Did not confession deliver the king of the Babylonians when he had been condemned after so many sins of idolatry? And what is it that the Lord says? Shall he who has fallen not arise, and shall he who has turned away not return?

Immediately, on your return, the robe shall be put on you. The ring will adorn you. Your Father’s embrace again shall receive you.^[1] Behold, he says, I do not wish the death of the sinner as much as I prefer that he turn about and live.^[2] And again he says, Shall he who has fallen not arise, and shall he who has turned away not return? The apostle states, God has the power to make him stand.^[3]

God is indeed good to everyone, but he shows his patient endurance especially to those who sin. If you want to hear a paradoxical statement—paradoxical because it is not customary but true for the great piety it reveals—listen. God always seems to be severe to the righteous. But he seems good to sinners and quick to clemency. He restores the one who sinned and fell, and he tells him, Shall not he who falls get up? Or the one who turns away, shall he not turn back again? And Why did the stupid daughter of Judah turn away with a shameless revolting? And again, Return to me, and I will return to you.^[1]

The very thing I said in the beginning, I say now, that both of these cause us to betray our salvation: placing our courage in our goodness and losing our hope to wickedness. This is why Paul, to protect those who remain in goodness, said, Let any one who thinks that he stand take heed in fear that he fall.^[1] And again: I am afraid that, after preaching to others, I myself should be disapproved.^[2] In order to lift up those who are found fallen in wickedness and to excite them to greater readiness, he bore testimony to the Corinthians. He wrote to them, I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented.^[3] In this way, he revealed that the sinners do not deserve equal pity with the unrepentant. And the prophet said to them, Shall not he that falls arise, or he that turns away, shall he not turn back again? Hence, as long as the today is said let us not despair but have good hope in the Master. Let us recognize the vast sea of his philanthropy.

Have the strength to rise up from the earth. Remember the good Shepherd and how he will pursue and deliver you. And if there are but two legs or the tip of an ear,^[1] leap back from him who has wounded you. Remember the compassion of God, how he heals with olive oil and wine.^[2] Do not despair of salvation. Recall the memory of what has been written: how he who falls rises again, and he who is turned away turns again. He who has been smitten is healed, and he who is caught by wild beasts escapes. He who confesses is not rejected. The Lord does not wish the death of the sinner but that he return and live.^[3] Do not have contempt for yourself, like one who has fallen into the depths of sin.

Is it not strange that others do not even now despair of your salvation? They instead are continually praying that they may have their member restored to them. However, while they pray, you yourself, having once fallen, are unwilling to get up again and remain prostrated. You all but cry aloud to the enemy: Slay me, smite me, spare not. Does he who falls not rise up again? so speaks the divine oracle. But you strive against this and contradict it. If one who has fallen despairs, it is as much as to say that he who falls does not rise up again. I entreat you. Do not do so great a wrong to yourself. Do not pour on us such a flood of sorrow. I do not say this merely at the present time when you have not yet completed your twentieth year. But I would entreat you, even if after achieving many things and spending your whole life in Christ, you had experienced this attack. Even then, in extreme old age, it would not have been right to despair. But call to mind the robber who was justified on the cross. The laborers who came the eleventh hour and received the wages of the whole day.

Pray without ceasing on behalf of other people. There is always hope for the repentance that they may attain before God. For cannot he who falls arise again, and he who goes astray return? Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be therefore the ministers of God and the mouth of Christ. For thus says the Lord, If you take forth the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth.^[1] Be humble in your earnest prayers. While they go astray, stand steadfast in the faith.

It is worth our while observing, in what way his sin was forgiven, and how he put away his fault. The event may prove of no slight benefit to us. He did not then defer his repentance. Nor was he careless about it, for as rapid as was his decent into sin, so quick were his tears because of it. Nor did he merely weep, but he wept bitterly. As one who had fallen, so bravely did he spring up again. He knew that the merciful God somewhere says by one of the prophets, Shall not he that falls arise? And he that backslides, shall he not return? In returning, therefore, he did not miss the mark, for he continued to be what he had been before, a true disciple.

Just as there is no illness that is incurable for our physician, so the heavenly medicine cannot be powerless in any wound or for any length of time. Therefore, the physician testifies that he is always able to restore health to the one converted. He says, In returning and rest, you shall be saved.^[1] Hence God, through Jeremiah, does not cease to reprove the hardheartedness of certain ones. Instead he says in this way: When people fall, do they not get up again? If they go astray, do they not turn back? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They have held fast to deceit. They have refused to return. God does not punish the sins in the sinner, if the neck of the sinner is not stiffened.

