Letter 24: To our brother Severus — Paulinus and Therasia, sinners.

Paulinus and Therasia, sinners, to their brother Severus. I still have something to say to you, although you take in the contents of my letters with open storehouses and, so far as in you lies, strive to proclaim them upon the housetops, as you yourself profess. But if you bring out this complaint, which we are now about to lay down concerning you before yourself, among the other foolish products of our loquacity, you will at the same time publish abroad your own rashness, about which we have composed this letter in complaint, prompted by the end of our previous letter, namely by the word about love and perfection, so that we might make it the opening of this one. For this is the reason we have for remonstrating with you about the excessive devotion of your like-mindedness: that much affection draws you even to the sin of falsehood. For whether I weigh what you say about us, or what you say about yourself, heaping up our burdens with unjust praises and lessening your own with false reproaches, I shall accuse you of sinning against love by your love. For love, he says, is kind; love works no evil to one's neighbor. You show that love to be kind toward us, as we experience; for in that very thing we glory. But see that you do not seem to work evil to your neighbors against its rule, you who heap upon them a load by the weight of the burden of undeserved praise, and as one who does not wish for us the same as for yourself, since indeed you judge it just to speak so about us, while you judge for yourself what is useless to you, you will rightly hear: if you love rightly but do not divide rightly, you have sinned. Unless perhaps you do this also by some higher counsel of piety, so that, while you grant us by your words goods that belong to others, you may supply a goad of shame, so that we, reading what we ought to be, may learn to be good and may strive to bring ourselves forth according to your word, and perhaps may be able to be made what we are not, while we blush at not being what we are called. Meanwhile, however, while conscience does not acknowledge the truth of your word, modesty spurns the flattery. Let that modesty arraign you before your own self, as I have said, as to why you dare to ascribe to us, as to victors after a contest fought out, the palm of perfection, on the ground that we seem to have laid down all the burden of earthly possession, while you on the contrary groan that you are still wretched and clinging in the mud of the filth of the underworld, because, as you wrote, you seem not to have sold even one little estate, although you have alienated that too from your present right just as if it had been sold, so that you might stand twice devoted to God with greater fruits of faith, by a different work of trafficking but with one gain of life, within the bounds of the same precept, a seller and a bestower of estates, and therefore a possessor without captivity of the soul, since what you have kept back the Church may possess while you serve it. Therefore weigh out our accounts and yours alike from the words of the Lord himself, lest you should either distrust yourself as one hindered or congratulate us as already free; weigh that there are divisions of graces and measures of donations, which the one and same dispenser, God, works as in the members of his own body, distinguishing the various members in his body with their appointed gifts, but constructing for himself one body out of the diversity of the members, so that from this too the grace of the sacred body may be increased, if a manifold power is reckoned within one frame, so that the queen may stand at his right hand in golden fringes, clothed about with variety. See now how much God has granted you in that, to whom he has assigned a portion also in the lot of those who lived perfectly under the Law, possessing in such a way that they were not possessed by their possessions, nor did they set any love either of things or of close ties, as is shown in Job and Abraham and Lot, before the love and discipline of the Lord; but also that you may be a partaker of those whom the fullness of the Gospel perfects, you who have sold estates of greater wealth and allurement. For this reason I am confident that an equal repose awaits you in the midst of the divine lots, so that you may sleep, as it is written, among the midst of the clergies, that is, the lots of the Lord, which are received in the two Testaments, from which the inheritance of the Lord and the fullness of the saints is brought to completion. Hence I am prepared to use the Lord's word against you in the opposite sense, so as to say to you: you see in your brother's eye the mote of grace, and you do not perceive in your own a mass of the same good, although, as I have said, you have taken possession of both portions of the saints, both as a possessor in the estates you have kept back and as one made perfect in those you have sold. And so even in the matter in which you seem a possessor, you are perfect with a mind released from the bonds of possessions, you who, mindful of the gathered-up time, fulfill that saying of the Apostle, that having you may not have, since you have not for yourself but for those who have not. You are a guest in your own house, so that you may be a lodging-place for the household; you are a stranger to your own homeland and a newcomer to this world, so that you may be a dweller of paradise and a citizen of the ancient homeland. You do not occupy your roof with dining-halls, nor do you cram it with masses of furniture or money, but, yourself the surveyor of a single corner out of those for strangers and the needy, you fill it up, and a fellow-servant of your own little home-born slaves, you do not usurp the temporary dwelling-place of your roof as a head of household, but you remain as a hired hand or a tenant, paying out, as for a precarious lodging, a wage to the Lord from the shared service both of your body and of your soul. But if the wage is to be extended or contracted according to the measure of the work, and a certain compensation is to be made of what has been done and not done, an equal reckoning of the perfection of your soul will be drawn up alongside the work of those who sold all things, by which you too left nothing for yourself either in legal right or, what is more, in your soul, you who so use the world as if you did not use it. And I do not know whether this steadfastness and firmness of your heart is to be judged of stronger faith, by which among fires you are not burned, among snares you are not caught, you touch pitch and are not defiled, than that of those whom you think strong, but whom I think are to be judged weaker, because, not trusting their own weakness, they hastened to alienate all things to which they were afraid to cling. You therefore are free among the dead, you who in earthly possession are now no longer earth and rise above earthly things, and are neither polluted by the contagion of carcasses nor dwell in the tombs of those who sleep, cast aside, because you have buried your life in heaven, which you have hidden in Christ. But let us not suffer the envy of perfection, but rather let us receive the pardon of weakness, by which you cannot deny that it is stronger to lack things while keeping them and to despise what you have than to lack what you might despise. Consider indeed those very words of the Lord, from which you arrogate perfection to us, and you will see that you have set the beginning in place of the end. If you wish, he says, to be perfect, go and sell all that is yours and give to the poor. If he had ended his sentence at this point, I would falsely accuse you and of my own accord demand that you congratulate me, as a soul near to you in the likeness of the same zeal, because we would already hold in our hands the palm of the contest fulfilled, that tenth drachma, I mean, which was lost in the first parent of the flesh and yet at last found within the house when the light of the saving word was kindled. But since you see how great a mass of the word remains, since the Lord of majesty himself adds, And come, follow me, consider rather that difficulty and measure it with an enlarged heart; then you will understand that there remain for you greater causes of solicitude on our behalf than of congratulation. For goods, or rather burdens, laid upon us fell away easily as we set aside our cloak, and what we had not brought with us into this world, nor were we able to carry out with us, we gave back as if it had been lent, and we did not tear it away as skin from flesh, but laid it down as a garment from the body. Now it is necessary that we pay back to God what is truly ours, that is, presenting our heart and soul and bodies as a living sacrifice, as it is written, to the Lord, and building up ourselves for him into a holy temple upon that very cornerstone, who gave us in himself the pattern of our own sanctification and said: Be holy, for I am holy. What grace, therefore, would there be for us, if we were faithful only in what belongs to another, unless we serve from our own, that is, from the free choice of the will, loving God with our whole heart and from the whole inmost being of our soul, as it is written? To which affection the prophet provokes us, who says: I will sacrifice to you willingly. For this is acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God, that our good be voluntary, by which we may receive back what is ours, namely the home of paradise and eternal life, in which we were created; and if, purged, we receive this back from the possession of this earth, into the condemnation of which we have come, then truly, as if restored from exile to our homeland or led back from a far-off pilgrimage to our native home, we shall be able to say: the Lord is our portion in the land of the living. Wherefore the relinquishing or the selling-off of the temporal goods that are held in this age is not the running of the course but the entrance to it, nor is it like the goal but the gate. For the athlete does not then conquer, when he is stripped, since he is stripped for this reason, that he may begin to fight, destined to be crowned when he has contended lawfully. And the swimmer who is about to overcome a river that lies in his way is stripped, yet not by all this preparation, by having put off his clothing, will he swim across, unless with the effort of his whole body and the skilled mobility of all his limbs and the thrust of his feet and the rowing of his arms and the gliding-in of his side he cuts the onrush of the torrent and exhausts the labor of swimming. I see, however, that the order of this expedition was also rehearsed for us beforehand in the blessed patriarch Jacob, when I read of him that, after he had crossed the torrent and sent ahead the burdens of his cares, that is, the