De Consolatione Mortuorum [Incertus. Joannes Chrisostomus]

On the Consolation of the Dead First Sermon. Chapter One. Twofold Grief. Be silent, brothers, lest a useful and timely sermon pass you by. For medicine is most needed when a grave illness arises; and a collyrium must be diligently applied when the eye is troubled with pain. Therefore, whoever does not have this pain should not make a disturbance, but rather listen; for it is not a hindrance to know the medicine that benefits. But whoever has the eye of the mind troubled by this misfortune and is tormented by griefs, let him be more attentive to open his eye to receive the collyrium of the salutary word, by which he may obtain not only consolation but also a remedy. It is certain, however, that he who suffers from an eye ailment, if he is unwilling to open it when the physician applies the collyrium, the collyrium is indeed poured outside the pupil, but the eye remains in pain. So too the mind of the grieving person, if it closes itself to the word due to excessive sadness, having received no wholesome admonition, will begin to grieve more, and perhaps suffer that which is contained in Scripture: “For the grief of the world works death” (2 Cor. 7:10). Blessed Paul the Apostle, the faithful teacher and salutary physician, said that there are two kinds of grief, one good and the other bad; one useful and the other useless; one that saves and the other that destroys. And lest what I say seem doubtful to anyone, I will recite his very words.

applied when the eyes are inflamed. So too, when the soul is troubled, a remedy must be sought from the divine word. For it says, "The grief that is according to God works repentance for stable salvation: this is that good grief." Then it follows, "For the grief of this world works death" (ibid., ii): this is that evil grief. Chapter Two. The Causes of Mourning for the Dead, with Respect to the Deceased Themselves, Are Shown to Be Vain. Let us therefore see, brothers, whether this grief which is now in our hands, which is now stirred in the breast and heard in the voice, is useful or useless, whether it can profit or harm. Behold, a lifeless body lies there, a man without a man lies on the bier, limbs indeed without spirit: he is cried out to, but does not answer; he is called, and does not hear; the face lies pale, the form changed, through which death itself is perceived; moreover, his perpetual silence is thought of, the delight or the usefulness that was or was to come is thought of, the needs are thought of, the sweetest words come to mind, long habit is missed. These are without doubt what move tears, provoke wailing, and plunge the whole mind into deep grief. Against these so strong, so powerful weapons of sorrow, this must first of all be opposed: that everything which is born in this world must necessarily die. For this is the law of God and an immutable sentence, which after the transgression the prince of the human race received, when God said, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall go" (Gen. 3:19). What new thing, then, has happened, if a man born for this has satisfied the divine law and sentence? What?

It is not new, if born of mortals, he answered to his own nature, which could not be excused. It is not unusual that which is ancient, it is not unheard of that which is daily, it is not peculiar that which is common. If we know that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers set out by this road of death, if we have heard that even the Patriarchs and Prophets themselves, from Adam the first-formed, departed from this world not without their setting; let us lift our mind from the depth of sorrow: because what was owed, this it has paid. And when a debt is paid, what sadness can it have? This is truly a debt, which no money can redeem: this is a debt, which neither virtue excuses, nor wisdom, nor power, nor even kings themselves can avoid. I would plainly urge you to increase your grief, if it were such a thing that could be redeemed or delayed by your substance through negligence or stinginess. But since God's decree is firm and immutable, we grieve in vain, and we ask ourselves why he died, when it is written, "The departures of death belong to the Lord God" (Ps. 67:21). Therefore, if this common condition of life is received into the mind, the burdened eye of the heart will begin to be relieved, as by a first infusion.

CHAPTER III. Other considerations regarding us are not more reasonable. Why excessive grief brings about death. But you say, I know that this event is common, I know that the one who died has paid his debt: but I think of the delight, I recall the needs, I seek the custom. If you are afflicted on account of these things, you are led by error, not governed by reason. For you ought to know that the Lord, who had given this delight, can give another even greater, and can supply the need on another occasion. As for utility, just as you see your own, you ought also to consider that of the one who has died: because perhaps it was expedient for him thus, as it is written: He was snatched away, lest malice change his understanding. For his soul was pleasing to God, and therefore He hastened to lead him out from the midst of iniquity (Wisdom 4:11-14). But what shall I say about custom? which time makes one forget as if it had never been. What time and days provide, therefore, reason and good thought ought to provide much more. And especially this must be considered, that the divine sentence defined through the Apostle, that the grief of the world brings about death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Now if both delight and present utility or custom are things of the world and transitory joys of the age; to cast down the spirit and sadden the soul on account of these, see that it is truly a deadly condition. Repeating again and again I say: Because the grief of the world brings about death. But why does it bring about death?

