De futurae vitae deliciis

On the Enjoyment of Future Things and the Worthlessness of Present Things. 1. The heat is intense, and the drought oppressive; but it has not relaxed your eagerness, nor withered your desire for listening. For such is a fervent and aroused hearer: strengthened by the love of listening, he would readily endure everything so as to satisfy this beautiful and spiritual desire; and neither cold, nor drought, nor a press of business, nor a multitude of cares, nor anything else of that sort could trip him up; just as, conversely, the supine and prostrate man could not be roused by temperate airs, nor by leisure and freedom, nor by ease and relaxation, but remains sleeping a sleep worthy of much reproach. But you are not such; rather, you are better than those who inhabit the city. For you are the very flower of the city, so intent and sober, and always following what is said with precision. This assembly is more august to me than the courts of kings. For there, the gifts, whatever they may be, are dissolved together with the present life, and are full of tumult and filled with disturbance; but here there is nothing of that sort, but rather complete security, and honor free from disturbance, and offices that have no end, nor are they cut short even by death itself, but then become more secure. Do not point out to me the man seated on a chariot, raising his eyebrows, and having many bodyguards, nor the girdle and the voice of the herald; do not characterize the ruler from these things, but from the state of his soul—whether he rules his own passions, whether he overcomes his diseases.

such a person, if he has mastery over the desire for money, if he has subdued an insatiable passion for bodies, if he is not consumed by envy, if he is not dragged along by the grievous passion of vainglory, if he does not fear and tremble at poverty, if he does not dread a change for the worse, if he has not died from this fear. Show me such a ruler; for this is rule. But if he rules over men while being a slave to passions, I would say that such a person is more slavish than all men. And just as one who has a fever deep within, confined, even if the surface of the body shows nothing of the sort, the physicians' pupils would certainly say he is feverish, even if the laymen are ignorant; so too I would say that one who has a soul that is a slave and a captive of passions, even if the outward appearance shows nothing of the sort, but on the contrary, I would say that the one who has the fever of evils deep within and the tyranny of passions established in the soul itself is more slavish than all; but a ruler and free man, and more kingly than kings, even if he is clad in rags, even if he dwells in a prison, even if he is bound in chains, is the one who has cast off this tyranny, and is neither held by evil desires nor by irrational fear of poverty and dishonor, nor does he fear and tremble at the things that seem grievous in the present life. 2. These rules are not bought with money, nor do they have those who envy them.

this does the tongue of an accuser not know, nor the eye of the envious, nor the machinations of plotters, but as if dwelling in some inviolable place of philosophy, it remains perpetually unconquered, yielding not only to the other vicissitudes of affairs, but not even to death itself. And the martyrs show this, whose bodies were dissolved and became dust and ash, but their principle lives and acts each day, driving away demons, causing diseases to flee, raising up entire cities, and leading peoples here. Such is the power of this principle, not only when the rulers are alive, but also when they have died, so that no one comes here by compulsion, but all by choice and desire, and it is withered by no time. Do you see how I said not in vain that this spectacle is more august than royal courts? For those things there resemble withering leaves and passing shadows; but the things given here imitate adamant, or rather are more solid than that, since they are immortal and unmoved and yield to no change, and come fearlessly to those who love them, free from strife and contention, and envy and courts, and plotters and slander. For worldly things have many who envy them; but spiritual things, the more they come to many, the more they show their own abundance. And this you may learn from this discourse. For the discourse which I pour out to all, if I keep it at home with myself, I become more impoverished;

But if I pour it out to all, as if casting seeds into pure soil, I increase my abundance, I make my wealth greater, rendering all of you more prosperous, while I myself become no poorer in this, but rather richer to a greater degree—something that is not the case with money, but quite the opposite. For if I had gold stored away and chose to distribute it to all, I could no longer have my former abundance, since it would be diminished by such division. 3. Since, then, the spiritual things have such exceptional qualities and great ease, being freely available to all who wish, let us love these instead, abandoning the shadows and not pursuing the cliffs and the rocks. For God, in order to intensify this love, has also allotted death to these things even before the death of the person who possesses them. What I mean is this: it is not only when the possessor of these things dies that they themselves die, but even while he is still alive they wither and perish, so that their perishable nature may lead away those who are madly in love with them and frenzied about them from this harsh madness, instructing their nature and teaching them through experience that they are weaker than a shadow, and thus dissolving their love. For example: wealth is not only dissolved when the wealthy person dies, but it departs even while he is still alive. Youth does not leave the one who has it only when he dies, but abandons him while he is still breathing, dissolving along the path of age and giving way to old age.

