There is none good but one, God the Father.^[1] This word they^[2] declare is peculiar to the Father of Christ, who, however, is different from the God who is creator of all things, to which creator he gave no appellation of goodness. Let us see now if, in the Old Testament, the God of the prophets and the Creator and Legislator of the word is not called good. What are the expressions that occur in the psalms? How good is God to Israel, to the upright in heart!^[3] and, Let Israel now say that he is good, that his mercy endures for ever,^[4] the language in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. As therefore God is frequently called good in the Old Testament, so also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is styled just in the Gospels. Finally, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord, when praying to the Father, says, O just Father, the world has not known you.^[5] And lest perhaps they should say that it was owing to his having assumed human flesh that he called the Creator of the world Father and styled him just, they are excluded from such a refuge by the words that immediately follow, The world has not known you. But, according to them, the world is ignorant of the good God alone. For the world unquestionably recognizes its Creator, the Lord saying that the world loves what is its own. Clearly, then, he whom they consider to be the good God is called just in the Gospels. Anyone may at leisure gather together a greater number of proofs, consisting of those passages, where in the New Testament the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is called just, and in the Old also, where the Creator of heaven and earth is called good; so that the heretics, being convicted by numerous testimonies, may perhaps some time be put to the blush.

Up then, I beseech you, let us fight for the Lord’s sheep. Their Lord is near. He will certainly appear and scatter the wolves and glorify the shepherds. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. Let us not murmur at the storm that has arisen, for the Lord of all knows what is good for us. Wherefore also when the apostle asked for release from his trials he would not grant his supplication but said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.^[1] Let us then bravely bear the evils that befall us; it is in war that heroes are discerned, in conflicts that athletes are crowned, in the surge of the sea that the art of the helmsman is shown, in the fire that the gold is tried. And let us not, I beseech you, heed only ourselves; let us rather have forethought for the rest, and that much more for the sick than for the whole, for it is an apostolic precept that exclaims, Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak.^[2] Let us then stretch out our hands to them that lie low, let us tend their wounds and set them at their post to fight the devil. Nothing will so vex him as to see them fighting and striking again. Our Lord is full of lovingkindness. He receives the repentance of sinners. Let us hear his words: As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.^[3] So he prefaced his words with an oath, and he who forbids oaths to others swore himself to convince us how he desires our repentance and salvation. Of this teaching the divine books, both the old and the new, are full, and the precepts of the holy Fathers teach the same.

But not as though you were ignorant have I written to you; rather have I reminded you of what you know, like those who standing safe on the shore help those who are tossed by the storm and show them a rock, or give warning of a hidden shallow or catch and haul in a rope that has been thrown. And the God of peace shall bring Satan under your feet shortly^[4] and shall gladden our ears with news that you have passed from storm to calm, at his word to the waves, peace be still.^[5] And you also should offer prayers for us, for you who have undergone peril for his sake can speak with greater boldness.

Therefore, it is becoming that we should kindle the unquenchable light of faith in the heart, and gird our loins with purity and watch and ever wait for the Lord so that, if he should will to come and take any of us away in the first period of life, or in the second or in the third, and should find us most ready and working what he appointed, he may make us to lie down in the bosom of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. Now Jeremiah says, It is good for a person that he bear the yoke in his youth and that his soul should not depart from the Lord. It is good, indeed, from youth, to submit the neck to the divine hand and not to shake off, even to old age, the Rider who guides with pure mind, when the evil one is ever dragging down the mind to that which is worse. For who is there who does not receive through the eyes, through the ears, through the taste and smell and touch, pleasures and delights, so as to become impatient of the control of continence as a driver, who checks and vehemently restrains the horse from evil? Another who turns his thoughts to other things will think differently; but we say that he offers himself perfectly to God who strives to keep the flesh undefiled from childhood, practicing virginity; for it speedily brings great and much-desired gifts of hopes to those who strive for it, drying up the corrupting lusts and passions of the soul.

