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He confirms it, I mean by the shortness of the time, but also by saying, "The promise, which you heard from me." What He says is this: "Not now only have I told you," He says, "but I have also already promised what I will certainly do." Why then do you wonder, if He does not tell the day of the consummation, when He was unwilling to make manifest this one which was so near? And very reasonably so, in order that they might always be watchful and in expectation and care. 2. For it is not, it is not possible to enjoy grace without being sober. Or do you not see what Elijah also says to his 60.22 disciple? "If you see me being taken up, it shall be so for you;" that is, "this which you ask shall happen for you." And Christ also everywhere said to those who came to Him: "Do you believe?" For if we are not made fit for what is given, we do not even greatly perceive the benefit. So also in the case of Paul; the grace did not come immediately, but three days passed in between, in which he was blind, being cleansed by fear and being prepared beforehand. For just as those who dye the purple, beforehand with certain other things prepare that which is to receive the dye, so that the color may not become faded; so indeed also here God first makes the soul careful, and then He pours out the grace. For this reason also He did not send the Spirit immediately, but on Pentecost. But if someone should say, "For what reason do we too not baptize at this time?" we would say this, that the grace is the same both then and now; but the mind becomes more exalted now, being prepared by fasting. And the time of Pentecost also has a certain not unreasonable account. What is this then? The Fathers considered baptism to be a sufficient bridle of evil desire and a great teaching, so that even in a time of luxury one should be sober-minded. Therefore, as gathering with Christ Himself, and partaking of His table, let us do nothing simply, but let us live in fasting and prayers, and in much sobriety. For if anyone is about to go for a worldly office, he prepares himself his whole life, and in order to attain some dignity, he both spends money, and expends time, and endures countless labors; of what would we be worthy, approaching the kingdom of heaven with so much negligence, being both not zealous before receiving it and being negligent after receiving it? For on this account we are negligent after receiving it, because before receiving it we were not watchful. On this account many, after receiving it, immediately returned to their former vomit, and became worse, and drew upon themselves a harsher punishment, having been delivered from their former sins, but in this way provoking the judge more greatly, because having been delivered from so great a sickness, they were not even so brought to their senses, but they suffered what Christ threatened to the paralytic, saying: "Behold, you have become well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you;" and what He foretold concerning the Jews, showing that being ungrateful they will suffer incurable things; "If I had not come and spoken to them," He says, "they would not have had sin." So that the sins after these things become twofold and fourfold. How? Because after the honor we become ungrateful and wicked. And for this reason the bath no longer helps us at all to receive a milder punishment. But consider: someone had grievous sins, either having murdered, or having committed adultery, or having done something else more grievous, these were forgiven through the bath. For there is not, there is not any sin, and impiety, which does not yield and give way to the gift; for the grace is divine. Again someone committed adultery and murdered; the former adultery has been absolved, and that murder has been forgiven, and is not recalled (For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable); but for those [sins] after baptism we pay such a penalty, as if those [former sins] were also recalled, and a much worse one. For the sin is no longer simple, but double, and triple. But that the penalty for these sins is grea 60.23 ter, hear what Paul says: "Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses; how much worse punishment, do you think, will he be thought worthy of, who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and the blood of the Covenant

