back what has been cast into it, much more will the hand of God give back to you everything you receive with all of its abundance.
D 10. Knowing these things, therefore, let us not pay attention to the expenditure when we give alms, but to the income and to future hopes—and also to the present gain; for almsgiving does not merely procure the kingdom of heaven, but also safety and abundance in the present life. Who says these things? The Lord Himself who gives them. For whoever gives his own to the poor, He says, will receive a hundredfold in this age, and will inherit eternal life (Matt. 19:29). Do you see rewards given in both lives with great abundance? Let us not, therefore, hesitate, nor procrastinate, but let us bring the fruit of almsgiving each day, so that both our present affairs may be carried out according to our mind, and we may attain the life to come; of which may it be granted that we all partake, by the grace and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and power for ever and ever. Amen.
CONCERNING THE SAME WORDS,
"HAVING THE SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH, ACCORDING TO WHAT IS WRITTEN" (2 Cor. 4:13) AND CONCERNING THE FACT THAT ALL REGARDING MONEY AND ALMSGIVING IS COMMON.
1. In the previous assembly, and in the one before that, having taken up one utterance of the Apostle, we spent the whole discourse on its explanation; and today we also strive to spend time again on this same one. We do this intentionally for the benefit of your love, not for our own display. For it is not so that I may show myself to be prolific and deep-thinking, but so that I may reveal to you the wisdom of Paul and stir up your zeal, that I handle the discourse in this way. For the depth of his understanding appears greater when he brings forth such rivers of thoughts for us from a single utterance; you, having learned that it is possible to reap a wealth of philosophy from a single apostolic phrase, will not pass over the Epistles simply, but will be led forward, nourished by these hopes, to examine each of the assigned sayings with great diligence.
A If, then, those who dig in mines for gold—even if they have exhausted a great wealth of it—do not depart therefrom until they have removed all the gold, much more is it incumbent upon us to apply the utmost alacrity and diligence in the search of the divine oracles. For we too are digging for gold, not a perceptible, but a spiritual one; for we do not labor in the mines of the earth, but in the mines of the Spirit. For the Epistles of Paul are mines and fountains of the Spirit: mines, because they offer us wealth more precious than any gold; fountains, because they never fail, but however much you exhaust them, just as much and much more flows forth again. B And the whole time that has elapsed can clearly demonstrate this. For since Paul lived, five hundred years have now passed, and in all this time many, both commentators and teachers and interpreters, have often drawn out many things many times from there, yet they have not been able to empty the riches stored within. For this treasure is not perceptible, and therefore it is not consumed by the many hands of those digging, but is increased and multiplied. And why do I speak of those who were before us? How many are going to speak after us, and others after them, yet the riches, gushing like a fountain, will not fail, nor will this type of mine be exhausted; for they are spiritual, and by their own nature can never be wholly consumed. What then is that apostolic saying? *Having the same Spirit of faith, according to that which is written: I have believed, therefore have I spoken.*
C But since we are asking why he said, *The same Spirit of faith*, and we have already briefly brought forward the reason—namely, this one: to show the consistency of the Old and New Testaments. For when it is found that the same Spirit of faith moved the tongue of David, saying, *I have believed, therefore have I spoken* (Ps. CXV. 10), and also worked in the soul of Paul, it is sufficiently evident that there is a great kinship between the prophets and the apostles, and thus it necessarily follows that there is a great consistency between the Old and New Testaments. But lest we be troublesome to you by repeating the same things, come, let us also bring forward another reason why he said, "The same." For we had already promised another reason for this saying. But it is necessary that you be awakened; for the thought I am about to tell your charity is deep, and it requires a discerning mind and a sharp wit; wherefore I beseech you to listen to what must be said with the utmost attention. It is your gain, but our toil; or rather, it is a gift of the grace of the Holy Spirit, by whose revelation of secrets neither he who speaks nor he who hears grows weary; for great ease follows upon revelation. Let us therefore listen with diligence; for although we follow the greater part with our ears, if you doze off even a little, once the thread is broken, you will know nothing of the whole. And just as to those who do not know the way and need a guide, if they follow him for a long time but through negligence lose sight of him even for a little, it is of no use to have followed him thus far, but they stand still, not knowing in which direction to proceed; so even those who follow the speaker with their mind, even if they have imbibed his teaching attentively, if they listen even for a little while inattentively, with the whole chain lost, they cannot reach the end of the thoughts. Lest this happen to you, attend to all that we are about to say with equal care, until we arrive at the end.
