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De Fuga in Persecutione

XIII.

[1] 'Sed et omni petenti me dabo': in causa elimosinae, non in concussurae. Petenti inquit; porro qui incutit, non petit; qui comminatur, si non acceperit, non postulat, sed extorquet; non elimosinam expectat, qui non miserandus, sed timendus venit. Dabo igitur misericordiae, non timiditatis meae nomine, ubi, qui accepit, deum honorat et benedictionem mihi reddit, non ubi amplius et benefactum praestitisse se credit et praedam suam aspiciens dicit: 'De reatu'. [2] Tascam et inimicum!' Sed inimicitiae et alios habent titulos, non tamen dixit traditorem aut persecutorem aut concussorem; nam huic quanto magis carbones acervabo super caput, si non me redemero! 'Proinde', inquit, 'qui tibi tunicam sustulerit, vel etiam pallium concede.' Ad eum pertinet, qui rem, non qui fidem meam eripere quasierit; concedam et pallium nil [o]minanti; traditionem si minatus fuerit, etiam tunicam reposcam. [3] Omnium iam nunc dominicarum (sententiarum) suae sunt et causae et regulae; termini non in infinitum nec ad omnia spectant; atque adeo omni petenti dari iubet, ipse signum petentibus non dat. Alioquin si omnibus passim petentibus dandum putas, tu mihi videris, non dico vinum febricitanti, sed etiam venenum aut gladium mortem desideranti daturus. [4] Facite autem vobis amicos de mammona quomodo intelligendum sit, parabola praemissa te doceat ad populum Iudaicum dictum, qui, commissam sibi rationem domini cum male administrasset, deberet de mammonae hominibus, quod nos eramus, amicos sibi potius prospicere quam inimicos et relevare nos a debitis peccatorum, quibus deo detinebamur, si nobis id dominica ratione conferrent, ut, cum coepisset ab his deficere gratia, ad nostram fidem refugientes reciperentur in tabernacula aeterna. Quamvis nunc puta aliam interpretationem parabolae et sententiae istius, dum scias verisimile non esse, ut concussores nostri in amicitiam redacti per mammonam recipiant tunc nos in aeterna tabernacula. [5] Sed quid non timiditas persuadebit? Quasi et fugere scriptum permittat et redimere praecipiat! Parum denique est, si tinus aut alius ita eruitur: massaliter totae ecclesiae tributum sibi irrogaverunt! Nescio, dolendum an erubescendum sit, cum in matrioibus beneficiariorum et curiosorum inter tabernarios et ianeos et fures balnearum et aleones et lenones Christiani[s] quoque vectigales continentur. [6] Hanc episcopatus formam apostoli providentius condiderunt, ut regno suo securi frui possent sub obtentu procurandae salutis? Scilicet enim talem pacem Christus ad patrem regrediens mandavit a militibus per Saturnalicia redimendam!

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De Fuga in Persecutione

13.

But also to every one who asks me I will give on the plea of charity, not under any intimidation. Who asks? ¹ He says. But he who uses intimidation does not ask. One who threatens if he does not receive, does not crave, but compels. It is not alms he looks for, who comes not to be pitied, but to be feared. I will give, therefore, because I pity, not because I fear, when the recipient honours God and returns me his blessing; not when rather he both believes that he has conferred a favour on me, and, beholding his plunder, says, "Guilt money." Shall I be angry even with an enemy? But enmities have also other grounds. Yet withal he did not say a betrayer, or persecutor, or one seeking to terrify you by his threats. For how much more shall I heap coals upon the head of a man of this sort, if I do not redeem myself by money? "In like manner," says Jesus, "to him who has taken away your coat, grant even your cloak also." But that refers to him who has sought to take away my property, not my faith. The cloak, too, I will grant, if I am not threatened with betrayal. If he threatens, I will demand even my coat back again. Even now, the declarations of the Lord have reasons and laws of their own. They are not of unlimited or universal application. And so He commands us to give to every one who asks, yet He Himself does not give to those who ask a sign. Otherwise, if you think that we should give indiscriminately to all who ask, that seems to me to mean that you would give, I say not wine to him who has a fever, but even poison or a sword to him who longs for death. But how we are to understand, "Make to yourselves friends of mammon," ² let the previous parable teach you. The saying was addressed to the Jewish people; inasmuch as, having managed ill the business of the Lord which had been entrusted to them, they ought to have provided for themselves out of the men of mammon, which we then were, friends rather than enemies, and to have delivered us from the dues of sins which kept us from God, if they bestowed the blessing upon us, for the reason given by the Lord, that when grace began to depart from them, they, betaking themselves to our faith, might be admitted into everlasting habitations. Hold now any other explanation of this parable and saying you like, if only you clearly see that there is no likelihood of our opposers, should we make them friends with mammon, then receiving us into everlasting abodes. But of what will not cowardice convince men? As if Scripture both allowed them to flee, and commanded them to buy off! Finally, it is not enough if one or another is so rescued. Whole Churches have imposed tribute en masse on themselves. I know not whether it is matter for grief or shame when among hucksters, and pickpockets, and bath-thieves, and gamesters, and pimps, Christians too are included as taxpayers in the lists of free soldiers and spies. Did the apostles, with so much foresight, make the office of overseer of this type, that the occupants might be able to enjoy their rule free from anxiety, under colour of providing (a like freedom for their flocks)? For such a peace, forsooth, Christ, returning to His Father, commanded to be bought from the soldiers by gifts like those you have in the Saturnalia!