Ambrose

IX. LITTERA TETH.

1. Incipit littera 'Teth', cuius interpretatio est 'exclusio'. quid est 'exclusio'? numquid sicut domo aliquis excluditur hospitioque deicitur, ita qui excluditur a dei regno bonis suis fraudatur, sicut illae exclusae sunt uirgines, quae secum oleum non tulerunt et, dum uenit sponsus, extinctae sunt faces earum atque emendo oleo inflammandisque facibus occupatae fecerunt moram et ingresso iam sponso introire cupientes leguntur exclusae?¹ non arbitror. nam quomodo diceret bonus et sanctus propheta deiectus atque exclusus a dei regno: iucunditatem fecisti cum seruo tuo?² nec prophetae meritum huiusmodi intellectum uidetur admittere nec series subditorum. audis dicentem: suauis es, domine, et in iucunditate tua doce me iustificationes tuas;³ audis dicentem: bonum mihi lex oris tui super milia auri et argenti:⁴ et potes dicere quod sit exclusus a regno, qui non est exclusus a lege? quid ergo intellegemus? haeret interpretatio; obscuritatem sensui sui sermonis uidetur offundere.

2. Uocant merita prophetae, uocat eius gratia, uocat subiectorum series, ut altioris intellectus aliquid debeamus eruere. et occurrit in tempore, quod interdum excludamus in bono. scriptum est enim: perfecta caritas timorem excludit foris.⁵ et generaliter quidem caritas excludit timorem, ut miles, qui imperatorem diligit, bella pro imperatore suscepta non metuit, ut seruus amans dominum, quamuis per deuia et praerupta mittatur, tamen omnia pericula domini amore contemnit ac, si quis dominum petat, se ipsum offerre non trepidat; ut, qui trans mare positos filios uidere desiderat, non metuit naufragia, liberorum caritate ingreditur maris fluctus, subit incerta nauigii, sed metum discriminis leuant desideria filiorum. quam pulchre etiam de martyribus dicitur, qui uere militant Christo, qui persecutiones ungulas gladios incendia non timentes infestis se regibus obtulerunt! timorem etenim quem poterant habere poenarum excluserunt amore martyrii.

3. Hunc sensum autem esse interpretationis huius etiam de Threnis Hieremiae possumus adprobare. nam et ibi sub hac littera scriptum est: bonus est dominus sustinentibus eum, animae quae quaerit eum; bonum est sustinere et sperare in salutare dei. bonum est uiro cum portauerit iugum graue a iuuentute sua, sedebit singulariter et silebit, quia tulit iugum graue,⁶ haec utique quid aliud adstruunt nisi bonae exclusionis hanc interpretationem uideri? quis enim sustinet dominum nisi studio caritatis? quis est qui sperat nisi qui quod sperat optat et diligit? quod enim speramus, per patientiam expectamus.⁷ ergo qui sperat sustinet, qui sustinet inpatientiae utique excludit affectum. quis est qui portat iugum graue a iuuentute sua nisi qui deliciis renuntiat, luxuriam fugit? quis est qui singulariter sedet nisi qui saecularibus uoluptatibus in abdicatis molestiarum omnium excludit tumultus? iste ergo timere nil poterit qui caritatis gratia uim timoris absorbuit.

4. Est et alius qui excludatur in bono, ut ille qui apostolica auctoritate sublatus e medio plebis est, quia malum opus fecit, traditus in carnis interitum, ut eius spiritus saluaretur.⁸ ex quo intellegimus, quia in bono excluditur qui iubetur agere paenitentiam, ut humilietur et conpungatur corde; haec enim reconciliationis solent esse suffragia.

5. Denique etiam in Hieremia scripta sub hac littera id uidentur significare; sic enim legimus de Hierusalem illa terrena: inmunditia eius ante pedes eius, non fuit memor nouissimorum suorum et cecidit inualide; non est qui consoletur eam. uide, domine, humilitatem eius, quia magnificatus est inimicus.⁹ et quia humiliata est Hierusalem, merito postea ei dicitur: defecit iniquitas tua, filia Sion.¹⁰ et omni qui paenitentiam egerit, lacrimis propriis peccata defleuerit, bene dicitur: defecit iniquitas tua. alibi quoque sub hac littera dicit Hieremias: boni erant uulnerati gladio quam uulnerati fame; abierunt conpuncti a natiuitate agrorum.¹¹ conpungimur igitur, quando nostrorum agimus paenitentiam delictorum, conpungimur etiam recordatione dictorum. unde ait propheta Dauid: quae dicitis in cordibus uestris, et in cubilibus uestris conpungimini.¹² qui autem conpungitur, utique delectationem excludit erroris et qui agit paenitentiam, excludit pudorem, sequestrat uerecundiam flagitii confitendi, ut recuperandae spem salutis inueniat. meritoque et ipse Dauid, ubi agnouit errorem: peccaui, inquit, domino.¹³ tantus rex, tantus propheta non erubuit peccatum proprium confiteri et ideo dictum est ei: et dominus abstulit peccatum tuum.¹⁴

6. Sublato igitur peccato ait: iucunditatem fecisti cum seruo tuo, domine, secundum uerbum tuum.¹⁵ multa uidentur in hoc saeculo iucunda esse quae non sunt, multa suauia, bona plurima. luxuries uidetur esse iucunda, sed exhausto fit amara patrimonio; dulcis libido cum feruet, sed eadem horrida et execranda cum proditur; suaues epulae cum sumuntur, sed faetidae cum digeruntur. bona multa in hoc saeculo dum uiuimus aestimantur, quia usui nobis sunt, ut pecunia honor aurum argentum possessiones; eadem nihil possunt prodesse defunctis, hic omnia relinquuntur, quin etiam maiore dolore quis moritur, cum se his fraudari copiis ingemescit. non est ergo iucunditas uera nisi illa, quae secundum uerbum est dei, ut quis bonorum meritorum atque uirtutum subsidiis gaudeat se esse munitum.