Beauty and comeliness together, while the woman still lived, perished and changed into ugliness; glories, powers likewise in the same way; honors, offices, are ephemeral and temporary, and more mortal than the men who possess them; and just as one can see daily deaths of bodies, so also of affairs. This has happened so that, disdaining present things, we may cling to future ones, and hang upon the enjoyment of those, and while walking on earth, we may dwell in heaven through desire. For God made these two ages, the present and the future; the visible and the invisible; the sensible and the intelligible; the one having bodily rest, the other incorporeal; the one in experience, the other in faith; the one in hand, the other in hopes; and he ordained the one to be a stadium, the other a prize; and to this one he allotted trenches and toils and sweats, to that one crowns and prizes and rewards; the one he constructed as a sea, the other as a harbor; and the one as short, the other as ageless and immortal. Since, then, many men preferred the sensible things to those intelligible ones, he allotted to these

Frail and temporary, so that by drawing them away from present things, he might bind them with great precision to the desire for future things. Then, since those things were invisible and intelligible, and rested on faith and hope, see what he does. Having come here, taken our flesh, and accomplished that marvelous economy, he brings the future before their eyes, satisfying even the denser minds with this. For since he came bringing an angelic polity, making the earth a heaven, and commanding these things which made those who pursued them like the incorporeal powers, and made men angels, and called them to the hopes above, and stretched out small arenas, and ordered them to fly higher, and to ascend to the very vaults of the heavens, and to strip for battle against demons, and to array themselves against the whole phalanx of the devil, though they had a body, though they were entangled with flesh, and to mortify their bodies, and to banish the tumult of the passions, and to wear the flesh simply, while extending their contest against the incorporeal powers.

4. After he gave these commands, see what he does, how he makes the contest easy. Or rather, if you wish, let us first speak of the magnitude of the commandments, and how he fashioned a lofty wing, and, almost banishing them from human nature, he ordered all to be transferred to heaven. For while the law commands an eye for an eye, he says: If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him also the other. He did not say only to bear the outrage nobly and meekly, but also to go further in philosophy, and prepare to suffer more than the other desires to inflict; conquer his rashness of outrage by the abundance of your philosophy, so that, ashamed of your surpassing gentleness, he may withdraw. And again he says: Pray for those who abuse you; pray for your enemies; do good to those who hate you. He also introduced the counsel concerning virginity, saying: He who is able to embrace it, let him embrace it. For since the matter had flown from paradise, and after the disobedience had departed, descending from heaven, he brought it back again, like an exile returning to its ancient homeland, freeing it from long banishment; and coming first, he was born of a virgin, and stirred the laws of nature, honoring her from the beginning, and declaring the virgin a mother. Since, then, on his arrival he commanded such things and wrought a lofty way of life, he also gave rewards for the labors worthy, or rather much greater and higher. But these too were invisible, and rested on hopes, on faith, and on expectation of future things.

Since, then, the commands are laborious and lofty, while the prizes and rewards are matters of faith, see what he does: how he makes the contest easy, how he makes the training ground smooth. How and in what manner? By these two ways: first, by himself undergoing these things; second, by showing the rewards and bringing them before the eyes. For among the things said by him, some were a command, others a reward: a command, "Pray for those who abuse and persecute you"; a reward, "So that you may become sons of your Father in heaven." Again, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and speak every evil word against you falsely. Rejoice and exult, because your reward is great in heaven." Do you see the one as a command, the other as a reward? Again, "If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions, give to the poor, and come follow me, and you will have a treasure in heaven." Do you see another command and reward? For he commanded them to do the one, while he himself prepared the other, which was the wage and recompense. And again, "Whoever has left houses and brothers and sisters"—this is a command—"will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life"—this is a prize and

