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Translated by Ch. Browne and J. Swallow.
Gregory Theologian Bilingual Anthology, Resources Online and in Print
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30 Pages
Page 15
XXV. Take my advice, my friend, and be slow to do evil, but swift to your salvation; for readiness to evil and tardiness to good are equally bad. If you are invited to a revel, be not swift to go; if to apostasy, leap away; if a company of evildoers say to you, "Come with us, share our bloodguiltiness, let us hide in the earth a righteous man unjustly," [4080] do not lend them even your ears. Thus you will make two very great gains; you will make known to the other his sin, and you will deliver yourself from evil company. But if David the Great say unto you, Come and let us rejoice in the Lord; [4081] or another Prophet, Come and let us ascend into the Mountain of the Lord; [4082] or our Saviour Himself, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; [4083] or, Arise, let us go hence, shining brightly, glittering above snow, whiter than milk, [4084] shining above the sapphire stone; let us not resist or delay. Let us be like Peter and John, and let us hasten; [4085] as they did to the Sepulchre and the Resurrection, so we to the Font; running together, racing against each other, striving to be first to obtain this Blessing. And say not, "Go away, and come again, and tomorrow I will be baptized," [4086] when you may have the blessing today. "I will have with me father, mother, brothers, wife, children, friends, and all whom I value, and then I will be saved; but it is not yet the fitting time for me to be made bright;" for if you say so, there is reason to fear lest you should have as sharers of your sorrow those whom you hoped to have as sharers of your joy. If they will be with you, well;—but do not wait for them. For it is base to say, "But where is my offering for my baptism, and where is my baptismal robe, in which I shall be made bright, and where is what is wanted for the entertainment of my baptizers, that in these too I may become worthy of notice? For, as you see, all these things are necessary, and on account of this the Grace will be lessened." Do not thus trifle with great things, or allow yourself to think so basely. The Sacrament is greater than the visible environment. Offer yourself; clothe yourself with Christ, feast me with your conduct; I rejoice to be thus affectionately treated, and God Who gives these great gifts rejoices thus. Nothing is great in the sight of God, but what the poor may give, so that the poor may not here also be outrun, for they cannot contend with the rich. In other matters there is a distinction between poor and rich, but here the more willing is the richer.
[4080] Prov. i. 11.
[4081] Ps. xcv. 1.
[4082] Mic. iv. 2.
[4083] Matt. xi. 28.
[4084] The A.V. is here used, as more accurate than the LXX. The passage is quoted freely from Lam. iv. 7.
[4085] John xx. 3.
[4086] Prov. iii. 28.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/gregory-nazianzen/holy-baptism.asp?pg=15