D Having said, then, why he says, *Having the same Spirit of faith*, wishing to show that the faith of both Testaments is the same and the mother of all good things, let us take up our discourse from a little higher point. For so will the cause appear to us more clearly. What, then, is this cause? A great war surrounded the faithful when these things were being said; a war, I say, grave and without any truce. For entire cities and peoples had risen up against them on all sides, and all tyrants were laying snares, and kings were preparing war against them; weapons were being moved, swords sharpened, armies arrayed, and all kinds of punishments and tortures were being devised; thence came the looting of property and confiscations, and daily imprisonments and deaths, tortures, chains, fire, iron, wild beasts, gallows, wheels, abysses, precipices, and whatever could be devised for the destruction of the faithful; and the war did not even contain itself within these bounds. For it was not only incited by enemies, but nature itself was irritated against itself. For fathers were laying snares for their children, and daughters had mothers for their enemies, and friends turned away from friends, and this war secretly insinuated itself into kinships and families, and there was a great tumult throughout the entire habitable world. And just as a ship, with waves rising, clouds meeting, thunder crashing, gloom surrounding the hull on all sides, the sea raging, wild beasts raging, pirates attacking, and the passengers themselves in conflict among themselves, can by no means escape unless the heavenly right hand, that great and powerful one, having dispelled the danger and calmed the storm, leads the voyagers into tranquility; so also it happened then among the beginnings of the preaching. For they were not only struck by external storms, but they also often labored within from sedition. Who says this? Paul himself, writing thus: *Without, fightings; within, fears* (2 Cor. VII. 5). And that this is true, and that teachers as well as disciples were surrounded by countless evils, and that this war had been waged equally through all, I again bring Paul himself as a witness. Your part, however, is to remember all these things that I say, so that, having known the perils and temptations, and all the adversities which the faithful of that time endured, you may render all the greater thanks to God, who put an end to all those calamities, and having averted the war, fashioned a most tranquil peace for us; so that no one might escape the punishment of sloth, nor be puffed up on account of a life rightly lived. Hence it is, if you stand generously though attacked from every side and overwhelmed by countless adversities, just as if you were now sitting in a harbor, and possessing a confident spirit in the utmost security. For their condition was no better than those who are tossed by a troubled sea; we, however, live more securely than those who have been brought into port
Let us not, therefore, grow haughty over our successes, nor collapse under the temptations that befall us, nor let us misuse this rest and peace as an excuse for sloth; rather, let us be ever sober and vigilant. For we too have a struggle against the desires of our nature. It is not men who rise up against us now, but the pleasures of the flesh; it is not tyrants and kings who make war, but anger, the lust for vainglory, envy, malice, and the myriad passions of the soul. Since, then, we have been delivered 284 from those early temptations, let us overcome these. For this reason I have reminded you of the hardships of those times, so that he who is currently in affliction may receive sufficient consolation from it, and he who enjoys great security may, in place of the lack of trials, bring great fervor into the battle against perverse thoughts. For all those things were written for our admonition, consolation, and endurance; and it is necessary now to tell you of them, and to teach you the magnitude of the evils that surrounded the faithful in those days—not only the teachers, but the disciples as well. Hear, then, what Paul says while writing to the Hebrews: *Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions* (Heb. 10:32). For not even a short time had passed; but in the very prelude to their instruction and teaching, temptations rose up against them, and immediately upon being baptized they were in danger; and what were they suffering? *Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions* (Ibid. v. 33). For everyone spat upon them, insulted them, mocked them, ridiculed them, calling them fools and senseless, because they had departed from their ancestral way of life and embraced a new doctrine. This is no small thing to shake a soul, if the faith is not deeply rooted. For nothing bites the soul so much as reproach; nothing so wastes away the soul and mind as taunts and calumnies; for many men have often been tripped up by being reproached. I am saying this now so that we may hold our faith with confidence. For if then, when the whole world was reproaching them, they were not tripped up, much more now ought we to hold the preaching of the truth with confidence, when the whole world has changed sides to be with us.
And that those men did not stop at accusations, reproaches, and calumnies, but that those who suffered these things actually rejoiced, hear what follows. *For ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods* (Ibid. v. 34). You see that their possessions were being confiscated in ancient times, and were set before everyone for plunder by those who wished to oppress them. These things he said while writing to the Hebrews.
