Hunolt Sermons/Volume 10/Sermon 60

The presumption of which sinners are guilty in hoping for heaven because God is merciful is a sure sign of eternal reprobation: first, because it is a most outrageous act of contempt towards God; secondly, because God is, as it were, forced to condemn him who acts thus presumptuously.—Preached on the third Sunday after Pentecost.

Hic peccatores recipit, et manducat cum illis.—Luke xv. 2.

“This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”

There is the foundation on which sinners build their hopes of heaven. God is infinitely good, they say. God is merciful; His mercies are above all His works. Christ is the Friend of sinners; He receives them, He eats with them, He rejoices with ​His angels when a sinner is saved. So that, after all, I can venture a little farther. For what have I to fear? I trust in the mercy of God, and I shall be saved. Of such people the Holy Ghost says by the wise Ecclesiastes: “There are wicked men who are as secure,” as fearless and peaceful, “as though they had the deeds of the just.”^[1] But to live in sin and trust for salvation to the goodness of God is not by any means a firm hope, but rather a rash presumption; it is not a sign of predestination to heaven, but rather of eternal reprobation, as I shall now prove, to inspire the wicked with a salutary fear that they may amend in time, if they wish to have the consolation of a firm hope of salvation.

The presumption of which sinners are guilty in hoping for heaven because God is merciful is a sure sign of eternal reprobation, because it is a most outrageous act of contempt towards God; as we shall see in the first part. This presumptuous hope of the wicked is a sure sign of reprobation, because God is, as it were, forced to damn those who act thus presumptuously; this we shall see in the second part.

God of mercy and justice! move the hearts of all sinners with Thy salutary fear, that they may return to Thee; give us all Thy powerful grace to serve Thee faithfully and constantly, and to have a well-grounded hope in Thy mercy. This we beg of Thee through the intercession of our dear Mother and our holy guardian angels.

It is offering a great insult to God to dishonor and offend His goodness and mercy. Of all the divine perfections, although they are all infinite and boundless, there is none that the great God has shown more frequently to His creatures, none that He wishes them to honor and praise more than His goodness and mercy. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works;”^[2] so says the Prophet David, and experience shows that he speaks the truth. Now, if it causes one the greatest pain and sorrow to see that attacked and injured which he thinks most of, it follows that no greater insult or injury can be offered the Almighty than wantonly to dishonor and despise His goodness and mercy. What St. Paul finds hardest to understand in ​the wickedness of sinners is that they go so far as to despise the goodness of God by their sins. “Despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering?”^[3]

That is done by those who sin, and trust in the mercy of God. Ah, holy Apostle, hast thou not found that to be the case during thy lifetime? And now it is only to frequent. You, O presumptuous man! who place your hopes of salvation in God and yet persist in sin: you are the wretch who not only embitter and despise that great Lord, who is infinite goodness and mercy, and treat Him with a contempt common to every sin, but moreover you insult and despise Him (I can hardly speak of it without shuddering) for the very reason that He is so good and merciful; and if He were not so good, you would abstain from sin. For, answer me this question: you know well that this unchaste pleasure, this impure love and unlawful intimacy, this injustice, this hatred against your neighbor, this habit of drunkenness, this swearing and cursing, in a word, all the sins that you commit without any effort to amend or repent, or that you intend to commit in the future, you know that they are all expressly forbidden by the great God under pain of hell-fire. Why then are you not afraid to commit them, or to persist in them any longer?