7. Hac Dauid iucunditate dei uel bonitate laetatur, quia iugum graue a iuuentute portauit et sustinuit atque expectauit domini in se gratiam, non praeripuit, qui saepe occidendi regis Saul tributa sibi copia maluit tamen expectare a domino deferendi tempus imperii quam occiso rege praeripere. semper deus bonus est, ideoque et Paulus ait: uide ergo bonitatem et seueritatem dei; bonitas enim in omnes est, seueritas in paucos.¹⁶ denique subdidit idem apostolus: in eos quidem qui ceciderunt seueritatem, in te autem bonitatem;¹⁷ si enim non cecidissent, utique uterentur et ipsi dei bonitate. nam et tibi ideo bonus est, quia permanes; quodsi non permanseris in bonitate, et tu excideris. non ergo deus propterea bonus esse desistet, quia tu lapsus es et indiges seueritate, siquidem et seueritas dei in bonitate recurrat, unusquisque castigatus pedem referat a peccatis et ad uirtutum tramitem bonamque conuersationem recurrat. denique docet de illis qui ceciderunt apostolus, quia si non permanserint in incredulitate inserentur; potens est enim deus iterum inserere illos,¹⁸ ut, quemadmodum desecta uirgulta, ita et homines uelut caudicibus quibusdam uirtutis inserti bonorum fructus possint ferre meritorum. accuses necesse est medicum crudelitatis, quia putrefactas uulnerum fibras ferro putauerit exsecandas, quia noxia et serpentia ulcera igni adusserit, ne uirus in ulteriora proserperet, uel quia magister discipulum uerberauerit neglegentem, ut metu uerberum indueret diligentiam. castigare enim amantis est, non execrantis, et ideo bonitatis est, non crudelitatis. recte ergo et dominus ubique est bonus, et cum remittit flagitia et cum peccata castigat; castigat enim dominus quem diligit.¹⁹

8. Castigatus est etiam Dauid; denique ait: et fui flagellatus tota die.²⁰ sed uir sapiens, qui intellexit castigationem illam sibi domini profuisse, ait: bonitatem fecisti cum seruo tuo, domine, secundum uerbum tuum, hoc est: etsi illa mihi ad tempus amara uisa est castigatio, mihi secundum carnem, mihi secundum maestitiam corporis, tamen secundum uerbum tuum castigatio illa fructus bonitatis adtulit. illam mihi castigationem intellego profuisse, illa castigatione me a uitiis esse reuocatum, illa castigatione non diu aliquid in me licuisse flagitiis, per illam castigationem domini nihil in me aduersario licuisse, nil morti. denique: castigans castigauit me dominus et morti non tradidit me²¹ ipse propheta memorauit; castigatur enim qui recipitur, qui autem non recipiuntur non flagellantur; in laboribus enim hominum non sunt et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur.²² ideoque supra ait: quam bonus Israel deus rectis corde!²³ ergo bonus omnibus, quia omnes recto uult esse corde. qui autem cor declinauerit, ipse a se gratiam diuinae bonitatis auertit.

9. Sequitur: iucunditatem et disciplinam et scientiam doce me, quia in mandatis tuis credidi.²⁴ iuxta apostolum χρηστόν 'bonum' intellegimus, quia dixit: uide ergo bonitatem domini;²⁵ iuxta euangelium χρηστόν 'suaue' accipimus; dixit enim: tollite iugum meum, quia leue est, et onus meum, quia suaue est;²⁶ dixit enim: τὸ φορτίον μου χρηστόν. unde merito bonitatem dei ab ipso quaerit doceri, ne forte quis perfunctorie accipiens bonum deum esse in erroribus perseueret, quod per misericordiam dei sciat inpunitatem suis dari posse peccatis, cum, etsi indulgeat dominus, tamen foeda est conuersatio in criminibus semper haerere. non ergo bonitas ista uulgaris est, sed quae semper disciplinae expectet profectum.

10. Ideoque qui intellegit altam dei esse bonitatem doceri desiderat etiam disciplinam. nam plerique auertuntur ab studio disciplinae, dum eam seueram et tristem arbitrantur; sed perspicacior sensu intellegit, quod disciplina, etsi tristis ad tempus sit, posterioribus fiat iucunda temporibus. sed est disciplina uel correptio seuerior, est etiam moderatior. moderatior est, de qua dicit dominus: corripiam eos in auditu tribulationis eorum.²⁷ est seuerior quae est in ira et furore correptio. unde refugiens eam correptionem dicit Dauid: domine, ne in ira tua arguas me neque in furore tuo corripias me,²⁸ et Hieremias: corripe nos, domine, in iudicio et non in furore.²⁹ omnis ergo disciplina, etsi ad tempus habeat amaritudinem, habeat perturbationem, postea tamen pacificos fructus generare consueuit.

