The machine translation (suprisingly good) was done on 20 Jan 2023 and has been lightly edited/corrected.
Richard of St. Victor
On the Extermination of Bad and the Promotion of Good
First Treatise
Second Treatise
Third Treatise
CHAPTER ONE
What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled; and you, Jordan, because you turned back? (Psal. 113.) This voice of the Prophet is an exclamation, with astonishment; surprise with exultation. For he saw a divine miracle; not one only, but twins, both great, both wonderful, both very astonishing. He saw the sea flee before the sight of Israel; he saw that the Jordan course reflected his attack on the fountain; he saw that both would yield to the Hebrew people, and leave a free way for those who set out. What of these is not new, what of these is not surprising? Both were thus contemplated, and he marveled at both, and congratulated himself on both. He therefore exclaims in a voice of exultation and confession: What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled, and you, Jordan, because you turned back? The first miracle took place in the exodus of Israel from Egypt, and the second took place in the exodus of Israel from the wilderness. Who, at last, will allow me to leave completely the country of dissimilarity? A beautiful spectacle, and quite delightful to see the water of the sea fleeing, to see the water of the Jordan returning, the bitter to withdraw, the sweet to flow back, the bitterness to fail, the sweetness overflow Whoever sees these things, I wonder if you do not also exclaim: What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled; and you, Jordan, why have you turned back? Miracles of this kind are never usually performed, except before true Jews, except before good Jews.
CHAPTER II. Of the double confession, and the double promotion.
Confession makes a Jew, passage makes a Hebrew. A Jew indeedconfessingHebrewpassing is interpreted And there is a true confession, and there is a false confession. Similarly, there is a good transition and there is a bad transition. A true confession makes a true Jew, and a good passage makes a good Hebrew. To ascribe your evils to yourself, to ascribe your good things to God, a true confession, a right confession. The former is of blame, the latter is of praise; both of course useful, both praiseworthy. Similarly, there is a double transition; Both are indeed good, and both are necessary. He who passes from evil to good passes well indeed; and he who passes from the good to the best makes the transition to the good himself. Know, therefore, and confess your evils, and do not remain in them; but pass them over, and the first crossing was made, and the first confession. In the same way, confess to God your good things, praise Him for His good things, and do not become numb in them: but strive as much as you can for better things, and pass on to the best things, and the second transition is made, and the second confession. The first miracle usually occurs at the first confession and the second miracle usually occurs at the second confession. For by the confession of the crime the flight of the sea is effected, and the confession of praise is immediately turned to Jordan.
CHAPTER III. How the confession of a crime is effective for the extermination of evil.
For all things are washed away in confession: the conscience is cleansed, the bitterness is removed, the sea is driven away, tranquility returns, hope is revived, the spirits are cheerful. Indeed, blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves will be comforted. What is there to mourn, to grieve, but to be driven by the tempests of the sea? And what is the joy of consolation, but the flight of the sea and the absence of pain? Listen A Jew confessing his crimes, and observe the waters of the sea fleeing before him: I said,says,I will confess my injustice to the Lord, and you have forgiven the wickedness of my sin (Ps. 31). He confessed his iniquity, and fled into the sea, because impiety was forgiven. For impiety is the sea, indeed it cannot make sweet water; but its water is very salty and very bitter, and its bitterness is very bitter. What, I pray thee, has the sweetness of envy? What, I beseech you, has the sweetness of wrath; what is the impatience of sweetness? In this way, I think, all waters are bitter, and they make the sea, because they can please no one thoroughly, no one can please anyone. You see, then, that the sea is not as large as this, and as spacious as it can be with the hands to be called malice For there is another thing that can be said to have misery, and that water is not at all sweet, but still less bitter. But happy is he who dominates from sea to sea, so that he is subject to no one's guilt, no one succumbs to punishment, so much so that all iniquity does not dominate him, and no adversity oppresses him. Happy before whose sight the sea flees, malice retreats, misery gives way, conscience rejoices. Is he who is like that unable to sing with confidence? What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled? If you want, then, make a certain Jew of good profession; to confess your sin from your heart, so that you yourself may see such a spectacle, such a great miracle, and do not hesitate to chant such a hymn. What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled?
