41. But what remedy? “Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”71    Rom. vii. 24, 25. We have a physician, let us use the remedy. Our remedy is the grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be as strangers to our body, lest we be strangers to Christ. Though we are in the body, let us not follow the things which are of the body, let us not reject the rightful claims of nature, but desire before all the gifts of grace: “For to be dissolved and to be with Christ is far better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes.”72    Phil. i. 23, 24.

42. But this need is not the case of all, Lord Jesus; it is not so with me, who am profitable to none; for to me death is a gain, that I may sin no more. To die is gain to me, who, in the very treatise in which I comfort others, am incited as it were by an intense impulse to the longing for my lost brother, since it suffers me not to forget him. Now I love him more, and long for him more intensely. I long for him when I speak, I long for him when I read again what I have written, and I think that I am more impelled to write this, that I may not ever be without the recollection of him. And in this I am not acting contrary to Scripture, but I am of the same mind with Scripture, that I may grieve with more patience, and long with greater intensity.

43. Thou hast caused me, my brother, not to fear death, and I only would that my life might die with thine! This Balaam wished for as the greatest good for himself, when, inspired by the spirit of prophecy, he said: “Let my soul die in the souls of the righteous, and let my seed be like the seed of them.”73    Num. xxiii. 10 [LXX.]. And in truth he wished this according to the spirit of prophecy, for as he saw the rising of Christ, so also he saw His triumph, he saw His death, but saw also in Him the everlasting resurrection of men, and therefore feared not to die as he was to rise again. Let not then my soul die in sin, nor admit sin into itself, but let it die in the soul of the righteous, that it may receive his righteousness. Then, too, he who dies in Christ is made a partaker of His grace in the Font.

44. Death is not, then, an object of dread, nor bitter to those in need, nor too bitter to the rich, nor unkind to the old, nor a mark of cowardice to the brave, nor everlasting to the faithful nor unexpected to the wise. For how many have consecrated their life by the renown of their death alone, how many have been ashamed to live, and have found death a gain! We have read how often by the death of one great nations have been delivered; the armies of the enemy have been put to flight by the death of the general, who had been unable to conquer them when alive.

45. By the death of martyrs religion has been defended, faith increased, the Church strengthened; the dead have conquered, the persecutors have been overcome. And so we celebrate the death of those of whose lives we are ignorant. So, too, David rejoiced in prophecy at the departure of his own soul, saying: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”74    Ps. cxvi. [cxv.] 15. He esteemed death better than life. The death itself of the martyrs is the prize of their life. And again, by the death of those at variance hatred is put an end to.

46. Why should more be said? By the death of One the world was redeemed. For Christ, had He willed, need not have died, but He neither thought that death should be shunned as though there were any cowardice in it, nor could He have saved us better than by dying. And so His death is the life of all. We are signed with the sign75    The reference of course is to the sign of the Cross, which, as we know from various authorities, the early Christians constantly used, at rising, lying down, going in or out, at prayers, etc., etc.of His death, we show forth His death when we pray; when we offer the Sacrifice we declare His death, for His death is victory, His death is our mystery, His death is the yearly recurring solemnity of the world. What now should we say concerning His death, since we prove by this Divine Example that death alone found immortality, and that death itself redeemed itself. Death, then, is not to be mourned over, for it is the cause of salvation for all; death is not to be shunned, for the Son of God did not think it unworthy of Him, and did not shun it. The order of nature is not to be loosed, for what is common to all cannot admit of exception in individuals.

47. And, indeed, death was no part of man’s nature, but became natural; for God did not institute death at first, but gave it as a remedy. Let us then take heed that it do not seem to be the opposite. For if death is a good, why is it written that “God made not death,76    Wisd. i. 13 ff. but by the malice of men death entered into the world”? For of a truth death was no necessary part of the divine operation, since for those who were placed in paradise a continual succession of all good things streamed forth; but because of transgression the life of man, condemned to lengthened labour, began to be wretched with intolerable groaning; so that it was fitting that an end should be set to the evils, and that death should restore what life had lost. For immortality, unless grace breathed upon it, would be rather a burden than an advantage.