For they offend God precisely because He is good. You have an enemy who has grievously offended you, and on whom you would wish to be revenged if you had the chance; but he is too strong for you; see, there he goes across the marketplace; run after him at once, fall upon him, and let him feel the effects of your anger! No, no, you say, I must not think of that. Why? Because he is much stronger than I; he is not likely to let me off easily; I know him well, and am sure that if it came to blows I should be the worst off. In that case you act prudently to let him alone. But have yon no hesitation in attacking and offending your God, who has never done anything to injure you, but has always been your Benefactor? Why is that? Is He perhaps weaker than you, so that you can rely on your strength in provoking Him? Can you go anywhere to escape Him, so that you may take refuge in flight? Can He not hurl you into hell amongst the demons, in the very place, at the very moment in which you insult Him? If you knew that such would be the consequence of the first sin you commit, nay, if you were certain that on entering into that forbidden house you would break your leg, or that at the first impure glance you would be​come blind, or at the first scandalous discourse, deaf and dumb, or that you would fall down dead after the first sin, would you still resolve to commit it, or even entertain the thought of it for a moment? No, you say, I would not be so foolish, no matter how strong my inclination, how violent my passion; I would not buy a short-lived pleasure at such a price. And what makes you now so daring that you do not fear to heap sin on sin? Is it not because you believe, hope, and trust that God will not punish you, that He will not send you to hell, but will forgive you your sins as He has already done for so many? You are like the wicked man of whom St. Augustine speaks: “Behold,” you say, “I did it yesterday, and God spared me; I do it to-day, and God spares me; I shall do it to-morrow because God spares.”^[4] But what sort of a foundation is that for you to build your belief, hope, and confidence on, that He will spare you in the future? Because, you answer in thought, God is a good, patient, merciful Father, who is easily appeased, and easily persuaded to admit the sinner to His friendship; a humble repentance can make everything right with Him again; this I have often experienced; and I hope that He will not abandon me in future, because His mercy is infinitely greater than all the sins of the world are grievous. Therefore you sin because God is good and merciful? “Therefore,” concludes St. Augustine, “because God is good, you are bad, and you despise the riches of His goodness and patience.”^[5]

This is most vile conduct. But what a vile, outrageous, and devilish conclusion you come tol God is good, God is merciful, God has pardoned me, God will pardon me, God will not reject me forever, God will bring me to Himself in heaven, therefore I need not fear; I can venture to go on farther, and to offend and insult Him without anxiety. Is not that the same as if I were to say to you: see, there is a good man who has never injured any one; let us go and beat him soundly? For shame! “Let no one think,” says Tertullian, “that the way to sin lies open to him because the way of repentance is not closed; let no one become wicked because God is better.”^[6] If you have any sense of uprightness left, you ​should reasonably draw quite a different conclusion, and say: God is good, therefore I too must be good, and better than I have been hitherto. God is good, and has borne with me very patiently up to this, although He could long ago have sent me to hell for my sins; therefore I will no more offend such a merciful Lord. God is good and ready, if I do penance, to admit me again into His friendship; therefore I will no longer defer repentance, but will return to Him at once. God is good and I trust that He will make me eternally happy; therefore He well deserves that I should serve, honor, and love Him with the utmost zeal. God is good, and does good even to those who provoke Him to anger, as I know by experience; therefore it is a twofold, inexcusable, and most fearful sin to despise and offend such goodness; nay, it is inhuman malice to contemn Him because He is good. Who ever heard of a people so barbarous as to hate a man because he is most amiable? to dishonor and do harm to him because one has received benefits from him, and hopes to receive more in future?