Those then who perish, perish against his will. This he testifies against each one of them day by day: Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel? And again: How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, but you would not.^[1] And: Why has this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? They have hardened their faces and refused to return. The grace of the Christ then is at hand every day. For it wills all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.^[2] It calls all without any exception, saying, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.^[3]

They have all abandoned him. There is no one who speaks well and does penance for his sins. They follow their own wills like a horse ready for battle. They bend their tongue as a bow.^[1] They invent everything, and there is no truth in them.

It was exceedingly right to admire the consideration of our Lawgiver. He could have brought forward his illustration from among people. He could have spoken of Moses, Elijah, John, and others like them. But, so that he might touch them more to the quick, he made mention of the irrational beings. For had he spoken of those righteous men, these would have been able to say, We have not yet become like them. But now by passing them over in silence and bringing forward the fowls of the air, he has cut off from them every excuse. Therefore, he imitates in this place also the old law. Yes, for the old covenant likewise looks to the bee, to the ant, to the turtle and to the swallow.

Jeremiah also says, in like manner: The turtle and the swallow have known her time, and the sparrows of the field have observed the times of their coming, but my people have not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The meting out is in vain. The scribes are deceived and confounded. The wise men are dismayed and taken, for they have rejected the word of the Lord. Therefore (as I had begun to say), when God had determined to send to people a teacher of righteousness, he commanded him to be born again a second time in the flesh and to be made in the likeness of humankind himself, to whom he was about to be a guide, and companion and teacher. But since God is kind and merciful to his people, he sent him to those very persons whom he hated,^[1] that he might not close the way of salvation against them forever but might give them a free opportunity of following God, that they might both gain the reward of life if they should follow him (which many of them do and have done) and incur the penalty of death by their fault if they should reject their King.

What is a holy title without merit but an ornament set in the mud? The Holy Scriptures have testified to this in writing: A golden ring in a swine’s snout, a woman fair and foolish.^[1] And in us the title Christian is like a golden ornament. If we use it unworthily, we seem to be swine with an ornament. . . .

For this reason, our God spoke elsewhere about the Hebrew people to the prophet, saying, Call his name, Not Beloved. And again to the Jews, You are not my people, and I am not your God.^[2] But he showed clearly elsewhere why he said this about them, for he said, They have forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters.^[3] And again: For they have cast away the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them.

The time spoken about has come to our people. There is peace in the world and, at the same time, ruin is weighing us down from the enticement of the world—the destruction of the reckless people whom you have torn into schism. Either obey the law of the city, or leave it. You see the speck sticking in our eyes and do not even notice the beam in your own. A treacherous peace is coming to you. Persecution is rife although the wounds are hidden, and thus, without slaughter, you are destroyed. War is waged in secret because, in the midst of peace, scarcely one of you has exhibited even a hint of caution. O badly fortified and foretold for slaughter, you praise a treacherous peace—a peace that will do you more harm than good. Having become the soldiers of another than Christ, you have perished.

Do not believe the false prophets who say, Peace, peace, and there is no peace; who are always repeating, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish things; they have not laid bare your iniquity that they might call you to repentance—those who devour God’s people like bread have not called on God.^[1] Jeremiah announced the captivity and was [punished] by the people.^[2] Hananiah, the son of Azzur, broke the bars of wood for the present but was preparing bars of iron for the future. False prophets always promise pleasant things, and please for a fee. Truth is bitter, however, and those who preach it are filled with bitterness. For with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth the Lord’s Passover is kept, and it is eaten with bitter herbs.

But what can I do, I who can only wish for peace and have no power to bring it about? Even though the wish may win its reward with God, its futility must still sadden one who cherishes it. When the apostle said, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all,^[1] he knew quite well that the realization of peace depends on the consent of two parties. The prophet truly cries, They say Peace, peace: and yet there is no peace. To overthrow peace by actions while professing it in words is not hard. To point out its advantages is one thing, and to strive for it another. People’s speeches may be all for unity, but their actions may in fact enforce bondage. I wish for peace as much as any one else; and not only do I wish for it, I ask for it. But the peace that I want is the peace of Christ; a true peace, a peace without rancor, a peace that does not involve war, a peace that will not reduce opponents but will unite friends. How can I term domination peace? I must call things by their right names. Where there is hatred, there let people talk of feuds; and where there is mutual esteem, there only let peace be spoken of. For my part I neither tear the church apart nor separate myself from the communion of the fathers. From my very cradle, I may say, I have been reared on Catholic milk; and no one can be a better churchman than one who has never been a heretic. But I know nothing of a peace that is without love or of a communion that is without peace. In the Gospel I read, If you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.^[2] If then we may not offer gifts that are our own unless we are at peace with our brothers; how much less can we receive the body of Christ if we cherish enmity in our hearts? How can I conscientiously approach Christ’s Eucharist and answer the Amen^[3] if I doubt the charity of him who ministers it?