CHAPTER IV. How the confession of praise is useful for the promotion of good.
But now let us consider how Jordan's conversion to the confession of praise is usually effected. But this, I think, we learn better by doing than by arguing, and we prove this sooner by experiencing than by speaking. Finally, try to acknowledge, wonder, and revere God's power, God's wisdom, God's mercy, and be sure that the more you praise, the more ardently you will love. Therefore, do not hesitate to praise the divine grace much, so that you may love much; to love much, to long for much. For the more ardently you desire, the sooner you will obtain it that you desire much. Love what you despised before, despise what you loved before, and be safe, because Jordan has turned. Love God, despise the world, and truly confess that Jordan has turned his back. What, I pray thee, is this conversion of Jordan: how wonderful, how praiseworthy, how lovable, the whole rush of love, the whole inundation of affection, the whole influx of delight, running with great haste not downwards, but upwards, seeking what is above, not what is above the earth; so that you may truly confess, because Jordan has turned his back! This reason, as I think, existed why the Prophet neither hesitated nor was ashamed to become a Jew, because he truly acknowledged thatIt is good to confess to the Lord, and sing praises to your name, Most High (Ps. 101). Hence is that firm profession and devoted promise: I will confess to the Lord very much in my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise him (Psal. 158). Did he not mean to be a Jew, when he said: Praise the Lord, my soul? (Ps. 145.) Did he not stop the water of the Jordan from flowing down when he admonished his soul with a gentle speech? Hope in God, for I will still confess to him, to save my countenance, and my God (Psal. 42). Did not the flowing Jordan long to be converted, when he said: Turn, my soul, to your rest, because the Lord has been good to you (Psal. 114). I wonder if you hear this, and you yourself do not desire to become a Jew, and to confess to the Lord that he is good, that his mercy is for ever, and that you be found worthy, to whom the Lord is worthy to show such a great miracle that you can dance with the Prophet; because Jordan turned back.
CHAPTER V. That the first promotion of virtue is in the contempt of the world.
But even that, please, is not enough for you, when you have been a Jew, unless you become a Hebrew as well. Indeed, the Hebrews themselves are the same, who are also Jews, although they are Jews from one side, and Hebrews from another side. For confession, as has been said, makes a Jew, and passage makes a Hebrew. Finally, you too, if you are in Egypt, go over and leave Egypt, and you have made a certain Hebrew of good hope, and you will see in the flight of the sea that great and astonishing miracle. But if you try to cross the desert itself, you will see still greater things at the turning of the Jordan. The first passage, therefore, is from Egypt, the second from the desert. First pass from the world to yourself, secondly from yourself to God, you have loved the world, despise the world, and pass. Abandon the cares of the world, and take care of yourself, and you begin to be a worshiper of the wilderness. Returning from the darkness of Egypt, from the errors of the world to the secrets of the heart, you will find nothing else but a place of horror and vast solitude. For this is that desolate, impassable, and waterless land, the conscience having been neglected for a long time, completely uncultivated, covered with thorns and thistles, and full of all horrors. It is therefore necessary for thee to leave Egypt, and to seek such a wilderness, if thou desirest to see with thine eyes the flight of the sea, as David also fled far away, and remained in the desert. transgressor, which is commanded to transgressors, where it is said: Return, transgressors, to the heart (Isaiah 46), and the first passage was made, and from the rest you are rightly called a Hebrew.
CHAPTER VI. The second promotion of virtue is in self-contempt.
Return therefore to thyself, and guard thy heart with every guard. But woe to you if you remain there. Do not tarry, but pass on, and pass on to the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. Transcend yourself, then, go on to your God, seek and lay hold of the highest good. Hear her who cries out in the streets; listen to the voice of Wisdom, reminding us of this second passage: pass to mesays,all who desire me (Eccl. 24). To leave the world, and the passage of Israel from Egypt was made. Condemn thyself, and the passage of Israel out of the wilderness was made. Contempt of the world makes the first transition, and self-contempt makes the second transition. For the first passage he flees the sea. He turned to the second crossing of the Jordan. The flight of the sea is the extermination of bitterness. The conversion of the Jordan was a reorganization of charity.
CHAPTER VII. How by the contempt of the world is the extermination of evil.
