IN FESTO S. ANDREAE

1049B714 1. Both your quiet attention, and your intent silence, and the great solemnity of so great a man admonish — nay, compel — me to say something toward showing the glory of the Godhead, the grace of apostolic dignity, the power of confession. Let us give glory to the praise of him whom all nations praise, who both praises his ministers and makes them praiseworthy. He it is to whom the Angels stand by to hear the voice of his words; who calls the stars, and they say: We are here; whose hand has stretched out the heavens, who founded the earth upon its own stability, who walks upon the waves of the sea, who alone has done wonderful things, upon whom the Angels desire to look. He it is who made all things, and in all the things he made, he did whatsoever he willed. To serve him is to reign — him who served for us under a hard and heavy necessity, and, covering the purple 1049Cof his divinity with the sackcloth of our mortality, came poor and a beggar into our country. Does it not seem to you a game, you Jews, pagans, heretics, and all that throng of mockers, or rather of madmen, when we say that the Son of God endured flesh, death, nails, and the lance? A game it truly is, whereby the play is ours, and the mockery is turned on you. That one Wise Man, not ignorant of this mystery, played this game beforehand in an elegant saying. I was delighted, he says, every single day, playing before him in the world of the earth (Prov. VIII, 30). For he played before God, when at his command he took on flesh; and in the world of the earth, because he was delighted unto the redemption of the world of the earth; every single day, being made glad in each of the Apostles, while to one he hands over the kingdom of heaven, and of his own 1049Dbreast makes a resting place for another.

And my delights are to be with the sons of men. I used to think, Lord Jesus, that your delights would be to be not with the sons of men, but with the choirs of Angels, where in the glory of the Godhead, to be wondered at by the Thrones and Powers, you beat back the eyes of the higher natures; there you inhabit light inaccessible, and cover the standing circle of the brightest luminaries with the majesty of your own light. But that most merciful devotion of yours, and your adorable kindness, says its delights are with the sons 1050Bof men. These are the sons of men who have hoped under the covering of your wings, whom you chose out of the people, whose feet you washed, into whom you poured your spirit, who carried the faith of your name by the four-horse chariots of the Gospels through the four-parted world. Note, however, that he says not, 715 With men, but, with the sons of men. I think that men pertain to the old man, and the sons of men to the Son of man; according to which understanding the boy harper sounds forth thus: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psal. VIII, 5.) Do you see that he affirms that God is mindful of man, but that he visits the son of man? We presume and hope that he will do us his mercy in the sight of the sons of men, if meanwhile he protect us 1050Cin the hiding of his face from the disturbance of men. Therefore our Lord also, whose school is on earth and whose chair is in heaven, out of all those whom he chose and chose beforehand, chose Andrew as an apostle, whose solemnity we acclaim both with our voices and with our hearts. O sweet Apostle, and first calling of the Lord and Savior, who in that very apostolic choir is marked out by the height of so great a precedence! It does not escape us that he is in a manner most tender, and sweeter in the hearts of the faithful, whose passion drops with so great a devotion of spirit that it seems to fill the minds of the hearers with fatness and richness. Whence not undeservedly has it been taken up into a singular citadel of authority — which those who saw it wrote for the world, and were ministers of the word. His calling, his life, and his passion are known to you: and now 1050Dwhat remains that you should expect further from me?

