THE SAME: LONGER RULES
PROEMIUM TO THE LONGER RULES
1. A Since, by the grace of God, we have come together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we who have set before ourselves one and the same goal of life according to godliness, B and since you yourselves clearly manifest a desire to learn something of those things which pertain to salvation, there lies upon me a necessity to announce the justifications of God, mindful night and day of the Apostle who says: "For three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears" (Acts xx, 31). And since the present time is most suitable, and this place offers silence and is entirely free from external disturbances, let us pray together that we may indeed, in due time, give to our fellow servants their measure of wheat; and that you, having received the word, like good soil, may yield a perfect and manifold fruit of righteousness, as it is written (Matth. xiii, 23). B I beseech you, therefore, by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins (Tit. ii, 14), let us at long last be solicitous for our souls; let us grieve over the vanity of our past life; let us contend for the things to come, for the glory of God, and of Christ himself, and of the adorable and holy Spirit. Let us not remain in this sloth and dissolution, nor, by wasting the present time through constant laziness and postponing the beginning of our works until the morrow and the time following, be caught at last by Him who demands our souls, found unprepared for good works, and be excluded from the joy of the bridal chamber, and bewail in vain and uselessly, then lamenting the time of life spent ill
when there will be no more room for those who repent. Now is the acceptable time, says the Apostle, now is the day of salvation. This is the age of repentance, that of recompense; this of endurance, that of consolation. Now God is the helper of those who turn from the evil way, then He will be the fearful and inexorable examiner of human deeds and words and thoughts. Now we enjoy His longsuffering, then we shall know His righteous judgment, when we shall arise, some to eternal punishment, and others to eternal life, and each shall receive according to his own work. Why do we delay for a time our obedience to Christ, who has called us to His own heavenly B kingdom? Shall we not become sober? Shall we not call ourselves back from our customary way of life to the strictness of the Gospel? Shall we not set before our eyes that fearful and manifest day of the Lord, in which those who, through their works, have approached the right hand of the Lord will be received by the kingdom of heaven, but those who, because of their want of good works, have been cast to the left, the fire of Gehenna and eternal darkness will envelop? There, he says, will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
2. We say that we desire the kingdom of heaven, yet we take no care for those things by which it can be attained; nay, even though we undergo no labor for the fulfilling of the Lord's commandment, we vanity-struck fools nevertheless think that we are to receive the same C honors and rewards as those who have resisted sin even unto death. Who, sitting at home or sleeping during seedtime, has filled his bosom with sheaves when the harvest has come? Who has gathered grapes from a vineyard neither planted nor cultivated by him? Theirs are the fruits, whose are the labors; to those who have conquered are the rewards and crowns awarded. Who will ever crown one who did not even gird himself against the adversary? Since it is required not only to win, but also to compete lawfully, according to the Apostle; this means that one must not neglect even the smallest jot of what has been ordained, but must perform each thing just as we have been commanded. D For, he says, blessed is that servant whom when the Lord comes He shall find doing, not just anything, but doing so; and, If you offer correctly, but do not divide correctly, you have sinned. But we, thinking we have fulfilled one of the commandments—for I would not say that we have done it, since all are connected one to another—
according to the sound purpose of the Word, so that when one is released, it is necessary for the others to be released as well—we do not A await wrath for the things omitted, but we expect rewards for the thing supposedly accomplished. A person who has been entrusted with ten talents and holds back one or two, while having paid back the rest, is not recognized as grateful for the repayment of the greater part, but is convicted as unjust and greedy for the theft of the lesser amount. What do I say theft? Since the one who was entrusted with one talent, and then gave back that very thing whole and entire, is condemned because he did not add to what had been given. He who has honored his father for ten years, but then later inflicts upon him a single blow, is not honored as a benefactor, but is condemned as a parricide. Go, says the Lord, B make disciples of all nations, teaching them, not to observe some things while neglecting others, but to observe all things that I have commanded you. And the Apostle writes in accordance with this: Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry might not be blamed, but in all things commending ourselves as ministers of God. For if all things were not necessary for the goal of salvation, none of the commandments would have been written down at all, nor would it have been ordained that all of them must necessarily be kept. What profit is it to me to have done other things correctly, if, by calling my brother a fool, I am to be liable to the hell of fire? For what is the profit of freedom from many things to one who is mastered by one thing in slavery? For he who does, he says, sin, is a slave of sin. And what is the gain of being free from many passions C if one’s body is being corrupted by a single passion?
