In fact, to that prepared feast of which the Lord speaks in the Gospel, not all who were called wanted to come, nor could those come who did come except they were called.^[1] Accordingly neither should those who came give themselves the credit, for they came by invitation, nor should those who did not want to come blame it on another, but only on themselves, for they had been invited to come of their free will. Therefore, before merit, the calling determines the will. For this reason, even if someone called takes the credit for coming, he cannot take the credit for being called. And as for him who is called and does not come, just as his calling was not a deserved reward, so his neglecting to come when called lays the foundation for a deserved punishment. There will thus be the following two things: Of your mercy and judgment will I sing, O Lord. To mercy belongs the calling; to judgment belongs the blessedness of those who did not want to come.

Christ has come, but first to save, afterwards to judge, by pronouncing punishment for those who were unwilling to be saved and by leading those to life, who, by believing, did not spurn salvation. Thus the first dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ is medicinal, not judicial; for if he had come first to judge, he would have found no one to whom to grant the rewards of justice. Therefore, because he saw that all were sinners and that no one at all was free from the death of sin, his mercy first had to be bestowed and his judgment shown later. For the psalm had sung about him, Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, Lord. It does not say judgment and mercy. For if judgment were first, there would be no mercy; but mercy first, judgment afterwards.

While the reprobate angels and people continue in eternal punishment, the saints will have fuller knowledge of the good conferred on them by grace. Then, through the very facts themselves they will gain a clearer understanding of what is written in the psalm: Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord, for it is only through unmerited mercy that anyone is freed and only through deserved judgment that anyone is condemned. Then will be clear what now is dark: When one of two children is through his mercy chosen by God for himself, while the other through his judgment is to be abandoned (the one chosen knowing what would have been his due through judgment had not mercy come to his aid), why the one rather than the other is chosen, when the condition of the two was the same? Or again, why miracles were not worked in the presence of some people who, had they been worked, would have done penance, while miracles were worked in the presence of those who were not going to believe anyway? For this is the Lord’s very clear statement: Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been worked the miracles that have been worked in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.^[1] And surely there was no injustice in God’s not willing that they be saved, though they could have been saved if he had so willed it.

But, inasmuch as Christ has died for the wicked,^[1] what person has been found good by the Lord? He therefore found all trees bad, but, to those who believe in his name, he gave the power of becoming children of God.^[2] Hence, whoever is now a good person (that is to say, a good tree) was found bad and has been made good. If the Lord had willed to root up the bad trees when he came, what tree would have been left that would not deserve to be rooted up? But he came to dispense mercy beforehand, so that he might afterwards dispense justice, for he is the Lord to whom the psalmist says, Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. He therefore gave remission of sins to those who believe. Of them, he would not even demand an accounting of previous decrees.^[3] He gave remission of sins; he made the trees good. He delayed the axe; he removed the threat.

Obviously, it is just that those who have pardoned should receive pardon and that it should be given to those who give. It is natural that there should be in God both mercy for him that judges and judgment for him that shows mercy. That is why we say to him, Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Whoever, presuming on his own justice, expects judgment with mercy as if he were secure provokes the most just anger, of which the psalmist said in fear, Enter not into judgment with your servant.^[1] Therefore, God says to his perverse people, Why will you contend with me in judgment?^[2] For when the just king shall sit on his throne, who will boast that he has a chaste heart, or who will boast that he is pure of sin?^[3] What hope is there, then, unless mercy exalts itself above judgment, but only toward those who have shown mercy by saying sincerely, Forgive us as we forgive and by giving without protest? For God loves a cheerful giver.^[4] Finally, in order to comfort those in whom the former sentence had roused extreme fear, James in the sequence to that passage speaks of the works of mercy, when he points out how even daily sins, without which there is no living in this world, are expiated by daily remedies. Without these, the person who becomes guilty of all by offending in one point and by offending in many—because in many things we all offend—would drag with him to the judgment seat of the great judge a mighty load of guilt, gathered up bit by bit, and would not find the mercy that he had not shown. By forgiving and giving, he deserves to have his debts forgiven and the promised reward given to him.

I will sing your mercy and judgment; to you, O Lord, will I play music. A heavenly multitude of the blessed on earth brought forth the prelude, that it might in short order include all things. For the power of the Lord always either shows mercy or judgment. But neither mercy is found without his judgment nor his judgment found without his mercy, for both of them join themselves in mutual alliance. Nor does any deed of his appear that does not seem to be filled with all virtues. For just as he said mercy and judment here, in another place he says justice and peace^[1] instead of these two names, and again, mercy and truth,^[2] or justice and judgment are the preparation of your seat,^[3] so that everywhere he might show that God is affectionate and just. There is no doubt that this type of speaking can be added among those that are peculiar to the divine Scripture. For also at that glorious time of his coming he shows mercy in the first place when he says, Come, blessed of my Father,^[4] etc., but not without fairness because he has delivered the promises to the faithful. But afterwards judgment follows when he said to the ungodly, Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire,^[5] but he will nonetheless not say it without affection since he shows that he exacts vengeance after much patience. You see then that these two are both linked together to each other and shine once they have been set in their places. Therefore, let sinners, who wickedly despair of their salvation, listen to the merciful Lord; let the haughty, who do not think that their evil will be punished, understand the judge. Thus here all has been sung most comprehensively and fully, because in these two words all the works of the Lord and the edification of the entire church have manifestly been told.

