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having counted common, and having insulted the Spirit of grace? Perhaps we have now turned many away from receiving baptism. But we have not said these things for this reason, but so that having received it, they might remain in much sobriety and gentleness. But I am afraid, he says. If you were afraid, you would have received it and kept it. But for this very reason, he says, I do not receive it, because I am afraid. But are you not afraid to depart thus? God is merciful, he says. Therefore, receive baptism; for He is merciful and helps. But you, where you ought to be earnest, you do not put forward this mercy; but where you wish to put things off, then you remember it; and yet this mercy would have its opportunity then, and we would attain it more, when we also bring what is from ourselves. For he who has cast everything upon God, and after baptism sins as a man is likely to do, will obtain mercy by repenting; but he who, as if outwitting the mercy of God, departs without a share of grace, will have an inexorable punishment. But why do you put forward such things against your own salvation? For it is impossible, impossible, as I at least think, for one who puts things off with such hopes to work anything noble and good. But why do you undertake so great a fear, and put forward the uncertainty of the future? Why do you not change this fear into labor and earnestness, that you might be great and wonderful? What is better, to fear, or to labor? If someone sat you down idle in a dilapidated house, saying, ‘Expect the roof, being rotten, to fall on your head’ (for perhaps it will fall, and perhaps it will not fall); ‘but if you do not want this, work, and inhabit the safer chamber’; what would you choose rather, that idleness with fear, or this work with confidence? Therefore, do so now also. For the uncertainty of the future is like a rotten house, always threatening a fall; but this work, which involves labor, guarantees safety. 7. May it not be, then, that we fall into so great a necessity as to sin after the laver; yet if any such thing should happen, let us not even so despair. God is merciful, and has given us many ways of remission even after this. Yet just as those who sin after the laver are punished more for this than the catechumens, so those who know that there are remedies of repentance, and do not wish to use them, will suffer more grievous things. For by as much as the mercy of God is increased, by so much is the punishment also increased the more, if we do not use the mercy as we ought. What do you say, O man? Being full of so many evils, and despaired of, you suddenly became a friend, and were raised to the highest honor, not from your own labors, but from the gift of God, and again you have returned to your former disgrace, and when it was necessary to be punished grievously, He did not even so turn away, but gave countless opportunities of salvation, through which you may become a friend. And God indeed does these things, but you are not willing even so to labor. And what pardon will you be worthy of then? How will the Greeks not rightly laugh at you, like 60.24 some drone living rashly and in vain? For if, he says, your philosophy is powerful, show what the multitude of the uninitiated means? The mysteries are beautiful and desirable; but let no one at the point of death receive the laver. For that is not the time for mysteries, but for testaments; but the time for mysteries is health of mind, and sobriety of soul. For tell me, if someone in such a state would not choose to write a testament; and even if he should write one, he gives a handle to those who come after (for indeed for this reason they also prefix these words, saying, ‘Being alive, and of sound mind, and in good health, I enjoin concerning my own affairs’); how could someone who is out of his mind be initiated with accuracy? For if, concerning the affairs of life, the secular laws would not permit one who is not perfectly healthy to make dispositions while deliberating, and this when about to legislate on his own affairs; how, when learning about the kingdom of heaven, and those ineffable good things, will you be able to learn all things clearly, often being delirious from the sickness? and when the words