You want to hear more clearly, to know more fully how the first passage of the Hebrews, how the flight of the sea, the bitterness of extermination, to the contempt of the world. As soon as you leave Egypt without doubt, so that you reject the whole world behind you: the cause of fear, the cause of pain, the root of bitterness (indeed the root of all evils) perishes. For when you will be able to fully escape the world, when you will begin to desire none of its advantages, and fear none of its adverse effects, what will there be that can disturb your mind? What, I pray thee, do we receive more directly in the flight of the sea, than to tire without any disturbances? Finally, let not your heart be troubled, nor be afraid, and the sea fleeing before our sight is gone and withdrawn. I think that the sea will no longer exist when God wipes away every tear from the eyes of the saints, when there will be no more mourning, nor crying, but neither any pain, because they passed before. For what is fear, and trembling, and sorrow, but the waters of the sea which are exceedingly bitter, and all of which have no taste of sweetness? The Prophet came to the depth of this kind of sea, I am not mistaken, when he said: Fear and trembling came upon me (Psalm 55). And that: Tribulation and distress have found me (Ps. 118). As many as leave Egypt, they seek the desert, they covet the land of promise stumble upon such a sea. For we must pass through many tribulations into the kingdom of God.
CHAPTER VIII. That contrition of soul is now a helper, now a support of good.
Some have such a sea before them, and others behind them. But those who have before them are to hinder them; those who are next to each other, it is a helper for them; those who are behind them, it is for them a support. Thus, therefore, the Israelites leaving Egypt, desiring to enter the desert, and sighing for the land of promise, first had the sea before them as an obstacle to their departure. They had a post next to them as an adjutant of defense, when it was for them a wall on the right and on the left. at last they had behind them a pillar of security, their enemies being drowned or shut up by it. The future before us, the present near us, the past behind us. The sea before us is the fear of future dangers. The sea is near us, the work of the incumbent struggles. The sea behind us, the grief of the evil-doers; the sea before us, the fear of pusillanimity; and the sea near us, labor anxiety; the sea behind us, the pain of regret. Fear hinders pusillanimity; the work of anxiety protects; The pain of regret protects. Another, considering the life and study of others, when he sees that many, even after profession, vow to return to vomit, to return to the age, and do not at least dare to begin the good, this one has before him a sea, but an obstacle. For what is the trembling of the heart, the hesitancy of the mind, but a sort of wavering of the sea? For he who hesitates is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and tossed about by the wind. Another bravely tramples on this fear, drives the waves of the sea before him, chastises the trepidation of his heart, prepares his mind bravely to endure any dangers for the Lord, and does not hesitate to sing for this part, he saw the sea and he flees, so that all useless trepidation flees and departs before his sight. But because he is concerned, how he should either guard against the neglect of good, or decline the theft of evil, he indeed suffers the sea, although not in front of him, yet on both sides, because it is necessary to constantly act on this side for the good, and on the other side against the bad, to labor much, and to be concerned on both sides. But happy are those whom the exercises of the virtues, the struggles of labour, do not tire so much as delight them, who indeed mourn only that they have spent so many years of their former life either in iniquity or in vanity. He who is of this kind shows that he has the sea behind him, as he who said: I will think about it to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul (Isa. 38). But who doubts that the sea was left behind for men of this kind, for the most secure support, and for the subversion of their enemies? For the bitterness of repentance is wont not only to wipe out the evils we have committed by making satisfaction, but it is also wont to bring it about in us, so that we do not like to repeat those things.
CHAPTER IX. Of useful and useless contrition.
Let us also consider how here the water of the sea, the wave of bitterness is for some outside the way, for others in the way. Who doubts that this life is the way to the life to come? One grieves for the things of the present life, another for the things of the future life. He who grieves for these the things that are in this life, to him there is a sea in the way. He who grieves for them, which are beyond this life, to him is the sea beside the road. In this life, both good and bad; in that life, either only good things, or only bad things. Therefore, things that are non-existent differ greatly from each other, and do not come into contact with each other in the neighborhood of similarity, because there is a great chaos established between them, in which no proportion of similar quality can be found. But this life is interposed between those of the future life, good and bad, as if in the middle, because it approaches both, either from one side or the other, by some similitude, which has both good and bad permitted. Therefore, the goods of his life are associated with the goods of his goods (although he is connected by the similitude of the shadow, just as also with the evils of his life, with his own evils) by an imaginary affinity. Outside then this is the way that they meet after this life. Outside, indeed, and next not only to the similarity of quality, but to the cohesion of time. As soon as we left these, we fell upon them without delay. Therefore he who fears for these, grieves and laments a wave of sorrow, an influx of bitterness, as if he pours out the water of the sea beside his course.
