Ambrose

XX. LITTERA RES.

1. Incipit littera 'Res', quae Latina interpretatione 'caput' dicitur uel 'primatus'. caput est, ut formam generis humani consideremus, quod fouet membra omnia et dirigit atque implet sensibus; sensus enim sapientis in capite eius.¹ inde ductus uenarum meatusque spiritus, sanguinis uires in totius partes corporis diriuantur; lustrat omnia, ornat omnia. sublato capite corpus sine nomine est, non agnoscitur nec ulla superest usura uiuendi. propterea, qui in aliquo damnantur crimine, eo quod ornamentum est totius corporis abdicantur et, quia turpi uel scelesto reatu beluinae scaeuitatis inluuiem uel bestialis inmanitatis horrorem commisisse detecti sunt, tamquam hi, qui proposito humanae moderationis exciderint, formam quoque humanae condicionis iubentur exuere. reciso enim capite reliqui corporis truncus bestiarum corpori conparatur et sapientiae arce fraudatur qui sapientiae non potuit tenere rationem. sepelitur igitur sine decore suo corpus; in capite etenim uigor uitae, in capite est gratia uenustatis.

2. Fertur coluber, cum urgetur periculo, caput semper abscondere et in orbem se colligens obiecta reliqua parte corporis hoc solum tueri, quod inlisa feratur membra cetera saluo capitis uigore reparare. hoc et tu moraliter caput serua, hoc seruato et mystice. mysticum caput Christus est, quia omnia in ipso constant et²

ipse est caput corporis ecclesiae. hoc caput qui amiserit, uiuendi usum habere non poterit, hoc solo distamus a bestiis, ad imaginem dei et similitudinem uirtutum uigore formati. fides nos ab inrationabilium pecudum comparatione secernit. hoc caput humani seruate serpentes. etiamsi omnia membra caedantur, totum uratur corpus incendiis, mergatur profundo, euisceretur a bestiis, hoc tamen capite custodito uita integra, salus tuta est; nemo enim potest perire, cui non sublatus est Christus.

3. Est et caput summa studii atque operis nostri, summa negotii, summa spei, summa uirtutum. omnis autem summa est studii nostri, ut simus humiliores, ueritatem sequamur, quam non uidet extollens se, frustra inflatus mente carnis suae et non tenens caput.³ quod sit hoc caput euidenter expressit dicens: ex quo omne corpus per compaginationes et colligationes subministratum et copulatum crescit in incrementum dei.⁴ et in Esaiae libro dicit dominus per prophetam: auferam a Iudaea caput et caudam, initium et finem.⁵ hoc caput Iudaea quod tenebat amisit, quae Iesum dominum non recepit. ubi fides est, et initium et finem habemus, ubi perfidia, nec initium nec finis est. ecclesia principium habet, quae Christum habet; Christus enim ecclesiae principium est, primogenitus ex mortuis.⁶ habet et finem, quia ipse est primus et nouissimus,⁷ ipse est finis legis ad iustitiam omni credenti.⁸ synagoga nec initium nec finem habet, quia nec in principio inuenit quod sequatur nec in fine quod speret. inflatus ergo caput non tenet, hoc est illam Christi humilitatem qua descendit usque ad crucem, descendit usque ad inferos. ideo Iudaeus non

credidit, quia contempsit dicentem: discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.⁹ haec humilitas uirtutum omnium caput est, quae totum uelut quoddam nostrorum actuum fouet corpus.

4. Quamuis infirmus aliquis sit, pauper, ignobilis, tamen, si non se extollat et praeferat, ipsa se humilitate commendat. sit aliquis praediues et nobilis: idem, si nobilitatem generis et diuitias suas iactet, insolentia sui uilis est. sit aliquis facundus et fortis, qui tumore facundiae ac uirtutis elatus plurimum sibi adroget: nonne ei propter uerecundiam et insipiens plerumque et inualidus antefertur? denique Pharisaeus in euangelio, cum abstemius et parcus esset alieni, liberalis sui, non refugus ieiunii, ut ipse dicebat, tamen propter iactantiam etiam illa quae habere poterat amisit; nihil ei tot genera uirtutum uno uitio decolorata prodesse potuerunt. publicanus, qui nihil enumerare poterat quod posset probari, propter humilitatem tamen iustificatus magis quam ille Pharisaeus descendit e templo,¹⁰ secundum quod scriptum est in propheta, quia humiles spiritu saluabit.¹¹

5. Hoc autem esse caput, quod haec littera exprimat, euidenter etiam in Hieremiae Threnis docemur; nam praelata hac littera ait propheta: spiritus ante faciem nostram christus dominus, sub umbra eius in gentibus uiuemus.¹² hoc ergo caput uere est quod omnium caput est.

6. Diximus de capite. dicamus et de primatu, quod licet sermone distet ac littera, sensu tamen in eandem concurrit intellegentiam. primatus enim legimus in ueteri testamento, quos in primogenitis Esau fratri suo cessit,¹³ et ideo uocatum est nomen eius Edom,¹⁴ hoc est terrenus et callidus. isti sunt autem fratres,

de quibus rogatus est dominus ab Isaac patre eorum, ut daret ei suae posteritatis heredes de Rebecca uxore sua, quae per uiginti annos nullum dederat generationis insigne. exaudiuit eum et concepit Rebecca et rogauit dominum, cum iactare se paruuli uiderentur in utero eius, et responsum accepit: duae gentes in utero tuo sunt et duo populi ab utero tuo separabuntur; et populus populum superabit et maior seruiet minori.¹⁵ nonne apertum est mysterium duos significari populos, hoc est populum Iudaeorum seniorem et christianum populum iuniorem, qui propter cocturam lentis primatus fratris senioris accepit? quo indicio euidenter exprimitur, quod populus senior ille terrenus propter intemperantiam gulae primatus quos habebat amisit, populus autem ecclesiae per sobrietatem et continentiam primatus, quos ordine non habebat aetatis, et confessione et pio furto paternae benedictionis eripuit. quid est igitur quod populus rapuit christianus nisi dominum Iesum? a diebus enim Iohannis Baptistae regnum caelorum cogitur et cogentes diripiunt illud,¹⁶ sicut ipse dominus declarauit. bona fraus quae uitam furatur aeternam. sed quoniam satis dictum de litterae huius interpretationibus arbitramur, consideremus ea, quae huic litterae propheta subiecit.

7. Primus itaque uersus est: uide humilitatem meam et erue me, quoniam legem tuam non sum oblitus.¹⁷ fortasse dicat aliquis: 'gloriatur de se propheta'. etsi gloriatur, gloriatur in infirmitatibus suis, in quibus et apostolus gloriatur dicens: gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis.¹⁸ alius in diuitiis, alius in titulis nobilitatis ac prosapiae suae, alius in administrationibus et honoribus gloriatur: iustus in humilitate gloriatur; bona enim gloria Christo esse subiectum. ut scias autem, quia non iactare

se cupiat, sed domini in se gratiam prouocare, alibi idem propheta ait: uide humilitatem meam et laborem meum.¹⁹ ergo quasi is, qui humiliauerit cor suum, quasi is, qui plurimum laborauerit, ibi sibi dimitti peccata desiderat, hic erui se precatur.

8. Constitue aliquem sacerdotem pro ministri salute sollicitum quem probatum aduertat deo, aliquem patrem pro filio in aegritudine constituto graui, aliquam feminam uel pro filio uel pro uiro maestam orationibus incubantem, fundentem uberes lacrimas noctibus ac diebus, humiliantem se ac sternentem solo, multiplicantem ieiunia et, quod his grauius est, mentis atque animi dolore confectam, morbi ac periculi dilatione torpentem dicere ad dominum: uide humilitatem meam et erue me.²⁰

9. Considera etiam, quia spiritali quodam oleo caelestium praeceptorum ungit nos atque exercet cotidie scriptura diuina et dominus noster, plurimos ad subeunda certamina gestiens prouocare, diuersa posuit praemia coronarum. considera, inquam, Christi athletam innumeris contentionibus fatigatum ac prope iam lassatis uiribus resistentem periculi mole turbatum, cum uideat sibi non solum aduersus carnem et sanguinem, sed etiam aduersus spiritales nequitias quae sunt in caelestibus²¹ esse luctamen, dicere: uide humilitatem meam et erue me, quoniam legem tuam non sum oblitus.²² non enim potuit obliuisci qui secundum eius praecepta certauit.

10. Contuere etiam aliquem in martyrio constitutum, frequentibus adflictum subpliciis, retrusum in tenebras, graui fractum pondere catenarum, neruis crura distentum, euisceratum eculeo, exaratum ungulis, adustum candentibus lamminis perseuerantis fidei uirum, sed iam taediantis animi, quod diutius differatur sacrae mortis corona, dicentem: uide humilitatem meam et erue me, quoniam legem tuam non sum oblitus.²³ non solum enim in studiis atque propositis, sed etiam in temptati-

onibus humilitatem dici posse testimoniis scripturarum docemur, siquidem lectum est: homines acceptabiles in fornace humilitatis;²⁴ ταπείνωσις enim Graecus dixit, quod est humilitatis. hoc ideo posui, quia plurimi habent Latini in fornace adflictionis. Latinus discernit, Graecus non separat: ταπείνωσις et humilitas uirtutis dicitur et humilitas adflictionis. nihil inpedit, si Latinus separat; non enim Graecus ex Latino transtulit, sed Latinus ex Graeco.

11. Denique et Hebraei, quamdiu in Aegypto erant, in fornace erant ferrea, hoc est in fornace temptationis, in fornace adflictionis, cum duris adfligerentur imperiis. unde et scriptum est: quia eduxit eos deus de fornace ferrea, ex Aegypto.²⁵ fornax erat ferrea, quia nullius adhuc in Aegypto opera uirtutum plena lucebant, nullius aurum illic fuerat conprobatum, nullius plumbum iniquitatis exustum.²⁶ dura fornax fornax mortis perpetuae, quam fornacem nullus poterat euadere, quae omnes consumeret, in qua solus dolor esset et luctus. at uero fornax, in qua Ananias Azarias Misahel hymnum domino canebant,²⁷ fornax aurea illa, non ferrea, per quam toto orbe sapientia fide deuotionis inluxit. erat quidem etiam haec fornax in Babylonia, ubi aurum non erat spiritale nisi forte captiuum; captiuam enim dominus duxit captiuitatem.²⁸ hoc erat aurum in deis sanctis, qui captiui erant apud Babylonios corpore, spiritu autem apud deum liberi, soluti uinculis captiuitatis humanae, iugo gratiae spiritalis innexi. et fortasse eadem fornax ferrea fragilibus est, aurea perseuerantibus.

12. Omnes oportet per ignem probari quicumque ad paradisum redire desiderant; non enim otiose scriptum est, quod eiectis

Adam uel Eua de paradisi sede posuit deus in exitu paradisi gladium igneum uersatilem.²⁹ omnes oportet transire per flammas, siue ille Iohannes euangelista sit, quem ita dilexit dominus, ut de eo diceret ad Petrum: si sic eum uolo manere, quid ad te? tu me sequere.³⁰ de morte eius aliqui dubitauerunt, de transitu per ignem dubitare non possumus, quia in paradiso est nec separatur a Christo. siue ille sit Petrus qui claues accepit regni caelorum,³¹ qui supra mare ambulauit, oportet ut dicat: transiuimus per ignem et aquam et induxisti nos in refrigerium.³² sed Iohanni cito uersabitur igneus gladius, quia non inuenitur in eo iniquitas quem dilexit aequitas. si quid in eo uitii humani fuit, caritas diuina decoxit; alae enim eius sicut alae ignis.³³

13. Qui hic habuerit caritatis ignem, illic ignem gladii timere non poterit. ipsi Petro, qui totiens mortem suam pro Christo obtulit, dicet: transi, recumbe.³⁴ sed ille dicet: igne nos examinasti, sicut igne examinatur argentum.³⁵ etenim in quo aqua multa excludere non potuit caritatem,³⁶ quomodo eum ignis excludet? sed ille examinabitur ut argentum, ego examinabor ut plumbum; donec plumbum tabescat, ardebor. si nihil argenti in me inuentum fuerit, heu me! in ultima inferna detrudar aut ut stipula totus exurar.³⁷ si quid inuentum in me fuerit auri uel argenti non per meos actus, sed per misericordiam et gratiam Christi, per ministerium sacerdotii, dicam fortasse ego: etenim qui sperant in te non confundentur.³⁸

14. Illo igitur igneo gladio iniquitas exuretur quae sedet super talentum plumbeum.³⁹ ideo unus ignem illum sentire non potuit qui

est iustitia dei Christus, quia peccatum non fecit;⁴⁰ nihil enim ignis in eo quod exurere posset inuenit. denique soli eleuatae sunt portae aeternales, ut introiret rex gloriae,⁴¹ non reus causae. et hic quidem mortem caro illius gustauit; neque enim aliter posset resurgere. quod legi, praesumo, quod non legi, ueneratus scientibus derelinquo unum confitens, quia, quicquid caro illa subiit, ideo subiit, ut uiam ceteris uel triumphandi per martyrii passionem uel transeundi in paradisum suis uestigiis reformaret. nemo ergo sibi adroget, nemo de meritis, nemo de potestate se iactet, sed omnes speremus per dominum Iesum misericordiam inuenire, quoniam omnes ante tribunal eius stabimus.⁴² de illo ueniam, de illo indulgentiam postulabo; quae enim spes alia peccatoribus?

