He that says, When I am dying I will be baptized, lest I should sin and defile my baptism, is ignorant of God and forgetful of his own nature. For do not delay to turn to the Lord, for you do not know what the next day will bring forth. Baptize also your infants, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of God. For he says, Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not.^[1]

Do not rely on tomorrow: your business belongs to today, for our time is not a time for just words or for acquiring property, or indeed to swagger about enjoying ourselves, or to relax in idleness. No, for the discerning it is time for action; it is the time to gather in fruits; it is the time for repentance, it is the time for everyone to supplicate Christ with all his heart.

Let us not then be procrastinating until tomorrow. For we know not what the next day may bring forth, nor let us say we shall conquer this habit little by little, since this little by little will never come to an end. Therefore, dismissing that excuse, let us say, If we do not reform the practice of swearing today, we will not delay until later, when ten thousand things press upon us. Though it were necessary to die, or to be punished, or to lose all that we have, we will not give the devil the advantage of slackness nor the pretext of delay. Thus if God should perceive your soul inflamed and your diligence quickened, then he also himself will lend his assistance to change you.

Let us turn to him, dearly beloved, and not wish to defer our amendment until the end of our life. Let us listen to the prophet when he says, Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day,^[1] for you know not what any day may bring forth. O man, why do you delay from day to day, when perhaps today you are going to have your last day?

You know not what any day may bring forth. Between morning and evening the weather changes.^[1] Elsewhere we are also advised with a salutary precept: Let us walk while we still have the light, before darkness comes over us.^[2] Now some careless person may say, When I reach old age, then I shall have recourse to the healing of repentance. The wretched person does not know that if one has been accustomed to commit sins with a promise of repentance, never or only with difficulty will he merit to obtain the fruit of repentance.

With what boldness does he put off his salvation to old age, when he cannot be certain of the space of one day? Therefore, if we do not want to fear death, we should always be ready. Then, when the Lord bids us come from this world, we may come before the sight of the eternal judge with a clear and free conscience; not with despair but with joy.

Therefore let us love our enemies. Perhaps the person who is your friend today will commit such sins that he cannot be with you in eternal life, for you know not what tomorrow may bring. On the contrary, your enemy may be converted to repentance in such a way that he merits to be your fellow citizen in that heavenly Jerusalem; in fact, he might even become greater than you.

If I seem arrogant to you, it is for this reason, that I bear testimony to myself. For every person, when he wishes to bear praiseworthy testimony to himself, seems arrogant and proud. So it has been written, Let not your own mouth praise you, but let the mouth of your neighbor praise you.

If we did anything in those struggles for our religion that redounds to our honor in the telling, wisdom commands us to leave it to others to tell. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth. And it is this very thing that our omniscient friend has not been conscious of in devoting the larger half of his book to self-glorification.

No one crowns himself, and that person is justly ridiculed who devises praises for himself, for it is written, Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. Though hypocrites may be able possibly to remain undetected and thus to seize the honors that people bestow, yet God knows your hearts. The judge cannot be deceived. . . . He knows who steals by fraud the honor which another truly deserves.

It is surely clear that concealing sin contributes to the death of the sick person, for the sting of death is sin, says the Scripture,^[1] and also, Open rebukes are better than hidden love. Let no one, therefore, conceal a sin in behalf of another, lest fratricide take the place of fraternal charity.

Rebukes are good, and often better than a silent friendship. Even if a friend thinks himself hurt, still rebuke him; and if the bitterness of the correction wounds his mind, still rebuke him and fear not. The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of flatterers. Rebuke, then, your erring friend; forsake not an innocent one. For friendship ought to be steadfast and to rest firm in true affection.

Not everyone who spares is a friend, nor is everyone who strikes an enemy. Better are the wounds of a friend than the proffered kisses of an enemy. Love mingled with severity is better than deceit with indulgence.

More trustworthy are the wounds of a friend than the proffered kisses of an enemy. Let us, then, with all the insistence we can put into it, impress this upon our dearest friends, those who are most sincerely interested in our work, and let them know that it is possible between dear friends for something to be objected to in the speech of either, without charity being thereby diminished, without truth begetting hatred. This is something which is owed to friendship, even if what is objected to is true, or whatever it is, so long as it is uttered from a truthful heart, without keeping in the mind what is at variance with the words.

When one who is loved is chastised, a pious act is exercised in his regard, for love has its wounds as well, which are all the sweeter for the harshness of their infliction. For a religious chastisement is sweeter than easy forgiveness, which is why the prophet says, Sweeter are the wounds of a friend than the freely offered kisses of an enemy.

The wounds of love are good too, better than kisses. For useful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Peter wounds, and Judas kisses. But the kiss condemned Judas because it carried a traitorous venom; the wound inflicted by Peter also cured him because he washed away his fault with tears.

Solomon says, Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother far off. For this reason a person generally trusts himself to the good will of a friend rather than to the ties of relationship to his brother. So far does good will prevail that it often goes beyond the pledges given by nature.

Solomon tells us that the same thing happens spiritually to the soul when he says in other words: Dripping water drives a man out of the house on a stormy day. Elegantly then he compares spiritual carelessness to a roof and tiles that have not been looked after, through which in the first instance slight drippings of the passions make their way to the soul. If these are not heeded, being considered but small and trifling, then the beams of virtues will decay and be carried away by a great tempest of sins, through which on a stormy day, that is, in the time of temptation, the devil’s attack will assail us, and the soul will be driven forth from the abode of virtue, in which it had remained as in its own house as long as it persevered in watchful diligence.

It is not fitting to address simply to all who have believed in Christ instruction upon all points, for it is written, With knowledge learn the souls of your flock. For the way is very different by which we establish in the paths of truth one who has but just now become a disciple, from one more confirmed in mind and able to understand what is the height and depth, and what the length and breadth. In the former, use simple teaching, in which there is nothing profound or difficult to understand. Counsel him to escape from the error of polytheism and fittingly persuade him to discern by the beauty of things created, the universal creator and artificer, who is one by nature and truly God.