11. Sed qui petit doceri bonitatem et disciplinam, debet petere etiam scientiam doceri. nisi enim habeat scientiam, molesta est disciplina, molesta correptio. quid sit scientia, doceat te Salomon, qui ait de domino deo nostro: ipse enim mihi dedit eorum quae sunt cognitionem ueram.³⁰ et alibi hic idem propheta ait: qui docet hominem scientiam.³¹ qui autem petit scientiam, credit mandatis dei.

12. Aliud est autem in mandatis dei credere, aliud mandatis credere. qui enim mandatis dei credit, cito efficit ut sit in mandatis dei et in ipsis conuersetur. per fidem igitur scientia adsumitur, per scientiam disciplina; quod enim scimus placere posse, in eo nos conuersatio ipsa delectat. denique scriptum est: nostra autem conuersatio in caelis est.³² praecessit scientia, secuta est conuersatio. de 'mandatis dei credere' diximus; 'in mandatis autem dei' hoc est: in ipsis esse et credere quia uera mandata sunt. nisi autem credideris mandatis dei, eorum utique scientiam quae per mandata dei docemur habere non poteris.

13. Sequitur uersus tertius: priusquam humiliarer ego deliqui, propter hoc uerbum tuum ego custodiui.³³ alia traditio habet: priusquam humiliarer ego nesciui.³⁴ unde putant aliqui,³⁵ quod anima hominis hoc dicat: 'priusquam humiliarer, ut in hoc lutum corporis introirem, tua quae non legeram mandata nesciui'. sed quia Septuaginta uirorum sententias magis sequitur ecclesia et hic sensus est planior et nihil offensionis admittit, quod possit aliquibus scrupulum commouere, ideo ita accipiamus, ut 'humiliarer' sit dictum, eo quod peccato uideatur humiliatus. propter peccatum enim temptationes saepe nascuntur; denique Adam et Eua post culpam utique deiecti sunt. ergo humilitatis nostrae causa peccatum est uel humiliationis; non enim hoc fugio. potest enim de aduersis plerumque intellegi humilitas, ut est: bonum mihi quod humiliasti me, ut discam iustificationes tuas,³⁶ et: nisi lex tua meditatio mea sit, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea,³⁷ et: humiliatus sum ualde.³⁸ hic ergo ostendit humilitatem ortam esse de culpa. et quia culpa praecessit, ideo humiliatum ostendit, hoc est adtritum temptationibus et aduersis et traditum anxietatibus, quemadmodum et ille, qui traditus est a Paulo in interitum carnis,³⁹ humiliatus utique est, ut postea posset reconciliationem mereri.

14. Sed quamuis humilitas ista, hoc est uelut quaedam deiectio, perturbationis, non uirtutis sit, generat tamen saepe uirtutem et fit non poena, sed remedium delinquentis. nam si peccatis tuis tribuas quod humiliatus es, quicquid acciderit in te retorques et ex reo incipies esse iustus qui te ipse condemnas; iustus enim accusator est sui in exordio sermonis.⁴⁰ nec potes indignum te iudicare humilitate qui propria errata cognoscis, in quibus erubescendo non utique extolleris, sed humiliaris. uides ergo, quia ideo humiliatus es, quia deliquisti et non seruasti eloquia dei. unde serua diligentius, ne pecces, ne iterum, quia deiectus es, tristitia absorbearis⁴¹ et fiat tibi deiectio tua incrementum iniquitatis, quae debet esse correctionis occasio. etenim in temptationibus homo sicut aurum in conflatorio⁴² conprobatur. uides propheta quid dicat: priusquam humiliarer, inquit, deliqui.⁴³ iure ergo temptationibus traditus est, quoniam delinquebat, delinquebat autem, quia dei eloquium non tenebat. uerum inde ordinem emendationis inuenit, unde culpa processerat; coepit esse subiectus eloquio diuino et culpa desiuit.

15. Sequitur uersus quartus: bonus es, domine, et in bonitate tua doce me iustificationes tuas.⁴⁴ etiam usus disciplinae saecularis accepit, ut unusquisque iudicem suum laudet. unde apostolus sequens diuinarum ordinem scripturarum, cum diceret causam, ita coepit: de omnibus quibus accusor, rex Agrippa, a Iudaeis, aestimo me felicem apud te incipiens rationem reddere,⁴⁵ et infra: credis, rex Agrippa, prophetis? scio quia credis.⁴⁶ ergo si laudantur homines, in quibus plerumque aliena laudantur, quanto magis unusquisque dei sibi conciliare gratiam debet, ut dicat: bonus es, domine! nam si hoc dicat homini, ut esse admoneatur quod forsitan non sit, et bonitatis etiam ipse praedicatione mitescit terroremque inmitis deponit affectus; quanto magis deo laus sua est deferenda, qui nisi bonus esset, super terram stare quis posset? proprium est autem dei ut bonus sit. denique in euangelio habes, quia arbor bona fructus bonos facit.⁴⁷ fructus eius angeli sunt, fructus eius homines sunt, hoc est rationabiles, sancti, si domini praecepta custodiunt, fructus eius sunt hi qui nascuntur in terris, fructus eius sunt uirtutes hominum. merito ergo arbor bona bonos fructus facit. prius igitur radix laudetur, ut fructus possit probari. sed et alibi ait idem dominus Iesus: et pater uester qui bonus est dabit bona data petentibus se.⁴⁸

