Ambrose

XIII. LITTERA MEM.

1. Incipit littera tertia decima quae dicitur 'Mem', quod sonat in Latino 'ex intimis' et, ut alii, 'ignis ex ultimis', et utrumque non discordat a textu. nam statim primus uersus internorum uiscerum caritatem exprimit, quae utique ex ultimis procedit medullis et quodam nexu caloris inplicatur ossibus.

2. Denique in Threnis Hieremiae textus litterae huius hoc continet: ex alto suo misit ignem in ossibus meis.¹ bonus ergo deus, qui nobis inmittit unde diligentes eum meritum sub conspectu eius inuenire possimus. quem mittat ignem, ipse nos doceat: ignem ueni mittere in terram, et quid uolo nisi ut iam accendatur?² bonus ignis quem desiderat omnium saluator accendi, cum praesertim ipsum deum legerimus ignem esse,³ qui nostra peccata consumit intimisque pectoribus [sui] diuinae cupiditatem cognitionis infundit atque inradiat in nobis cor nostrum, cum legimus diuinarum seriem scripturarum, si forte aliquid, quo aperiantur propheticae lectionis occulta, intellectu adsumimus spiritali. hoc igne Cleopas cor suum dicebat ardere, cum ipsi et socio eius Christus scripturas aperiret.⁴ de hoc igne dixit dominus in libro Ezechiel: ecce proficiscar in Hierusalem et exsufflabo in uos in igne irae meae, ut tabescatis a plumbo et ferro et reliquis materialibus.⁵ profunda in uerbis usitatis uidemus mysteria, totum hoc spiritale. quibus precibus emerear ut ueniat dei uerbum, intret ecclesiam, fiat ignis consumens, ut exurat faenum et stipulam⁶ et quicquid est saeculare consumat, graue plumbum iniquitatis,⁷ quod in plerisque est, liquefiat igne diuino et ferreus quidam peccati rigor superno mollescat incendio, meliorentur uasa aurea et argentea,⁸ ut omnis sapientium sensus, omnis sermo prudentium flagrantium passionum calore decocto incipiat esse pretiosior. bonus ignis caritatis quo corpus omne ecclesiae in mutuam adolescit gratiam; bonus ignis dilectionis quo unusquisque sanctus ad reuerentiam sui auctoris accenditur. sed qui deum diligit non perfunctorie diligit, sed diligit legem eius, praecepta custodit, iustificat cor suum non dictorum sonora praedicatione, sed studiosa imitatione factorum. doceat igitur nos deus, quemadmodum a sanctis suis diligitur.

3. Sic inquens propheta adicit: quomodo dilexi mandatum tuum, domine! tota die meditatio mea est.⁹ diligentis circa studium cognoscendae legis haec uox est, quae instruit perfectionem hominis, quam totus hic psalmus informat. et quoniam maximum mandatum esse in lege cognouit, ut diligamus dominum deum nostrum ex toto corde nostro et ex tota anima nostra,¹⁰ sui imitatione nos quoque quos erudire studet uult esse perfectos dicens: quomodo dilexi mandatum tuum, domine!¹¹ hoc ipso caritas crescit affectu, quod ipsum testem aduocat cui munus dilectionis inpenditur nec speciem, sed plenitudinem caritatis tali conuentione testatur. hac usus est Petrus: tu scis, inquit, domine, quia diligo te.¹² sed qui diligit dominum legem eius diligit, sicut Maria diligens filium omnia uerba eius in corde suo materno conferebat affectu.¹³ diligens te feci uoluntatem tuam,¹⁴ scriptum est. ideo commisit et Christus Petro, ut pasceret gregem suum¹⁵ et domini faceret uoluntatem, quia caritatem eius agnouit. qui enim diligit, ex uoluntate facit quae sibi sunt imperata, qui timet, ex necessitate. itaque dominus operationes seruulorum suorum spontaneas probat potius quam coactas. ideo ex seruis liberos facit, ut uoluntatum nostrarum munera quam necessitatum obsequia conferamus.

4. Non potest dicere Marcionita: quomodo dilexi legem tuam!,¹⁶ qui legem non suscipit; non potest dicere Iudaeus, qui legem spiritalem ignorat et litteram legis nudam, non sensum legis intellectumque meditatur. solus ergo dicit christianus, qui multum iam legis cognitione profecerit, qui non poenam legis pauido corde formidet, sed diuina mysteria ueri Hebraei, ueri sabbati, uerae remissionis intrepido rimetur affectu. uere ergo diligit qui sine tristitia, sine timore uoluntario potius studio quam coacto praecepta conseruat.

5. Alio uero uersu cito probauit diuturnae meditationis effectum, quando intellexit super inimicos suos domini mandatum.¹⁷ sed quos habet inimicos propheta, qui et sui populi uiros legitima debet caritate conplecti et alienigenas euangelica praedicatione inuitare ad dei gratiam? ferae (feruntur) consortem naturae suae diligere: quomodo dilectionem conformis sui propheta respuerit? esse igitur iustam aliquam causam oportet, qua hi quos significat iure uideantur inimici. ea quae sit possumus inuestigare, si meminerimus quia alibi idem ipse dixit: et super inimicos tuos tabescebam, iusto odio oderam illos.¹⁸ istos ergo euangelica auctoritate suos inimicos dicit esse qui inimici sunt dei. nam si is, qui non relinquit parentes propter dei nomen,¹⁹ non est deo dignus, quanto magis, qui diligit eius inimicos, acceptus deo esse non poterit? quos ergo inimicos habet? si gentiles, quomodo eos prophetico credituros spiritu praeuidebat? denique ut benedicant et ipsi dominum in superioribus adhortatus est.²⁰ et quae magna laus super eos intellegere, qui metalla et saxa uenerando similem rigorem stuporis adtraxerint?