Because they hate God for the very reason that should make them love Him. Shown by an example from Scripture. Bitter and vindictive as Saul was against David, whom he persecuted most cruelly, yet his heart was softened and his eyes overflowed with tears when he heard that David, into whose hands he had fallen, had spared his life, as we read in the First Book of Kings. In the midst of the persecution Saul went quite alone into a cave in which David was concealed with some of his soldiers; although the occasion was a favorable one for getting rid of an implacable enemy, David did not profit by it, but allowed Saul to go away unharmed, followed him, and cried out after him: “My lord, the king.…Behold, this day thy eyes have seen;” see what a bad opinion you had of me, as if I were attempting your life; “behold, this day thy eyes have seen that the Lord hath delivered thee into my hand, in the cave;…but my eye hath spared thee. Reflect and see that there is no evil in my hand, nor iniquity, neither have I sinned against thee, but thou liest in wait for my life, to take it away.” Saul was much moved at this and began to weep bitterly: “Saul lifted up his voice, and wept, and he said to David: Thou art more just than I, for thou hast done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil.”^[7] Thus a good action brought an embittered ​and rancorous heart to better thoughts. But you, O presumptuous sinner! do quite the contrary. Your God has had you, His enemy and persecutor, in His hands, with full power to take your life and send you to hell for all eternity, as often as you were in the state of mortal sin; and yet He allowed you to go unharmed, without doing the least thing to hurt you. Should not that goodness of His move you to heartfelt sorrow, to bewail your crimes with hot tears, and to love most tenderly such a merciful God? But what do you do meanwhile? This very goodness of God you abuse as an encouragement to sin all the more freely. “Thou art more just than I,” you say to Him by your actions and your presumptuous hope; Thou art a good Lord; I have done evil to Thee, while Thou hast done good to and showered benefits on me; I trust still farther to this goodness of Thine, and hope Thou wilt not allow me to be lost forever; and since I now have this knowledge and hope, I will sin all the more recklessly against Thy commandments, and satisfy all my passions and evil inclinations.

Further explanation of this vileness and injustice. See, O God, the manner in which we mortals act towards Thee! Thou art good, and infinitely good to us, and therefore art desirous to attract us in a sweet, gentle manner to Thy service through love; and from that very goodness we take occasion to offend Thee all the more! If I myself were not amongst the number of sinners, if I too were not in need of Thy goodness and mercy, perhaps I might think that it would be more for Thy honor if Thou wert not so good, nor patient, nor merciful in Thy dealings with us. For if Thou wert stricter, Thou wouldst not be offended so often, so daringly, so grievously, especially by those who presume on Thy mercy. With reason does Tertullian say: the patience, goodness, and long-suffering of God are useful and necessary to men; but, so to speak, they are derogatory to God. If one has a good servant, he takes care of him and feeds him well. Why? Because he is a good servant. A good horse is well looked after in the stable. Why? Because it is a good horse. One does not willingly lose a good dog. Why? Because it is a good one. Thus there is nothing in the world that is not prized and valued if it is good. But Thou alone, O great God! art an exception to this rule; for Thou art valued all the less ​because Thou art good! Everything in the world that is known to be good is loved; but Thou, O God! art loved all the less, because Thou art the best of all! We do nothing to injure one who is good to us; but we despise, annoy, embitter Thee, O God! without fear, for the very reason that Thou art good, patient, merciful, long-suffering in bearing insults, and because Thou returnest good for evil!

Thus these sinners insult God most grossly. Could we offer the divine heart a keener slight than this? Hear now the Lord complains of it by the Prophet David: “The wicked have wrought upon My back; they have lengthened their iniquity.”^[8] Cardinal Hugo, explaining this text, says, that by the back we are to understand the patience and mercy of God; for as with men when they have to curry a heavy load the back must have most patience, so also it is the goodness and mercy of God that feels most keenly the burden of our sins. Therefore He complains: “The wicked have wrought upon My back.” As if to say: I do not, so to speak, feel so much the fact of their offending Me, as that they take courage from and trust to the goodness and patience with which I bear their sins. “A grievous crime indeed,” cries out St. John Chrysostom, considering this, “a grievous crime, to make the mercy of God an accomplice of the devil!”^[9] When buyer and seller make a bargain in a public place, there is generally some arbitrator present to arrange matters and fix on a moderate price, and when both parties are satisfied, the bargain is concluded; in the same manner people go to work in marriage contracts, and betrothals, and in everything on which much depends. The hellish foe directs all his craft and cunning to the one object of driving a shameful bargain, making a disgraceful marriage contract and betrothal with our souls; the sole object of his most eager wish and desire is to get possession of this good which will last for eternity. But many a soul, enlightened by faith, often refuses to enter into this contract and to subject itself to the will and power of such a cruel and crafty master, and meets his offer with these words: I wish to be happy forever, and to live for eternity with God in heaven. How does the cunning foe go to work in such a case? He dares to use the mercy of God as an arbitrator and go-between, and in order to persuade the soul, speaks to it in the fol​lowing terms: Sell yourself to me for this carnal pleasure, for this temporal gain, for this post of honor, for the sake of being revenged on your enemies, etc. You need not have the least doubt that the infinite mercy of God will release you and set you free again; it will bear with you for a long time, and then receive you back with joy, and make you eternally happy in spite of all. In this way many allow themselves to be persuaded, and sell their souls to the devil, by presumptuously trusting hi the divine mercy to sin all the more freely. Truly, I repeat with St. Chrysostom, it is an enormous crime to make the divine mercy an accomplice of the devil! Most abominable is the sin of him who runs into hell and the hands of the devil, over the most loving heart of God, and His infinite goodness and mercy, which he tramples under foot!