16. Sed quamuis bonus deus sit, cuius etiam amara plus prosunt — non enim inferuntur ut noceant, sed ut corrigant —, rogatur tamen, ut in bonitate sua doceat nos iustitias suas.⁴⁹ considera medicum utilia adponentem medicamenta uulneribus, ea tamen, quae mordeant ulceris uirus, aut certe ferro putrefacta resecantem. cum in eo ipso sit bonus medicus, quia utilitatem operatur aegroti, et faciat quod prodesse nouerit, tamen, quia aeger dolorem aut non uult aut non potest sustinere propter infirmitatem affectus sui, rogat ut medicus eum quadam bonitate et suauitate sua curet, non asperitatem adhibeat medicamentorum, non ferro incidat uulnerum fibras aut, si aliter non potest, ut cum moderatione faciat et quadam subtilitate mitiget uim doloris. et ideo in euangelii bonitate melius docentur iustificationes dei quam in legis seueritate. opus autem iustitiae iustificatio est. unde scriptum est, quia Pharisaei se iustificare noluerunt non baptizati baptismo Iohannis,⁵⁰ in eo enim iustificationem non fecerunt, quia noluerunt agere paenitentiam delictorum, quam propheta in bonitate uult agere, ut ei fiat peccatorum remissio sine atrocitate damnationis cum remissionis gratia.

17. Sequitur uersus quintus: multiplicata est super me iniquitas superborum, ego autem in toto corde meo scrutabor mandata tua.⁵¹ quanto magis quis deo seruire desiderat, tanto magis in se excitat aduersarios et tamquam athleta fortis coronam iustitiae⁵² reportare desiderans inritat in se plurimos et lacessit, qui inuident nostro profectui. quod etiam in posterioribus euidenter ostendit: cum odiosis non habentibus pacem eram, inquit, pacificus.⁵³ nihil tamen tranquillitas eius proficiebat, ut eos qui pacem oderant sua tranquillitate conponeret et eorum studia conprimeret; cum loquebar illis, inpugnabant me gratis,⁵⁴ hoc est: cum causas inpugnandi non haberent, tamen inpugnandi studium non deponebant. ita ergo multiplicantur siue nequitiae spiritales siue homines et multiplicatur eorum iniquitas super iustum. uerbi gratia si filium iustus amittat, quod saeculi usu saepe contingit, si amittat patrimonium uel diuersis adficiatur incommodis rerum uel corporis infirmitatibus, tunc dicunt superbi: 'ubi est iustitia eius, ubi misericordia? ecce quia sic multatus est, ecce quia ei innocentia sua nihil prodest!' ideoque ad uitae huius specimen extrahendum tres illi sancto specie amici, obtrectatione autem iniqui, probitatis atque iustitiae eius inuidi, exprobrantes grauia obprobria congerebant et qui uenerant ad consolandum insultare coeperunt.⁵⁵

18. Sed iustus his non mouetur ideoque nec Iob frangebatur. denique in amissionibus filiorum uel patrimonii dicebat: dominus dedit, dominus abstulit; sit nomen domini benedictum.⁵⁶ ergo et in aduersis positi dicamus: bonitatem fecisti cum seruo tuo.⁵⁷ potest enim dominus in melius mutare quae facta sunt, ut Iob sancti habemus exemplum, et quae amissa sunt reddere potest, qui ei et amissis filiis generaret meliores.⁵⁸ numquid deo est difficile meliora donare? potest, etiamsi nihil donet, hoc ipso tamen iusto esse prospectum, si forte futuri inprobi rapti sunt, ne mutaret malitia cor eorum.⁵⁹ similiter et de patrimonio: quasi non uideamus plurimos propter opes patrimonii in periculum salutis esse deductos, plurimis ex diuitiarum abundantia causam ortam esse peccandi. qui enim non habet quod donet, adscribi ei culpa non potest quod non donauerit; qui autem habet quod donet et non dat, utique obnoxius incipit esse peccato.

19. Sequitur uersus sextus: coagulatum est ut lac cor eorum, ego autem legem tuam meditabar.⁶⁰ subtile cor sanctorum, coagulatum est uero cor superborum. ut enim lac natura sui purum, speciosum atque sincerum est, sed corruptione coacescit, sic mentis et cordis humani natura pura sincera perspicua est, priusquam uitiorum admixtione coacescat. coagulato enim lacte fit quaedam concretio nec suauitatem habens eandem nec gratiam. ita homines, qui ante sedulitate gratia suauitate uerborum lactis speciem praeferebant nulla inuidia corruptam, hi si coeperint inuidere, coagulatur in uitium cor eorum et fit de suauitate amicitiae amaritudo maliuolentiae et insuauis quidam horror inuidiae. ergo coagulatum est cor per superbiam, per inuidiam, quae lenitatem naturae fluentem beniuolentiam malitiae concretione uitiarunt. iniquorum ergo cor coagulatur, iustus autem humiliatur legis praecepta meditando, qui habet humilitatis magisterium.

20. Sequitur uersus septimus: bonum mihi quod humiliasti me, ut discam iustificationes tuas.⁶¹ hoc secutus apostolus: placeo mihi, ait, in infirmitatibus, in iniuriis, in necessitatibus, in persecutionibus, in angustiis.⁶² cum enim conplacet in infirmitatibus et non frangitur animo nec cedit iniuriae, discere iustificationes dei et meruit et impleuit. ergo hic humiliasti me,⁶³ hoc est: diuersis temptationibus et incommodis exercuisti, dicit. quod aperuit et Symmachus scribens: profuit mihi quod adflictus sum, ut discerem iustitias tuas.⁶⁴ ergo qui humiliatur non deiciat animum neque frangat, sed magis humiliando proficiat, ut superbum humilitate sua mitiget, insolentes morum seueritate confundat, contumeliosos patientia sua frangat, auaros nonnumquam etiam aequanimitate dispendii a iurgii intentione deducat. sic enim legisti, quia iustificata est sapientia a filiis suis,⁶⁵ dum Christus se offert supplicio, dedit iniuriis,⁶⁶ non subducit obprobriis nec a confusione sputorum auertit faciem suam;⁶⁷ et ideo omnes patientia sua instruxit et liuore sanauit.