encumbrances of his bodily resources and his close ties, he had remained alone in the place of the tabernacle and wrestled with God, when he prevailed in wresting out a blessing and received that name Israel, consecrated to heaven and earth. In which, although a prefiguration of the saving mystery seems chiefly to be present, namely that in the figure of the Jews, that is, in the offspring of his own body, Jacob prevailed over the Lord, just as that people prevailed over Pilate in wresting out his passion, as it is written, when they said: Crucify, crucify, and their voices, he says, grew strong: nevertheless, in the present reasoning of our discourse, the story seems to be applicable insofar as it has worked an image of the Gospel precept, so that by that example, namely, we may understand that we cannot be fit for contending with God, with whom we surely do contend, when we strive to fulfill his word and endeavor by imitation of him to prevail in the divine virtues. And so, for seizing the way of life and taking up the word of God and prevailing into the kingdom of heaven, which from the days of John suffers violence so that it is seized by those who plunder it, we cannot be fit unless we send ahead, before the evening of our passing, all things that, by love or by care, if they cling to us on the journey of this age, hinder and delay us, and from then on, through the whole night of this age, we wrestle with anxious striving of spiritual works and zeal to lay hold of and to hold Christ, and are not torn away from the love of Christ, as Jacob was not torn from his embrace, unless we wrest out a blessing. And would that, for the mark of the saving struggle, he might strike the sinew of our thigh with the fear of his majesty, so that, as it grows numb, the strength of the flesh may be weakened and the spiritual grace may grow strong. In Jacob, however, the struck sinew of the thigh withered as a figure of the barrenness and depravity of the Jews, indicating that part of his sons which, degenerating from the faith of the fathers, ceased to be fruitful to God; whence you have it, that she who was fruitful in sons was weakened, and, swerving from the precepts of her author, limped on the paths of her own error. But none the less it must be guarded against by us also, that we may not appear barren in the sight of the Lord, nor limp with a weak foot on his journey, and that rather, unfruitful in bodily fruits, we may draw that numbness, from the stroke of the divine hand upon the paternal thigh, into the rigor of continence, so that, unstrung in the desires by which the strength of faith is hamstrung, we may strengthen the soul by chastity, which the Apostle teaches, and which even carnal athletes carefully guard. And this is to be preserved by us with the more earnest zeal, as we wrestle for that unfading crown, since it is cultivated even by those who contend for a temporal and fragile crown. Therefore, under the spectacle of men and angels, in the theater of this world, about to fight before the Lord, let us be stripped of our hostile works, that we may be clothed with healing works. For to this very thing he wishes us to be prepared, who says: Follow me, that we may lay hold of him, in whom we have been laid hold of by him. He who calls us thither, where he sits at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father, says to all: Come to me, you who are burdened and laboring, and you will find rest for your souls. For he wishes, so far as in him lies, that every man should be saved, he who made all. For he came down to us for this reason, that we might ascend to him; for this reason he was conformed to the body of our flesh, which was enslaved to sin, that he might conform us to the body of his flesh, which did no sin, so that we might truly be reformed to the original glory, if we grasp the divine likeness by imitation of Christ. For Genesis itself, which narrates the handiwork of the divine hand, shows that in Adam only the image remained to us; in which Genesis the likeness, together with the image of God, is named in the very effort of making man; but in the following chapter, where now man, already made, is written to be only after the image of God, the foreknowledge of the future surely indicates that the likeness was withdrawn from one who was about to sin, so that it might be reserved for men in Christ, who through the obedience of his piety reconciled to the Father the world which the disobedience of the first parent had estranged. And therefore the likeness of God, which the servant, exalted into the desire of equality with the Lord, had lost, The Lord himself, emptied into the form of a servant, took back, and man, who in his own pride had fallen through the deceit of the devil, rose again in the lowliness of the most high Lord, the devil cast down, through faith in him, in the humility of the Lord. He therefore, grieving for us and made obedient on our account even to the death of the cross, set before us the way of life and the perfection of virtue not only in the selling of estates and the disbursing of prices but in the following of himself. And because he had said: when I shall have been exalted, I will draw all things to me, therefore he says: come, follow me. Blessed is he who follows at so close an interval that he may say: my soul has clung close after you. Which only that love can say, which is the end of the precept and the fullness of the Law, that is, from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith inserts and fastens itself to God in such a way that, loving nothing outside God, it may say: and I am always with you. Therefore the whole labor and the full work for us is in the watching over and the stripping bare of our heart, whose shadows, or the hiding-places of the enemy concealed in it, we cannot see unless the mind has been cleansed from the cares of external things and turned inward to its very self; for not in vain was it said: with all watchfulness guard your heart. I believe you have now learned by experience how laborious and persistent and even daily is the contest for us with this enemy, and how many ambushes are turned about in it, what strength of vices is there, how great a weakness of virtues there is, how prone is its relapse into wickedness, how sluggish its striving toward God. Now that discord of a different law, formerly shut up within me, is opened to me; now I feel the force of the adverse law, which, as if with a hand laid on, strives to drag me captive into the law of sin, and I recognize that that blessed man is burned rather by my misfortune and, grieving for me out of his feeling for me, cries out: O wretched man that I am! who will free me from the body of this death? But the same master restores and refreshes me, showing me the saving way out, if only the willing be present in me, so that I may deserve to find perfection by the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who must be entreated, that he may prevail against our enemies and abound over the darkness, that he may destroy in us what is foreign or our own and build up what is his own. And we recognize that even the friends of God deserved this by praying, who surely suffered for their own heart, when they said: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew an upright spirit in my inmost being; and this being entreated, he now says secure: prove me, Lord, and know my heart and see if the way of iniquity is in me. But lest he should seem to have deserved this confidence in himself rather by his own strength than by the grace of God, the same one says: because you, Lord, have possessed my reins. For nothing, as the Lord himself said, can we do without him, since he is the true vine and we are his branches. If we remain in his love, we do not wither, living by the sap of the eternal root, nor shall we be cut off for the fire by wrath, but shall be pruned for fruit by the pruning discipline that cleanses us with the edge of the Gospel sickle, so that, the wantonness of our shoot being chastened, we may sprout forth more fruitfully. Therefore, about to begin his husbandry in us, he says: I came to send fire upon the earth, namely that it may purge our heart, overgrown with sins like a field bristling with thorns, burning us in our vices and giving light in our senses. And the pious cultivator pursues with the saving sickle the roots of the old deeds in us, so that the fiery word may kindle the remaining stubble of the old harvest and prepare our soul as a field for a new sowing, which, the thorns being rooted out and the plowshare of the divine word driven in, may freely pour forth a glad crop of virtues and, the stock of harmful weeds being destroyed, may multiply produce worthy of the heavenly granaries. But since we are not only the husbandry but also the building of God, who are cultivated and constructed by his grace and spirit and word, about to build us up by that journey on which he calls us after him, he prepares us by this work, by which he first persuades us to be released from the things we have sold; and since the care or love of these blunts the keen edge of the mind itself and, drawing the soul away from its interior things, solicits it to outward things, he says also to us through the prophet: be at leisure and see that I am the Lord. Does he not here too seem to say: you cannot serve two masters? For he does not persuade us to idleness by this word, he who urges us to pray and watch unceasingly, lest we enter into temptation, but to be at leisure from the world, that we may be occupied with him, to be at leisure from those affairs by which, when entangled, we are idle toward God. And so, building up newness of life in us, it is necessary that we destroy the old, and since there can be no commerce of darkness with light and of mammon with Christ, we must exchange old things for new, and, the kind of occupation as well as of leisure being changed, we must be entangled in those things from which we were at leisure, so that in turn we may be at leisure from those in which we were entangled, that we may die to those things by which we lived and live in turn by those works and pursuits to which we were dead, when, being dead among the living, we lived among the dead, bearing things that bring death. Hence the holy master demands what is human and fair, that, just as we presented our members to serve iniquity, so now we present those same members as ministers of righteousness, and, the masters being changed, that we change our pursuits also. For we do not lay aside servitude or freedom by the exchange of masters, but only acquire happiness, both servitude being changed for the better and freedom too, when we break the bond of iniquity and are subjected to the yoke of righteousness and bridled by divine fear, beginning, our way turned straight, to be free toward the sin to which we were enslaved while