14. Ye see then that Christ wills to suffer in His servants. What if He saith to this servant also, S. John xxi. 22. I will that he tarry, but follow thou Me? what if He wills to taste of the fruit from this tree? For if it was His meat to do His Father’s Will, it is His meat also to feed upon the sufferingsof His servants. To take an example from our Lord Himself, did He not suffer when He willed, and was He not found when they sought for Him? But when the hour of His passion had not arrived, He passed through the midst of them who sought for Him, and they who saw Him could not detain Him. Which evidently shews that when the Lord wills, each man is found and taken, while he whose time is not come although he meet the eyes, is not captured.
15. And did I not go out daily to make visits, or go to the tomb of the Martyrs? Did I not in going and returning pass close by the Royal palace? And yet no man arrested me, though they wished to drive me from the city, as they shewed afterwards by saying, ‘Leave this city, and go where thou wilt.’ I expected, I confess, something great, to be burned or slain with the sword for the name of Christ, but they offered me delights in the place of sufferings; and yet the soldiers of Christ seeks not for delights but for sufferings.Wherefore let no man trouble you by the intelligence that they have prepared a carriage[115], or that Auxentius, who calls himself Bishop, has uttered what he thinks terrible words.
16. Many said that executioners had been sent, that the punishment of death had been decreed; I fear them not, nor will I desert my post. For whither should I go to find a place that is not full of nothing but tears and groans? For in every Church the Catholic clergy are ordered to be cast forth; if they resist, to be put to death;all the senators[116] who do not obey this mandate, to be proscribed.And it is a Bishop who writes these orders with his own hand and dictates them with his own mouth, who to prove his learning omitted not an ancient precedent;for we read in the prophet that he saw a flying sickle[117], and in imitation of this Auxentius sent a winged sword through all the cities. And thus 2 Cor. xi. 14. Satan transforms himself into an Angel of light, and imitates his power for evil purposes.
17. Thou, Lord Jesus, hast in one moment redeemed the world; shall Auxentius in one moment, so far as in him lies, slay so many people, some with the sword,others by sacrilege[118]? My Basilica he sought with a mouth and hands of blood, and to him our present Lesson may be well applied, Ps. l. 16. Unto the ungodly, saith God, why dost thou preach my laws? that is, There is no concord between peace and wrath, 2 Cor. vi. 15. between Christ and Belial. You remember also how in the Lesson of to-day that holy man Naboth, the owner of a vineyard, was requested by the king to surrender it to him, that he might root up the vines and plant it with common herbs, and that he answered, 1 Kings xxi. 3. God forbid that I should give thee the inheritance of my fathers; and that king was grieved that what belonged of right to another was refused him when he claimed it as his right, and only gained by the deceit of a woman’s artifice. Naboth then defended his vineyard even with his own blood; if he would not surrender his vineyard, shall we surrender the Church of Christ?
18. How then did I reply contumaciously? When summoned, I said, ‘God forbid that I should surrender Christ’s heritage. If Naboth would not surrender the heritage of his fathers, shall I surrender Christ’s heritage?’ I added moreover, ‘God forbid that I should surrender the heritage of my fathers, the heritage of Dionysius, who died in exile for the Faith, of the Confessor Eustorgius, of Myrocles, and of all the faithful Bishops of old time.’ I answered as becomes a Bishop, let the Emperor act as becomes an Emperor. He shall deprive me of my life sooner than my Faith.
19. But to whom am I to surrender it? The Lesson just read from the Gospel ought to teach us what it is that is demanded, and by whom. Ye heard it read that, whenChrist was sitting on the ass’s colt, the children cried out, and the Jews were indignant, appealing to the Lord Jesus, and saying that He should bid them hold their peace, but He replied, S. Luke xix. 40. If these were to hold their peace, the very stones would cry out. Then He entered the Temple, and cast out the moneychangers, and their tables, and those that sold doves in the Temple of God. This Lesson was read by no direction of ours, but by chance; but it suits well with the present time. For the praises of Christ are always as it were scourges to misbelievers. And now when Christ is praised the heretics say that we are exciting sedition, the heretics say that they were thereby threatened with death; and truly the praises of Christ are death to them. For how can they bear His praises Whose weakness they are proclaiming! Wherefore to this day the praises of Christ are a scourge to the madness of the Arians.
20. The Gerasenes could not bear the presence of Christ, these men, worse than the Gerasenes, cannot even bear the praises of Christ. They see children singing the glory of Christ; for it is written, Ps. viii. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise. They deride their tender years so full of faith, and ask, Why do they cry out? But Christ answers them, If these should hold their peace the very stones would cry out, that is, the stranger will cry out, the young men too will cry out, the more mature will cry out, the old men also: stones built into that Stone of Whom it is written, Ps. cxviii. 22. The stone which the builders disallowed is become the head-stone of the corner.
21.Christ then, invited by these praises, enters His Temple, and takes His scourge and drives out the moneychangers. For He will not permit those who are slaves of money to be in His Temple, He will not suffer those to be there who sell seats. What are seats, but honours? What are doves, but simple minds, or souls which embrace a sincere and pure faith? Shall I then introduce into the Temple him whom Christ excludes? For he is commanded to go forth who sells dignities and honours, he is commanded to go forth who would sell the simple minds of the faithful.
22. Wherefore Auxentius is cast forth, Mercurianus is excluded. This is one portent under two names. That it might not be known who he was, he changed his name, and, as there had been here Auxentius the Arian Bishop, so he, to deceive the people whom the other had influenced, called himself Auxentius. Thus he changed his name, but his perfidy he could not change; he put off wolf, and yet put on wolf. It avails him not to have changed his name, what he really is is known. He was known by one name in the regions of Scythia, he is called by another here, he has names differing according to his country. Now therefore he has two names, and if from hence he goes elsewhere he will have a third also. For how will he endure to keep a name which betrays the greatness of his crime? In Scythia he did less wickedly, and yet he was so ashamed as to change his name; here he has dared to do more heinous things, and will he be willing wherever he goes to be betrayed by his name? After writing with his own hand the death warrant of so many people, will he be able to retain his senses unshaken?
23. The Lord Jesus drove out a few from His temple, Auxentius left no one. Jesus casts men out of His temple with a scourge, Auxentius with a sword; Jesus with a rod, Mercurianus with an axe. Our holy Lord drives out the sacrilegious with a scourge, this wicked man persecutes the godly with the sword. Of him ye have to-day said well; ‘let him carry his laws away with him.’ He shall carry them though he desire it not, he shall carry with him his conscience, though he carry not the writing, he shall carry his own soul inscribed in blood, although he carry not a letter inscribed with ink. Jer. xvii. 1. Thy sin, O Judah, is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond, and it is graven in thy heart, graven that is in the place from whence it came forth.