[5.] But to the Thessalonians he testifies other such things again, saying: *For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews* (1 Thess. 2:14). Behold a war, but a civil war, which makes the pain greater. For if an enemy had reproached me, I could have borne it, he says; but it was you, a man of another soul, my guide and my acquaintance; which is what happened symbolically at that time. Therefore they were in need of much consolation. Seeing this, and beholding those under him suffering and sweating, weighed down by the magnitude of their calamities and pained by the relentless blows, Paul rouses their spirits in many ways: sometimes saying, *It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us* (2 Thess. 1:6, 7); at another time saying, 283 *The Lord is at hand; be careful for nothing* (Phil. 4:5, 6); and again, *Cast not away therefore your confidence; for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise* (Heb. 10:35, 36). Then, inciting them to patience, he adds: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry* (Ibid. v. 37). And just as someone sitting near a crying, fretful child who is seeking its mother consoles it by saying, "Wait yet a little while, and your mother will surely appear," so Paul, seeing those who believed at that time distressed, lamenting, and seeking the presence of Christ because of the unbearable infliction of evils, consoled them by saying: *For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry*. That they were suffering terrible things, and were driven about on every side like lambs caught in the midst of wolves, is clear from these accounts. But in order that you may learn that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather things much more grievous at that time (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the masses), [6. The teachers themselves were more grievously afflicted.] Thus, what the disciples were suffering, and the many evils they were undergoing, were like lambs being persecuted on all sides in the midst of wolves, and it is evident from these things that—but that you may know that the teachers were enduring things no less than these, but rather much more grievous things (for the more they grieved the enemies of the truth, the more they were infested by the majority), D
let us also hear this from the same person who taught the previous things. Writing to the Corinthians, he speaks thus: *Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in insurrections, in labors, in watchings, in fastings* (II Cor. VI, 3-5). Do you see how many struggles he enumerated, how many temptations? Writing to them again, he says: *Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more,* as if to say that it is much more excellent to suffer affliction for Christ than to work wonders; and bringing forward the proof of his apostleship, and showing that he is to be preferred to others—not to the apostles, but to the false apostles—he does not argue from miracles performed by himself, but from the constant dangers in which he moved, writing in this manner: *In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without* (II Cor. XI, 23-28). These are the true marks of apostleship. For others often performed wonders, and it did not profit them to have performed them, but after all those things they heard: *Depart from me, ye that work iniquity* (Matt. VII, 23). But no one of those who can recount the same things as Paul is ever going to hear that voice; rather, with great confidence he will ascend to heaven and will enjoy all the heavenly goods.
The Master: But do not be anxious; I have not forgotten the promise, but I will return to it immediately. We have not pursued these things with a longer discourse in vain, but that we might confirm our doctrine more certainly and clearly with a more prolific apparatus of words, and at the same time might console the souls of the afflicted, so that as many as are caught in dangers and temptations might depart having found suitable consolation, knowing that they are made companions of Paul through these afflictions, or rather, indeed, of the Lord of the angels himself. For whoever is a participant of his afflictions in this life will also be a participant of his glory in that life; for he says: *If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together* (Rom. VIII, 17); and again: *If we suffer, we shall also reign with him* (II Tim. II, 12). For it is absolutely necessary that the race of the faithful be pressed by afflictions: *For all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution* (II Tim. III, 12); and again: *My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation; make not haste in the time of trouble, and be patient* (Ecclus. II, 1-2). Are these fine promises, to fall immediately from the beginning into temptations? By no means; rather, it is an excellent exhortation and a signal consolation of that servitude, to taste dangers immediately. They are clearly excellent and at the same time admirable, and bring the greatest gain. What is that gain? Hear what follows: *For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of temptation* (Ecclus. II, 5). Take what he says thus: just as gold assayed by fire is rendered purer, in like manner also the soul that spends its time among afflictions and dangers emerges more cheerful and splendid through them, and wipes away every stain of sin. Hence it is that Abraham said to that rich man: *Lazarus received his evil things: but now he is comforted* (Luke XVI, 25). And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: *For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world* (I Cor. XI, 30-32). And he even delivered that fornicator for this cause unto the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved (I Cor. V, 5), showing that salvation is perfected by present temptation, and that dangers are the greatest purgation of the soul for those who undergo them with thanksgiving. So, that the faithful endured afflictions, and that both disciples and teachers endured countless calamities, and did not breathe even for a minimum time, being surrounded on all sides by wars of every kind, this our discourse has sufficiently declared, and those who are diligent can collect more also from the holy Scriptures.
Let us bring the discourse back to the matter at hand. But what had we proposed to say? For what reason did Paul say, *Having the same spirit of faith*? Why, then, did he say it? It troubled the disciples that they experienced heavy things in the present life, but conceived good things only in hope, and the former were already present, while the latter were far off; the former were already occurring, the latter were still being hoped for. What wonder if this happened to some at the beginning of the preaching, when now, after such a length of time, after the preaching has been propagated in the whole world, after so many certain arguments for the promises, the same thing is still wont to happen to many?
In the Old Testament rewards were received in this life. — Nor did this alone terrify them, but also something else, and that not less. What is this? They thought within themselves that in the Old Testament human affairs were not dispensed in this way, but that whoever had preferred a just and temperate manner of living received the rewards of virtue immediately. For they were not promised that all these things would be fulfilled after the resurrection of the body, nor in the future life, but here in the present life. For it says: *If thou shalt love the Lord thy God, it shall be well with thee, and the Lord will multiply the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep; there shall not be among you one that is fruitless, neither shall there be among you one that is sterile; there shall not be among you languor or sickness* (Deut. VII, 12-14); he will open the heavens, and he will give thee early and latter rain. The harvester will overtake the vintage, and the vintage...