Such, then, should Christ’s apostles be preachers of the gospel and not ones who greet on the road. That is, not ones who look for something else, but those who proclaim the gospel out of genuine brotherly love. Let them come to the house and say, Peace be to this house. They do not only say it with their lips, but they pour out what they are full of. They preach peace, and they have peace. They are not like those of whom it is said, Peace, peace, and there is no peace. What’s the meaning of Peace, peace, and there is no peace? They preach it and do not have it. They praise and do not love it. They say, and they do not do.^[1] As for you, though, be sure you accept peace, whether Christ is being proclaimed casually or with sincerity.

You should know that the disease of envy is harder to cure than any other. I would say that someone tainted by its poison is almost beyond healing. This is the plague described figuratively by the prophet: See, I will send you serpents against which there are no incantations, and they will bite you. The bites of envy are quite rightly compared by the prophet with the lethal poison of the basilisk.

Let no one, then, run down the law, as if, on account of the penalty, it were not beautiful and good. Shouldn’t he who drives away bodily disease appear as a benefactor? Shouldn’t he who attempts to deliver the soul from iniquity even more appear as a friend since the soul is a more precious thing than the body? Besides, for the sake of bodily health we submit to incisions, cauterization and medicinal draughts. He who administers them is called savior and healer. He is called this even though he amputates parts, but he works not from a grudge or ill will toward the patient. He instead acts according to the principles that the art prescribes so that the sound parts may not perish along with them. No one accuses the physician’s art of wickedness. In the same way, shouldn’t we submit, for the soul’s sake, to either banishment, or punishment or bonds, as long as from unrighteousness we shall obtain righteousness?

Shall not he that falls rise again, and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again?^[1] Why, then, is the virgin turned away with a stubborn revolting, even though she heard Christ, her spouse, saying through Jeremiah: And when she had committed all these fornications, I said: Return to me, and she did not return?^[2] Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the wound of the daughter of my people closed? Indeed, you will find many safeguards against evil in the divine Scripture, and many remedies which from destruction bring salvation. There are the mysteries of death and resurrection, the words of terrible judgment and everlasting punishment, the doctrines of repentance and the forgiveness of sin and those innumerable examples of conversion. There are the drachma, the sheep and the son who spent his livelihood with harlots, who was lost and found, was dead and lived again.^[3] Let us use these safeguards against evil. Through them, let us heal our soul. . . .

While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall. Let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. O come, let us worship and fall down; let us weep before him.^[4] The Word who invited us to repentance calls aloud, Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.^[5] There is, then, a way of salvation, if we want it. Death in his might has swallowed up, but again the Lord has wiped away tears from off all faces^[6] of those who repent. The Lord is faithful in all his words.^[7] He does not lie when he says, Though your sins are scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.^[8] The great Physician of souls who is the ready liberator, not of you alone, but of all who are enslaved by sin, is ready to heal your sickness. From him come the words, it was his sweet and saving lips that said, They who are whole do not need a physician but those who are sick. . . . I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.^[9] What excuse have you, what excuse has anyone, when he speaks in this way? The Lord wishes to cleanse you from the trouble of your sickness and to show you light after darkness. The good Shepherd who left those who had not wandered away is seeking after you. If you give yourself to him, he will not hold back. He, in his love, will not disdain even to carry you on his own shoulders, rejoicing that he has found his sheep that was lost. The Father stands and awaits your return from your wandering. Only come back, and while you are yet far off, he will run and fall on your neck, and, now that you are cleansed by repentance, will enfold you in embraces of love. He will clothe with the chief robe the soul that has put off the old person with all his works. He will put a ring on hands that have washed off the blood of death and will put shoes on feet that have turned from the evil way to the path of the gospel of peace. He will announce the day of joy and gladness to those who are his own, both angels and human beings, and will celebrate your salvation far and wide. For truly I say unto you, he says, there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner who repents.^[10]

What should we do? Let us allow a spring of tears to flow every day, day and night. Let us, too, say with the weeping Jeremiah, the great prophet, Who will give some water to my head, and a spring of tears to my eyes? I would weep for my sins day and night. Let us first of all confess our sins before this. . . . which is full of terror and trembling tears. Let us invoke the goodness and mercy of our God, while we are in this exile of tears, before death overtakes us.^[1]