15. Et qui se hic aurum putat, habet plumbum, et qui putat se granum tritici, habet stipulam quae possit exuri. sed hic sibi multi aurum uidentur. non illis inuideo; sed etiam aurum examinabitur, uretur, ut possit probari. sic enim scriptum est: sicut aurum in conflatorio probabo illos.⁴³ ergo aduertant, quia examinabuntur omnes. multi ergo, qui se aurum putant, et ipsi humilitatem sequantur, ut uitia sua decoquant. sed hic inanis iactantia est. ideo multis, qui se massas auri putant, dicit sapientior auri massa: omnes nos fornax probabit.⁴⁴ ergo quia examinandi sumus, sic nos agamus, ut iudicio probari mereamur diuino. teneamus hic positi humilitatem, ut, cum unusquisque nostrum uenerit ad iudicium dei, ad illos ignes, quos transituri sumus, dicat: uide humilitatem meam et erue me.⁴⁵ nam si superbus fuerit, si adrogans, si contumax, non poterit hoc dicere. nemo autem dicet: 'uide superbiam meam', sed: uide humilitatem meam,⁴⁶ ut eius gratia erui ab illo igne mereatur.

16. Est ergo humilitas laboris et fatigationis, est et humilitas uirtutis atque propositi, quam et in secundis et prosperis et in otio positus tenet iustus, nullo scilicet fractus labore, nullius certaminis dubius euentu humilem omnibus affectum exhibet nec sua extollere studet, sed magis minuere operis sui pretium et meriti sui gratiam. audi iustum humiliantem se: ego, inquit, sum minimus apostolorum.⁴⁷ ille uas electionis diuinae,⁴⁸ ille gentium doctor minimum esse se dicit, indignum eius officii nomine quod suis operibus praeferebat nihilque sibi adrogat, sed totum gratiae dei deputat. hoc utique decet iustum.

17. Hac humilitate Abraham pater fidei nuncupatus est,⁴⁹ qui, cum diuino participaretur alloquio, terram se esse dicebat et limum.⁵⁰ ipse quoque dominus ait: ego autem sum uermis et non homo, obprobrium hominum et abiectio plebis,⁵¹ cum de sui corporis passione loqueretur, qui non quae sua sunt quaesiuit, sed quae aliorum.⁵² cuius nos imitatores uult fieri apostolus atque hortatur dicens: hoc enim sentite in uobis quod et in Christo Iesu, qui cum in forma dei esset non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem deo, sed semet ipsum exinaniuit formam serui accipiens.⁵³ nec nos igitur nobilitatem generis nec diuitias requiramus, si uolumus Christum sequi. exinaniuit se, cum esset in dei forma. cum diues esset, pauper factus est.⁵⁴ noli et tu contemnere plebeium, quia nobilis es, noli despicere seruum, quia potens es, noli pauperem fastidire, quia diues es. numquid nobilior, numquid potentior, numquid ditior Christo es? ille pro te suscepit illa quae tu despicis, ille pro te humiliauit se usque ad mortem et mortem crucis,⁵⁵ ut tuae la-

psum aboleret superbiae, ut, quod per unius Adae inoboedientiam perdideramus, per unius domini Iesu oboedientiam reciperemus.⁵⁶ propter quod deus, inquit, illum exaltauit et dedit illi nomen super omne nomen, ut in nomine Iesu omne genu flectatur, quoniam dominus Iesus in gloria est dei patris.⁵⁷

18. Considera, o homo, quid legas. non laborauit apostolus potentiam Christi probare, sed oboedientiam praedicare, sed demonstrare quanta sit humilitatis gratia, quantus eius profectus. si simplicibus accipias auribus, et Christum exaltauit; sed Christus non quae sua, sed quae tua erant, illa humilitate quaerebat. accipe ergo argutis auribus: moraliter tibi profuit, mystice tuam redemit salutem. quomodo uis intellege, salus est tua. si putas quod Christo profuit humilitas sua, cui ergo non proderit? si illum exaltauit, quem non augebit? factus est minister omnium dominus et auctor omnium uapulauit, pedes lauit, crucifixus est, mortuus est. sed in his omnibus detrimentum nullum uideo diuinitatis eius, profectum operationis agnosco. qui nihil habebat quod ad potestatem suam adderet, habuit quod ad cultum suae maiestatis adiungeret. audeo dicere: operationis suae munus amiserat, nisi id humilitas recepisset. itaque nos quidem redemit, sed etiam sibi adquisiuit. nihil ergo humilitas adfert dispendii; ille qui se exinaniuit plenus est, ille qui non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem deo, formam serui accipiens, in gloria est dei patris. suscepi quem nesciebam, agnoui quem non cognoscebam, confiteor quem negabam. ipsi genu corporis flecto, ipsi genu mentis inflecto, ipsum adoro quem ante fugiebam.

19. Gratias tibi agimus, Iesu domine, quod creasti nos et creatos feris bestiis, mutis animantibus praefecisti. maiora sunt uisitati-

onis tuae munera. uisitatos maiestatis tuae consortiis honorasti dicens: narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis;⁵⁸ suscepto enim corpore frater es factus nec dominus esse desisti. maior redemptionis gratia. periclitantes morte propria redemisti, sicut scriptum est: expedit unum hominem mori pro populo.⁵⁹ suscitasti mortuos dicens: soluite hoc templum, et in triduo resuscitabo illud;⁶⁰ in illo enim templo dominici corporis omnibus resurrectio adcreuit. resurgentes adaequauisti angelis, sicut dixisti: quoniam quae non nubunt et qui non ducunt uxores erunt sicut angeli in caelo.⁶¹ postremo ad dexteram dei in illo filii hominis solio conlocasti, sicut ipse dignatus es dicere: ex hoc autem erit filius hominis sedens ad dexteram uirtutis dei.⁶²

20. Unde apostolus admirans diuinae dona pietatis, simul ostendens unam patris et filii esse liberalitatem ait: deus autem qui diues est in misericordia propter multam caritatem qua dilexit nos.⁶³ audis in quo debeas, homo, diues esse, quas habere uirtutes: amorem dei in te probare, imitari caritatis caelestis dulcedinem. et addidit: et cum essemus mortui peccatis, conuiuificauit nos in Christo, cuius gratia estis saluati, et simul suscitauit, simul fecit sedere in caelestibus in Christo Iesu.⁶⁴ in Christo utique honoratur et caro. ille igitur, qui ad dexteram dei sedet, propter nos humiliatus est ideoque dicit nobis: discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde.⁶⁵

non dixit: 'discite a me quia potens sum', sed quia humilis corde, ut tu illum imiteris, ut tu ei dicas: domine, audiui uocem tuam, impleui praeceptum tuum. dixisti ut a te disceremus humilitatem: didicimus non solum sermone tuo, sed etiam actu tuo; feci quod imperasti: uide humilitatem meam.⁶⁶

21. Athleta bonus membra sua monstrat, ut conuersationis suae adprobet disciplinam. monstrat etiam tunc membra sua, quando post aliqua certamina grauiora iterum certare conpellitur, ut iudex uidens fessum corpus nequaquam eum certare conpellat. et tu ostende cordis tui humilitatem, ut titulos uirtutis ostendas, ostende et cordis tui certamina, ut dicas: certamen bonum certaui, cursum consummaui⁶⁷ et uidens spiritalis iudex certaminis coronam iustitiae decernat, quoniam legem agonis implesti.

22. Sequitur uersiculus secundus: iudica iudicium meum et libera me; propter uerbum tuum uiuifica me.⁶⁸ festinant innoxii ad iudicium et propriae innocentiae arbitro se desiderant citius conprobari; habet hoc usus etiam in saeculo quod est commune cum sanctis. uerum is, qui apud deum iustus est, habet aliam causam iudicii non timendi, quia apud misericordem iudicem sibi causa est, apud redemptorem suum uult cito et sperat absolui; absolutio enim matura sanctorum est. unde et dominus ait per Ezechiel ad angelos, qui ministri sunt ultionum: a sanctis meis incipite.⁶⁹ non uult dominus commune sanctis cum diaboli sociis consortium esse iudicii; diabolus enim et ministri eius cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.⁷⁰ separata est poena, ubi distat et culpa, ideoque alio loco scriptura ait: tempus incipere iudicium dei a domo dei.⁷¹ quos miseratur enim, cito casti-

gat, ut non diutius adficiantur futuri expectatione iudicii, non prolixius misera reatus sorte macerentur, ut unusquisque reddat etiam duplicia peccata sua,⁷² quo tandem possit absolui. poena enim reorum quaedam absolutio delictorum est.

23. Uidemus in hoc saeculo insertos nexibus catenarum reos in specie pompae miserabilis duci, et nonnumquam hoc patiuntur insontes, ut tolerabilius sit mori quam talia subire supplicia. optant utique audiri bene sibi conscii, optant etiam hi, qui grauibus flagitiis urgentur, poenam mortis celeritate transigere, ut aliquanta conpendia poenarum lucrentur. spes est etiam de iudicis misericordia. ipso exilio claustra carceris duriora sunt nec reditus in perpetuum omnibus intercluditur relegatis. si hoc operatur humanum examen, quanto magis Christi est omnibus expetendum! differtur diaboli iudicium, ut sit semper in poenis reus, semper inprobitatis suae innexus catena, conscientiae suae in perpetuum sustineat ipse iudicium. ideo diues ille in euangelio⁷³ licet peccator poenalibus urgetur aerumnis, ut citius possit euadere, diabolus autem nequaquam peruenisse ad iudicium demonstratur, nequaquam adhuc poenis esse subiectus, nisi quas ipse tantorum conscius scelerum soluit timore perpetuo, ne aliquando securus sit.

24. Immo, ut uerius dicam, sanctus ad iudicium uenit, impius non uenit, quoniam non resurgunt impii in iudicium.⁷⁴ hic petit ut absoluatur, alius ut cohercitus dimittatur; qui autem non credidit, non iudicatur,⁷⁵ sed impietatis suae iudicio ipse punitur. apud imperatores istos non puniuntur sceleris rei barbari quod in sua gente commiserint, quia non sibi subditi, sed grauiore nomine hostes habentur, qui sine interrogatione priuati

sceleris puniuntur. ita et Christus suos castigat quos diligit,⁷⁶ alienos tamquam generali damnatione impietatis adstrictos poenae donat aeternae; nouissima enim destruetur mors.⁷⁷ et tamen uerecunde docet propheta exemplo sui, ut etiam qui diffidit operibus suis propter uerbum⁷⁸ tamen clementiorem speret sententiam.

25. Alius propter diuitias uiuere cupit, alius propter filios. hic propter uerbum dei uiuificari petit, sicut Symeon domini expectauit aduentum; unde et dominum in templo accipiens ait: nunc dimittis seruum tuum in pace, quia uiderunt oculi mei salutare tuum,⁷⁹ adserens uiuendi sibi cupiditatem aliam non fuisse nisi ut Christum uideret. denique uidit et uinculis solui corporis postulauit.

26. Possumus etiam intellegere: iudica iudicium meum,⁸⁰ quasi grauior nobis causa sit de iudicio nostro quam de errore dicenda; erranti enim facilius datur uenia quam inprobe in alium iudicanti. necesse est enim eam formam in te redire iudicii, quam in alium ipse decernendam putaueris.