And dishonor Him more than all other sinners. Truly, my dear brethren, to sin because we know that God is good and merciful, and that He will act kindly towards us, is au insult to God, a malice than which none greater can be found among men or demons. If a man sins sometimes through weakness or surprise of temptation, or through being in the occasion of sin, or through violence of passion that he cannot resist without the utmost difficulty, and fears and trembles in his uneasy conscience the moment the sin is committed, he has indeed done wrong, but he seems to be in some degree to be borne with. Why? Because he has given signs of an honorable disposition; he knows that he has offended God, and that knowledge fills him with fear and terror. If a man sins through despair of the mercy of God, like Cain and Judas, and says to himself: “My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon,”^[10] that is indeed one of the most grievous sins, and yet to my mind it is not so bad and terrible as presumption. Why? Because the despairing man has still some respect and awe for the infinite holiness and strict justice of God; and he acknowledges his own wickedness, which he imagines to be so great that he cannot be pardoned. The demons in hell and all the reprobate curse and blaspheme God—a terrible sin! Yet I can easily understand it. Why? Because they experience nothing from God but the rigors of His justice; they have nothing to expect from Him for all eternity but to feel the weight of His chastising hand; they have no share in the goodness and mercy of God, and no hope of any alleviation of their torments, not to speak of salvation, ​But you, presumptuous man, do what no other sinner in the world, what none of the reprobate in hell, and not even the demons do: you sin and insult God precisely because He is so good to you; precisely because you console yourself with the hope of His mercy, and because you flatter yourself that you will be happy with Him for all eternity. All the others fear and honor something in God, namely, the rigor of His justice; but you show Him not the slightest honor. You love Him not; you fear Him not; you respect neither His omnipresence, for you sin before His face; nor His almighty power, for you think that it will do you no harm; nor His holiness, which you dishonor; nor His justice, which you imagine you need not fear; nor His mercy, from which you take occasion to sin all the more freely. Thus, as the pious Christian, according to what we have seen on a former occasion, who abandons himself with childlike confidence to God, honors and praises all the divine perfections at once, so by your presumption all those perfections are at once insulted and dishonored.