in our wretched freedom rebelling against righteousness. Now therefore, in turn servants of God and rebels against this world, we enter the contest and challenge the enemy himself, to whom we were enslaved, relying on the Lord. You surely recognize, my brother (for I speak as to a fellow-soldier of things experienced in common), how great a discord there is for us, and how great an enemy in us, not of flesh and blood but of invisible powers and of spiritual wickedness, as the Apostle says, with which the services of carnal vices conspire. Whence they are also called the princes of darkness, because, according to the Apostle, sinners are called darkness, over whom, as over those like themselves, the demons rule. But also the whole figure of this world, which passes away and entices hearts through the eyes, spread over with the nets of the devil, is in whatever appearance of itself a snare of the mind and a sword. Let us believe the prophet, that we walk in the midst of traps and that life is passed among swords concealed by deadly tricks. This world receives us, blooming with various pleasures and poisoned with deceiving allurements. The serpent receives us with countless ambushes, to whom there are a thousand names, a thousand arts of harming, and often in open combat he assails us violently and attacks with gleaming weapons, if he does not catch us with hidden snares. For there are mighty sharp arrows with desolating coals, which, namely, may burn through our soul with the harmful fires of desires and may leave it desolate of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And when this happens, various lodgers steal in upon us and a man's own household members become his enemies, who now inflate us with the wind of ambition, now bring near the torches of lusts, now bind us with the chains of avarice. And this one, armed with all the charges, even if it alone should catch us, suffices both for the devil unto malice and for man unto death. What then do you do, wretched man, sent among so many enemies? How will you, weak, fight against the strong, you who are unarmed against the armed? Blessed Job cries out, wounded by the many weapons of the devil without a wound of the heart: naked I came forth from my mother's womb; who then will arm me against so many troops of the airy enemy, lest, naked as I came, I should return into the earth? Behold, I take breath, I am comforted, I rise up. The Lord is my illumination, the Lord is the defender of my life; if camps should stand against me, my heart will not fear. Nor, if I lack the arms of my own resource, will I despair. I have the armory of Christ, from which I may take for my own the arms of light, with which I may storm the princes of darkness and the troops of the night that oppose me in heavenly matters, namely in spiritual conduct, which they strive to overthrow by earthly allurements. But against these that arms-bearer, that standard-bearer, will be for me who was a vessel of election to God. He will gird my loins with the belt of chastity, he will fit the helmet of salvation to my head, the breastplate of righteousness will enclose my breast. He will protect me wholly with the shield of faith, and he will arm my right hand, nay, the whole of me made into Christ's right hand, with the sword of the Spirit and the word of truth, so that a thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand. He will shoe my feet for the preparation of the Gospel, so that, with my foot set down unharmed, I may walk over the thorns and brambles of this earth and, my foot fortified, may go safe through the rough places of the narrow journey. Nor, fearing the bite of the serpent, shall I tread underfoot the subdued head of the enemy with the very heel which the treacherous one watches for. This indeed I do not claim to speak, arrogating it from the boldness of my own weakness, but to promise it to every faithful one from the power of Christ, who, just as he calls the things that are not as though they were, so is also able, from his weak and lowly ones, as he always has done and does, to destroy the strong and lofty things of this world. Therefore he gave us a master, whom he had as his imitator, through whom we might be able to come to the imitation of the Lord himself. For that master himself teaches me to stand in the battle-line, to run in the stadium, to wrestle in the contest, making his own body livid and forgetting the things that are behind and stretching himself forth to the things before, and thus founded upon the rock, so that he even glories in his infirmities and, when he is made weak, then he is strong, able to do all things, as he himself professes, in him who strengthens his own ones for Christ, if it is one who fights for us and conquers in us. This was the reason the Apostle had for saying: so run that all of you may lay hold. Which in an earthly contest is the contrary, where the struggle cannot be ended except by an unequal lot of the contenders, so that the glory of the one is the disgrace of the other; but in Christ, because we many are one, we all run as one, and the course is shared by all toward one good; and therefore it is said to us: so run that all of you may lay hold. For a split, as the same Apostle says, cannot exist in a body whose head is Christ, whom the single framework of his members accompanies as their common summit. And since these cannot be at variance with one another, let us run together, that we all may lay hold without the rivalry of envy, with equality of victory, so that, just as in the striving of the race we are the labor of Christ, so in the end of arriving we may be able to be the triumph of Christ, and he may bless us in the crown of the year of his kindness. I see, however, that in this contest it is no more expedient for us to conquer than to be conquered, since in us both enemy and friend dwell. And who is more a friend to me than the spirit which is opposed to the flesh, lest it drag me into the law of sin? Or who is more an enemy to us than the flesh, which lusts against the spirit unto destruction? And so the wounds of a friend, which Christ received that he might heal me, are better for me than the willing kisses of an enemy, by which the ill-counseling flesh flatters me through the allurements of its delights, so as to betray me, as if by that parricidal kiss of Judas, to enemies made ready for my captivity; which kiss, however, the Lord did not therefore receive in order to accept the peace of the betrayer, but in order to recover his own peace from one estranged. Although that too is wholesome to be held for the beholding of an example of perfect goodness, that with the same affection by which he bids enemies be loved, he gave a friendly kiss of peace to an enemy, rendering love for hatred, he who for his own love was receiving hatred. It is ready at hand, then, to discern: *** the devil contends with the flesh; for it is better to be conquered by good than to conquer by evil. And so he seems to be conquered in this age whose tunic another has taken away; but in Christ he triumphs who lets go his cloak also to the one taking away his tunic. To render injury for injury is human vengeance; but to love even an enemy is heavenly vindication. To sell patrimonies and give to the poor is folly to this age but wisdom to God; but on the contrary, to brood over riches, to increase money by interest, to extend possessions by purchases and boundaries is by violence diligence and gain in the eyes of this age, but in the eyes of God a crime and a punishment. Thus if you conquer by evil, as victor you are vanquished, since when you have conquered with wickedness, you are overcome by desire. But vanquished you will conquer, if you yield to the just and the divine will prevails over your will. Let us therefore be emptied of our own strength, that we may be filled with the divine. Let us be conquered in body, but let us conquer in salvation. Let us remember that we are members of him who conquered when he was judged, who by yielding overcame and by falling into death rose again into glory, establishing from the setting of his passion the rising of our resurrection. Let us follow this Lord who calls, that he may teach us to conquer by yielding and to come alive by dying, putting to death in us that by which we are mortified and giving life to that by which we may live. This is for us God; no other shall be reckoned beside him, who was seen on earth and dwelt among men. And because flesh and blood cannot reveal this to us, therefore he says: be at leisure and see that I am God. At this point I am roused to the boldness of inquiring, so as to say: who, pray, are you, God, who made heaven and earth and appeared in the bush, who did mighty deeds in Egypt, marvels in the land of Ham, terrible things in the Red Sea? As yet, Lord, no one does not believe in you, and not only the Jews, however diligent with their lips and far off in heart, like a people formed under the Law, but the nations also, living without the law, confess by natural sense the one Lord of the highest power. What difficulty, therefore, is there in seeing that you are God, when both the heavens declare your glory and your invisible things are perceived, understood through those that have been made? What hinders one from possessing? What harm is there in caring also for other things, when even for occupied men it is ready at hand to discern the conspicuous truth of God and to see the manifest light of the highest providence? Day pours forth the word to day, and night declares knowledge to night; and I am bidden to be at leisure, that I may see that you are the Lord, although even the nights know this light, that is, even the princes or laborers of darkness know it. But it is not in vain that the truth, which has often manifested itself in many tokens of divinity, testifies that it cannot be perceived except when leisure has been procured. For it is ready at hand to see only this of God, that God is. This, as I have said, every soul sees, at this no mind is darkened, this even the faith of unbelievers receives; but that God is in Christ or Christ in God, the man does not see who is occupied and surrounded by the cloud of earthly cares. For the Word made flesh is folly to the wisdom of this world; and therefore it pleased God, for the confounding of the wisdom whose pride did not know the wisdom of God, to save believers through the folly of preaching. And this is that treasure of the field, for the obtaining of which the field too must be purchased, because, namely, the price of our salvation is in this, that we confess that God the Son of God came in the flesh to save the flesh, and this is that pearl to be bought with patrimonies squandered; but it is not bought at once when its price is made ready, since very many difficulties intervene in that very commerce. For either the sea lies between, or a robber intercepts, or