27. Sequitur uersus tertius: longe est a peccatoribus salus, quoniam iustitias tuas non exquisierunt.⁸¹ quorum serum est iudicium, eorum salus longe est; sed ipsi sunt sui auctores periculi, qui domino non adpropinquarunt. ideo facti sunt longe, quia uoluntate sua a salutis se gratia separauerunt; non refugit eos salus, sed ipsi salutem qui se elongauerunt. uenit ad Iudaeos, sed illi salutem non receperunt. quomodo non receperunt, audi. Iesus salus est, Iesus filius hominis nuncupatus est; uenit filius hominis quaerere et saluum facere⁸²

quod perierat, sed Iudaei dimitti sibi latronem postularunt,⁸³ Iesum repudiauerunt.

28. Quis est autem qui se longe facit a domino nisi qui non exquirit iustitias eius? qui uero iustitias exquirit prope est, adhaeret deo. et ideo iustitias dei quaerentibus dicit apostolus: uos qui eratis longe facti estis prope in sanguine Christi.⁸⁴ sanguis Christi iustitia est; denique ipse ait ad Iohannem: sine nos implere omnem iustitiam.⁸⁵

29. Sequitur uersus quartus: miserationes tuae multae nimis, domine; secundum iudicia tua uiuifica me.⁸⁶ etsi longe est a peccatoribus salus, tamen nemo desperet, quia multae sunt misericordiae. qui suo peccato pereunt, misericordia domini liberantur: miserebor, inquit, cuius misertus ero.⁸⁷ palam apparuit non quaerentibus,⁸⁸ uocauit refugientes, congregauit ignaros, pro omnibus se obtulit passioni. non ergo multum misericors? misericordia enim hominis in proximum suum, misericordia domini in omnem carnem, ut omnis caro ad deum ascenderet illa domini miseratione donata.

30. Sed quomodo, cum dixerit multas esse domini miserationes, secundum iudicia eius uiuificari petit, maxime cum ipse alibi dicat: et non intres in iudicium cum seruo tuo?⁸⁹ sed aliud est illud iudicium beneficiorum Christi, cui respondere non possumus — quis enim potest debitum referre naturae, debitum salutis et gratiae? —, aliud iudicium, quo fragilitatis nostrae aestimatione censemur. in hoc ipso tamen iudicium cum misericordia copulatum est, ut ueritas iudicii miseratione domini temperetur.

31. Aut fortasse, quia dixerat: iudica iudicium meum,⁹⁰ ideo subtexuit miserationes domini nimium multas esse; graue est enim de alio iudicare. unde etiam scriptum est: nolite iudicare, ut non iudicemini.⁹¹ cum enim unusquisque sit suorum conscius peccatorum, quomodo potest de alterius iudicare peccato? iudicet de alterius errore, qui non habet quod in se ipse condemnet, iudicet ille, qui non agat eadem quae in alio putauerit punienda, ne, cum de alio iudicat, in se ferat ipse sententiam, iudicet ille, qui ad pronuntiandum nullo odio, nulla offensione, nulla leuitate ducatur. audisti hodie, quid iudex uerus et iustus locutus sit: non possum, inquit, ego a me facere quicquam.⁹²

32. Nonnulli haeretici solebant hinc facere quaestiones, quasi infirmus esset filius qui a se nihil faceret, quasi secundum diuinitatem quoque subditus et paterno subiectus imperio, nec aduertunt, quod hoc quoque magis potestatis diuinae unitas conprobetur, ubi putant inter patrem et filium esse distantiam potestatis. nihil a se facit filius, quia per unitatem operationis nec filius sine patre facit nec sine filio pater. denique pater dicit ad filium: faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram,⁹³ communem adserens operationem esse, ubi commune consilium est. quid sine sapientia facit qui omnia in sapientia fecit, ut lectum est: omnia in sapientia fecisti?⁹⁴ denique Sapientia dixit: cum faceret caelos cum illo eram, et ego eram cui adplaudebat,⁹⁵ et euangelista ait: omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil,⁹⁶ ut doceret non solum operatorem omnium filium, sed etiam paternae operationis esse consortem.

33. Ego tamen arbitror, quod hic locus ad iudicii formam uideatur esse referendus; euangelium etenim non solum fidei doctrina,

sed etiam morum est magisterium et speculum iustae conuersationis. inuenio in euangelio, quod dominus Iesus multorum affectus et officia susceperit, ut doceret, quomodo nos in his conuersari oporteret officiis. suscepit personam pastoris et ait: pastor bonus animam suam ponit pro ouibus suis,⁹⁷ ideoque pro rationabili grege se ipsum passioni corporis non negauit, ut ouem lassam crucis suae humeris superponens⁹⁸ pii oneris functione recrearet.

34. Suscepit aduocati personam; ipsum enim aduocatum habemus apud patrem.⁹⁹ pernoctabat in oratione¹⁰⁰ pro nobis, ut nos suo informaret exemplo, quemadmodum ueniam nostris debeamus exorare peccatis. non enim ideo pernoctaret, quasi qui aliter patrem nobis reconciliare non posset, sed ut qualis aduocatus esse debeat demonstraret, qualis sacerdos, ut non solum diebus, sed etiam noctibus pro grege Christi debeat precator adsistere. an inpetrandi egebat auxilio, qui facere ipse poterat quod rogabat, quemadmodum ipse dicebat: ego ad patrem uado, et quodcumque ab eo petieritis in nomine meo hoc faciam?¹⁰¹ denique alibi ait, cum Lazarum suscitaret: sciebam quod semper me audis,¹⁰² nec quasi infirmus pernoctabat, qui sciebat quod semper auditur, et clamauit: Lazare, ueni foras.¹⁰³ locuta est resurrectio, mors recessit.

35. Suscepit etiam affectum rei et stetit ante iudicem reus nec dedignatus est dominus omnium praesidis uilitatem. interrogatus tacebat,¹⁰⁴ ostendens non in clamore uocis nec in forensis adsertione patrocinii, sed in conscientiae integritate esse innocentiae defensionem nec salutem corporis ambiendam, sed animi puritatem. denique, qui Susannam absoluit tacentem, se obtulit morti; in illa causa, ut nemo desperaret, in hac, ut redimendae uniuersitatis sacrificium

non negaret. caesus postremo non conuiciatus est, non repercussit, et dominus caeli atque terrarum studium deposuit ultionis, uocem humilitatis emisit dicens: si male locutus sum, testimonium perhibe de malo; si bene, quid me caedis?¹⁰⁵ quasi infirmus caedis deplorat iniuriam et, cum se posset ulcisci, queri maluit quam uindicare.

36. Ergo et hic personam iudicis propositumque suscepit dicens: non possum a me facere quicquam.¹⁰⁶ bonus enim iudex nihil ex arbitrio suo facit et domesticae proposito uoluntatis, sed iuxta leges et iura pronuntiat, scitis iuris obtemperat, non indulget propriae uoluntati, nihil paratum et meditatum domo defert, sed sicut audit ita iudicat et sicut se habet negotii natura decernit. obsequitur legibus, non aduersatur, examinat causae merita, non mutat.

37. Discite, iudices saeculi, quem in iudicando tenere debeatis affectum, quam sobrietatem, quam sinceritatem. dominus omnium dicit: non possum ego a me facere quicquam.¹⁰⁷ alibi lego: negare semet ipsum non potest.¹⁰⁸ non potest, utique non per infirmitatem, sed per integritatem, non per inpossibilitatem faciendi, sed per obseruantiam iudicandi. quid non potest qui omnia potest, nisi quod posse nolit? non uult posse quod damnet, non uult posse aduersus fidem, non uult posse aduersus ueritatem. audi postremo ipsum dicentem, cur non possit a se facere quicquam: sicut audio, inquit, et iudico,¹⁰⁹ hoc est: non ex mea potestate decerno quod libitum, sed ex iudicandi religione quod iustum est, et ideo iudicium meum uerum, quia non uoluntati meae indulgeo, sed aequitati. audite quid iudex dicat caelestis: non possum a me facere quicquam; sicut audio, et iudico.¹¹⁰

38. Et Pilatus dicebat ad dominum Iesum: potestatem habeo dimittendi te et potestatem habeo crucifigendi te.¹¹¹ usurpas, o homo, potestatem quam non habes, cum deus neget se habere, qui habet super omnia potestatem. audi quid iustitia dicat: non possum a me facere quicquam.¹¹² audite quid iudex aequitatis adserat: sicut audio, et iudico.¹¹³ audite quid iudex iniquitatis loquatur: potestatem habeo dimittendi te et potestatem habeo crucifigendi te. tua, Pilate, uoce constringeris, tua damnaris sententia. pro potestate igitur, non pro aequitate crucifigendum dominum tradidisti, per potestatem absoluisti latronem, auctorem autem uitae interfecisti. sed nec istam a te habuisti quam habere te adseris potestatem. denique dicit tibi dominus Iesus: non haberes potestatem aduersum me ullam, nisi data tibi esset desuper.¹¹⁴ mala potestas licere quod noceat; potestas ista tenebrarum est, uerum non uidere, sed spernere.

39. Audite quid uerus iudex loquatur: non quaero uoluntatem meam, sed uoluntatem eius qui me misit.¹¹⁵ quasi homo loquitur, quasi iudex docet, quoniam qui iudicat non uoluntati suae obtemperare debet, sed tenere quod legum est. constitue iudicem de hoc saeculo: numquid potest aduersus imperialis formam uenire rescripti? numquid potest normam Augustae definitionis excedere? quanto magis diuini formam debemus seruare iudicii! Christus dicit: non quaero uoluntatem meam,¹¹⁶ hoc est hominis, quae uel odio dirigitur uel studio intenditur uel gratia inflectitur uel aliorum mendacio deprauatur — omnis enim homo mendax¹¹⁷ —, sed uoluntatem, inquit, eius qui me misit,¹¹⁸ hoc est: diuinae cognitionis formam ueni

docere, ut in iudicando magis cordi sit ueritatis custodia quam oboedientia uoluntatis. non ergo hic quoque infirmitas potentiae, sed forma est expressa iustitiae.

40. Iustum igitur est iudicium filii dei, quia secundum uoluntatem est dei, non secundum hominis affectum. deus enim misericordiarum plenus est et misericordia eius cum iudicio et iudicium cum misericordia; neque sine iudicio miseretur neque sine misericordia iudicat. denique scriptum est: misericordia eius in stateris.¹¹⁹ filii autem hominum mendaces in stateris ut decipiant.¹²⁰ examinat ergo et trutinat deus merita singulorum et quemadmodum pro mensura dat gratiam,¹²¹ ne supra mensuram sit, ita pro mensura dat misericordiam. unde ait: mensuram bonam confertam commotam supereffluentem dabunt in sinum uestrum. eadem mensura qua mensi fueritis reddetur uobis.¹²² similiter in statera singulorum opera pensantur, ut, si bona malis praeponderant, remuneratio praemii deferatur, si peccata uirtutibus, tristior reum poena constringat. quod expressum habes ad Timotheum, dicente apostolo Paulo: quorundam hominum peccata manifesta sunt praecedentia ad iudicium, quosdam autem et subsecuntur. similiter et facta bona manifesta sunt et quae aliter se habent abscondi non possunt.¹²³

41. Omnia ergo a domino deo nostro mensura quadam et pondere fiunt. quis posuit, inquit, rupes in statera? et supra: quis mensus est manu aquam et caelum palmo?¹²⁴ qui nostra examinat, sua utique examinata largitur et saluo omnia decernit examine. ponderat misericordiam, ponderat ultionem; in utroque certum pondus habilisque mensura est. unde et Dauid ait: et potum dabis illis in lacrimis

in mensura,¹²⁵ ne sine moderatione mensurae poenae cumulo grauarentur et sustinere non possent. et alibi idem ait propheta: calix in manu domini uini meri plenus est mixto, et inclinauit ex hoc in hoc; uerumtamen faex eius non est exinanita.¹²⁶ et Hieremias ait: calix aureus Babylon in manu domini, a quo inebriatae sunt gentes,¹²⁷ hoc est: poena a nationibus persoluta est, ne diutius insultarent, quod dei populum acerbissima populatione uexarint. sensus igitur uersus Dauitici hic est: parata et plena est poena quae debetur impiis, quam dominus declinat in perfidos; sed tamen miseratione sua non usque ad faecem dignatur effundere, ne plenitudinem supplicii ferre non possint. inclinat ergo calicem, non euacuat; quod inclinat, censurae est, quod non euacuat, misericordiae.

