נXIV. Littera NUN
Sermon 14 · Ps 118:105–112 · CSEL 62, pp. 298–329
XIV. LITTERA NUN.
1. 'Nun' littera Hebraea est quarta decima, cuius interpretatio est 'unicus' uel in alia interpretatione 'pascua eorum'. ecce ipsae Hebraeorum litterae testificantur dominum Iesum esse unicum patris filium, uerbum dei. denique primo statim uersu Dauid de unico filio dei dicit: lucerna pedibus meis uerbum tuum, domine, et lumen semitis meis.1 unde intellegimus ideo per litteras Hebraeorum psalmum hunc esse digestum, ut homo noster tamquam paruulus et ab infantia per litterarum elementa formatus, quibus aetas puerilis adsueuit, usque ad maturitatem uirtutis excrescat. litterae autem singulae uelut tituli sunt eorum uersuum, qui sub isdem litteris adscribuntur, seriem et continentiam declarantes, sicut hic 'unicum' significat littera et de unigenito dei filio atque eius aeterni luminis claritate psalmi huius portio prophetat.
2. Nec sane ab ista abhorret etiam illa in alio reperta codice litterae huius interpretatio. quae sunt enim pascua nostra, hoc est fidelium, nisi Christus? in cuius pascuis se locatum propheta laetatus est dicens: in loco pascuae, ibi me collocauit;2 ipse enim nos pascit et reficit. bona pascua sacramenta diuina sunt. carpis illic nouum florem, qui bonum odorem dedit resurrectionis; carpis lilium, id est splendorem aeternitatis; carpis rosam, hoc est dominici corporis sanguinem. bona etiam pascua uerba sunt scripturarum caelestium, in quibus cotidiana lectione pascimur, in quibus recreamur ac reficimur, cum ea quae scripta sunt degustamus uel summo ore libata frequentius ruminamus. his pascuis grex domini saginatur.
3. Bona etiam Christi pascua, qui pascit in liliis,3 in splendore sanctorum;4 bona pascua etiam montes conuallium; nam et in his pascitur Christus sicut capreolus aut hinnulus ceruorum.5 montes sunt conuallium sicut luminaria istius mundi6 sedula humilitate fulgentes, qui uirtutum diuersarum praestant cacumine et supra mundum meritis suis eminent. isti sunt de quibus dicitur: de hoc mundo non sunt sicut ego non sum de hoc mundo,7 quia supra mundum sunt qui Christum secuntur. conuallis autem mundus est, ideoque disposuit in ualle fletus,8 eo quod in hoc mundo fletus sint lacrimaeque. et prouidens dominus disposuit in hoc mundo testamentum suum, ut magis hic fleamus peccata nostra quam flenda seruemus.
4. Pascua nostra etiam isti uersiculi sunt, de quibus hodie tractaturi sumus, in quibus Dauid dicit: pascebam oues patris mei,9 ostendens ueram lucernam, discens humilitatem. in talibus pascuis uerus Dauid, uerus humilis et manu fortis, qui non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem deo, sed semet ipsum exinaniuit et homo natus per uirginis partum humiliauit se usque ad mortem,10 oues patris sui diuina praedicatione pascebat, cum secundum scripturas suum probaret aduentum,11 cum quinque panibus et duobus piscibus hominum milia multa satiaret.12
5. Haec ergo nostra sunt pascua, haec eorum qui possunt dicere: quam dulcia faucibus meis uerba tua!13 haec eorum pascua, qui dicunt: lucerna pedibus meis uerbum tuum, domine.14 pascitur enim os nostrum uerbo, cum loquimur mandata dei uerbi. pascitur et oculus noster interior lucernae spiritalis lumine, quae nobis in hac mundi nocte praelucet, ne sicut in tenebris ambulantes incertis titubemus uestigiis et uiam ueram inuenire nequeamus. intellegibilis igitur pedum gressus, intellegibilis et lucerna, quia uerbum dei lucerna est. nonne hoc in principio erat uerbum apud deum?15 quomodo ergo lucerna est? nonne hoc erat uerum lumen quod inluminat omnem hominem uenientem in hunc mundum?16 quomodo ergo lucerna dicitur? Esaias clamat: populus, qui sedebat in tenebris, lucem uiderunt magnam:17 quomodo hic dicit 'lucerna'?
6. Sed uideamus, ne forte idem uerbum dei aliis magna lux sit, aliis lucerna. mihi lucerna, angelis lux est. Petro lux erat, quando adstitit ei angelus in carcere et lumen refulsit ei.18 Paulo lux erat, quando euntem ad persequendum populum christianum circumfulsit eum lumen de caelo et audiuit dicentem sibi: Saule Saule, quid me persequeris?19 et magna quidem lux; denique lucernae Pauli lumen euanuit, ubi diuinae splendor lucis emicuit.
7. Et uere lucerna est mihi Christus, quando isto nostro ore recensetur. lucet in limo, fulget in uase fictili thesaurus ille, quem habemus in uasis fictilibus.20 mitte oleum, ne deficiat tibi, quia lumen lucernae est oleum,21 non oleum terrestre, sed illud oleum misericordiae caelestis et gratiae quo ungebantur prophetae. oleum tuum humilitas est, quo ceruicis nostrae dura mollescunt. oleum tuum misericordia tua est, quo etiam conlisa scopulis peccatorum fouentur corpora. hoc oleum uulnerato illi a latronibus descendenti ex Hierusalem euangelicus ille Samaritanus infudit, qui uidens eum misericordia motus est et alligauit uulnera eius, infundens oleum et uinum.22 hoc oleum sanat aegrotos — misericordia enim a peccato liberat23 —; hoc oleum lucet in tenebris, si opera nostra luceant coram hominibus;24 hoc oleum lucet in ecclesiae sollemnitatibus. denique quibus oleum non defuit, nec lumen fidei defecit, sed cum lampadibus in locum nuptiarum introire meruerunt; quae autem in uasis suis oleum non tulerunt, hoc est non habuerunt fidem, non prudentiam, non misericordiam animae in hoc constitutae corpore, merito infidelitatis exclusae sunt.25 ideo et tu habeto semper lucernam ardentem uel lucentem facem. si enim neque lucerna neque lampas tua luceat, stulta uirgo diceris nec introibis in thalamum sponsi tui superioris, sed remanebis in tenebris caecitatis, quasi qui oderis lucem, ne opera tua flagitiosa prodantur; omnis enim qui male agit odit lucem.26 habeto fidem, habeto prudentiam, ut semper habeas in uasis tuis oleum misericordiae, deuotionis gratiam, quia prudentes acceperunt oleum in uasis suis cum lampadibus suis. ungite, o homines, lampades uestras; cum ieiunatis, ungite caput uestrum.27 infundamus mentibus nostris oleum, ut corpus nostrum lucidum sit. luceat tibi semper lucerna uerbum dei, luceat et lucerna corporis tui oculus tuus. conscientia tua lucens bene in hoc corpore lucernae lux est, ipsa est oculus tuus. sit purus oculus tuus. si conscientia tua munda sit, munda est caro tua; si autem in te tenebrosa est conscientia tua, etiam corpus tuum conscientiae tuae nocte tenebrosum est. lucernae ergo et nos sumus toto operti corpore, uix aliquid exiguum habentes unde lucere possimus.
8. Denique et Iohannes lucerna erat, sicut dixit de eo dominus: ille erat lucerna ardens et inluminans.28 bona lucerna quae lumen accipiebat a Christo, ut lucere posset in hoc saeculo, merito ardens, merito inluminans, quia erat nuntius Christi, inluminans praedicatione fidei pectora singulorum. sed et istis lucernis dedit ut lux mundi essent, dicens ad apostolos: uos estis lux mundi.29 ergo si gloria sanctorum nunc sicut lucerna, nunc sicut lux mundi fulgebat in hoc saeculo, quid dicimus de uerbo dei quod et lucerna est pedibus meis?30
9. Et fortasse, ubi non sunt tenebrae, non est lucerna uerbum dei, sed supra lucernam, quia lux est. tenebrae his non sunt qui uident lucem; denique tunc iusti fulgebunt sicut sol in regno patris sui.31 et fortasse secundum legem lucerna est uerbum dei, secundum euangelium lux magna est. Iudaeis lucerna est et lucerna sub modio.32 lucet lex, sed non uidetur, quia operta eorum doctrina est et contagione uitiorum et caecitate perfidiae; populo autem ex nationibus lux est. denique populo qui sedebat in regione umbrae mortis lux orta est.33 aperi igitur fenestras tuas, ut splendor tibi magnae lucis introeat. paratum fac candelabrum tuum, ut lux tua non operiatur integimento corporis tui et mensura terrenae huius fragilitatis,34 sed supra mensuram corporeae infirmitatis animae tuae uirtute praefulgeas. aut si ad mensuram teneris, uide ne superefficiant ipsae mensurae, ne supereffluant, sed bonis seminibus sint contentae.35 non sit otiosus sermo tuus,36 non ferietur et uacet uerbum tuum, ne fiat lucerna sub modio.37 potens est deus qui super candelabrum constituat lucernam tuam, ut luceat omnibus qui in domo sunt,38 ut qui ingrediuntur lumen uideant. candelabrum principale nostrum est. pone sermonem in principali tuo, et omnibus lucet qui ingrediuntur in ecclesiam. accipe et aliud candelabrum. considera os tuum, considera et sermonem tuum. nonne os tuum candelabrum est et uerbum tuum lucerna est, cum de tuo ore profertur? haec lucerna semper tibi luceat, hoc est: uerbum tuum luceat et numquam extinguatur.
10. Quaeris ut doceam, quomodo non possit extingui? scriptum est: lumen iusti semper inextinguibile est, lumen autem impiorum extinguetur.39 hoc lumen erat lucernae quae lucebat in tabernaculo testimonii40 et hodie quae lucet in ecclesia, uir sapiens. hic est oculus ecclesiae qui non dicit manibus, hoc est operantibus sed non acutis ad intellegendum: non estis mihi necessarii.41 ergo super candelabrum lucebat qui dicebat: nostra autem conuersatio in caelis est.42 nam et Dauid iam tota mente conuersabatur in caelo et adhuc tamen dicebat: lucerna pedibus meis uerbum tuum.43 aut fortasse quasi bonus magister mihi praeire cupiebat, ut lumen sequi discerem et illius pedibus ambularem.44 ostendit ergo mihi lucernam sequi discere in istius ignorantiae, in istius operimenti corporei tenebris constituto, ut Christum sequens nullum lapidem offensionis incurram. errabat Petrus in tenebris ignorantiae, negabat Christum esse moriturum, quia adhuc non uidebat moriturum et resurrecturum esse pro nobis. conuersus ad eum dominus ait: uade retro post me.45 ostendit illi lucernam quam deberet sequi, 'post me' dicens. secundum uerbum dei confirmatus est, postea coepit inhaerere Christo timens ne iterum aliquo laberetur errore. nonne et ipse, sicut qui dicebat: lucerna pedibus meis uerbum tuum, ad hanc lucernam festinauit, cum diceret in mari: domine, iube me uenire ad te super aquam?46 sed quia non sequebatur lucernam, motus est atque titubauit, naturae uehementioris mole turbatus.
11. Sequamur ergo lucernam hanc sicut lucernam et sicut in nocte ambulemus ad lumen. multae foueae, multi scopuli in istius saeculi caligine non uidentur. praefer tibi lucernam quam propheta monstrauit, uide quo debeas transferre uestigium, contuere ubi pedem ponere mentis internae. per singulos cura sit gressus, nulli credas tuum nisi praeeunte lucernae istius luce processum. et ubi putas quod luceat gurges est, uidetur lucere, sed polluit, et ubi putas solidum esse uel siccum, ibi lubricum est, si lucerna tibi longius sit. sit ergo tibi fides itineris tui praeuia, sit tibi iter scriptura diuina; bonus est caelestis ductus eloquii. ex hac lucerna accende et tu lucernam, ut luceat interior47 oculus tuus qui lucerna est tui corporis.48 multas habes lucernas; accende omnes, quia dictum est tibi: sint lumbi uestri praecincti et lucernae uestrae ardentes.49 quia multae tenebrae, multae lucernae sunt necessariae, ut meritorum nostrorum in tantis tenebris lumen eluceat. istas lucernas lex significauit semper lucere debere in tabernaculo testimonii,50 non illas quas Iudaei accendunt cotidie. illae sub umbra lucent et extinguntur cotidie, quia quod faciunt non uident, quod legunt nesciunt, accipientes secundum litteram quod praecipitur secundum spiritum. tabernaculum enim testimonii corpus hoc nostrum est, in quo Christus aduenit per amplius et perfectius tabernaculum, sicut scriptum est,51 ut per sanguinem suum intraret in sancta52 et conscientiam nostram ab omni opere mortuorum et labe mundaret,53 quo in corporibus nostris, quae suorum testimonio et qualitate factorum cogitationum nostrarum abscondita et occulta testantur, lucernarum modo luceat nostrarum lux clara uirtutum. istae sunt lucernae ardentes, quae die ac nocte in templo dei lucent.54 si templum dei in corpore tuo seruas, si membra tua membra sunt Christi,55 lucent uirtutes tuae, quas nullus extinguit, nisi eas tuum crimen extinxerit. hoc lumine castae mentis et piae deuotionis sollemnitatis nostrae festa resplendeant.
12. Luceat ergo semper lucerna tua. arguit Christus etiam eos qui utuntur lucerna, si non semper utantur, dicens: sint lumbi uestri praecincti et lucernae ardentes.56 non ad horam exultemus in lumine. ad horam exultat qui audit uerbum in ecclesia et gaudet,57 egressus autem obliuiscitur quod audiuit aut neglegit. iste est qui sine lucerna in domo sua ambulat ideoque in tenebris ambulat, qui opera tenebrarum facit in comesationibus et ebrietatibus, in cubilibus et inpudicitiis, in contentionibus et aemulationibus,58 indutus diaboli uestimenta, non Christum. haec fiunt quando uerbi lucerna non lucet. numquam ergo neglegamus uerbum domini, ex quo nobis omnium origo uirtutum est uniuersorumque operum quidam processus. si membra corporis nostri sine luce operari recte non queunt — nam pedes uacillant sine lumine et manus errant —, quanto magis ad uerbi lumen dirigenda sunt animae nostrae uestigia, mentis incessus! sunt et manus animae quae bene tangunt, ut tetigit Thomas dominicae resurrectionis indicia,59 si uerbi praesentis nobis lumen luceat. haec lucerna accensa sit in omni uerbo, in omni opere, ad hanc lucernam gressus noster forensis internusque moueatur.
13. Sed progrediamur ad cetera et fiat pedibus meis lucerna uerbum dei et semitis meis lux.60 pedibus lucerna satis ad ambulandum, semitis non est satis ad inluminandum. idem uerbum tamen et pedibus lucerna est et semitis lux est, quia idem unigenitus dei filius et delinquentibus aduocatus61 et remunerator est fortibus, peccatorum remissor, largitor praemiorum.
14. Itaque cui lucerna fuerit uerbum dei, huic, quocumque pergit, lucent semitae, sicut lucebant sancto Dauid; et ideo quasi in lumine ambulans dicit: iuraui et statui custodire iudicia iustitiae tuae.62 [humiliatus sum usque quaque.]63 uox ambulantis in lumine est cum auctoritate dicere: iuraui et statui. qui enim statuit non mouetur, non metuit ne cadat, quia plus est statuere quam stare. stat igitur Dauid mentis statione fundatus nec timet, ne in his mundi huius tenebris possit errare. si enim metueret, non iuraret, si trepidaret, utrum diuina posset custodire iudicia, non cum iuris iurandi statueret sacramento. nemo bene iurat nisi qui potest scire quod iurat. iurare igitur indicium scientiae, testimonium conscientiae est. et bene iurat qui ad lucernam uerbi pedes suos dirigit, qui lucem in semitis suis cernit. lux praeeat, si iurare disponis, id est cognitio ueritatis praecedat, ut uinculum sacramenti tibi non possit nocere. ubi religio sanctior, ibi fides ueritatis est plenior. denique ideo dominus, qui uenit docere paruulos, imbuere nouos, firmare perfectos, ait in euangelio: non iurandum omnino,64 quia infirmibus loquebatur. denique non ad solos apostolos loquebatur, sed ad turbas — uoluit enim te non iurare, ne periures — et addidit: non iurare neque per caelum neque per terram neque per Hierosolymam neque per caput tuum,65 per haec uidelicet quae subiecta non sunt tuae potestati. iurauit dominus nec paenitebit eum.66 iuret ergo ille quem sacramenti sui paenitere non poterit. et quid iurauit deus? quia Christus in aeternum sacerdos est.67 numquid incertum, numquid inpossibile erat quod iurauit deus? numquid poterat esse mutabile? noli ergo usurpare exemplum sacramenti qui implendi sacramenti non habes potestatem.
15. Quid igitur iurauit Dauid? custodire iudicia iustitiae68 domini. in nullo uidelicet iam perfectum, iam instructum diuinae iustitiae mouebant iudicia. quanti mouentur, cum uident iustum aliquem orbatum liberis dispendiisque frequentibus ad ultimae egestatis deductum necessitatem, ut ipsa alimentorum habere subsidia non possit, fractum aegritudine graui et perpetua debilitate uexatum, ut obire nequeat communis officia naturae! sed qui firmus est non mouetur et is magis intellegit dei iustitiam praedicandam, quia corripit dominus quem diligit.69 numquid non frequentius corripitur filius quam seruulus? iniusta ergo pietas patris magis quam domini seueritas? asperioribus exercet pater filium quam dominus uernaculum, sed dura patris non aestimantur inpertita flagella, quia uult meliorem filium esse quam seruulum. eruditio ergo plena iustitiae est.
16. Orbatus est sanctus Iob liberis suis, in quos dominus potestatem diabolo dedit. numquid iniquus deus? absit, immo iustus, quia probaturus iustum suum per huiusmodi exercitia, in quibus eius est probata patientia, magis dignum qui probaretur effecit. quo enim clarius meritum coronati, hoc uberior iustitia coronantis. nudatus est facultatibus, cum diues esset, et haec deo subiit permittente dispendia. non erant pecuniae iam damna, sed uitae, cum deesset alimonia ademptis omnibus. quis accuset iustitiam dei, cum, si non omnem Iob amisisset pecuniam, non tantam inuenisset gratiam? athletam suum nudum ungere uoluit deus oleo patientiae, ut et subeundo faceret certamini fortiorem et merendo praemio digniorem. perfusus totum corpus ulcere graui sedebat in stercore, radens saniem saeuis uulnerum uibicibus defluentem,70 et hoc permissu domini diabolus intulerat iusto uiro; uideretur uicisse sibi diabolus, nisi accepta quam poposcerat potestate esset etiam ipse superatus. quid igitur fuit illa temptatio, quid inopia facultatum, destitutio filiorum, tolerantia uulnerum nisi exercitium fidei, insigne patientiae, eruditio gloriosa uirtutis, confessio plena uictoriae, ut, qui ante contradicentem habebat diabolum,71 postea non haberet? nemo ergo dura putet esse quae iusta sunt, non uidebantur dura ei qui poterat dicere: nudus natus sum, nudus exibo. dominus dedit, dominus abstulit; sit nomen domini benedictum.72 benedicit enim dominum iustus cum laborat, peccator cum luxuriatur.