6. Quos igitur habet inimicos nisi haereticos? ipsi enim sunt inpugnatores fidei, ueritatis inimici. quos nisi Iudaeos? ipsi enim grauiores inimici qui ex amicis inimici facti sunt. super eos intellegit qui legem spiritalem esse intellegit. quid ergo prodest lex, si finem legis ignores, si mysterium nescias, si sacramenta non noueris? Iudaeis ex ouibus agnus occiditur pro celebritate paschali, nobis pro redemptione mundi unigenitus dei, partus uirginis inmolatur. quid proficiunt Iudaei, quod sanguine agni domos et postes suos inliniunt?²¹ nihil utique, quoniam ligna his aut saxa prodesse non possunt. nobis proficit omne mysterium, qui abhorrere credimus a gratia spiritali, ut habitationes nostras sanguine pecudis cruentemus et ne ora nostra cruore tinguamus.²² sed corpora nostra sacramento crucis dominicae consecramus et confessione mortis domini nostri Iesu Christi sanctificamus oris adloquia; corde enim creditur ad iustitiam, ore confessio fit ad salutem.²³ quid prodest, quod Hebraei aurem seruuli pertundunt subula et praeputia sui circumcidunt corporis?²⁴ non intellegunt penitus, quid lex diuina discernat. signa sunt ista, non ueritas. sed ille intellegit, qui cor suum spiritali circumcisione castificat, ut conluuiem omnem corporeae labis emundet. ille intellegit, qui subulam et aurem mentis uigore transcendit et illam animam, quam pertransiuit gladius²⁵ ad reuelanda cordis occulta, perpetuae praemio libertatis attollit uel examinandis sermonibus sollicite seruiens, quoscumque uirtutis suae aure susceperit, mysterio sanctificat spiritali. azyma sibi Iudaeus quibusque annis facere consueuit²⁶ et nescit se malitiae esse fermentum. sed qui intellegit quid sit uetus expurgare fermentum, ne totam massam corrumpat,²⁷ ueterem hominem cum actibus suis expurgat, ut fiat noua consparsio ueritatis. Iudaeo ista dicta sunt et christianus audiuit, quia, dum aurem suam subula illa pertundit, audire non potuit uulneratam aurem gerens; non legis, sed stultitiae suae subula cruentauit aurem suam. illa audiendo quae spiritaliter reuelantur perforauit aurem suam ferro; maluit enim in ferrum quam in uerbum credere. ideo seruit, ideo liber esse non meruit, ideo nec completi temporis ei gratia suffragatur, quia plenitudinem temporis non recepit, quo filius dei missus est ad salutem et uenit ad redemptionem, factus sub lege, natus ex uirgine,²⁸ uictor mortis, largitor resurrectionis. manet ergo uulnus illi cui Christus non resurrexit. o uulnus quod sarciri non possit, nisi forte relinquat subulam et sumat sibi gladium, quod pro Christi nomine non refutet uel quo corporalia a spiritalibus, umbram a ueritate distinguat, sumat dei uerbum, gladium bis acutum,²⁹ et ex illo diuino ore doceatur mandatum domini, praescriptum legis agnoscere, quod non temporalis habeat obseruantiam celebritatis, sed salutaria et sempiterna remedia suco gratiae spiritalis infundat!

7. Tota ergo die in lege meditare, non perfunctoria tibi debet esse transcursio. si agrum emere uelis, si mercari domum, prudentiorem adhibes et quid iuris sit diligenter consideras et, ne in aliquo forte fallare, tibi ipse non credis. at nunc tu ipse emendus es tibi. de tuo pretio tracta, considera quid sis, quod nomen habeas, quid adquiras tibi: non agrum, non pecuniam, non gemmarum monilia, sed Christum Iesum, cui nulla possint pretia, nulla ornamenta conferri. adhibe tibi consiliarios Moysen Esaiam Hieremiam Petrum Paulum Iohannem, ipsum magnum consiliarium³⁰ Iesum dei filium, ut adquiras patrem. cum his tractandum, cum his tota conferendum est tibi, tota meditandum die, sicut meditabatur Dauid et haec erat illi sola meditatio. non saecularibus animus transducebatur inlecebris, non pecuniaria coaceruandi patrimonii cupiditate flagrabat, non proferendi limitis excludendique finitimi anxius curarum aestus studio meditationis intentum reflectebat affectum, quicquid poterat temporis dies habere, hoc totum sola sibi in lege meditatio uindicabat.

8. Sed etiam hoc parum est diligenti qui uelit ad beatitudinis gratiam peruenire; beatus enim die ac nocte meditatur in lege.³¹ angustior dies est meditatione doctrinae, non tantus dies in tempore quanta meditatio est in lege. unde uide ne illud magis significare uideatur, quod ei qui in lege meditatur semper dies est et lumen sine defectu, quod nullae tenebrae noctis interpolent. alioquin quomodo neglegentiorem in processu operis declararet quem diligentiorem in ipsis operis sui propheta principiis esse uoluisset? in die ergo meditatur legis et euangelii praedicator.

9. Et fortasse illi qui nouum non recipiunt testamentum in nocte legerunt et ideo nescierunt neque intellexerunt. unde saluator, ne etiam nos legeremus in tenebris, admonet dicens ambulandum in die, quia non offendat qui in die ambulat; uidet enim gratiam lucis. qui enim ambulat in tenebris, scopulum offensionis incurrit.³²

10. Sequitur uersus tertius: super omnes docentes me intellexi, quia testimonia tua meditatio mea est.³³ doctrinam profitentur scribae Iudaeorum, quia legem et prophetas ipsi priores habere meruerunt. sed illi profitentur docere, sed non docent. ei autem populo qui ex gentibus conpetit dicere: super omnes docentes me intellexi, quia illi non intellexerunt. respondet Iudaeus: 'unde habuisti intellegere, scriptum est: interroga patrem tuum, et adnuntiabit tibi; seniores tuos, et dicent tibi.³⁴ ego sum pater tuus, me interroga'. sed etsi interrogauero, non respondebitis mihi,³⁵ dixit Iesus, et ex illo respondere non possunt et ex illo supra illos intellego qui non intellegebant, quia testimonia didici quae ille non nouit. didici: qui sequitur me tollat crucem suam,³⁶ didici: diligite inimicos uestros.³⁷ et ideo optat anathema esse Paulus pro fratribus genere, inimicis fide.³⁸

11. Uideretur inconueniens esse uerecundiae prophetali huiusmodi usurpatio, eo quod praesumpserit dicere quod super omnes docentes intellexerit, cum uel legem Moyses acceperit a domino et populo eius instituta tradiderit,³⁹ Aaron sacrificiorum omnium decurso ritu sacerdotalem docuerit disciplinam,⁴⁰ Iesus Naue significauerit quemadmodum circumcisio possit iterari,⁴¹ Samuhel unctionis propheticae pariter ac regiae sacramenta monstrauerit.⁴² uideretur, inquam, incongrua praesumptio, nisi praemisisset superiora, quibus non inmerito super docentes intellexisse se conprobaret. debuit hanc adsumere confidentiam qui docebatur a domino;⁴³ et mandatum quod docebatur domini erat et ipse dominus qui docebat. merito super omnes intellexit quem docebat ipsa sapientia. unde et alibi ait: beatus quem tu erudieris, domine, et de lege tua docueris eum.⁴⁴

12. Ostendit igitur quod diuinum est homines docere non posse; et ideo qui docere praesumunt nesciunt, sed agnoscit discipulus qui docetur. in quo praeter donum scientiae, quod de spiritu sancto fuerat consecutus, moralis quoque suauis est locus, quod multi docentes sunt, qui quod non intellegunt docere se dicunt, et plurimi sunt discipuli, qui studio suo adsecuntur et industria quod non didicerint a magistris. denique ante nos quidam interesse dixit inter docentes atque doctores, fortasse hoc arbitratus, quia doctores sunt aliorum iudicio ad hoc munus electi, docentes autem qui propria usurpatione hoc sibi munus adsumpserint. sed cedant necesse est ei doctores quoque, quem testimoniorum meditatione caelestium doctrina dei docentis inbuerit.

13. Super seniores intellexi, quia praecepta tua quaesiui.⁴⁵ nec hoc quidem difficile, ut is quem dominus docuerit super seniores intellegat, siquidem dei gratia ad doctrinam maturitatemque aetatis progrediatur senilis. cum enim aetas senectutis uita inmaculata sit, utique doctrina uitae inmaculatae senilem praestat aetatem.⁴⁶ denique excusanti Hieremiae, quod iuuenis esset, responsum est: noli dicere: iuuenis sum,⁴⁷ eo quod non aestimaretur iuuenis definitione diuina qui incanam haberet prudentiam,⁴⁸ quae sanctificationis caelestis gratia reluceret.