one more greedy gets there first, or a wealthier one is preferred. Therefore do not suppose that we have already purchased the gem, because you see that the price has been made ready, nor that we have already built the house, for the building of which we have made a place, when we have carted out the visible riches, the furniture, the money, the patrimonies like filthy heaps and troublesome rubble, so that in a cleansed heart, as in living ground, we might lay the more firmly the foundations of a more stable building. But just as, when the ground has been laid bare by the clearing-out of rubble, there are caught beneath the unclean masses many either knots of tree-trunks or remnants of ruins or, very often, animals of a harmful kind, and especially broods or lairs of vipers, so, when the possession and care of temporal things has been removed from our breast, now being at leisure for the inspection of our heart from those things which drew us outside, we find the knots of inveterate crimes and the hiding-places of spiritual enemies in our senses. Now the interior house begins to appear to us, and there things creeping, of which there is no number. Now the whole obscurity of our wretchedness lies open. Now at last we see how far off from God we are and how dead in comparison with the living. Understand these things and, with an anxious heart, sigh for the care of us, foreseeing that the praise of the same Lord is sung at the departure, so that, by the grace of the spirit with which we have begun, we may be perfected and may obey even to the end of the precept, to which we seem to have obeyed at the head of the counsel. For he gives counsel, not a precept, who does not say: be perfect, but: if you wish to be perfect, since the freedom of the will, which, when it is good, is above the Law, is not compelled but persuaded and is itself a law to itself. But how great a thing it is to follow Christ you can gather from the sentence of the Apostle, by which he says: he who says he follows Christ ought, just as he walked, himself also to walk. And how Christ walked another master teaches: who did no sin, he says, nor was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, did not revile back; but handed himself over to death to one judging unjustly. But also from his action and his precepts we can know how he walked. For he came for this, that he might set forth his life to us as a pattern and mirror of life. I came not, he says, to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, and what fulfillment is he himself teaches, saying: unless your righteousness shall abound above the righteousness of the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. For this is to fulfill: to add what is lacking. The Law says: you shall not kill; but he: nor shall you be angry without cause with your brother. The Law forbids adultery; but the Truth itself condemns the curious gaze upon women. From which you see how much greater faith is than the Law, whose praise is not from men but from God, since the circumcision of the Law is in the open, that of faith in the hidden. The Law breaks off the branches of sin, faith roots out the roots, which makes us spotless not in works but in our senses, so that we may truly be reformed to our primordial dignity, that is, the likeness of God, cleansed not only in body but in heart. Whence the Apostle too testifies that, the appearance of the earthly man being laid aside, we put on the heavenly one; and the same elsewhere proclaims that a man already clothed with Christ is the glory of God. See therefore how much we must do, that we may traverse the space of the journey not as perfect, as you say, but as beginners, as we prove, we who are bidden to surpass the righteousness of the Law, that we may be made the righteousness of God, and that our action may not be from the Law, but that to follow Christ, to imitate God, may be a law in our will. And he who wishes us, by that very law of his righteousness, to be more righteous and, according to his Father, to be perfect, demands not only that we flee human faults but also that we fulfill divine virtues. And since you perceive that this is of as great difficulty for those engaged in the contest as it is of glory for the victors when the struggle has been fought out, do not in the meantime, while we are in the arena, while there are fights without, terrors within, be high-minded or speak loftily on our behalf; but rather fear, and labor together in spirit with those who labor, and cooperate by prayers, that through us too he may destroy the enemy and the defender who chose the weak things of the world that he might confound the strong. Ask humbly: may he give us understanding in this way on which he calls us, that we may see that he himself is God who was crucified from our weakness, but lives from the power of God; may he weaken in us the strength of sin, that he may strengthen the spirit of his own virtue; may he convert both our poverty and our abundance, so that we may abound in the righteousness of which we are in need, and be in need of the iniquity in which we abound; may we be stripped of crimes and clothed with virtues; may he bring help to us against our own wills and not hand us over to the desires of our heart, and against flesh and blood, the devil and death, may he give us victory, just as he gave it to Abraham against the four kings, whom that father of faith overcame by this mystery, by which our faith, if it is strengthened by the principal spirit, will subdue just as many elements of our body by the word of God. And just as that man was victor over the kings on behalf of his kinsman, so too faith, on behalf of the soul which flourishes with just as many senses, as victress will triumph over the outer man, in whom, composed of just as many elements, the figure of the four kings is contained. But just as that man, not by the multitude or strength of legions, but even then in the mystery of the cross, whose figure is expressed by the Greek letter T in the number three hundred, warred down the adversary princes, by the power of which mystery the ark, woven three hundred cubits long, overcame the flood, so that now the Church sails above this age: so too let us, relying not on our own resources or strength but on the single knowledge of the Crucified, lift up our eyes to him, that he may make wonderful his mercies upon us, he who saves those who hope in him, since he himself is the Lord who crushes wars, mighty in battle, who has given us both confidence to fight and the way to conquer, when, bearing in himself the nature of man already triumphant, he says: be steadfast, for I have conquered the world.

XXIIII. SEVERO FRATRI PAVLINVS ET THERASIA PECCATORES. Habeo tibi adhuc aliquid dicere, quamquam tu inopertis litterarum promptuariis accipias et super tecta, quantum in te est, ut ipse profiteris, studeas praedicare. sed si hanc, quam de te nunc apud te deposituri sumus querimoniam, inter cetera loquacitatis nostrae inepta deprompseris, tuam simul temeritatem diuulgabis, de qua conquerentes hanc epistolam fecimus, superioris fine commoniti, de caritatis uidelicet et perfectionis uerbo, ut istius faceremus exordium. haec enim nobis de nimio tuae unanimitatis affectu expostulandi causa est, quod te multa dilectio usque ad mendacii peccatum trahit. siue enim ea reputem quae de te, siue illa quae de nobis loqueris, onera nostra iniustis laudibus cumulans, tua falsis uituperationibus minuens, 1] (Ioh. 13, 35). 2] (Act. 4, 82). 3] (Matth. 7,12). 2 animam unam LM in Christo habeamus LM 5 aliquatinus 0 deo debitis FPU 8 perfectos] uale add. FPU . — explicit epistola tertia F, finit de uictoris artificio 0. FLMOPUrx . — epxa bi paulini ejri ad sulpicium seuerum II. L, ad sulpicium seuerum . X. M, incipit (item incipit X) eiusdem ad sulpicium seuerum rx, incipit (ad eundem add. 0) secunda de perfectione FO, epistola paulini ad seuerum monacum de perfectione et caritate imitanda U meropius paulinus et therasia sulpicio (sulpitio M) seuero in deo christo salutem LM, om. rx 11 adhuc om. LM tu om. FPU, tu qui X, tu qui t L, tu quae M 12 littarum M promptuaria Lrx, promptuarii U, promptuarium P1 accipias Ov, accipis cet . et om M 14 de te om. Lrx apud te nunc v 16 deuulgabis Llrx facimus X 18 istiusmodi FP\'U hec enim nobis eiordium. hec enim de F 19 tuo F unanimitatis] caritatis U 21 illa] ea FPU honora add. X opera #» . 3, honoras L r, honorans (honora exp. m. rec.) M 22 muniens 0 arguam te in caritatem de caritate peccare. caritas enim, inquit, benigna est; caritas proximo malum non operatur. benignam eam nobis exhibes, quod experimur; nam et in eo gloriamur. sed uide ne contra eius regulam uidearis operari malum proximis, quibus sarcinam peccatorum pondere indebitae laudis accumulans, et quasi non idem uolens nobis quod tibi, siquidem de nobis ita loqui iustum existimes, ut de te inutile tibi iudicas, iure audies: si recte diligas et non recte diuidas, peccasti. nisi forte id quoque altiore pietatis consilio facias, ut dum aliena nobis bona uerbis indulges, stimulum pudoris suggeras, ut legentes quod esse debemus boni esse discamus nitamurque nos iuxta sermonem tuum promere, et forsitan possimus effici quod non sumus, dum erubescimus non esse quod dicimur. interim tamen dum conscientia non agnoscit fidem sermonis tui, blandimentum aspernatur uerecundia. quae te apud te ipsum, ut dixi, conueniat, cur audeas nobis ut decertato agone uictoribus palmam perfectionis adscribere, quoniam omnem terrenae possessionis sarcinam exposuisse uideamur, te contra adhuc infelicem et in luto faecis infernae adhaerentem ingemiscas, quod uel unum, ut scripsisti, praediolum non uendidisse uidearis, cum ipsum quoque aeque ut uenditum a tuo iure praesenti alienaueris, ut maioribus fidei fructibus bis deuotus existeres deo, diuerso mercimonii opere sed uno uitae lucro intra eiusdem praecepti terminos uenditor largitorque fundorum et ideo sine animi captiuitate possessor, quia quae reseruasti ecclesia te seruiente possideat. 1] I Cor. 13, 4; Rom. 13, 10. 8] Gen. 4, 7. 1 caritate 0 caritas-l.9 peccasti om. r 3 nobis om. FPU, nobis eam M 4 ea FPU 6 accumulans 0, accumulas cet . 7 siquideminutile tibi om. LX 8 tibi om. M iudicans FU audias FPU diligis X et om. FPU 9 quoque] quod U 10 indulgis 0, indulgens U l comeri 12 j>mere M 13 forsitam Orx possumus FPU non] nostra v, monstras coni. Sacch. sumus - interim om. FOPUv Rosic. et Sacch . 14 dicimus/1 15 agnosit F semonis F 16 conuenit LMrx 18 quon- . ąq; iam OPU, quando F, quod cet . 20 ingemescas rx 21 ipsd ęque M 22 uenditum scripsi, uendito 0, uenditor FPqU, uendita eel . 