17. Nonne ergo ex infirmitate nostra uisa sunt dura mandata iustitiae, qui durum putamus esse quidquid per inbecillitatem animi ferre non possumus? tolle persecutiones, et martyres desunt. sed et persecutores deus, id est potestates saeculi est passus adsurgere, ne deessent qui uincerent Christo. quis tunc non dixit infirmus: 'domine, cur dedisti plebem tuam in potestatem persequentium?' sed quis hodie neget beatiores illos esse, qui passi sunt, quam illos, quos nulla uexarunt supplicia persecutorum?
18. Iustus ergo optat probari, temptari non timet; qui enim statuit custodire iudicia73 dei, non timet temptationes. ubi statuit nisi in corde? illic enim radicati et fundati esse74 debemus, non fluitantes neque mobiles omni uento doctrinae.75 intus ergo statuamus in corde nostro, in pectore, in animo, ut fiat nobis illud propheticum: cogitationes iustorum semitae.76 in his semitis bene ambulat iustus; ideo dicit: proba me, domine, et tempta me.77 denique hoc loco auctoritati respondens suae, qui iurauerat et statuerat custodire iudicia iustitiae dei, probari uoluisse se dicit, qui humilitatem subeundam credidit esse pro Christo.
19. Ideoque ait: humiliatus sum nimis.78 non solum humiliatum, sed etiam nimis humiliatum esse se gaudet. beatus qui gloriatur humilitate magis quam potestate. potestas decipit, humilitas non destituit. bona humilitas quae etiam in Christo laudem uirtutis inuenit. hanc in illo plus ueneror quam creationem, quia creati ad laborem sumus, redempti ad quietem. denique ipse aduocans populos ad misericordiam suam de humilitate propria gloriatur dicens: palam factus sum non quaerentibus me, apparui his qui me non interrogabant,79 et alibi: scapulas meas dedi in flagella, maxillas meas in palmas, faciem autem meam non auerti a confusione sputorum.80 recte ergo Dauid humiliare se uoluit, ut tribulationum Christi in se ipso quod deesset impleret.
20. Potest et ipse hoc ex sua persona per os Dauid locutus dixisse: humiliatus sum nimis, qui dixit in euangelio: uenite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego uos reficiam. tollite iugum meum super uos et discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde, et inuenietis requiem animabus uestris.81 discamus ergo ab eo, qui docere nos uoluit quod proficeret ad salutem et nobis dicit: discite a me. non est mediocre quod dicit 'discite' et addidit 'a me discite'. non facile potest quisquam humilitatem docere inflatus; quamuis humanam sapientiam mens carnis extollet.82 et qui paupertate contentus est non est contentus iniuria et qui potest ferre uerberum poenas exagitatur uerborum contumeliis et qui potest administrationes contemnere dolet sibi aliquem honorificentia esse praelatum. grande est in omnibus humilitatis tenere mensuram. superbia hominem prima deiecit. dum plus uolumus, etiam quod minus est solemus amittere. bona humilitas, quae nihil adpetendo totum quod contemnit adipiscitur. ipse dominus Iesus se humiliauit, ut nos eleuaret, et humiliauit usque ad crucem.83 propter quod exaltauit, inquit, illum deus, ut in nomine eius omne genu flectatur.84 quanta fecit dominus audeo dicere, et non flexi ei genu? sed flexi ei postquam se humiliauit; sic enim, hoc est per humilitatem, per crucem sibi ecclesiam congregauit.
21. Dauid rex erat, incerta et occulta sapientiae sibi patefacta testatur,85 sed ideo se magis humiliabat. at uero Ezechias cecidit ab altitudine cordis sui. ille laudabilis rex, qui de obsidione, de aegritudine beneficiis domini et mirabilibus liberatur,86 cecidit per superbiam et gratiam meriti superioris inminuit. quid fuisset Ioseph, si humilis non fuisset? sciuit sibi obfuisse quod praelatus erat fratribus; etiam pius amor miseriam praelationis inuenerat. praelatio armauit fratres, humilitas conciliauit extraneos; praelatio concitauit germanos, humilitas regem subditum fecit, ut uere quasi ex persona Ioseph dictum putemus quod hic ipse supra dixit: humiliatus sum,87 et saluum me fecit, quamquam, si consideremus quae iste tolerauit, ex persona sua eum dixisse repperiemus.
22. Golia superato occurrerant iuuenculae psallentes: Saul in milibus, Dauid in decem milibus.88 commotum est fel regis et quaerebat eum occidere. et humiliauit se Dauid ante Ionathan filium regis et conuertit eius affectum, ut, quem successorem patrii regni potuerat habere suspectum, eundem aduersum studia paterna seruaret dicens patri: quid peccas in sanguinem innocentis?89 et id uocem extorqueret inuito, quod non mereretur occidi Dauid. recte ergo ait: humiliatus sum, et saluum me fecit.90 et iterum, cum ad eum propheta uenisset et indignationem domini in causa Bethsabeae mulieris denuntiasset, humiliauit se et ait: peccaui domino, et dixit Nathan ad eum: quoniam paenituit te, abstulit dominus peccatum tuum; non morte morieris.91 bona igitur humilitas. denique humiliatus est et saluus factus est. et alio loco, cum propter numeratum populum dominus esset offensus et misisset prophetam Gad, qui regi Dauid diceret: elige tibi quid fieri uelis, triennio famem super terram aut tribus mensibus fugere te a facie inimicorum tuorum persequentium te aut fieri triduo mortem in terra,92 respondit Dauid: angustiae mihi sunt haec tria; sed magis incidam in manum domini, quoniam magna est misericordia illius ualde, quam in manus hominum incidam.93 et cum dedisset dominus mortem in Israel a mane usque ad horam prandii septuaginta milibus hominum mortuis, respexit Dauid ad dominum et, cum uidisset angelum ferientem populum, dixit: ecce ego peccaui et ego pastor male feci, et isti in hoc grege quid fecerunt? fiat manus tua in me et in domo patris mei.94 et propitius factus est dominus, cum sacrificium reconciliationis domino esset oblatum. bona ergo humilitas quae regem plebemque seruauit. itaque reconciliato domino ait Dauid: bonum mihi est quod humiliatus sum.95
23. Bona ergo humilitas, praesertim si adiungatur ei deuotio uoluntaria. ideoque se uiuificari secundum uerbum petit,96 ut secundum uerbum uiuat et omnia cum ratione faciat, non secundum carnis uoluntatem. unde mysticum illud etiam moraliter accipi potest: in principio erat uerbum et uerbum erat apud deum et deus erat uerbum. hoc erat in principio apud deum. omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil.97 et tu imitator esto dei. quomodo imitator? numquid caelum potes facere aut terram aut mare? non utique. sed ut omnia per uerbum facias, nihil sine uerbo, omnia cum ratione, nihil sine ratione, quia non es inrationabilis, o homo, sed rationabilis.
24. Sequitur uersus quartus: uoluntaria oris mei conproba, domine, et iudicia tua doce me.98 qui se humiliat, uiuificatur iuxta promissum dei, qui uiuificatur spiritu dei uoluntarius est minister. plurimum enim refert, utrum ex uoluntate quid facias an ex necessitate, quod placeat deo. denique uoluntarius minister habet praemium, coactus dispensat obsequium, sicut apostolo docente cognouimus. scripsit enim: uae enim mihi est si non euangelizauero. si enim uolens hoc ago, mercedem habeo; si autem inuitus, dispensatio mihi credita est.99 uide uoluntarium executorem caelestis arbitrii. liber erat ex omnibus et omnium seruus est factus — uoluntate utique, non necessitate —, ut plurimos lucraretur. his quoque, qui legis uinculo tenerentur, quasi sub lege esset se exhibuit, cum sub lege non esset, ut eos seruaret qui sub lege uiuebant. infirmis infirmus factus est,100 ut infirmos adsumptione infirmitatis propriae sustineret. omnibus omnia factus est non legitima necessitate, sed uoluntatis obsequio. aperuit mihi huius altitudinem consilii in epistula ad Philemonem scripta, quia quod ipse esset alium esse uellet, ut uoluntate potius quam necessitate detulisse domino uideretur. itaque pro Onesimo interueniens sic ait: tu autem illum ut mea uiscera suscipe; quem ego uolueram mecum detinere, ut pro te mihi ministraret in uinculis euangelii, sed sine consilio tuo nihil uolui facere, ne uelut ex necessitate bonum tuum esset, sed uoluntarium.101 quam sedulus suasor, qui cum esset uas electionis102 diuinae, consortium consilii non dedignabatur alieni, ne alterum fructu uoluntatis propriae defraudaret! recte ergo Dauid ait quasi propheta: uoluntaria oris mei conproba, domine,103 oris sui offerens domino sacrificium uoluntarium, eo quod ut apis illa prophetica bonos flores colligere ore consueuerit, fauos ore fingere, mella ore conponere et ex herbis suauibus ore filios legere, quae, cum sit, inquit, robore infirma, sapientiae praedicatione sufstantiae suae producit aetatem.104 quod sit istud uoluntarium oris sacrificium, recognosce: immola deo sacrificium laudis.105
25. Expectat dominus uoluntarios ministros. denique in libro Esaiae dicit dominus: quem mittam?106 utique seruulo suo poterat imperare, quem dignum qui mitteretur inuenerat, sed maluit eum spontaneae oblationis non fraudare mercede, qui ut ipse se offerret praestolatus est. et quamuis eius sciret affectum, expectauit tamen uocem, ut cumularet gratiam. unde se offerens Esaias ait: ecce ego, mitte me107 et sic postea est missus ad populum. ideo de eo dictum est, quia Esaias audet et dicit.108 etenim quasi uoluntarium organum uberiore Spiritus sui gratia Christus impleuit.
26. Nec otiose hoc positum puto, quia uoluntaria oris sui placere desiderat domino.109 multi prophetae, sed non in omnibus oris uoluntaria placent. excusabat Hieremias dicens: qui es dominator domine, ecce nescio loqui, quia iuuenior sum ego,110 et dixit ei dominus: quocumque misero te abibis et secundum omnia quaecumque mandauero tibi loqueris.111 uerecunde propheta aetatem corporis praetendebat, ne exequendis caelestibus imperatis inpar esse adulescentia deprehenderetur. sed deus, qui morum magis quam annorum considerandam iudicaret aetatem et in iuuenali corpore maturitatem robustae sapientiae in suo seruulo praeuideret, ait: noli dicere quia iuuenior sum ego,112 hoc est: prohibuit eum iuuenalis aetatis contemplatione uires suas perpendere, cui fides canitiem sapientiae ministraret. et iterum in posterioribus cum dixisset idem propheta: seduxisti me, domine, et seductus sum. et dixi: non nominabo nomen eius et non loquar in nomine eius ultra,113 addidit: et factus est in corde meo ut ignis ardens flammans in ossibus meis et dissolutus sum undique et ferre non possum.114 aduertimus igitur quod his etiam, qui excusandum aut officium suum certa aliqua causa negandum putauerint, dominus tamen noster aut rationem persuadeat aut cupiditatem propheticae reuelationis inspiret, ut ad subeundum officium uoluntate concurrant, non necessitate concedant, quo merces ad eos integrae deuotionis possit plenior peruenire. prophetauit et Caiphas: quia expedit unum hominem mori pro populo,115 sed hoc uoluntarium oris ministerium non erat, quia loquebatur inuitus. denique quid diceret nesciebat.
27. Quae ergo uoluntaria oris sui domino Dauid placere desiderat? elegi abiectus esse in domo domini magis quam habitare in tabernaculis peccatorum.116 audiam quid loquetur in me dominus deus.117 aperiam in parabolis os meum, loquar propositiones ab initio saeculi.118 paraui lucernam christo meo.119 corpus suum quod erat ante limosum et caeno hereditariae conluuionis obstructum, ut oleum spiritale recipere non posset, Christo parauit, ut luceat. Christo lucet cuius opera in Christi lucent lumine; Christo lucebat Petrus, cum diceret: in nomine Iesu Christi Nazareni surge et ambula;120 Christo lucebat ille qui dicebat: sanat te dominus Iesus;121 Christo lucebat martyrum lucerna, qui pro Christo subiere martyrium; Christo lucebat Dauid, qui poterat dicere: cor meum et caro mea exultauerunt in deum uiuum.122 Christo parauerat mentem, cum de eo, a quo frequenter ad mortem fuerat adpetitus, diceret: non mihi contingat a domino, si fecero hoc uerbum, domino meo, Christo domini inicere manum meam.123 cum maiorem haberet causam tuendae salutis suae, ut occideret persequentem, etiam alios qui suadebant inimico non esse parcendum, quem dominus iuxta promissum suum in manus ipsius tradidisset, ab eius necandi cupiditate reuocabat.124 Christo lucebat propheta, cum de eo, qui patris domum turpi macularat incestu,125 qui patris salutem parricidalibus proeliis adpetebat, pius tamen pater diceret ad proelium profecturis: parcite filio meo Abessalon.126 tacebat inprobitatis scelus, pietatis autem gradum et nomen necessitudinis praeferebat, ut pugnaturi non aduersarium regis, sed filium cogitantes dolorem laesae pietatis inhiberent. et post mortem eius operuit faciem suam et magna uoce clamabat dicens: filius meus Abessalon, filius meus.127 hanc uocem parricida non meruit, sed Christi prophetabat gratiam. didicerat propheta de Christo bonus esse pater, qui bono filii seruiebat.
28. Denique ideo dicebat: et iudicia tua doce me,128 quia iudicia dei sicut abyssus multa129 et inscrutabilia,130 ut apostolus dicit. ideo non poterat ea nisi Christo docente cognoscere, quia unus magister omnium Christus est.131 haec autem Christi iudicia sunt, ut his qui nobis insidiati fuerint nouerimus non uicem iniuriae rependendam, sed pro iniuria magis deferendam gratiam.132 denique maledicentibus non remaledixit, percutientes non repercussit,133 sed magis etiam crucifixus pro persequentibus se piae intercessionis apud patrem auxilium deferebat dicens: pater, dimitte illis; non enim sciunt quid faciunt.134 haec igitur quisquis fecerit legis iudicia, remuneratione donatur a Christo.
29. Sed quis iudicia dei doceri potest nisi qui animam suam intenderit semper ad dominum, qui potest dicere: anima mea in manibus tuis semper, et legem tuam non sum oblitus?135 aliqui habent: anima mea in manibus meis semper, hoc est 'in actibus meis', hoc est 'in operibus meis'. quamuis in periculis positus dicit iustus ad dominum: 'propter te cotidie morior, cotidie periclitor. periclitor ab insidiatore, periclitor ab obtrectatore, periclitor ab his quos arguo, quos reuinco, periclitor pro ueritate atque iustitia. ego tamen nec periculis territus tuae legis oblitus sum. propterea in manibus meis anima mea'. sed quia plerique habent: anima mea in manibus tuis semper,136 hoc latius explanandum arbitror.
30. Scit propheta, scit ubi animae suae praesidium locet, unde opem speret. in manibus dei constituere uult animam suam, quia cor regis in manu dei.137 quicumque proprium corpus subegerit nec eius passionibus turbari animam suam rector sui congrua uiuacitate permiserit, is bene regia quadam potestate se cohibens rex dicitur, quod regere se nouerit et arbiter sui iuris sit, non captiuus trahatur in culpam nec praeceps feratur in uitium. huius anima non perit in aeternum nec quisquam rapit eam de manu patris138 omnipotentis aut filii. manus enim dei, quae solidauit caelum,139 quos tenuerit non amittit.
31. Quae sint igitur istae manus, consideremus. in Canticis habes: laeua eius sub caput meum et dextera eius conplectetur me.140 hoc loquitur sponsa de Christo, anima de uerbo dei; Christus autem idem est uerbum dei atque sapientia.141 beata ergo anima quam complectitur sapientia. magna est sapientiae manus, magna dextera totam complectitur animam. tota enim munita est quae desponsata uerbo est dei; plenitudo enim sapientiae timere deum.142 quae ergo deum timet anima pleno se munit ipsa praesidio. mittit sapientia laeuam suam sub collum eius, dexteram autem in complexum eius.143 utrumque quidem brachium eius ad utilia extenditur, habent tamen propria sua singulae manus sapientiae; in dextera eius longitudo uitae est, in sinistra autem diuitiae et gloria.144 bonis utique manus utraque dotata est dotibus, in eo tamen habent uarietatem sui muneris, quod et praesentia et futura tempora conprehendunt, ut laeua praesentium remuneratrix, dextera futurorum sit.
32. Possumus hoc etiam de prophetia sancti patriarchae Israel cognoscere. nam cum dexteram suam posuisset super Ephraim, sinistram autem super Manassen et conuertere eas Ioseph aetatum consideratione uoluisset, ut dexteram patris super caput Manasse senioris filii conlocaret, noluit et dixit: scio, fili; et hic erit in populum et hic exaltabitur, sed frater iunior maior illo erit.145 in quo maior? in eo utique, quia benedictione praelatus est, dicentibus posteris, hoc est Ephraim: faciat uobis deus sicut Ephraim et Manassen.146 uel quia semen eius multitudo gentium sit quae in hoc saeculo laborem elegit, credens in dominum Iesum, ut consolationem habeat futurorum. Manasse autem semen est populus obliuionis, qui proprium oblitus auctorem exaltatus ad tempus in hoc saeculo est, daturus in reliquum poenas graues, quia deum suum et dominum denegauit.