Because excessive grief often leads either to doubt or to dangerous blasphemy. CHAPTER IV. Mourning was permitted for those before Christ. Why Christ wept for Lazarus. But someone will say, You forbid mourning the dead, when even the Patriarchs were mourned, and Moses, that servant of God, and many prophets afterwards, especially since the most righteous Job also tore his garment over the death of his sons (Job 1:20)? I do not forbid mourning the dead, but the Apostle, the enlightener of the Gentiles, who says thus: "I would not have you ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, that you should not grieve, as those who have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:12). The clarity of the Gospel cannot be obscured if those who were placed before the law or under the shadow of the law wept for their dead. And they wept deservedly, because Christ had not yet come from heaven, who dried up that fountain of tears by his resurrection. They wept deservedly, because the sentence of death still remained. They lamented deservedly, because the resurrection was not yet proclaimed. The saints indeed hoped for the coming of the Lord; but in the meantime they wept for their dead, because they had not yet seen the one for whom they hoped. Finally, Simeon, one of the ancient saints, who had previously been anxious about his own death, after he received Jesus the Lord, still a child in the flesh, into his hands, rejoices at his own departure, saying: "Now you release your servant in peace, Lord, because my eyes have seen your salvation" (Luke 2:29). Blessed Simeon!

Because what he had hoped to see, he now considered his own death as peace and rest. But you will say, Behold, in the Gospel it is read that the ruler of the synagogue wept for his daughter (John 8:52), and the sisters of Lazarus wept for Lazarus (John 11:51). But they still thought according to the old law, because they had not yet seen Christ risen from the dead. Plainly the Lord Himself wept for Lazarus already buried (John 11:33), not indeed to give a pattern for weeping for the dead, but to show through His tears that He had assumed a true body. Or certainly He wept out of human love for the Jews, because even with such a sign shown they were not going to believe. For the death of Lazarus could not have been a cause for tears, since Jesus Himself had said that he was sleeping, and had promised that he would be raised, as indeed He did. CHAPTER V. It is no longer permitted to mourn the dead. On the day of judgment those who are alive will not die. Therefore the ancients had their own custom, and their own weakness, preceding the coming of Christ. But now from the time the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, from the time the most recent Adam dissolved the sentence given to the first Adam, from the time He destroyed our death by His own death and the Lord rose from the dead on the third day, death is no longer terrible for the faithful: the setting is not feared, because the Rising has come from on high. The Lord Himself, who cannot lie, proclaims: I am, He says, the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even if he has died, will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never see death in eternity (John 25, 26).

It is clear, dearest brothers, that the divine voice says: whoever believes in Christ and keeps his commandments, if he dies, will live. The blessed Apostle Paul, receiving this voice and holding it with all the strength of faith, instructed: "I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant concerning those who sleep, so that you may not be sad" (1 Thess. 4:12). A marvelous pronouncement of the Apostle! With one word, before he sets forth the doctrine, he commends the resurrection. For he calls those who have died "those who sleep," so that by calling them sleepers, he signifies without doubt that they will rise again. "Do not," he says, "be sad concerning those who sleep," as others are. Let those who have no hope be sad; but we, who are children of hope, let us rejoice together. And what our hope is, he himself recalls, saying: "If we believe that Christ died and rose again, so also God will bring those who have slept, through Jesus, with him" (ibid. 13). For Jesus is salvation for us living here, and life for those departing from here. "For me," says the Apostle, "to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21). Gain indeed, because death, by hastening, makes gain of the anxieties and tribulations which a longer life holds. Now the Apostle describes the order and habit of our hope.

This, he says, we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who live, who are left behind, will not in his coming precede those who have fallen asleep: because the Lord himself, by the command and voice of the Archangel, and by the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ will rise first; then we who live, together with them, will be snatched up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and thus we will be with the Lord forever (1 Thess. 4:14-16). This is what he says, that when the Lord comes, he will find many Christians in the body who have not yet experienced death; and yet they will not be snatched up to heaven before the holy dead have risen from their tombs, roused by the trumpet of God and the voice of the Archangel. But when they have been roused, joined together with the living, they will be snatched up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and thus they will reign with him forever. Nor can it be doubted that bodies, although they are heavy, can be lifted into the air: since at the Lord's command Peter also, having that same body, walked upon the waves of the sea (Matt. 14:29); and Elijah, for the confirmation of this hope, was snatched up to heaven through this air in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11).