42. Ergo iudicium quoque misericordia temperat dominus deus noster. quis enim nostrum sine diuina potest miseratione subsistere? quid possumus dignum praemiis facere caelestibus? quis nostrum ita adsurgit in hoc corpore, ut animum suum eleuet, quo iugiter adhaereat Christo? quo tandem homini merito defertur, ut haec corruptibilis caro induat incorruptionem et mortale hoc induat inmortalitatem?¹²⁸ quibus laboribus, quibus iniuriis possumus nostra eleuare peccata? indignae sunt passiones huius temporis ad superuenturam gloriam.¹²⁹ non ergo secundum merita nostra, sed secundum misericordiam dei caelestium decretorum in homines forma procedit.

43. Sequitur uersus quintus: multi persequentes me et tribulantes me; a testimoniis tuis non declinaui.¹³⁰ non est magnum, si tunc a dei testimoniis non declines, cum te nullus adfligit, nullus persequitur. quis enim inoffense sibi prosperorum euentuum secundante successu fieret ingratus? quis diuitiis adfluens, iugi salute robustus non ad dei gratiam referat quod sibi illa concessa sint? denique cum sanctum Iob dominus praedicaret, ait aduersarius: numquid gratis colit Iob dominum? nonne tu omnia dedisti ei? mitte manum tuam in omnia quae habet, si non in faciem te benedicet.¹³¹ tunc igitur plus probatus est, quando amissis opibus et filiis a domini cultu et gratia non recessit. sed non unus persecutor est, multos ministros habet. sed non te terreat. per multas enim tribulationes oportet nos introire in regnum dei.¹³² si multae persecutiones, multae probationes; ubi multae coronae, multa certamina. tibi ergo proficit quod multi persecutores sunt, ut inter multas persecutiones facilius inuenias quemadmodum coroneris.

44. Utamur exemplo Sebastiani martyris, cuius hodie natalis est. hic Mediolanensis oriundo est. fortasse aut iam discesserat persecutor aut adhuc non uenerat in haec partium aut mitior erat. aduertit hic aut nullum esse aut tepere certamen. Romam profectus est, ubi propter fidei studium persecutiones acerbae feruebant; ibi passus est, hoc est ibi coronatus. itaque illic, quo hospes aduenit, domicilium inmortalitatis perpetuae conlocauit. si unus persecutor fuisset, coronatus hic martyr utique non fuisset.

45. Sed quod peius, non hi solum persecutores sunt qui uidentur, sed etiam qui non uidentur, et multo plures persecutores. sicut

enim unus persecutor rex multis persecutionis praecepta mittebat et per singulas uel ciuitates uel prouincias erant diuersi persecutores, ita etiam diabolus multos ministros suos dirigit, qui non foris tantummodo, sed etiam intus faciant persecutiones in animis singulorum. de his dictum est persecutionibus: omnes qui uolunt pie uiuere in Christo Iesu persecutionem patiuntur.¹³³ 'omnes' dixit, nullum excepit. quis enim exceptus potest esse, cum ipse dominus persecutionum temptamenta tolerauerit? persequitur auaritia, persequitur ambitio, persequitur luxuria, persequitur superbia, persequitur fornicatio. unde et apostolus ait: fugite fornicationem;¹³⁴ nam qua causa fugeres, nisi illa te persequeretur? est enim malus spiritus fornicationis, est malus spiritus auaritiae, malus spiritus superbiae.

46. Isti sunt persecutores graues, qui sine gladii terrore mentem hominis frequenter elidunt, qui inlecebris magis quam terroribus animos expugnant fidelium. hi tibi hostes cauendi, hi grauiores tyranni, per quos Adam captus est. multi in persecutione publica coronati occulta hac persecutione ceciderunt. foris, inquit, pugnae, intus timores.¹³⁵ aduertis quam graue certamen sit quod est intra hominem, ut secum ipse confligat, cum suis cupiditatibus proelietur? ipse apostolus fluctuat haeret adstringitur, captiuari se adserit in lege peccati et mortis corpore debellari nec potuisse euadere, nisi esset domini Iesu gratia liberatus.¹³⁶

47. Uerum ut multae persecutiones, ita multa martyria. cotidie testis es Christi. temptatus es spiritu fornicationis, sed ueritus Christi futurum iudicium temerandam mentis et corporis castimoniam non putasti: martyr es Christi. temptatus es spiritu auaritiae, ut possessionem minoris inuaderes, indefensae uiduae iura temerares, et tamen contemplatione caelestium praeceptorum opem

magis ferendam quam inferendam iniuriam iudicasti: testis es Christi. denique tales uult testes Christus adsistere, secundum quod scriptum est: iudicate pupillo et iustificate uiduam, et uenite disputemus, dicit dominus.¹³⁷ temptatus es spiritu superbiae, sed uidens inopem atque egenum pia mente conpassus es, humilitatem magis quam adrogantiam dilexisti: testis es Christi; quod est amplius, non sermonis tantummodo, sed etiam operis testimonium praebuisti. quis enim locupletior testis est quam qui confitetur dominum Iesum in carne uenisse, cum euangelii praecepta custodit? nam qui audit et non facit,¹³⁸ negat Christum; etsi uerbo fatetur, operibus negat. quam multis dicentibus: domine domine, nonne in tuo nomine prophetauimus et daemonia eiecimus et uirtutes multas fecimus?¹³⁹ in illo die respondebit: discedite a me omnes operarii iniquitatis!¹⁴⁰ ille ergo testis est, qui adstipulantibus factis domini Iesu praecepta testatur.

48. Quanti ergo cotidie in occulto martyres Christi sunt et Iesum dominum confitentur! nouit hoc martyrium apostolus et testimonium Christi fidele, qui dixit: haec est enim gloriatio nostra et testimonium conscientiae nostrae.¹⁴¹ quanti foris confessi sunt et intus negauerunt! namque uxoris ducendae gratia, quae gentili uiro a christianis parentibus negabatur, simulata ad tempus fide plerique produntur quod foris confessi sunt intus negasse. an fornicationis causa tantummodo putamus dominum deum nostrum in populum Iudaeorum tam seuere esse commotum, ut uiginti tria milia de populo necarentur,¹⁴² propterea quod Madianitae gentis feminis concubitu miscerentur ac non eo, quod per illos concubitus alienigenarum discedere a fide, negare dominum cogerentur?

49. Nolite, inquit, omni spiritui credere,¹⁴³ sed a fructibus eorum¹⁴⁴ cognoscite quibus credere debeatis. uenit quis in ecclesiam, dum honorem affectat sub imperatoribus christianis, simulata mente orationem deferre se fingit, inclinatur et solo sternitur qui genu mentis non flexerit. uidet illum homo, christianum putat; uidet homo orantem suppliciter et credit, sed deus audit negantem. discedit probatus ab homine, sed condemnatus a iudice. quanto tolerabilius fuerat homini negasse et deo esse confessum! licet hoc quoque reprehensibile; perfecta enim confessio et animi quaerit deuotionem et uocis professionem; corde enim creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem.¹⁴⁵

50. Ergo in persecutionibus interioribus esto fidelis et fortis, ut et istis forensibus persecutionibus adproberis. et in intimis persecutionibus sunt reges et praesides, terribiles iudices potestate. habes exemplum in domini temptatione quam pertulit. demonstrata sunt ei omnia regna et dictum ei est: tibi dabo haec omnia, si procidens adoraueris me.¹⁴⁶ lectum est et alibi: non regnet peccatum in uestro mortali corpore.¹⁴⁷ uides ante quos reges statueris, o homo, ante quos praesides peccatorum, si culpa regnat. quot peccata, quot uitia, tot reges; et ante hos adducimur et ante hos stamus. habent etiam isti reges tribunal in mentibus plurimorum. sed si quis Christum fateatur, statim regem illum facit esse captiuum, deicit de solio suae mentis. quomodo enim poterit diaboli tribunal manere in eo, cui Christi tribunal adsurgit?

51. Multi ergo persequentes et tribulantes me.¹⁴⁸ et fortasse Christus hoc dicit et dicit in uocibus singulorum;

ipsum enim aduersarius persequitur in nobis. si declinas persequentes, Christum abicis, qui se temptari patitur, ut uincat. ubi illum uiderit diabolus, ibi insidias parat, ibi temptationum machinas admouet, ibi dolos nectit, ut illum, si possit, excludat. ubi autem diabolus proeliatur, ibi Christus adsistit, ubi diabolus adsidet, ibi Christus includitur, ibi murorum spiritalium saepta defendit. ergo, qui persecutorem refugit, reicit etiam defensorem. sed cum audis: multi persequentes et tribulantes me,¹⁴⁹ noli timere, qui potes dicere: si deus pro nobis, quis contra nos?¹⁵⁰ uerum hoc ille dicit, qui a testimoniis domini nullo uitiorum declinat anfractu.

52. Sequitur uersus sextus: uidi non seruantes pactum et tabescebam, quoniam uerba tua non custodierunt.¹⁵¹ beatus qui in caritate dei tabescit, qui uidet non seruantes pactum. alius propter uitiosos amores tabescit, qui destillat, dum est dilatus amore dilectae, et dum protelatur flagrantis cupiditatis effectus, animus deficit, uires corporis quadam deformitate palloris fessorumque artuum tabe minuuntur. alius, qui pecuniam concupiscit, donec potiatur ea, auaro miser tabescit affectu. alius inmodice capessendi honoris inpatiens, si desideria longa suspiret, non mediocri mentis tabe conficitur. non talis qui dicit: quam distabuit caro mea in terra deserta et inuia et sine aqua!¹⁵² hic enim castigabat carnem suam¹⁵³ et tabescere faciebat, dum indefesso desiderio diuinae cognitionis intentus et lucem diei sollicita expectatione praeueniens¹⁵⁴ antelucanum soluere domino canticis et hymnis gestiebat obsequium.

53. Tabescit ergo uir pacificus, quando alios uidet pacta rescindere, consensuum abolere concordiam, iurgia de pace reparare, in tumultus redire de gratia. quod utique non facit qui domini praecepta custodit, non facit qui audit dicentem: pacem meam do uobis, pacem meam relinquo uobis.¹⁵⁵ ergo qui pactum seruat, is Christi oboedit imperiis, qui autem non seruat, ille Christi praecepta contemnit et, quod peius est, conperta fastidit et neglegit.

54. Sequitur uersus septimus: uide quia praecepta tua dilexi, domine; in misericordia tua uiuifica me.¹⁵⁶ hic quoque inuitat dominum, ut plenum caritatis suae spectet affectum. nemo dicit 'uide' nisi qui iudicat se, si uideatur, esse placiturum. et pulchre dicit 'uide' et secundum legem dicit, quia lex praecipit, ut unusquisque ter in anno se offerat in conspectu domini.¹⁵⁷ cotidie sanctus se offert, cotidie apparet et non uacuus apparet; non est enim uacuus qui de plenitudine eius accepit.¹⁵⁸ non erat uacuus Dauid, qui ait: repletum est gaudio os nostrum,¹⁵⁹ quia gaudium fructus est spiritus sancti.¹⁶⁰ et sicut de plenitudine uerbi nos omnes accepimus,¹⁶¹ quemadmodum dixit Iohannes, ita etiam spiritus sanctus de plenitudine sua repleuit orbem terrarum.¹⁶² non erat uacuus Zacharias, qui repletus est spiritu sancto¹⁶³ et prophetabat aduentum domini Iesu. non erat Paulus uacuus, qui euangelizabat in abundantia¹⁶⁴ et repletus erat, accipiens odorem bonae suauitatis¹⁶⁵ ab Ephesiis placentem deo hostiam. non erant Corinthii, in quibus abundabat dei gratia¹⁶⁶ iuxta eiusdem apostoli testimonium.