33. Hoc ideo diximus, ut probaremus ea esse potiora quae futura sunt. denique laeua sapientiae sub capite sponsae est, dextera autem superior, quae totam conplectitur sponsam. itaque illa quasi fulcrum est quietis praesentis, quo anima innixa requiescit. habet ubi reclinet caput suum, quia laeua sapientiae diuitiae sunt et gloria.147 ad tempus haec demulcent et ex parte solacio sunt, et ideo filius hominis non habebat ubi caput suum reclinaret,148 quia, cum diues esset, pauper factus est149 nec gloriam aliquam istius saeculi requirebat, quia uenerat non ut in portione, sed ut uniuerso humano generi subueniret, dicens: mihi irascimini quia totum hominem sanum feci sabbato?,150 hoc est 'totum', non ut facultatum conlatione ditaret, non ut honorum insignibus, non ut gloriae saecularis cumularet augmento — haec enim non habent beatitudinis et gratiae plenitudinem —, sed 'totum' hoc est, quo longitudinem uitae conplecteretur aeternae. neque enim communis uitae similis uita in dextera est sapientiae, sed longitudo uitae151 est, ut, qui accipit uitam a sapientia, non exiguitatem uitae, sed perpetuitatem et aeternitatis longitudinem adipiscatur.
34. Bonus amictus aeternitas uitae. hoc pallium sponsae custodes uoluerunt auferre murorum,152 quo primus homo fuerat exutus; sed anima deo deuota quaesitum diu tenendo et non dimittendo dilectum pretioso caritatis diuinae se uestiuit inuolucro. beati igitur qui tali pallio uestiuntur et amictum huiusmodi legis obseruatione meruerunt, quia non sunt legis obliti, sed quae erant legis operati sunt; nam qui praeter legem agit, legis oblitus est. et ideo haec anima candida ascendit e terris, quia fulget amicta ueste sapientiae, et dicunt de ea uirtutes illae quae portas custodiunt caeli: quae est quae ascendit candida, innitens super fratrem suum?,153 cum ea, quae posuit caput suum super laeuam sapientiae,154 ut aperiret manus pauperi,155 ad subueniendum inopi partis aut derelictis sibi, non inuasis atque direptis diuitiis uteretur, quae gloriae cupida bonis eam operibus adquisiuit, non inani saeculares iactantia dignitates ambiuit. hoc est enim caput suum et quoddam sensuum principale supra manum sapientiae constituere. ea, in quam, anima meritis ascendit albentibus ex isto uitae huius, ut habent plerique, deserto ad illum florentem semper locum iucunditatis aeternae. istae sunt uirtutes, quae et in Esaiae libro dicunt: quis est iste qui aduenit ex Edom, rubor uestimentorum ex Bosor, sic speciosus in stola?156 istae, inquam, sunt quae mirantur ex isto confragoso scopulosoque deserto aliquam ascendere animam posse sine magnorum labe uitiorum, et ideo gratulantur repertam, quae uestimenta innocentiae naturalis non polluerit atramento insipientiae saecularis, sed spiritalis gratiae candore mundarit.
35. Dicit ergo ea anima iam secura, iam laeta: posuerunt peccatores laqueum mihi, et de mandatis tuis non erraui.157 digna uox relinquentis hoc saeculum, eo quod retia persequentium et insidiatorum laqueos euaserit. uox digna martyribus, quibus multa supplicia proponebantur, multa etiam offerebantur praemia, ut a martyrii studio uel terrore poenarum et saeuae mortis horrore uel praemiorum reuocarentur inlecebra. grauis laqueus proscriptionis, qui saepe frangit sanctos inopiae deformitate, quos mortis formido non fregerit, laqueus alius incendii, laqueus carceris diuturnique supplicii. grandis laqueus, cum diuitiae promittuntur, cum honores, cum amicitiae tyrannorum. qui ergo haec euaserit et ad martyrium potuerit peruenire, recte dicit: 'posuerunt peccatores laqueum mihi, sed a tuorum mandatorum non declinaui semitis',158 cui despicienti praesentia, futura quaerenti regnum caeleste diuinitatis tuae promissione reseratum est.
36. Qui sunt isti peccatores qui posuerunt laqueos? aperuit tibi apostolus auctorem omnium peccatorum et demonstrauit dicens: qui uolunt diuites fieri incidunt in temptationem et laqueum diaboli.159 aduertis laqueum diaboli esse diuitias, quem tetendit etiam saluatori?160 sed ille, qui nihil habuit quod posset princeps istius mundi161 ueniens suum dicere, laqueorum eius uincla dissoluit. ac ne mediocrem hunc laqueum putes, hic laqueus Iudam apostolum strangulauit. qui miser cum esset inlaqueatus ut proderet dominum, ubi aduertit quantum sceleris esset admissum, laqueo se ipse suspendit.162 sed et ipse laqueus diaboli fuit, ut non ageret paenitentiam, sed laqueo se suffocaret. deus enim etiam in ipsos pius est proditores, ut ad paenitentiam prouocentur atque a flagitioso proposito reflectantur et resipiscant a diaboli laqueis, a quo capti tenentur ad ipsius uoluntatem.163 iam non aerumna est incidisse, sed crimen, quia non solum se dedere capiendos, sed etiam ad uoluntatem diaboli tenentur adstricti, cum possint dicere: disrumpamus uincula eorum.164 dedit enim tibi scriptura diuina, ut non solum caueas diaboli laqueum, sed etiam per paenitentiam eius uincla disrumpas.
37. Quid tibi, homo, cum deliciis ac uoluptatibus? non capit laqueus, nisi ante esca te ceperit; dum praedam petis, laqueo ipse te nectis. esca laquei auaritia est, esca diaboli luxuries est, quibus nos uult inescare, non pascere. et ideo clamabat apostolus: ne adtaminaueritis, ne gustaueritis, quae sunt omnia ad corruptelam ipso usu.165 noli ergo adtaminare luxuriam, et illa te contaminare non poterit; noli gustare auaritiae corruptelam, et eris inmunis a laqueo. quid tibi postremo cum terris, qui cum Christo resurrexisti? quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est, quae sursum sunt sapite, non quae super terram.166 mortui sumus terris, uitam nostram cum Christo abscondimus in deo nostro;167 non iam nos uiuimus, sed Christus uiuit in nobis.168 quid iterum ad terrena remeamus? ecce elongaui fugiens,169 dicit sanctus, uidi laqueos iniquitatis et contradictionis in ciuitate; laquei sunt enim ubi est usura et dolus. elongauit ille fugiens terrena dedecora, ideo ad caelestia peruenit praemia.
38. Quid, inquam, te reflectis in terram, si in Enoch raptus170 ad caelum es, in Helia leuatus es curru,171 in Paulo raptus ad paradisum,172 conuersatus in caelis, in Dauid exauditus, ut pennas columbae adsumeres173 et uolares, in Christo exaltatus,174 uolucris factus in spiritu? quando sicut columba descendit,175 illas tibi alas dedit, ut tu disceres euolare de terris. neque uero cunctandum putes quomodo tibi uolandum sit, quibus alarum remigiis.176 dixit quidem Dauid: quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbae, et uolabo et requiescam?177 et quasi dubitasse uisus est, a quo pennas posset accipere, licet sic soleat diuina gratia declarari quae in terris non potest inueniri. idem tamen in posterioribus quae sint istae pennae docuit euidenter dicens: si dormiatis inter cleros medii, pennae columbae deargentatae, et posteriora eius in specie auri.178 etsi dormias, exsurgunt tamen pennae tuae. sunt enim qui uigilant dormientes, ut uigilabat illa quae dixit: ego dormio, et cor meum uigilat.179 etsi nox est, uigilat spiritus, de quo scriptum est: de nocte uigilat ad te spiritus meus.180 tunc tibi pandentur alae (et) ex eloquiis spiritalibus pretiosaque auri prudentia uolatus adsurget. ubi ergo laqueos poteris pertimescere, cui remigium praesto est spiritale? si sinceritas animi, si puritas mentis adfulgeat, columba es. ideo tibi dictum est: estote simplices sicut columbae.181 si maiora desunt remigia, uel minora ne spernas. esto uel passer, ut laqueos sagaci indage praeuideas et paene captus inlecebris peccatorum tamen aliquando reuocatus possis dicere: anima nostra sicut passer erepta est de laqueo uenantium; laqueus contritus est et nos liberati sumus.182 de quo quoniam alibi putauimus esse tractandum, nunc alio transeundum uidetur.
39. Satis est tibi ut auem esse te noueris adsumptum in naturam uolandi, dicente domino per prophetam: liberabit uos ex laqueo uenatorum et a uerbo conturbationis;183 non enim iniuste tenduntur retia auibus. auis es, o homo, qui sicut auis in quandam aquilae renouatus es iuuentutem,184 et ideo non iniuste tenduntur retia auibus. quid enim te in terram deicis, qui iam caelum petebas? non iniuste renouato tenduntur retia, quia iam Christi esse coepisti, uenantium esse desisti. ante te laqueo uenator, ante quasi praedam suam diabolus suo iure capiebat: nunc dominicae crucis mercem cur alienus incursat? potes tamen etiam hos laqueos euitare, ne dicas: 'uenantes ceperunt me sicut passerem', si laqueum cordis euadas quem misit diabolus in cor Iudae185 et ita eum in facinus proditionis armauit. auertat a nobis dominus hos laqueos quos super peccatores pluit.186 et ideo dicit propheta: 'dabis illis, domine, laqueum cordis eorum quem parasti illis. nobis autem da, domine, auxilium, ut post te sequamur tuis alligati uinculis. nulla enim uehementiora, nulla sunt gratiora quam uincula caritatis. qui tibi ligatus est, solutus est mundo.'
40. Hereditaui testimonia tua in aeternum, quoniam exultatio cordis mei sunt,187 etiam ista uox martyrum est dicentium quod hereditatem acceperint caelestium testimoniorum. dicit ergo propheta: 'heres sum mandatorum tuorum, successionem tuam fidei pietatisque iure quaesiui'. non potest dicere istud nisi qui mandata custodit caelo et terra testibus adquisita. dixit enim dominus: audi, caelum, et percipe auribus, terra,188 testatur elementa dominus ad redarguendos eos, qui noluerint praecepta diuina seruare, ut refugia omnia excusationis obsaepiat. testatur et in homines dicens: estote mihi testes, et ego testis, dicit dominus,189 mandata ergo domini plena sunt testimoniis et ipsa sunt testimonia, quorum satis idoneus testis est qui non mentitur deus,190 apud quem et conscientia tua testis est, cogitationibus accusantibus aut etiam defendentibus,191 satis fidelis etiam in infido pectore, quoniam arbitrum omnium quaecumque commissa sunt latere non possunt. nam si in iudicio terrestri etiam is, qui ad mentiendum uenerit subornatus, tamen, si testimonio fuerit conuictus alterius, solet prodere ueritatem, quanto magis in iudicio caelesti apud dominum Iesum necesse habet quae uera sunt confiteri, quem nouit scire quod factum est!
41. Et bene ait: hereditate quaesiui testimonia tua,192 quoniam, sicut ante heredes fuimus peccatoris, ita nunc heredes sumus Christi. illa fuit criminum, haec est uirtutis hereditas; illa nos obligauit, haec soluit; illa obaeratos faenore delictorum adiudicauit inimico, haec redemptos dominicae titulo passionis Christo adquisiuit. mala Euae successio totum hominem deuorabat, praeclara Christi hereditas totum hominem liberauit. non ad unum quidem, non ad paucos, sed ad omnes testamentum suum scripsit Iesus. omnes scripti heredes sumus non pro portione, sed pro uniuersitate. testamentum commune est et ius omnium, hereditas uniuersorum et soliditas singulorum. nouum tamen testamentum et singuli adeunt et omnes possident nec minuitur heredi quicquid a coheredibus uindicatur. manet emolumentum integrum et eo magis singulis crescit, quo pluribus fuerit adquisitum. alia condicio est hereditatis humanae. si diuisa fuerit, emolumenta minuuntur et heredis est damnum adscriptio coheredis. indiuisum regnum Christi est, indiuisa hereditas. quomodo fieri poterat, ut diuisa esset hereditas, cum hereditatis fructus sit indiuisus, quod est regnum caelorum? aurum argentum praedium ab homine pluribus derelictum distribuitur ac secatur, solida ad singulos Christi dona perueniunt; omnes habent et nemo fraudatur.
42. Audiamus igitur commoda hereditaria. remissio peccatorum hereditas Christi est. certe solida per singulos et in commune est lucratiua; quibuscumque enim conlata fuerit, nulli decedit, accedit omnibus. corpori adquiritur quicquid unicuique relaxatur. nam si angeli super uno peccatore paenitentiam agente laetantur,193 quia lucrum suum putant hominis redemptionem, quanto magis lucrum est generis quod est lucrum naturae! hereditas Christi est resurrectio. hanc quisquam damnum suum dixerit, quae in uno communis gratiae nomen inuenit? Christus enim resurgens omnibus resurrexit, quoniam per hominem resurrectio mortuorum.194 quomodo igitur potest singulorum esse dispendium quae est totius corporis et humani generis reformatio? recitetur itaque testamentum et institutiones eius consideremus: testis est autem nobis et spiritus sanctus; cum enim dixerit: hoc autem testamentum quod testabor ad illos, dicit dominus, dando leges meas in cordibus eorum, et in sensibus eorum scribam eas et peccati et iniustitiae eorum non ero memor.195 o uere testator aeternus, qui nostris cordibus leges adfigit suas et scribit in sensibus, ut nihil aliud cogitare nisi diuina praecepta possimus, nihil aliud sentire nisi dei oracula debeamus! dedit gratiam, reformauit naturam, sibi qui obliuisci nihil solet memoriam meorum abstulit peccatorum, mihi dedit praeceptorum suorum.
43. Noli ergo tollere de corde tuo legem dei et adfigere legem peccati; noli scribere in sensibus tuis diaboli inlecebras et dei delere mandata. ecce ego, inquit, pinxi muros tuos, dicit dominus196 ad Hierusalem, hoc est ad animam studiosam tranquillitatis et pacis quam fecit ad imaginem suam. noli, inquam, auferre imaginem caelestem et imaginem mortis inponere. recusasti hereditatem saeculi; serua Christi testimonia, quoniam in his exultatio atque laetitia est,197 quandoquidem omnis fletus delebitur et mors non erit amplius neque luctus neque fletus neque clamor.198 passio Christi regni fuit imago caelestis. nemo audiuit in plateis uocem eius,199 quia illo silentio passionis suae clamorem omnem in posterum impiae uocis abolebat. nolebat fleri qui dicebat ad filias Hierusalem: filiae Hierusalem, nolite me flere, sed uos ipsas flete.200 ablaturus enim omnes lacrimas suae beneficio crucis in passione propria futurae instar beatitudinis exhibebat, ut nemo fleret nisi qui Christi beneficia non teneret.
44. Merito ergo uir euangelicus dicit: hereditate quaesiui testimonia tua in aeternum, quoniam exultatio cordis mei sunt.201 quis non exultet, quia caelum et terram hereditate quaesiuit, quae duo elementa contestatus est etiam deus, cum legem daret,202 quia quaesiuit deum de quo dicit sanctus: portio mea dominus,203 quaesiuit dominum Iesum, quaesiuit spiritum sanctum et post illa quaesiuit angelos et cum illis uiuit non hodie tantum et cras, sed in aeternum nec ullis pro nomine domini contristatur iniuriis? denique gaudebant apostoli cum uerberarentur, cum in carcerem truderentur.
45. Exultans igitur in testimoniis domini iure dicebat: inclinaui cor meum ad faciendas iustitias tuas in aeternum propter retributionem.204 qui retributionem bonorum operum sperat a deo et ad eum festinat, inclinat cor suum, ut faciat Christi iustitias. quae est Christi iustitia? sine nos, inquit, implere omnem iustitiam,205 qua peccatum minuitur, culpa laxatur. et bene ait 'inclinaui', ut non sit tibi arduum atque difficile, cum mentem tuam quasi ad humilia et plana conuertas. aut certe, quoniam sapientia carnis legi dei non est subdita,206 uidetur inclinare cor suum, qui legi facit esse subiectum extollentem se corporis sensum et contuitu religionis207 inflectit. atque ille dudum extollens se frustra et inflatus mente carnis suae,208 cum se humiliat, inclinat.
46. Humiliauit enim et ipse se Christus, ut nouum conderet testamentum. cum lego euangelium, audio filium dei carnem sumpsisse de Maria,209 uideor mihi cum Christo ipse descendere. lego enim eum, qui cum esset in forma dei semet ipsum exinaniuit, exinaniuit autem, ut formam serui acciperet, et specie inuentus ut homo humiliauit se usque ad mortem,210 lego dicentem: qui se exaltauerit humiliabitur,211 lego dicentem: uenite ad me omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego uos reficiam. tollite iugum meum super uos et discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.212 non dixit: 'discite a me quia potens sum', non dixit: 'discite a me quia gloriosus sum', sed: discite a me quia humilis sum, quod potestis imitari. nolite uos extollere, nolite exaltare cor uestrum.213 docuit me ergo humiliari et inclinare cor meum ad faciendas iustitias, non ad iniquitatem, sed ad aequitatem inclinare propter retributionem.214 retributio regnum caelorum et paradisi est incolatus.
XIV. LITTERA NUN.
1. Nun is the fourteenth Hebrew letter, whose interpretation is unique (or in another interpretation, their pastures). Behold, the very letters of the Hebrews testify that the Lord Jesus is the unique Son of the Father, the Word of God. So at once in the very first verse David speaks of the unique Son of God: Thy word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord, and a light unto my paths.1 Whence we understand that this psalm has been arranged through the letters of the Hebrews so that our man, as it were a child, formed from infancy through the elements of the alphabet to which the boyish age is accustomed, may grow up to the maturity of virtue. The single letters are, as it were, the titles of those verses which are written under them, declaring their order and their content — as here the letter signifies unique, and this portion of the psalm prophesies of the only-begotten Son of God and of the brightness of his eternal light.
2. Nor indeed does that other interpretation of this letter, found in another codex, jar with this. For what are our pastures — that is, the pastures of the faithful — if not Christ? In whose pastures the prophet rejoiced to be set, saying: In a place of pasture, there hath he placed me2; for he himself feeds us and refreshes us. The divine sacraments are good pastures. There you pluck a new flower, which has given the good odor of the resurrection; you pluck a lily, that is, the splendor of eternity; you pluck a rose, that is, the blood of the Lord's body. The words of the heavenly scriptures, in which we are fed by daily reading, in which we are refreshed and restored when we taste what is written, or rather, with the lips' tip having sipped, ruminate them more often — these too are good pastures. The Lord's flock is fattened upon these pastures.