CHAPTER VI. What we will be like after the resurrection. Death is more to be desired than mourned. Yet it is not to be inflicted on oneself. But perhaps you ask, what will those who have risen from the dead be like? Hear your Lord himself speaking: Then, he says, the just will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13:45). Why should I mention the splendor of the sun? The faithful must be transformed into the very brightness of Christ the Lord himself, as the apostle Paul testifies: Our citizenship, he says, is in heaven. Hence we also await the Savior himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness into the conformity of the body of his glory (Phil. 3:20-21). Without doubt this mortal body will be transformed into the conformity of Christ's brightness; the mortal will put on immortality: because what was sown in weakness will immediately rise in strength (1 Cor. 15:43). Flesh will no longer fear corruption, it will not suffer hunger, nor thirst, nor sicknesses, nor adverse events. For there is a safe peace and a firm security of life. It is indeed another, heavenly glory, where joy will be provided without fail.

Bearing this in mind and before his eyes, the blessed Paul said, "I desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far better" (Philippians 1:23). And he teaches even more openly: "While we are," he says, "in the body, we are on a pilgrimage from the Lord; for we walk by faith, and not by sight. But we have," he says, "a greater willingness to be on pilgrimage from the body and to be present to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). What are we doing, we men of little faith, who grow anxious and faint if any of our dear ones departs to the Lord? What are we doing, whom the pilgrimage in this world delights more than being presented to the sight of Christ? Truly, truly, everything we live is a pilgrimage: for like pilgrims in the world, we have uncertain dwellings, we labor, we sweat, walking difficult roads full of dangers; on all sides there are snares from spiritual and bodily enemies, on all sides little paths of error are prepared. And when we are pressed by such great perils, not only do we ourselves not strive to be freed, but we also mourn and lament those who have been freed as if they were lost. What has God done for us through His Only-Begotten, if we still fear the event of death? Why do we glory in being reborn from water and spirit, if the pilgrimage from this world saddens us? The Lord Himself cries out, "If anyone serves me, let him follow me: and where I am, there my servant will also be" (John 12:26). Do you think if an earthly king summoned someone to his palace or banquet, he would not hasten with gratitude?

How much more must we hasten to the heavenly king, who, when he has received them, will make them not only guests but also co-rulers, as it is written: "If we have died together, we shall also feast together; if we endure, we shall also reign together" (2 Timothy 2:12). I do not say this so that anyone may lay hands on himself, or kill himself against the will of God the creator, or drive the soul from the lodging of his own body; but I say this so that one may be joyful and glad, both when he himself is called and when his neighbor is called, and that he himself may go, and rejoice with those who go. For this is the sum of the Christian faith: to await true life after death, to hope for return after departure. Having therefore accepted the voice of the Apostle, let us now confidently say thanks to God, who has given us victory over death through Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 15:57): to whom is glory and power now and for ever and ever. Amen. Second Sermon. Chapter 1. Why the Resurrection is Doubtful Among Unbelievers. In the previous little book we briefly touched upon the consolation of mortality, the hope of resurrection: now we hasten to speak more fully and more strongly about these same things. For what I have said is certain to believers, but to unbelievers and doubters it seems fabulous, to whom let us offer a few brief words. Certainly, whoever you are who are unbelieving, you sustain every doubt about the substance of the body. For it is disbelieved by some that flesh turned to dust can ever rise again, can live again.

Moreover, no man can doubt concerning the soul, since even the philosophers themselves, though pagans, do not disagree about the immortality of the soul. For what is death but the separation of body and soul? For when the soul, which always lives, which knows not how to die, because it is from the breath of God, departs, only the body dies: because in us one thing is mortal, another immortal. But the departing soul, which is not seen by carnal eyes, is received by angels and placed either in the bosom of Abraham, if it is faithful, or in the prison of hell, if it is sinful: until the appointed day comes, when it receives its body, and renders an account of its deeds before the tribunal of Christ, the true judge. Therefore, since all hesitation is about the flesh, it is the weakness of this that must be defended, and the resurrection confirmed. CHAPTER II, He proves it possible. The germination of seeds. Creation also proves it. But if someone, doubtful and incredulous, asks me, "How will the dead rise? And in what body will they come?" I will answer him with the words and mouth of the Apostle: "Foolish one, what you sow is not given life unless it first dies; and what you sow, you sow a naked grain of wheat, or of some other seed (1 Cor. 15:36, 37), dead and dry without moisture; and when it has rotted, it rises more fruitful, and becomes clothed with husks, armed with ears. Therefore, he who raises a grain of wheat for your sake, who alone daily as if from itself...