CHAPTER X. Of the twin remorse of the heart.
I mourn for us eternals, the sea is on the right; I mourn for eternal evils, the sea is on the left. Of course, if we are of sound mind, we ought to be afraid for both, and to grieve, and to flow with tears of bitter remorse. Let us fear to lose these things, let us fear to run into them, and we have the twin seas protecting us strongly, and on both sides. Rightly, as I think, the sea that meets the way, that obstructs the way of our departure, that interrupts the course of our march, we strike with the rod of just severity, we fear the consideration of the divine dispensation, we remove it by the remembrance of the future examination. Therefore let all our fear, all our sorrow be removed from the way, and for a useless life, let our compunction be divided into two parts by the anxiety of worldly life, so that through the sorrow of fear we may dilute the eternal evils and through the tears of longing, we may be rewarded with eternal good. Happy are those who pass over this twin sea of double sorrow, who leave far behind them all the uncertainty of future expectation and fear, and the universe of mistrust. they pass through mourning with the security of a certain hope, if only such fear and sorrow would be absorbed in us by the security of the coming confidence! Let even such a sea flee and depart, that we may sing with the Prophet: What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled? Do we not think that the sea from nearby had fled, who said? I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, and from the rest there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge will give me on that day (2 Tim. 4). I think that because he had left the sea far behind, there was no place from which he should have been saddened and troubled, when he said: I am conscious of nothing.
CHAPTER XI. Of vain or true contempt of the world
But what, I pray thee, do we say that it is, that still Today we see so many leaving Egypt, who do not deserve to see such a great miracle in their escape by sea? If they really leave Egypt, if they are true Hebrews, by the fact that they are to pass from the world, and make the first passage of the Hebrews, why do they not at least take the first test of miracles? Or perhaps they leave the century with a profession, but not with their behavior, their habits, and not their feelings? If I must boast, I can only boast of this part. Yes indeed they are Hebrews, and so am I. But see that it may not be enough for us and you to have changed the place, not the mind, the century, they do not change the mind of those who run across the sea. What good is it to pass over and not to do Hebrew? And there is no doubt in the exodus of Israel from Egypt that the refugee of the sea shows how right each of them is claims the dignity of the term.
CHAPTER XII. How difficult it is to reach complete self-contempt.
Let us pass over from Egypt in body, let us pass over also in heart. But we do not think that this can be enough for us. For we still have a long way to go if we want to reach the vision of the second miracle. There is no doubt of the same ability, or facility, to leave Egypt and cross the desert, to leave the world, and to overcome oneself, and to throw oneself behind. That which, as it were, is accomplished in a short time, this, after many labors, through many temptations, is scarcely at last accomplished at any time, and by a few. That is the work of one day, this hardly after much we will complete the times. Hard, difficult, great, to leave himself to look well and fully despise, to prove perfect and to disapprove thoroughly. Here labor, here groaning. The heart of man is wicked and unsearchable, and who shall know it? Children of men, even with a heavy heart, a hard neck, and an indomitable heart, and who shall overcome it?
CHAPTER XIII. By these methods the mind is trained to complete self-contempt.