21. Sequitur uersus octauus: bonum mihi lex oris tui super milia auri et argenti.⁶⁸ non quicumque hoc dicit, immo rarus hoc dicit, id est: qui legem dei auro atque argento praeferat, qui potest propter legem dei omnia relinquere. sed nec Christus hunc repperit nisi de his quos ipse docere dignatus est. Petrus hoc dixit et probauit effectu, quia pluris legem quam aurum habuit. ideoque ait: argentum et aurum non habeo.⁶⁹ non auarus hoc dicit, qui defosso auro incubat, non dicit pecuniosus, qui cotidiana emolumenta sollicito rimatur affectu, qui cotidie opes aggerat, qui hereditatis tendit aucupia, qui circa aegrotantis lectulum indefessas exercet excubias.

22. Hic aliqui 'legem oris dei' tamquam legem uerbi dei accipiunt, ut si dicas 'legem dexterae dei'. bene ergo et hoc conuenit Petro dicenti: uerba uitae aeternae habes, et non relinquemus te,⁷⁰ hoc est: lex tui oris super milia auri et argenti est;⁷¹ et possumus tantum deserere bonum et saeculi huius emolumenta captare? sed et Moyses lex oris dei potest dici, per quem locutus est dominus et dedit legem.

1. The letter Teth begins, whose interpretation is exclusion. What is exclusion? Is it that, just as someone is shut out of a house and cast forth from his lodging, so he who is excluded from the kingdom of God is defrauded of his goods — as those virgins were excluded who did not bring oil with them and, when the bridegroom came, the torches of theirs were extinguished, and being occupied in buying oil and kindling their torches they made delay, and we read that, when the bridegroom had already gone in, they desired to enter and were excluded?¹ I do not think so. For how should the good and holy prophet, cast down and excluded from the kingdom of God, say: Thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant?² Neither does the prophet's merit appear to admit such an interpretation, nor does the sequence of what follows. You hear him say: Thou art sweet, O Lord, and in thy sweetness teach me thy justifications;³ you hear him say: The law of thy mouth is good to me, above thousands of gold and silver⁴ — and can you say that he is excluded from the kingdom who is not excluded from the law? What, then, shall we understand? The interpretation sticks fast; it seems to cast obscurity upon the sense of his speech.

2. The prophet's merits summon us, his grace summons, the sequence of what follows summons us, that we should bring to light something of a higher understanding. And it occurs in time that we may sometimes "exclude" in a good sense. For it is written: Perfect charity casteth out fear.⁵ And generally indeed charity casts out fear, just as a soldier who loves his commander does not fear wars undertaken for that commander; just as the slave who loves his master, even though he be sent through trackless and precipitous places, nevertheless despises every danger out of love for his master and, if anyone seek the master, does not tremble to offer himself; just as he who longs to see his children placed across the sea does not fear shipwrecks, but, out of love for his offspring, enters the waves of the sea, undergoes the uncertainties of sailing, while the longing for his children lightens the dread of the peril. How beautifully also it is said of the martyrs, who truly soldier for Christ, who, not fearing persecutions, claws, swords, fires, offered themselves to hostile kings! For whatever fear of punishments they could have had, they cast out by their love of martyrdom.

3. That this is the sense of this interpretation we can also confirm from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. For there too under this letter it is written: The Lord is good unto them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him; it is good to wait and to hope in the salvation of God. It is good for a man, when he hath borne a heavy yoke from his youth, he shall sit alone and shall hold his peace, because he hath taken it up upon him.⁶ These verses, what else do they establish, except that the interpretation of "good exclusion" stands? For who waits upon the Lord except by zeal of charity? Who is it that hopes except he who chooses and loves what he hopes for? For what we hope for, we wait for through patience.⁷ He, therefore, who hopes endures, and he who endures excludes the affection of impatience. Who is it that bears the heavy yoke from his youth except he who renounces delights and flees luxury? Who is it that sits alone except he who, having renounced worldly pleasures, excludes the tumults of all annoyances? Such a one will be able to fear nothing, who has absorbed the force of fear by the grace of charity.

4. And there is another who is "excluded" in a good sense: as he who, by the apostolic authority, was taken out of the midst of the people, because he had done an evil deed, delivered up to the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved.⁸ From which we understand that he is excluded in the good sense who is bidden to do penance, that he may be humbled and pricked in heart; for these are the customary supports of reconciliation.

