Letter 2013: Another letter from the same.

XIII. ANOTHER LETTER, LIKEWISE. I rejoice with you that at last, with the Lord steering, your vessel, tossed about on the open sea of this world by adverse and varied storms, has put in to the harbor of salvation; settled in its faithful and tranquil anchorage, you will from now on laugh at the surge of that same treacherous, wicked, and bitter sea, and not fear it. Of these things, just as you will be able to have little dread, so you will be able to have much joy, because you look back upon them either as left behind you, or, placed upon a loftier watchtower, you look down upon them and marvel that you have escaped. It remains that, setting your hand to the tiller, you should gaze ever intent upon the stars, and so spread the sail to the voyage you have begun, lest either a more violent blast cast you out into the deep, or dash you upon the rocks near the shores. Nor again, according to the saying of the Lord our Savior, while you now hold the plow handle, should you, perhaps stirred by the cries of collapsing Sodom and looking back, imitate the wife of Lot; nor, having now set out from Egypt, with the waves of the Red Sea hanging on the right hand and the left, bringing you only aid and preparing destruction for those pursuing you, the Lord both preparing and lighting your way, having crossed over and taken up the steep road of the wilderness, should you call to mind the pots of flesh or the onions, which, after the manner of bodily pleasures, are known by their very quality to be corrupt and foul, neither pleasant in use, nor sweet in odor, nor lasting in stability. Whatever in this world soothes the hearing, softens to the touch, allures to the sight, flatters in order to capture, serves in order to hold fast, entices in order to slay. For whatever pleasure you have wished to seize, that which punishes remains, that which delights passes away; the fleeting sweetness goes by, the conscience that will condemn, or is to be condemned, abides. Therefore Solomon also says: "The tongue of the harlot drips honey, but in the latter days you will find it more bitter than gall" -- a thing which nevertheless he himself, after he had foretold it, fell into. And therefore see, dearest brother, what an evil it is which, while it is detested, is admitted, and while it is shunned, is scarcely avoided. Wherefore you also, as Scripture says, "keep your heart with all watchfulness," and examine your conscience, lest where you seem to have departed in sight, you cling in affection; but rather say to the Lord with the prophet: "My soul has cleaved after you, your right hand has upheld me," or also that: "But it is good for me to cleave to God, to put my hope in God," so that, with whatever labor and whatever insistence you served the world as a soldier, you may serve God, the apostle saying or admonishing: "I speak a human thing because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you presented your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, so now present your members to serve righteousness unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit therefore had you then in those things of which you now are ashamed? For the end of them is death. But now, set free from sin and made servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, but the end, eternal life." Repentance, dearest brother, is thus to be undertaken not in name but in deed, not to be performed by mouth only but by heart. It is true that, just as we sin in both, that is in the inner man and the outer, so we ought to repent in both, so that, as the same apostle says: "With the heart it is believed unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," so let our heart, as the conscience pierces it, conceive groanings, that our mouth may pour them out through the confession of our confusion. And let the fiftieth psalm, which is given alike to penitence and to remission, be sung day and night with roaring and weeping, so that it may be truly and wholesomely said: "I roared from the groaning of my heart," and: "I acknowledge my iniquities, and my sin is ever against me," or also that: "For I will declare my iniquity, and I will think about my sin." For here our sins must be before us, so that they cannot be against us in eternity, because thus it is read in the prophets: "Tell forth your iniquities first, that you may be justified." To whom shall we be the first to tell forth our iniquities, or to bring them forward before the Lord, if not surely to the devil, who is both the instigator and the accuser of our offenses? For he himself instigates us, that we may sin; he himself, when we have sinned, accuses us; and therefore in the confession of our crimes let him be forestalled by us in this world, so that he may not have, in the world to come, anything to bring forward against us.