Nevertheless the apostolic reading moves me to speak with your reverence a little while concerning it. For it says: With the heart it is believed unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says: Everyone who believes in him shall not be confounded. Three things are here set forth: to believe with the heart unto justice, to confess with the mouth unto salvation, and to believe in him in whom whoever believes shall not be confounded. The heart of man alone is capable of prayer and receptive of the mysteries of God, 1051Awhich, when purged and polished, considers the very substance of the Godhead: and even if it does not comprehend it, yet it lays hold of it. The heart is in the breast, the soul in the heart, the mind in the soul, faith in the mind, Christ in faith. And this, I think, is what the Apostle says, that Christ dwells by faith in our hearts (Ephes. III, 17). This, therefore, is refined into the purest purity, when you perceive all the mysteries of the Christian faith with unshaken faith, and there is nothing that breeds doubt in you, though you do not see the reason. This is consummate justice, perfect truth, and true perfection — if, however, the confession of the mouth follows after. For the faith of the heart without the faith of the mouth is either nothing or little, since the Savior says: He who is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed (Luc. IX, 26), and so forth. And 1051Bthe prophet: Faith has perished and is taken away out of their mouth. He did not say, Out of the heart, but, out of the mouth: because the faith of the heart avails nothing without the faith of the mouth, nor the faith of the mouth without the faith of the heart; since the one grants justice, the other salvation; because salvation cannot be separated from justice, nor justice from salvation. Believe therefore and confess; and no less, confess and believe: because faith is unto justice, confession is made unto salvation.

And since we have come into these regions, and the occasion of confession has offered itself, we must render what we promised elsewhere, and bring together the whole of what we think concerning confession. But be patient, and if perhaps I extend the sermon at greater length, do you attend to what is said, since it is brought forth for your profit. For it is a way without which no one comes to the Father: and he who has lost it has lost God. For when you set about emerging from the abyss of vices, 1051Clet your refuge be chiefly to him to whom your soul has been committed, whom God set over your head. And let it not move you if he be unlettered or lacking discernment, because this very thing is a sign of humility, which begets confession. Remember that there is no power but from God. Upon the chair of Moses, he says, sit the Scribes and Pharisees. And do you attend not to the one sitting, but to the seat; to the chair, not the person. But if perhaps, even by his leave, it be permitted you to flee across to another, do you nevertheless first reveal to him the secret of your heart: because salvation is not full if he is fled from or despised to whom you ought to have cleaved and whom you ought to have honored. But if his instruction seems to you insufficient, the way lies open to freedom, that before 1051Danother, lettered and discerning, you may pour out your heart — his own privilege being reserved to him to whom you commended your soul.

Nor should you flatter yourself if to one sinning gravely a lighter penance is prescribed, whether by one who does not know or by one who dissembles, since 716 whatever you do here too little must be completed in the purgatorial fires, because the Most High seeks worthy fruits of penance. And although he who does not fully counsel you has not escaped the hand of the Almighty, yet reason presides over you as mistress, to teach you to abstain from things lawful as much as you remember that you have committed things unlawful. From the vestibule, therefore, of this most sacred virtue we shut out all those whom either fear compels to confession — because an extorted confession is not confession; or whom the accusation of others draws on, 1052Abecause that is not confession but offense; or whom the excusing of themselves leads, because that is not confession but defense; or whom empty boasting carries off, because that is not confession but mockery; and whatever other plagues there are, which under the shadowing veil of so great a sacrament counterfeit holiness. A heart contrite and humbled in itself and out of itself can ascend to the purity of this purification. I will show you one of the just confessing most justly. Do you ask who it is? He is the psalm-singer of the Lord. I said, he says, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord (Psal. XXXI, 5). I said — that is, I purposed in my heart, not forced, not compelled, but of my own accord. My injustice, he says, not another's, arguing and accusing against myself. You see that the holy man confesses to the Lord not from fear of another, nor to accuse another, but 1052Bhimself. For a confession of this kind, thou, O Lord, wilt forgive the impiety of my sin. For this shall every holy one pray to thee in a seasonable time. This first sprouts in the heart unto justice, and after this is born in the mouth unto salvation.

Its first step is the knowledge of sin. « The beginning of salvation, » says a certain writer, « is the knowledge of sin (SENEC. in Epist.). » In this knowledge one must see what you have done, with how many outrages you have afflicted your body, walking in the passion of desire, as do the nations also that know not God, possessing your vessel in uncleanness and vileness, not in sanctification and honor. It must also be considered what you have deserved: namely that fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels, and every kind of punishment which in those places of punishment 1052Cvie with one another and grow. And it must be looked at what you have lost: namely those good things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor have they ascended into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him.