23 bis] his FOUv 24 lucro uitae FPU 26 quae FOPU, et quae cet . ecclesiae 0 te om. 0 possidet M . Itaque de ipsius domini uerbis nostras pariter ac tuas pende rationes, ne uel tibi ut inpedito diffidas uel nobis ut iam liberis congratuleris, diuisiones esse gratiarum et mensuras donationum, quas ut in corporis sui membris unus atque idem dispensator operatur deus, diuersa in suo corpore distinguens placitis membra muneribus, sed corpus unum ei diuersitate membrorum struens, ut hinc quoque gratia sacri corporis augeatur, si multiplex uirtus in una conpage numeretur, ut stet regina a dextris eius in fimbriis aureis circumamicta uarietate. uide nunc quantum in ea tibi donauerit deus, cui et in illorum sorte tribuit portionem, qui in lege perfecti uixerunt, ita possidentes, ut non possiderentur a possessionibus suis neque ullam aut rerum aut necessitudinum caritatem, ut in Iob et Abraham et Lot ostenditur, dominicae caritati et disciplinae anteponerent; sed et eorum sis particeps, quos euangelica plenitudo consummat, qui maioris opulentiae et inlecebrae praedia uendidisti. Vnde confido parem tibi in medio diuinarum sortium requiem, ut dormias, sicut scriptum est, inter medios cleros id est sortes domini, quae in duobus testamentis accipiuntur, de quibus hereditas domini et sanctorum plenitudo perficitur. unde paratus sum dominico aduersum te uerbo in diuersum uti, ut dicam tibi: in fratris tui oculo festucam gratiae uides et in tuo eiusdem boni massam non sentis, cum 3] (I Cor. 12, 4). 6] (Rom. 12, 4). 9] Ps. 44, 10 et 15. 14] (Iob. 1,21; Gen. 12,4). 19] Ps. 67,14. 23] (Matth. 7, 3; Luc. 6,41). 1 itaque-p. 205, 1 timuerunt om. r 2 pondera rationes FP\', ponderationes pI U 3 congratuleris 0 v, congratuleris. cogita FPU, congratuleris. primum omnium considerare oportet LMX 4 ut] ut uult LMX i u* 5 deus x add. m. 2, dominus FPU 6 placidis (l u. m. rec.) M 7 instruens LMX 8 simul triplex FPU fmeretur X 11 donauerit tibi F deus 0\\ dominus cet . in om. U 12 perfecte LM dixerunt FPU non om. U possidentur U 18 suis om. M 14 in om. 0 loth FO PU, in loth LMX 15 caritatis FO et disciplinae om. U anteponeres 0 sed et] sed FOPU illorum M 16 consumat FPU quia FU 18 parem] paratam LMx 20 clerios U quae-domini om. U 22 dominicum-uerbum OP1 uti in diuersum U 23 fistucam Ox1 utrasque, ut dixi, sanctorum occupaueris partes, nec in reseruatis praediis possessor et perfectus in uenditis. itaque et in quo possessor uideris, soluta a possessionum uinculis mente perfectus es, qui conlecti temporis memor illud apostoli conples, ut habens non habeas, quia. non tibi sed non habentibus habens. domus tuae hospes es, ut sis hospitium domus; patriae tuae peregrinus es et ueni istius mundi, ut sis incola paradisi et patriae ciuis antiquae. non tricliniis tua tecta occupas neque supellectilis aut pecuniae molibus stipas, sed de peregrinis et egentibus unius ipse metator anguli conples tuorumque confamulus uernularum temporale habitaculum tui tecti non ut paterfamilias usurpas, sed ut mercennarius uel inquilinus manes, stipendium quasi precariae mansionis domino pensitans de socia et corporis tui et animi seruitute. Quod si iuxta operis modum porrigenda est uel contrahenda merces et conpensatio quaedam facti infectique facienda est, aequa ratio perfectionis animi tui cum eorum opere ducetur, qui omnia uendiderunt, qua nec tu tibi aliquid uel in iure uel, quod est amplius, in animo reliquisti, qui sic uteris mundo, quasi non utaris. atque haud scio an fortioris fidei iudicanda sit ista constantia et firmitas tui cordis, qua inter ignes non ureris, inter laqueos non caperis, picem tangis nec inquinaris, quam eorum, quos tu fortes putas, ego autem infirmiores arbitror iudicandos, quia non credentes infirmitati 4] (I Cor. 7, 30). 20] (I Cor. 7, 81). 21] (Prou. 6, 27). 22] (Eccli. 13,1). 1 reseruandis LMX 3 possessionem 01 4 collecti* (s eras.) L 5 habens FOPU, habes cet . 6 sis] sit fort . hospitium FlLU, hospicium 0, hospitum cet . domus tue FPU, domesticis M 7 tuae. Peregrinus M 8 tecta tua F 9 supellectibus x, suppellectilibus LlM mobilibus 0 stipasse P1 de OP\', om. cet . 10 metator anguli ipse U 11 uernulorum 0 12 mercenarius LMU, cernarius 0 manes MO, inanes L, inanis cet . 13 domino] altissimo add. LMX socia et] societate LMx 14 anime LX 15 si LMX, om. Fl, ei cet . 16 mercis Lx &. 17 aequ 0, aeque LM ratio LM, ratione cet. et v perfectio v ducitur FOPU 18 qua OP1, quia cet . 19 iure] ore LMx 20 mondo F atque om. LM haut 0, aut Xl an] quam 0 21 qua OP, quia cd . 23 putas forter U 24 arbitror infirmiores FPU suae festinauerunt alienare omnia, quibus inhaerere timuerunt. tu igitur inter mortuos liber, qui in possessione terrena terra iam non es et terris emines, nec morticinorum contagione pollueris nec habitas in dormientium proiectorum sepulchris, quia in caelo sepelisti uitam tuam, quam in Christo abscondisti. nos autem non patiamur inuidiam perfectionis, sed potius accipiamus ueniam infirmitatis, qua negare non potes fortius esse manentibus quam alienatis rebus carere et spernere quod habeas quam non habere quod spernas. Sane considera ipsa, de quibus nobis adrogas perfectionem, uerba domini, et uidebis te principia pro fine posuisse. si uis, ait, perfectus esse, uade et uende omnia tua et da pauperibus. si in hoc sententiam terminasset, te falso arguerem et ultro exposcerem, ut mihi tamquam uicina. de similitudine eiusdem studii anima congratulareris, quia agonis inpleti palmam, quasi decimam illam drachmam inquam, in primo carnis parente perditam, intra domum tamen tandem accenso uerbi salutaris lumine inuentam in manibus iam teneremus; sed cum uideas quantae molis uerbum supersit, cum ipse dominus maiestatis adiciat: et ueni, sequere me, istam potius difficultatem considera et dilatato corde metire; tunc intelleges maiores tibi causas pro nobis superesse sollicitudinis quam esse gratulationis. facile enim nobis bona uel onera adposita pallium remittentibus exciderunt, et quae nobiscum non intuleramus in hunc mundum nec poteramus efferre 2] Ps. 87,6. 4] (Ps. 67, 7 et 87, 6). 5] (Col. 3,3). 12] Matth. 19,21. 16] (Luc. 15,8). 20] Matth. 19, 21. 25] (I Tim. 6, 7). 3 terri semines O1, terreni seminis FPU, terrae seminis v morticiniorum U 5 qui FU 6 abschondisti F 7 qua FOPU, quia cet . 8 alienati r 9 habes LMrx quam] quod 0 10 perfectione L\'Orx, perfectiones L1 18 terminas FPU te 0, neo te cet . falso 0, falsi l ft ca. 15 similitudinem 01 animo (l • m. rec.) M 16 dragmam Q) inquam scripsi, quam w 17 parentem U1 18 saluatoris L 19 superdilfttftto sit] suum sit LMrx 21 difflcultatatem L diffuso P 22 intelliges Uv, intellegis FOP, intelligis cet . nobis om. M 23 honera X, honora P 25 tuleramus LMrx mondum P nobiscum, quasi mutuata reddidimus nec ut cutem a carne distraximus, sed ut uestem a corpore deposuimus. Nunc opus est, ut quae uere nostra sunt dependamus deo, hoc est cor et animam et corpora nostra exhibentes in hostiam uiuam, ut scriptum est, domino nosque ipsos aedificantes ei in templum sanctum in ipso lapide angulari, qui nobis sanctificationis nostrae formulam in semet ipso dedit et ait: sancti estote, quoniam ego sanctus sum. quae . igitur nobis gratia, si in alieno tantum fideles fuerimus, nisi de proprio seruiamus, id est de libero uoluntatis arbitrio ex toto corde nostro et ex totis animae nostrae, ut scriptum est, uisceribus diligentes deum? in quem nos affectum lacessit propheta, qui dicit: uoluntarie sacrificabo tibi. hoc enim acceptum et placitum coram deo, ut bonum nostrum sit uoluntarium, qua recipiamus quae nostra sunt, paradisi scilicet domum et uitam aeternam, in quibus creati sumus; quam si ab huius terrae in quam damnatione deuenimus possessione purgati receperimus, tunc uere ut ab exilio in patriam restituti uel a peregrinatione longinqua in genitalem domum reduces poterimus dicere: portio nostra dominus in terra uiuentium. Quamobrem temporalium quae in hoc saeculo habentur bonorum relictio siue distractio non decursus stadii sed ingressus nec ut meta sed ianua est. non enim athleta tum uincit, cum exuitur, qui ideo nudatur, ut incipiat dimicare, cum legitime certauerit coronandus. et natator amnem 4] Rom. 12, 1. 6] (Eph. 2, 21). 8] Leu. 11, 44. 11] (Deut. 6, 5; Matth. 22, 87). 13] Ps. 53, 8. 14] Philem. 14. 20] Ps. 141, 6. 26] (II Tim. 2, 5). 1 mutata Lrx reddimus FPU carnem a cute LMrx 3 uere LMr, uera cet . 5 nos ipsos aedificemus M 6 ei om. M, et Lr in om. F 8 quae igitur-I. 21 uiuentium om. r 10 libro LX uoluntati F 12 uiribus v dominum LM lacessit] accersit L 15 qua OPl, quo cet., quatinus v 17 ab om. LMX huius (h ex b) L dapnatione M possessionem X, professione FPU 18 uero FPU, uero uere LM ut om. F 22 ob rem ex arborem X 24 ut] ut uis LMrx tunc FLPUrx 26 interpositus U interpositum superaturus exuitur, nec tamen hoc tanto apparatu, quod se dispoliauerit, transnatabit, nisi totius corporis nisu et omnium scita mobilitate membrorum et propulsu pedum et remigio brachiorum et lateris inlapsu torrentis inpetum scindat et laborem natationis exhauriat. Video tamen nobis et in beato patriarcha Iacob huius expeditionis ordinem prolusisse, cum illum lego, posteaquam torrente transmisso praemissis curarum suarum oneribus id est facultatum corporalium et necessitudinum inpedimentis solus in tabernaculi loco remanserat, deo conluctatum, cum extorquenda benedictione praeualuit et illud caelo terrisque sacratum Israel nomen accepit. in quo tametsi principaliter sacramenti salutaris praefiguratio esse uideatur, quod uidelicet in Iudaeorum typo hoc est corporis sui sobole Iacob praeualuerit domino, sicut ille populus in eius passionem Pilato extorquendam praeualuit, sicut scriptum est, cum dicerent: crucifige, crucifige, et inualescebant, inquit, uoces eorum: attamen in huius nostri nunc ratione sermonis eatenus usurpanda uidetur historia, quatenus imaginem euangelicae praeceptionis operata est, ut illo uidelicet exemplo intellegamus non posse nos esse idoneos ad congrediendum deo, cui utique congredimur, cum uerbum eius inplere nitimur et in uirtutes diuinas imitatione ipsius praeualere conamur. itaque ad corripiendam uitae uiam capiendumque dei uerbum et praeualendum in regnum caelorum, quod a diebus 6] (Gen. 82,24). 17] Luc. 23,21. 25] Matth. 12,13; Luc. 16, 16. 1 neque LMrx tantum LMrx 2 quo LMrx despoliauerit Lx, eipoliauerit U transnatauit P, transnauit P nisi se FPU 3 cita M proculsu 0, propulsum F 4 braciorum 0 5 nationis x1 natationis laborem U 6 petriarcha r1 7 prelusisse F, preluxisse U, profuisse LMr 8 torrentem rx praemisissis U honeribus X, muneribus FPU id est om. X 9 necessitudinum] sollicitudinum M 10 cum] cum in MX\' 11 terris U 12 sagratum x1, sacramentum 0 14 subole rx 15 passionem 0, passione cet . 16 extorquendam LlO, extorquenda cet . 