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De Pudicitia

XXII.

[1] At tu iam et in martyras tuos effundis hanc potestatem. Vt quisque ex consensione uincula induit adhuc mollia in nouo custodiae nomine, statim ambiunt moechi, statim adeunt fornicatores, iam preces circumsonant, iam lacrimae circumstagnant maculati cuiusque, nec ulli magis aditum carceris redimunt quam qui ecclesiam perdiderunt. [2] Violantur uiri ac feminae in tenebris plane ex usu libidinum notis, et pacem ab his quaerunt qui de sua periclitantur. Alii ad metalla confugiunt et inde communicatores reuertuntur, ubi iam aliud martyrium necessarium est delictis post martyrium nouis. [3] Quis enim in terris et in carne sine culpa? Quis martyr saeculi incola, denariis supplex, medico obnoxius et feneratori? Puta nunc sub gladio iam capite librato, puta in patibulo iam corpore expanso, puta in stipite iam leone concesso, puta in axe iam incendio adstructo, in ipsa, dico, securitate et possessione martyrii, quis permittit homini donare quae Deo reseruanda sunt, a quo ea sine excusatione damnata sunt, quae nec apostoli, quod sciam, martyres et ipsi donabilia iudicauerunt? [4] Denique iam ad bestias depugnauerat Paulus Ephesi, cum interitum decernit incesto.

Sufficiat martyri propria delicta purgasse. Ingrati uel superbi est in alios quoque spargere, quod pro magno fuerit consecutus. Quis alienam mortem sua soluit, nisi solus Dei filius? Nam et in ipsa passione liberauit latronem. Ad hoc enim uenerat, ut ipse a delicto purus et omnia sanctus pro peccatoribus obiret. [5] Proinde qui illum aemularis donando delicta, si nil ipse deliquisti, plane patere pro me. Si uero peccator es, quomodo oleum faculae tuae sufficere et tibi et mihi poterit?

[6] Habeo etiam nunc quo probem Christum. Si propterea Christus in martyre est, ut moechos et fornicatores martyr absoluat, occulta cordis edicat, ut ita delicta concedat, et Christus est. [7] Sic enim Dominus Iesus Christus potestatem suam ostendit: Quid cogitatis nequam in cordibus uestris? Quid enim facilius est dicere paralytico: dimittuntur tibi peccata, aut: surge et ambula? Igitur ut sciatis filium hominis habere dimittendorum peccatorum in terris potestatem, tibi dico, paralytice: surge et ambula. [8] Si Dominus tantum de potestatis suae probatione curauit, uti traduceret cogitatus et ita imperaret sanitatem, ne non crederetur posse delicta dimittere, non licet mihi eandem potestatem in aliquo sine eisdem probationibus credere. [9] Cum tamen moechis et fornicatoribus a martyre expostulas ueniam, ipse confiteris eiusmodi crimina nonnisi proprio martyrio diluenda, qui praesumis alieno. Quod sciam, et martyrium aliud erit baptisma. [10] Habeo enim, inquit, et aliud baptisma. Vnde et ex uulnere lateris dominici aqua et sanguis, utriusque lauacri paratura manauit. [11] Debeo ergo et primo lauacro alium liberare, si possum secundo.

Ingeram usque in finem necesse est: quaecumque auctoritas, quaecumque ratio moecho et fornicatori pacem ecclesiasticam reddit, eadem debebit et homicidae et idololatrae paenitentibus subuenire, certe negatori, et utique illi, quem in proelio confessionis tormentis conluctatum saeuitia deiecit. [12] Ceterum indignum Deo et illius misericordia, eius qui paenitentiam peccatoris morti praeuertit, ut facilius in ecclesiam redeant, qui subando quam qui dimicando ceciderunt. Vrget nos dicere indignitas : contaminata potius corpora reuocabis quam cruentata? [13] Quae paenitentia miserabilior titillatam prosternens carnem an uero laniatam? Quae iustior uenia in omnibus causis, quam uoluntarius an quam inuitus peccator implorat? Nemo uolens negare compellitur, nemo nolens fornicator. [14] Nulla ad libidinem uis est, nisi ipsa; nescit quo libet cogi. Negationem porro quanta compellunt ingenia carnificis et genera poenarum? Quis magis negauit, qui Christum uexatus an qui delectatus amisit? Qui cum amitteret doluit, an qui cum amitteret lusit?

[15] Et tamen illae cicatrices Christiano proelio insculptae et utique inuidiosae apud Christum, quia uicisse cupierunt, et sic quoque gloriosae, quia non uincendo cesserunt, in quas adhuc et diabolus ipse suspirat, cum sua infelicitate, sed casta, cum paenitentia maerente, sed non erubescente ad Dominum, de uenia denuo dimittetur eis, qui piaculariter negauerunt. Solis illis caro infirma est. Atquin nullatam fortis caro quam quae spiritum elidit.

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On Modesty

Chapter XXII.--Of Martyrs, and Their Intercession on Behalf of Scandalous Offenders.