XIII. ITEM ALIA. In salo saeculi istius aduersis ac diuersis tempestatibus flctuantem te ratem ad portum salutis tandem aliquando domino gubernante applicuisse congaudeo, in cuius fida ac tranquilla statione conpositus aestus ipsius perfidi et iniqui et amari 7] Iac. 2,13. 8] Luc. 6, 37. 15] Matth. 7, 2. 1 commendacitias 8 2 offitii 8 4 presentis S 5 pacientia S 7 iuditium S 9 dimitte v dimittitur S 10 precepit S 11 si om. S 15 quod S iuditio S 16 ideoquae S 17 peculiari S, peculiariter v iurae S 19 comiserunt S 20 dampnatione S 21 quando] cum v 24 it alia S 27 appliisse S (cu man. aZtJ 28 amaris S, amari maris suspicatur Kr . ridebis deinceps, non timebis, de quibus, ut parum formidinis, ita multum gaudii habere iam poteris, quod eos uel retro derelictos respicis uel in celsiori specula constitutus despicis et te euasisse miraris. superest, ut clauo manum inserens astra semper intentus aspicias et ita coeptae nauigationi uelum pandas, ne te aut in altum uehementior flatus excutiat aut in uicina litoribus saxa conlidat. neque etiam iuxta sententiam domini saluatoris iam stiuam tenens retrorsum clamoribus Sodomae conlabentis percitus forte respiciens Loth imiteris uxorem aut de Aegypto iam profectus et fluctus rubri maris dextra laeuaque pendentes tantum tibi ferentes auxilium et persequentibus te parantes exitium domino uiam tuam et praeparante et inluminante transgressus et eremi arduum iter arripiens ollas carnium recorderis aut caepas, quae in modum corporalium uoluptatum ipsa sui qualitate corrupta noscuntur et fetida nec usu grata nec odore suauia nec stabilitate mansura. Quicquid in hoc saeculo mulcet auditu, mollescit adtactu, lenocinatur aspectu, blanditur, ut capiat, famulatur, ut teneat, inlicit, ut occidat. nam quamcumque capere uolueris uoluptatem, permanet, quod puniat, praeterit, quod delectat, dulcedo fugitiua pertransit, conscientia damnatura uel damnanda subsistit. inde etiam dicit Salomon: lingua meretricis mel stillat, in nouissimis autem diebus amariorem felle inuenies eam, quod tamen nihilominus et ipse, cum praedixisset, incurrit. et ideo uide, quod malum sit, frater carissime, quod, dum detestatur, admittitur, dum refugitur, uix uitatur. unde et tu, sicut dicit scriptura, omni custodia serua cor tuum et discute conscientiam tuam, ne, unde exisse uideris aspectu, 9] Gen. 19, 26. 11] Exod. 14, 29. 14] Exod. 16, 3. 22] Prou. 5, 8. 27] Prou. 4, 28. 1 ut add. Luetjooonn, om. S 3 dispicis S 8 tenens] aratri add. v 9 fonte S 11 tantum r, tanti S, aestuanti Kr . ferentis S 12 parantib; S preparante S 13 inluminante] & add. S (s man. alt.) trans\'\'t[j gressus S fgres eras.) heremi S 14 ollas Kr., ollae S 16 fetida S 17 auditu olliscit 81 18 blanditur ut] blanditur ui S 19 uoluerit S 20 delectet Kr . dulcido S 21 dampnatura S 23 amariorem] amaiore S 24 predixisset S 27 serua cor] seruatur S 28 aspectum S haereas affectu, sed dicas potius domino cum propheta: adhaesit anima mea post te, me autem suscepit dextera tua, uel illud etiam: mihi autem adhaerere deo bonum est, ponere in deo spem meam, ut, quanto labore quantaque instantia militasti saeculo, seruias deo dicente apostolo uel monente: humanum dico propter infirmitatem carnis uestrae. sicut enim exhibuistis membra uestra seruire inmunditiae et iniquitati, ita nunc exhibete membra uestra seruire iustitiae in sanctificationem. cum enim serui essetis peccati, liberi eratis iustitiae. quem ergo fructum habuistis tunc, in quibus nunc erubescitis? nam finis illorum mors est. nunc uero liberati a peccato, serui autem facti deo habetis fructum uestrum in s sanctificationem, finem uero uitam aeternam. Paenitentia ita, frater carissime, non nomine est suscipienda, sed opere, non ore tantummodo agenda, sed corde. uerum est, quod, sicut utroque, hoc est interiore homine et exteriore delinquimus, ita et utroque paenitere debemus, ut, sicut dicit idem apostolus: corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore autem confessio fit in salutem, ita gemitus cor nostrum conscientia conpungente concipiat, ut eos os nostrum per confessionem confusionis effundat. quinquagesimus uero psalmus, qui paenitudini datur pariter et remissioni, die noctuque cum rugitu fletuque cantetur, ut uere et salubriter dici possit: rugiebam a gemitu cordis mei, et: iniquitates meas ego agnosco et delictum meum contra me est semper, uel illud etiam: quoniam iniquitatem meam ego pronuntio et cogitabo pro peccato meo. hic enim ante nos peccata nostra esse debent, ut in aeternum contra nos esse non possint, quia ita legitur in prophetis: dic tu prior iniquitates tuas, ut iustificeris. a quo priores dicturi sumus iniquitates 1] Psalm. 62,9. 3] Psalm. 72,27. 6] Rom. 6,19. 19] Eom. 10,10. 24] Psalm. 37, 9. 25] Psalm. 50, 5. 27] Psalm. 37,19. 30] Esai. 43,26. 3 adherere S 8 exhibite S 11 tunc] in illis ex Uuig. add. Kr . erubiscitis S 15 patientia 17 ita om. v 17 et exteriore homine f) 18 et v, ut S 22 quinquagesimS S psalmu S 2S dicatus v remissione S 27 pronuncio S 30 qua S nostras coram domino uel prolaturi, nisi diabolo utique, qui delictorum et incentor est et delator? ipse enim, ut peccemus, instigat, ipse, cum peccauerimus, accusat, et ideo in confessione criminum a nobis praeueniatur in saeculo, ut contra nos non habeat, quod proferat in futuro.