17 inquid rx1 18 nostri om. LMrx 20 praefectionis (f in c corr.) F in illo FPU 21 nos om. Lrx esse] adesse LMrx dño LMrx 22 cui utique] cumque 0 Iohannis uim patitur ut a diripientibus, idonei esse non possumus, nisi omnia, quae uel amore uel cura, si in itinere istius saeculi nobis adhaereant, inpediunt et retardant, ante obitus nostri uesperam praemittamus et inde per totam huius saeculi noctem adprehendere et tenere Christum sollicita spiritalium operum ac studiorum contentione luctemur nec diuellamur a caritate Christi sicut Iacob ab eius amplexu, nisi extorqueamus benedictionem. atque utinam ad salutaris insigne luctaminis neruum femoris nostri maiestatis suae timore percutiat, quo obstupescente infirmabitur uirtus carnis et spiritalis gratia conualescet. in Iacob tamen ad Iudaicae sterilitatis et deprauationis typum percussi femoris neruus emarcuit, eam filiorum illius partem indicans, quae degenerans a fide patrum destitit deo esse fecunda, unde habes, quia fecunda in filiis infirmata est et a praeceptis auctoris sui deuia in erroris sui semitis claudicauit. Sed nihilo minus et nobis cauendum est, ne steriles appareamus in conspectu domini neue debili pede in eius itinere claudicemus et ut potius corporeis fructibus infecundi illum de diuinae manus ictu femoris paterni stuporem ad continentiae rigorem trahamus, ut enerues cupiditatibus, quibus uirtus fidei subneruatur, confirmemus animam castitate, quam apostolus docet, quam etiam carnales athletae diligenter tuentur. quo nobis inpensiore studio seruanda est pro illa inmarcescibili corona luctantibus, cum etiam pro temporali et fragili corona 7] (Gen. 32, 26). 14] I Reg. 2, 5. 17] (III Reg. 16, 21). 22] (I Cor. 9, 25). 1 ui petitur 0 ut scripsi, om. FU, txp. P, et cet . diripientibus] obtinetur add. LMX, occupatur add. Sacch . 2 si otn. LMrx 3 adherebunt LMrx1 ne nosTpediant et retardent M 4 et oni. M, de Lrx 7 Iacob] iob U 8 ad] et ad LMrx 10 quod rxl 11 sterelitatis Lrlx 12 deprauationis] nomen add. U 13 illius] eius Mv 14 pr . facunda 0 15 sui auctoris LM 20 stupore FPU 21 trahamur F eneruis LMr, mti eneru|j ("u m. 3) x cupiditates FPU 22 quam] ut add. FPU 23 quam etiam Ov, et Lrx, etiam FPU, et etiam M 24 quod FOU, quo w que corr. L inpendiore OP1 seruandum FPU illa ex illi 0 inmarciscibili 0 decernentibus excolatur. quare sub hominum et angelorum spectaculis in huius mundi theatro ante dominum dimicaturi exuamur operibus aduersis, ut medicis operibus induamur. in hoc enim ipsum nos praeparari uult qui dicit: sequere me, ut adprehendamus eum, in quo adprehensi sumus ab ipso. qui nos illo uocat, ubi sedet ad dexteram dei in gloria patris, omnibus dicit: uenite ad me, onerati et laborantes, et inuenietis requiem animabus uestris. omnem enim, quantum in ipso est, hominem saluum fieri uult qui fecit omnes. nam et idcirco descendit ad nos, ut ad illum adscenderemus, ideo conformatus est corpori carnis nostrae, quae peccato seruiebat, ut nos conformaret corpori carnis suae, quae peccatum non fecit, ut uere ad originalem gloriam reformemur, si diuinam similitudinem Christi imitatione capiamus. nam in Adam solam nobis imaginem remansisse ipsa, quae opificium diuinae manus narrat, Genesis ostendit, in qua similitudo cum imagine dei in ipso adhuc hominis faciendi molimine nominatur, \'sed capite subsequenti, quo iam factus homo tantum ad imaginem dei scribitur, similitudinem quasi peccaturo fuisse subtractam indicat profecto futuri praescientia, ut reseruaretur hominibus in Christo, qui per oboedientiam pietatis suae reconciliauit patri mundum, quem inconciliauerat primi parentis inoboedientia. et ideo similitudinem dei, quam seruus in cupiditatem dominicae aequalitatis elatus amiserat, 2] (I Cor. 4, 9). 4] Matth. 8, 22; Marc. 2, 14 et 10, 21; Luc. 5,27 et 18, 22. 6] Marc. 16, 19. 7] Heb. 1,3; Matth. 11, 28. 9] I Tim. 2,4; loh. 3, 15; Phil. 3, 21. 16] (Gen. 1, 26; Gen. 2, 7). 22] (II Cor. 5,19; Rom. 5, 19). 1 decertantibus M angelorum et hominum M 2 huius modi F 3 adinuersis r ut] et U ut-induamur om. M modicis Fl operibus LOrv, oneribus cet., ponderibus coni. Sacch., opibus coni. Lebrun 4 ipgud rx dicit] ueni add. LMr 6 illuc Lrx 7 et omnibus FptU omnibus-p . 210. 9 traham om. r honorati P1 9 uult saluum fieri M 12 quae] quod FPU 14 si] sed (ll m. 2) P 16 quae om. X 18 capitulo M 20 peccatori M, peccatorum LX substractam L1 prefecto U prescientiam FP, preseutiam U, praesentia L 22 mondum F1 P que U 24 elatus] clarus P XXVmi. Paulini Nol. epistnlre. 14 ipse dominus in formam serui exinanitus recepit, et homo, qui in superbia sua per fraudem zabuli ceciderat, in humiliatione domini altissimi prostrato zabulo per fidem ipsius in domini humilitate resurrexit. hic ergo pro nobis dolens et propter nos oboediens factus usque ad mortem crucis, uiam uitae nobis perfectionemque uirtutis non in uendendis tantum praediis et pretiis erogandis sed in sui sectatione proposuit. et quia dixerat: cum exaltatus fuero, omnia ad me traham, ideo dicit: ueni, sequere me. beatus qui tam proximo interuallo sequitur, ut dicat: adhaesit anima mea post te. quod illa tantum caritas dicere potest, quae finis praecepti et plenitudo legis est, id est de corde puro et bona conscientia et fide non ficta se ita inserit et adfigit deo, ut nihil extra deum amans dicat: et ego semper tecum. quare totus labor et plenum opus nobis in obseruantia et expoliatione cordis nostri est, cuius tenebras uel abstrusas in eo inimici latebras uidere non possumus, nisi defaecato ab externarum rerum curis animo et intus ad semet ipsum conuerso; non enim frustra dictum est: omni custodia serua cor tuum. Credo iam expertus sis quam laboriosum nobis et adsiduum uel cotidianum cum hoc hoste certamen sit et quantae in eo uersentur insidiae, quae illic uitiorum uirtus, quanta uirtutum infirmitas sit, quam prona eius ad prauitatem relapsio, quam piger ad deum nisus. nunc mihi illa prius clausa intra me discordia diuersae legis aperitur; nunc sentio uim legis aduersae, quae uelut iniecta manu captiuum me trahere contendit in legem peccati, et recognosco quoniam beatus ille uir 1] (Phil. 2, 7). 5] Phil. 2, 8. .8] Ioh. 12, 32. 9] Matth. 19, 21. 10] Ps. 62, 9. 11] Rom. 13, 10; I Tim. 1, 5. 14] Ps. 72, 23. 19] Prou. 4, 23. 2 diaboli LMx 3 diabolo LMx 4 dn5 humilitatis LMX 6 perfectionem L/1 7 preposuit U 8 et om. FPU 9 et sequere U 10 mea om. FP 11 dicere karitas M 12 ide ex idem 0 13 se ita e P, q se ita M, serta cet . inseret Lrx et om. FPU 18 couuersuso U 19 enim om. U 23 illi U 24 sit om. U 25 uixus FP prius illa U 27 ueluti LMrx 28 legem MO, lege cet . et] nunc M cognosco FPU mea potius infelicitate uritur et de mea affectione pro me dolens clamat: infelix ego homo! quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius? sed idem magister me recreat et re- Scit, ostendens mihi exitum salutarem, si tamen uelle adiaceat mihi, ut perfectionem merear inuenire gratia dei per legum Christum dominum nostrum, qui exorandus est, ut praeualescat inimicis nostris et tenebris superabundet, destruat in nobis aliena uel nostra et aedificet sua. quod etiam amicos dei orando meruisse cognoscimus, qui utique cor suum patiebantur, cum dicerent: cor mundum crea in me deus et spiritum rectum innoua in uisceribus meis, quo exorato iam securus dicit: proba me, domine, et scito cor meum et uide si uia iniquitatis in me est. sed ne hanc sui confidentiam sua magis uirtute quam dei gratia meruisse uideatur, idem dicit: quia tu, domine, possedisti renes meos. nihil enim, ut dominus ipse dixit, sine eo facere possumus, quia ipse est uitis uera et nos sarmenta eius. si in eius dilectione maneamus, non arescimus uiuentes suco radicis aeternae nec ad ignem amputabimur ira, sed ad fructum putabimur disciplina purgante nos euangelicae falcis acie, ut castigata luxurie palmitis nostri fructuosius pullulemus. Ergo inchoaturus agriculturam in nobis suam dicit: ignem ueni mittere in terram, quo uidelicet cor nostrum peccatis obsitum quasi agrum spinis horridum purget urens nos in uitiis et in sensibus luminans. ueterumque in nobis actuum stirpes salutari falce pius cultor insequitur, ut 2] Rom. 7, 24. 10] Ps. 50, 12. 12] Ps. 25, 2 et 138, 23. 15] Ps. 138, 13. 17] Ioh. 15, 5. 23] Luc. 12, 49. 1 uritur felicitate U 2 liberauit FIPUrx 4 adiiciat F, adijciat P, adiciat F 7 tenebras LM superabunt et r, superet et LMx1 distruat 0 I Pr, distruet 01 8 uel aliena uel F 9 orando om. M 10 et s. r. i. u. m. M 11 qui Ov, cui fort . 15 item FU domine] ff M 18 dilectione eius U arescemus v 19 nee] quae L T ignem] n add. X m. 3 amputabitur FlLOrx 20 purgantes F 21 luxuria FPU, h luxirie L1 nostre x1 pollulemus 0 22 incoaturus L, incohaturus U in nobis agriculturam U suam in nobis M 23 quod FU 25 luminis Lrx, carnis M 26 strepes U 14* residuam messis uetustae stipulam sermo ignitus accendat et animam nostram quasi campum nonae sationi praeparet, quae laetam uirtutum segetem eradicatis inpresso diuini uerbi uomere spinis libere effundat dignasque caelestibus horreis fruges perempta graminum noxiorum stirpe multiplicet. sed quia non agricultura tantum sed aedificatio dei sumus, qui gratia et spiritu eius ac uerbo colimur et struimur, aedificaturus nos eo itinere, quo post se uocat, isto opere praeparat, quo uenditis rebus absolui prius suadet; quarum cura uel amor quoniam mentis ipsius praestringit aciem et animam ab interioribus suis abductam ad exteriora sollicitat, dicit etiam nobis per prophetam: uacate et uidete, quoniam ego sum dominus. nonne et hic uidetur dicere: non potestis duobus dominis seruire? non enim otium nobis suadet hoc uerbo qui instanter orare et uigilare nos monet, ne intremus in temptationem, sed uacare a saeculo, ut occupemur sibi, uacare ab his negotiis, quibus inplicati otiamur deo. Itaque nouitatem uitae in nobis aedificantes necesse est, ut uetustatem destruamus, et quia nullum tenebris cum lumine et mammonae cum Christo potest esse commercium, oportet nouis ut uetera mutemus et occupationis pariter ac uacationis genere conuerso inplicemur quibus uacauimus, ut uicissim uacemus quibus fuimus inplicati, moriamur quibus uiximus et uiuamus uicissim his operibus ac studiis, quibus mortui 6] (I Cor. 3, 7; Eph. 2, 21). 12] Ps. 45, 11. 13] Matth. 6, 24. 15] (Matth. 26, 41; Luc. 12, 40). 18] (Rom. 6, 6). 1 accendat MOJO\', accendit O1, incendat cet . 2 satione 01 quae 0, que PU, qua LMX, qui Fr 4 spinis om. F libere FPU, liber cet . dignamque Lltfrx orreis LM frugem LMrx 5 quia FPU 6 gratia et om. FPU 7 ac] et U serimur LMrx 8 uocatis LMrx isto om. LMrx opere] ire M Tpat M 9 curam rxl 10 perstringit FLPU 11 adductam FPU ad] in LMrx nobis etiam LMrx 16 ut] et U uagare r 17 hiis L 18 itaque-p. 217,18 instituens om. r 19 distruamus 01 cum tenebris F 20 et om. FPU oportet] expedit v 21 nobis ut 0, nos ut FPU, ut nobis LMx, ut no- uis Chiffl. uitemus FPU ac] et FU uagationis L 22 UacabimulIX1 ut OP, om. U, et cet . uicissem U 24 hiis L ac] atque F fuimus, cum uiuorum essemus mortui et mortificantia gerentes in mortuis uiueremus. unde sanctus magister humanum et aequum postulat, ut sicut exhibuimus membra nostra seruire iniquitati, ita nunc exhibeamus eadem ministra iustitiae, mutatis dominis et studia mutemus. neque enim seruitutem aut libertatem deponimus conmutatione dominorum, sed tantum felicitatem adquirimus et seruitute in melius et libertate mutata, quando uinculum iniquitatis rumpimus et iustitiae iugo subdimur ac diuino timore frenamur, incipientes uersa in directum uia liberi esse peccato, cui seruiebamus in libertate misera iustitiae rebellantes. Nunc igitur uicissim deo serui et huic mundo rebelles ingredimur agonem et ipsum, cui seruiebamus, hostem freti domino prouocamus. recognoscis profecto, mi frater (nam experta communiter ut conmilitoni loquor), quanta nobis discordia et quantus hostis in nobis non carnis et sanguinis sed inuisibilium potestatum et nequitiae, ut apostolus ait, spiritalis, quibus carnalium uitiorum ministeria coniurant. unde et principes tenebrarum dicuntur, quia secundum apostolum tenebrae appellantur peccatores, quibus ut sui similibus daemonia principantur. sed et tota huius mundi figura, quae praeterit et per oculos corda prolectat, zabulicis praetenta retibus in qualibet sui specie laqueus mentis et gladius est. credamus prophetae quia in medio muscipularum ambulamus et inter opertos letalibus dolis gladios uita transigitur. excipit nos mundus iste uariis uoluptatibus florens et fallentibus uenenatus inlecebris. excipit nos innumeris anguis insidiis, cui 4] (Rom. 6,13). 