Those Who Know Sins of the Flesh and Those Who Do Not

Admonition 29. Those who are conscious of sins of the flesh and those who do not know them are to be admonished differently. Those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished that, at least after shipwreck, they should fear the sea, and should shudder at the danger of their destruction at least once it has become known to them; so that, having been mercifully kept safe after the evil deeds they have done, they do not die by wickedly repeating them. That is why it is said to the soul that sins and never stops sinning, “You have the forehead of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.” They are therefore to be admonished to take care that, if they have refused to keep whole the good things of nature they received, they should at least mend them after they have been torn. And they are surely bound to consider how many, in so great a number of the faithful, both keep themselves undefiled and also turn others back from the error of their way. What, then, will they be able to say if, while others stand firm in their integrity, they themselves do not come to a better mind even after their loss? What will they be able to say if, while many bring others with them to the kingdom, they do not bring back even themselves to the Lord who is waiting for them? They are to be admonished to consider their past wrongdoings and to shun those that threaten. That is why, under the figure of Judea, the Lord through the prophet recalls past sins to the memory of souls corrupted in this world, so that they may be ashamed to be polluted with sins to come, saying, “They played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth. Then their breasts were pressed, and the nipples of their virginity were bruised.” For breasts are pressed in Egypt when the will of the human soul is prostituted to the base desire of this world. The nipples of virginity are bruised in Egypt when the natural senses, still whole in themselves, are corrupted by the attacks of craving. [a]

Those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished to notice carefully with how great kindness God opens the bosom of his pity to us if we return to him after our wrongdoings, when he says through the prophet, “If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, will he return to her again? Will not that woman be polluted and defiled? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the Lord.” So, concerning the wife who has played the prostitute and been abandoned, the argument of justice is set out; and yet to us, returning after our fall, not justice but pity is shown. From this we are surely meant to gather how great our wickedness is if we do not return even after wrongdoing, seeing that, when we do wrong, we are spared with such great pity; or what pardon there will be for the wicked from him who, after our sin, does not stop calling us. This mercy in calling us after wrongdoing is well expressed through the prophet, when it is said to man who has turned away from God, “Your eyes will see your teacher, and your ears will hear the word of one behind your back admonishing you.” For the Lord admonished the human race to its face when he declared to man, created in Paradise and standing in free will, what he ought to do and not to do. But man turned his back on the face of God when in his pride he despised his commands. Yet God still did not abandon him in his pride, for he gave the law to call man back, and sent angels to urge him, and himself appeared in the flesh of our mortality. So, standing behind our back, he admonished us, for even when despised he called us to recover grace. [b]

What could be said generally of all alike must also be felt specially in each one’s case. For every man hears the words of God’s admonition set as it were before him when, before he commits sin, he knows the commands of God’s will. For still to stand before his face is not yet to despise him by sinning. But when a man forsakes the good of innocence and by choice desires wrongdoing, he then turns his back on the face of God. But see: even behind his back God follows and admonishes him, for even after sin he urges him to return to himself. He calls back the one who has turned away; he does not look at past wrongdoings; he opens the bosom of pity to the one who returns. We listen, then, to the voice of one behind our back admonishing us, if at least after our sins we return to the Lord who invites us. We ought therefore to feel ashamed before the pity of him who calls us, if we will not fear his justice; since the wickedness of despising him is all the more grievous because, though despised, he does not disdain to call us still.

But, on the other hand, those who do not know the sins of the flesh are to be admonished to fear a headlong fall all the more anxiously, the higher the ground they stand on. They are to be admonished to be aware that the more prominent the place they stand on, the more often they are attacked by the arrows of the one who lies in wait. For he usually rouses himself more fiercely the more stoutly he sees himself defeated; and the more he sees the unbroken camp of weak flesh drawn up against him, the more he scorns being defeated and finds it unbearable. They are to be admonished to look up constantly to the rewards, and then they will surely tread gladly underfoot the hardships of temptation they endure. For if attention is fixed on the happiness to be reached, apart from the passage to it, the toil of the passage becomes light. Let them hear what is said through the prophet: “Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: Whoever keeps my sabbaths, and chooses the things I desire, and keeps my covenant, I will give them in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters.” For they are indeed eunuchs who, holding down the impulses of the flesh, cut off within themselves the inclination to wrongdoing. And the place they hold with the Father is shown by this: in the Father’s house, that is, in his eternal dwelling, they are ranked even above sons. Let them hear what is said through John: “These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins, and they follow the Lamb wherever he goes”; and how they sing a song that no one can sing except those hundred and forty-four thousand. For to sing a song to the Lamb that is theirs alone is to rejoice with him forever beyond all the faithful, for the very incorruption of the flesh. Yet the rest of the elect can hear this song, although they cannot sing it, because through love they are joyful in the exaltation of those others, though they do not rise to their rewards. Let those who do not know the sins of the flesh hear what the Truth himself says about this purity: “Not all receive this word.” He marked it as the highest by speaking of it as not belonging to all; and by foretelling that it would be hard to receive, he shows his hearers with what care it should be kept once received. [c]

Those who do not know the sins of the flesh are therefore to be admonished both to know that virginity is higher than marriage, and yet not to exalt themselves above the married. So, while they put virginity first and themselves last, they may both hold to what they judge best and also guard themselves against exalting themselves in vain.

They are to be admonished to consider that the life of those who live in self-control is commonly put to shame by the deeds of people living in the world, when these take on works beyond their state, and the others do not stir up their hearts to the standard of their own order. That is why it is well said through the prophet, “Be ashamed, O Sidon, says the sea.” For Sidon is, as it were, put to shame by the voice of the sea when the life of one who is fortified and, as it were, steadfast is rebuked by comparison with the life of those who live in the world and are tossed about in it. For often there are some who, returning to the Lord after sins of the flesh, show themselves all the more ardent in good works the more they see themselves liable to condemnation for bad ones. And often some of those who persevere in purity of the flesh, seeing they have less in the past to mourn, think the innocence of their life is quite enough for them, and kindle themselves with no spur of zeal to fervor of spirit. And for the most part a life burning with love after sin becomes more pleasing to God than innocence growing sluggish in its ease. That is why it is said by the voice of the Judge, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much”; and, “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” We gather this the sooner from experience itself, if we weigh the judgments of our own mind. For we love the land that bears abundant fruit after thorns have been plowed out of it more than land that has had no thorns, but when cultivated yields a barren harvest. [d]

Those who do not know the sins of the flesh are to be admonished not to put themselves ahead of others because of the height of their higher order, when they do not know what great things are done better by those beneath them than by themselves. For in the inquiry of the righteous judge, the quality of actions changes the worth of the orders. For who, looking at the very outward appearance of things, can fail to know that among gems the carbuncle ranks above the jacinth? Yet a jacinth of sky-blue color ranks above a pale carbuncle; because in the jacinth its show of beauty supplies what the order of nature denied it, and the carbuncle, which the order of nature had put first, is lowered by the poorness of its color. So, then, in the human race, some in the better order are worse, and some in the worse order are better; since these by good living rise above the lot of their lower state, and those lessen the merit of their higher place by not living up to it in their conduct.