If, then, the apostle, who was a chosen vessel^[1] separated unto the gospel of Christ,^[2] by reason of the pricks of the flesh and the allurements of vice keeps his body and brings it into subjection, lest when he has preached to others he may himself be a cast away;^[3] and yet, for all that, sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin;^[4] if after nakedness, fasting, hunger, imprisonment, scourging and other torments, he turns back to himself and cries, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?^[5] do you fancy that you ought to lay aside apprehension? See to it that God say not some day of you, The virgin of Israel is fallen, and there is none to raise her up.^[6] I will say it boldly: God can do all things, but the virgin who has fallen will not be raised up. He may indeed relieve one who is defiled from the penalty of her sin, but he will not give her a crown. Let us fear lest in us also prophecy be fulfilled, Good virgins shall faint. Notice that it is good virgins who are spoken of, for there are bad ones as well. Whoever looks on a woman, the Lord says, to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.^[7] So that virginity may be lost even by a thought. Such are evil virgins in the flesh, not in the spirit; foolish virgins, who, having no oil, are shut out by the bridegroom.^[8]

Therefore, while there is time, look to the true and eternal salvation, and, since the end of the world is now at hand, out of fear of God turn your minds to God. Let not your powerless and vain dominion in the world over the just and the meek delight you. Remember that in the fields the tares and the darnel have dominion over the cultivated and fruitful corn, and you should not say that evils happen because your gods are not worshiped by us. But you should realize that this is God’s anger, this is God’s censure, so that he who is not recognized for his blessings may at least be recognized for his judgments. Seek God, and your soul shall live. Acknowledge God even though it is late. For Christ advises and teaches this, saying, Now this is everlasting life, that they may know you the only true God and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.^[1] Believe him who by no means deceives. Believe him who has foretold that all these things would come to pass. Believe him who will give the reward of eternal life to those who believe. Believe him who by the fires of Gehenna will inflict eternal punishments on the disbelieving.

When I think of the past tempest and of the present calm, I do not cease to say, Blessed be God, who makes all things and changes them; who has brought light out of darkness; who leads to the gates of hell and brings back; who chastises but does not kill. And this I desire you too to repeat constantly, and never to desist. For if he has benefited us by deeds, what pardon shall we be prepared for, if we do not requite him even by words? Therefore I exhort that we never cease to give him thanks. For if we are grateful for the former benefits, it is plain that we shall enjoy others also which are greater. Let us say, then, continually, Blessed be God, who has permitted us to spread before you in quietness the accustomed table, while he has also granted you to hear our word with assurance of safety! Blessed be God, that we no longer run here or there flying from the danger, but that we only have a desire to hear. Grant that we no longer meet one another with agony or trembling and anxious thoughts but with due confidence, having shaken off all our fear. Our conditions, indeed, on former days was nothing better than that of those who are tossed up and down in the midst of the deep, expecting shipwreck every hour. We were scared all day long by innumerable rumors and disturbed and agitated on every side. We were busy every day and curious to know who had come from the court. What news had he brought? And was what was reported true or false? Our nights too we passed without sleep, and while we looked upon the city we wept over it, as if it were on the eve of its destruction.

I made heaven and earth, he says, and to you I give the power of creation. Make your earth heaven. For it is in your power. I am he who makes and transforms all things, says God of himself. And he has given to people a similar power, as a painter, being an affectionate father, teaches his own art to his son. I formed your body beautiful, he says, but I give you the power of forming something better. Make your soul beautiful. I said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and every fruitful tree.^[1]

What, then, is your opinion about that section of the statement that follows, He brings about rain upon the just and the unjust?^[1] Surely he who gives, gives when he wishes and gives where he wishes, either by arranging the well-ordered nature or by lavishly bestowing his own munificence. And in case you contemplate also casting aside this statement, in keeping with the madness of your impiety, listen to the prophet testifying about this truth: He who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord is his name.^[2]

They take the two sons as types of two peoples, the elder Jewish, the younger Christian. . . . But if I show that the Jew does not fit the type represented by the elder son, it will be admitted, in consequence, that the Christian is not typified by the younger. Admittedly, the Jew is called a son and an elder son since he is first by adoption, and although he resents the Christian’s reconciliation with God his Father (this is a point which our opponents seize upon most eagerly), yet the statement Behold, how many years I serve you and I have never transgressed your commandment^[1] cannot be one which the Jew makes to the Father. For when was Judah not a transgressor of the law? Hearing with the ear and not hearing,^[2] holding in hate him who reproves at the gates and scorning holy speech.