the beauty of night awakens, and restores the moon as if from death, and recalls the receding seasons for our benefit: will He not seek us, for whose sake He restores all things, and will He allow us, whom He kindled with His breath, whom He animated with His spirit, to be extinguished once and for all? And will man, who has piously known and worshipped Him, no longer exist forever? But you doubt again that you can be restored after death, reconstituted after ash and consumed bones? Man, tell me: what were you before you were conceived in your mother's womb? Nothing at all. Therefore, God, who created you from nothing, will He not more easily be able to restore you from something? Believe me, He who could create what did not exist will more easily be able to remake what once existed. He who commanded you, from a drop of formless fluid in your mother's womb, to grow into sinews, veins, and bones, will be able, believe me, to generate you again from the womb of the earth. But you fear that perhaps your dry bones cannot be clothed with their former flesh? Do not, do not measure God's majesty by your own impotence. That God, the creator of all things, who clothes trees with leaves and meadows with flowers, will be able at the springtime of the resurrection to clothe your bones as well. The prophet Ezekiel once doubted this very thing, and when asked by the Lord whether the dry bones scattered across the field would live, he replied, "You know, Lord.

But after, at God's command and by his own prophesying, he saw the bones running to their places and joints; after he saw the dry bones bound with sinews, interwoven with veins, covered with flesh, clothed with skin, afterwards he prophesied in spirit: and the coming spirit of each one entered into those lying bodies, and they rose again, and immediately stood up. Thus confirmed concerning the resurrection, the Prophet wrote the vision, so that knowledge of such a great matter might reach posterity (Ezekiel 37:3-10). Rightly therefore does Isaiah proclaim, The dead shall arise, and those who are in tombs shall rise again, and those who are on earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from you is health to them (Isaiah 26:19). For truly, just as seeds moistened with dew sprout and spring forth, so by the dew of the Spirit the bones of the faithful will sprout. CHAPTER III. And a huge flame from a small flint. But you doubt how the whole man can be restored from small bones? Truly you kindle a huge flame from a small spark; will God not be able to restore the whole mixture of your little body from the small leaven of your ashes? For even if you say, The remains of the flesh itself appear nowhere; for perhaps they have either been consumed by fire, or devoured by beasts: know this first, that whatever is consumed is contained in the bowels of the earth, whence it can again be produced at God's command. For you too, when the fire is not apparent, apply a small stone and a little iron, and strike from the bowels of the pebble as much fire as is needed.

What, then, you accomplish by your own diligence and wisdom, which God Himself has granted you, in bringing forth what does not appear—that same divine majesty will be able to do by its own power, to bring forth what in the meantime is not seen. Believe me, God can do all things. CHAPTER IV. The future resurrection is indeed attested by Christ, the Apostles, the examples of the martyrs, and the mother of the Maccabees. Hence the fear of death is excluded. The precept of not mourning. Only this is required: whether He has promised to bring about the resurrection; and when you have learned of that promise from the testimonies of so many, indeed when you hold the most certain guarantee of Christ the Lord Himself, then, confirmed in faith, cease at last to fear death. For he who still fears disbelieves; he who disbelieves contracts an incurable sin, because by his own disbelief he dares to assert that God is either powerless or certainly a liar. But not so the blessed Apostles, not so the holy martyrs bear witness. The Apostles, on account of this preaching of the resurrection, proclaim that Christ has risen, and announce that in Him the dead are to be raised, and they refused neither death nor torments nor crosses. If, therefore, every word stands on the testimony of two or three witnesses, how can the resurrection of the dead, for which so many and such suitable witnesses exist, for whom they bear witness with the shedding of blood, be called into doubt? And what of the holy martyrs? Did they have a certain hope of the resurrection, or not?