Hence they can have no hope of heaven. Now if you have any common sense left, you can see for yourself whether your manner of acting towards God, whether the presumption with which you treat Him is likely to move Him to show you His mercy and to give you at the hour of death a special, extraordinary grace that He is bound to give to no one, and thus to place you among the small number of the elect, and to make you eternally happy. How could you expect such a favor? And where would you dare to go to seek it? If you have offended the justice of God, you have still a refuge left in His mercy; but if you attack that and insult it, where will you fly for help? “Who,” asks St. Basil, “will free you and release you from such great evils? Will that God whom you have despised?”^[11] Will that great God, whose warnings, threats, promises, patience, and long-suffering you have trampled under foot? in whom there is nothing that is not against you, that you have not made your sworn enemy? And if God is gracious to such a sinner, on whom then will He ever pour out the vials of His anger? Wicked as yon are, I believe that God would rather give you the grace to prophesy future events, to heal all sorts of diseases, and to raise the dead; for even Judas worked miracles, and was damned at last in spite of them. But the grace of perseverance, of a happy death, of eternal salvation is not for ​the sinner who presumptuously trusts in the mercy of God in the midst of his wickedness; to expect it under such circumstances would be to expect that God will not punish our vices, and that too on the day on which He will let sinners feel the weight of His indignation and strict justice. Ah, be not too sure! trust not too much in your presumptuous hope! do not sin because God is good! Believe me, no matter how good He is, He will put your false thoughts to shame on account of the intolerable insult, injury, and scorn that they offer Him. And this He will be, so to speak, forced to do, as we shall see in the

God is, so to say, forced to condemn those people, because His honor requires it. God, I repeat, will, as it were, be forced to condemn the presumptuous sinner. Why? That is required of Him by His honor, His fidelity, His pledged word. His honor requires it. I call on the generally-received opinion of all sensible men to witness the truth of this. If a man, I do not say of noble birth and high standing, but any private individual of respectability, is insulted and ill-treated without cause, if he is of a meek and gentle disposition he will say nothing about the offence for the first or second time, although he may be able to defend himself. But if he sees that his meekness and patience only encourage the other to insult him more boldly, then he says to himself: I cannot stand that; I must show him that I can take my own part; that I am not a child, or a fool, whom any one can vex as he pleases, and from whom one has nothing to fear. Otherwise people will look on me as an idiot whom they can treat as they wish. And what else have the vindictive on their lips and in their hearts but their honor? They try to excuse the sins they commit by saying: my honor was concerned in the matter. What would they think, what would they say and do if vengeance was allowed them by the divine law? What do they not do when it is allowed them by lawful means? What do we take our God to be? What sort of an opinion have we of His patience and mercy? Have we to do with a dumb, senseless image? asks St. Bernard; with a wooden Jupiter, who holds a wooden thunder-bolt in his hand; whom one can treat as he pleases without having anything to fear? Is the goodness and mercy of God a blind, powerless thing, that can make no distinction between guilt and innocence? that deals in the same way with the shameless as with the honorable, modest, and weak sinner? that pays no at​tention as to who is worthy of it or not, and that serves only for the purpose of giving men courage to insult and despise it? “Be not deceived,” says St. Paul, “God is not mocked.”^[12] We have to do indeed with a good, but at the same time a great, mighty, and just Lord, who will not allow us to befool Him. His mercy is infinitely great, but He has not entrusted it to the hands of any one to dispose of it at will, as those presumptuous people seem to suppose, who on the strength of that mercy sin without fear, as if they held in their hands a document from the Almighty promising to receive them again into His grace. Oh, no! “I will have mercy on whom I will,” said the Lord to Moses, “and I will be merciful to whom it shall please Me.”^[13]

Which would suffer over the whole world if such people were generally saved. And what would become of the public honor and glory of God in the world, if moved by that hope He granted the grace of a happy death, I will not say to all, but even to many of those presumptuous sinners, who would take any trouble to win heaven if one might live as he pleased, and if, generally speaking, nothing was required for salvation but a firm confidence in the goodness of God? What a vicious life the wicked would then lead! What scorn and ridicule infidels would heap on God! What scandal would be given to the innocent! What cause for murmurs and complaints to pious Christians when they see heaven cast before swine and dogs, that is, offered gratuitously to presumptuous sinners, while they themselves have to work so hard for it, and even in the midst of their holy endeavors are in constant fear and anguish of losing it, and have to say with the innocent Job, “I feared all my works, knowing that Thou didst not spare the offender;”^[14] and meanwhile the others indulge their passions freely and without anxiety, and yet have a sure hope of gaining heaven? In that case religious in their convents might say: Why do we remain here? Why do we live in solitude? What is the use of all this fasting, prayer, constant mortification, and chastising of the flesh? God is good; He is merciful; if we hope in Him He will not condemn us, but even if we lead a vicious life, He will grant us the grace of a happy death; of this we can rest assured. Ah, try it, and see whether it will be so or not!