55. Offerebat se ergo Dauid cotidie deo et non uacuus offerebat, qui poterat dicere: os meum aperui et duxi spiritum;¹⁶⁷ ideo ergo dicebat: uide quia praecepta tua dilexi. audi

in quo te offerre debeas Christo, non in his quae uidentur, sed in occultis, sed in abscondito, ut pater tuus qui uidet in abscondito reddat tibi¹⁶⁸ et fidelem remuneretur affectum. praecepta, inquit, tua dilexi.¹⁶⁹ non dixit 'seruaui', non dixit 'custodiui'; nam inprudentes non custodierunt praecepta domini.¹⁷⁰ aliqui enim codices habent ἀσυνετοῦντας, hoc est insipientes, non intellegentes. ergo qui non intellegunt non sapiunt hique non custodiunt. qui autem perfectus est intellectu, perfectus sapientia, diligit, quod est amplius quam custodire; custodire enim necessitatis plerumque est et timoris, diligere caritatis. custodit qui euangelizat, sed qui uolens euangelizat mercedem accipit;¹⁷¹ quanto magis qui diligit mercede donatur! possumus enim non amare quod uolumus, non possumus nolle quod amamus. sed quamuis mercedem perfectae caritatis expectet, et miserationis diuinae suffragium poscit, ut in ea uiuificetur a domino. non ergo adrogans debitae mercedis exactor, sed uerecundus misericordiae diuinae est deprecator.

56. Sequitur ultimus uersus litterae huius: principium uerborum tuorum ueritas, in aeternum omnia iudicia iustitiae tuae.¹⁷² cum principium uerborum dei ueritas sit, ueritas utique fidei fundamentum est. primum etenim oportet ut credamus uera esse dei summi quae in diuinis scripturis legimus oracula, secundum est, ut uirtutem eorum pleniore cognitione discamus. sicut enim initium sapientiae timor domini,¹⁷³ plenitudo autem sapientiae dilectio — lex enim sapientia, plenitudo autem legis dilectio¹⁷⁴ —, ita plenitudo uerborum dei sapientia cognitioque iustitiae. namque sicut a timore domini processus quidam

est ad gratiam caritatis,¹⁷⁵ ita a ueritate ad iudicium iustitiae diuinae quidam uidetur fieri processus.

57. Uenisti ad ecclesiam, audisti unum deum dici, unde lex incipit, sicut habes scriptum: audi, Israel, dominus deus tuus dominus unus est.¹⁷⁶ crede unum deum esse, non plures deos. cum autem coeperis legere dominum Iesum dei filium in carne uenisse¹⁷⁷ propter totius mundi redemptionem, distingue sapienter unum deum patrem esse, ex quo omnia et nos in illum, et unum dominum Iesum, per quem omnia et nos per ipsum.¹⁷⁸ cognosce quia ideo uenit, ut uirtutis semitis noster informaretur affectus, ut morum mansuetudinem conuersationis eius disceremus exemplo, ut aboleretur culpa per gratiam, et tunc a ueritatis confessione ad cognitionem iustitiae processisti. fides principium christiani est, plenitudo autem christiani iustitia est; fides in confessione populorum, iustitia in martyrii passione.

58. Scientes igitur in aeternum mansura iudicia omnia iustitiae dei caueamus, ne opera nostra displiceant et aeternum incipiamus subire iudicium nec, si aliquid boni fecimus, resupino soluamur affectu. omnes oportet nos ante tribunal Christi adsistere, ut recipiat unusquisque quod gessit, siue bonum siue malum.¹⁷⁹ uides quia et Paulus adsistet, ut ipse commemorat. caue ne ligna, caue ne stipulam ad iudicium dei tecum deferas, quae ignis exurat.¹⁸⁰ caue ne, cum in uno aut duobus habeas quod probetur, in pluribus operibus deferas quod offendat. si, cuius opus arserit, detrimentum patietur, potest tamen per ignem et ipse saluari.¹⁸¹ unde colligitur, quia idem homo et saluatur ex parte et condemnatur ex parte. cognoscentes itaque multa esse iudicia opera

nostra examinemus omnia. in uiro iusto graue est detrimentum graue operis alicuius incendium, in impio poena miserabilis. sint magis omnia iudicia plena gratiae, plena florentium coronarum, ne forte, cum trutinantur facta nostra, culpa praeponderet.

1. The letter Res begins, which by the Latin interpretation is called head or primacy. It is head, that we may consider the form of the human race, which fosters all the members and directs them and fills them with the senses; for the senses of the wise man are in his head.¹ From there is drawn the channel of the veins and the courses of the breath, the powers of the blood are diffused into all parts of the body; it surveys all, it adorns all. With the head taken away, the body is without a name, is not recognized, nor does any usury of living survive. For this reason, those who are condemned for some crime, since the head is the ornament of the whole body, are deprived of it; and because by foul or wicked guilt they have been detected to have committed the squalor of brute scaevity or the horror of bestial inhumanity — as those who have departed from the proposition of human moderation — they are commanded also to put off the form of the human condition. For with the head cut off, the trunk of the rest of the body is compared to the body of beasts, and he is defrauded of the citadel of wisdom who could not hold the reckoning of wisdom. The body therefore is buried without its proper grace; for in the head is the vigor of life, in the head is the grace of beauty.

2. The serpent, when he is pressed by danger, is said always to hide his head, and gathering himself into a coil, by exposing the rest of his body, to protect this alone — that, while the other members are battered, with the vigor of the head saved, he may repair them. Do you also morally guard this head; with this saved, guard also mystically. The mystical head is Christ, because all things stand in him, and²

he is the head of the body of the church. Whoever loses this head will not be able to have the use of living. By this alone do we differ from the beasts: that we are formed unto the image of God and unto the likeness of his virtues. Faith separates us from comparison with the irrational cattle. Guard this head, you serpents of human kind. Even if all the members are cut, the whole body burned with fires, sunk in the deep, disemboweled by beasts, yet with this head preserved, life is whole, salvation is safe; for no one can perish from whom Christ has not been taken away.

3. Head is also the sum of our zeal and work, the sum of business, the sum of hope, the sum of the virtues. The whole sum of our zeal is that we be more humble, that we follow the truth, which he sees not who is puffed up, vainly inflated by the mind of his flesh, and not holding the head.³ What this head is, he expressed plainly when he said: from whom the whole body, by joints and bands supplied and joined together, increaseth unto the increase of God.⁴ And in the book of Isaiah the Lord says through the prophet: I will take away from Judaea head and tail, beginning and end.⁵ This head Judaea lost what she had, who did not receive Jesus the Lord. Where faith is, there we have both beginning and end; where faithlessness is, there is neither beginning nor end. The Church has a beginning, who has Christ; for Christ is the beginning of the Church, the firstborn from the dead.⁶ She has also an end, because he himself is the first and the last,⁷ he himself is the end of the law unto justice for everyone that believeth.⁸ The Synagogue has neither beginning nor end, because she found neither in the beginning what she might follow nor in the end what she might hope for. Therefore, the puffed up does not hold the head — that is, that humility of Christ, by which he descended even unto the cross, descended even unto the lower regions. Therefore the Jew did not

believe, because he despised him who said: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.⁹ This humility is the head of all the virtues, which fosters as it were the whole body of our actions.

4. Though anyone be sickly, poor, ignoble, yet, if he does not exalt himself and prefer himself, he commends himself by his very humility. Let someone be very rich and noble: the same man, if he boasts of his nobility of birth and his riches, is base by his own insolence. Let someone be eloquent and brave, who, lifted up by the swelling of eloquence and virtue, claims very much for himself: is not, on account of bashfulness, even the unwise and the weak man often preferred to him? In the Gospel, lastly, the Pharisee, although abstemious and sparing of another's, generous of his own, no shirker of fasting (as he himself was saying), yet on account of boasting lost even those things he could have had; nothing of so many kinds of virtues, discolored by one vice, could profit him. The publican, who could enumerate nothing that could be approved, on account of humility yet went down from the temple justified rather than that Pharisee,¹⁰ according to what is written in the prophet, that he will save the humble of spirit.¹¹

5. That this is the head which this letter expresses, we are also plainly taught in Jeremiah's Threni; for, with this letter set before, the prophet says: The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord, under whose shadow we shall live among the gentiles.¹² This therefore is truly the head, which is the head of all.

6. We have spoken about the head. Let us speak also about primacy, which, although it differs in word and letter, yet by sense converges into the same understanding. For we read of the primacies in the Old Testament, which Esau yielded to his brother among the firstborn,¹³ and therefore his name was called Edom,¹⁴ that is, earthly and crafty. And these were brothers,

concerning whom the Lord was entreated by their father Isaac, that he might give him heirs of his posterity from his wife Rebecca, who through twenty years had given no token of generation. He heard him, and Rebecca conceived, and she entreated the Lord when the little ones seemed to wrestle in her womb, and received the response: Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy womb; and people shall overcome people, and the elder shall serve the younger.¹⁵ Is not the mystery clear, that two peoples are signified — that is, the elder, the people of the Jews, and the younger, the Christian people, who, on account of the cooking of the lentils, received the primacies of the elder brother? By which sign it is plainly expressed, that the elder, that earthly people, on account of the intemperance of the gullet, lost the primacies he had; but the people of the Church, by sobriety and continence, snatched away the primacies — which by the order of age he did not have — both by confession and by pious theft of the paternal blessing. What therefore is it that the Christian people seized but the Lord Jesus? For from the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven is forced, and they that force, take it by violence,¹⁶ as the Lord himself declared. A good fraud, which steals eternal life. But since we think enough has been said about the interpretations of this letter, let us consider those things which the prophet has subjoined to this letter.

7. And so the first verse is: See my humility and deliver me, because I have not forgotten thy law.¹⁷ Perhaps someone may say: 'The prophet boasts of himself.' Even if he boasts, he boasts in his infirmities, in which the apostle also boasts, saying: I will glory in my infirmities.¹⁸ One man glories in riches, another in titles of nobility and lineage, another in administrations and honors: the just man glories in humility; for it is a good glory to be subject to Christ. But that you may know that he does not desire to boast

of himself, but to provoke the Lord's grace toward himself, the same prophet says elsewhere: See my humility and my labor.¹⁹ Therefore, as one who has humbled his heart, as one who has labored very much, in the one place he desires that his sins be forgiven him, in this place he prays to be delivered.

8. Set before yourself some priest anxious for the salvation of his minister whom he perceives is being tested by God; some father for his son set in grievous illness; some woman, mournful either for her son or her husband, brooding over prayers, pouring out abundant tears night and day, humbling herself and stretching herself on the ground, multiplying fasts, and — what is graver than these — wasted with the sorrow of mind and soul, drowsy in the postponement of disease and danger, saying to the Lord: See my humility and deliver me.²⁰

9. Consider also that Divine Scripture and our Lord daily anoint us with a certain spiritual oil of the heavenly precepts and exercise us; longing to provoke very many to undergoing the contests, [Christ] has set forth diverse rewards of crowns. Consider, I say, the athlete of Christ, wearied by innumerable contentions and resisting with strength now nearly worn out, troubled by the mass of peril, when he sees that he has the wrestling-match not only against flesh and blood but also against the spiritual wickednesses which are in the heavenly places,²¹ saying: See my humility and deliver me, because I have not forgotten thy law.²² For he could not have forgotten who has contended according to his precepts.

10. Behold also someone set in martyrdom, afflicted with frequent punishments, thrust back into shadows, broken by the heavy weight of chains, with limbs distended on the racks, disemboweled by the wooden horse, scored by claws, scorched by glowing plates — a man of persevering faith, but already with a wearied spirit because the crown of holy death is delayed any longer, saying: See my humility and deliver me, because I have not forgotten thy law.²³ For not only in pursuits and resolves, but also in trials,

we are taught by the testimony of the scriptures that humility may be predicated; for it is read: the men acceptable in the furnace of humility²⁴; for the Greek says ταπείνωσις, which is of humility. I have set this down for this reason, that very many Latin [codices] have in the furnace of affliction. The Latin distinguishes; the Greek does not separate: ταπείνωσις is named both the humility of virtue and the humility of affliction. It is no impediment if the Latin separates; for the Greek did not translate from the Latin, but the Latin from the Greek.