For affliction is an unbroken bond, the increase of love, the occasion for reserve and piety. Hear the words of David, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.^[1] And again another prophet, who says, It is good for a person that he bears the yoke in his youth. And again, Blessed is the one whom you chasten, O Lord.^[2] And another who says, Despise not the chastening of the Lord.^[3] And if you come near to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation. And Christ also said to his disciples, In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.^[4] And again, You shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice.^[5] And again, Narrow and straitened is the way.^[6] Do you see how tribulation is everywhere lauded, everywhere assumed as needful for us? For if in the contests of the world, no one without this receives the crown unless he fortifies himself by work, by abstinence from the finer things of life, by living according to rule, by being vigilant, and innumerable other things, much more so here. For whom will you name as an instance? The king? Not even he lives a life free from care, but one burdened with much tribulation and anxiety. For look not to his diadem but to his sea of cares, by which the crown is produced for him. Nor look to his purple robe but to his soul, which is darker than that purple. His crown does not so closely bind his brow, as care does his soul. Nor look to the multitude of his spearmen but to the multitude of his disquietudes. For it is not possible to find a private house laden with so many cares as a king’s palace. Violent deaths are each day expected, and a vision of blood is seen as they sit down to eat and drink. Nor can we say how often he is disturbed in the night and leaps up, haunted with visions. And all this in peace; but if war should overtake him, what could be more piteous than such a life as this! What evils has he from those that are his own, I mean, those who are under his dominion. In actuality, the pavement of a king’s house is always full of blood, the blood of his own relations. . . . But as I said, life cannot be without pain. For if in the affairs of this world even he who is accounted most happy, if the king is burdened with so many misfortunes, what do you think must be true of private life?

Celsus then extracts from the gospel the precept, To him who strikes you once, you shall offer yourself to be struck again, although without giving any passage from the Old Testament that he considers opposed to it. On the one hand, we know that it was said to them in old time, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,^[1] and on the other, we have read, I say to you, Whoever shall strike you on the one cheek, turn to him the other also.^[2] But as there is reason to believe that Celsus produces the objections that he has heard from those who wish to make a difference between the God of the gospel and the God of the law, we must say in reply, that this precept, Whoever shall strike you on the one cheek, turn to him the other, is not unknown in the older Scriptures. For thus, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, it is said, It is good for a person that he bear the yoke in his youth: he sits alone and keeps silence, because he has borne it on him. He gives his cheek to him that strikes him; he is filled full with reproach. There is no discrepancy, then, between the God of the gospel and the God of the law, even when we take literally the precept regarding the blow on the face. So, then, we infer that neither Jesus nor Moses has taught falsely. The Father in sending Jesus did not forget the commands that he had given to Moses: he did not change his mind, condemn his own laws and send by his messenger counter instructions.

Anchorites go from the monasteries into the deserts with nothing but bread and salt. Paul introduced this way of life; Anthony made it famous, and—to go farther back still—John the Baptist set the first example of it. The prophet Jeremiah describes one such in the words It is good for a person that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sits alone and keeps silence, because he has borne it on him. He gives his cheek to him who strikes him; he is filled full with reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever. The struggle of the anchorites and their life—in the flesh, yet not of the flesh—I will, if you wish, explain to you at some other time. I must now return to the subject of covetousness, which I left to speak of the monks. With them before your eyes you will despise not only gold and silver in general but earth itself and heaven. United to Christ, you will sing, The Lord is my portion. ^[1] ALL SINS FORGIVEN. CYPRIAN [DUB]: That all sins may be forgiven him who has turned to God with his whole heart. . . . The Lord will not reject forever; and when he has made low, he will have pity according to the multitude of his mercy. Because he will not bring low from his whole heart, neither will he reject the children of humankind.^{[1] [2]}

Is it not evident that the Lord Jesus is angry with us when we sin in order that he may convert us through fear of his indignation? His indignation, then, is not the carrying out of vengeance but rather the working out of forgiveness, for these are his words: If you shall turn and lament, you shall be saved.^[1] He waits for our lamentations here, that is, in time, that he may spare us those that shall be eternal. He waits for our tears that he may pour forth his goodness. So in the Gospel, having pity on the tears of the widow, he raised her son. He waits for our conversion that he may himself restore us to grace, which would have continued with us had no fall overtaken us. But he is angry because we have by our sins incurred guilt in order that we may be humbled; we are humbled in order that we may be found worthy rather of pity than of punishment.

Jeremiah, too, may certainly teach us this when he says, For the Lord will not cast off forever; for after he has humbled, he will have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies, he who has not humbled from his whole heart or cast off the children of humankind. This passage we certainly find in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and from it, and from what follows, we note that the Lord humbles all the prisoners of the earth under his feet, in order that we may escape his judgment. But the one who does not bring down the sinner even to the earth with his whole heart is also the one who raises the poor even from the dust and the needy from the dunghill. For he does not wholeheartedly bring down those he intends to forgive.