For when a man rules his own self—and that counts for more than to govern others—his heart is in the hand of God, and God turns it where he wills. No wonder if he turns it to the good, perfect goodness is his. And so let us be in the hand of God that we may seek the good, that incorruptible and immutable good of which the prophet Amos says, Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so the Lord God almighty will be with you, as you have said, ‘We have hated evil and loved good.’ And so, where the good God is, there are the good things that David desired to see and believed that he would see, even as he says, I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.^[1] They indeed are the good things that endure always, that cannot be destroyed by change of time or of age.

Let us hurry to him in whom is that highest good, since he is goodness itself. He is the patience of Israel calling you to repentance, so you will not come to judgment but may receive the remission of sins. Repent, he says.^[1] He is the one of whom the prophet Amos cries, Seek you good. He is the highest good, for he needs nothing and abounds in all things. Well may he abound, for in him dwells bodily the fullness of divinity.^[2] Well may he abound, of whose fullness we have all received, and in whom we have been filled, as the Evangelist says.^[3]

It was the old custom that the elders should sit at the gate to make out by judicial trial the quarrels of persons at strife, in order that they should never enter the city at variance and should dwell there in harmony. And hence the Lord says by the prophet, Establish judgment at the gate.

Perhaps we will understand what has been written if we deal with a Gospel text spoken by the Savior, which expresses it in this way: Work while it is day. The night comes when no one can work.^[1] He has named here as this age the day—but of necessity I have added the word here, for I know that in other passages other meanings are revealed—so he has called this age the day, but the darkness and the night the consummation because of punishments. For why do you desire the Day of the Lord? And it is darkness and not light, says the prophet Amos. If you can envision after the consummation of the world what the gloom is, a gloom that pursues nearly all of the race of humans who are punished for sins. The atmosphere will become dark at that time, and no longer can anyone ever give glory to God, since the Word has given orders to the righteous saying, go, my people, enter into your rooms, shut the door, hide yourself for a little season, until the force of my anger has passed away.^[2]

Since there were some buoyed up by audacity and temerity who resisted the prophetic oracles, raging against them, calling the divine pronouncements false and demanding the fulfillment of the prophecies, the Lord declares these people lamentable for longing to see darkness instead of light. Those who long to see the fulfillment of prophecy, he is saying, are no different from a person fleeing an attacking lion and after that running into a bear, or fearfully going into a house and, with one’s soul in the grip of panic, putting a hand on the wall and being bitten by a venomous snake. In other words, as that person on that day sees darkness and not a gleam of light, so these people will be given over to deep darkness on the day of punishment.

I am pierced by one wound and tortured with much grief, the bond of bitterness does not permit the tongue to perform its function, and it is easier to weep than to talk. Lo, one affliction comes upon another affliction and contrition upon contrition, as if a man were to flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him, or howl at being struck by a scorpion, and a snake should bite him, so completely am I dejected and afflicted with the misery of sorrow. I confess, madam, that every time I try to write to you about the passing of our lady Basilla of blessed memory, I am overcome with bitterness and experience a dullness in my mind, a heaviness in my sense and slowness in my tongue, because while I was occupied with grief, my mind was moved by death.

This brings us to a conclusion on another matter of great importance. The observances regarding sacrifices, sabbaths, new moons, and all such things prescribed by the Jewish way of life of that day—they are not essential. Even when they were observed they could make no great contribution to virtue; nor when neglected could they make the excellent person worthless or degrade in any way the sanctity of his soul. People of old, while still on earth, manifested by their piety a way of life that rivals the way the angels live. Yet they followed none of these observances, they slew no beasts in sacrifice, they kept no fast, they made no display of fasting. They were so pleasing to God that they surpassed this fallen human nature of ours and, by the lives they lived, drew the whole world to a knowledge of God.

According to Jeremiah, For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to you fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.^[1] And we hear similarly through Isaiah, ‘To what purpose do you bring me a multitude of sacrifices?’ says the Lord. ‘I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and I will not accept the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and of goats. Nor do you come and appear before me; for who has required these things at your hands? Do not go on to tread my courts any more. If you bring me fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination unto me; your new moons, and your sabbaths, and your great day, I cannot bear them. Your fasts, and your rests, and your feasts, my soul hates them; I am overfull of them.’^[2] And he says by another: Depart from me; the sound of your hymns, and the psalms of your musical instruments, I will not hear. And Samuel says to Saul, when he thought to sacrifice: Obedience is better than sacrifice, and hearkening than the fat of rams. For, behold, the Lord does not so much delight in sacrifice as in obeying him.^[3]

What shall I say to those who worship Astarate or Chemosh, the abomination of the Sidions, or the likeness of a star, a god a little above them to these idolaters, but yet a creature and a piece of workmanship, when I myself either do not worship two of those into whose united name I am baptized, or else worship my fellow servants, for they are fellow servants, even if a little higher in the scale; for differences must exist among fellow servants.