17] (Eph. 6,12). 18] Eph. 5, 8. 21] I Cor. 7,31. 24] (Ps. 22, 4 et 30, 5; Sap. 14, 11; Eccli. 9, 20). 1 niuorum] uiui LM 4 eamdem U membra iustitiae ministra U 5 enim] aut add. LM 6 deponemus LMX mutatione FPU 7 mutate L1 10 libertatem miseram LMX 12 duo LMX mondo FP 14 experto U 16 quantus] est add. v 17 ait apostolus M spiritales 0, spiritalium coni. Sacch . 18 coniugant jf1, contingant L, contingunt M 20 suis FPU 21 principantur daemonia U mondi P m 22 xabolicis FlOPU, diabolicis F\' LMX ptenta (f x m. 2) M 24 qui FPU 26 iste mundus (mondus P) FP1, modus iste U 27 nos] notus LMX nomina mille, mille nocendi artes, ac saepe aperto certamine uiolentus adgreditur et candentibus petit telis, si latentibus non capit laqueis. sagittae enim potentes acutae cum carbonibus desolatoriis, quae uidelicet noxiis cupiditatum ignibus animam nostram perurant et a spiritus sancti habitatione desolent. quod cum accidit, diuersi nos hospites subeunt et fiunt inimici hominis domestici eius, qui nunc ambitionis uento inflant, nunc libidinum faces admouent, nunc auaritiae catenis adligant. quae una omnibus armata criminibus uel si sola nos capiat, et zabulo ad malitiam et homini ad mortem sufficit. Quid ergo agis, infelix homo, inter tantos missus hostes? quomodo repugnabis infirmus fortibus, armatis inermis? clamat beatus Iob multis zabuli telis sine cordis uulnere sauciatus: nudus exiui de utero matris meae; quis ergo me armabit contra tot agmina hostis aerii, ne nudus, ut ueni, reuertar in terram? ecce respiro confortor adsurgo. dominus inluminatio mea, dominus defensor uitae meae; si consistant aduersus me castra, non timebit cor meum. nec si propriae armis opis egeo, diffidam. habeo armamentarium Christi, de quo arma lucis usurpem, quibus principes tenebrarum et agmina noctis expugnem in caelestibus mihi aduersantia, uidelicet in conuersatione spiritali, quam terrenis debellare nituntur inlecebris. sed aduersum hos mihi ille armiger, ille signifer erit, qui uas electionis deo. ille lumbos meos cingulo castitatis adstringet, capiti meo galeam salutis aptabit, lorica iustitiae meum pectus includet. ille me totum proteget scuto fidei et dexteram meam, immo me totum in 1] Verg. Aen. VII, 336. 3] Ps. 119, 4. 7] Matth. 10, 36. 15] Iob 1, 21. 17] Ps. 26,1. 22] (Rom. 13,12; Eph. 6, 12). 27] (Act. 9, 15; Eph. 6, 14; Es. 59, 17). 1 numina U 2 certamine L 1X 1 3 potentes 0, potentis cet. 4 desolateris L1 5 perforant LMx a om. LM 6 desolaut LMX 7 homines O lX I 8 uento 0 s. 1 . 8 inflat LX admouet LX 9 alligat LX, ligant M 10 zabulo 0, diabolo cet . 12 tunctos U mistus coni. Sacch . 13 inermes 0 clamabat LMX 14 zaboli 0, diaboli cet . 16 aerei PU 19 aduersus 0, aduersum cd . 20 armis opes 0, opis armis LM 22 inpugnem F 24 debellare L 25 est uas M 26 adstringit X dexteram Christi factum gladio spiritus et uerbo ueritatis armabit, ut cadant a latere meo mille et dena milia a dextris meis. ille pedes meos in euangelii praeparationem calciabit, ut presso inpune uestigio super spinas et tribulos istius terrae ambulem et per aspera itineris angusti munito pede tutus ingrediar. nec a morsu metuens subditum serpentis inimici caput ipso, quod insidiosus obseruat, calcaneo conteram. quod quidem non de meae infirmitatis audacia adrogans loqui uindico, sed omni fideli . de uirtute Christi promittere, qui sicut uocat ea, quae non sunt, tamquam quae sint, ita potens est et de infirmis et humilibus suis, ut semper fecit et facit, fortia mundi istius et alta destruere. ideo nobis magistrum dedit, quem imitatorem habebat, per quem ad ipsius domini imitationem peruenire possimus. Nam ipse me magister in acie stare, in stadio currere, in agone luctari docet, liuidum faciens corpus suum et quae retro sunt obliuiscens et in priora se extendens atque ita fundatus in petra, ut etiam in infirmitatibus glorietur et cum infirmatur, tunc potens sit, omnia potens, ut ipse profitetur, in eo qui confirmat suos Christo, si qui pro nobis pugnat et uincit in nobis. quae causa dicendi apostolo fuit: sic currite, ut adprehendatis omnes. quod in agone terreno contra est, ubi non potest lucta nisi dispari luctantium sorte finiri, ut unius gloria alterius ignominia sit; in Christo autem, quia multi unum sumus, omnes ut unus currimus, et omnium consors ad unum bonum cursus est; et ideo 2] Ps. 90, 7. 3] (Eph. 6, 15). 6] (Gen. 3, 15). 10] Rom. 4, 17. 12] (I Cor. 1, 27). 13] (I Cor. 11, 1). 16] Phil. 3, 13. 19] (II Cor. 12,10). 20] (Phil. 4,13; Heb. 2, 18). 22] I Cor. 9,24. 24] Rom. 12,5. 2 dena OX, decem cet . 3 praeparatione LMX 5 angugusti F 7 insidiosui 0, insidiosius fort . calcaneum yl 9 loqui exp. 0 m. 2, mihi Roato . omni fideli om. M sed in mg. m. 1 add.: oi fideli promitto promittere FOPX, promictere U, promittoH L 10 sunt sunt F sint] sunt U 12 mondi P ut solet . istius om. M 13 imitatiotione" L 14 possu- mus LMx 16 libidum x1 17 obliuisceris F 18 fundatur X 19 sit omnia potens om. L 20 confirmat 0. confortat cet . si Ov, om. cet., scilicet Rosw . qui] quidem fort . 22 comprehendatis P\'U 26 concors LMx dicitur nobis: sic currite, ut adprehendatis omnes. quia scissura, ut idem ait, in corpore esse non potest, cui caput Christus est, quem communem sibi apicem una membrorum suorum conpago comitatur. quae quoniam sibi discrepare non possunt, curramus pariter, ut adprehendamus omnes sine aemulatione inuidiae cum aequalitate uictoriae, ut sicut in contentione currendi labor Christi sumus, ita in perueniendi fine Christi triumphus esse possimus et benedicat nos in corona anni benignitatis suae. Video autem quod in hoc certamine non magis uincere nobis quam uinci expedit, quia in nobis et hostis et amicus habitant. quis autem mihi amicior quam spiritus qui aduersatur carni, ne me trahat in legem peccati? aut quis inimicior nobis quam caro, quae aduersum spiritum pro interitu concupiscit? itaque meliora mihi amici uulnera, quae Christus accepit, ut sanaret me, quam uoluntaria inimici oscula, quibus mihi per inlecebras delectationum suarum caro malesuada blanditur, ut me quasi illo parricidali Iudae osculo paratis in captiuitatem meam prodat inimicis; quod tamen osculum dominus non ideo suscepit, ut pacem proditoris acciperet, sed ut suam ab alienato reciperet. quamquam et illud ad intuendum perfectae bonitatis exemplum teneri salubre sit, ut eo affectu, quo et inimicos diligi iubet, amicum osculum dederit pacis inimico, dilectionem reddens pro odio qui pro sua dilectione odium recipiebat. 5] (I Cor. 9, 24). 8] (Ps. 64,12). 15] Prou. 27, 6. 18] (Matth. 26, 49). 23] (Matth. 5, 44). 24] (Ps. 108, 5). 1 sic ex si X nt. 3 adprehendatis 0, apprehendatis L, comprehendatis U, apprendatis cet . 3 quem] quem ut LMX 4 cumpago P 7 currendi LlłlX, currendo cet . 8 possumus Fl coronam MX anni i om. LMx 12 mf| L amicitior OU 13 detrahat LX lege LUx inimicitior OU, inimicicior LM 14 aduersum 0, aduersus cet . 15 uul- 1. nera amici LMX 16 excepit LMX mea LMx 17 malesuada (,. tIł. rec.) M, malesuasa L 18 in illo FU parricidiali FPU 28 inimicus diligitur etiam (et LX) amicum LMX 24 odio x1 In promptu est ergo dignoscere: *** zabulus cum carne contendunt; praestat enim uinci bono quam uincere malo. itaque uinci uidetur in hoc saeculo cui tunicam suam alter abstulerit; at in Christo triumphat qui tunicam auferenti remittit et pallium. uicem iniuriae reddere humana ultio est; at inimicum etiam diligere uindicta caelestis est. uendere patrimonia et donare pauperibus stultitia huic saeculo sed sapientia deo est; at contra diuitiis incubare, pecuniam fenore augere, possessiones auctionibus, terminos dilatare uiolentia industria et quaestus apud hoc saeculum, sed apud deum crimen et poena est. ita si malo uincas, uictor uictus es, quia cum scelere uiceris, cupiditate superatus es. uictus uero uinces, si iusto cedas et tuae uoluntati uoluntas diuina praeualeat. euacuemur ergo nostris uiribus, ut diuinis inpleamur. uincamur corpore, at uincamus salute. meminerimus eius esse nos membra, qui uicit cum iudicatus est, qui cedendo superauit et cadendo in mortem resurrexit in gloriam, de suae passionis occasu ortum nostrae resurrectionis instituens. Hunc dominum uocantem sequamur, qui nos doceat cedendo uincere et moriendo uiuescere, interficiens in nobis quo mortificamur et uiuificans quo uiuamus. hic nobis deus, non aestimabitur alius ad eum, qui in terris uisus 3] (Matth. 5,40). 5] (ibid. 44). 6] (Matth. 19,21). 17] (Rom. 6,4). 21] Bar. 3, 36. 1 in-contendunt om. M dinoscere LX, dinoscere est (est exp.) 0; unde nictoria sit, ubi Christus cum spiritu addi uult Sacch.; locus certe lacunosus uidetur zabolus 0, diabolus FLPUX 2 euim] autem M bonum LMX uinci F malum LMX 3 uinel\'i L tonicam 0 et sic infra 4 at] an U, aut/1 remittet (et om.) 0 5 est ultio FPU, ultio Lx ad x1 6 c§lestis uindicta M 7 dare FPU stultia F 8 at] ut FLPx incumbere FU, incombere P pecunias LM possessionis Xl, possessionibus LM 9 auctioribus LMX uiolentia om. M 11 ita] itaque M malum LX, malus ex malfi M (sed in mg.: i malum) M ex est X qui FPU ut scelere uincereris LX, ut scelere uinceres M 12 es F s. I. m. 2, est Xl uincis F iniusto FPU 14 ut] et FPU 15 nos esse M corporis membra LMX 16 c§dendo LMPX 17 morte Lx gloria LMX 20 et moriendo om. U uiuiscere FP, reuiuiscere m LMx, reuiuescere r, om. U 21 uiuamus (*\' m. rec.) M diis LMrx 22 et non LMrx extimabitur FPU est et inter homines conuersatus est. quod quia non potest nobis caro et sanguis reuelare, ideo dicit: uacate et uidete, quoniam ego sum deus. excitor hoc loco in audaciam percontandi, ut dicam: quinam tu, deus, qui fecisti caelum et terram et apparuisti in rubo, qui fecisti magnalia in Aegypto, mirabilia in terra Cham, terribilia in mari Rubro? adhuc te, domine, nemo non credit, neque tantum Iudaei quamlibet labiis diligentes et corde longinqui, ut populus in lege formatus, sed gentes etiam sine lege uiuentes naturali sensu unicum summae potestatis dominum confitentur. quae igitur difficultas est uidere quod deus sis, cum et caeli enarrent gloriam tuam et inuisibilia tua per ea quae facta sunt intellecta conspiciantur? quid inpedit possidere? quid obest et alia curare, cum et occupatis hominibus in promptu sit conspicuam dei ueritatem cernere et manifestum summae prouidentiae lumen uidere? dies diei eructat uerbum, et nox nocti indicat scientiam; et uacare iubeor, ut te dominum esse uideam, cum hanc lucem etiam noctes sciant id est etiam principes uel operarii tenebrarum. Sed non frustra est, quod, se ipsa quae in multis saepe diuinitatis insignibus manifestauit ueritas, non nisi uacatione procurata perspici posse testatur. deum enim tantum in promptu est uidere, quod deus est. hoc, ut dixi, omnis anima uidet, ad hoc mens nulla caligat, hoc etiam infidelium fides recipit; sed 2] Ps. 45, 11. 