Oh, how often it is necessary to change places, how often to fix camps, how many temptations to endure, to prove everything, to hold on to what is good, to abstain from every kind of evil! Oh, how often it is necessary to go and return, and what they are forgotten behind, and extended to the front, and also by returning behind to take in their own experience, and through their own failure to be taught their own weakness! Oh, how many times it is necessary to fall into so many paths of error, so many dark ambiguities, so many monsters of vices, to survey, to look, before one holds the ends of the wilderness and reaches the ultimate humility, and reaches the height of self-contempt completely! Oh, how often it is necessary to take refuge in the mercy of God, and to seek divine mercy and obtain grace when caught in the midst of so many dangers! Oh, how wonderful! Oh, what delightful miracles! Oh, what wonderful benefits, in so many divine revelations, in so many visits, in such consolations, they experience, marvel at, venerate those The desolation of the desert, and the greatness of his own weakness, taught him to trust nothing in his own power, but to presume entirely on God's piety, to cast his care in the Lord, and to place his hope in the Lord God! There one may experience in the sweetness of heavenly food, what a great multitude of sweetness that God hides from those who care about Him, to taste and see how sweet the Lord is, and how good the God of Israel is to those who are upright in heart. There those who ascend the mountain of the Lord, and approach his feet, will receive from his teaching, proving and confessing that his great power and his wisdom are not numbered. Whoever, therefore, knows this in that desolate and waterless land, so it appeared to him in the holy place, that he might see his own power and glory, taking the test of that sentence, for the Lord is great, and exceedingly praiseworthy, and there is no end to his greatness. But it is sufficient for one to enumerate how many innumerable alternate vicissitudes of this kind, now of desolation, now of consolation, must be experienced; let him give way, and turn his course back to the source, and let his human soul, spurning his own, and despising himself, pass entirely into God, and into him from whom every best given, and every perfect gift, runs through desire, and to him let God, the living fountain, turn back all the onslaught of his love.
CHAPTER XIV. That superfluous love of self is more difficult to overcome among the success of the virtues.
O happy soul, who art worthy, for whom the Lord deigns to perform so great a miracle; who may see such a spectacle, the waters which are below, and all the streams of desires which tend to run down to the bottom, and to fail the waters which come from above, the desires which are above may stand in one mass, so that it may truly sing: One thing I asked of the Lord, I require this, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Ps. 26). O unhappy soul that slows, that does not hasten, that much do not long to run and to see, to be amazed, and to be amazed to fix the first course of the flowing Jordan, to stand in one place; and to cling immovably to one longing for eternity, afterwards to fail completely in the lower ones, and to gradually grow in the higher ones. What do you think, I beseech you, miracles, what is the prodigy of turning back the Jordan, and returning only the rush of the river to its upper reaches, especially if it be at the time of harvest, when it is wont to fill the banks of its channel? For when that seed which fell into the ground began to produce good fruit of itself, some thirty, some sixtieth, some one hundredth, it is usual at that time that the wave of the Jordan swells more deeply, and as it is the human mind, to think highly of itself, to believe that one is great, when he saw that he was producing much fruit, and to reach the ripeness of the harvest. Then, no wonder, the more he values himself, the more he judges himself worthy of love, and it is very important if he does not flow down to the point of superfluity, and does not exceed the goals of just equity and utility. How much do you think, how great a miracle do you think it is to despise yourself, to displease yourself more and more, especially at the time when you begin to be truly great, and to appear great to all? Of course, but this is not surprising, in the season of icy cold, or even in the dryness of the summer heat, the water of the Jordan diminishes and diminishes; from his not a little puffed up in self-esteem. Who, I pray thee, should be so terribly deceived, who does not sometimes displease himself in the midst of crimes and atrocities? But it will be great if, in the season of harvest, and among the success of the virtues, the waves of the Jordan can be contained within the banks of its channel, and the rush of private love can be restrained within the goals of modesty. It will be great if it does not break out into the illegal, or flow out into the useless. It will be great if he does not love himself except as much as is convenient or expedient.Jordansays the scripturehe had filled the banks of his reservoir at harvest time (Joshua viii). He had fulfilled it, he said, and had not gone beyond it. Therefore, as I think, it will not be harmful to fill the banks, but to leave the banks.
CHAPTER XV. How by degrees the mind is to be advanced to self-contempt.