11. And so even the Hebrews, while they were in Egypt, were in an iron furnace — that is, in the furnace of trial, in the furnace of affliction — when they were oppressed by harsh commands. Whence also it is written that God led them out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt.²⁵ It was an iron furnace, because the works of no one's virtues yet shone forth full in Egypt, no one's gold had there been tested, the lead of no one's iniquity had been burned away.²⁶ A hard furnace was that furnace of perpetual death, which no one could escape, which would consume all, in which there was only sorrow and lamentation. But that furnace in which Ananias, Azarias, Misael were singing a hymn to the Lord²⁷ was a golden furnace, not iron, through which over the whole world wisdom shone forth by the faith of devotion. There was indeed also this furnace in Babylon, where there was no spiritual gold except perhaps captive [gold]; for the Lord led captivity captive.²⁸ This was the gold in the holy gods, who were captive among the Babylonians in body, but in spirit were free with God, loosed from the bonds of human captivity, bound by the yoke of spiritual grace. And perhaps the same furnace is iron to the fragile, golden to the persevering.

12. All who desire to return to paradise must be tested through the fire; for it is not idly written that, [Adam] cast out

— Adam or Eve from the seat of paradise — God placed at the exit of paradise a flaming sword turning every way.²⁹ All must pass through the flames, whether it be John the Evangelist, whom the Lord so loved that he said of him to Peter: If I will have him so to remain till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.³⁰ Concerning his death some have doubted; concerning the passage through the fire we cannot doubt, because he is in paradise and is not separated from Christ. Or whether it be Peter who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven,³¹ who walked upon the sea — yet he must say: We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.³² But for John the fiery sword will be turned aside quickly, because no iniquity is found in him whom equity loved. If there was anything of human vice in him, divine charity boiled it away; for her wings are wings of fire.³³

13. He who shall here have had the fire of charity, will not be able to fear there the fire of the sword. To Peter himself, who so often offered his death for Christ, it shall be said: Pass through, recline.³⁴ But he will say: Thou hast tried us by fire, as silver is tried by fire.³⁵ For indeed in the man whom many waters could not quench charity,³⁶ how shall the fire shut him out? But that man will be tried as silver; I shall be tried as lead — until the lead pines away, I shall burn. If nothing of silver be found in me, woe is me! I shall be thrust into the lowest depths or wholly burned up like stubble.³⁷ If anything of gold or silver be found in me — not through my acts, but through the mercy and grace of Christ, through the ministry of the priesthood — perhaps I shall say: for they who hope in thee shall not be confounded.³⁸

14. Therefore by that fiery sword shall iniquity be stripped off, which sits upon a leaden talent.³⁹ For this reason one alone could not feel that fire, who

is the justice of God, Christ — because he did no sin⁴⁰; for the fire found nothing in him which it could burn. Indeed for him alone were lifted up the eternal gates, that the King of Glory might enter,⁴¹ not as one accused in his cause. And here indeed his flesh tasted death; for not otherwise could he rise. What I have read I presume; what I have not read, I leave with reverence to those who know — confessing one thing: that whatever that flesh underwent, it underwent so that it might re-fashion by its own footprints the way for the rest, either of triumphing through martyrdom's passion or of crossing into paradise. Let no one then claim for himself, let no one boast of his merits, no one of his power, but let us all hope through the Lord Jesus to find mercy, since we shall all stand before his tribunal.⁴² From him I will ask pardon, from him indulgence; for what other hope is there for sinners?

15. And he who here thinks himself gold, has lead; and he who thinks himself a grain of wheat, has stubble that can be burned. But here many seem gold to themselves. I do not envy them; but even gold will be tried, will be burned, that it may be approved. For so it is written: as gold in a refining-vessel I will prove them.⁴³ Therefore let them notice that all will be tested. So let those many who think themselves gold also follow humility, that they may boil away their vices. But here boasting is empty. Therefore to the many who think themselves masses of gold, the wiser mass of gold says: the furnace shall prove us all.⁴⁴ Therefore, since we are to be tested, let us so act as to be worthy to be approved by the divine judgment. Let us, set here, hold humility, that, when each one of us shall have come to the judgment of God, to those fires through which we are to pass, he may say: See my humility and deliver me.⁴⁵ For if anyone be proud, arrogant, contumacious, he will not be able to say this. No one will say: 'See my pride'; but: See my humility,⁴⁶ that by his grace he may merit to be plucked from that fire.

16. There is therefore the humility of labor and weariness, and there is the humility of virtue and resolve, which the just man holds even in prosperity and ease, when he is broken by no labor, doubtful of the outcome of no contest — he shows himself humble in affection toward all, nor strives to exalt his own things, but rather to diminish the price of his work and the grace of his merit. Hear the just man humbling himself: I, he says, am the least of the apostles.⁴⁷ He, the vessel of divine election,⁴⁸ he, the teacher of the Gentiles, says he is the least, unworthy of the name of that office which by his works he was preferring; and he claims nothing for himself, but assigns the whole to the grace of God. This surely befits the just.

17. By this humility Abraham was named father of faith⁴⁹, who, while he was being made partaker of divine speech, said that he was earth and dust.⁵⁰ The Lord himself also says: I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and outcast of the people,⁵¹ when he was speaking of the passion of his body — he who sought not the things which are his own, but those of others.⁵² Whose imitators the apostle wills us to be and exhorts, saying: For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.⁵³ Let us therefore not seek nobility of birth nor riches, if we wish to follow Christ. He emptied himself, when he was in the form of God. Though he was rich, he became poor.⁵⁴ Do not despise the commoner because you are noble; do not look down on the slave because you are powerful; do not disdain the poor because you are rich. Are you nobler than Christ, more powerful than Christ, richer than Christ? He took up for you those things which you despise; he for you humbled himself even unto death, even to the death of the cross,⁵⁵ that he might abolish the fall of your

pride; that what we had lost through the disobedience of the one Adam we might receive back through the obedience of the one Lord Jesus.⁵⁶ For which cause God, he says, hath exalted him and hath given him a name above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, because the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father.⁵⁷

18. Consider, O man, what you read. The apostle did not labor to prove the power of Christ, but to preach his obedience, to demonstrate how great is the grace of humility, how great its profit. If you take it with simple ears, [you will say:] he also exalted Christ; but Christ was seeking not what was his own but what was yours, by that humility. Hear, then, with discerning ears: morally he profited you; mystically he redeemed your salvation. However you wish to understand it: salvation is yours. If you think his humility profited Christ, then to whom shall it not profit? If it exalted him, whom shall it not augment? The Lord was made the minister of all, and the author of all was beaten, washed feet, was crucified, died. But in all these things I see no loss of his divinity, I recognize the increase of his operation. He who had nothing he could add to his power had what he could join to the worship of his majesty. I dare to say: he had lost the gift of his operation, had not humility received it. So therefore he redeemed us indeed, but also acquired [glory] for himself. Humility, then, brings no loss; he who emptied himself is full, he who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, taking the form of a servant, is in the glory of God the Father. I have received him whom I knew not, I have come to know him whom I did not recognize, I confess him whom I was denying. To him I bend the knee of my body, to him I bend the knee of my mind, him I adore whom before I was fleeing.

19. We give thee thanks, Lord Jesus, that thou hast created us, and having created us, hast set us above the wild beasts, the dumb living creatures. Greater are the gifts

of thy visitation. Thou hast honored thy visited ones with the partnerships of thy majesty, saying: I will declare thy name to my brethren⁵⁸; for taking up a body, thou hast become a brother, nor hast thou ceased to be Lord. Greater is the grace of redemption. Those perishing thou hast redeemed by thine own death, as it is written: It is expedient that one man die for the people.⁵⁹ Thou hast raised the dead, saying: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up⁶⁰; for in that temple of the Lord's body, resurrection accrued to all. Rising again, thou hast made [us] equal to the angels, as thou hast said: for those who do not marry and the men who do not take wives shall be as angels in heaven.⁶¹ Last of all, at the right hand of God upon that throne of the Son of Man thou hast set [us], as thou thyself hast deigned to say: But hereafter shall the Son of Man be sitting at the right hand of the power of God.⁶²

20. Whence the apostle, marveling at the gifts of divine piety and at the same time showing that the Father's and the Son's liberality is one, says: but God who is rich in mercy, for his exceeding charity wherewith he loved us.⁶³ You hear, O man, in what you ought to be rich, what virtues you ought to have: to prove the love of God in yourself, to imitate the sweetness of heavenly charity. And he added: and when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together in Christ — by whose grace you have been saved — and hath raised us up together, hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.⁶⁴ In Christ surely the flesh too is honored. He, then, who sits at the right hand of God, has been humbled for our sake, and therefore he says to us: Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart.⁶⁵

He did not say 'Learn of me because I am powerful', but because I am humble of heart, that you might imitate him, that you might say to him: 'Lord, I have heard thy voice, I have fulfilled thy precept. Thou didst say that we should learn humility from thee: I have learned not only by thy word but also by thy deed; I have done what thou didst command: See my humility.'⁶⁶

21. A good athlete shows his limbs, that he may approve the discipline of his manner of life. He shows his limbs also when, after some heavier contests, he is again compelled to contend, that the judge, seeing his exhausted body, may by no means compel him to contend. So you also: show the humility of your heart, that you may show the titles of virtue; show also the contests of your heart, that you may say: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course⁶⁷; and that the spiritual judge, seeing this, may decree the crown of justice for the contest, since you have fulfilled the law of the games.

22. There follows the second little verse: Judge my judgment and deliver me; quicken me according to thy word.⁶⁸ The innocent hasten to judgment, and desire to be approved as quickly as possible by the arbiter of their innocence; this is a habit common in the world also with the saints. But he who is just before God has another reason for not fearing judgment, because his case is with a merciful judge; he wishes to be quickly absolved before his Redeemer, and so he hopes; for the prompt absolution of the saints is. Whence also the Lord says through Ezekiel to the angels who are the ministers of vengeance: Begin from my saints.⁶⁹ The Lord does not wish the partnership of judgment to be common to the saints with the devil's allies; for the devil and his ministers will not be scourged with men.⁷⁰ The punishment is set apart, where the guilt also differs; therefore in another place Scripture says: the time when judgment shall begin from the house of God.⁷¹ For those upon whom he has compassion, he chastises quickly,

that they may not be afflicted any longer by the expectation of future judgment, that they may not be macerated more lengthily by the wretched lot of guilt — that each may render even double his sins,⁷² so that at length he may be absolved. For the punishment of the guilty is in some way the absolution of their offenses.

23. We see in this age men inserted in the bonds of chains being led in a kind of pitiable show, and sometimes the innocent suffer this; so that it would be more bearable to die than to undergo such punishments. Surely those well aware of themselves wish to be heard, and even those who are pressed by grievous offenses wish by speed to dispatch the penalty of death, that they may gain some abridgements of their punishments. There is also hope from the judge's mercy. The very enclosures of the prison are harsher than exile, nor is the return cut off forever for all those banished. If a human examination accomplishes this, how much more is Christ's [judgment] to be desired by all! The devil's judgment is deferred, that he may be forever in punishments, the guilty one entangled forever in the chain of his own wickedness, that he himself may forever bear the judgment of his own conscience. Therefore that rich man in the Gospel,⁷³ although a sinner, is pressed by penal afflictions, that he may sooner be able to escape; but the devil is shown not at all to have come to judgment, not at all to be subjected as yet to punishments — except those which he himself, conscious of so great crimes, pays in perpetual fear, lest he should ever be secure.

24. Nay, that I may speak more truly, the saint comes to judgment, the wicked does not come, because the wicked rise not in the judgment.⁷⁴ This man asks that he may be absolved, another that he may be dismissed under correction; but he who has not believed is not judged,⁷⁵ but is punished by the judgment of his own impiety. With those emperors of ours, the barbarians guilty of crime are not punished for what they have committed in their own nation, because they are not subject to them, but are accounted by a graver name, enemies, who without interrogation, as private men of crime,

are punished. So also Christ chastises those whom he loves,⁷⁶ but consigns strangers, as though bound by the general damnation of impiety, to eternal punishment; for the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.⁷⁷ And yet the prophet teaches modestly by his own example, that even he who distrusts his own works may yet for the sake of the word⁷⁸ hope for a more lenient sentence.

25. One desires to live for the sake of riches, another for the sake of his sons. This man asks to be quickened for the sake of the word of God, just as Symeon awaited the Lord's coming; whence also, receiving the Lord in the temple, he says: Now thou dost dismiss thy servant in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,⁷⁹ declaring that he had no other desire of living save that he might see Christ. Indeed he saw, and he asked to be loosed from the bonds of the body.