14. Uerumtamen non mihi uidetur se ipsum propheta laudare et praeferre senioribus, cum legeris: non te praetereat narratio seniorum; et ipsi enim didicerunt a patribus.⁴⁹ nam et alibi Sirach dixit Sapientia: ubi sunt senes, non multum loquaris.⁵⁰ sed nouit quibus se praeferat senioribus, inueteratis scilicet in peccato et ueterno impietatis atque senio perfidiae delirantibus. isti sunt seniores plebis qui dominum Iesum Pilato praesidi tradiderunt. conuenerunt enim sacerdotes et scribae et seniores,⁵¹ ut ait Marcus, et iterum: fecerunt sacerdotes consilium cum senioribus, ut eum traderent.⁵² et aduersum apostolos in Actibus eorum quod seniores Israel conuenerint Petrus sanctus et Lucas euangelista testantur.⁵³ non ergo senili derogauit aetati, sed uoce populi iunioris indocilem dei uetustum⁵⁴ dierum Iudaeorum fore populum prophetauit, qui, quod in iuuentute sua non adquisierat, in senectute inuenire non potuit.⁵⁵ nam qui a principio frequentibus dominum exasperauit offensis, cuius gratiam, cum esset iuuenis, non poterat emereri, huius aduentum senex non meruit agnoscere, donum tenere non potuit. speciosum autem incanae iudicium senectutis in sensu est et ueterani consilii scientia,⁵⁶ intellectus maturitate, non uitae longaeuitate praefertur.

15. Exquiramus ergo mandata dei, ut super seniores intellegamus, fugiamus uiam lubricam peccatorum, ut possimus praecepta custodire caelestia; hoc enim declarant sequentia. super seniorem intellexit Iacob iunior frater, quia, cum senior Esau praerogatiuam sibi benedictionis priuilegio aetatis exposcit, reliquit epulas mitiores, dum quaerit agrestes.⁵⁷ profecto illo in uenationem iunior frater uestimenta eius accepit et mihi tradidit populo nationum, materno usus consilio.⁵⁸ illam ergo sapientiae stolam, quam habuit ante populus Iudaeorum, induit me Rebecca; stola eius bona, lex et prophetae. hac stola ille populus est nudatus, nos induti sumus; induit nos mater illa Hierusalem quae in caelo sursum est.⁵⁹ accedimus ergo ad patrem, offerimus illi epulas mitiores, patientiae cibos, misericordiae lenitatem, suauitatem intellectus. accipio benedictionem, praeripio fratri seniori gratiam spiritalem; uenit ille, irascitur, non inuenit quod accipiat; mater occurrit et pio nos informat hortatu. residet penes me stola illa bonis intexta mandatis.

16. Ab omni uia maligna prohibui pedes meos, ut custodiam uerba tua.⁶⁰ uere dignus qui super seniores intellexerit, quandoquidem diuino est honoratus spiritu, ut seniores doceret non solum intellectus ueritatem, uerum etiam peccati fugam culpaeque cautelam. itaque cum fragilitas humana prona sit, ut ad imum affectibus et currente uestigio feratur in uitium, docet quemadmodum uiae istius lubricum, itineris huius anfractus uiantem implicare non possit. prohibui, inquit, pedes meos a maligna uia, hoc est ab istius saeculi uanitate, quia saeculum in maligno positum est.⁶¹ dubium quicquid est et ancipitis effectus, hoc malignum est; ut lux dubia maligna dicitur,⁶² ita malignum est quicquid admiscet malitiae tenebras ueritati. reuoca ergo ab istius mundi lubrico pedes animi tui et mentis incessum. prohibe, inquam, resiste cupiditatibus, obsiste motibus qui uidentur inruere sicut bestiae atque iumenta, ut teneros fructus et noua ruris huius nostri culta depascant.

17. Prohibui, inquit, pedes meos.⁶³ non utique corporis pedes prohibuit, qui mentis piae plerumque obsecuntur arbitrio. neque enim prohibendi sunt, cum prodeunt ad dei templum, uiduae opem ferre festinant, impium praeuenire, subplantare aliquem fraudulentum. alius igitur est pes qui iure prohibetur. qui ille sit, ipse propheta nos doceat: non ueniat, inquit, mihi pes superbiae.⁶⁴ est etiam pes iniquitatis, qui cito labitur, stare non potest, sicut pes perfidorum est, de quibus scriptum est: ibi ceciderunt operantes iniquitatem, expulsi sunt nec potuerunt stare.⁶⁵ prohibe ergo pedes tuos, ne cadas; sunt enim non solum criminum, sed etiam infirmitatis pedes, et uidendum ne cadas. et uideris tibi forsitan bene stare, sed dicit tibi Paulus: et tu qui stas uide ne cadas.⁶⁶ diligenter attende uiam tuam, ut audias: tu autem hic sta mecum.⁶⁷ stans enim cum deo lapsum timere non poteris, stans cum deo poteris dicere: eruit pedes meos a lapsu.⁶⁸ sed ita eruit dominus pedes tuos ab omni lapsu, si cognouerit quod tu prohibeas pedes tuos a lapsu. ideo hoc meruit Dauid, ut deus a lapsu pedes eius erueret, quoniam pedes suos ipse prohibebat, ne praecipiti atque incauto peccatorum laberentur uestigio, unde et potuit uerba custodire diuina. non enim custodire quis poterit, nisi potuerit prius stare. cum autem custodierit, ipse incipit ei dei uerbum ferre custodiam. prohibitos pedes suos a uia maligna bene dicit qui Christum esse uiam nouit.

18. A iudiciis tuis non declinaui, quoniam tu legem posuisti mihi.⁶⁹ exposuit quid esset a uia maligna prohibere pedem, a iudiciis utique non declinare diuinis et firmum atque inmobile perseuerantis innocentiae tenere uestigium, non deflectere gradum nec de curriculo auertere disciplinae, sed semitis non solum ueteris in Sina, sed etiam nouae legis insistere secundum euangelii claritatem.

19. Est etiam euangelii lex, de qua dicit in superioribus hic propheta: constitue, domine, legislatorem super eos, sciant gentes quoniam homines sunt.⁷⁰ aduentum utique domini intellegimus prophetari, uocationem gentium, quae ante in lutum quoddam corporis huius uidebantur infixae, uoluptati corruptionis suae tamquam faeci et libidini inhaerentes, quia dominum nescierunt. et ideo iratus: auertantur, inquit, peccatores in infernum,⁷¹ ut non uiderent descendentem et ascendentem animam domini Iesu et conuerterentur ad dominum, qui conuerti, cum uiuerent, noluerunt. sed de illis dicit gentibus quae obliuiscuntur dominum.⁷²

20. Scierunt ergo et obliti sunt. tamen prophetica benignitate orat ut exsurgat dominus, non praeualeat homo, ut cogitationes terrenae et motus omnes feruentes huius corporis conquiescant. iudicentur gentes,⁷³ quoniam tunc cognoscitur dominus, cum timentium conuertitur affectus graui terrore iudicii, et discant gentes quoniam homines sunt,⁷⁴ luti corruptione solubiles et limo durescente formati, quod ante qui legem non acceperant nesciebant. unde propheta, quasi et ipse turbatus terrenae fragilitatis contemplatione, ait: ut quid, domine, discessisti longe?⁷⁵ bene timet qui hominem se esse cognoscit; sed quia plus timet nobis qui ex gentibus peccatores, precatur, ne longe fiat a suis gentibus, ut qui longe eramus incipiamus esse propiores et sciamus quia homines sumus,⁷⁶ ad imaginem scilicet et similitudinem dei facti, quibus per uirginis uterum etiam Christus conformis est factus. recte ergo et ad infirmitatem accipitur et gratiam: sciant gentes quoniam homines sunt,⁷⁷ alterum per commune quoddam atque carnale consortium bestiarum, alterum per imaginem dei et carnis dominicae sacramentum. dignitas coepit esse quae ignobilitas uidebatur.