God is infinitely good, Truly, I say again, God is good, and far better and more merciful than you, O presumptuous man! deserve or can imagine. ​but also infinitely just in punishing sinners. God is good, and if I did not know that already I should have reason enough for believing it from the fact that He has borne with you and me for such a long time, during which we shamefully abused His goodness. God is infinitely good and merciful in forgiving sin; but mark the force of that word, infinitely. It means that God could pardon an infinite number of sins; but it does not mean that He actually does pardon them. In the same way God is infinitely powerful, and could create an infinite number of worlds. Will He create them? No. Why? Because He does not wish. So that it is one thing to be able to forgive an infinite number of sins, and another actually to forgive them. If God were to pardon all sinners, none would be damned. So that God is good and infinitely merciful; but you must mark this and never forget it: this same good and merciful God is He who, in the beginning of the creation, hurled down to hell, out of heaven, the third part of the angels for one proud thought, without giving them a moment for repentance. You must know that the same merciful God, on account of a forbidden mouthful of fruit, sent so many miseries on the human race; and that this forbidden mouthful is the cause of the loss of so many souls. You must know that this merciful God is the same who allowed His own innocent Son to be so frightfully tormented, and to be nailed to the cross, and there cruelly murdered on account of the sins of others. You must know, above all, that this same merciful God is He who for all eternity will behold an immense number of souls burning in the brimstone and sulphur of the fiery lake of hell; and He will hear their moanings, and howlings, and gnashings of teeth without ever thinking of alleviating the sufferings of even one of them for a moment, without ever feeling the least movement of pity or compassion for them. And this should teach you, if you do not know it already, that you speak the truth whenever you say: God is infinitely good and merciful; but there is one thing you have left out, namely, that God is also infinitely just, and has a care for His honor and glory; that according to the measure of His mercy and patience in this life will also be the measure of His strict justice in death and in eternity; and that He will show especially to those presumptuous sinners who abuse His goodness only to offend Him with all the more daring and freedom.

His fidelity requires Finally, if God were to leave His honor out of the question, He would still be bound to respect His fidelity, and His own ​Him to punish them. pledged word would compel Him to take vengeance on such sinners, and to make them feel the effects of His justice. But, you say, has not God promised His help, His special assistance in the hour of death, and the eternal joys of heaven to those who put their trust in Him? Yes; but to whom who thus hope has He made that promise, and in what manner should they hope? To those who with childlike confidence abandon themselves to Him with a hope well grounded on their own co-operation. “Ye that fear the Lord,” says the wise Ecclesiasticus, “hope in Him; and mercy shall come to you for your delight.”^[15] “Trust in the Lord, and do good,”^[16] says the Psalmist. “Serving the Lord,” says St. Paul, “rejoicing in hope.”^[17] “His mercy is from generation unto generations,” such are the joyful words of the Mother of God, “to them that fear Him;”^[18] not, adds St. Augustine, to them that despise Him. But where is it written that God has promised to protect presumption? Search the Scripture through, and see if you will find a single passage in which God promises His grace and heaven to those who sin, trusting in His mercy. To your salutary fear you will find quite the contrary. “Knowest thou not,” says St. Paul, “that the benignity of God leadeth thee to penance?” But if you pervert into an occasion of sin that which should serve for your amendment, then you must know that with your impenitent heart you heap up for yourself treasures of auger and wrath against the day of wrath, that is, against the day of your death. “But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God.”^[19] This heaping and treasuring up, according to Paulinus, takes place when man, trusting to the mercy of God, heaps up a multitude of sins.^[20] “Delay not to be converted to the Lord,” is the warning given us by the Holy Ghost, “and defer it not from day to day; for His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee.”^[21] ​“I called, and you refused;” I have had patience for a long time; I offered you My mercy in time, but you would not accept it; “I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock.”^[22] “You shall seek Me, and shall not find Me,”^[23] but shall die in your sins. In a word, all who hope thus presumptuously are in the number of those sinners of whom the friend of Job says: “Their hope the abomination of the soul,”^[24] and if speedy repentance does not follow, it will surely bring everlasting damnation in its train.