3. But perhaps someone will say, do those Christians who do not keep all the commandments keep some of them uselessly and without fruit? For this it is helpful to remember the blessed Peter, who after so many great achievements, and having been pronounced blessed, heard about one single event: If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. I omit saying that this was not a sign of laziness nor of contempt, but was an expression of honor and reverence. And indeed, someone might say, it is written: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved;” so that D the mere calling upon the name of the Lord is sufficient to save the one who calls.
A But let him also hear the Apostle saying: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” And if you believe, hear the330 Lord saying: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” For indeed, even one who performs the will of the Lord, if it is not done as God wishes, nor done with the disposition of love toward God, performs his work in vain, according to the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who said: “They do [it] to be seen by men; amen I say to you, they have received their reward.” Wherefore the Apostle Paul was taught to say: “If I distribute all my goods for the food of the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I am profited nothing.”
I see in general these three distinctions of disposition by which we are compelled by a certain inevitable necessity to obey. For either we turn away from evil through fear of punishment, and B are in a servile disposition; or, seeking the fruits of reward, we fulfill the commandments for our own benefit, and in this way become like hired servants; or, for the sake of the good itself, and out of love toward Him who gave us the law, we rejoice that we have been counted worthy to serve so glorious and good a God, and thus we are in the disposition of sons. Therefore, neither does he who fulfills the commandments in fear, and who always suspects punishment for sloth, perform certain things that have been commanded to him while neglecting others; but he will suspect that the vengeance for every act of disobedience is equally to be feared by him. And for this reason, he is called blessed who fears all things out of reverence; yet he stands firm in the truth, being able to say: “I foresaw the Lord always before my face, that he is at my right hand, that I might not be moved,” as one who desires to omit nothing of what is required; and, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord.” For what reason? Because “in his commandments he shall greatly delight.” C Therefore, it is not for those who fear to omit anything of what has been commanded, or to do it negligently; indeed, not even a hired servant would choose to violate any of the things that have been prescribed. For how will he receive the reward for the cultivation of the vineyard if he has not kept all the agreements? For even if one of the necessary things is missing, he has made himself useless to the owner. Who, furthermore, would pay a reward for loss to one who causes injury? The third ministry was that which is performed out of love. Who then is a son, the goal D
of whom is to please his father, who would wish to sadden him by sorrows over matters of minor importance? And this he will do even more if he remembers the Apostle, who says: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed A.
4. Who, then, are they who wish to be counted in the number of those who violate the greater part of the commandments? They who neither worship God as a Father with their obedience, nor have faith in Him as one who promises great things, nor serve Him as a Lord. For if I am a Father, He says, where is my glory? And if I am a Lord, where is my fear B? For he who fears the Lord will delight greatly in His commandments; but by the transgression of the law, he says, you dishonor God. How then, if we prefer a life of pleasure to a life led according to the commandment, do we promise ourselves the blessedness of life, and the equal right of citizenship with the saints, and the joys with the angels in the sight of Christ? It is the mark of a truly foolish mind to imagine such things. How shall I be with Job, I who have not even received the slightest trouble with thanksgiving? How with David, I who have not behaved with long-suffering toward an adversary? How with Daniel, I who have not sought God with constant abstinence and diligent prayer? How with each of the saints, I who have not walked in their footsteps? What arbiter of contests is so devoid of judgment as to deem worthy of equal crowns the victor and the one who has not struggled at all? What commander ever distributed an equal share of the spoils to those who won the victory and to those who did not even appear at the battle? God is indeed good, but He is also just. The action of a just one is a recompense according to merit, as it is written: Do good, O Lord, to the good and to those who are upright in heart. But those who turn aside to crooked paths, the Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity C. He is merciful, but also a judge. For the Lord, he says, loves mercy and judgment. Therefore he says: I will sing of mercy and judgment to Thee, O Lord. We have learned for whom the mercy is intended; for blessed, he says, are the merciful, for they themselves shall obtain mercy. Do you see how considerately He uses mercy? He is neither merciful without judgment, nor does He judge without mercy. For the Lord is merciful and just. Let us not, therefore, know God only by half, nor let His loving-kindness be an occasion for us to be slothful. For this reason there are thunderclaps, for this reason there are lightning bolts, that goodness may not be held in contempt D. He who makes the sun to rise, also condemns blindness. He who gives the rain...