48. And if one consider accurately, it is not the death of our being, but of evil, for being continues, it is evil that perishes. That which has been rises again; would that as it is now free from sinning, so it were without former guilt! But this very thing is a proof that it is not the death of being, that we shall be the same persons as we were. And so we shall either pay the penalty of our sins, or attain to the reward of our good deeds. For the same being will rise again, now more honourable for having paid the tax of death. And then “the dead who are in Christ shall rise first; then, too, we who are alive,” it is said, “shall together with them be caught up in the clouds into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with the Lord.”77    1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. They first, but those that are alive second. They with Jesus, those that are alive through Jesus. To them life will be sweeter after rest, and though the living will have a delightful gain, yet they will be without experience of the remedy.

49. There is, then, nothing for us to fear in death, nothing for us to mourn, whether life which was received from nature be rendered up to her again, or whether it be sacrificed to some duty which claims it, and this will be either an act of religion or the exercise of some virtue. And no one ever wished to remain as at present. This has been supposed to have been promised to John, but it is not the truth. We hold fast to the words, and deduce the meaning from them. He himself in his own writing78    S. John xxi. 23. denies that there was a promise that he should not die, that no one from that instance might yield to an empty hope. But if to wish for this would be an extravagant hope, how much more extravagant were it to grieve without rule for what has happened according to rule!

50. The heathen mostly console themselves with the thought, either of the common misery, or of the law of nature, or of the immortality of the soul. And would that their utterances were consistent, and that they did not transmit the wretched soul into a number of ludicrous monstrosities and figures! But what ought we to do, whose reward is the resurrection, though many, not being able to deny the greatness of this gift, refuse to believe in it? And for this reason will we maintain it, not by one casual argument only, but by as many as we are able.

41. Sed quod remedium? Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum (Ibid., 24, 25). Habemus medicum, sequamur remedium. Remedium nostrum Christi gratia est, et corpus mortis corpus est nostrum. Ergo peregrinemur a corpore, ne peregrinemur a Christo: etsi in corpore sumus, tamen quae sunt corporis non sequamur, nec 1145 deseramus jura naturae, sed dona gratiae praeoptemus: 1326B Dissolvi enim, et cum Christo esse multo melius: permanere autem in carne magis necessarium propter vos (Phil. I, 23, 24).

42. Sed non omnibus necessarium, Domine Jesu: non mihi, qui nulli utilis sum; nam mihi lucrum est mori, ne plura peccem. Lucrum mihi est mori, qui ipso libro quo alios consolor, quasi vehementiore monitore ad desiderium amissi fratris impellor; quoniam me ejus non sinit oblivisci. Nunc magis amo, et vehementius desidero. Desidero cum loquor, desidero cum relego; et ideo hoc potius scribendum arbitror, ne quando ab ejus recordatione divellar. Quod non contra Scripturas facio, sed cum Scripturis sentio; ut patientius doleam, impatientius desiderem.

1326C 43. Praestitisti mihi, frater, ne mortem timerem, atque utinam moriatur anima mea in anima tua; hoc enim sibi Balaam pro maximo bono optat, donatus Spiritu prophetandi: Moriatur, inquit, anima mea in animis justorum, et fiat semen meum sicut semen istorum (Num. XXIII, 10). Et vere hoc secundum prophetiam optat; qui enim viderat ortum Christi, vidit ejus triumphale, vidit mortem, vidit in eo perennem hominum resurrectionem; et ideo mori non timet resurrecturus. Non moriatur ergo anima mea in peccato, neque peccatum in se recipiat: sed moriatur in anima justi: ut ejus recipiat aequitatem. Denique qui moritur in Christo, fit ejus gratiae particeps in lavacro.

44. Non ergo formidabilis mors, nec amara 1326D egentibus, nec gravior divitibus, nec injusta senioribus, nec ignava fortibus, nec perpetua fidelibus, nec improvisa sapientibus. Quam multi enim vitam solo mortis titulo consecrarunt, quantos vivere 1327A puduit, mori profuit? Morte unius plerumque accepimus maximos populos liberatos: morte imperatoris fugatos exercitus hostium, quos vivus vincere nequivisset.