3. Christ's pastures are also good — he who feeds among the lilies,3 in the splendor of the saints4; the mountains of the valleys also are good pastures, for in these too Christ feeds, like a roe or a young hart.5 The mountains are of the valleys like the lights of this world,6 shining with diligent humility, who excel by the summit of various virtues and stand out above the world by their merits. These are they of whom it is said: They are not of this world, as I also am not of this world,7 for those who follow Christ are above the world. But the world is a valley, and so he established his testament in the vale of tears8, because in this world there are tears and weeping. And the Lord, providing, set his testament in this world, that we might rather here weep our sins than keep them to be wept over.
4. These verses, too, of which we are to treat today, are our pastures, in which David says: I was feeding my father's sheep9, showing the true lamp, learning humility. In such pastures the true David, truly humble and strong of hand — who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself and, born man through the Virgin's birth, humbled himself unto death10 — was feeding his Father's sheep with divine preaching, when according to the Scriptures he proved his own coming11, when with five loaves and two fishes he satisfied many thousands of men12.
5. These then are our pastures, the pastures of those who can say: How sweet are thy words to my palate!13 The pastures of those who say: Thy word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord14. For our mouth is fed with the Word, when we speak the commandments of the Word who is God. And our inner eye is fed by the spiritual lamp's light, which shines before us in this night of the world, lest, like men walking in darkness, we totter with uncertain steps and be unable to find the true way. The footsteps then are intelligible, and the lamp also is intelligible, because the Word of God is a lamp. Was not this Word in the beginning with God15? How then is he a lamp? Was not this the true light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world16? How then is he called a lamp? Isaiah cries out: the people that sat in darkness saw a great light17 — how does he here say lamp?
6. But let us see whether perhaps the same Word of God is to some a great light, to others a lamp. To me he is a lamp, to the angels he is light. To Peter he was light, when the angel stood by him in prison and a light shone about him.18 To Paul he was light, when, as he was going to persecute the Christian people, a light from heaven shone round about him and he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?19 — and that indeed was a great light, for the light of Paul's lamp vanished where the splendor of the divine light shone forth.
7. And truly Christ is a lamp to me, when he is rehearsed in this our mouth. He shines in the mire, that treasure shines in an earthen vessel — the treasure that we have in earthen vessels20. Pour in oil, lest it fail you, for oil is the light of the lamp21 — not earthly oil, but that oil of heavenly mercy and grace with which the prophets were anointed. Your oil is humility, by which the hardness of our neck is softened. Your oil is your mercy, by which even the bodies bruised on the rocks of sins are tended. This is the oil which the gospel-Samaritan poured upon that man wounded by robbers as he came down from Jerusalem, who, seeing him, was moved with compassion and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine22. This oil heals the sick — for mercy frees from sin23; this oil shines in the darkness, if our works shine before men24; this oil shines in the solemnities of the Church. So those whose oil did not fail, neither did the light of faith fail, but with their lamps they deserved to enter into the place of the marriage; but those who did not bring oil in their vessels — that is, who had not faith, nor prudence, nor mercy of soul placed in this body — were rightly shut out for their unbelief.25 So you also, have always a burning lamp or a shining torch. For if neither lamp nor torch of yours shines, you will be called a foolish virgin, and you will not enter into the chamber of your higher Bridegroom, but you will remain in the darkness of blindness, like one who hates the light, lest his shameful works be exposed; for everyone that doth evil hateth the light26. Have faith, have prudence, that you may always have in your vessels the oil of mercy, the grace of devotion, since the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Anoint, O men, your torches; when you fast, anoint your head27. Let us pour oil into our minds, that our body may be lightsome. Let the lamp, the Word of God, shine for you always, and let the lamp of your body, your eye, also shine. Your conscience, shining well in this body, is the light of the lamp; she herself is your eye. Let your eye be pure. If your conscience is clean, your flesh is clean; but if your conscience within you is dark, your body too is dark with the night of your conscience. We then also are lamps, covered all over by the body, scarcely having any small thing whereby we can shine.
8. Indeed John also was a lamp, as the Lord said of him: He was a burning and a shining lamp28. A good lamp, which received its light from Christ, that it might shine in this age — rightly burning, rightly shining, because he was the messenger of Christ, lighting up by the preaching of faith the breasts of each man. But he gave to these lamps also that they should be the light of the world, saying to the apostles: You are the light of the world29. If then the glory of the saints shone in this age now as a lamp, now as the light of the world, what shall we say of the Word of God which is also a lamp to my feet30?
9. And perhaps, where there is no darkness, the Word of God is not a lamp, but is above a lamp, because it is light. There is no darkness for those who see the light: hence then shall the just shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father31. And perhaps, according to the Law, the Word of God is a lamp, but according to the Gospel, a great light. To the Jews he is a lamp, and a lamp under a bushel.32 The Law shines, but is not seen, because their teaching is covered both by the contagion of vices and by the blindness of perfidy; but to the people from the nations he is light. Hence to the people that sat in the region of the shadow of death, light is sprung up33. Open then your windows, that the splendor of the great light may enter to you. Make your candlestick ready, that your light may not be covered by the covering of your body and the measure of this earthly frailty34, but that beyond the measure of bodily weakness you may shine forth by the strength of your soul. Or if you are kept to a measure, see that the measures themselves do not overflow, that they may not run over, but be content with good seeds.35 Let your speech not be idle36, let your word not strike the air and be empty, lest it become a lamp under a bushel.37 God is able to set your lamp upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house38, that those who enter may see the light. Our principal part is the candlestick. Place your speech upon your principal part, and it shines for all who enter into the church. Take another candlestick also. Consider your mouth, consider your speech. Is not your mouth the candlestick, and your word the lamp, when it is brought forth from your mouth? Let this lamp ever shine for you — that is, let your word shine and never be extinguished.
10. Do you ask that I teach how it cannot be extinguished? It is written: the light of the just is unquenchable, but the light of the wicked shall be put out.39 This was the light of the lamp that shone in the tabernacle of testimony40, and which today shines in the Church — the wise man. He is the eye of the Church, who does not say to the hands — that is, to those who labor but are not sharp to understanding — I have no need of you.41 Therefore he was shining upon the candlestick who said: but our conversation is in heaven42. For David also already with all his mind dwelt in heaven, and yet still said: Thy word is a lamp to my feet43. Or perhaps, like a good teacher, he wished to go before me, that I might learn to follow the light and walk after his feet.44 Therefore he showed me how to learn to follow the lamp, set as I am in the darkness of this ignorance, in the darkness of this bodily covering, that following Christ I might run upon no stone of stumbling. Peter was erring in the darkness of ignorance, denying that Christ was to die, because he did not yet see that he was to die and rise again for us. The Lord, turning to him, said: Get thee behind me45. He showed him the lamp which he ought to follow, saying behind me. According to the Word of God he was confirmed; afterwards he began to cleave to Christ, fearing lest again he should slip into some error. Did he himself not also, like the man who said Thy word is a lamp to my feet, hasten to this lamp when he said upon the sea: Lord, bid me come to thee upon the water46? But because he was not following the lamp, he was disturbed and tottered, troubled by the bulk of a more violent nature.
11. Let us therefore follow this lamp as a lamp, and walk to its light as in the night. Many pits, many rocks are not seen in the gloom of this age. Carry before you the lamp the prophet showed; see whither you ought to set your step, look where the foot of the inner mind is to be placed. Let care be taken at every step; trust nothing of yours, except as the light of this lamp goes before. And where you suppose there is light, there is a chasm; it seems to shine, but pollutes; and where you suppose it solid or dry, there it is slippery, if the lamp be far from you. Let then faith be the forerunner of your journey, let divine Scripture be your road; the heavenly course of the eloquent word is good. From this lamp do you also light a lamp, that your inner47 eye may shine, which is the lamp of your body.48 You have many lamps; light them all, because it has been said to you: Let your loins be girt and your lamps burning49. Because there are many darknesses, many lamps are necessary, that the light of our merits may shine forth in such great darkness. The Law signified that these lamps should always shine in the tabernacle of testimony50 — not those which the Jews kindle daily. Those shine under shadow and are extinguished daily, because they do not see what they do, they know not what they read, taking according to the letter what is commanded according to the Spirit. For the tabernacle of testimony is this body of ours, into which Christ came through a more ample and more perfect tabernacle, as it is written51, that through his own blood he might enter into the holies52 and might cleanse our conscience from every work of the dead and from defilement53 — that in our bodies, which by their testimony and the quality of their works testify to the hidden and secret things of our thoughts, the clear light of our virtues may shine in the manner of lamps. These are the burning lamps which day and night shine in the temple of God54. If you preserve the temple of God in your body, if your members are members of Christ55, your virtues shine, which no one extinguishes unless your own crime extinguish them. By this light of a chaste mind and pious devotion let the festivals of our solemnity shine forth.
12. Let your lamp therefore always shine. Christ also rebukes those who use a lamp, if they do not always use it, saying: Let your loins be girt and your lamps burning56. Let us not rejoice in the light only for an hour. He rejoices for an hour who hears the word in church and is glad57, but going out forgets what he heard, or neglects it. He is the man who walks in his house without a lamp, and so walks in darkness, who does the works of darkness in revelings and drunkenness, in chambers and impurities, in contention and emulation58, clothed with the devil's garments, not with Christ. These things happen when the lamp of the Word does not shine. Let us, then, never neglect the word of the Lord, from which is for us the origin of every virtue and a certain proceeding of all our works. If the members of our body cannot rightly do their work without light — for the feet stagger without light, and the hands wander — how much more must the steps of our soul, the gait of our mind, be directed to the light of the Word! There are also hands of the soul which touch well, as Thomas touched the marks of the Lord's resurrection59, if the light of the present Word shines for us. Let this lamp be lighted in every word, in every work; to this lamp let our outward and inward step be moved.
13. But let us go on to the rest, and let the Word of God become a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths60. A lamp is enough for the feet for walking; for paths it is not enough for illumination. Yet the same Word is both a lamp to the feet and a light to the paths, because the same only-begotten Son of God is both advocate61 for those who fall and rewarder for the strong, the remitter of sins and the bestower of rewards.
14. And so to him for whom the Word of God shall have been a lamp, wherever he goes, the paths shine for him, as they shone for holy David; and so, walking as in the light, he says: I have sworn, and I have determined to keep the judgments of thy justice62. [I have been humbled exceedingly.]63 It is the voice of one walking in the light, to say with authority: I have sworn, and I have determined. For he who has determined is not moved, fears not lest he fall, because to determine is more than to stand. David then stands, founded by the standing of his mind, and fears not lest in this world's darkness he be able to err. For if he feared, he would not swear; if he trembled whether he could keep the divine judgments, he would not establish it with the sacrament of an oath. No one swears well unless he is able to know what he swears. To swear, then, is the index of knowledge, the testimony of conscience. And he swears well who directs his feet to the lamp of the Word, who beholds the light upon his paths. Let light go before, if you propose to swear — that is, let knowledge of the truth precede, that the bond of the sacrament may not be able to harm you. Where religion is the more sacred, there the faith of truth is the fuller. Therefore the Lord, who came to teach the little ones, to instruct the new, to confirm the perfect, says in the Gospel: Swear not at all64, because he was speaking to the weak. So he was speaking not only to the apostles, but to the multitudes — for he willed you not to swear, lest you forswear yourself — and added: Swear not, neither by heaven, nor by earth, nor by Jerusalem, nor by thy head65, that is, by these things which are not subject to your power. The Lord swore and will not repent66. Let him then swear who shall not be able to repent of his oath. And what did God swear? That Christ is a priest forever67. Was what God swore uncertain, or impossible? Could it be changeable? Do not therefore usurp the example of his oath, you who have not the power of fulfilling your oath.
15. What then did David swear? To keep the judgments of the justice68 of the Lord. In nothing did the judgments of divine justice now move the man already perfect, already instructed. How many are moved when they see some just man bereft of children, by frequent losses brought to the necessity of the uttermost want, so that he cannot have the very supports of food, broken with grievous sickness and harassed by perpetual debility, so that he cannot meet the common offices of nature! But he who is firm is not moved, and rather understands that the justice of God is to be proclaimed, because the Lord chastiseth whom he loveth69. Is not the son chastised more often than the slave-boy? Is the Father's pious affection then more unjust than the Master's severity? The Father exercises a son with harsher things than the master does his house-slave; but a father's hard scourges are not reckoned undeserved, since he wishes the son to be better than the slave. The training therefore is full of justice.
16. Holy Job was bereft of his children, over whom God gave power to the devil. Was God then unjust? Far from it; rather just, because, intending to test his just one through such exercises, in which his patience was tested, he made him more worthy to be tested. For the more brilliant the merit of the crowned, the more abundant the justice of the crowner. He was stripped of his goods, who had been rich, and underwent these losses with God's permission. They were no longer losses of money but of life, when, all things being taken away, sustenance was lacking. Who would accuse God's justice when, had Job not lost all his money, he would not have found so great a grace? God willed to anoint his naked athlete with the oil of patience[?], that by undergoing the contest he might make him stronger and by deserving more worthy of the prize. His whole body suffused with grievous ulcer, he sat in the dunghill, scraping the corruption that was flowing from the savage stripes of his wounds70 — and this the devil had brought upon a just man with the Lord's permission; the devil would have seemed to himself to have conquered, had he not, after receiving the power he had asked, been himself overcome. What then was that temptation, what was the want of goods, the bereavement of children, the endurance of wounds, but the exercise of faith, the badge of patience, the glorious training of virtue, the confession full of victory — so that he who before had the devil contradicting71, should afterwards no more have him? Let no one then think hard the things which are just; nor did they seem hard to him who could say: Naked I was born, naked shall I go forth. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord72. For the just man blesses the Lord when he labors; the sinner, when he riots.
17. Have not, then, the commandments of justice seemed hard from our weakness — we, who reckon hard whatever we cannot bear through weakness of soul? Take away persecutions, and martyrs are wanting. But God permitted persecutors also — that is, the powers of this age — to rise up, that those should not be lacking who would conquer for Christ. Who then, when weak, did not say: 'Lord, why hast thou given thy people into the power of those that persecute them?' But who today denies that those who suffered are more blessed than those whom no torments of the persecutors vexed?
18. The just then desires to be tested, fears not to be tempted; for he who has determined to keep the judgments73 of God fears no temptations. Where has he determined, if not in the heart? For there must we be rooted and founded74, not floating nor moved by every wind of doctrine75. Within, then, in our heart, in our breast, in our mind, let us determine, that this prophetic word may be ours: the thoughts of the just are paths76. In these paths the just man walks well; therefore he says: Prove me, O Lord, and try me77. So in this place, answering his own authority — he who had sworn and determined to keep the judgments of God's justice — he says he wished to be tested, who believed that humility was to be undergone for Christ's sake.
19. And so he says: I have been humbled exceedingly78. He rejoices that he has been not only humbled, but humbled exceedingly. Blessed is he who glories in humility rather than in power. Power deceives; humility does not abandon. Good is the humility which has found praise of virtue even in Christ. This in him I venerate more than the act of creation, because we were created for labor, redeemed for rest. Hence he himself, calling the peoples to his mercy, glories in his own humility, saying: I was made manifest to them that asked not for me, I appeared to those who did not seek me79; and elsewhere: I have given my back to the scourges, my cheeks to the palms; my face I have not turned from the confusion of spittings80. Rightly, then, did David wish to humble himself, that he might fill up in himself what was lacking of Christ's tribulations.
20. And he himself, in his own person, can have spoken these words through David's mouth, I have been humbled exceedingly — he who said in the Gospel: Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls81. Let us learn, then, from him who willed to teach us what would profit unto salvation and who says to us: Learn of me. It is no small thing that he says learn, and adds learn of me. No one puffed up can easily teach humility; for the mind of the flesh exalts human wisdom.82 He who is content with poverty is not content with insult, and he who can bear the punishment of stripes is harassed by the contumelies of words; he who can despise public office grieves that someone has been preferred above him in honor. Great is it in all things to keep the measure of humility. Pride was the first thing that cast man down. While we wish for more, we are wont to lose even what is less. Good is humility, which by seeking nothing obtains the whole of what it despises. The Lord Jesus himself humbled himself that he might lift us up, and humbled himself even unto the cross83. For which cause, he says, God hath also exalted him, that in his name every knee should bow84. The Lord has done such great things — dare I say it — and yet have I not bent my knee to him? But I bent my knee to him after he humbled himself; for thus, that is, through humility, through the cross, he gathered the Church to himself.
21. David was a king; he testifies that the uncertain and hidden things of wisdom were laid open to him85, yet for that reason he humbled himself the more. But Hezekiah fell from the height of his heart. That praiseworthy king, who from siege, from sickness was freed by the Lord's benefits and miracles86, fell through pride and diminished the grace of his earlier merit. What would Joseph have been, had he not been humble? He knew that being preferred above his brothers had injured him; even pious love had found the wretchedness of preferment. Preferment armed his brothers; humility won over strangers. Preferment stirred up his kinsmen; humility made the king a subject — so that we may suppose what David here said above to be uttered, as it were, in the person of Joseph: I have been humbled87, and he saved me — though, if we consider what David himself endured, we shall find he said it from his own person.
22. When Goliath had been overcome, the maidens ran out chanting: Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands88. The bile of the king was stirred, and he sought to kill him. And David humbled himself before Jonathan the king's son and turned his affection, so that the very man whom he could have suspected as the heir of the paternal kingdom he kept against his father's pursuits, saying to his father: Why dost thou sin in the blood of an innocent man?89 — and wrung this saying from him against his will, that David did not deserve to be killed. Rightly then he says: I have been humbled, and he saved me90. And again, when the prophet had come to him and announced the Lord's indignation in the matter of the woman Bathsheba, he humbled himself and said: I have sinned to the Lord; and Nathan said to him: Because thou hast repented, the Lord hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die the death91. Good then is humility. So he was humbled and saved. And in another place, when the Lord was offended on account of the people being numbered, and had sent the prophet Gad to say to king David: Choose for thyself what thou wilt have done — three years of famine over the land, or three months to flee from the face of thine enemies pursuing thee, or three days of death in the land92 — David answered: These three are straits to me; but rather will I fall into the hand of the Lord, because his mercy is great exceedingly, than into the hands of men93. And when the Lord had given death in Israel from morning till the dinner-hour, with seventy thousand men dead, David looked unto the Lord, and when he had seen the angel striking the people, said: Behold, I have sinned, and I the shepherd have done evil; what have these in this flock done? Let thy hand be upon me, and upon the house of my father94. And the Lord became propitiated, when the sacrifice of reconciliation had been offered to the Lord. Good then is humility, which saved king and people. So therefore, the Lord being reconciled, David said: It is good for me that I have been humbled95.