Conclusion and exhortation to the good and penitent to hope in God. And now I arrive at this conclusion: Pious Christians who serve the Lord, who feel yourselves encouraged to constancy and fervor in the divine service, to a greater love of God, and to a spiritual joy in the Lord by the meditation of the goodness and mercy of God, to you I say with David: “Serve ye the Lord with gladness.”^[25] “Delight in the Lord, and He will give thee the requests of thy heart. Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will do it.”^[26] Only continue to think often of the goodness of God, and to abandon yourselves to it with childlike confidence, and you can never hope enough, for your hope cannot equal the greatness of His mercy. And you too, O sinners! although you may have committed a million sins, if the contemplation of the divine mercy brings you to sorrow or repentance, as St. Paul says, and to a true amendment of life, then do not despair; return humbly to the right path; keep on saying: God is good; God is infinitely merciful, and therefore I am sorry from my heart that I have offended such a good God; and therefore I now make the firm resolution never again wilfully to offend such a loving Father. Only trust in the Lord; the sins you have committed, and now repent of, will never equal the greatness and the multitude of His mercies.

To the presumptuous, to fear His justice. But you, on the other hand, presumptuous Christians, to whom the consideration of the divine mercy is only a spur to a wicked or tepid or more slothful life, an occasion of persisting in the state of sin, and deferring repentance from day to day, meanwhile adding to the catalogue of your crimes, you, I say, turn your thoughts in time to the other side, and consider the strict ​justice of God, which will not allow itself to be played with. Think: it is God who will render to every one according to his works; who keeps in His anger till the day of wrath, when He will say to most men: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire;” therefore I beg of you to return to the merciful God!

To all others to fear Him and also hope in Him. And all of you, whoever you may be, that you may not err by excess or defect, select the golden mean; hope and fear at the same time; fear sin; hope in the goodness of God. The fear of the divine justice should make you careful to avoid the occasions of sin, lest you should fall; the hope in the divine mercy should give you courage and comfort, that you may rise again immediately if you are so unlucky as to fall. Have you never remarked how a mother teaches her little one to walk? She stands it on its feet, and tells it to go on. Where is the mother meanwhile? She follows. Why does she not go on before? Because if the child saw its mother, it would not pay attention to its footsteps, and, through confidence and desire for the mother, would run after her without fear, and so on account of weakness would often fall. But if it sees that there is nothing before it because its mother is following, it walks much more cautiously, through fear, and if it totters, the mother is thereto help it up. That is what the Prophet David teaches us when he speaks of the justice and fear of God: “Justice shall walk before him, and shall set his steps in the way;”^[27] and of hope in Him: “And Thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life.”^[28] Therefore I, and you too, my dear brethren, should think: the justice of God shall go before me; for His fear will make me careful in the midst of so many occasions of sin. His mercy shall follow me; for the hope in it shall prevent me from despairing after sin, and shall encourage me to take refuge in that mercy, and to rise after a fall. But do Thou, O just and at the same time merciful God! give and preserve to us a childlike fear that may keep us from offending Thee, and a childlike hope and confidence in Thee that may encourage us in spite of all difficulties to persevere in Thy service and fervent love with a holy joy and pleasure. Amen.