5. And, lastly, the verses written under this letter in Jeremiah seem to signify the same. For thus we read of that earthly Jerusalem: Her filthiness is at her feet, she was not mindful of her last things, and she fell utterly; there is none to comfort her. See, O Lord, her humiliation, because the enemy is exalted.⁹ And because Jerusalem was humbled, deservedly afterward it is said to her: Thy iniquity is at an end, O daughter of Sion.¹⁰ And to everyone who shall have done penance and shall have wept his sins with his own tears, it is rightly said: Thy iniquity is at an end. Elsewhere also under this letter Jeremiah says: They that were slain by the sword were better than they that were slain with hunger; they were pricked with compunction and went away from the fruitfulness of the fields.¹¹ We are pricked with compunction, then, when we do penance for our offenses; we are pricked also by the recollection of what has been said. Whence the prophet David says: The things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them upon your beds.¹² But he who is pricked with compunction utterly excludes the delight of error, and he who does penance excludes shame and sets aside the modesty of confessing his shameful deed, that he may find hope of recovering salvation. And rightly David himself, when he had recognized his error, said: I have sinned to the Lord.¹³ So great a king, so great a prophet, did not blush to confess his own sin, and therefore it was said to him: And the Lord hath taken away thy sin.¹⁴

6. The sin, therefore, taken away, he says: Thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word.¹⁵ Many things in this world appear to be pleasant which are not, many sweet things, very many goods. Luxury seems to be pleasant, but, the patrimony spent, becomes bitter; lust is sweet while it burns, but the same is horrid and execrable when it is exposed; banquets are sweet when they are taken, but foul when they are digested. Many things are esteemed as goods in this world while we live, because they serve our use — as money, honor, gold, silver, possessions; but the same can profit nothing to the dead; here all are left behind; nay rather, a man dies with greater grief, when he laments that he is being defrauded of these riches. There is, therefore, no true pleasantness except that which is according to the word of God, that one should rejoice that he is fortified by the supports of good merits and virtues.

7. With this pleasantness or goodness of God David rejoices, because he had borne the heavy yoke from his youth and had endured and waited for the Lord's grace upon himself; he did not snatch at it ahead of time — he who often, when granted opportunity to kill king Saul, preferred nevertheless to await from the Lord the time of receiving the empire rather than to seize it before the time by killing the king. God is always good, and so Paul also says: See then the goodness and severity of God: for goodness is toward all, severity toward few.¹⁶ Lastly, the same apostle subjoined: Toward those, indeed, who fell, severity, but toward thee, goodness;¹⁷ for if they had not fallen, they too would surely have used the goodness of God. For he is good to you also for this reason, because you persevere; but if you have not persevered in goodness, you also shall be cut off. Not on this account, then, will God cease to be good, because you have lapsed and have need of severity, since the very severity of God runs back into goodness, that each one chastised may withdraw his foot from sins and run back to the path of the virtues and to good conduct. So the apostle teaches concerning those who fell, that if they shall not abide in unbelief, they shall be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again,¹⁸ so that, just as cut twigs, so men too, as it were grafted into certain stocks of virtue, may be able to bear the fruits of good merits. You must needs accuse the physician of cruelty, because he has thought the rotted fibres of wounds must be cut out with the knife, because he has burned the noxious and creeping ulcers with the fire, lest the venom should creep further; or because the master has beaten the negligent disciple, that by fear of the rod he may put on diligence. For to chastise belongs to one who loves, not to one who detests, and therefore is of goodness, not of cruelty. Rightly, then, the Lord is good in everything, both when he remits crimes and when he chastises sins; for the Lord chastises whom he loves.¹⁹

8. David also was chastised; lastly he says: And I have been scourged all the day.²⁰ But the wise man, who understood that this chastisement of the Lord had profited him, says: Thou hast dealt in goodness with thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word: that is, even though that chastisement seemed bitter to me for a time, to me according to the flesh, to me according to the sadness of the body, yet according to thy word that chastisement brought forth the fruit of goodness. I understand that that chastisement profited me, that by that chastisement I was called back from vices, that by that chastisement nothing was for long allowed in me to shameful deeds, that through that chastisement of the Lord nothing was allowed in me to the adversary, nothing to death. Thus: The Lord chastising hath chastised me, and hath not delivered me unto death²¹ — the prophet himself recorded; for he is chastised who is received, but those who are not received are not scourged; for they are not in the labors of men, neither shall they be scourged with men.²² And so above he says: How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart!²³ He is good, then, to all, because he wills all to be of an upright heart. But he who has bent his heart aside, he himself turns away from himself the grace of the divine goodness.

9. It follows: Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments.²⁴ According to the apostle we understand χρηστόν as good, since he said: See then the goodness of the Lord;²⁵ according to the gospel we take χρηστόν as sweet; for he said: Take my yoke upon you, for it is light, and my burden, for it is sweet;²⁶ for he said: τὸ φορτίον μου χρηστόν. Whence rightly does he ask to be taught of God himself the goodness of God, lest perhaps anyone, taking it perfunctorily that God is good, persevere in errors, because he knows that through the mercy of God impunity can be granted to his sins — although, even if the Lord pardon, yet it is foul to remain ever fastened in crimes. This goodness, then, is not of the common sort, but such as ever awaits the progress of discipline.

10. And so he who understands the deep goodness of God desires also to be taught discipline. For very many are turned away from the pursuit of discipline while they suppose it severe and gloomy; but the more discerning in mind understands that discipline, although it be gloomy for a time, becomes pleasant in later times. But there is one discipline, or correction, more severe; there is also a more moderate. The more moderate is that of which the Lord speaks: I will correct them in the hearing of their tribulation.²⁷ The more severe is that correction which is in wrath and fury. Wherefore David, fleeing this latter correction, says: O Lord, rebuke me not in thy indignation, nor chastise me in thy wrath,²⁸ and Jeremiah: Correct us, O Lord, in judgment and not in fury.²⁹ All discipline, therefore, although it have for the time bitterness and disturbance, is wont nevertheless afterwards to bring forth peaceful fruits.