21. Merito ergo non declinauit a iudiciis dei populus nationum, qui potest dicere: quoniam tu legem posuisti mihi,⁷⁸ non per Moysen, non per prophetas, sed ipse per te, Iesu, legem posuisti mihi, hoc est euangelium. ideo non declinaui, quia te aspexi et cognoui; tua itinera et te secutus ueram cognoui uiam.

22. Itaque praedicationem audiens euangelii, quam propheticus spiritus praecinebat, ait: quam dulcia faucibus meis uerba tua, super mel et fauum ori meo!⁷⁹ et bene 'dulcia', quibus praedicatur remissio peccatorum, uitae perennitas, resurrectio etiam defunctorum, quae perpetuae mortis et acerbae amaritudinem temperarunt. per haec mortem coepimus non timere, qui coepimus dicere: ubi est, mors, uictoria tua?⁸⁰ et bene 'faucibus dulcia', eo quod intimis infusa uisceribus gratia spiritalis sit.

23. Super mel et fauum, inquit, ori meo dulcia.⁸¹ et ideo, quia nobis dulcia uerba tua esse coeperunt, dicis ad ecclesiam: fauum distillant labia tua, sponsa.⁸² qui sit fauus, doce nos, Salomon; tu enim dixisti: faui mellis sermones boni.⁸³ et uere bonus fauus quem manducat ecclesia, multorum prophetarum uelut apum spiritali ubertate congesta mella redolentem. hoc est mel de quo ait: manducaui panem meum cum melle meo, bibi uinum meum cum lacte meo.⁸⁴ mysticus sermo caelestium scripturarum sicut panis est, qui confirmat cor hominis uelut fortior cibus uerbi;⁸⁵ suasorius autem ethicus dulcis et mollior, eo quod ethica praedicatione mentis interna mulcentur, amara febribus, id est paenitentia delictorum, miti corda sermone dulcescunt. stillant mel labia praedicantis, quando conlisa duris casibus uel ruinis lapsae animae membra refouentur.

24. Est etiam uis feruentior uerbi sicut uini, est etiam in lactis specie sermo lucidior. edite, inquit, proximi mei, et bibite et inebriamini.⁸⁶ bona ebrietas, quae ad meliora atque iucunda facit quendam mentis excessum,⁸⁷ ut inmemor sollicitudinum animus noster uino iucunditatis hilaretur. bona mensae spiritalis ebrietas; denique poculum inebrians quam praeclarum!⁸⁸ sed et alibi habes: riuos eius inebria, multiplica generationes eius,⁸⁹ eo quod ebrietas terrae, cum infusa fuerit imbre caelesti, suscitare semina, fructus multiplicare consueuerit. itaque uerbum dei, quod sicut pluuia descendit e caelo,⁹⁰ ubi uenas terrae nostrae uel animae ac mentis inebriauit praedicatione diuina, excitauit uirtutum studia diuersarum fructusque fidei et castae deuotionis adoleuit. meritoque dicitur ei: uisitasti terram et inebriasti eam,⁹¹ susceptione etenim corporis uisitauit, ut sanaret infirmos, inebriauit gratia spiritali, ut anxios iucunditate mulceret.

25. Recte ergo sponsae dicitur: fauum distillant labia tua, sponsa; mel et lac sub lingua tua.⁹² os enim iusti distillat sapientiam,⁹³ de ore iusti suauitatis et misericordiae mella procedunt, in ore iusti nullus dolus, nulla fallacia, nulla est amaritudo peccati. audit ecclesia uerba iusti, audit plebs dei praecepta sapientis, delectatur alloquii suauitate, moralis disputationis iucunditate mulcetur dicens: quam dulcia faucibus meis uerba tua, super mel et fauum ori meo,⁹⁴ quia mel apum ad horam delectat, sed cito sapor eius uanescit et plerumque uitiosa uiscera laeduntur, uerborum autem moralium etsi pungunt mella, non laedunt. cognosce tamen cui illa credantur; scriptum est enim: in aurem insipientis nihil dicas, ne quando inrideat prudentes sermones tuos.⁹⁵ euomet enim et reiciet sermonem tuum stultus, qui eius sentire non potest suauitatem.

26. Sequitur uersus octauus: a mandatis tuis intellexi; propterea odio habui omnem uiam iniquitatis.⁹⁶ consequens huic uersiculo est: concupiscens sapientiam serua mandata;⁹⁷ sed nemo potest seruare nisi qui intellegit. denique redduntur cotidie omnia uerba legis a quibusdam senioribus Iudaeorum et nemo eorum potest custodire mandatum. neque enim arborem dixerim custodire fecunditatem naturae, quae luxuriat in foliis, uanescit in fructu, nec terram illam dixerim custodire fructus suos, quae quod filicem inuisam pascit agricolis, edere frumenta non soleat, nec pastor custodire uidetur pecus, qui eligere pabula profutura non nouerit, lupos cauere, canibus uallare ouilia sua, nesciat potum, cum opus sit, ministrare. nam producere tantummodo sine ulla cura mutum pecus tantundem est quantum scripturas legere populum Iudaeorum. ubi sint spiritalis pabula sacramenti, ubi littera occidat,⁹⁸ ubi intellegibiles incurrant lupi,⁹⁹ ubi sit requies refectionis, ubi resurrectionis spes, qui sint canes qui pro gregis possint latrare custodia, populus et ipso grege magis mutus ignorat.