Terrified therefore by the consideration of all these things, pass over to penance, the avenger of vices, the nurse of virtues. Let it repent you that, wrapped in so many and so great disgraces, you have lain too long in the mire of dregs and misery. Doing penance, wear down your body, and, withdrawing the seeds of incitements from the raging little ass of the flesh, admit no further things to be repented of, lest, frequently redoubling wound upon wound, you break the bones of your soul, which the Lord keeps in the just: Not one of these, I say, shall be broken (Psal. XXXIII, 21). 1052DFor these two are so joined to one another that no one can know himself unless he repent; and he cannot repent unless he know himself.

Thus therefore, being known to yourself and repentant in yourself, fly over to the third step, namely sorrow of heart; and now justice will have been planted with that planting which your heavenly Father planted. Grieve, therefore, that you have offended the Creator, whose law things heavenly and earthly, except you, keep with unwearied standing; and in so great a commonwealth of God you alone are the stranger, and care nothing for the decrees of the imperial majesty. Let a sharper sorrow also arise, that along with the Creator you have offended the Father as well — and that Father who furnishes you the courses of the stars, the fruitfulness of the earth, the abundance of fruits. Let a most bitter sorrow come too, to pass through your soul, 1053Athat you have despised so great a benefactor, who bore the sorrow of the cross that you should not bear the sorrows of hell any longer. So therefore, justice sprouting in the inner man, let the shoot break forth into a tree, and let the tongue speak what knowledge was speaking.

The fourth step, accordingly, is confession of the mouth. This must be made purely: because it is not the case that one part of one's sins should be told and another kept silent; nor light things confessed and grave ones denied. Nor is another to be accused and oneself excused, but with the just man it must be said: Incline not my heart to words of malice, to make excuses in sins (Psal. CXL, 4). For these are words of malice, and of grave malice, than which scarcely any could be graver or worse. It must be confessed humbly also, so that the same thing be in the heart which will sound in the mouth. For there are 1053Bsome who are accustomed to relate in their confessions what things they have done, whether 717 shrewdly in the conflict of letters or bravely in that of the sword — alas the grief! — bringing in pride under the cloak of humility, and thinking they can escape the eyes of the Judge who discerns all things. Did not the kings Saul and David, rebuked by the prophets Samuel and Nathan, say, I have sinned? And yet Samuel heard, The Lord has taken away the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy rival (I Reg. XV, 28); and David, The Lord has taken away thy sin, and thou shalt not die (II Reg. XII, 13). What is this, except that what Saul had in his mouth was not in his heart; and the humility which was in David's mouth existed in his heart, and shone out as well? It must be said faithfully too, so that one believe in the faith of the Church that his sins are forgiven him, because Cain and Judas confessed purely and humbly, 1053Cbut by no means faithfully: since one of them, despairing, ran to the noose (Matth. XXVII); the other spewed out that great crime, My iniquity is greater than that I should deserve pardon (Gen. IV, 13). You lie, you robber, because the devotion of God is greater than any iniquity whatever: because his mercies are over all his works.

There follows the fifth step, the mortifying of the flesh, which is to be thinned by fastings and vigils, lest with a new itch it fly back to voluptuous depravity. But this must be done by leave, since what is done without leave will be reckoned to vainglory, not to reward. Secretly, so that your left hand know not what your right hand does. Discreetly, on account of the weakness of the body and its manifold infirmities. For we have seen very many at the beginning of their conversion so break down the bars of discretion that 1053Dthey were rendered unfit for the solemnities of praise, and thereafter needed to be cherished for long periods with a more sumptuous provision. Now, so enlightened, let him proceed to the sixth, which is the correction of works. Restrain therefore your tongue from evil, work what is good, and bridle your sensual motions with the bridles of continence, and so there will be peace in the land of your flesh. Rebuke the wicked according to the person you bear: and in your presence do not suffer justice to be buried. Come to the seventh step: and this is perseverance in goodness. And in this seventh the Lord will call you with Moses out of the midst of the darkness (Exod. XXIV, 16): and you will fix your inner eyes upon the very substance of the Godhead. Now perseverance is made by the expectation of rewards, the recollection of punishments, the firstfruits of the spirit 1054Aand the heavenly gift, of which the Apostle speaks — which he who has experienced it does not fail to know, nor does he who has not experienced it understand (Hebr. VI). For it is foolishness to such a man, and he cannot understand the things that are of the Spirit of God (I Cor. II, 14).