4] (Gen. 1, 7; Exod. 3, 2; Act. 7, 30; Ps. 105, 21 et 22). 8] (Es. 29, 13; Matth. 15, 8). 10] (Rom. 2,14). 12] (Ps. 18,2). Rom. 1, 20. 16] Ps. 18, 3 et 45, 11. 19] (Eph. 6,12). 2 uenite et uidete LMrx 3 dns LMrx excitator FPU excitor- l. 23 testatur om. r audacia FMPU 4 percunctandi LX quinam om. M 5 rubro U 6 magna LMX ęgyptu x1 terra et LMOX Cham Ducaeus, chanaam FOP, chanaan LMX, chanan U 7 mari om. FP domine] deum LM 8 quamlibet om. FPU 9 in legem LMx 10 unicam 0 13 facte 01 15 impromptu X 16 dies] inquit add. LMx 17 eruptat U 18 dom 0, deum LM 19 etiam om. U esse sciant F 22 diuinitatibus U signibus M, signis LX 23 percipi FPU in promptum Lrx 24 quia LMrx dixit U, dicit F 25 perrecipitr, percipit LMx1 deum in Christo uel Christum in deo esse non uidet occupatus et curarum terrestrium nube circumdatus. uerbum enim carnem factum sapientiae huius mundi stultitia est; et ideo placuit deo ad confusionem sapientiae, cuius superbia non cognouit hic mundus sapientiam dei, per stultitiam praedicationis saluos facere credentes. Et hic est ille thesaurus agri, pro quo obtinendo etiam ager conparandus est, quia uidelicet salutis nostrae pretium in hoc est, ut deum dei filium ad carnem saluandam in carne uenisse fateamur, et haec est illa profligatis emenda patrimoniis margarita; sed non statim emitur, cum eius pretium praeparatur, quia plurimae interueniunt ipsi conmercio difficultates. aut enim mare interiacet aut praedo intercipit aut cupidior praeuenit aut praefertur opulentior. ideo ne existimes iam et conparasse nos gemmam, quia uides pretium praeparasse, neque aedificasse iam domum, cui aedificandae locum fecimus, cum uisibiles diuitias supellectiles pecuniam patrimonia uelut sordidos aggeres et inportunum rudus egessimus, ut in corde purgato quasi in terra uiua firmius stabilioris aedificii fundamenta iaceremus. sed sicut exhaustione ruderum nudata humo sub inmundis molibus multa aut nodamenta truncorum aut residua ruinarum aut pleraque noxii generis animalia et praecipue fetus aut cubilia uiperarum deprehenduntur, sic remota a nostro pectore temporalium rerum possessione et cura iam nobis ad inspectionem cordis nostri uacantes ab his, quae nos foras extrahebant, inueteratorum criminum nodos et inimicorum spiritalium latebras in nostris sensibus inuenimus. nunc 2] lob. 1, 14. 4] I Cor. 1,21. 7] (Matth. 13,44). 12] (Matth. 13,46). 1 occupata (ta in ras.) L 2 et in nec corr. P m. 2, nec FU curarum] animus add. M 8. l. m. 2 circumdata (ta ex tus) L enim] uidet FP\'U 3 sapientia FP\'U 4 deum rx 6 faceret F 7 pro quo] qui in hoe pro F 8 aer F 9 est F, est in hoc IJ, hoc ost LMrx 11 marmarita r 13 enim 0, om. cet . 14 et] etiam FU 15 praeparasse pciu uides M 17 suppellectiles LMr uelud r 18 egressimus r/1 19 aedificiis 01 21 nudamenta FLMPUr sed M in mg. m. 2: i nodamenta 23 festus 0 25 ad inspectionem FOPU, inspectioni LMrx 26 extrahebunt x1 nobis apparere incipit interior domus et illic repentia, quorum non est numerus. nunc tota infelicitatis nostrae patescit obscuritas. nunc demum quam longinqui a deo simus et quam mortui in conparatione uiuorum uidemus. Intellege haec et curam nostri anxio corde suspira, prouidens quia laus eiusdem domini in exitu canitur, ut spiritus quo coepti sumus gratia perficiamur et usque ad finem praecepti pareamus, cui uidemur in capite consilii paruisse. consilium enim dat, non praeceptum qui non dicit: esto perfectus, sed: si uis esse perfectus, quia libertas uoluntatis, quae bona cum est super legem est, non cogitur, sed suadetur et ipsa sibi lex est. quantum autem sit Christum sequi potes de apostoli sententia conligere, qua ait: qui dicit se Christum sequi debet, sicut ille ambulauit, et ipse ambulare. quomodo autem ambulauerit Christus docet alius magister: qui peccatum, inquit, non fecit, nec dolus inuentus est in ore eius; qui cum malediceretur, non remaledixit; tradebat autem se ad mortem iudicanti iniuste. sed et ipsius actione et praeceptis scire possumus quomodo ambulauerit. ad hoc enim uenit, ut uitam suam nobis in formulam et speculum uitae proponeret. non ueni, inquit, legem soluere sed adinplere, et quae adinpletio sit docet ipse dicens: nisi abundauerit iustitia uestra super iustitiam Pharisaeorum, non introibitis in regnum 1] Ps. 103, 26. 6] (Exod. 15,1). 10] Matth. 19, 21. 13] I Ioh. 2, 6. 16] Es. 53,9. 17] I Pet. 2,22. 21] Matth. 5,17. 23] Matth. 5,20. 2 patefecit F 3 sumus U 4 quam ex qui F uidemur U 5 cura quia at LMrx 6 eiusdem domini om. LMrxv ut] ut L, gt in (at m. 2) P spiritus scripsi, cuius spiritu M, spiritu cet . 7 quo om. LMr coepti sumus OPlrx, coepimus FMPqU, cepimus (mus in ras.) L gratia] eiusdem domini gratia LMrx 10 perfectus esse U 11 cum bona est M super 0, supra cet . 13 qua ex qui L, qui FPUr 14 et ille FPU ambulauit FPU 16 facit U non fecit inquit nec inuentus est dolus LM 18 remaledixit 0, maledixit cet . iudicantibus LMrx 19 pr . et om. FPU ipsius 0, de ipsius Lrx, de eius M, ex ipsius eet . 21 preponeret Ul non ueni— p . 221, 18 imitari om. r 22 sit om. LMX, sit etiam Rosw . 23 dicit LMxs caelorum. hoc enim est adinplere quod desit adicere. lex dicit: non occides; at iste: nec irasceris sine causa fratri tuo. lex adulterium interdicit; at ipsa ueritas curiosum in feminas damnat adspectum. ex quo uides quanto maior sit lege fides, cuius laus non ex hominibus sed ex deo est, quia legis circumcisio in aperto est, fidei in occulto. lex ramos peccati praefringit, fides radices eruit, quae nos non operibus sed sensibus inmaculatos facit, ut uere ad primordialem dignitatem hoc est dei similitudinem reformemur non solum corpore sed corde mundati. unde et apostolus deposita terreni hominis specie caelestem nos induere testatur et idem alibi iam ut indutum Christo uirum gloriam dei esse pronuntiat. Vide ergo quantum nobis agendum sit, ut non perfecti, sicut dicis, sed inchoati, ut probamus, itineris spatium perlegamus, qui iustitiam legis iubemur excedere, ut efficiamur iustitia dei, neque ex lege nobis actio sit, sed in uoluntate lex sit Christum sequi, deum imitari. et qui nos lege ipsa iustitiae suae iustiores et iuxta patrem suum uult esse perfectos, non solum humanas fugere culpas sed et diuinas poscit inplere uirtutes. quod quia tantae difficultatis esse perspicis in agone uersantibus, quantae gloriae est exhausta decertatione uictoribus, noli interim dum in scammate sumus, dum foris 2] Exod. 20, 13; Deut. 5,17. 3] (Matth. 5, 22 et 28; Rom. 2, 29). 11] (Col. 3,10; Rom. 13,14; I Cor. 11, 7). 16] Matth. 5, 20; II Cor. 5,21. 19] (Matth. 5, 48). 23] II Cor. 7, 5. 2 at iste 0, ait iste Lx, iste ait M, iste FPU, at ipse v nec] ne M irascaris LX\' sine causa om. FPll 4 in om. FPU feminarum FPU quantum 0 5 sed om. 0 7 peccata P1 prestringit U 8 sed LMIOX, tantum sed et cet . 10 sed] sed et LM 11 speciem O1, imagine LMX inducere U 12 ut] non F christum LX 15 incohati U 16 quid U 17 neque ut M actio sit] actio LMP sedsit bis exh. F 18 imitari] est add. LMr et om. MP\', ut ex et F qui om. Lrx nos] non 0, nobis U ipsa om. U 19 suae om. U iustior pi U et] sed pi U perfectus Fl pi U 20 nec M possit FPU 21 quot x1 difficultates x1 esse prospicis F, perspicis esse U 22 exausta Lrx1 23 in om. FOPU scammati U, scammate in textu, sed in mg. i in caumate M m. 2 pugnae, intus terrores, alta pro nobis sapere aut loqui; sed potius time et laborantibus conlabora spiritu et cooperare orationibus, ut per nos quoque destruat inimicum et defensorem qui elegit infirma mundi, ut confunderet fortia. Posce suppliciter: intellectum det nobis in uia hac qua nos uocat, ut uideamus quia ipse est deus qui crucifixus est ex infirmitate nostra, sed uiuit ex uirtute dei; infirmet nobis uirtutem peccati, ut confirmet uirtutis suae spiritum; conuertat et inopiam et abundantiam nostram, ut iustitia, qua indigemus, abundemus et iniquitate, qua abundamus, egeamus; nudemur criminibus et uirtutibus uestiamur; ferat nobis opem contra uoluntates nostras nec tradat nos desideriis cordis nostri, et aduersus carnem et sanguinem, zabulum et mortem, det nobis uictoriam, sicut Abrahae dedit aduersus quattuor reges, quos ille fidei pater hoc mysterio superauit, quo fides nostra, si confirmata sit spiritu principali, totidem corporis nostri elementa uerbo dei subiget. et sicut ille pro propinquo in regibus uictor, ita et fides pro anima, quae totidem sensibus uiget, uictrix, de exteriore homine triumphabit, in quo de totidem elementis conposito quattuor regum forma concluditur. sed sicut ille non multitudine nec uirtute 2] Rom. 11, 20. 3] Ps. 8, 3. 4] I Cor. 1, 27. 6] (Ps. 31, 8). (Ps. 45, 11). 7] II Cor. 13, 4. 13] Rom. 1, 24. 15] (Gen. 14, 15; \' Hebr. 7, 1; Rom. 4, 16). 17] (Ps. 50,14). 1 torrores L 4 confonderet P 6 suppliciter] ut add. Mv detu X I det nobis intellectum M 9 in nobis LMr uirtutem nobis F 10 et habundantiam et inopiam MPU, et inopiam et blanditiam Lrx, et in abundantiam inopiam F 11 qua habundemus P 15 et OX, uel U, om. cd . at habrae P, abrae F 16 regis 0, reges (at m. 2) M 17 superabit x1 quod fides Fps U, fides quoque M sic M confirmati FPU sint m simus corr. P m. 2, sumus FU 18 ut totidem M corporis nostri O, nostri corporis cet . subiget FLOspsU, subegit OxPlv, subigat M, subiret r 19 pro propinquo v, propinquo FOPU, propinque Lrx, quinque 3f, pro fratre quinque coni. Sacch . in regibus] regibus Lrx, regum M uicto uictor coni. Sacch., uictor extitit M ita fides quinque sensuum quibus anima uiget uictrix de homine exteriore triumphet M 20 exteriori U 21 de] et LMrx compositio r X legionum, sed iam tum in sacramento crucis, cuius figura per litteram Graecam T numero trecentorum exprimitur, aduersarios principes debellauit, cuius mysterii uirtute trecentis in longum texta cubitis superauit arca diluuium, ut nunc ecclesia hoc saeculum supernauigat: ita et nos non nostris opibus aut uiribus freti sed unica crucifixi scientia eleuemus ad ipsum oculos nostros, ut mirificet super nos misericordias suas qui saluos facit sperantes in se, quia ipse est conterens bella dominus, potens in proelio, qui nobis et fiduciam dimicandi et uiam uincendi dedit, cum iam triumphantem in se ipso naturam hominis portans ait: constantes estote, quoniam ego uici mundum.