The first thing, then, is for every one to restrict his love to a certain measure, so that afterwards he may also deserve to see that great and astonishing miracle, namely, that the Jordan should first fix its course, then swell up, and at last go back and ascend to higher heights. And indeed the first, namely, to restrain the excess, though great, yet not surprising; but to reflect the course of the mountains, a wonderful spectacle and a remarkable miracle. It is absolutely and without a doubt that it is one thing to control self-love, and another to suspend and deflect it. Moderate self-love is one thing, and great self-contempt is another. I think it is not without reason that such a miracle was celebrated only in Jordan. which is interpretedtheir descent.But what is this descent but the humiliation of the heart? Or whose of them, if not their own descendents and voluntarily humiliating? For those whose descent is not voluntary, indeed it is in them, but in a certain way it is not theirs; because it does not profit them. It is therefore necessary that it be spontaneous, that it may benefit them, and that it may be truly said of them. Whether they had descended voluntarily, or whether they had made any progress in this, they are inherited, of whom it is read: Did you shoot them while they were being raised? (Ps. 88.) It is necessary, therefore, to descend from all exaltation of the mind, and to be humbled by a spontaneous will, who wants to see that great miracle, not like those who were unwillingly cast down, indeed to the praise of God, although for no benefit to himself. So it is done in the Jordan only in the descent of them, in the descent, in the humiliation of the humiliating, so famous a deed and a heavenly miracle. How much greater art thou then, humble thyself in all things, and hold the banks of the Jordan: worthy to whom the Jordan should yield, to whom the Lord may show miracles.
CHAPTER XVI. How the mind, exhausted by vain love, expands in the love of God.
Do you want to see the waters of Jordan fix their course, and stand in one place? But for mesays,to cling to God is good; to put my hope in the Lord God (Psal. 82). Do you want to see the lower waters run down and fail? My soul refuses to be comforted (Ps. 86). Do you want to see the higher waters swell and run up? As a deer longs for fountains of the waters, so longs my soul for you, God (Psal. 41). Finally, you did not follow your desires and fixed the waters. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: and the lower waters that run down have failed. Finally, delight in the Lord, and you will see that you stand firmly in one place. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and you will see the waters swell violently, and rise into a great, and not surprising, mass. I think you cannot find a way to spread them more widely than to spread them with your whole heart, and extend them throughout your whole soul, and fill your whole mind with them. Oh, how violently this salutary wave swelled in his breast, who said: I want to be dissolved, and to be with Christ! (Philipp. VIII.)He runs into this sentence which the Prophet pronounced about himself in a psalm: My soul has failed in saluting you (Psal. 118). But what kind, I pray thee, was that inundation of waters where the father is forced to cry out for his parricidal son? My son Absalom, my son Absalom: who will give me to die for you, my son Absalom? (2 Kings 29.)I think that no place could be found where they could spread themselves more widely. Indeed, no one has greater charity than to lay down one's life for one's friends. Thus also that inundation swelled not a little, of which we have the Lord's testimony: Many sins were forgiven him, because he loved much (Luke 7). What wonder, I pray thee, if things that were much swollen were seen at a distance? You want to know how far it appears the inundation of that love which only heated up, which inclined itself even to the kissing and anointing of the feet: Amen, I say to you, wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, it will be said that he also did these things in memory of him (Matthew 26). But do you wish to know still more clearly how far they can appear, if they have swelled up like a mountain? By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13). How far, I pray thee, does it appear that we must all know? But it is necessary, as we have already said, that the streams of true charity should swell to the likeness of a mountain, which they want to appear so far away. But perhaps you are still looking for the mountain, in the likeness of which you read the waters to swell. See that the mountain may not be congealed, the fat mountain, the mountain of the Lord's house prepared on the top of the mountains, because the Lord exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus all should kneel, heavenly, earthly and hellish. Like this mountain, like that great and wonderful love, with which he laid down his life for his sheep, let him know that the waters must swell, who wishes to make them appear from afar, and to fulfill the Lord's precept: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you (ibid.). Hear the simile and imitate it. As I loved you, he said. The likeness of love is like a mountain. How much did he love us, who died for us? Is there any likeness to this mountain in his love? did they not hold those who were stoned for Christ, persecuted, tempted, and died in the killing of the sword? Therefore, as I think, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earth, so that they appeared far away, that they were seen by all, and that all imitated them. But why, I pray thee, do we wonder if the waters appeared at a distance, which, as it is written: Did they swell up to Sartan? (Joshua III.)It is interpreted as Sartantheir trouble But what else is their tribulation, according to what we have already said about the Jordan, but the tribulation of the tribulated? But every man's voluntary tribulation is his own. For what each one receives patiently, or even willingly, makes his being; because he forces it to serve his own interest. As, therefore, the descent is the descent of those who are of their own accord let them humble themselves, so also tribulation, the tribulation of those who love tribulation for the Lord's sake. That tribulation, then, is the tribulation of the afflicted, which is imputed to the afflicted for merit. Behold, then, those waters which were higher, how much they had grown, how much they swelled, which extended even as far as Sartan. Oh, strong as death, love, which extends thee even to Sartan, and expands thy bosom even to voluntary tribulation? What, I pray thee, is this expansion of love, what is this inundation of waters, to extend and expand one's heart even to voluntary tribulation, even to spontaneous suffering, even to votive death? Do not doubt, therefore, that he has extended the upper waters into that place, whenever you see him in trouble rejoicing, and loving their tribulation for the Lord's sake, just as the apostles went rejoicing before the council, because they were considered worthy to suffer insults for the name of Jesus.