If they had not possessed it, they would certainly not have undergone such great tortures and punishments, embracing death as the greatest gain: they did not think of present torments, but of future rewards. They knew the saying, "Things that are seen are for a time; things that are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). Hear, brothers, an example of virtue. A mother encouraged her seven sons, and she did not mourn, but rather rejoiced: she saw her sons scraped with hooks, cut with iron, roasted in a frying pan; and she did not shed tears, she did not raise wailings, but earnestly urged her sons to endurance. For she was not cruel, but faithful: she loved her sons, not delicately, but strongly. She urged her sons to martyrdom, which she herself also joyfully underwent. For she was secure about her own resurrection and that of her sons (2 Maccabees 7). Why should I speak of men, why of women, why of boys, why of girls? How they played with that death, how with the utmost speed they passed over to the heavenly militia! They could, of course, have lived for the present, if they had wished; because it was in their power, by denying Christ, to live, or by confessing Him, to die: but they chose rather to cast away temporal life and to take up eternal life; to be shut out from earth and to dwell in heaven.

Among these things, brothers, what place is there for doubt? Where can fear of death still reside? If we are children of the martyrs, if we wish to be found their companions, let us not be saddened by death, let us not mourn our dear ones who precede us to the Lord. For if we wish to lament, the blessed martyrs themselves will leap upon us and say, "Faithful ones, you who desire the kingdom of God, you who mourn your dear ones dying delicately, in beds and feathers, with grief and lamentation; if you saw them tortured and killed by pagans for the name of the Lord, what would you do? Or has the example not preceded you? The patriarch Abraham, offering his only son as a sacrifice, slew him with the sword of obedience (Gen. 22:10): he did not spare him, whom he loved with such great affection, so that he might be proven obedient to the Lord. But if you say that he did this because of God's command, you also have a command, that you not be sorrowful about those who sleep (1 Thess. 4:12). Therefore, those who do not keep the lesser commands, when will they keep the greater? Do you not know that a spirit which is broken in such matters is found unfit for stronger ones? Who, fearing a stream, ever enters the sea? Thus, he who impatiently mourns the lost, when will he be able to reach the contest of martyrdom? For he who is constant and magnanimous in these matters already lays a foundation for himself for greater things.

CHAPTER V. An Outstanding Example of This from David. Therefore, It Is Not Permissible to Wear Black Garments of Mourning. The Pagan’s Response Upon Hearing of His Son’s Death. Pagans, Jews, and Catechumens Are to Be Mourned When Dying. Wholesome Sadness. Recapitulation of Both Sermons. Let these things suffice, brothers, for contempt of death and for the confirmation of future hope. It remains for me to offer one example from the Old Testament, which provides all consolation, and which I wish all to hear with patient hearts and ears. The great King David had a beloved son, whom he loved as his own soul, struck by illness; he bore it most impatiently, and when human aid was of no avail, he turned himself to the Lord. Laying aside royal glory, he sat on the ground, lay on sackcloth, did not eat, did not drink, for seven continuous days praying to God that his son might be granted to him alive. The elders of his household came, consoling him, and begged him to take food, fearing lest, while he wished his son to live, he himself might perish first. They could not extort it, nor compel him; for an impatient man is wont to despise even dangers themselves. The king lies in the squalor of sackcloth while his son is ill: neither words bring consolation, nor the very necessity of food calls him. His mind feeds on sadness, his heart is refreshed by grief, his eyes flow with tears instead of drink. Amid these things, what God had decreed came to pass. The boy died.

The wife was in mourning, the whole house in lamentation, the servants terrified, agitated about what would happen: for no one dared to announce to the master that his son was dead, fearing indeed that he, who had so impatiently mourned him while still alive, would put an end to his own life if he heard he was dead. While the servants clamored among themselves, while they were sad, one urging or forbidding another to speak, David understood, and forestalled the messengers. He asks whether his son had breathed his last. They cannot deny it; their tears reveal the fact. An unusual gathering occurs, great expectation and fear, lest the pious father bring some danger upon himself. Immediately King David rises from the sackcloth, rises cheerfully, as if he had heard that his son was safe; he goes to the baths, washes the little body, goes to the temple, worships God, feasts with his friends, his sighs suppressed, all grief laid aside, his face now joyful. The household marvels, his friends are astonished at this new and sudden change of demeanor; finally they dare to ask what this meant, that he grieved so much while his son was alive, but did not grieve when he was dead? That man, preeminent in magnanimity, replied: It was necessary while my son still lived to humble myself, and to fast, and to mourn in the sight of the Lord; for there was hope of obtaining a reprieve of life. But after the Lord's will was done, it is foolish and impious to wear out the mind with useless lamentation; saying thus: I will go to him, he will not return to me (2 Sam. 12:16-23). Behold an example of magnanimity and virtue.