11. But he who asks to be taught goodness and discipline, ought also to ask to be taught knowledge. For unless he have knowledge, discipline is grievous, correction is grievous. What knowledge is, let Solomon teach you, who says of the Lord our God: For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are.³⁰ And elsewhere this same prophet says: He that teacheth man knowledge.³¹ But he who asks for knowledge believes the commandments of God.

12. It is one thing, however, to believe in the commandments of God, another to believe the commandments. For he who believes the commandments of God quickly brings it about that he be in the commandments of God and converse in those very commandments. Through faith, therefore, knowledge is taken up; through knowledge, discipline; for in that wherein we know we can please, in that very thing converse delights us. Lastly, it is written: But our conversation is in heaven.³² Knowledge went before, conversation followed. Of "believing the commandments of God" we have spoken; but "in the commandments of God" — this is: to be in them and to believe that they are true commandments. Unless, however, you believe the commandments of God, you cannot have the knowledge of those things which we are taught through the commandments of God.

13. There follows the third verse: Before I was humbled I offended, therefore have I kept thy word.³³ Another tradition has: Before I was humbled I knew not.³⁴ Whence some suppose³⁵ that the soul of man says this: 'Before I was humbled — that I might enter into this clay of the body — I knew not thy commandments which I had not read.' But because the Church follows rather the readings of the Seventy men, and this sense is plainer and admits no offense which could rouse a scruple in any, therefore let us receive it thus, that I was humbled be said in this sense: that he seems to have been humbled by sin. For on account of sin temptations often arise; and lastly, Adam and Eve, after their fault, were surely cast down. Therefore the cause of our humility, or of our humiliation, is sin; for I do not flee this. For most often humility can be understood of adversities, as is: It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications,³⁶ and: Unless thy law had been my meditation, I had then perhaps perished in my humiliation,³⁷ and: I am humbled exceedingly.³⁸ Here, then, he shows that humility had arisen from a fault. And because the fault preceded, therefore he shows the man humbled, that is, worn down by temptations and adversities and given over to anxieties — just as that man also, who was delivered up by Paul to the destruction of the flesh,³⁹ was surely humbled, that he might afterward be able to merit reconciliation.

14. But although this humility — that is, as it were a kind of dejection — is of disturbance, not of virtue, it nevertheless often generates virtue, and becomes for the offender not a punishment but a remedy. For if you ascribe to your sins the fact that you have been humbled, whatever has befallen you you turn back upon yourself, and from being a defendant you begin to be just, by yourself condemning yourself; for the just man is the accuser of himself in the beginning of his speech.⁴⁰ Nor can you judge yourself unworthy of humility, who recognize your own errors, in which by blushing you are surely not exalted but humbled. You see, therefore, that you have been humbled because you have offended and have not kept the eloquences of God. Whence keep them more diligently, lest you sin, lest, because you are cast down, you be again swallowed up by sadness,⁴¹ and your dejection become for you the increase of iniquity which ought to be the occasion of correction. For in temptations a man is approved like gold in the furnace.⁴² You see what the prophet says: Before I was humbled, he says, I offended.⁴³ Rightly, then, he was delivered up to temptations, since he was offending; but he was offending because he did not hold the eloquence of God. But thence he found the order of his amendment, whence the fault had proceeded; he began to be subject to the divine eloquence, and the fault ceased.

15. There follows the fourth verse: Thou art good, O Lord, and in thy goodness teach me thy justifications.⁴⁴ Even the use of secular discipline has accepted that each man should praise his judge. Whence the apostle, following the order of the divine Scriptures, when he was pleading his case, thus began: Of all the things whereof I am accused, King Agrippa, by the Jews, I think myself happy that I am to make my defense before thee,⁴⁵ and below: Believest thou, King Agrippa, the prophets? I know that thou believest.⁴⁶ If, therefore, men are praised, in whom for the most part what is praised is what is foreign to themselves, how much more ought each one to win for himself the grace of God, that he may say: Thou art good, O Lord! For if he say this to a man, that he be admonished to be what perhaps he is not, and even by the very preaching of his goodness he is softened and lays down the terror of his harsh affect, how much more is praise to be rendered to God, who, unless he were good, who could stand upon the earth? It is proper to God that he be good. Lastly, you have it in the gospel, that a good tree bringeth forth good fruits.⁴⁷ His fruits are the angels, his fruits are men — that is, rational, holy men, if they keep the precepts of the Lord; his fruits are those who are born upon the earth; his fruits are the virtues of men. Rightly, therefore, the good tree bringeth forth good fruits. First, then, let the root be praised, that the fruits may be approved. But also elsewhere the same Lord Jesus says: And your Father, who is good, will give good things to them that ask him.⁴⁸

16. But although God is good, whose bitter things also profit more — for they are not brought in to harm but to correct — yet he is asked, that in his goodness he may teach us his justices.⁴⁹ Consider a physician applying useful medicines to wounds, but those which sting the venom of the ulcer, or assuredly cutting off with the knife the rotted parts. Although in this very fact a physician is good, that he works the patient's profit and does what he knows to be of help, yet because the patient either does not wish or cannot endure the pain on account of the weakness of his affect, he asks the physician to cure him with a certain goodness and sweetness of his, not to apply the harshness of medicines, not to cut the fibres of wounds with the knife, or, if otherwise it cannot be, that he may do it with moderation and may by a certain subtle skill mitigate the force of the pain. And so in the goodness of the gospel the justifications of God are better taught than in the severity of the law. But the work of justice is justification. Whence it is written that the Pharisees were unwilling to justify themselves, not having been baptized with the baptism of John,⁵⁰ for in this they did not perform justification, because they were unwilling to do penance for their offenses — which the prophet wishes to do in the good way, that there may be wrought for him a remission of sins without the atrocity of damnation, with the grace of remission.