27. Itaque si dicat: 'mandata custodio', respondetur ei: tu uero odisti disciplinam et proiecisti sermones meos post te. si uidebas furem, simul currebas cum eo et cum adulteris portionem tuam ponebas. os tuum abundauit nequitia et lingua tua concinnabat dolos; sedens aduersus fratrem tuum detrahebas.¹⁰⁰ non est hoc custodire mandata, sed praeuaricari; statutis facere contraria non est intellegere, sed ignorare. quomodo possunt uerba dei dulcia esse in faucibus tuis, in quibus est amaritudo nequitiae? quomodo mel et lac sub lingua tua, cum dolum in lingua tua conponas, ut aliud pectore concipias, aliud forensi sermone praetendas, ut decipias incautum, cum tibi Petrus apostolus dicat, ut deponas omnem malitiam¹⁰¹ et fucum simulationis abicias, dicens: sicut dudum geniti infantes rationabile sine dolo lac concupiscite?¹⁰² ostendit enim nobis quid sit mel et lac habere sub lingua, ut non maledicere maledicentibus, sed benedictionem referre nouerimus,¹⁰³ nesciamus odisse nisi uiam iniquitatis, ut facere quod execramur reluctanti caueamus affectu. ideo Paulus cauebat in carne sua malum, quia oderat;¹⁰⁴ ideo Iohannes monet in epistula sua, ne diligamus saeculum, quia omne quod in saeculo est concupiscentia est carnis et concupiscentia oculorum et iactantia uitae.¹⁰⁵

28. Est ergo in nobis, ut et bene aliquid oderimus et bene aliquid diligamus. sicut enim bene amare possumus seruos dei et bene diligere possumus inimicos nostros secundum uerbum domini,¹⁰⁶ ita bene odisse possumus inimicos dei, odisse iniquitatem, odisse perfidiam, odisse turpitudines, odisse mundi istius uanitates. odio igitur debent esse quae saeculi sunt, ne securis affectibus et otiosis blanda concilialricula¹⁰⁷ uoluptatis inrepat inlecebra. facile capit oculos petulantis forma meretricis, nisi eos odia premant iusta et inpuritatem indignatus auertat affectus. inflat plerumque homines et tumido resupinat fastidio nobilitatis iactantia et rerum affluentia saecularium, nisi pudeat in te aliena magis quam propria laudari. Christus cum diues esset, pauper factus est;¹⁰⁸ in paupere, non in diuite te redemit. confitentibus dei filium imperabat tacere,¹⁰⁹ ut operibus magis quam sermonibus deus agnosceretur; et tu nobilem te dicis, qui es factus e terra? Dauid rex dicit: memento, domine, quia puluis sumus;¹¹⁰ et tu in hoc caduco atque limoso genere gloriaris et diuitem te putas, qui cras potes esse mendicus, cum uita tua non in abundantia tua, sed in dei sit misericordia? cui honor, gloria, laus, perpetuitas a saeculis et nunc et semper et in omnia saecula saeculorum.¹¹¹ amen.

1. The thirteenth letter now begins, called 'Mem,' which sounds in Latin as 'from the inmost parts' and, according to others, 'fire from the deepest places,' and neither rendering is at variance with the text. For at once the very first verse expresses a love drawn from the inmost organs, a love which surely proceeds from the deepest marrow and is bound up with the bones in a kind of knot of warmth.

2. Accordingly in Jeremiah's Lamentations the text of this letter contains: from on high he sent fire into my bones.¹ Good therefore is the God who sends into us a means whereby, as we love him, we may find merit in his sight. What kind of fire he sends, let him himself teach us: I came to send fire upon the earth, and what do I will but that it be already kindled?² A good fire, which the saviour of all desires to see kindled, especially since we read that God himself is fire,³ who consumes our sins and pours into our inmost breast a longing for the divine knowledge [of him] and irradiates within us our heart, when we read the sequence of the divine scriptures, if perchance with spiritual understanding we take in something by which the hidden things of the prophetic reading may be opened. With this fire Cleopas said his heart burned, when Christ opened the scriptures to him and to his companion.⁴ Of this fire the Lord said in the book of Ezekiel: behold, I will go forth into Jerusalem and breathe upon you in the fire of my wrath, that you may melt away from the lead and the iron and the rest of the materials.⁵ Profound mysteries we see in familiar words, the whole of it spiritual. With what prayers may I deserve that the Word of God should come, enter the church, become a consuming fire, that it may burn up hay and stubble⁶ and consume whatever is worldly, that the heavy lead of iniquity,⁷ which is in very many, may be melted by the divine fire and a certain iron stiffness of sin be softened by the heavenly conflagration, that golden and silver vessels⁸ may be made better, so that every thought of the wise, every word of the prudent, when the heat of seething passions is boiled down, may begin to be more precious. Good is the fire of charity, by which the whole body of the church grows up into mutual grace; good is the fire of love, by which each holy person is kindled to reverence of his Maker. But he who loves God does not love perfunctorily, but loves his law, keeps his commandments, justifies his heart not by the resounding declamation of words but by the diligent imitation of deeds. Let God therefore teach us how he is loved by his saints.

3. So speaking, the prophet adds: how I have loved thy commandment, O Lord! all the day it is my meditation.⁹ This is the voice of one who loves about the pursuit of knowing the law — the voice that instructs the perfection of man, which this whole psalm shapes. And since he had recognized that the greatest commandment in the law is that we should love the Lord our God with our whole heart and with our whole soul,¹⁰ by his own imitation he wishes us also, whom he is eager to instruct, to be perfect, saying: how I have loved thy commandment, O Lord!¹¹ By this very affection charity grows, that he summons as witness the very one to whom the gift of love is paid, and by such an attestation he testifies not the appearance but the fullness of charity. This formula Peter used: thou knowest, Lord, he says, that I love thee.¹² But he who loves the Lord loves his law, just as Mary, loving her son, kept all his words in her heart with a mother's affection.¹³ Loving thee I have done thy will,¹⁴ it is written. Therefore Christ also entrusted his flock to Peter to feed,¹⁵ and to do the Lord's will, because he recognized his charity. For he who loves does of his will what is commanded him, but he who fears does it of necessity. Accordingly the Lord approves the spontaneous services of his servants rather than the coerced. Therefore he makes them free from being slaves, that we may offer the gifts of our wills rather than the dutiful service of necessities.

4. A Marcionite cannot say, how I have loved thy law,¹⁶ who does not receive the law; a Jew cannot say it, who is ignorant of the spiritual law and meditates only on the bare letter of the law, not on its sense and meaning. The Christian alone therefore says it, who has by now made much progress in knowledge of the law, who does not dread the punishment of the law with fearful heart but searches with fearless love into the divine mysteries of the true Hebrew, the true sabbath, the true remission. Truly therefore he loves who, without sadness, without fear, keeps the commandments by willing endeavor rather than by compulsion.

5. And indeed by the next verse he quickly proved the effect of his daily meditation, when he understood the Lord's commandment above his enemies.¹⁷ But what enemies has the prophet, who ought both to embrace the men of his own people with lawful charity and to invite the foreigner by the preaching of the gospel to the grace of God? Wild beasts (so it is said) love the partner of their own nature: how should the prophet have spurned love for one of his own kind? There must therefore be some just cause by which those whom he indicates may rightly seem enemies. What it may be we can investigate, if we recall that elsewhere he himself said: and I melted away because of thy enemies, with a perfect hatred I hated them.¹⁸ These therefore by an evangelical authority he calls his enemies who are enemies of God. For if he who does not leave his parents for the name of God¹⁹ is not worthy of God, how much more will he who loves God's enemies be unable to be acceptable to God? What enemies then has he? If gentiles, how did he by the prophetic Spirit foresee that they would believe? Indeed in earlier verses he has exhorted that they too should bless the Lord.²⁰ And what great praise is it to understand above those who, by venerating metals and stones, have drawn upon themselves a like rigidity of stupor?