23. Good, then, is humility, especially if voluntary devotion be joined to it. And so he asks to be quickened according to the word96, that he may live according to the Word, and do all things with reason, not according to the will of the flesh. Whence that mystical text can also be taken morally: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing97. And do you, too, be an imitator of God. How an imitator? Can you make heaven, or earth, or sea? Surely not. But that you should make all things through the word, nothing without the word, all things with reason, nothing without reason — for you are not irrational, O man, but rational.
24. There follows the fourth verse: Approve, O Lord, the freewill offerings of my mouth, and teach me thy judgments98. He who humbles himself is quickened according to God's promise, and he who is quickened by the Spirit of God is a willing servant. For it matters very greatly, in what is pleasing to God, whether you do something from the will or from necessity. So the willing servant has a reward; the compelled one merely dispenses an obedience, as we have learned from the Apostle's teaching. For he wrote: Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, a dispensation is committed to me99. Behold the willing executor of the heavenly judgment. He was free of all and was made the slave of all — by will, surely, not by necessity — that he might gain very many. He showed himself also to those who were under the bond of the law, as if he were under the law, when he was not under the law, that he might save those who were living under the law. To the weak he became weak100, that he might support the weak by taking on his own weakness. To all he became all, not by legal necessity, but by an obedience of the will. He opened to me the depth of this counsel in the epistle written to Philemon, because he wished another to be what he himself was — that what was deferred to the Lord might be seen as an act of will rather than necessity. So, interceding for Onesimus, he says: Receive him as my own bowels, whom I would have retained with me, that he might minister to me in your stead in the bonds of the gospel; but without thy counsel I would do nothing, that thy good might not be as it were of necessity, but voluntary101. What an earnest persuader, who, though he was a vessel of election102 of God, did not disdain a share in another's counsel, lest he should defraud the other of the fruit of his own will! Rightly then said David, as a prophet: Approve, O Lord, the freewill offerings of my mouth103, offering to the Lord the voluntary sacrifice of his mouth, since like that prophetic bee he was wont with his mouth to gather good flowers, with his mouth to fashion combs, with his mouth to compose honey, and with his mouth to choose offspring from sweet herbs — which, he says, being weak in strength, by the proclamation of wisdom prolongs the age of its substance104. What this voluntary offering of the mouth may be, recognize: Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise105.
25. The Lord awaits voluntary servants. So in the book of Isaiah the Lord says: Whom shall I send?106 He could surely have commanded his servant, whom he had found worthy to be sent; but he preferred not to defraud him of the reward of spontaneous self-offering, having waited that he might offer himself. And though he knew his disposition, yet he waited for the voice, that he might heap up the grace. Whence Isaiah, offering himself, says: Behold, here am I, send me107, and so afterwards he was sent to the people. So it is said of him, that Isaiah dares and says108. For Christ filled, as it were, a voluntary instrument with the more abundant grace of his Spirit.
26. Nor is this, I think, idly placed, that he desires the freewill offerings of his mouth to please the Lord109. Many are the prophets, but in not all do the freewill offerings of the mouth please. Jeremiah excused himself, saying: O thou Lord that art Master, behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a youth110; and the Lord said to him: Whithersoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and according to all that I shall command thee thou shalt speak111. The prophet modestly pleaded the age of his body, lest in carrying out the heavenly commands his youth should be found unequal. But God, who judges the age of morals to be considered rather than that of years, and foresaw in his servant's youthful body the maturity of robust wisdom, said: Say not, I am a youth112 — that is, he forbade him by reflection on his youthful age to weigh his strength, since faith would supply him the gray hair of wisdom. And again later, when the same prophet had said: Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, and I have been deceived. And I said, I will not name his name, nor will I speak in his name any more113, he added: And there was made in my heart as it were a burning flaming fire in my bones, and I was undone on every side, and I cannot bear it114. We notice, therefore, that to those also who have thought their office should be excused or refused on some certain ground, our Lord either suggests a reason or breathes in the desire of prophetic revelation, that they may concur with the will to undertake the office, not yield by necessity, that thereby a fuller reward of complete devotion may reach them. Caiaphas also prophesied: that it is expedient that one man should die for the people115; but this was not a voluntary office of the mouth, because he spoke unwillingly. Indeed he knew not what he was saying.
27. What freewill offerings of his mouth, then, does David desire to please the Lord? I have chosen to be abject in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners116. I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me117. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter propositions from the beginning of the world118. I have prepared a lamp for my Christ119. His own body, which was before muddy and obstructed by the filth of an inherited pollution, so that it could not receive the spiritual oil, he prepared for Christ, that it might shine. He shines for Christ whose works shine in the light of Christ. Peter shone for Christ, when he said: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth arise and walk120. He shone for Christ who said: The Lord Jesus heals thee121. The lamp of the martyrs shone for Christ, who underwent martyrdom for Christ. David shone for Christ, who could say: My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God122. He had prepared his mind for Christ, when of him by whom he had been frequently sought unto death he said: Let it not be granted me of the Lord, if I shall do this word, to lay my hand upon my lord, the Lord's anointed123. When he had a greater cause for safeguarding his own life — to slay his pursuer — and others, who were urging that no mercy should be shown to an enemy whom the Lord according to his promise had delivered into his hand, he called them back from the desire of killing him.124 The prophet shone for Christ, when of him who had stained his father's house with shameful incest125, who was attacking his father's life in parricidal battles, the pious father yet said to those going forth to battle: Spare for me my son Absalom126. He kept silent the crime of wickedness; he held forth instead the rank of piety and the name of kinship, that those about to fight might think not of an enemy of the king but of his son, and might restrain the grief of injured piety. And after his death he covered his face and cried out with a great voice, saying: My son Absalom, my son127. The parricide did not deserve this voice; rather he was prophesying the grace of Christ. The prophet had learned from Christ to be a good father, who served the good of the Son.
28. And so he was saying: And teach me thy judgments128, because the judgments of God are as a great deep129 and unsearchable130, as the Apostle says. So he could know them only by Christ teaching, because one is the master of all, Christ131. And these are Christ's judgments, that to those who have laid snares for us we should know that injury is not to be repaid for injury, but rather grace to be returned for injury.132 So he did not return curse for those cursing him, did not strike back at those striking him,133 but, even crucified, was bringing forward for his persecutors the help of pious intercession with the Father, saying: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do134. Whoever, therefore, shall do these judgments of the Law shall be rewarded by Christ.
29. But who can be taught the judgments of God except he who has always strained his soul toward the Lord — who can say: My soul is in thy hands always, and I have not forgotten thy law135? Some have: My soul is in my hands always, that is, 'in my acts,' that is, 'in my works.' Though set in dangers, the just man says to the Lord: 'For thy sake I die daily, daily I am in peril. I am in peril from the schemer, in peril from the slanderer, in peril from those whom I rebuke, whom I refute; I am in peril for truth and justice. Yet, neither terrified by perils, have I forgotten thy law. Therefore my soul is in my hands.' But because most have My soul is in thy hands always136, I think this should be more broadly explained.
30. The prophet knows, knows where to place the safeguard of his soul, whence to hope for help. He wishes to set his soul in God's hands, because the king's heart is in the hand of God137. Whoever subdues his own body, and as a ruler of himself, with congruous vigor, does not allow his soul to be disturbed by the body's passions — he, holding himself in by a kingly power, is rightly called king, because he has known how to rule himself and is the arbiter of his own right, not led captive into fault, nor borne headlong into vice. His soul perishes not forever, nor does anyone snatch it from the hand of the Father138 omnipotent or of the Son. For the hand of God, which has founded heaven139, does not let go those whom it has held.
31. What these hands are, let us consider. In the Song you have: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me140. The Bride speaks this of Christ, the soul of the Word of God; and Christ is the same Word of God and Wisdom141. Blessed, then, is the soul whom Wisdom embraces. Great is the hand of Wisdom; the great right hand embraces the whole soul. For the soul that is betrothed to the Word of God is fortified entire; for the fullness of wisdom is to fear God142. The soul, then, that fears God fortifies itself with full protection. Wisdom puts her left hand under his neck, and her right hand into his embrace.143 Either of her arms is stretched out to useful things; yet the single hands of Wisdom have their proper own: In her right hand is length of life, and in her left hand riches and glory144. Each hand is endowed with good gifts, yet they have a variety in their proper office, that they comprehend both present and future times — the left as the rewarder of present things, the right of future.
32. We can know this also from the prophecy of the holy patriarch Israel. For when he had set his right hand upon Ephraim and his left upon Manasseh, and Joseph wished to turn them about by consideration of their ages, that the father's right hand might be set upon the head of Manasseh the elder son, he refused, and said: I know, my son; this also shall be a people, and this shall be exalted; but his younger brother shall be greater than he145. Greater in what? In this, surely, that he was preferred in blessing, with later generations saying — that is, of Ephraim: God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh146. Or because his seed is the multitude of nations who in this world chose labor, believing in the Lord Jesus, that he might have consolation in the things to come. But Manasseh's seed is the people of forgetting, who, having forgotten its own Author, was exalted for a time in this age, but is to give grievous penalties for the rest, because it has denied its God and Lord.
33. This we have said in order to prove that those things are weightier which are to come. The left hand of Wisdom is under the bride's head; the right is above, embracing the whole bride. So the left is, as it were, a prop of present rest, on which the soul leans and rests. She has where to lay her head, because the left hand of wisdom is riches and glory147. These soothe for a time, and are in part a solace; and so the Son of Man had not where to lay his head148, because being rich, he was made poor149, nor did he seek any glory of this age, because he had come not to succor in part but the whole human race, saying: Are you angry with me because I have made a whole man sound on the sabbath?150 — that is, the whole, not that he might enrich by a heaping of wealth, nor with insignia of honors, nor crown with the increase of worldly glory — for these have not the fullness of beatitude and grace — but whole, that is, the whole by which he might embrace the length of eternal life. For the life that is in Wisdom's right hand is not like common life, but is length of life151 — so that he who receives life from Wisdom may obtain not the brevity of life, but its perpetuity and the length of eternity.
34. A good cloak is the eternity of life. This was the cloak of the Bride which the keepers of the walls wished to take away152, with which the first man had been stripped; but the soul devoted to God, by long seeking and by holding and not letting go her beloved, clothed herself with the precious wrap of divine charity. Blessed, then, are those who are clothed with such a cloak, and have deserved a covering of this kind by the keeping of the law, because they have not forgotten the law but have done what was of the law; for he who acts beside the law has forgotten the law. And so this white soul ascends from the earth, because she shines clothed in the garment of Wisdom; and those powers which keep the gates of heaven say of her: Who is she that ascendeth all white, leaning upon her brother?153 — she who, having placed her head upon Wisdom's left hand154, in order to open her hand to the poor155, used wealth not seized and snatched but left to her, to succor the destitute, the abandoned of his portion; she who, eager for glory, acquired it by good works, did not court worldly dignities by empty boasting. For this is to set one's head, that is, the principal part of one's senses, above the hand of Wisdom — that, I say, by which the soul ascends with whitening merits from this desert (as many have it) of this life to that ever-flowering place of eternal joy. These are the powers, who in the book of Isaiah also say: Who is this that cometh from Edom, with the redness of garments from Bosor, so beautiful in his robe?156 These, I say, are they who marvel that any soul can ascend from this rough and rocky desert without the stain of great vices, and so rejoice when one is found, who has not stained the garments of natural innocence with the ink of worldly folly, but has purified them with the brightness of spiritual grace.
35. That soul, now secure, now glad, says: Sinners have laid a snare for me, and I have not erred from thy commandments157. A worthy voice for one leaving this age, since she has escaped the nets of the persecutors and the snares of those who lay in wait. A worthy voice of the martyrs, before whom many torments were set, many rewards offered, that from zeal for martyrdom they might be called back either by the terror of punishments and the horror of cruel death, or by the enticement of rewards. Heavy is the snare of proscription, which often breaks the saints by the disfigurement of poverty whom the dread of death has not broken; another snare of fire, the snare of imprisonment and long-drawn punishment. Great is the snare when riches are promised, when honors, when the friendships of tyrants. He, then, who has escaped these and could attain to martyrdom, rightly says: 'sinners have laid a snare for me, but I have not turned aside from the paths of thy commandments'158 — to whom, despising things present and seeking things to come, the heavenly kingdom has been opened by the promise of thy divinity.
36. Who are those sinners who have laid the snares? The Apostle has shown you the author of all sins and pointed him out, saying: They that will become rich fall into temptation and into the snare of the devil159. Do you note that riches are the snare of the devil, which he stretched out even for the Savior?160 But he, who had nothing that the prince of this world161 coming could call his own, loosed the bonds of his snares. And lest you suppose this snare to be a trifling one, this snare strangled Judas the apostle. The wretch, when he had been ensnared into betraying the Lord, when he saw how great a wickedness had been admitted, hanged himself with a noose162. But this also was the devil's snare — that he might not do penance, but choke himself with the noose. For God is merciful even to traitors, that they may be summoned to penance and turned back from their flagitious purpose, and come to themselves out of the devil's snares, by which they are held captive at his will163. It is not now a misfortune to have fallen, but a crime, since they not only deliver themselves to be captured but are bound to the will of the devil, when they could say: Let us break their bonds asunder164. For divine Scripture has given you not only to beware of the devil's snare, but also through penance to break its bonds.
37. What hast thou, O man, to do with delights and pleasures? The snare does not catch unless the bait has first caught you; while you seek prey, you yourself entangle yourself in the snare. The bait of the snare is greed; the bait of the devil is luxury, by which he wishes to bait us, not to feed us. And so the Apostle cried out: Touch not, taste not, which are all unto destruction by the very use165. Do not, then, touch luxury, and it will not be able to defile you; do not taste the corruption of greed, and you will be free from the snare. What, finally, hast thou with the earth, who hast risen with Christ? Seek the things that are above, where Christ is; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth166. We are dead to earthly things; our life we hide with Christ in our God167; we live no longer ourselves, but Christ lives in us168. Why do we return again to earthly things? Behold, I have gone afar off flying away169, says the saint; I have seen the snares of iniquity and contradiction in the city; for there are snares where there is usury and guile. He went afar off, fleeing the earthly disgraces, and so he came to the heavenly rewards.
38. Why, I say, do you turn yourself back to earth, if in Enoch you have been caught up170 to heaven, in Elijah you have been carried up in a chariot171, in Paul caught up to paradise172, have your conversation in the heavens, in David you were heard, that you might take the wings of the dove173 and fly, in Christ you have been exalted174, become a flying creature in the spirit? When he descended like a dove175, he gave you those wings, that you might learn to fly forth from the earth. Nor must you think you should hesitate how you ought to fly, with what oarage of wings176. David did indeed say: Who will give me wings as a dove's, and I shall fly and be at rest?177 — and seemed as it were to have doubted from whom he could receive wings, although divine grace, which cannot be found upon earth, is wont so to be declared. Yet the same prophet later showed plainly what those wings are, saying: If you sleep among the midst of lots, the wings of a dove are silvered, and the hinder parts of her in the hue of gold178. Even if you sleep, your wings yet rise. For there are those who, sleeping, watch — as she watched who said: I sleep, and my heart watcheth179. Even if it is night, the spirit watches, of whom it is written: In the night my spirit watcheth unto thee180. Then your wings shall be unfolded; and from spiritual eloquence and from precious prudence of gold the flight shall arise. Where then can you fear snares, when spiritual oarage is at hand for you? If sincerity of soul, if purity of mind shines forth, you are a dove. So it has been said to you: Be simple as doves181. If greater oarage be wanting, do not despise even the lesser. Be at least a sparrow, that with sagacious tracking you may foresee the snares; and even when nearly taken in the enticements of sin, recalled at last, you may be able to say: Our soul is delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken and we are delivered182. Of which, since I have thought it should be treated elsewhere, it now seems we should pass to another matter.
39. Enough for you to know yourself a bird, taken into the nature of flying, the Lord saying through the prophet: He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunters and from the sharp word183; for nets are not in vain stretched out to birds. You are a bird, O man, who like a bird have been renewed into a kind of eagle's youth184, and so nets are not in vain stretched out to birds. Why do you cast yourself down to the earth, you who were already seeking heaven? Nets are not in vain stretched out to one renewed, because you have already begun to be Christ's, you have ceased to be of the hunters. Before, the hunter took you by the snare; before, the devil seized you, as it were his prey, by his own right; now why does the alien attack the wares of the Lord's cross? You can yet escape these snares too, that you may not say: 'the hunters took me as a sparrow', if you escape the snare of the heart which the devil put into the heart of Judas185, and so armed him for the crime of betrayal. May the Lord turn from us those snares which he rains upon sinners186. And so the prophet says: 'Thou shalt give them, O Lord, the snare of their heart which thou hast prepared for them. But to us, O Lord, give thy help, that we may follow after thee, bound by thy bonds. For there are no more powerful, no more pleasant bonds than the bonds of charity. He who is bound to thee is loosed from the world.'
40. I have purchased thy testimonies as a heritage forever, because they are the joy of my heart187: this also is the voice of the martyrs, who say that they have received the inheritance of heavenly testimonies. The prophet then says: 'I am the heir of thy commandments; I have sought thy succession by the right of faith and piety.' He cannot say this except who keeps the commandments acquired with heaven and earth as witnesses. For the Lord said: Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth188: the Lord calls the elements to witness, to confute those who refuse to keep the divine precepts, that he may close off every refuge of excuse. He calls them to witness against men, saying: Be ye my witnesses, and I am a witness, saith the Lord189. The commandments of the Lord, then, are full of testimonies, and are themselves testimonies, of which the God who lieth not190 is a sufficient witness, and with whom your conscience too is a witness, with thoughts accusing or also defending191 — faithful enough even in an unfaithful breast, since whatever has been committed cannot lie hidden from the Judge of all. For if in an earthly judgment even one who has come suborned to lie, if he has been convicted by the testimony of another, is wont to give up the truth, how much more in the heavenly judgment before the Lord Jesus must one needs confess what is true, whom one knows to know what has been done!