17. There follows the fifth verse: The iniquity of the proud hath been multiplied over me, but I will search thy commandments with my whole heart.⁵¹ The more anyone desires to serve God, the more he stirs up adversaries against himself, and like a strong athlete desiring to bear off the crown of justice⁵² he provokes very many against himself and goads them — those who envy our progress. Which also he plainly shows in the verses below: With them that hated peace I was peaceable,⁵³ he says. Yet his tranquility profited nothing, that by his tranquility he might compose those who hated peace, and might restrain their zeal; when I spoke unto them, they fought against me without cause,⁵⁴ that is: when they had no causes for fighting against me, they nevertheless did not lay aside the eagerness of fighting. Thus, then, are multiplied either spiritual wickednesses or men, and their iniquity is multiplied above the just man. For example, if the just man should lose a son, as often befalls in the use of the world, if he should lose his patrimony or be afflicted with various inconveniences of fortune or with infirmities of the body, then say the proud: 'Where is his justice, where his mercy? See, because he has been so punished, see, because his innocence profits him nothing!' And so for the showing-forth of this life's example those three friends — holy in semblance, but in obtrectation iniquitous, envious of his uprightness and justice — heaped grave reproaches in upbraiding him, and those who had come to console began to insult him.⁵⁵

18. But the just is not moved by these things, and so neither was Job broken. Lastly in the losses of his children or his patrimony he kept saying: The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.⁵⁶ Therefore even when set in adversities let us say: Thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant.⁵⁷ For the Lord can change for the better what has been done — as we have the example of holy Job — and can restore what has been lost, who could beget for him, when his children had been lost, even better ones.⁵⁸ Is it indeed difficult for God to bestow better things? He can, even if he should bestow nothing, by this very fact have provided for the just man, if perhaps the future-evil ones have been snatched away, lest malice should change their heart.⁵⁹ Likewise also concerning patrimony: as if we did not see that very many on account of the wealth of patrimony have been brought into peril of salvation, that for very many a cause of sinning has arisen out of the abundance of riches. For he who has nothing to bestow cannot have a fault ascribed to him because he has not bestowed; but he who has something to bestow and does not bestow surely begins to be liable to sin.

19. There follows the sixth verse: Their heart is curdled like milk, but I have meditated on thy law.⁶⁰ Subtle is the heart of the saints, but the heart of the proud is curdled. For just as milk is by its nature pure, fair, and sincere, but by corruption turns sour, so the nature of the human mind and heart is pure, sincere, transparent, before by the admixture of vices it turns sour. For when milk is curdled there comes a certain concretion, having neither the same sweetness nor the same grace. So men, who before by their assiduity, grace, and sweetness of words were displaying the appearance of milk, uncorrupted by any envy — these, if they have begun to envy, their heart is curdled into vice, and out of the sweetness of friendship comes the bitterness of malevolence and a certain unpleasant horror of envy. Therefore the heart is curdled by pride, by envy, which by the concretion of malice have stained the gentle, flowing kindness of nature. The heart of the iniquitous, then, is curdled, but the just is humbled by meditating the precepts of the law, who has the schooling of humility.

20. There follows the seventh verse: It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications.⁶¹ Following this the apostle says: I please myself in infirmities, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses.⁶² For when one finds his pleasure in infirmities and is not broken in spirit nor yields to injury, he has both deserved and fulfilled to learn the justifications of God. Therefore here thou hast humbled me,⁶³ that is: thou hast exercised me with diverse temptations and inconveniences, he says. Which Symmachus also opened up, writing: It hath profited me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy justices.⁶⁴ Therefore let him who is humbled not cast down his spirit nor be broken, but rather let him profit by being humbled, that by his humility he may soften the proud, by the severity of his morals confound the insolent, by his patience break the contumelious, by his even-mindedness in expense draw the avaricious sometimes even from the intent of strife. For so you have read, that Wisdom is justified by her sons,⁶⁵ when Christ offers himself to torment, surrenders himself to injuries,⁶⁶ does not withdraw from reproaches nor turn away his face from the confusion of spittings;⁶⁷ and therefore by his patience he instructed all and by his bruise he healed.

21. There follows the eighth verse: The law of thy mouth is good to me, above thousands of gold and silver.⁶⁸ Not just anyone says this — nay, rare is he who says this, that is: who prefers the law of God to gold and silver, who can leave all things for the law of God. But not even Christ found such a one, except among those whom he himself deigned to teach. Peter said this and proved it by the deed, that he held the law of more value than gold. And so he says: Silver and gold I have not.⁶⁹ The avaricious man does not say this, who lies brooding on his buried gold; the moneyed man does not say it, who searches out daily profits with anxious affect, who daily piles up wealth, who lays his snares for inheritances, who keeps unwearied watches around the bedside of the sick.

22. Some here take the law of God's mouth as it were the law of the word of God, as if you should say the law of the right hand of God. This well agrees also with Peter, who says: Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we will not leave thee,⁷⁰ that is: the law of thy mouth is above thousands of gold and silver;⁷¹ and can we leave so great a good and snatch at the profits of this world? But also Moses can be called the law of the mouth of God, through whom the Lord spoke and gave the law.