6. What enemies then has he but heretics? For these are the assailants of the faith, the enemies of truth. What enemies but Jews? For these are the graver enemies, who from friends have been made enemies. He understands above them, who understands that the law is spiritual. What does the law profit, if you are ignorant of the law's end, if you do not know the mystery, if you do not recognize the sacraments? Among the Jews a lamb from the sheep is slain for the paschal celebration, for us, for the redemption of the world, the only-begotten of God, born of the Virgin, is sacrificed. What does it profit the Jews that they smear their houses and door-posts with the blood of a lamb?²¹ Nothing surely, since wood or stone can profit them nothing. Every mystery profits us, who believe that we should shrink from the spiritual grace, lest we stain our dwellings with the blood of a beast and lest we dye our mouths with gore.²² But we consecrate our bodies by the sacrament of the Lord's cross, and by confession of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ we sanctify the utterances of our mouth; for with the heart it is believed unto justice, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.²³ What does it profit, that the Hebrews pierce the ear of a slave with an awl, and circumcise the foreskins of their body?²⁴ They do not understand inwardly what the divine law distinguishes. These are signs, not the truth. But he understands who purifies his heart with a spiritual circumcision, that he may cleanse all the filth of bodily defilement. He understands, who by the vigor of his mind transcends awl and ear, and who lifts up to the reward of perpetual liberty that soul which a sword has pierced through²⁵ to lay bare the hidden things of the heart, or who, vigilantly serving in the examination of words, sanctifies by spiritual mystery whatever he has received with the ear of his power. The Jew has been wont to make for himself unleavened bread every year²⁶ and does not know that he himself is the leaven of malice. But he who understands what it is to purge out the old leaven, lest it corrupt the whole lump,²⁷ purges out the old man with his deeds, that there may be a new mass of truth. These things were said to the Jew, and the Christian has heard them, because, while that awl pierces his ear, he could not hear, bearing a wounded ear; not by the law's awl but by the awl of his own folly he has bloodied his ear. By hearing those things which are revealed spiritually he has bored his ear through with iron; for he preferred to believe in iron rather than in the word. Therefore he serves, therefore he has not deserved to be free, therefore not even the grace of the time fulfilled supports him, since he has not received the fullness of the time when the Son of God was sent for salvation and came for redemption, made under the law, born of a Virgin,²⁸ the conqueror of death, the giver of resurrection. There remains then a wound for him for whom Christ has not risen. O wound that cannot be patched, unless perchance he leave the awl and take to himself a sword — one which he would not refuse for the name of Christ, by which to distinguish bodily things from spiritual, shadow from truth — and take up the word of God, the two-edged sword,²⁹ and from that divine mouth be taught to recognize the Lord's commandment, the prescript of the law, which holds not the observance of a temporal feast but pours in saving and everlasting remedies with the sap of spiritual grace!

7. All the day therefore meditate on the law; it ought not to be a perfunctory cursory glance for you. If you wish to buy a field, if to purchase a house, you call in someone more prudent and consider diligently what is right, and lest you be deceived in any matter, you do not trust yourself. But now you yourself are to be bought by you. Bargain about your own price, consider what you are, what name you bear, what you acquire for yourself: not a field, not money, not necklaces of gems, but Christ Jesus, to whom no prices, no ornaments can be compared. Take to yourself as counsellors Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, John, the great counsellor³⁰ himself, Jesus the Son of God, that you may acquire the Father. With these you must take counsel; with these the whole must be conferred upon you, the whole day must be spent in meditation, as David meditated and this was his only meditation. His mind was not led aside by worldly enticements, he did not burn with money-grubbing greed for piling up an inheritance, nor did the anxious heat of cares for extending a boundary and excluding a neighbor turn aside the affection bent on the eagerness of meditation; whatever time the day could hold, this whole his meditation in the law alone claimed for itself.

8. But even this is too little for one who loves and wishes to come to the grace of beatitude; for blessed is he who meditates day and night in the law.³¹ The day is too narrow for the meditation of doctrine; the day is not so great in time as is meditation in the law. Hence consider whether it does not rather signify this, that for him who meditates in the law it is always day and a light without failing, which no shadows of night break in upon. Otherwise how would the prophet declare him more negligent in the progress of the work whom he had wished to be more diligent at the very beginnings of his work? In the day, therefore, the preacher of the law and the gospel meditates.

9. And perhaps those who do not receive the new testament have read in the night and therefore did not know nor understand. Whence the saviour, lest we too should read in darkness, admonishes that we must walk in the day, since he who walks in the day does not stumble; for he sees the grace of light. But he who walks in darkness runs into a stumbling-block of offence.³²

10. There follows the third verse: above all those who teach me have I understood, since thy testimonies are my meditation.³³ The scribes of the Jews profess doctrine, since they have been the first to possess the law and the prophets. But they profess to teach, but they do not teach. To that people which is gathered from the gentiles it falls to say: above all those who teach me have I understood, because those did not understand. The Jew answers: 'Whence have you come to understand? It is written: ask thy father, and he will declare to thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.³⁴ I am thy father, ask me.' But even if I shall ask, you will not answer me,³⁵ said Jesus, and from that moment they cannot answer, and from that moment I understand above those who did not understand, since I have learned testimonies which he does not know. I have learned: let him who follows me take up his cross,³⁶ I have learned: love your enemies.³⁷ And therefore Paul desires to be anathema for his brethren by race, his enemies by faith.³⁸

11. It would seem unsuitable to prophetic modesty for him to use such a usurpation, in that he presumed to say that he understood above all who teach, when even Moses received the law from the Lord and handed down its precepts to his people,³⁹ Aaron, having gone through the rite of all the sacrifices, taught the priestly discipline,⁴⁰ Joshua the son of Nun showed how circumcision can be repeated,⁴¹ Samuel set forth the sacraments of prophetic and royal anointing alike.⁴² It would seem, I say, an incongruous presumption, had he not premised the things above, by which he might not undeservedly prove that he had understood above those who teach. He was bound to take this confidence who was being taught by the Lord;⁴³ both the commandment which he was being taught was the Lord's, and it was the Lord himself who was teaching. Rightly did he understand above all whom Wisdom itself was teaching. Whence he says elsewhere: blessed is the man whom thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of thy law.⁴⁴

12. He shows therefore that to teach men is divine and impossible for men; and therefore those who presume to teach do not know, but the disciple who is taught knows. In which, beyond the gift of knowledge which he had received from the Holy Spirit, there is also a pleasant moral lesson, that there are many who teach, who say they teach what they do not understand, and there are very many disciples, who by their own zeal and diligence pursue what they have not learned from masters. Indeed someone before us said that there is a difference between those who teach and teachers, perhaps reckoning that teachers are those chosen by the judgment of others for this office, while those who teach are such as have taken this office upon themselves by their own usurpation. But teachers too must yield to him whom the doctrine of God teaching has imbued by the meditation of heavenly testimonies.

13. Above the elders have I understood, because I have sought thy commandments.⁴⁵ Nor is this difficult, that he whom the Lord has taught should understand above the elders, since by God's grace he advances to the doctrine and maturity of an aged life. For when an aged life is an unspotted life, certainly the doctrine of an unspotted life surpasses senior age.⁴⁶ Indeed to Jeremiah, when he excused himself on the ground that he was a youth, the answer was: say not: I am a youth,⁴⁷ in that he was not, by divine definition, accounted a youth who had hoary prudence,⁴⁸ which shone with the grace of heavenly sanctification.