26. We can also understand: Judge my judgment,⁸⁰ as if our case for our [own] judging is graver than that for our error; for pardon is more easily given to one erring than to one wickedly judging another. For it is necessary that the same form of judgment return upon you, which you yourself have thought ought to be decreed against another.

27. There follows the third verse: Salvation is far from sinners, because they have not sought thy justifications.⁸¹ Whose judgment is late, their salvation is far off; but they themselves are the authors of their own peril, who have not drawn near to the Lord. Therefore they have been made far off, because by their own will they have separated themselves from the grace of salvation; salvation has not fled them, but they themselves have removed themselves from salvation. He came to the Jews, but they did not receive salvation. How they did not receive, hear. Jesus is salvation, Jesus is named the Son of Man; the Son of Man came to seek and to save⁸²

that which was lost; but the Jews demanded that the robber be released to them,⁸³ and they rejected Jesus.

28. Who is it that makes himself far from the Lord, except he who does not seek his justifications? But he who seeks the justifications is near; he cleaves to God. And therefore to those seeking the justifications of God the apostle says: you who were once afar off have been made nigh in the blood of Christ.⁸⁴ The blood of Christ is justice; whence he himself says to John: Suffer us to fulfill all justice.⁸⁵

29. There follows the fourth verse: Many are thy mercies, O Lord; quicken me according to thy judgments.⁸⁶ Although salvation is far from sinners, yet let no one despair, because many are the mercies. Those who perish by their own sin, by the Lord's mercy are freed: I will have mercy, he says, on whom I will have mercy.⁸⁷ He appeared openly to those who did not seek⁸⁸; he called those who fled, gathered the ignorant, offered himself to the passion for all. Is he not therefore very merciful? For the mercy of man is upon his neighbor; the mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh, that all flesh might ascend to God, granted by that mercy of the Lord.

30. But how, when he said the Lord's mercies were many, does he ask to be quickened according to his judgments — especially when he himself elsewhere says: And enter not into judgment with thy servant?⁸⁹ But that judgment of Christ's benefits is one thing, to which we cannot make answer — for who can repay the debt of nature, the debt of salvation and grace? — and another that judgment, by which we are weighed by the estimate of our frailty. In this very judgment, however, judgment is coupled with mercy, that the truth of judgment may be tempered by the Lord's mercy.

31. Or perhaps, because he had said: Judge my judgment,⁹⁰ therefore he subjoined that the Lord's mercies were exceedingly many; for it is grievous to judge another. Whence also it is written: Judge not, that you be not judged.⁹¹ For since each one is conscious of his own sins, how can he judge another's sin? Let him judge of another's error, who has not what he himself condemns in himself; let him judge, who does not do the same things he has thought punishable in another, lest, when he judges another, he himself bear sentence against himself; let him judge, who is led to pronouncing by no hatred, no offense, no levity. You have heard today what the true and just judge said: I cannot of myself do anything.⁹²

32. Some heretics used to make questions out of this, as though the Son were weak, who could do nothing of himself, as though, even according to divinity, he were subject to and made under his Father's command — and they do not perceive that the unity of divine power is the more proven by this very thing, where they suppose that there is a difference of power between the Father and the Son. The Son does nothing of himself, because by the unity of operation neither does the Son act without the Father, nor the Father without the Son. Indeed, the Father says to the Son: Let us make man to our image and likeness,⁹³ declaring the operation common, where the counsel is common. What does he do without Wisdom, who made all things in wisdom, as we read: Thou hast made all things in wisdom?⁹⁴ Indeed Wisdom said: When he made the heavens, I was with him, and I was she in whom he delighted,⁹⁵ and the Evangelist says: all things were made by him, and without him was made nothing,⁹⁶ that he might teach not only that the Son is the maker of all, but also a sharer of the paternal operation.

33. I, however, judge that this passage seems to be referred to the form of judgment; for the Gospel is not only a teaching of faith,

but also a discipline of morals and a mirror of just conversation. I find in the Gospel that the Lord Jesus took upon himself the affections and offices of many, that he might teach how we ought to conduct ourselves in these offices. He took upon himself the person of the shepherd and said: the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep,⁹⁷ and therefore for the rational flock he did not refuse himself to the passion of the body, that placing the weary sheep upon the shoulders of his cross⁹⁸ he might restore it by the function of his pious burden.

34. He took upon himself the person of the advocate; for we have him as our advocate with the Father.⁹⁹ He passed the night in prayer¹⁰⁰ for us, that he might form us by his own example as to how we ought to entreat pardon for our sins. For he was not passing the night [in prayer] as though otherwise unable to reconcile the Father to us, but that he might show what kind of advocate he ought to be, what kind of priest, that not only by day but also by night [the priest] ought to stand by the flock of Christ as intercessor. Or did he need the help of obtaining who could himself do what he was asking, just as he himself was saying: I go to the Father, and whatever you shall ask of him in my name, that I will do?¹⁰¹ Indeed elsewhere he says, when he was raising Lazarus: I knew that thou hearest me always,¹⁰² nor was he passing the night [in prayer] as though weak, who knew that he was always heard; and he cried: Lazarus, come forth.¹⁰³ The resurrection spoke, death departed.

35. He took upon himself also the affection of the accused and stood before the judge, accused; nor did the Lord of all disdain the meanness of the magistrate. Being interrogated, he was silent,¹⁰⁴ showing that the defense of innocence is not in the clamor of voice nor in the forensic assertion of patronage, but in the integrity of conscience; nor [is it good] that the safety of the body should be sought, but the purity of the soul. So, who absolved the silent Susanna, offered himself to death; in that case, that no one might despair, in this, that he might not refuse the sacrifice for the redemption

of the universe. Beaten at last he did not revile, did not strike back, and the Lord of heaven and earth laid aside the zeal of vengeance, sent forth a voice of humility, saying: if I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me?¹⁰⁵ As if weak, he laments the injury of the blows, and, when he could avenge himself, preferred to complain than to take revenge.

36. Therefore here also he took upon himself the person and the proposition of a judge, saying: I cannot of myself do anything.¹⁰⁶ For a good judge does nothing of his own arbitration and according to the proposition of his domestic will, but pronounces according to the laws and statutes; he obeys the rulings of the law, does not indulge his own will, brings nothing prepared and pondered from home, but as he hears, so he judges, and as the nature of the matter has it, so he decrees. He obeys the laws, does not oppose them; he weighs the merits of the case, does not change them.

37. Learn, judges of the world, what affection you ought to keep in judging, what sobriety, what sincerity. The Lord of all says: I cannot of myself do anything.¹⁰⁷ Elsewhere I read: He cannot deny himself.¹⁰⁸ He cannot — surely not by weakness, but by integrity, not by inability to act, but by observance in judging. What can he not, who can do all things, save what he wills not to do? He wills not to be able to do what he condemns, wills not to be able to do against faith, wills not to be able to do against truth. Hear at last himself, saying why he cannot of himself do anything: as I hear, he says, so do I judge,¹⁰⁹ that is: I do not decree out of my own power what is pleasing, but out of the religion of judging what is just; and therefore my judgment is true, because I do not indulge my own will, but equity. Hear what the heavenly judge says: I cannot of myself do anything; as I hear, so do I judge.¹¹⁰

38. And Pilate said to the Lord Jesus: I have power to release thee, and I have power to crucify thee.¹¹¹ You usurp, O man, a power which you have not, when God denies that he has — he who has power over all things. Hear what justice says: I cannot of myself do anything.¹¹² Hear what the judge of equity asserts: as I hear, so do I judge.¹¹³ Hear what the judge of iniquity speaks: I have power to release thee, and I have power to crucify thee. By your own voice, Pilate, you are bound, by your own sentence you are condemned. Therefore by power, not by equity, you delivered the Lord to be crucified, by power you released the robber, but you killed the author of life. But neither did you have from yourself this power which you assert you have. Indeed the Lord Jesus says to you: Thou shouldst have no power against me at all, unless it had been given thee from above.¹¹⁴ An evil power is to be permitted what hurts; this power is of darkness, namely, not to see truth, but to despise it.

39. Hear what the true judge speaks: I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.¹¹⁵ He speaks as a man, he teaches as a judge, that he who judges ought not to obey his own will, but hold to what is of the laws. Set up a judge in this age: can he go against the form of the imperial rescript? Can he exceed the rule of the Augustan definition? How much more ought we to keep the form of the divine judgment! Christ says: I seek not my own will,¹¹⁶ that is, of man, which is either driven by hate or strained by zeal or bent by favor or depraved by the lying of others — for every man is a liar¹¹⁷ — but the will, he says, of him that sent me,¹¹⁸ that is: I have come to teach the form of divine knowledge,

that in judging the custody of truth may be more on the heart than the obedience of will. Not therefore here either is there weakness of power, but the form of justice has been expressed.

40. Just therefore is the judgment of the Son of God, because it is according to the will of God, not according to the affection of man. For God is full of mercies, and his mercy is with judgment and his judgment with mercy; he neither has compassion without judgment nor judges without mercy. Indeed it is written: His mercy is in scales.¹¹⁹ But the sons of men, [their] lies are in scales, that they may deceive.¹²⁰ God therefore weighs and balances the merits of single ones and, as he gives grace by measure,¹²¹ lest it be above measure, so by measure he gives mercy. Whence he says: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. With the same measure with which you have measured, it shall be measured back to you.¹²² In like manner the works of single ones are weighed in the scale, that, if good outweigh evil, the recompense of reward may be granted; if sins outweigh virtues, a sadder punishment may bind the guilty. Which thing you have plainly expressed [in the letter] to Timothy, the apostle Paul saying: Some men's sins are manifest, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. In like manner also the good deeds are manifest, and the things which are otherwise cannot be hidden.¹²³

41. All things therefore from the Lord our God are made by a certain measure and weight. Who has set, he says, the rocks in a balance? And above: who has measured the water in his hand and the heaven with his palm?¹²⁴ He who weighs our things, surely bestows his having weighed them, and decrees all things with the balance kept whole. He weighs mercy, he weighs vengeance; in either there is a fixed weight and a suitable measure. Whence David also says: and thou wilt give them drink in tears,

by measure,¹²⁵ lest, without the moderation of the measure, they should be burdened by the heap of penalty and not be able to bear it. And elsewhere the same prophet says: the cup in the hand of the Lord is full of pure wine mixed, and he hath inclined of this into this; nevertheless the dregs thereof are not emptied out.¹²⁶ And Jeremiah says: Babylon, a golden cup in the Lord's hand, by which the nations have been made drunk,¹²⁷ that is: punishment has been paid by the nations, lest they should insult any longer, in that they have vexed the people of God with most bitter pillage. The sense, therefore, of David's verse is this: prepared and full is the punishment which is owed to the wicked, which the Lord turns aside upon the perfidious; but yet by his mercy he does not deign to pour it out even to the dregs, lest they should not be able to bear the fullness of the punishment. He inclines therefore the cup, he does not empty it; what he inclines is of censure, what he does not empty is of mercy.

42. Therefore the Lord our God tempers his judgment also with mercy. For who of us can subsist without divine compassion? What can we do worthy of the heavenly rewards? Who of us so rises up in this body, that he lifts his soul, by which he may continually cleave to Christ? By what merit at last is it bestowed upon man, that this corruptible flesh should put on incorruption, and this mortal should put on immortality?¹²⁸ By what labors, by what injuries can we lift up our sins? The sufferings of this time are not worthy [to be compared] to the glory to come.¹²⁹ Not therefore according to our merits, but according to the mercy of God, the form of the heavenly decrees proceeds upon men.

43. There follows the fifth verse: Many are they that persecute me and afflict me; from thy testimonies I have not declined.¹³⁰ It is no great thing if you do not decline from the testimonies of God when no one afflicts, no one persecutes you. For who, with the favoring success of unbroken prosperous events, would not become ungrateful? Who, abounding in riches, robust in continual health, would not refer to the grace of God that those things have been granted to him? Indeed when the Lord proclaimed holy Job, the adversary said: Doth Job worship the Lord for nought? Hast thou not given him all things? Stretch forth thy hand upon all things which he has, and see if he will not bless thee in the face.¹³¹ Then therefore he was the more proven, when, his goods and sons lost, he did not depart from the worship and grace of the Lord. But it is not one persecutor; he has many ministers. But let it not terrify thee. For through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.¹³² If many persecutions, many trials; where there are many crowns, there are many contests. It profits you, then, that there are many persecutors, that amid many persecutions you may more easily find how to be crowned.