But if he does not wholeheartedly bring down every sinner, how much less does he wholeheartedly bring down someone who has not sinned with his whole heart! For as he said of the Jews, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,^[2] so perhaps he may say of some of the fallen, They denied me with their lips, but in their heart they are with me. It was pain that overcame them, not unfaithfulness that turned them aside.^[3] But some without cause refuse pardon to those whose faith the persecutor himself confessed up to the point of striving to overcome it by torture. They denied the Lord once but confess him daily; they denied him in word but confess him with groans, with cries and with tears; they confess him with willing words, not under compulsion. They yielded, indeed, for a moment to the temptation of the devil, but even the devil afterwards left those whom he was unable to claim as his own. He yielded to their weeping, he yielded to their repentance, and after making them his own lost those whom he attached when they belonged to Another.

But all those who call their lands by their own names and have wood and hay and stubble^[1] in their thoughts; such as these, since they are strangers to difficulties, become aliens from the kingdom of heaven. Had they however known that tribulation perfects patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed, they would have exer-cised themselves, after the example of Paul. He said, I bring my body into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.^[2] They would easily have borne the afflictions that were brought on them to prove them from time to time, if the prophetic admonition had been listened to by them: It is good for a person to take up your yoke in his youth. He shall sit alone and shall be silent, because he has taken your yoke on him. He will give his cheek to him who strikes him. He will be filled with reproaches. The Lord does not cast away forever. When he abases, he is gracious, according to the multitude of his tender mercies. For though all these things should proceed from the enemies, stripes, insults, reproaches, yet shall they avail nothing against the multitude of God’s tender mercies; for we shall quickly recover from them since they are merely temporal, but God is always gracious, pouring out his tender mercies on those who please him. Therefore, my beloved, we should not look at these temporal things but fix our attention on those that are eternal. Though affliction may come, it will have an end; though insult and persecution, yet are they nothing to the hope that is set before us. For all present matters are trifling compared with those that are future; the sufferings of this present time not being worthy to be compared with the hope that is to come.^[3] For what can be compared with the kingdom? Or what is there in comparison with life eternal? Or what is all we could give here, to that which we shall inherit yonder? For we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.^[4] Therefore it is not right, my beloved, to consider afflictions and persecutions but the hopes that are laid up for us because of persecutions.

Regarding patience in not offering resistance, a person is praised who gives his cheek to him who strikes him and who is filled full with reproach. Of love to enemies it is said, If your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink.^[1] This also is quoted by the apostle.^[2] In the psalm, too, it is said, I was a peacemaker among them who hated peace,^[3] and in many similar passages. In connection also with our imitating God in refraining from taking revenge and in loving even the wicked, there is a passage containing a full description of God in this character, for it is written, To you alone ever belongs great strength, and who can withstand the power of your arm? For the whole world before you is as a little grain of the balance; yes, as a drop of the morning dew that falls down on the earth. But you have mercy on all, for you can do all things and wink at the sins of people, because of repentance. For you love all things that are and abhorred nothing that you have made; for never would you have made anything if you had hated it. And how could anything have endured, if it had not been your will? or been preserved, if not called by you? But you spare all; for they are yours, O Lord, you lover of souls. For your good Spirit is in all things; therefore chasten little by little those who offend. Warn them by reminding them of the ways in which they have offended, so that learning their wickedness, they may believe in you, O Lord.^[4] Christ exhorts us to imitate this long-suffering goodness of God, who makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust; that we may not be careful to revenge but may do good to them who hate us, and so may be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.^[5] From another passage in these ancient books we learn that, by not exacting the vengeance due to us, we obtain the remission of our own sins. By not forgiving the debts of others, we incur the danger of being refused forgiveness when we pray for the remission of our own debts: He who revenges shall find vengeance from the Lord, and he will surely keep his sin in remembrance. Forgive your neighbor the hurt that he has done to you; so shall your sins also be forgiven when you pray. One person bears hatred against another, and does he seek pardon of the Lord? He shows no mercy to a person who is like himself; and does he ask forgiveness of his own sins? If he who is but flesh nourishes hatred and asks for favor from the Lord, who will entreat for the pardon of his sins?^[6]