Hear also briefly what sort of man ought to be ordained to the dispensation of this mystery. He must be no less lettered than religious, that he may have the zeal of God, and that according to knowledge; since religion without discernment is wont to hinder rather than to profit. Lettered, therefore, that he may know what to enjoin, whom to spare, when he ought to spare, what consolation to bring forth from the Scriptures. But religious for this reason: both that he may lift pure hands to God, and that he may intercede with confidence for sinners. And let him see to it that he never make any 1054Bmention of those things which he received under the seal of confession, nor consent to anyone speaking of them. Let him beware also lest the man who has shown his own vileness become cheap in his sight; and let him not be suspicious, nor judge the sinner's future life from his past. But if by chance a case concerning those things which he received in confession be aired before him, let him not turn aside to one side as one who is privy to it, but as one not knowing let him permit the judicial order to be carried out. But let him have in his will to suffer with the man and to free him: and let him strive to take something away from severity, imitating the sweetness of his Lord, of whom the holy man says: For thou hast made my judgment and my cause (Psal. IX, 5). But alas the grief! In our times, through the whole world a pestilential disease has grown up, that men are set over the churches whom neither knowledge nor life commends — blind 1054Cleaders of the blind, both fallen headlong and leading others to the headlong fall.

We have heard concerning the one confessing, and concerning the one receiving the confession: let us now hear what things hinder confession. So far as I can gather, four chiefly present themselves: shame, fear, hope, and despair. Nothing is stronger to storm the grace of God than human shame; because while we blush to confess what we have committed, we revere God less than men. This is the confusion that brings on sin (Eccle. IV). Let us set against it the consideration of reason, reverence for God who looks on, the comparison of a greater confusion: for reason admonishes that we confess, and God, who has seen, compels it. And if we are confounded to speak here, what 1054Dwill it be in that great confusion, where all things shall lie open to all? Fear oppresses very many, lest they be struck with a grave penance and be unable to bear it through. Truly, upon him who fears the frost, the snow shall rush (Job. VI, 16). Here it must be considered how grave is the punishment of Gehenna, how long, how fruitless: but on the contrary, present penance is light, brief, and fruitful. But hope overwhelms many, who, while they desire the goods of things present, are unwilling to open their consciences; lest, if they appear to men as they are, they should climb to none of the goods of the present life. To whom it must be pressed home that the goods of this world are small, uncertain, and momentary: and those of that life greatest, most certain, and eternal. Despair kills very many, who fear this alone, that they may not be able to hold out. It is true 1055Athat the sinner, when he has come into the depth of evils, despises (Prov. XVIII, 5). This we ought to crush by the vigor of confession, by the grace of humility, and by the compassion of him to whom we open our conscience. But it must be known that one confession is that which bewails sin, and another that which sings praise. Confession is a good ornament of the soul, which both cleanses the sinner and renders the just man more cleansed.

There follows: He who believes in him shall not be confounded. To believe God is to give credence to his words. To believe that God is, is to confess that he is everywhere. To believe in 1056AGod is to direct all one's hope toward him. The demons believe that God is, and believe God: but they do not believe in him, in whom whoever believes shall not be confounded; because they do not place their hope in him. Behold, as much as I have been able, though not as much as I wished, I have discoursed concerning the Sacrament of confession. But we have drawn out the sermon at length; let us likewise hear the end of speaking. May he grant us to believe unto justice, to confess with the mouth unto salvation, and to believe in himself — the Bridegroom of the Church, the Son of Mary, who is God blessed forever. Amen.