But you go so far as to lavish this "power" upon martyrs withal! No sooner has any one, acting on a preconceived arrangement, put on the bonds--(bonds), moreover, which, in the nominal custody now in vogue, ¹ are soft ones--than adulterers beset him, fornicators gain access to him; instantly prayers echo around him; instantly pools of tears (from the eyes) of all the polluted surround him; nor are there any who are more diligent in purchasing entrance into the prison than they who have lost (the fellowship of) the Church! Men and women are violated in the darkness with which the habitual indulgence of lusts has plainly familiarized them; and they seek peace at the hands of those who are risking their own! Others betake them to the mines, and return, in the character of communicants, from thence, where by this time another "martyrdom" is necessary for sins committed after "martyrdom." "Well, who on earth and in the flesh is faultless?" What "martyr" (continues to be) an inhabitant of the world ² supplicating? pence in hand? subject to physician and usurer? Suppose, now, (your "martyr") beneath the glaive, with head already steadily poised; suppose him on the cross, with body already outstretched; suppose him at the stake, with the lion already let loose; suppose him on the axle, with the fire already heaped; in the very certainty, I say, and possession of martyrdom: who permits man to condone (offences) which are to be reserved for God, by whom those (offences) have been condemned without discharge, which not even apostles (so far as I know)--martyrs withal themselves--have judged condonable? In short, Paul had already "fought with beasts at Ephesus," when he decreed "destruction" to the incestuous person. ³ Let it suffice to the martyr to have purged his own sins: it is the part of ingratitude or of pride to lavish upon others also what one has obtained at a high price. ⁴ Who has redeemed another's death by his own, but the Son of God alone? For even in His very passion He set the robber free. ⁵ For to this end had He come, that, being Himself pure from sin, ⁶ and in all respects holy, ⁷ He might undergo death on behalf of sinners. ⁸ Similarly, you who emulate Him in condoning sins, if you yourself have done no sin, plainly suffer in my stead. If, however, you are a sinner, how will the oil of your puny torch be able to suffice for you and for me? ⁹

I have, even now, a test whereby to prove (the presence of) Christ (in you). If Christ is in the martyr for this reason, that the martyr may absolve adulterers and fornicators, let Him tell publicly the secrets of the heart, that He may thus concede (pardon to) sins; and He is Christ. For thus it was that the Lord Jesus Christ showed His power: "Why think ye evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say to the paralytic, Thy sins are remitted thee; or, Rise and walk? Therefore, that ye may know the Son of man to have the power upon earth of remitting sins, I say to thee, paralytic, Rise, and walk." ¹⁰ If the Lord set so much store by the proof of His power as to reveal thoughts, and so impart health by His command, lest He should not be believed to have the power of remitting sins; it is not lawful for me to believe the same power (to reside) in any one, whoever he be, without the same proofs. In the act, however, of urgently entreating from a martyr pardon for adulterers and fornicators, you yourself confess that crimes of that nature are not to be washed away except by the martyrdom of the criminal himself, while you presume (they can be washed away) by another's. If this is so, then martyrdom will be another baptism. For "I have withal," saith He, "another baptism." ¹¹ Whence, too, it was that there flowed out of the wound in the Lord's side water and blood, the materials of either baptism. ¹² I ought, then, by the first baptism too to (have the right of) setting another free if I can by the second: and we must necessarily force upon the mind (of our opponents this conclusion): Whatever authority, whatever reason, restores ecclesiastical peace to the adulterer and fornicator, the same will be bound to come to the aid of the murderer and idolater in their repentance,--at all events, of the apostate, and of course of him whom, in the battle of his confession, after hard struggling with torments, savagery has overthrown. Besides, it were unworthy of God and of His mercy, who prefers the repentance of a sinner to his death, that they should have easier return into (the bosom of) the Church who have fallen in heat of passion, than they who have fallen in hand-to-hand combat. ¹³ Indignation urges us to speak. Contaminated bodies you will recall rather than gory ones! Which repentance is more pitiable--that which prostrates tickled flesh, or lacerated? Which pardon is, in all causes, more justly concessible--that which a voluntary, or that which an involuntary, sinner implores? No one is compelled with his will to apostatize; no one against his will commits fornication. Lust is exposed to no violence, except itself: it knows no coercion whatever. Apostasy, on the contrary, what ingenuities of butchery and tribes of penal inflictions enforce! Which has more truly apostatized--he who has lost Christ amid agonies, or (he who has done so) amid delights? he who when losing Him grieved, or he who when losing Him sported? And yet those scars graven on the Christian combatant--scars, of course, enviable in the eyes of Christ, because they yearned after Conquest, and thus also glorious, because failing to conquer they yielded; (scars) after which even the devil himself yet sighs; (scars) with an infelicity of their own, but a chaste one, with a repentance that mourns, but blushes not, to the Lord for pardon--will anew be remitted to such, because their apostasy was expiable! In their case alone is the "flesh weak." Nay, no flesh so strong as that which crushes out the Spirit!