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κοινὸν ἡγησάμενος, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἐνυβρίσας; Τάχα πολλοὺς ἀπετρέψαμεν νῦν λαβεῖν τὸ βάπτισμα. Ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ταῦτα εἰρήκαμεν, ἀλλ' ἵνα λαβόντες μείνωσιν ἐν σωφροσύνῃ καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ πολλῇ. Ἀλλὰ δέδοικα, φησίν. Εἰ ἐδεδοίκεις, ἔλαβες ἂν καὶ ἐφύλαξας. Ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο οὐ λαμβάνω, φησὶ, διὰ τὸ φοβεῖσθαι. Τὸ δὲ οὕτως ἀπελθεῖν οὐ δέδοικας; Φιλάνθρωπός ἐστι, φησὶν, ὁ Θεός. Οὐκοῦν λάβε τὸ βάπτισμα· φιλάνθρωπος γάρ ἐστι καὶ βοηθεῖ. Σὺ δὲ, ἔνθα μὲν ἂν δέῃ σπουδάσαι, οὐ προβάλλῃ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ταύτην· ἔνθα δ' ἂν θέλῃς ἀναβαλέσθαι, τότε αὐτῆς μέμνησαι· καίτοι τότε καιρὸν ἂν ἔχοι ἡ φιλανθρωπία αὕτη, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῆς ἐπιτευξόμεθα, ὅταν καὶ τὰ παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσενέγκωμεν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τὸ πᾶν ἐπὶ τὸν Θεὸν ῥίψας, καὶ μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα ἁμαρτάνων οἷα εἰκὸς ἄνθρωπον ὄντα, μετανοῶν τεύξεται φιλανθρωπίας· ὁ δὲ ὥσπερ σοφιζόμενος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν, ἀπελθὼν ἄμοιρος τῆς χάριτος, ἀπαραίτητον ἕξει τὴν τιμωρίαν. Τί δὲ τοιαῦτα κατὰ τῆς σεαυτοῦ σωτηρίας προβάλλῃ; Ἀμήχανον γὰρ, ἀμήχανον, ὡς ἔγωγε οἶμαι, τὸν τοιαύταις ἐλπίσιν ἀναβαλλόμενον ἐργάσασθαί τι γενναῖον καὶ ἀγαθόν. Σὺ δὲ ἀνθ' ὅτου τοσοῦτον φόβον ἀναδέχῃ, καὶ τὸ ἄδηλον τοῦ μέλλοντος προβάλλῃ; διατί μὴ μεταβάλλεις τὸν φόβον τοῦτον εἰς πόνον καὶ σπουδὴν, ἵν' ἔσῃ μέγας καὶ θαυμαστός; τί βέλτιον, φοβεῖσθαι, ἢ πονεῖν; Εἴ τίς σε ἐκάθισεν ἐν οἴκῳ πεπονηκότι ἀργοῦντα, εἰπὼν, ὅτι Προσδόκα ἐπὶ τὴν σὴν κεφαλὴν πεσεῖσθαι τὴν ὀροφὴν σαθρὰν οὖσαν (ἴσως μὲν γὰρ πεσεῖται, ἴσως δὲ οὐ πεσεῖται)· εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτο θέλεις, ἐργάζου, καὶ τὸν ἀσφαλέστερον οἴκει θάλαμον· τί ἂν εἴλου μᾶλλον, τὴν ἀργίαν ἐκείνην μετὰ τοῦ φόβου, ἢ τὴν ἐργασίαν ταύτην μετὰ τοῦ θαῤῥεῖν; Οὐκοῦν οὕτω καὶ νῦν ποίει. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄδηλον τοῦ μέλλοντος καθάπερ οἶκός τίς ἐστι σαθρὸς, ἀεὶ πτῶσιν ἀπειλῶν· ἡ δὲ ἐργασία αὕτη, ἡ πόνον ἔχουσα, τὸ ἀσφαλὲς ἐγγυᾶται. ζʹ. Μὴ γένοιτο μὲν οὖν ἡμᾶς ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς ἀνάγκην τοσαύτην, ὥστε ἁμαρτάνειν μετὰ τὸ λουτρόν· πλὴν εἰ καὶ γένοιτό τι τοιοῦτον, μηδὲ οὕτως ἀπογνῶμεν. Φιλάνθρωπός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ πολλὰς ἡμῖν δέδωκεν ὁδοὺς ἀφέσεως καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα. Πλὴν ὥσπερ οἱ μετὰ τὸ λουτρὸν ἁμαρτάνοντες, τῶν κατηχουμένων κατὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον κολάζονται, οὕτως οἱ εἰδότες, ὅτι μετανοίας ἐστὶ φάρμακα, καὶ μὴ θέλοντες αὐτοῖς κεχρῆσθαι, χαλεπώτερα ὑποστήσονται. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἂν ἐπιτείνηται ἡ φιλανθρωπία τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοσούτῳ καὶ ἡ κόλασις αὔξεται μᾶλλον, ἐὰν μὴ εἰς δέον τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ χρησώμεθα. Τί λέγεις, ἄνθρωπε; Μεστὸς ὢν κακῶν τοσούτων, καὶ ἀπεγνωσμένος, ἀθρόον ἐγένου φίλος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀνωτάτω τιμὴν ἀνηνέχθης, οὐκ ἐξ οἰκείων πόνων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεᾶς, καὶ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν προτέραν ἐπανῆλθες ἀσχημοσύνην, καὶ δέον κολασθῆναι χαλεπῶς, ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἀπεστράφη, ἀλλ' ἔδωκε μυρίας ἀφορμὰς σωτηρίας, δι' ὧν ἔσῃ φίλος. Καὶ ὁ μὲν Θεὸς ταῦτα, σὺ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐθέλεις πονεῖν. Καὶ ποίας ἄξιος ἔσῃ συγγνώμης λοιπόν; πῶς δὲ οὐκ εἰκότως Ἕλληνές σε γελάσονται, καθάπερ 60.24 κηφῆνά τινα ζῶντα εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην; Εἰ γὰρ δυνατὴ, φησὶν, ἡ παρ' ὑμῶν φιλοσοφία, δείξατε, τί βούλεται τῶν ἀμυήτων τὸ πλῆθος; Καλὰ τὰ μυστήρια καὶ ποθεινά· ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ψυχοῤῥαγῶν λουτρὸν λαμβανέτω. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τῶν μυστηρίων ὁ καιρὸς, ἀλλὰ τῶν διαθηκῶν· μυστηρίων δὲ καιρὸς, ὑγεία φρενῶν, καὶ σωφροσύνη ψυχῆς. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἰ διαθήκας οὐκ ἄν τις ἕλοιτο οὕτω διακείμενος γράψαι· κἂν γράψῃ δὲ, δίδωσι τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα λαβὴν (διὰ γάρ τοι τοῦτο καὶ προτάττουσι ταυτὶ τὰ ῥήματα λέγοντες, ὅτι Ζῶν, καὶ φρονῶν, καὶ ὑγιαίνων ἐπισκήπτω περὶ τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ)· πῶς ἄν τις ἐξεστηκὼς δυνηθείη μετὰ ἀκριβείας μυσταγωγεῖσθαι; Εἰ γὰρ περὶ βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων βουλευομένῳ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιτρέψαιεν οἱ τῶν ἔξωθεν νόμοι τῷ μὴ σφόδρα ὑγιαίνοντι διατάττεσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ μέλλοντι νομοθετεῖν· πῶς περὶ βασιλείας οὐρανῶν μανθάνων, καὶ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἐκείνων ἀγαθῶν, δυνήσῃ σαφῶς πάντα μαθεῖν, πολλάκις καὶ παραπλὴξ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας γενόμενος; πότε δὲ τὰ ῥήματα