CHAPTER XVII. Of the failure of vain love, and the departure of true love.
Therefore the upper waters ascend as far as Sartan, and the lower waters descend as far as the sea. Those go up and grow, those go down and decrease. The former grow and swell, the latter decrease and fail. It was a beautiful spectacle to see the upper waters swell around Sartan and the lower waters fail in the sea. Look here and be amazed. Here, pay close attention, and be greatly astonished. Choose among these things both great and wonderful first, why do you wonder whether the waters in the mountains do not flow down but swell, or the waters from the waters do not swell but fail. But the water, says the scripture, those that were lower in the Sea of Solitude, which is now called the Dead Sea, went down until they failed completely (Joshua iii). Therefore, those things which are inferior must descend into the sea and fail in the sea. Now we know that the waters, however sweet they may be, because when they reach the sea, they cannot keep their sweetness. Therefore, those things that go down into the sea quickly become bitter.laughtersays,your joy is turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow (James 4), this is the sweet water going down into the sea and losing its sweetness and turning the sweet into bitter. Laughter of course and sweet joy He makes water, and every one of this kind, however ardently he thirsts, drinks it with pleasure. But mourning and grief cannot make it sweet, nor do men like to drink of such things easily. As often as laughter turns to mourning, as often does the lower water slip into the sea and turn bitter. For laughter cannot belong to the higher waters, of which it has been said from the mouth of truth: Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep. What, then, is the lower waters of the sea to run down and fail, but to draw carnal and lowest pleasures into pain, and to extinguish them by repentance? For he who weeps and groans over the pleasure he has achieved, who shudderes and rejects what is to come, who fears the future and tries to decline, what else does he turn sweet into bitter for himself? So this, this I say, it is what we marveled at above, and what we still marvel at, is to turn sweet into bitter, to make joy fade away, pleasure to sorrow, and in this manner to fail the sweet in the sea. Do the waters around Sartan swell, do the waters in the sea fail? So, man, do you rejoice in tribulation? So, man, are you troubled about pleasure? O wonder, O wonder! Joys accumulate in voluntary tribulation, and pleasures that occur are exterminated by spontaneous pain.
CHAPTER XVIII. How through the want of vain love the disorders of the mind fail.