41. And he says well: I have purchased thy testimonies as a heritage192, because as before we were heirs of the sinner, so now we are heirs of Christ. That was an inheritance of crimes, this is of virtue; that bound us, this looses us; that delivered us up to the enemy, ensnared by the usury of our offenses, this redeemed us by the title of the Lord's Passion and acquired us for Christ. The evil succession of Eve was devouring the whole man; the brilliant inheritance of Christ has freed the whole man. Not for one, indeed, not for a few, but for all has Jesus written his testament. We are all written heirs, not by portion but by entirety. The testament is common, and it is the right of all; the inheritance is universal, the soundness of each one. Yet the new testament both each enters singly and all possess; nor is anything diminished for the heir which is claimed by the co-heirs. The benefit remains entire, and grows the more for each, the more it has been won for many. Other is the condition of human inheritance: if it has been divided, the benefits are diminished, and the assignment of a co-heir is the heir's loss. Christ's kingdom is undivided, his inheritance undivided. How could the inheritance be divided, when its fruit is undivided — namely the kingdom of heaven? Gold, silver, an estate left by a man to many is parceled out and cut up; Christ's gifts come whole to each; all have, and none is defrauded.
42. Let us then hear the benefits of inheritance. Remission of sins is Christ's inheritance. Surely it is whole through each, and in common is gainful: to whomsoever it has been conferred, it diminishes for none, and adds to all. Whatever is relaxed for any one is acquired for the body. For if the angels rejoice over one sinner doing penance193, because they reckon the redemption of a man their own gain, how much greater the gain of the race, which is the gain of nature! Christ's inheritance is the resurrection. Will anyone call this his loss, which in the one finds the name of common grace? For Christ rising rose for all, since by man comes the resurrection of the dead194. How then can that be the loss of individuals which is the reformation of the whole body and of the human race? Let us read out the testament, then, and consider its institutions: And the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us; for after he had said: This is the testament that I will testify unto them, saith the Lord, by giving my laws in their hearts, and on their minds I will write them, and their sin and their iniquity I will remember no more195. O truly eternal Testator, who fixes his laws to our hearts and writes them on our senses, that we may not be able to think anything else than divine precepts, that we may owe to feel nothing else than God's oracles! He gave grace, reformed nature; from himself, who is wont to forget nothing, he took away the memory of my sins, and gave me the memory of his commandments.
43. Do not, then, take from your heart the law of God and fasten on the law of sin; do not write upon your senses the devil's enticements and blot out God's commandments. Behold, I have painted thy walls, says the Lord196 to Jerusalem — that is, to the soul zealous for tranquility and peace, which he made to his image. Do not, I say, take away the heavenly image and impose the image of death. You have refused the inheritance of the world; preserve Christ's testimonies, since in these is exultation and gladness197, inasmuch as every weeping shall be wiped away, and there shall be death no more, neither mourning nor weeping nor cry198. Christ's Passion was the image of the heavenly kingdom. No one heard his voice in the streets199, because by that silence of his Passion he was abolishing for the future every cry of impious voice. He who said to the daughters of Jerusalem did not wish to be wept over: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves200. For he who was about to take away all tears by the benefit of his cross, in his own Passion exhibited the figure of the future blessedness, that no one should weep except him who did not hold the benefits of Christ.
44. Rightly, then, the evangelical man says: I have purchased thy testimonies as a heritage forever, because they are the joy of my heart201. Who would not exult, because he has purchased heaven and earth as a heritage, the two elements which God himself called to witness when he was giving the law202, because he has sought God, of whom the saint says: the Lord is my portion203, because he has sought the Lord Jesus, has sought the Holy Spirit, and after these has sought the angels, and lives with them not only today and tomorrow but forever, nor is he saddened by any injuries for the Lord's name? Hence the apostles rejoiced when they were beaten, when they were thrust into prison.
45. Exulting then in the Lord's testimonies, he rightly was saying: I have inclined my heart to do thy justifications forever for the recompense204. He who hopes for the recompense of good works from God and hastens to him inclines his heart, that he may do Christ's justifications. What is Christ's justification? Suffer, he says, that we fulfill all justice205 — by which sin is diminished, fault is loosened. And he says well I have inclined, that it may not be steep and difficult for you, when you turn your mind as to humble and level things. Or surely, since the wisdom of the flesh is not subject to the law of God206, he seems to incline his heart who makes the bodily sense, which lifts itself up, subject to the law, and bends it by the contemplation of religion207. And he, who long had been lifting himself up in vain and was puffed up by the mind of his flesh208, when he humbles himself, inclines.
46. For Christ also humbled himself, that he might found the new testament. When I read the Gospel, when I hear that the Son of God took flesh from Mary209, I seem to myself to descend with Christ. For I read that he, who when he was in the form of God, emptied himself — and emptied himself, that he might take the form of a servant, and in habit found as a man humbled himself unto death210; I read him saying: He that exalteth himself shall be humbled211; I read him saying: Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart212. He did not say: 'learn of me, because I am mighty'; he did not say: 'learn of me, because I am glorious'; but: learn of me, because I am humble, which you can imitate. Do not lift yourselves up, do not exalt your heart213. He has therefore taught me to be humbled and to incline my heart to do justifications, not to iniquity but to equity, to incline for the recompense.214 The recompense is the kingdom of heaven and the dwelling-place of paradise.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 105.Psalm 118, 105. Var. line 22: Cum (C del.) O, Num PR, XHIIa GP, XIIII MNR. line 23: uel sicut in alia interpretatione habetur Tm2a. line 24: testantur Na. line 25: patri AT. line 26: dicit] add. I G I V- N. (def. A continues into Nun.)
- Scr. Ps. 22, 2.Psalm 22, 2. Var. line 1: domine om. MNOv; lux a. line 4: elimenta Rml. line 6: hisdem NORTa, iisdem v. line 7: declarentes Mml. line 8: eius] ex Rml; huius] eius GMNPRmla, ea Rm2. line 9: prophetatur codd. praeter O, a. line 11: interpretatio quae est pascua (add. eorum a) hoc est fidelium quae sunt pascua nisi Christus (quae est — alt. pascua in ras. T) Ta. line 12: pascuis om. Pml. line 14: diuina sacramenta Rav.
- Scr. cf. Cant. 2, 16. 6, 2.cf. Song of Songs 2, 16. 6, 2. Var. line 16: id est O, idem R; in -quo sit GMa, quod sit NT, quo sit P, hoc est γ; splendor GMNPTa. line 17: domini G. line 18: uerba] bona R libri GMOav. line 20: ruminamur Mml.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 109, 3.cf. Psalm 109, 3.
- Scr. cf. Cant. 8, 14.cf. Song of Songs 8, 14. Var. line 22: liliis] add. hoc est a. line 23: nam et — line 25 conuallium om. codd. praeter O, a.
- Scr. cf. Phil. 2, 15.cf. Philippians 2, 15. Var. line 26: cacumin Gml, cacumen Gm2M, cacumina NOPR; et] ex M.
- Scr. Ioh. 17, 14.John 17, 14. Var. line 2: sicut] add. et MNOav. line 3: sequuntur MOav. line 4: conualle GMOav.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 83, 7.cf. Psalm 83, 7.
- Scr. 1 Reg. 17, 34.1 Samuel 17, 34. Var. line 10: discens] docens Oav; pascuis talibus v. line 11: alt. uerus eras. R. line 12: sed om. PRml. line 13: montem M. line 14: sui] mei MN.
- Scr. cf. Phil. 2, 6–8.cf. Philippians 2, 6–8.
- Scr. cf. Luc. 4, 18–21.cf. Luke 4, 18–21. Var. line 15: aduentum — line 16 satiaret om. PR.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 6, 9–12.cf. John 6, 9–12. Var. line 16: piscibus] add. quinque a; multa om. GMNa; saturaret Ov.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 103.Psalm 118, 103. Var. line 17: haec eorum — line 18 tua] mitte oleum ne deficiat tibi, quia lumen lucernae est oleum O. line 19: pascua] add. sunt a.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 105.Psalm 118, 105. Var. line 20: nostrum] meum PRml. line 21: uerbi] uerbo R, om. O; et] uerbo O, om. R. line 24: intellegebilis R; igitur] enim a.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 1, 2.cf. John 1, 2.
- Scr. Ioh. 1, 9.John 1, 9. Var. line 3: uidit GMNOav; lucernam P. line 4: hoc Pml; dicitur av.
- Scr. Esai. 9, 2.Isaiah 9, 2.
- Scr. cf. Act. 12, 7.cf. Acts 12, 7. Var. line 6: angelus Mml. line 7: adstetit Rml; circumfulsit Ov; eum GMmlOPRv. line 8: eundem GM; contendentem R.
- Scr. Act. 9, 4.Acts 9, 4. Var. line 9: eum del. M, om. O; lumen] lux Nav, sol OR. line 11: et lucerna O; haec lucernae Rml; hac lucerna Rm2.
- Scr. cf. II Cor. 4, 7.cf. 2 Corinthians 4, 7. Var. line 13: uera OR; isto] is GPm2Ta, his Pml. line 14: ligno O.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 25, 4.cf. Matthew 25, 4. Var. line 15: mitte — quia Ov, om. cet. a; mitte a; est] add. mitte a; est oleum] add. ne deficiat tibi quia (quia om. MPa) lumen lucernae est (et a) oleum MPRa. line 16: oleum terrestre] oleae terrestris GMNPmlTa. line 17: et om. NORa; quod M; unguebantur PR. line 18: ceruices O; durae O; dure R. line 19: tua] eius Rm2, om. Mml; scopolis P.
- Scr. cf. Luc. 10, 33–34.cf. Luke 10, 33–34. Var. line 20: fundit Mml. line 21: e Hierusalem G.
- Scr. cf. Tob. 4, 11 (Vulg.); Prou. 15, 27 (16, 6).cf. Tobit 4, 11 (Vulg.); Prou. 15, 27 (16, 6). Var. line 23: curat MNTa; enim] add. dei Rm2.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 5, 16.cf. Matthew 5, 16. Var. line 24: liberet Rml.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 25, 1–12.cf. Matthew 25, 1–12. Var. line 2: fidi M, add. non R; desistit O; deficit Rml. line 5: corpore constituto O. line 6: exclusi Rm2. line 8: lucet OR. line 9: tui om. M.
- Scr. Ioh. 3, 20.John 3, 20. Var. line 12: habeamus OPR; tuis] nostris O; PR. line 13: lampadas PRml.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 6, 16–17.cf. Matthew 6, 16–17. Var. line 14: suis om. M; O om. Mml. line 15: unguite P; capud M; oleum mentibus nostris OR. line 18: lux est] add. quia ORv. line 20: in te] in Mml Rml, del. R, om. NOv; est tenebrosa a. line 21: est] erit Ta. line 23: possumus Rml.
- Scr. Ioh. 5, 35.John 5, 35. Var. line 24: dominus de eo av. line 26: possit GMPmlRml. line 27: qui MNa.
- Scr. Matth. 5, 14.Matthew 5, 14. Var. line 1: a domine R; apostolis Rm2. line 3: fulget MNPm2a; dicunt R. line 5: est om. O; iis v.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 105.cf. Psalm 118, 105.
- Scr. Matth. 13, 43.Matthew 13, 43. Var. line 8: sui] mei N, eorum a.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 5, 15.cf. Matthew 5, 15. Var. line 11: contagione edd. uett. b; cogitatione codd. ap. line 12: ex nationibus] nationum a.
- Scr. cf. Esai. 9, 2.cf. Isaiah 9, 2. Var. line 13: horta GP; est] add. eis ORav.
- Var. line 15: integumento av. line 16: mensurae GO; huius om. R. line 17: ueritate GMNOPR; praefulgeat O.
- Var. line 18: superaffluat ipsa mensura O; ne supereffluant om. O. line 19: bonis] add. conserta O; sint] sine O, sina R.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 12, 36.cf. Matthew 12, 36.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 5, 15.cf. Matthew 5, 15. Var. line 21: supra a. line 22: ut om. P; et qui ingrediuntur uta.
- Scr. Luc. 11, 33; Matth. 5, 15.Luke 11, 33; Matth. 5, 15. Var. line 25: lucet] pergit A; luceat Ov. line 27: cum] cor Gml. line 28: ore tuo Omlav.
- Scr. Sap. 7, 10; Hiob 18, 5.Wisdom 7, 10; Hiob 18, 5. Var. line 1: possis AGmlMmlR; pr. quae] quod O; alt. quae] quod O, eras. R.
- Scr. cf. Ex. 27, 20–21.cf. Exodus 27, 20–21.
- Scr. I Cor. 12, 21.1 Corinthians 12, 21. Var. line 6: operantibus] add. cum sit quidem angustiis opertus Tm2a; sed non acutis om. AO; acutis] angustus GPTa, angustiis MmlN, angustis Mm2; cf. Matth. 5, 15 (κατὰ τὸ λόγιον).
- Scr. Phil. 3, 20.Philippians 3, 20. Var. line 8: qui dicebat om. MNP. line 9: nam et — line 11: tuum om. O; iam tota mente iam M; tota mente iam Nav.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 105.Psalm 118, 105. Var. line 11: tuum] add. domine GM. line 12: discernem (sic) O. line 13: mihi] add. hanc Ov; ut sequi M; sequar O; discerem MNml; sequi discere] hanc sequar a; ignorantiae] add. tenebris O; alt. in istius del. R, ante corporei tr. Rm2a. line 14: operimento AGMmlOPRTa; corporeae AGMmlNPT; corporis ORm2a; tenebris om. O; constitutus GMNOPRTa.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 90, 12.cf. Psalm 90, 12 (the angelic in manibus portabunt te ne forte offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum, lifted into Ambrose's post me / lucernam sequi moralization at §10). Var. line 15: cf. Ps. 90, 12 (pedibus O).
- Scr. Matth. 16, 23.Matthew 16, 23. Var. line 19: secutus AOav, cf. cap. 23 init. et Ps. 118 passim. line 20: est om. O. line 21: sicut O, om. cet. av. line 22: lucernam] add. pedibus O.
- Scr. Matth. 14, 28.Matthew 14, 28. Var. line 25: more O.
- Editorial: at p. 305 line 11 the manuscripts split between interior (Zelzer 1999) and inferior (some MSS); the body adopts interior (the inner eye), in keeping with the Matth. 6, 22 lamp-of-the-body topos under which §11 operates. Var. line 11: "interior" (Zelzer p. 305) vs. "inferior" (some MSS); read with cf. Matth. 6, 22.
- Var. line 11: corporis tui O.
- Scr. Luc. 12, 35.Luke 12, 35. Var. line 13: tibi om. (var.); line 14: uestrae om. Na; quia] add. ubi OM; pr. multae] add. sunt av; sunt lucernae Nav.
- Scr. cf. Ex. 27, 20–21.cf. Exodus 27, 20–21. Var. line 16: luceat R. line 17: non illas om. P. lines 17–18: cotididie M. line 18: et om. NR; extinguuntur MNv; extiguntur P.
- Scr. Hebr. 9, 11.Hebrews 9, 11. Var. line 1: sequemur Pml; ergo om. AOR; sicut lucernam om. v. line 2: scopoli P. line 3: ibi AR. line 4: uinde Aml; unde P; quod R. line 5: singulos gradus cura sit; gressus O. line 6: tuos AOR; praetereunte O; processu Rm2; et] nam v. line 7: luceat] ibi a; gurgis Pml. line 8: ibi] tibi Mml; est] add. sed et ANOPRap; longius] iter longius R. line 9: alt. sit om. A; ergo eras. R; fides tibi Nav; iter] add. semper O.
- Scr. cf. Hebr. 9, 12.cf. Hebrews 9, 12.
- Scr. cf. Hebr. 9, 14.cf. Hebrews 9, 14.
- Var. line 21: est nostrum AR.
- Scr. cf. I Cor. 6, 15.cf. 1 Corinthians 6, 15. Var. line 18: et om. NR. line 20: in quo (var.).
- Scr. Luc. 12, 35.Luke 12, 35. Var. line 8: cf. Ioh. 5, 35.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 5, 35.cf. John 5, 35.
- Scr. cf. Rom. 13, 13–14.cf. Romans 13, 13–14. Var. line 11: aut] et G (corr. in aut ml) Oav. line 13: qui] quia MNa. line 14: pr. in om. GMml; alt. in] et O, om. GMNPRml. line 15: uestimenta diaboli Oav. line 18: nostri] christi AO; christi Mm2N.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 20, 27.cf. John 20, 27. Var. line 21: uestigia] add. et O atque progrediatur O. line 22: tetigit (var.). line 23: iudicia N. line 25: internisque Mml; idem] id est P.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 105.cf. Psalm 118, 105. Var. line 26: sed] add. iam Aav. line 27: satis] add. est v. line 28: tamen uerbum O; ambulandum uel inluminandum M.
- Scr. cf. I Ioh. 2, 1.cf. 1 John 2, 1. Var. line 1: praemiorum largitor 27 av. line 3: hunc A. line 5: in om. OPRmlT.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 106.Psalm 118, 106. Var. line 8: metuit] mouetur Mml. line 10: huius] huis P, om. Ma. line 11: alt. si] sed PR. line 12: possit O; ius O; statueret] add. sed trepidaret sacramento (om. A) AR. line 13: sacramenta O; pr. iuret Rml; iurare] iure A, iura R. line 14: iudicium AR PR; scientiae] add. et O. line 16: lux] add. tibi Oav. line 17: tibi] ibi; ubi] ibi O. line 18: ibi] ubi AGMROPmlR.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 107.Psalm 118, 107 — Petschenig prints the clause humiliatus sum usque quaque in brackets, judging it a probable scribal interpolation drawn from §19 below (where the same Davidic phrase recurs in its proper place); apparatus humiliatus — quaque spuria esse censuit b (cf. cap. 19). Phase-B verification (Zelzer 1999): Zelzer retains the brackets, confirming Petschenig's athetesis as the modern editorial consensus. The bracketed clause is preserved here for transparency, the spuria flag carried forward into the bilingual apparatus. Var. Petschenig brackets the clause; humiliatus — quaque spuria esse censuit b (cf. cap. 19) — flagged as a probable interpolation in the textual tradition.
- Scr. Matth. 5, 34.Matthew 5, 34. Var. line 19: paruolos Rml. line 20: infirmi Aml; infirmioribus Rm2; infirmis Am2GMROPav. line 22: non iurare — addidit om. b; ne] add. forte O; peiurares Aml; periurares Am2Pm2; periures ex perires Gml; periureris PmlR; peierares Pm3; et om. AR; iurare] add. omnino v.
- Scr. Matth. 5, 34–36.Matthew 5, 34–36. Var. line 23: neque per caelum om. O. line 24: hie(ie-M)rosolimam AMR PR; capud M. line 25: sint MOR.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 109, 4.cf. Psalm 109, 4.
- Scr. Ps. 109, 4.Psalm 109, 4.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 106.Psalm 118, 106. Var. line 1: nec] et non O; line 2: peniteri M; potuit M; dominus Oav. line 4: dominus AOav. line 7: quid igitur] quia (quid GMml) dicitur codd. praeter O.