14. Yet the prophet does not seem to me to praise himself and to prefer himself to the elders, since you read: let not the narrative of the elders pass thee by; for they themselves have learned from their fathers.⁴⁹ For elsewhere too Wisdom said in Sirach: where the old men are, do not speak much.⁵⁰ But he knows to which elders he prefers himself, namely to those grown old in sin, and doting in the lethargy of impiety and the senility of perfidy. These are the elders of the people who handed over the Lord Jesus to Pilate the governor. For there gathered together the priests and the scribes and the elders,⁵¹ as Mark says, and again: the priests took counsel with the elders, that they might hand him over.⁵² And against the apostles in their Acts, Saint Peter and Luke the Evangelist testify that the elders of Israel had gathered together.⁵³ He has not therefore disparaged senior age, but with the voice of the younger people he prophesied that the people of the Jews would be untaught, the Ancient⁵⁴ of Days of God — meaning that they who, what they had not acquired in their youth, were unable in their old age to find.⁵⁵ For he who from the beginning had provoked the Lord by frequent offences, whose grace, when he was young, he could not earn, was unworthy as an old man to recognize his coming, and could not hold the gift. The fair judgment of hoary old age is in understanding, and the knowledge of veteran counsel,⁵⁶ is preferred for maturity of intellect, not for length of life.

15. Let us therefore search out the commandments of God, that we may understand above the elders; let us flee the slippery way of sinners, that we may keep the heavenly precepts; for this is what the verses that follow declare. Above the elder Jacob, the younger brother, understood, since when the elder Esau demanded for himself the prerogative of blessing by the privilege of age, he abandoned the milder banquet, while he sought wild fare.⁵⁷ Truly when the latter went to the hunt, the younger brother received his garments, and through maternal counsel handed them over to me, the people of the nations.⁵⁸ That stole of wisdom therefore which the Jewish people had before, Rebecca clothed me with; her good stole — the law and the prophets. Of this stole that people has been stripped, and we are clothed; that mother Jerusalem which is above in heaven⁵⁹ has clothed us. We come therefore to the Father, we offer him milder banquets, the foods of patience, the gentleness of mercy, the sweetness of understanding. I receive the blessing, I snatch the spiritual grace before the elder brother; he comes, he is angry, he finds nothing to receive; the mother runs to meet him and shapes us with godly exhortation. That stole, woven with good commandments, abides with me.

16. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep thy words.⁶⁰ Truly worthy was he to understand above the elders, since he was honored by the divine Spirit to teach the elders not only the truth of understanding but also the avoidance of sin and the avoidance of guilt. And so, since human frailty is prone, so that with running step it is borne by its affections downward into vice, he teaches how the slipperiness of this way, the windings of this journey, may not entangle the wayfarer. I have restrained, he says, my feet from the evil way, that is, from the vanity of this present world, since the world lieth wholly in the wicked one.⁶¹ Whatever is doubtful and of uncertain effect, this is malign; as a doubtful light is called malign,⁶² so is malign whatever mingles the shadows of malice with the truth. Recall therefore from the slipperiness of this world the feet of your soul and the going of your mind. Restrain, I say, resist your desires, withstand the impulses which seem to rush in like beasts and herd-animals to feed down the tender fruits and the new tilth of this our country.

17. I have restrained, he says, my feet.⁶³ He has not restrained the feet of the body, which for the most part follow the will of the godly mind. Nor are they to be restrained when they go forth to the temple of God, hasten to bring help to the widow, to forestall the impious, to trip up some fraudulent person. There is therefore another foot which is rightly restrained. What it may be, let the prophet himself teach us: let not, he says, the foot of pride come unto me.⁶⁴ There is also the foot of iniquity, which slips quickly and cannot stand, like the foot of the perfidious, of whom it is written: there have they fallen who work iniquity, they have been driven out and could not stand.⁶⁵ Restrain therefore your feet, lest you fall; for there are not only feet of crimes but also of weakness, and one must take heed lest one fall. And perhaps you seem to yourself to be standing well, but Paul says to you: and thou who standest, take heed lest thou fall.⁶⁶ Attend diligently to your way, that you may hear: but thou, stand thou here with me.⁶⁷ For standing with God you will not be able to fear a fall; standing with God you will be able to say: he hath rescued my feet from falling.⁶⁸ But thus the Lord rescues your feet from every fall, if he recognize that you yourself restrain your feet from falling. Thus David deserved that God should rescue his feet from falling, since he himself was restraining his feet, lest they should slip with the headlong and incautious tread of sinners — whence too he was able to keep the divine words. For one cannot keep, unless he can first stand. But when he has kept them, the word of God begins itself to bring him a guard. He rightly says that he has restrained his feet from the evil way, who knows that Christ is the way.

18. From thy judgments I have not turned aside, since thou hast laid down a law for me.⁶⁹ He has explained what it is to restrain the foot from the evil way: namely, not to turn aside from the divine judgments, and to keep the firm and unmoved foothold of persevering innocence, not to bend the step nor to turn aside from the course of the discipline, but to press on the paths not only of the old law on Sinai but also of the new according to the brightness of the gospel.

19. There is also a law of the gospel, of which this same prophet says above: appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them, that the gentiles may know that they are men.⁷⁰ We understand the coming of the Lord to be prophesied, the calling of the gentiles, who before seemed fixed in a certain mire of this body, cleaving to the pleasure of their corruption as if to dregs and to lust, since they did not know the Lord. And therefore in anger he says: let sinners be turned away into hell,⁷¹ that they should not see the descending and ascending soul of the Lord Jesus, and be converted to the Lord — they who were unwilling to be converted while they lived. But he speaks of those gentiles which forget the Lord.⁷²

20. They knew, therefore, and forgot. Yet with prophetic kindness he prays that the Lord may rise up, that man may not prevail, that earthly thoughts and all the seething motions of this body may be quieted. Let the gentiles be judged,⁷³ since then is the Lord recognized, when the affection of those who fear is turned back by the heavy terror of judgment, and let the gentiles know that they are men,⁷⁴ dissoluble by the corruption of mire and formed of hardening clay, which they who had not received the law before did not know. Whence the prophet, as if he himself were also troubled by the contemplation of earthly frailty, says: why, O Lord, hast thou departed afar off?⁷⁵ He fears well, who knows that he is a man; but because he fears more for us who, sprung from the gentiles, are sinners, he prays that the Lord may not become far from his gentiles, that we who were far off may begin to be nearer, and may know that we are men,⁷⁶ made indeed to the image and likeness of God, to whom Christ also through the womb of a virgin was made conformable. Rightly therefore is it taken both of weakness and of grace: let the gentiles know that they are men,⁷⁷ the one through a certain common and carnal partnership with the beasts, the other through the image of God and the sacrament of the Lord's flesh. What seemed ignobility began to be a dignity.