45. Morte martyrum religio defensa, cumulata fides, Ecclesia roborata est: vicerunt mortui, victi persecutores sunt. Itaque quorum vitam nescimus, horum mortem celebramus. Unde et David prophetice gloriatus in suae mentis excessu: Pretiosa, inquit, in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus (Psal. CXV, 15). Mortem maluit praeferre, quam vitam. Ipsa mors martyrum praemium vitae est. Morte etiam inimicorum odia solvuntur.

46. Quid plura? Unius morte mundus redemptus est. Potuit enim Christus non mori, si voluisset: 1327B sed neque refugiendam mortem quasi ignavam putavit, neque melius nos quam 1146 moriendo servasset. Itaque mors ejus vita est omnium. Morte ejus signamur, mortem ejus orantes annuntiamus, mortem ejus offerentes praedicamus: mors ejus victoria est, mors ejus sacramentum est, mors ejus annua solemnitas mundi est. Quid praeterea de ejus morte dicamus, cum divino probemus exemplo, quia immortalitatem mors sola quaesivit, atque ipsa se mors redemit? Non igitur moerenda mors, quae causa salutis est publicae: non fugienda mors, quam Dei Filius non dedignatus est, non refugit. Non solvendus ordo naturae; quod enim commune est omnibus, exceptum in singulis esse non potest.

1327C 47. Et mors quidem in natura non fuit, sed conversa est in naturam; non enim a principio Deus mortem instituit, sed pro remedio dedit. Et consideremus ne videatur esse contrarium. Nam si bonum est mors, cur scriptum est, quia Deus mortem non fecit: sed malitia hominum mors introivit in orbem terrarum (Sap. I, 13; II, 24). Revera enim mors divino operi necessaria non fuit, cum in paradiso positis bonorum omnium jugis successus afflueret; sed praevaricatione damnata in labore diuturno, gemituque intolerando vita hominum coepit esse miserabilis: debuitque dari finis malorum, ut mors restitueret, quod vita amiserat. Immortalitas enim oneri potius quam usui est, nisi aspiret gratia.

48. Et si bene discutias, non naturae mors ista 1327D est, sed malitiae; manet enim natura, malitia moritur. Resurgit quod fuit: atque utinam ut jam peccandi liberum, ita vacuum culpae prioris! Sed hoc ipsum indicio est mortem non esse naturae, quia iidem erimus, qui fuimus. Itaque aut peccatorum 1328A nostrorum supplicia pendemus, aut bene gestorum gratiam consequemur. Resurget enim natura eadem, jam stipendiis mortis honoratior. Denique mortui, qui in Christo sunt, resurgent primi: deinde et nos qui vivimus, inquit, simul cum illis rapiemur in nubibus obviam Christo in aera; et ita semper cum Domino erimus (I Thess. IV, 15, 16). Illi primi, viventes autem secundi. Illi cum Jesu, viventes per Jesum. Illis dulcior vita post requiem: viventibus etsi grata compendia, tamen ignota remedia.

49. Nihil est igitur quod in morte timeamus, nihil quod debeamus dolere; si aut naturae repetenti vita, quae accepta est, rependatur: aut petenti impendatur officio, in quo religionis cultus, aut virtutis usus est. Neque enim quisquam sibi, ut sic maneret, 1328B optavit. Joanni promissum aestimatum est, sed non est creditum. Verba tenemus, sententiam derivamus. Ipse in libro negat sibi, quod non moreretur, esse promissum; ne quem vana spes exemplo incesseret. 1147 Quod si id velle spes insolens; quanto insolentius, quod non praeter modum acciderit, ultra modum dolere?

50. Gentiles plerumque se consolantur viri, vel de communitate aerumnae, vel de jure naturae, vel de immortalitate animae. Quibus utinam sermo constaret, ac non miseram animam in varia portentorum ludibria formasque transfunderent! Quid igitur nos facere oportet, quorum stipendium resurrectio est? cujus gratiam quoniam negare plerique non possunt, fidem abnuunt. Et ideo eam non uno argumento 1328C aliquo, sed pluribus modis, ut possumus, astruamus.