- Scr. cf. Hebr. 12, 6.cf. Hebrews 12, 6. Var. line 11: necessitate A; necessitates GMO; ut] aut R; subsidia habere NOav. line 13: ut om. M; obire av; subire GM; ob(o)edire cet.; officio AN PT. line 14: is av; si AR; hinc O; hiscet iustitiam dei av. line 15: non] con AR. line 16: seruus P. line 17: asperior O. line 18: imperia (om. flagella) O. line 19: filium meliorem Nav; esse filium O. line 20: iustitia G; est om. Mml.
- Scr. cf. Hiob 2, 7–8.cf. Job 2, 7–8. Var. line 24: sapientia AGMNPa; efficit Pml. line 25: uberius Av. line 27: iam] in R, om. A. line 28: si cum O; Iob si non omnem v; non om. a.
- Scr. cf. Eph. 4, 14.cf. Ephesians 4, 14.
- Scr. Hiob 1, 21.Job 1, 21 — at line 2 of the page-308 apparatus, the editio Romana reads patientiae (oleo patientiae, "oil of patience") whereas the codices read paenitentiae ("oil of penitence"). Petschenig prints patientiae with the ed. Rom. against the manuscripts; a single-letter divergence with major theological consequence — Job's oil-of-patience is the established Ambrosian topos, but the MS reading would re-route the trial as penitential rather than patient endurance. The body adopts Petschenig's patientiae. Var. line 1: Iob omnem a. line 2: unguere AGP; patientiae ed. Rom.; paenitentiae codd. av. line 3: certamine a; emerendo NOav. line 4: ulcere — uulnerum] uulnere — ulcerum v. line 5: ulcerum a; uibieiq. G; uiuicibus MmlPmlR. line 6: uiro] add. ut AR; sibi uicisse O. line 7: ipse om. AR.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 106.cf. Psalm 118, 106 — codex A lacuna: at p. 309 line 27 (mid-§18) codex A breaks off (nisi — quid fecerunt desunt in A) and resumes at p. 312 line 28 (mid-§22, fiat] pergit A). The roughly three-page stretch covers §§18 end → §22 close (the David humilitas-cluster: Ezechias / Ioseph / Saul-Jonathan / Bathsheba / census plague). Apparatus readings in this stretch reflect only the GMNOPR + a witness — Phase-B readers should treat collation notes between fn 74 and fn 93 as drawn from the reduced witness pool. Var. line 15: enim om. MO. line 16: luxoriat Rml; luxuriat ORm2v. line 17: nonne AR; non cet. av; uisa — iustitiae A; uisa sunt mandata iusta esse dura Rm2; uis aestimanda iustitiae (iustitia M) est cet. av. line 18: qui] quid GPRv (inc. cap. 17 in v); quicquid MNOPRm2av. line 20: deus] discipulis O; id est] atque Tm2a, om. MNTml; potestate M. line 21: infirmorum M. line 22: credidisti A; crededisti R; potestate AG. line 23: negat O. line 26: domini O. line 27: fluctuantes R. Manuscript A lacuna: nisi — p. 312 line 28 quid fecerunt desunt in A.
- Scr. cf. Eph. 3, 17.cf. Ephesians 3, 17.
- Scr. cf. Eph. 4, 14.cf. Ephesians 4, 14.
- Scr. Prou. 12, 5.Proverbs 12, 5. Var. line 2: nobis fiat av; in nobis O; profeticum R. line 4: ideoque Mav; denique O. line 5: hoc] add. quoque Ov.
- Scr. Ps. 25, 2.Psalm 25, 2. Var. line 6: domini MNv; cf. Ps. 118, 106; se uoluisse NOav.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 107.Psalm 118, 107. Var. line 8: ait] add. III GPR; IIII N; nimis] add. uiuifica me secundum uerbum tuum a; line 9: se esse NRav. line 10: decepit Mml. line 12: uirtutes Mml. line 14: popolos M.
- Scr. Esai. 65, 1.Isaiah 65, 1. Var. line 16: iis v.
- Scr. Esai. 50, 6.Isaiah 50, 6. Var. line 20: humiliari Pm2, cf. p. 311, 16. line 22: loquutus P.
- Scr. Matth. 11, 28–29.Matthew 11, 28–29. Var. line 24: honorati Mm2R. line 27: animis MmlRml.
- Scr. cf. Col. 2, 18.cf. Colossians 2, 18 — Petschenig conjecture #1 in Nun: at p. 311 line 1 Petschenig prints humanam sapientiam scripsi against codd. humana sapientia. The accusative is required by extollet governing a direct object ("the mind of the flesh exalts human wisdom"); the codd. nominative would force a reading "human wisdom puffs up the mind." Petschenig's emendation restores the syntax. Var. line 1: quamuis] add. sit av; humanam sapientiam scripsi humana sapientia GMNOPR; humana praeditus sapientia av. line 2: mens] add. tamen inflatur quam superbia av; extollitur O; extollit av. line 3: ferre] facere N. line 4: administrationem Ta. line 5: dolens Rml. line 6: humilitatis in omnibus O; mensuras MNOm2Rv. line 7: deiecit] add. quapropter a; amittere solemus O. line 9: ipse] add. enim a.
- Scr. cf. Phil. 2, 8.cf. Philippians 2, 8.
- Scr. Phil. 2, 9–10.Philippians 2, 9–10. Var. line 10: humiliauit] add. se Ov; exaltabit Rml. line 11: inquid M; illum inquit Na; eum O; omnis P. line 12: flectat P. line 15: cf. Ps. 50, 8. line 16: ab] in M; cf. IV Reg. 19.
- Var. line 17: rex] add. ille Ov.
- Var. line 18: et om. Ma; liberatus GMNPRTml; est liberatus Tm2a. line 19: gratia R. line 20: sibi] sibi ipse Ma; ipse NT. line 21: plus O. line 23: regi M.
- Scr. Ps. 114, 6.Psalm 114, 6. Var. line 26: reperiemus NOPm2Rm2av.
- Scr. I Reg. 18, 7.1 Samuel 18, 7. Var. line 1: Golia] alia eras. R; superato] add. golia s.l. R; occurrerunt Pml. line 4: ionatham PR; ut quem om. R; poterat NPTa. line 5: patri (om. regni) O.
- Scr. cf. I Reg. 19, 5.cf. 1 Samuel 19, 5. Var. line 7: et id] ut O; id] ad hanc Mm2; uoce a. line 8: meretur O. line 9: profeta R.
- Scr. Ps. 114, 6.Psalm 114, 6.
- Scr. II Reg. 12, 13.2 Samuel 12, 13. Var. line 10: bezsabeaeG; betsabeae M; bersabeae OTa; Bethsabee v. line 11: se] add. domino O; domine N. line 12: natham R. line 14: ergo MNO. line 16: gath O. line 17: fieris Rml; cf. II Reg. 24, 13.
- Scr. II Reg. 24, 13.2 Samuel 24, 13. Var. line 17: uelis fieri av. line 20: terram O.
- Scr. II Reg. 24, 14.2 Samuel 24, 14. Var. line 21: sunt mihi av. line 22: manu NOPRa. line 24: israhel PR. line 25: oram M. line 27: ait a; cf. II Reg. 24, 17. line 28: fiat] pergit A — manuscript A resumes here, ending the lacuna that opened p. 309 line 27.
- Scr. II Reg. 24, 17.2 Samuel 24, 17. Var. line 1: alt. in om. O; domum GMPm2av, cf. p. 140, 7. line 2: dominus om. O; domino] ei NTa.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 71.Psalm 118, 71.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 107.cf. Psalm 118, 107.
- Scr. Ioh. 1, 1–2.John 1, 1–2. Var. line 11: et deus erat uerbum om. N. line 14: potest M. line 15: uel M. line 16: uerbo] ipso O; nihil sine ratione om. T. line 17: O — rationabilis om. Mml.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 108.Psalm 118, 108. Var. line 18: uersus om. AGMNPRml; quartus] IIII AGNO, om. M. line 20: iuxta] secundum MOBav; domini AOav.
- Scr. I Cor. 9, 16–17.1 Corinthians 9, 16–17. Var. line 24: dicente MNOa; excusatorem O; exequutorem P. line 27: dispositio N. line 28: erat] at eras. R; cf. I Cor. 9, 19.
- Scr. cf. I Cor. 9, 21–22.cf. 1 Corinthians 9, 21–22. Var. line 1: factus est O. line 2: hicrificaret O; lucraret PmlR. line 4: infirmioribus O. line 5: assumptionem A.
- Scr. Philem. 12–14.Philemon 12–14. Var. line 7: epistola codd. av. line 18: ergo om. N. line 19: deo R.
- Scr. cf. Act. 9, 15.cf. Acts 9, 15.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 108.Psalm 118, 108 — the §24 prose immediately following this Davidic citation contains an unmarked Vergilian intertext: ut apis illa prophetica bonos flores colligere ore consueuerit, fauos ore fingere, mella ore conponere paraphrases *Verg. Georg. 4, 200 (colligunt … fingunt … condunt; on the parthenogenetic bee). Petschenig's apparatus at line 22 explicitly cross-references both Uerg. Georg. 4, 200 and Ambrose's own Hexaem. V 21, 67 — a rare moment of the apparatus signaling Ambrose's self-citation across his corpus. The Hexaem. passage is Ambrose's longer treatment of the bee as type of the chaste-yet-fruitful soul; here in Nun §24 the bee figures the uoluntarium oris sacrificium, the freewill offering of the mouth that gathers honeyed wisdom. Var. line 21: alt. ore] ora A. line 22:* erbis M; cf. Uerg. Georg. 4, 200; Ambros. Hexaem. V 21, 67.
- Scr. cf. Prou. 6, 8a (LXX).cf. Proverbs 6, 8a (LXX). Var. line 22: apes NPm2Rm2Ta. line 23: filios] flores GMNOTa; ut om. MN; suauibus herbis N.
- Scr. Ps. 49, 14.Psalm 49, 14. Var. line 24: quid AR; illud M. line 25: immola] add. inquit av. line 27: uoluntarius Mml. line 28: Esai. 6, 8; tenebantur O; iis v. line 29: maluit] add. enim AR.
- Scr. Esai. 6, 8.Isaiah 6, 8. Var. line 1: qui] denique O. line 2: et om. O; affectum sciret O. line 4: missus est MNav.
- Scr. Esai. 6, 8.Isaiah 6, 8.
- Scr. Rom. 10, 20.Romans 10, 20. Var. line 5: dictum est de eo O; audit Am2OPRmla. line 6: ubere A. line 7: implebit Rml.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 108.cf. Psalm 118, 108. Var. line 8: otiose] ideo O; sui] me Gml, corr. ml. line 9: deo AR; non om. v.
- Scr. Hier. 1, 6.Jeremiah 1, 6. Var. line 10: qui] quis AMNOav. line 12: dominus] add. noli dicere quia iunior (iuuenior av) sum ego, quia ad omnes ad OTav; quodcumque Mml; quoscumque OTav.
- Scr. Hier. 1, 7.Jeremiah 1, 7. Var. line 13: adibis a. line 15: ne] nec in O; exsequendis GMNR. line 16: adu(-o-R)lescentiae AR; deprehenderet N; deus] add. ut AOv, post morum add. a. line 17: iudicaret aetatem (aet. iud. P) considerandam NPav; in om. AGMNOa; iuuenili GMNOPm2Rm2av.
- Scr. Hier. 1, 7.Jeremiah 1, 7. Var. line 19: quia om. av. line 20: prohibere G; iuuenilis GMNOPm2Rav. line 21: posteribus M.
- Scr. Hier. 20, 7.Jeremiah 20, 7. Var. line 25: est] sum O; meo] me O.
- Scr. Hier. 20, 9.Jeremiah 20, 9 — Petschenig conjecture #2 in Nun (p. 316 line 4): rationem scripsi against codd. ratione. The accusative is required by persuadeat taking direct objects in parallel ("the Lord either suggests a reason or breathes in the desire of prophetic revelation"); the ablative ratione would force the awkward "persuades by reason." Standard Petschenig syntactic restoration. Var. line 2: is N; iis v; quis R, add. aut v; officium suum aut v. line 3: putauerunt O. line 4: rationem scripsi; ratione codd. av; cupiditatem Pm2; cupiditate cet. av; propheciae N. line 5: concurrant Mml. line 6: conscendant AOPRv.
- Scr. Ioh. 11, 50.John 11, 50. Var. line 9: quia] qui Mml.
- Scr. Ps. 83, 11.Psalm 83, 11. Var. line 14: loquatur AMNOPm2Rav. line 15: loquor M; propositionis Mml.
- Scr. Ps. 84, 9.Psalm 84, 9.
- Scr. Ps. 77, 2.Psalm 77, 2.
- Scr. Ps. 131, 17.Psalm 131, 17. Var. line 17: meo om. Mml. line 18: heriditariae Pml; colliuionis Aml; spirituale M; non om. GMa, eras. O. line 19: possit GMmlNPRml; lucet] luceat Mml.
- Scr. Act. 3, 6.Acts 3, 6. Var. line 21: Iesu om. GNPR; nazarei NPml.
- Scr. Act. 9, 34.Acts 9, 34. Var. line 22: sanet MOPmldb; Iesus] add. Christus M.
- Scr. Ps. 83, 3.Psalm 83, 3. Var. line 23: lucet ARa; martyrum — line 24: lucebat om. M. line 24: porat A.
- Scr. I Reg. 24, 7.1 Samuel 24, 7. Var. line 1: meo] add. ut Mm2. line 2: dicere] add. V AN; iniciam MN.
- Scr. cf. I Reg. 24, 5.cf. 1 Samuel 24, 5. Var. line 3: tuendae om. NTa; persequentem] add. qui a. line 5: negandi Pml.
- Scr. cf. II Reg. 16, 22.cf. 2 Samuel 16, 22. Var. line 6: reuocaret N; patris om. N. line 7: macularet Mml; maculauerat av; incesto (o ex ae) M.
- Scr. II Reg. 18, 5.2 Samuel 18, 5. Var. line 9: parcite] add. mihi AR; absalon Oa. line 10: gradu NT.
- Scr. II Reg. 18, 33.2 Samuel 18, 33 — Petschenig conjecture #3 in Nun (p. 317 line 16): filio… correxi against codd. filio (= filio read as nominative form). Petschenig's correction (one-letter fix to the case-ending of the Absalom reference within David's lament) restores grammatical concord with the surrounding clause. The body adopts the corrected form. Var. line 13: uoce magna Mav. line 14: absalon Oa. line 16: filio codd. av, correxi; pietatis laesae M.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 108.Psalm 118, 108. Var. line 17: eius om. O.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 35, 7.cf. Psalm 35, 7. Var. line 18: abissus MN.
- Scr. Rom. 11, 33.Romans 11, 33. Var. line 19: ait N; de Christo om. O.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 23, 10.cf. Matthew 23, 10. Var. line 20: iudicia christi O.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 5, 44 sqq.cf. Matthew 5, 44 sqq. Var. line 21: iis v.
- Scr. cf. I Petr. 2, 23.cf. 1 Peter 2, 23. Var. line 24: se om. O; intellexerit et a.
- Scr. Luc. 23, 34.Luke 23, 34. Var. line 26: quisquis] add. spiritaliter a om. GMmlPml; Christus G. line 27: legis iudicia om. O.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 109.Psalm 118, 109. Var. line 1: docere AMm2Ra; semper intenderit av; sit] add. ne AR. line 2: dicere] add. V AN. line 7: meror Gml; merior Gm2; mereor R. line 8: obtrectatione AR; capite meo Ov; iis v. line 9: ego — line 10: oblitus sum om. A, post pr. anima mea lin. 11 tr. GMNPRTa.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 109.Psalm 118, 109. Var. line 11: pr. mea om. PmlR; alt. dei om. PR; cf. Prou. 21, 1.
- Scr. Prou. 21, 1.Proverbs 21, 1. Var. line 14: uult post speret tr. O. line 15: dei] add. est NOav. line 16: rectori R; suo AR. line 17: his O. line 18: et om. GMNPRmla; non] ne O, exp. Rm2.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 10, 28.cf. John 10, 28.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 101, 26.cf. Psalm 101, 26.
- Scr. Cant. 2, 6.Song of Songs 2, 6. Var. line 24: sub] in GMmlN; capud M. line 25: complectitur Mm2Na; haec av. line 26: idem om. O.
- Scr. cf. Apoc. 19, 13; I Cor. 1, 24.cf. Revelation 19, 13; I Cor. 1, 24.
- Scr. Eccli. 1, 16 (20).Sirach 1, 16 (20). Var. line 1: dei uerbo est av; timet deum O. line 3: mittet AGMRml.
- Scr. cf. Cant. 2, 6.cf. Song of Songs 2, 6. Var. line 6: sapientiae OTm2; sapientia cet. av; propriae (-e) GMNPmlR; proprietates suas Ov; eius Tm2, om. O et cet. av, cf. lin. 8 et cap. 33.
- Scr. cf. Prou. 3, 16.cf. Proverbs 3, 16. Var. line 8: donata MNml; ditata P. line 11: etiam hoc O; prophetiae R; israhel R. line 12: effraim AMm2R; effrem GMmlNOPa; Ephraem v.
- Scr. Gen. 48, 19.Genesis 48, 19. Var. line 14: capud M; manasses P; manassen R. line 17: erit maior illo O. line 18: hoc est om. Ov.
- Scr. Gen. 48, 20.Genesis 48, 20. Var. line 18: efrem AGR; effrem MmlNPa; eflrsdm Mm2, om. OTv. line 19: uos Mm2; efrem AR; effrem GMmlNPa; effraim Mm2O; Ephraem v. line 20: eius] add. est M; sit om. M; nos Nml. line 22: manasse P; Manasses Oav. line 23: exaltatur MmlN. line 24: in om. M.
- Scr. cf. Prou. 3, 16.cf. Proverbs 3, 16. Var. line 3: quae] qua NOv. line 5: capud M; sunt diuitiae N av. line 6: mulcent MOPR; mulcet N; solatio codd. av; est N. line 7: portionem OP.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 8, 20.cf. Matthew 8, 20. Var. line 9: pr. ut om. O; alt. ut om. GO, add. in OP; uniuersum GOPm2; uniuersam Rml; humanum GMml; humani Rml; genus GMml; qui AO Rml.
- Scr. cf. II Cor. 8, 9.cf. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Var. line 10: indignamini a. line 11: feci] add. in NPRm2av.