If that David, still placed under the law, under that—I do not say license, but—necessity of lamentation, so separated his mind from irrational grief, so restrained his own sorrow and that of his household: we who are now under grace, under the certain hope of resurrection, to whom all sadness is forbidden, with what face do we bewail our dead in the manner of Gentiles, raise insane wailings, as if raving in some other kind of frenzy, tear our tunics, bare our breasts, sing empty words and dirges around the body and tomb of the deceased? Finally, on what reasoning do we dye our clothes black, unless to prove ourselves truly faithless and wretched not only by our weeping, but also by our garments? These things are alien, brothers, they are foreign, they are not permitted: and if they were permitted, they would not be fitting. But some among the brothers and sisters, although their own faith and the Lord’s command make them strong, are nevertheless weakened and broken by the opinion of parents and neighbors: lest they be judged stony-hearted and cruel, if they have spared their clothing, if they have not raved in insane grief. And how vain is this, how foolish, to consider the opinions of erring men; and not to fear, lest one do less than what faith has undertaken? Why does not such a one rather learn endurance, why does he not learn faith from me, he who is doubtful? When, even if the sorrow of such a heart is so great, he ought silently to digest his grief in his senses, and not publicize it by the levity of his own mind.

I wish to set forth one more example for correcting those who think the dead should be mourned. This example, however, is from pagan history. There was a certain pagan prince who had an only son, and a greatly beloved one. When he was sacrificing in the Capitol to his idols in wretched error, it was announced to him that that only son had died. He did not abandon the sacred rites he was holding in his hands, he did not weep, nor did he even sigh: but hear what he replied. "Let him be buried," he said, "for I remember that I begot a son mortal." See the response, see the virtue of a pagan man: that he did not even order himself to be waited for, or that his son's burial be conducted in his presence. What are we doing, brothers, if the devil on the day of judgment produces this man before Christ against us, and says, "This worshiper of mine, whom I was deceiving with my tricks, so that he served blind and deaf images; to whom I had promised neither resurrection from the dead, nor paradise, nor the kingdoms of heaven; this wise man did not grieve nor groan at the death of his only son, nor did he abandon my sacred rites at the news: but you Christians, your faithful, for whom you were crucified and died so that they themselves would not fear death, but would be secure about the resurrection, not only mourn the dead in voice and dress, but are even ashamed to proceed to church; some even of your own clergy and pastors interrupt their ministry, giving themselves over to mourning, as if insulting your will? Why?

Because those whom you wished, you have called from the darkness of the world to yourself. What can we answer to this, brothers? Will not confusion seize us, when in this matter we are found inferior to pagans? And indeed the pagan ought to be mourned, who, not knowing God, as soon as he dies, goes straight to punishment. The Jew ought to be lamented, who, not believing in Christ, has consigned his soul to perdition. We must plainly grieve for our catechumens, if either by their own unbelief or by the negligence of their neighbors, they have departed without saving baptism. But whoever, sanctified by grace, sealed by faith, proven by conduct, or secure in innocence, departs from this world, is to be blessed, not mourned; to be longed for, not lamented; but longed for with moderation, since we know that we ourselves will follow in the approaching times. Therefore wipe away your tears, cease your sighs, restrain your groans, O faithful one; and for this sadness, put on that saving sadness which the blessed Apostle recalled to be according to God, which is accustomed to produce stable salvation (2 Cor. 7:10); namely, penitence for committed sins.

Search your own breast, questioning your own conscience, and if you find anything to repent of (and you will find it, since you are human), draw sighs in confession, pour forth tears in prayer, be anxious about that true death, about the punishment of the soul, be anxious about sin, as David says: "For I declare my iniquity, and I will be anxious for my sin" (Psalm 37:19); and you will not be terrified by the temporal dissolution of this body, which in its own time, at God's command, will be restored for the better. See how the divine sentence has embraced both, saying: "The hour comes when the dead who are in the tombs will rise again." Behold security, behold contempt for death. But what follows? "Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29): behold the diversity of those who rise. Indeed, every human flesh must rise again: but the good will rise to life, the evil will rise to punishment, as it is written: "Therefore the impious will not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just" (Psalm 1:?).