crown. 5. Since, then, the commands were great and their prizes not visible, see what he does: he himself exhibits them through his deeds and brings the crowns before the eyes. For just as one who is ordered to walk an untrodden path, if he sees someone else walk it first, takes it up more easily and gains greater eagerness, so also in the commandments, those who see those who have gone before follow readily. So that our nature might follow more easily, taking this flesh and our nature, he thus walked it and exhibited the commandments through his deeds. For the saying, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him also the other," he himself did when the servant of the high priest struck him. For he did not defend himself, but displayed such gentleness as to say: "If I spoke ill, bear witness concerning the evil; but if well, why do you strike me?" Did you see gentleness full of awe? Did you see humility containing astonishment? He was struck, not by a free man, but by a slave, a whip-scarred household servant, and he answers with such gentleness as this. So also his Father said to the Jews: "My people, what have I done to you? Or how have I grieved you? Or how have I troubled you? Answer." Just as he himself says, "Bear witness concerning the evil," so also his Father says, "Answer me"; and just as he himself says, "Why do you strike me," so also the Father says, "How have I grieved you, or how have I troubled you?" Again, teaching poverty, see how he exhibits it through his deeds, saying:

Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Do you see the extremity of his poverty? He had no table, no lamp, no house, no chair, nor any other such thing. He taught that one should bear ill repute nobly, which he demonstrated through his deeds. For when they called him a demoniac and a Samaritan, though he was able to destroy them in turn and exact punishment for their insolence, he did nothing of the sort, but instead benefited them and drove out their demons. And having said, "Pray for those who abuse you," he did this when he went up to the cross. For when they had crucified and nailed him, hanging there he said, "Forgive them, for they do not know what they do." He said these things not because he himself was powerless to forgive, but to teach us to pray for our enemies. For since he demonstrated his teaching not only by word but also by deed, he therefore added the prayer. Let none of the heretics, then, on account of his great philanthropy, condemn the weakness of what has been said; for it is he himself who says, "That you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth." But because he wished to teach (and the teacher advances his instruction not only through what he says but also through what he does), for this reason he added the prayer; just as he also washed the feet of the disciples, not because he was inferior, but because, being God and Master, he descended to such humility. For this reason he said, "Learn from me that I am meek and humble in heart.

Again, to bring these very prizes and rewards into the open and display them before their eyes, listen. He promised the resurrection of bodies, incorruption, the meeting in the air, the being snatched up on clouds; these he demonstrated through deeds. How and in what manner? He died and rose again; therefore he also spent forty days with them, to fully assure them and show what our bodies are to be like after the resurrection. Again, saying through Paul, "We shall be snatched up on clouds to meet him in the air," he also showed this by works. For after the resurrection, when he was about to ascend into the heavens, in their presence, "He was lifted up," it says, "and a cloud received him from their eyes," and as they were gazing intently, while he was going. Thus, therefore, our body also will be of the same substance as that body, since it is from the same lump; for as the head, so also the body; as the beginning, so also the end. And Paul, making this clearer, said, "He who will transform the body of our humility, so that it becomes conformed to the body of his glory." If, then, it becomes conformed, it will also travel the same path, and will likewise be lifted up on clouds. Expect these things yourself at the resurrection. For since the word of the kingdom was as yet unclear to the hearers, for this reason, having gone up on the mountain, he was transfigured before his disciples, partially opening to them the glory of what is to come, and as in a riddle and dimly showing what our body will be like. But then he appeared with garments, whereas at the resurrection it is not so.

For our body will not need garments, nor shelter, nor roof, nor any other such thing. For if Adam, before the transgression, being naked was not ashamed, being clothed in glory, much more will our bodies, those that will proceed to a greater and better lot, have need of none of these things. For this very reason, when He Himself rose, He left the garments lying on the tomb and the bier, raising the body naked, filled with ineffable glory and blessedness. Knowing these things, therefore, beloved, and having been instructed by words and taught through our eyes, let us display such a manner of life that, snatched up on clouds, we may always be dwelling with Him, being saved both by His grace and enjoying the future goods. May it be that we all attain these in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, worship, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.