also causes fire to fall. The former A signify clemency, the latter severity; let us either love God for the sake of the former, or fear Him for the sake of the latter, that it may not be said to us: *Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and patience, and long-suffering; not knowing that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath* (Rom. II, 4, 5).
Since, therefore, it is neither possible to be saved without performing the works to be accomplished according to God’s commandment, nor without danger to pass over any of those things which have been enjoined—for it is a terrible arrogance for us to set ourselves up as judges of the Lawgiver, approving some laws B and rejecting others—come then, let us, who have entered into the stadium of piety, and who have embraced a quiet life remote from worldly business as an aid to guarding the dogmas of the Gospel, apply common care and counsel, so that nothing of the commandments may escape us. For if the man of God must be perfect, as it is written, and as the discourse has shown in the preceding arguments, it is absolutely necessary for him to be perfected and completed in every commandment up to the *measure of the age of the fulness of Christ* (Ephes. IV, 13), especially since, according to the divine law, even an animal that is unblemished, if it be mutilated, is not acceptable as a sacrifice to God.
Therefore, whatever anyone thinks he lacks, let him propose it for general C examination. For what lies hidden may be more easily found by the diligent search of many, through the obvious help of God, as our Lord Jesus Christ promised, being the author to us of the discovery of the thing sought, by the teaching and admonition of the Holy Spirit. As, therefore, the necessity is laid upon me, and *woe to me if I preach not the gospel* (I Cor. IX, 16); so also an equal danger hangs over you, if you seek sluggishly, or have been affected too languidly and remissly toward the observing and actual accomplishment of the things that have been delivered. For this reason the Lord says: *The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day* (Joan. XII, 48). And again: *The servant D who knew not the will of his Lord, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few; but he who knew, and did not, or did not prepare himself for His will, shall be beaten with many* (Luc. XII, 47). Let us pray, therefore, that I may dispense the word blamelessly, and that you may receive the teaching profitably. As, therefore, we know that the words of the divine Scripture are to be set before us at the judgment seat of Christ (*For I will reprove thee, He says, and set thy sins before thy face*),
A and thus let us attend diligently to what is said, and let us give sedulous effort to carrying out the divine instructions, since we do not know on what day or at what hour our Lord is coming.
CHAPTERS OF THE LONGER RULES
1. On the order and sequence of the Lord’s commandments. 2. On the love of God, and that the inclination and power to carry out the Lord’s commandments are naturally in men. 3. On the love of one’s neighbor. 4. On the fear of God. B 5. On the continuous attention of the mind. 6. That it is necessary to live in seclusion. 7. That one’s life should be spent with those who are moved by the same spirit to set themselves to please God: and that it is both difficult and dangerous to live as a solitary. 8. On renunciation. 9. That no one ought to leave their property to their blood relatives. 10. Who of those approaching to live according to God are to be admitted, and when, or how. 11. On slaves. 12. How married persons should be admitted. 13. That the practice of silence is also useful for those who are being introduced. C 14. On those who have dedicated themselves to God, and then attempt to make their profession void. 15. On the receiving and upbringing of children: and on the profession of virgins. 16. On self-control. 17. That one ought to refrain even from laughter. 18. That all things set before us must be tasted. 19. What the measure of self-control is. 20. What is the manner of reception when taking food. 21. How one ought to act while sitting and reclining at the time of mid-day and evening meals. 22. What garment is becoming to a Christian. D 23. On the girdle. 24. On the manner in which they ought to live together. 25. That the superior who does not rebuke those who sin is about to undergo a fearful judgment.