So that we may not rise again to judgment, let us set aside the grief of death and take up that penitence and sorrow, and have care for good works and a better life; and let the thought of this funeral and corpse serve us to know that we are mortal, and through this thought, not to neglect our salvation while there is time, while it is permitted: that is, either bearing fruit for the better, or amending if we have erred in ignorance, lest, suddenly overtaken by the day of death, we seek a space for penance and be unable to find it; we seek to give alms and make satisfaction for our offenses, and what we wish is not granted. Therefore, brothers, having shown the commonality of death, having shown the prohibition of tears, having pointed out the fragility of the ancients still and not the virtue of Christianity, having shown the Lord's sacrament and the Apostles' testimony on resurrection, having recalled the Acts of the Apostles and the passions of the martyrs, having also shown the example of David and additionally the deed of a pagan man, and finally having set forth both harmful and useful grief—that which harms, and that which saves through penance—with all these things thus shown, what else ought we to do, brothers, than, giving thanks to God the Father, say, "Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 6:10)? You gave life, you established death; you lead into the world, you lead out of the world, and when you have led out, you preserve; for nothing of yours perishes, you who said that not even a hair of their head perishes (Luke

(Psalm 103:29). "You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and they will return to their land; but you will send forth your Spirit and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth" (Psalm 103:30)? These words, brothers, are worthy of the faithful; this is a salutary medicine. With this sponge of consolation the eye is wiped clean; with this collyrium of reason infused, it will not only feel no blindness from despair, but will not even suffer any bleariness of sorrow. Rather, looking upon all things brightly with the eyes of the heart, it will say, with that most patient Job, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has happened; let the name of the Lord be blessed" (Job 1:21) for ever and ever. Amen. ADMONITION ON THE TREATISE ON THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CATHOLIC CONVERSATION. This treatise exists in the second book of the Life of Saint Eligius, bishop of Noyon, chapter, collected and described, of course, by the work of Audoenus, the author of that same Life, who strove to comprehend in this sermon the daily and principal admonitions of that most pious prelate to his people. For each day, says Audoenus, he tirelessly exhorted the people entrusted to him with salutary admonitions; and with crowds gathered from all sides to the church, having included many and great things briefly in a sermon, but copious in spiritual edification, raising his voice with prophetic confidence, he would offer them admonitions of this sort: "I ask you, dearest brothers, and with great humility I admonish you," etc.

Audoenus presents there a complete sermon, and when it is finished he adds: "Let it suffice to have related thus far in summary these familiar admonitions of so great a man; although he did not deliver them in the order in which they are arranged here on a single day, yet at various times he always imparted such precepts to the people." Our old codex from Saint-Germain agrees, which presents this very treatise written separately from the Life of Eligius with this title: "Here begin the sermons of the blessed Eligius, which he delivered with the utmost zeal to the people from the most abundant treasury of his heart." However, what Eligius sets forth there he drew almost entirely from the Sermons of Caesarius, which throughout all Gaul and the Spains, through the agency of Caesarius (as we have elsewhere observed), were read aloud in churches. Refer to the Appendix of the previous volume, and compare sermons 29, 78, 110, 116, 141, 210, 249, 258, 265, 266, 273, 275, 277, 278, 279, 289, etc. In those you will find both the very words of Eligius and certain passages explained more clearly than here. From Sermon, for example, 129, n. 2, and from 130, n. 1 and 2, you will understand what we read here, n. 5: "Let no one make vetulas": where James Sirmond, just as in the Council of Auxerre, thought that vitulas should be written. Likewise this sentence of Eligius n.

9. That he who presumes to have a concubine before lawful marriage sins worse than he who commits adultery is to be understood in this way: that he is judged to sin worse for no other reason than that his deed is of a more pernicious example, as you may learn from the same Appendix, sermon 288, n. 5, and from II. 4, where Caesarius gives the reason for this same opinion: because he who commits adultery still wishes to do such a grave evil in secret, whereas he who wishes to have a concubine publicly thinks he may licitly admit a detestable thing in the sight of the whole people. Thus he gives others an occasion for error, so that they believe it is permitted with impunity. For sins, as Augustine says in the Enchiridion, chapter 80, although great and horrible, when they have become customary, are believed to be either small or nothing.