When Celsus adds, We must therefore believe that people are entrusted to certain beings who are the keepers of this prison house, our answer is that the souls of those who are called by Jeremiah prisoners of the earth, when eager in the pursuit of virtue, are even in this life delivered from the bondage of evil; for Jesus declared this, as was foretold long before his advent by the prophet Isaiah, when he said that the prisoners would go forth, and those who were in darkness would show themselves.^[1] And Jesus, as Isaiah also foretold of him, arose as a light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,^[2] so that we may therefore say, Let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords from us.^[3] If Celsus, and those who like him are opposed to us, had been able to sound the depths of the Gospel narratives, they would not have counseled us to put our confidence in those beings whom they call the keepers of the prison house. It is written in the Gospel that a woman was bowed together and could not lift up herself. And when Jesus beheld her and perceived from what cause she was bowed together, he said, Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?^[4] And how many others are still bowed down and bound by Satan, who hinders them from looking up and who would have us to look down also! And no one can raise them up, except the Word that came by Jesus Christ and that inspired the prophets: And Jesus came to release those who were under the dominion of the devil; and, speaking of him, he said with that depth of meaning that characterized his words, Now is the prince of this world judged. We are, then, indulging in no baseless calumnies against demons but are condemning their agency on earth as destructive to humankind, and we show that, under cover of oracles and bodily cures and such other means, they are seeking to separate from God the soul that has descended to this body of humiliation, and those who feel this humiliation exclaim, O wretched being that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?^[5]

Celsus in the next place, as if he were able to tell certain secrets regarding the origin of evils but chose rather to keep silence and say only what was suitable to the multitude, continues as follows: It is sufficient to say to the multitude regarding the origin of evils, that they do not proceed from God but cleave to matter and dwell among mortal things. It is true, certainly, that evils do not proceed from God; for according to Jeremiah, one of our prophets, it is certain that out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good.^[1] But to maintain that matter, dwelling among mortal things, is the cause of evils, is in our opinion not true. For it is the mind of each individual that is the cause of the evil that arises in him, and this is evil (in the abstract); while the actions that proceed from it are wicked, and there is, to speak with accuracy, nothing else in our view that is evil. I am aware, however, that this topic requires very elaborate treatment, which (by the grace of God enlightening the mind) may be successfully attempted by one who is deemed by God worthy to attain the necessary knowledge on this subject.

One [Elijah] whose heart was habitually found lifted up rather than fattened up, who in forty days and as many nights maintained a fast above the power of human nature while spiritual faith supplied strength (to his body), both saw with his eyes God’s glory, and heard with his ears God’s voice and understood with his heart God’s law, while he taught him even then (by experience) that humankind lives not on bread alone but on every word of God; in that the people, though fatter than he, could not constantly contemplate even Moses, fed as he had been on God, or his leanness, sated as it had been with God’s glory! Deservedly, therefore, even while in the flesh, did the Lord show himself to him, the colleague of his own fasts, no less than to Elijah. For Elijah had, by this fact primarily, that he had imprecated a famine, already sufficiently devoted himself to fasts: The Lord lives, he said, before whom I am standing in his sight, if there shall be dew in these years and rain shower.^[1] Subsequently, fleeing from threatening Jezebel, after one single meal of food and drink, which he had found on being awakened by an angel, he too, in a space of forty days and nights, his belly empty, his mouth dry, arrived at Mount Horeb; where, when he had made a cave his inn, with how familiar a meeting with God was he received! What are you doing here, Elijah?^[2] Much more friendly was this voice than, Adam, where are you?^[3] For the latter voice was uttering a threat to a fed man, the former soothing a fasting one. Such is the prerogative of circumscribed food, that it makes God tent fellow with a man—peer, in truth, with peer! For if the eternal God will not hunger, as he testifies through Isaiah, this will be the time for a person to be made equal with God, when he lives without food.

Differently to be admonished are those who deplore sins of deed and those who deplore sins of thought. For those who deplore sins of deed are to be admonished that perfected lamentations should wash out consummated evils, lest they be bound by a greater debt of perpetrated deed than they pay in tears of satisfaction for it. For it is written, He has given us drink in tears by measure,^[1] which means that each person’s soul should in its penitence drink the tears of compunction to such extent as it remembers itself to have been dried up from God through sins. They are to be admonished to bring back their past offenses incessantly before their eyes and so to live that these may not have to be viewed by the strict judge.

Hence David, when he prayed, saying, Turn away your eyes from my sins,^[2] had said also a little before, My fault is ever before me, as if to say, I plead with you not to regard my sin, since I myself cease not to regard it. Thus also the Lord says through the prophet, And I will not be mindful of your sins, but you should be mindful of them.^[3] They are to be admonished to consider one at a time all their past offenses, and, in bewailing the defilements of their former wandering one by one, to cleanse at the same time their entire selves with tears. Thus it is well said through Jeremiah, when the several transgressions of Judah were being considered, My eye has shed channels of waters. For indeed we shed channeled waters from our eyes, when to our several sins we give separate tears. For the mind does not sorrow at one and the same time alike for all things; but, while it is more sharply touched by memory now of this fault and now of that, being moved concerning all in each, it is purged at once from all.