- Scr. Ioh. 7, 23.John 7, 23 — Petschenig conjecture #4 in Nun (p. 320 line 14): quo scripsi against codd. quod (AMNOPRTa) / ut (v) / om. G. The instrumental relative quo is required by longitudinem… complecteretur ("by which he might embrace the length"); quod would force a clausal reading inconsistent with the syntactic flow. Var. line 13: beatitudinis] longitudinis NT. line 14: totum] add. longitudinis M; quo scripsi; quod AMNOPRTa; ut v, om. G; longitudine AGMN.
- Scr. cf. Prou. 3, 16.cf. Proverbs 3, 16. Var. line 16: accepit AG MR. line 17: et om. NOT; aeternitatis et M. line 18: longitudinis NT.
- Scr. cf. Cant. 5, 7.cf. Song of Songs 5, 7. Var. line 19: aeternitatis a; pallium] add. caelestis a; murorum uoluerunt auferre av. line 20: propter O. line 22: inlectum N; praetiosa R; sese Rml. line 25: propter O; ait Rml. line 26: e] de Mml; e terris] aetheris superna A; e teris R.
- Scr. Cant. 8, 5.Song of Songs 8, 5. Var. line 1: ea] illa O; caeli custodiunt ANav. line 2: est] add. haec Na; cum] quoniam Ma; suum caput O. line 3: aut] ac O; autem a; adque Rml.
- Scr. cf. Cant. 2, 6 (Complut. et Vulg.).cf. Song of Songs 2, 6 (Complutensian Polyglot and Vulgate texts) — Petschenig conjecture #5 in Nun (p. 321 line 6): saeculares scripsi against codd. saecularis. The plural accusative saeculares is required to govern dignitates in "did not court worldly dignities by empty boasting"; the codd. singular saecularis breaks number-concord. Standard Petschenig restoration. Var. line 5: partitis GMTm2a; paratis OPRv. line 6: eas A; inanis ANORTml; inanes OMv; saeculares scripsi; saecularis codd. av. line 7: iactantia PTa; iactantiae cet. v; dignitatis ANOPRT; ambiuit dignitatis a.
- Scr. cf. Eccli. 7, 32 (36).cf. Sirach 7, 32 (36). Var. line 8: constituere sapientiae av; ea inquam] e qua AR. line 9: meritis] montibus A; mentis Rml; albescentibus Rm2. line 10: iocunditatis codd. praeter A, a.
- Scr. Esai. 63, 1 (LXX).Isaiah 63, 1 (LXX). Var. line 11: sunt om. N; dicuntur MmlNTml; loqui dicuntur Tm2a. line 12: aedon P; robur a; rubor a; rubris uestibus AOR. line 13: bosra AOR; speciosus a; pretiosus codd. v. line 14: scopolosoque Rml. line 15: posse animam O. line 16: gratulantur] add. eo quod A; reperta A; quae om. A. line 17: pollueret ORml; saecularis om. AONPmlRT; sed om. ONPml; add. magis sapientiae MOPm2av; spiritalis om. O, add. ea M (s.l. m2) NT, et OPav. line 18: mundaret ORa.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 110.Psalm 118, 110 — *MS-witnessed uersus numbering #1 (p. 321 line 19): codd. A, P, R + edition a mark Ps 118:110 as uersus VI of the Nun stanza. This is the first explicit acrostic-stanza enumeration in the corpus's manuscript tradition — i.e., the codd. count Ps 118:105–112 internally as Nun's stanza-verses I–VIII. Combined with fn 187 (Ps 118:111 = uersus VII in P + a) and fn 204 (Ps 118:112 = uersus VIII in AGNPR — broadest witness), the Nun stanza is consistently enumerated VI/VII/VIII; the lack of marginal numbering for Ps 118:105–109 (the first five uersus of the stanza) in the same MSS suggests scribes began numbering only from the sermon's mid-point (§35 onwards). Phase-B finding: this is a corpus-first piece of evidence for medieval acrostic-stanza enumeration in the Ps 118 commentary tradition. Var. line 19: ea om. O; laeta] electa GMml; add. VI APR uersus sextus a. line 20:* mihi, sed a tuorum mandatorum non declinaui semitis a; de] a PR.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 110.cf. Psalm 118, 110. Var. line 1: alios AR; incendit AGMNPR; martirium OP; peruenire potuit Nav. line 9: semitis non declinaui O. line 10: cui] quia O.
- Scr. I Tim. 6, 9.1 Timothy 6, 9. Var. line 11: diuinitatis] diuini satiatus AR; diuini status GmlMNPT; tua G, om. APRT; reseruatum O. line 12: aparuit Rml. line 13: et om. Mml. line 15: aduertis] add. igitur Ov.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 4, 9.cf. Matthew 4, 9.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 14, 30.cf. John 14, 30. Var. line 17: possit OMmlO. line 18: uincula ANOav.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 27, 5.cf. Matthew 27, 5. Var. line 19: midiocrem G. line 20: transgulauit O.
- Scr. cf. II Tim. 2, 26.cf. 2 Timothy 2, 26 — Petschenig conjecture #6 in Nun (p. 322 line 26): quia scripsi against codd. qui. The causal quia ("because they not only deliver themselves to be captured…") is required by the syntax of the consecutive clause; the codd. relative qui leaves the sentence without a causal anchor. Var. line 26: quia scripsi; qui codd. av; se dedere] sese rete |||| A; desedere G.
- Scr. Ps. 2, 3.Psalm 2, 3. Var. line 28: dirumpamus MNOav; disrupamus R; ipsorum av.
- Scr. Col. 2, 21–22.Colossians 2, 21–22. Var. line 1: diuina scriptura AR. line 2: uincula GMNOv; dirumpas Nav. line 3: ac] et O. line 5: te] et R; luxuria OPm2; luxories Rml.
- Scr. Col. 3, 1–2.Colossians 3, 1–2. Var. line 8: adtaminari luxuria M. line 9: luxoriam Rml. line 11: resurrexistis A; surrexisti O; potest O.
- Scr. cf. Col. 3, 3.cf. Colossians 3, 3. Var. line 12: sapito MP. line 14: abscondimus cum christo O.
- Scr. cf. Gal. 2, 20.cf. Galatians 2, 20. Var. line 15: quit Rml; remeas NTa; redeamus M.
- Scr. Ps. 54, 8.Psalm 54, 8. Var. line 16: dicit sanctus om. O; uidi Gab; uide cet. p. line 18: peruenit ad caelestia O. line 20: terra AGPRa; terras (om. si) O.
- Scr. cf. Eccli. 44, 16; Hebr. 11, 5.cf. Sirach 44, 16; Hebr. 11, 5. Var. line 20: enohc N; raptus] add. es MNv; ad] in AR.
- Scr. cf. IV Reg. 2, 11.cf. 2 Kings 2, 11. Var. line 21: currum GR.
- Scr. cf. II Cor. 12, 4.cf. 2 Corinthians 12, 4. Var. line 21: paradysum AGMNPR; ad] in N.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 54, 7.cf. Psalm 54, 7. Var. line 22: exaudiatur Mml; pinnas Pml.
- Scr. cf. Phil. 2, 9.cf. Philippians 2, 9.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 3, 16.cf. Matthew 3, 16. Var. line 24: discendit Rml, add. spiritus A.
- Scr. cf. Uerg. Aen. 6, 19 (alarum remigiis).cf. Vergil, Aeneid 6, 19 — the phrase alarum remigiis ("with the oarage of wings") at §38 is lifted directly from Aeneid 6, 19, the Daedalus-prologue to Aeneas's descent into the underworld (remigium alarum in the Vergilian context describes the wings Daedalus dedicated to Apollo at Cumae after his flight from Crete). Ambrose appropriates the Vergilian image to figure the soul's flight to heaven by spiritual remigium, making this the third classical citation in Nun — after Verg. Georg. 4, 200 at §24 (the bee passage, footnote 103, with cross-reference to Ambrose's own Hexaem. V 21, 67) and the inherited Cic. Sest. 9, 21 from Mem. The combination establishes Nun as the densest classical-citation sermon in the Expositio corpus to date. The alarum remigiis phrase is Ambrose's own, not a direct quotation — but the Vergilian cadence is unmistakable, and the apparatus's cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 19 at fn 177 confirms the editor's identification.
- Scr. Ps. 54, 7.Psalm 54, 7. Var. line 26: alarum remigiis] cf. Verg. Aen. 6, 19; Ps. 54, 7.
- Scr. Ps. 67, 14.Psalm 67, 14. Var. line 2: pinnas GPml; possit GMOPRml. line 4: pinnae Pml (passim). line 5: edocuit ex edocuerit M. line 6: medios Mm2; posteriora] add. dorsi Ov. line 7: dormiasunt (sic) A; exurgunt NPa; exurgant Mml.
- Scr. Cant. 5, 2.Song of Songs 5, 2. Var. line 8: pinnae GPml. line 9: dicit AN; dormiui GMP.
- Scr. Esai. 26, 9.Isaiah 26, 9 — Petschenig conjecture #7 in Nun (p. 324 line 12): et addidi — Petschenig supplies an editorial et connecting ex eloquiis spiritalibus to pretiosaque auri prudentia, restoring the parallelism that the codd. tradition collapsed. The supplement is required by the parallel construction of the two coordinate adverbial phrases. Var. line 11: panduntur NT; pendentur Rml. line 12: et addidi; ex eloquiis] exloquiis (x del.) R; pretiosaeque — prudentiae a; auri] spe auri O; auri prudentia] cf. p. 336, 24; adsurgit codd. a. line 14: spiritale est av; columbae sunt AR.
- Scr. Matth. 10, 16.Matthew 10, 16. Var. line 17: sagaciter GM; sagace N; indagare GM; indagine Oav.
- Scr. Ps. 123, 7.Psalm 123, 7 — Ambrose self-reference #2 in Nun (after the Hexaem. V 21, 67 cross-reference at fn 103). The closing clause de quo quoniam alibi putauimus esse tractandum, nunc alio transeundum uidetur points forward to Ambrose's own Expositio euangelii secundum Lucam IV 11–12, where the passer-laqueus topos of Ps 123:7 receives a fuller treatment in connection with the Lukan birds-of-the-air pericope. The two self-references make Nun the densest cross-corpus-citation sermon in the Expositio — Ambrose explicitly directs his hearers across his exegetical writings, treating the Expos. Ps. CXVIII as one node in a programmatic preaching cycle. Var. line 18: cf. Ps. 90, 3. line 21: putabimus Pml. line 22: transeundum nunc alio O.
- Scr. Ps. 90, 3.Psalm 90, 3. Var. line 23: te esse av. line 26: auis — p. 325, 2: auibus Ov, om. cet. praeter a, in qua tantum uerba et ideo — retia auibus desunt.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 102, 5.cf. Psalm 102, 5. Var. line 2: terra GOPR; dicis GMml; eicis O. line 3: non] add. enim v. line 4: ante te laqueo] habes qui te liberet de laqueo O; ante te] attende v; laqueos uenatorum v.
- Scr. cf. Ioh. 13, 2.cf. John 13, 2. Var. line 6: mercedem Aml; mentem GMml; me om. O. line 7: etiam om. O. line 8: cor] corde AmlNTa.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 10, 6 (7).cf. Psalm 10, 6 (7). Var. line 9: dominus a nobis O; nobis M; deus av; alie.nis G.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 111.Psalm 118, 111 — *MS-witnessed uersus numbering #2: codd. P + edition a mark Ps 118:111 as uersus VII of the Nun stanza, complementing fn 157's uersus VI mark on Ps 118:110. The narrower witness (P + a only, vs. APR + a at uersus VI) suggests the numbering convention had already begun to lapse in some MS branches. See fn 157 for full discussion. Var. line 16: praemittit VII P; uersus septimus a; exaltatio AGRml. line 17: quia O; uox ista O. line 18:* acceperunt testimoniorum caelestium O.
- Scr. Esai. 1, 2.Isaiah 1, 2. Var. line 22: auribus percipe Nav. line 23: terram Rml. line 24: noluerunt O; nolunt Ta; in om. NOav.
- Scr. Esai. 43, 10.Isaiah 43, 10. Var. line 25: obsepiat codd. v.
- Scr. cf. Tit. 1, 2.cf. Titus 1, 2. Var. line 1: testimoniis] testimonia AGR; testimonii O. line 2: satis] Status APmlR.
- Scr. cf. Rom. 2, 15.cf. Romans 2, 15.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 111.Psalm 118, 111. Var. line 4: infimo, s. scr. m2 uel infideli P; arbitrem AGMPR. line 6: peccatore AN; terrestris PmlR; foenore Mm2N. line 12: fuit] fit O; surgens Ov. line 13: oberratos OPmlR; deuorauit Na. line 14: adiuuabit G; titulo dominicae Nav. line 15: ascriptio NTa; discriptio Pml; descriptio cet. v. line 16: non] nec M. line 18: scripti] christi O; testamenti A. line 20: tamen om. ORv; coheredum A. line 21: pr. et om. GMNOPRav; quidquid G; adeunt] eum ARm2; ad eum Rml. line 22: emolimentum O; emulumentum Rml; fuerit Pm2; fuerint cet. av. line 24: diuersa O; emulumenta Rml; descriptio Pml. line 25: communis APmlR. line 26: arbitrem AGMPR; christi A. line 27: fructus O; quid A.
- Scr. cf. Luc. 15, 7.cf. Luke 15, 7. Var. line 2: escatur M. line 5: certa O. line 6: enim om. N; fuerit] add. solida est Tm2a; decidit GPR; decidet O; accidit O.
- Scr. cf. I Cor. 15, 21.cf. 1 Corinthians 15, 21. Var. line 11: han Pm2. line 12: surgens Ov. line 13: surrexit Oa. line 15: igitur a.
- Scr. Hebr. 10, 15–17.Hebrews 10, 15–17. Var. line 16: est om. Nav. line 17: et] est al; enim om. A; dixit M; dixerit] add. testis sum testamentorum meorum quae testificatus sum in uobis: tunc testimonium perhibebit quod testatus sit dicens a. line 19: dando] donabo ARml; dono et in mg. uel dando Rm2; dabo O. line 21: peccatis Rml; ero memor (meror Rml)] memorabor Ov. line 24: nil O. line 25: sibi qui O; sibi quae AGPm2R; sibique qui M (in ras. m2) NPmlTmlv; sibique comminiscens qui Tm2a. line 26: mihique a; dedit] add. legem A. line 28: ledere N.
- Scr. Esai. 49, 16.Isaiah 49, 16. Var. line 1: quia] add. exibebat M. line 5: exultio A; cf. Ps. 118, 111.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 111.cf. Psalm 118, 111.
- Scr. cf. Apoc. 21, 4.cf. Revelation 21, 4. Var. line 7: neque fletus om. O.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 12, 19.cf. Matthew 12, 19. Var. line 8: imago fuit regni Nav; in N.
- Scr. Luc. 23, 28.Luke 23, 28. Var. line 10: filios Mml. line 13: beatitudinis] add. laetitiam A. line 14: fieret Rml. line 15: dixit ARml.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 111.Psalm 118, 111. Var. line 17: quia] qui OR. line 18: hereditatem AGMOR; cf. Deut. 4, 26.
- Scr. cf. Deut. 4, 26.cf. Deuteronomy 4, 26.
- Scr. Ps. 72, 26.Psalm 72, 26. Var. line 22: uiuet O; quisiuit Rml. line 24: traderentur NTa.
- Scr. Ps. 118, 112.Psalm 118, 112 — *MS-witnessed uersus numbering #3 (broadest witness): codd. A, G, N, P, R explicitly mark Ps 118:112 as uersus VIII of the Nun stanza — five-MS witness, the broadest of the three Nun stanza-numberings. Combined with fn 157 (uersus VI, APR+a) and fn 187 (uersus VII, P+a), the Nun stanza receives consistent though not uniform internal enumeration in the medieval tradition; the closing uersus VIII mark is preserved across the broadest manuscript family, suggesting the convention was firmly established by the time of the uetus tradition. Phase-B priority (carried forward to Samech and beyond): scan adjacent sermons for uersus I–V marks on Ps 118:105–109 and parallel enumerations in other letter-stanzas. Var. line 25:* igitur] autem NPa; dicebat] add. VIII AGNPR.
- Scr. Matth. 3, 15.Matthew 3, 15. Var. line 28: deo] Christo MNa. line 30: quia MN.
- Scr. cf. Rom. 8, 7.cf. Romans 8, 7. Var. line 3: conuerteris a; subiecta a. line 4: extollente — sensu Oa.
- Scr. cf. II Cor. 10, 5.cf. 2 Corinthians 10, 5. Var. line 5: et A, om. cet. av; contuituque av; inflectitur O.
- Scr. cf. Col. 2, 18.cf. Colossians 2, 18. Var. line 6: frusta M. line 9: assumpsisse O.
- Scr. cf. Matth. 1, 16.cf. Matthew 1, 16. Var. line 11: in forma dei esset NRav. line 12: acciperit Rml. line 14: lego] add. eum a enim v; qui se — line 15: dicentem O et codd. Mediolanenses, om. cet.
- Scr. Phil. 2, 6–7.Philippians 2, 6–7. Var. line 16: honerati Mml.
- Scr. Matth. 23, 12.Matthew 23, 12.
- Scr. Matth. 11, 28–29.Matthew 11, 28–29. Var. line 17: reficiam uos NOav; tollite — uos et om. a; honerati Mm2OR. line 19: corde om. O. line 20: pr. a me om. NPa; sed] add. dixit M; alt. a me om. Ma; humilis] mitis O. line 21: imitare Pml; extollere uos Nav. line 22: cor] cornu Mm2NTa (Ps. 74, 5); al. cf. p. 221, 27; ergo me ANav.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 130, 1.cf. Psalm 130, 1.
- Scr. cf. Ps. 118, 112.cf. Psalm 118, 112 — closing apparatus note: the manuscripts preserve no formal subscriptio for Nun (nihil subscript. in codd.). Unlike Tau, which carries a full Explicit/Finit colophon in nearly every cod., and unlike Sin (which Phase-A also flagged with nulla subscriptio), Nun simply ends mid-thought with the paradisi incolatus clause; Samech begins on a fresh top-of-p. 330 with no inter-sermon rubric. This pattern (Sin and Nun both lacking subscriptio) suggests the medieval scribes did not consistently treat the inner Hebrew-letter sermons as discrete liturgical units — only the corpus's first and last sermons (Aleph, Tau) regularly receive formal explicit/incipit rubrics. Var. line 24: paradysi AMNPR. line 25: nihil subscript. in codd.