44. Let us use the example of the martyr Sebastian, whose birthday it is today. He is by origin from Milan. Perhaps either the persecutor had already departed, or had not yet come into these parts, or was milder. He observed that here either there was no contest or it had grown lukewarm. He set out for Rome, where, on account of zeal for the faith, bitter persecutions were boiling; there he suffered, that is, there he was crowned. And so there, whither he had come a guest, he established the dwelling of perpetual immortality. If there had been one persecutor, this martyr would surely not have been crowned here.

45. But what is worse: not only those persecutors are who are seen, but also those who are not seen — and the unseen persecutors are far more. For just as

one persecutor king sent the precepts of persecution to many, and through individual cities or provinces there were diverse persecutors, so also the devil directs many of his ministers, who not only outwardly, but also inwardly, make persecutions in the souls of single ones. Concerning these persecutions it is said: all who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus suffer persecution.¹³³ He said all, he excepted no one. For who can be excepted, when the Lord himself bore the temptations of persecution? Avarice persecutes, ambition persecutes, luxury persecutes, pride persecutes, fornication persecutes. Whence also the apostle says: Flee fornication¹³⁴; for why would you flee, except that it persecuted you? For there is the evil spirit of fornication, the evil spirit of avarice, the evil spirit of pride.

46. These are grievous persecutors, who without the terror of the sword frequently shatter a man's mind, who attack the souls of the faithful by allurements rather than by terrors. These are the foes you must beware of, these the heavier tyrants by whom Adam was captured. Many crowned in public persecution have fallen by this hidden persecution. Without, he says, fightings, within fears.¹³⁵ Do you observe how grievous is the contest which is within a man, that he should fight with himself, that he should war with his own desires? The apostle himself wavers, hesitates, is constrained; he asserts that he is taken captive in the law of sin and warred against by the body of death, and could not have escaped, except he had been delivered by the grace of the Lord Jesus.¹³⁶

47. But just as there are many persecutions, so there are many martyrdoms. Daily you are a witness of Christ. You have been tempted by the spirit of fornication, but, fearing the future judgment of Christ, you have not thought to violate the chastity of mind and body: you are a martyr of Christ. You have been tempted by the spirit of avarice, that you might invade the property of the lesser, that you might violate the rights of the undefended widow, and yet, by the contemplation of the heavenly precepts, the help

[of others] you have judged should be brought rather than injury inflicted: you are a witness of Christ. Indeed Christ wills such witnesses to stand by, according to what is written: Judge for the orphan and justify the widow, and come, let us reason together, saith the Lord.¹³⁷ You have been tempted by the spirit of pride, but, seeing the poor and needy, with pious mind you had compassion; you loved humility rather than arrogance: you are a witness of Christ; and what is more, you have offered the witness not of word only but also of work. For who is a richer witness than he who confesses the Lord Jesus to have come in the flesh, when he keeps the precepts of the Gospel? For he who hears and does not¹³⁸ denies Christ; even if he confesses him in word, by works he denies. To how many saying: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and cast out devils and done many mighty works?¹³⁹ in that day will he answer: Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity?¹⁴⁰ He, then, is a witness, who, with deeds confirming, attests the precepts of the Lord Jesus.

48. How many therefore are daily, in secret, martyrs of Christ and confess the Lord Jesus! The apostle, who said: for this is our glory and the testimony of our conscience,¹⁴¹ knew this martyrdom and the faithful witness of Christ. How many have confessed outwardly and denied within! For indeed, for the sake of taking a wife, who was denied by Christian parents to a pagan husband, with feigned faith for a time, very many are betrayed who outwardly confessed but within denied. Or do we suppose that on account of fornication alone the Lord our God was so severely moved against the people of the Jews that twenty-three thousand of the people were slain¹⁴², for this — that they mingled in intercourse with women of the Madianite nation — and not because, through those intercourses with foreigners, they were compelled to depart from the faith and deny the Lord?

49. Believe not, he says, every spirit,¹⁴³ but by their fruits¹⁴⁴ know them whom you ought to believe. Someone comes into the church while affecting honor under Christian emperors, and with feigned mind feigns to offer prayer; he is bent and stretched on the ground who has not bent the knee of his mind. Man sees him, thinks him a Christian; man sees him praying suppliantly, and believes — but God hears him denying. Approved by man, he departs, but condemned by the judge. How much more bearable would it have been to deny before man and be confessed before God! Although this too is reprehensible; for perfect confession seeks both the devotion of the soul and the profession of the voice; for with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.¹⁴⁵

50. Therefore in interior persecutions be faithful and brave, that you may be approved also in those outward persecutions. And in the inmost persecutions there are kings and rulers, judges terrible by their power. You have an example in the Lord's temptation which he endured. All the kingdoms were shown him, and it was said to him: I will give thee all these things, if falling down thou wilt adore me.¹⁴⁶ It is read also elsewhere: Let not sin reign in your mortal body.¹⁴⁷ You see before what kings you shall stand, O man, before what rulers of sins, if guilt reign. As many sins, as many vices, so many kings; and before these we are led, before these we stand. These kings also have their tribunal in the minds of very many. But if anyone confess Christ, he immediately makes that king to be a captive, casts him down from the throne of his mind. For how can the devil's tribunal remain in him, in whom Christ's tribunal arises?

51. Many therefore that persecute and afflict me.¹⁴⁸ And perhaps Christ says this, and says it in the voices of single ones;

for the adversary persecutes him in us. If you avoid the persecutors, you cast off Christ, who suffers himself to be tempted, that he may conquer. Where the devil sees him, there he prepares ambushes, there he applies the engines of temptation, there he weaves snares, that he may, if he can, exclude him. But where the devil fights, there Christ stands by; where the devil besieges, there Christ is enclosed; there he defends the enclosure of the spiritual walls. Therefore, he who flees the persecutor, casts off also the defender. But when you hear: many persecuting and afflicting me,¹⁴⁹ do not fear, you who can say: if God be for us, who is against us?¹⁵⁰ But this is said by him who, by no winding of vices, declines from the testimonies of the Lord.

52. There follows the sixth verse: I saw those not keeping the covenant, and I pined away, because they have not kept thy words.¹⁵¹ Blessed is he who pines away in the love of God, who sees those not keeping the covenant. Another pines away on account of vicious loves, who melts, while he is delayed by the love of his beloved, and while the effect of his blazing desire is prolonged, the soul fails, the powers of the body are diminished by a certain deformity of pallor and the wasting of weary limbs. Another, who covets money, until he gets it, pines away wretchedly with miserly affection. Another, impatient with measureless gaining of honor, if he sigh with prolonged desires, is consumed with no slight wasting of the mind. Not such is he who says: How my flesh has wasted away in a desert and pathless and waterless land!¹⁵² For he was chastising his own flesh¹⁵³ and was making it pine away, while, intent with unwearied desire upon the divine knowledge and anticipating the light of day with anxious expectation¹⁵⁴, he was longing to render to the Lord a service before dawn with songs and hymns.

53. The peaceful man therefore pines away when he sees others rescinding the covenants, abolishing the concord of consents, restoring quarrels out of peace, returning to tumults out of grace. Which surely he does not do who keeps the Lord's precepts, who hears him saying: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you.¹⁵⁵ Therefore he who keeps the covenant obeys the commands of Christ; but he who does not keep, despises the precepts of Christ, and what is worse, having tested them, scorns and neglects them.

54. There follows the seventh verse: See that I have loved thy commandments, O Lord; in thy mercy quicken me.¹⁵⁶ Here too he invites the Lord, that he may behold his affection full of charity. No one says see unless he judges that, if he be seen, he will be pleasing. And beautifully he says see, and he says it according to the law, because the law commands that each man thrice in the year shall present himself before the sight of the Lord.¹⁵⁷ The saint daily presents himself, daily appears, and not empty does he appear; for he is not empty who of his fullness has received.¹⁵⁸ Not empty was David, who says: Our mouth is filled with joy,¹⁵⁹ because joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.¹⁶⁰ And just as of the fullness of the Word we all received,¹⁶¹ as John said, so also the Holy Spirit filled the world from his fullness.¹⁶² Not empty was Zechariah, who was filled with the Holy Spirit¹⁶³ and prophesied the coming of the Lord Jesus. Not empty was Paul, who was preaching in abundance¹⁶⁴ and was filled, taking the odor of good sweetness¹⁶⁵ from the Ephesians, a victim pleasing to God. Not [empty were] the Corinthians, in whom the grace of God abounded¹⁶⁶ according to the testimony of the same apostle.

55. Therefore David offered himself daily to God, and not empty did he offer, who could say: I opened my mouth and drew the Spirit¹⁶⁷; therefore he was saying: See that I have loved thy commandments. Hear

in what way you ought to offer yourself to Christ — not in those things which are seen, but in the secret, but in the hidden, that thy Father, who sees in secret, may render to thee¹⁶⁸ and reward the faithful affection. Thy commandments, he says, I have loved.¹⁶⁹ He did not say I have kept, did not say I have guarded; for the imprudent have not kept the commandments of the Lord.¹⁷⁰ Some codices have ἀσυνετοῦντας, that is, unwise, not understanding. Therefore those who do not understand are not wise, and these do not keep. But he who is perfect in understanding, perfect in wisdom, loves, which is more than to keep; for to keep is for the most part of necessity and of fear; to love is of charity. He keeps who preaches the gospel, but he who willingly preaches the gospel receives a reward¹⁷¹; how much more is he who loves rewarded! For we can not love what we will, [but] we cannot not-will what we love. But although he expects the reward of perfect charity, yet he asks for the suffrage of divine compassion, that in it he may be quickened by the Lord. Not therefore an arrogant exactor of his due reward, but a modest petitioner of divine mercy is he.

56. There follows the last verse of this letter: The beginning of thy words is truth; for ever are all the judgments of thy justice.¹⁷² Since the beginning of God's words is truth, truth surely is the foundation of faith. For first it is necessary that we believe the oracles of God Most High, which we read in the divine scriptures, to be true; second, that we may learn their power by a fuller knowledge. For just as the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord¹⁷³, but the fullness of wisdom is love — for the law is wisdom, but the fullness of the law is love¹⁷⁴ —, so the fullness of God's words is wisdom and the knowledge of justice. For just as from the fear of the Lord there is a certain progress

to the grace of charity,¹⁷⁵ so from truth to the judgment of divine justice a certain progress seems to be made.

57. You have come to the church; you have heard one God spoken of, whence the law begins, as you have written: Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord.¹⁷⁶ Believe one God to be, not many gods. But when you have begun to read that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, came in the flesh¹⁷⁷ for the redemption of the whole world, distinguish wisely one God the Father, of whom are all things and we in him; and one Lord Jesus, by whom are all things and we through him.¹⁷⁸ Know that he therefore came, that our affection might be formed in the paths of virtue, that we might learn the gentleness of behavior by the example of his manner of life, that guilt might be abolished by grace, and then from the confession of truth you have advanced to the knowledge of justice. Faith is the beginning of the Christian; the fullness of the Christian is justice; faith in the confession of peoples, justice in the passion of martyrdom.

58. Knowing therefore that all the judgments of the justice of God shall remain forever, let us beware lest our works displease and we begin to undergo eternal judgment, nor, if we have done some good, let us be loosened with affection laid back. We must all stand before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive what he has done, whether good or evil.¹⁷⁹ You see that Paul also will stand by, as he himself recalls. Beware lest you carry wood, beware lest you carry stubble to the judgment of God with you, which the fire may burn.¹⁸⁰ Beware lest, while in one or two things you have something to be approved, in the other works you carry what gives offense. If anyone's work shall burn, he shall suffer loss; yet he himself shall be saved, but as it were through fire.¹⁸¹ Whence it is gathered that the same man both is saved in part and condemned in part. Knowing then that the judgments of the works are many,

let us examine all our [works]. In the just man, grievous is the loss [from] the burning of any work; in the wicked, miserable is the punishment. Let all judgments rather be full of grace, full of flowering crowns, lest perhaps, when our deeds are weighed, the fault preponderate.