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πιστοῦται, τῇ ταχύτητι λέγω τοῦ καιροῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ λέγειν, Τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, ἣν ἠκούσατέ μου. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοῦτό ἐστιν· Οὐ νῦν ὑμῖν εἶπον, φησὶ, μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἤδη ἐπηγγειλάμην, ἃ ποιήσω πάντως. Τί τοίνυν θαυμάζεις, εἰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς συντελείας μὴ λέγει, ὅπου γε ταύτην τὴν οὕτως ἐγγὺς οὖσαν οὐκ ἠθέλησε ποιῆσαι κατάδηλον; Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως, ἵν' ἀεὶ ἐγρηγορότες ὦσι καὶ ἐν προσδοκίᾳ καὶ μερίμνῃ. ʹ. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι χάριτος ἀπολαῦσαι μὴ νήφοντα. Ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς, τί φησι καὶ Ἠλίας πρὸς τὸν 60.22 μαθητήν; Ἐὰν ἴδῃς με ἀναλαμβανόμενον, ἔσται σοι οὕτω· τουτέστι, Γενήσεταί σοι τοῦτο, ὃ αἰτεῖς. Καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δὲ πανταχοῦ τοῖς προσιοῦσιν ἔλεγε· Πιστεύεις; Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ οἰκειωθῶμεν πρὸς τὸ διδόμενον, οὐδὲ τῆς εὐεργεσίας σφόδρα αἰσθανόμεθα. Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ Παύλου· οὐκ εὐθέως ἡ χάρις ἦλθεν, ἀλλὰ τρεῖς ἡμέραι ἐγένοντο μεταξὺ, ἐν αἷς ἦν τυφλὸς, ὑπὸ τοῦ φόβου σμηχόμενος καὶ προπαρασκευαζόμενος. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ τὴν ἁλουργίδα βάπτοντες, πρότερον ἑτέροις τισὶ τὸ δεχόμενον τὴν βαφὴν προπαρασκευάζουσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἐξίτηλον γένηται τὸ ἄνθος· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα πρότερον μεμεριμνημένην κατασκευάζει τὴν ψυχὴν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τότε τὴν χάριν ἐκχεῖ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ οὐδὲ εὐθέως τὸ Πνεῦμα ἔπεμψεν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ πεντηκοστῇ. Εἰ δὲ λέγοι τις, Τίνος ἕνεκεν καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ βαπτίζομεν; ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμεν, ὅτι ἡ μὲν χάρις ἡ αὐτὴ καὶ τότε καὶ νῦν· ἡ δὲ διάνοια ὑψηλοτέρα γίνεται νῦν, νηστείᾳ προπαρασκευαζομένη. Καὶ ὁ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς δὲ καιρὸς ἔχει τινὰ λόγον οὐκ ἀπεικότα. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτον; Ἀρκοῦντα ἐνόμισαν οἱ Πατέρες εἶναι χαλινὸν ἐπιθυμίας πονηρᾶς καὶ μεγάλην διδασκαλίαν τὸ βάπτισμα, εἰς τὸ καὶ ἐν καιρῷ τρυφῆς σωφρονεῖν. Καθάπερ οὖν αὐτῷ συναλιζόμενοι τῷ Χριστῷ, καὶ τραπέζης κοινωνοῦντες, μηδὲν ἁπλῶς πράττωμεν, ἀλλ' ἐν νηστείαις καὶ εὐχαῖς, καὶ σωφροσύνῃ πολλῇ διάγωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπὶ ἀρχὴν μέλλων ἰέναι τις βιωτικὴν, παρασκευάζει ἑαυτῷ ἅπαντα τὸν βίον, καὶ ἵνα τύχῃ τινὸς ἀξιώματος, καὶ χρήματα ἀναλίσκει, καὶ χρόνον δαπανᾷ, καὶ μυρίους ὑπομένει πόνους· τίνος ἂν εἴημεν ἡμεῖς ἄξιοι μετὰ τοσαύτης ῥᾳθυμίας τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν προσιόντες, καὶ οὔτε πρὶν ἢ λαβεῖν σπουδάζοντες καὶ μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν ῥᾳθυμοῦντες; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν ῥᾳθυμοῦμεν, ἐπειδὴ πρὶν ἢ λαβεῖν οὐκ ἐγρηγόραμεν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πολλοὶ μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν εὐθέως ἐπὶ τὸν πρότερον ἐπανῆλθον ἔμετον, καὶ χείρους ἐγένοντο, καὶ χαλεπωτέραν ἐπεσπάσαντο κόλασιν, τῶν μὲν προτέρων ἀπαλλαγέντες ἁμαρτημάτων, ταύτῃ δὲ μειζόνως τὸν κριτὴν παροξύναντες, ὅτι τοσαύτης ἀπαλλαγέντες ἀῤῥωστίας, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐσωφρονίσθησαν, ἀλλ' ἔπαθον ὅπερ ἠπείλησε τῷ παραλυτικῷ ὁ Χριστὸς, λέγων· Ἴδε ὑγιὴς γέγονας· μηκέτι ἁμάρτανε, ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν τί σοι γένηται· καὶ ὃ περὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων δὲ προὔλεγε, δεικνὺς ὅτι τὰ ἀνήκεστα πείσονται ἀγνωμονοῦντες· Εἰ μὴ ἦλθον καὶ ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς, φησὶν, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἶχον. Ὥστε διπλᾶ καὶ τετραπλᾶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα ἁμαρτήματα γίνεται. Πῶς; Ὅτι μετὰ τὴν τιμὴν ἀγνώμονες γινόμεθα καὶ πονηροί. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲν ἡμῖν βοηθεῖ λοιπὸν τὸ λουτρὸν εἰς τὸ πραοτέρας τυχεῖν τιμωρίας. Σκόπει δέ· ἔσχε τις ἁμαρτήματα χαλεπὰ, ἢ φονεύσας, ἢ μοιχεύσας, ἢ ἕτερόν τι χαλεπώτερον ἐργασάμενος, ἀφέθη διὰ τοῦ λουτροῦ ταῦτα. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν ἁμάρτημα, καὶ ἀσέβημα, ὅπερ οὐκ εἴκει καὶ παραχωρεῖ τῇ δωρεᾷ· θεία γάρ ἐστιν ἡ χάρις. Πάλιν ἐμοίχευσέ τις καὶ ἐφόνευσεν· ἡ μὲν προτέρα μοιχεία λέλυται, καὶ ὁ φόνος ἐκεῖνος συγκεχώρηται, καὶ οὐκ ἀνακαλεῖται (Ἀμεταμέλητα γὰρ τὰ χαρίσματα, καὶ ἡ κλῆσις τοῦ Θεοῦ)· ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα τοσαύτην διδόαμεν δίκην, ὅσην ἂν εἰ καὶ ἐκεῖνα ἀνεκλήθη, καὶ πολλῷ χείρονα. Οὐκέτι γὰρ ἁπλοῦν ἐστι τὸ ἁμάρτημα, ἀλλὰ διπλοῦν, καὶ τριπλοῦν. Ὅτι δὲ μεί 60.23 ζων τούτων τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἡ δίκη, ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Ἀθετήσας τις νόμον Μωϋσέως, χωρὶς οἰκτιρμῶν ἐπὶ δυσὶν ἢ τρισὶ μάρτυσιν ἀποθνήσκει· πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθήσεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσας, καὶ τὸ αἷμα τῆς ∆ιαθήκης