21. Rightly therefore the people of the nations did not turn aside from the judgments of God, who can say: since thou hast laid down a law for me,⁷⁸ not through Moses, not through the prophets, but thou thyself through thee, O Jesus, hast laid down a law for me — that is, the gospel. Therefore I have not turned aside, because I have looked upon thee and known thee; following thy paths and thee, I have known the true way.

22. And so, hearing the preaching of the gospel which the prophetic Spirit foretold, he says: how sweet to my throat are thy words, above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth!⁷⁹ And rightly 'sweet,' since by them is preached the remission of sins, the perpetuity of life, even the resurrection of the dead, things that have tempered the bitterness of perpetual and harsh death. Through these we have begun not to fear death, we who have begun to say: where is, O death, thy victory?⁸⁰ And rightly 'sweet to the throat,' in that the spiritual grace has been poured upon the inmost organs.

23. Above honey and the honeycomb, he says, sweet to my mouth.⁸¹ And therefore, because thy words have begun to be sweet to us, thou sayest to the church: thy lips drop the honeycomb, O bride.⁸² What the honeycomb is, teach us, O Solomon; for thou hast said: good words are honeycombs of honey.⁸³ And truly good is the honeycomb the church eats, fragrant with the honeys of many prophets gathered together as if by the spiritual abundance of bees. This is the honey of which he says: I have eaten my bread with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk.⁸⁴ The mystic discourse of heavenly scriptures is as bread, which strengthens the heart of man as the more solid food of the word;⁸⁵ but the persuasive ethical discourse is sweet and softer, in that by ethical preaching the inward parts of the mind are soothed, and hearts bitter with fevers — that is, with repentance for sins — grow sweet by mild speech. Honey drips from the lips of the preacher, when the limbs of the soul, bruised by harsh falls or fallen by ruins, are revived.

24. There is also a more fervent force of the word, like wine; there is also in the kind of milk a clearer discourse. Eat, he says, my neighbors, and drink and be inebriated.⁸⁶ A good inebriation, which works in the mind a kind of ecstasy toward better and pleasant things,⁸⁷ that our soul, forgetful of cares, may be cheered by the wine of joy. A good inebriation of the spiritual table; the inebriating cup, how excellent!⁸⁸ But elsewhere too you have: inebriate her streams, multiply her generations,⁸⁹ in that the inebriation of the earth, when soaked with heavenly rain, is wont to rouse seeds and multiply fruits. And so the word of God, which has come down like rain from heaven,⁹⁰ when in the divine preaching it has inebriated the veins of our earth, or of soul and mind, has stirred up the studies of diverse virtues and grown the fruits of faith and chaste devotion. Rightly is it said to him: thou hast visited the earth and inebriated it,⁹¹ for by the assumption of a body he visited, that he might heal the sick, he inebriated by spiritual grace, that he might soothe the anxious with joy.

25. Rightly therefore is it said to the bride: thy lips drop the honeycomb, O bride; honey and milk are under thy tongue.⁹² For the mouth of the just drops wisdom,⁹³ from the mouth of the just there proceed the honeys of sweetness and of mercy, in the mouth of the just is no guile, no falsehood, no bitterness of sin. The church hears the words of the just, the people of God hears the precepts of the wise, is delighted with the sweetness of the address, is soothed by the pleasantness of the moral discourse, saying: how sweet to my throat are thy words, above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth,⁹⁴ since the honey of bees pleases for an hour, but its taste quickly vanishes and often the unsound inward parts are hurt; but the honeys of moral words, even if they sting, do not harm. Yet recognize to whom they may be entrusted; for it is written: speak nothing in the ear of a fool, lest at any time he mock your prudent words.⁹⁵ For the fool will spit out and reject your discourse, who cannot perceive its sweetness.

26. There follows the eighth verse: I have understood from thy commandments; therefore I have hated every way of iniquity.⁹⁶ Consequent to this verse is: desiring wisdom, keep the commandments;⁹⁷ but no one can keep, except he who understands. Indeed all the words of the law are recited daily by certain elders of the Jews, and none of them can keep the commandment. For neither would I say that the tree keeps the fruitfulness of nature, which luxuriates in leaves and yet falls flat in fruit; nor would I say that that land keeps its fruits which feeds the fern hated by the husbandmen and is not wont to produce grain; nor does the shepherd seem to keep his flock who does not know how to choose useful pastures, to beware of wolves, to fence in his fold with dogs, knows not how to give drink when there is need. For merely to lead out dumb cattle without any care is just so much as for the people of the Jews to read the scriptures. Where the pastures of the spiritual sacrament may be, where the letter kills,⁹⁸ where the intelligible wolves run in,⁹⁹ where there is the rest of refection, where the hope of resurrection, what dogs there are who can bark for the keeping of the flock — the people, more dumb than even the flock itself, knows not.

27. And so if he should say, 'I keep the commandments,' it is answered him: but thou hast hated discipline and cast my words behind thee. If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest with him, and with adulterers thou didst place thy portion. Thy mouth abounded in wickedness, and thy tongue contrived deceits; sitting against thy brother thou didst slander him.¹⁰⁰ This is not to keep the commandments, but to transgress them; to do contrary to the statutes is not to understand, but to be ignorant. How can the words of God be sweet in your throat, in which is the bitterness of wickedness? How honey and milk under your tongue, when on your tongue you compose deceit, that you may conceive one thing in your breast and pretend another in forensic speech, that you may deceive the unwary, when the apostle Peter says to you, that you should put off all malice¹⁰¹ and cast away the disguise of dissimulation, saying: as new-born infants, desire the rational milk without guile?¹⁰² For he shows us what it is to have honey and milk under the tongue: that we should know not to curse those who curse, but to return blessing,¹⁰³ that we should know to hate nothing but the way of iniquity, that with reluctant heart we should beware of doing what we abhor. Therefore Paul kept watch against evil in his flesh, since he hated it;¹⁰⁴ therefore John warns in his epistle, that we should not love the world, since all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.¹⁰⁵

28. There is in us, then, the capacity both to hate something well and to love something well. For as we can rightly love the servants of God, and rightly love our enemies according to the word of the Lord,¹⁰⁶ so we can rightly hate the enemies of God, hate iniquity, hate perfidy, hate disgraceful things, hate the vanities of this world. The things of the world ought therefore to be hated, lest with affections too easy and at leisure the little assembly-place¹⁰⁷ of pleasure should creep in with its caressing enticement. Easily does the form of a wanton harlot capture petulant eyes, unless just hatreds press them down and the indignant affection turn away from impurity. Pride often puffs up men and casts them down on their backs in swelling fastidiousness, with the boasting of nobility and the affluence of worldly things, unless you are ashamed to be praised in yourself for what is another's rather than for what is your own. Christ, when he was rich, became poor;¹⁰⁸ in the poor man, not in the rich, he redeemed you. To those who confessed him the Son of God he gave command to be silent,¹⁰⁹ that God should be acknowledged by works rather than by words; and dost thou call thyself noble, who wast made out of earth? David the king says: remember, O Lord, that we are dust;¹¹⁰ and dost thou glory in this fallen and miry stock and reckon thyself rich, who tomorrow may be a beggar, when thy life is not in thy abundance but in the mercy of God? To whom be honor, glory, praise, and perpetuity, from the ages and now and ever and unto all the ages of ages.¹¹¹ Amen.