I grew deaf and humbled myself—that is how it goes on—and held my peace from good things.^[1] I grew deaf: I did not listen to him talking. What progress such a spirit displays, in that while he rejoices inwardly at his brother’s being mistaken and his own conscience being easy, he refrains outwardly from barking! What a fine soul that is, how carefree, how joyful! This is the soul that says to God, I would walk in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of your house. The rowdies were hammering at the doors, but the house was safe and sound. I grew deaf and humbled myself, I did not stand up proudly against him. And in humbling myself I held my peace from good things. In fact it was not the time for saying anything good. It is the time to keep silent now. After the fellow has calmed down, talk then; then he will understand.

I walked in the innocence of my heart in my house. I continued to live a life of simplicity, I did not practice duplicity, feigning a different appearance to outsiders while bringing myself to do the opposite at home; instead, my private face corresponded to my public one.

And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth^[1] by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs. He says, Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I destroy. For he kept the commandment that says, You shall not receive a false report.^[2] And false are the reports of these people in your sight. You, like Solomon, have required of the Lord (and you ought to believe yourself to have obtained your desire), that it would seem good to him to remove far from you vain and lying words.^[3]

I beseech you, let us avoid altogether passing sentence on our neighbor. You see, even though you have no share in judicial authority and yet you still pass judgment in your mind, you have rendered yourself guilty of sin for accepting no proof and acting in many cases only on suspicion and mere slander. This, in fact, was the reason blessed David also cried out in the words, The one who slanders his neighbor in secret I drove out. Do you see the extraordinary degree of virtue? Not only did he not entertain what was said but he also gave short shrift to the person bent on slandering his brother. So if we, too, want to reduce our own faults, we should be on our guard about this most of all, not to condemn our brothers or to encourage those anxious to slander them, but rather to rebuff them as the inspired author recommended and utterly repel them. In fact, I am inclined to think this is what the inspired author Moses also was indicating in his words, Do not accept an idle report.^[1]

He [Poemen] also said, If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are, he said, the gratifications of the body and vainglory.

The same old man also said, Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions. Hunger is natural in a person, but it must be employed [in satisfying] the needs of the body and not [to gratify] the feeling of eager lust [to eat], even as the blessed David said, With him whose eye is lofty and whose heart is greedy I have not eaten.^[1] Sleep too is natural in humankind, but [it must not be indulged] to satiety.

If it were always praiseworthy to suffer persecution, it would have been enough for the Lord to say, Blessed are they that suffer persecution, without adding for justice sake.^[1] Similarly, if it were always blameworthy to persecute, it would not be written in the sacred Books: The one that in private speaks ill of his neighbor, him did I persecute. Sometimes, then, the one who suffers persecution is unjust, and the one who persecutes is just. It is clear that the bad have always persecuted the good and the good have persecuted the bad; the former to do harm unjustly, the latter to bring about amendment by punishment; the one without limits, the other within bounds; those as slaves of passion, these out of love. The one who kills does not mind how he butchers his victim, but the one who cures watches carefully how he cuts; he has health as his aim, the other destruction. Impious people killed the prophets; the prophets also killed impious people.^[2] The Jews scourged Christ, and Christ scourged the Jews. The apostles were delivered up by people to the civil rulers,^[3] and the apostles delivered up people to the power of Satan.^[4] In all these cases, what else is to be noted except to ask which of them served the cause of truth, which that of sin; which one wished to injure, which one wished to convert?

If we return to our psalms rather frequently, brothers, we shut off the approach to worldly thoughts; the spiritual song dominates, and carnal thoughts depart. The psalms are the weapons of the servants of God. The one who clings to the psalms does not fear the enemy, for our Lord says concerning this adversary, Your adversary is the devil.^[1] The devil suggests adverse thoughts, in order that he may kill us if he can; on the other hand, we have right thoughts, if we read the psalms aloud quite frequently. The devil says, Be proud; I repeat with the psalm what our Lord says: He shall not dwell within my house who practices pride; and elsewhere: God resists the proud;^[2] also in Solomon: A proud person knows nothing. He has a morbid passion for contention.^[3] He [the devil] would not encourage pride, if he knew that it had a place among the servants of God in paradise. This is why the devil especially encourages monks to be proud, in order that they may afterwards be excluded from the place from which he was expelled. If he had not been proud, he would have kept his preeminence in heaven. He encourages quarrels, he excites hatred, he himself stirs up people, but you should resist him like the true psalmist by saying, O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, and let not my heart incline to evil words.^[4]

Now if these words in the law, You shall have dominion over many nations, and no one shall rule over you,^[1] were simply a promise to them^[2] of dominion, and if these words contain no deeper meaning than this, then it is certain that the people would have had still stronger grounds for despising the promises of the law. Celsus^[3] brings forward another passage, although he changes its terms, where it is said that the whole earth shall be filled with the Hebrew race; which indeed, according to the testimony of history, did actually happen after the coming of Christ, although rather as a result of God’s anger, if I may say so, than of his blessing. As to the promise made to the Jews that they should slay their enemies, it may be answered that anyone who examines carefully into the meaning of this passage will find himself unable to interpret it literally. It is sufficient at present to refer to the manner in which in the Psalms the just person is represented as saying, among other things, Every morning will I destroy the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord. Judge, then, from the words and spirit of the speaker, whether it is conceivable that, after having in the preceding part of the psalm, as anyone may read for himself, he uttered the noblest thoughts and purposes, he should in the sequel, according to the literal rendering of his words, say that in the morning, and at no other period of the day, he would destroy all sinners from the earth and leave none of them alive, and that he would slay every one in Jerusalem who did iniquity. And there are many similar expressions to be found in the law, as this, for example: We did not leave anything alive.^[4]