But what, I pray thee, does this mean that it is called the Dead Sea, in which happened so famous a deed? Why, please, did he get such a name? For the Scripture sufficiently hints that he did not have it before, when he says: The Sea of Solitude, which is now called the Dead Sea (Joshua III). I think that not every sea of solitude, nor every bitterness of desolation, nay, this very sea of which we are just speaking, is not considered worthy of such a name; nor should he be said to be dead unless by chance the aforesaid miracle happens to him. We know that because what is dead cannot move at all, perhaps this sea, after the falling wave failed, after it had no flowing and impelling gurgling, failed of its fervor, and lost those swelling and boiling tempests of its waves. Indeed, the currents of the Jordan flowed very rapidly He pushed and agitated him with his most violent slip, and did not allow himself to be completely calm and quiet. At that time, therefore, he went on swelling and foaming and exhaling a great deal, and as if at the injury of his agitation and restlessness he was greatly indignant. But after the inflowing flood began to fail, and to perish by reason of commotion, the sea itself began to rest from that tempestuous agitation of itss, and to lose, as if dead, the motion of its former agitation, and to change its name. Thus, of course, such a torrent of carnal pleasure and a violent attack of the flesh, as long as it prevails, is usually the cause of swelling and indignation. It tends to disturb the whole conscience, to stir up waves of bitterness, and to remove that deepest abyss of the human heart from to overthrow, and to stir up that great sea with great tempests. Indeed, the mind, burning with heavenly desire, striving for purity, and tending to perfection, as long as it is forced to feel base pleasures from the impulse of the flesh, must necessarily resist the lowest desires and those flowing to the bottom. Hence it is that he is angry with himself, that he is indignant with himself, that he seems to rage against himself. But after the lower waters have begun to run down and fail, and the flow of the lowest pleasures to languish and vanish, the conscience also begins to compose itself little by little to peace and tranquility, to put down more and more the fear of the future judgment. and to lose those past ebullitions of indignation and anxiety, to have no movement of trepidation and perturbation in the likeness of the dead. In this manner, therefore, the flow of carnal pleasure, exhausted and dried up, and thoroughly consumed, makes the sea weak, and weak, and calm, and what should rightly be said, dead. Surely you see, as I think, how rightly the sea changed its name, and when it died it conceived a name, in which the lower course of the waters fell and failed.
CHAPTER XIX. With what caution we ought to remove disorders of the heart.
But it must be noted how close this sea should be for something must continue, and yet according to something be dead: for it is always necessary to repent of the evils committed, to persecute and be horrified by hatred and abhorrence, yet not always to despair and panic, but after a worthy satisfaction and concupiscence have been tamed, to receive consolation, and to the hope of forgiveness and security to reform the quiet mind. O truly happy and greatly blessed, to whom it was given to control the disturbances of the heart and the storms of sadness, and to calm those great and wonderful waves of the sea! I know one thing, and I dare not doubt it, because as long as love is scattered over many things and driven to the bottom, it will never be brought to complete peace, never calmed down to the tranquility of true security. O unhappy and wretched soul, to what extent are you worried and troubled about most things? then, when one thing is necessary, at last one day fix the desire, love one. Happy are the citizens of that city, whose participation is in the same. Let the waters which are under heaven be gathered together into one place; do not let them flow down. Don't you know that he who releases his waters is the head of the rioters? What are your deepest desires? What have you to do with your good things, and your joys and sorrows? Do you not know that all the water that runs down goes down into the sea? Indeed, all rivers enter the sea, and every lowest pleasure ends in pain. For laughter will be mingled with pain, and the extremity of joy is taken over by sorrow, because all the sweet water descends into the sea and loses its sweetness: for the world passes away, and its concupiscence. And we know that what is possessed with love is not left without pain. How much better, then, is it to know what is above, to seek what is above, and to return the flowing Jordan to its source, so that we may dare and take that voice of congratulation into the use of our confession? What is the matter with you, sea, that you fled; and you, Jordan, why have you turned back?
THE SECOND TREATISE. From this point on we are dealing with the study of contemplation, and how or how much it is worth for the reformation of true love.
CHAPTER ONE
But I do not think that it should be passed over at this point, by whatever skill or energy it may be possible to make it turn beyond the Jordan, and return with a spontaneous nod to its source. For it is one thing to know what is expedient, or what ought to be done, and another not to be ignorant of how you are able to obtain what you have no doubt will be useful, or even necessary. Who does not despair of being able to turn the storm of such a river into mountains? Who, I say, presumes to be able to restrain that natural course of human affection, the most rapid, and the most violent impulse to the bottom, and to divert it in opposite directions, unless he receives the art by which he hopes to effect it? Finally, we have often heard that the course of the flowing water is obstructed we have seen, and we do not judge this impossible. For it is one thing to often restrain consent in the necessary appetites and in natural affections, and another to change the affection, and to turn the flow of human concupiscence into mountains of virtue, and to rise spontaneously, by a certain nod of intimate love, contrary to custom, into the concupiscences of superheavenly desires. I think it is little, then, to make my opinion, or that of every man, let us learn from him who teaches man knowledge. Let us therefore hear what he proposes to us in this matter, or what he promises the outcome of the matter. When, he says, the priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord God of the whole earth have placed the footprints of their feet, in the waters of the Jordan, the waters that are lower will run down and fail; but those which come from above consist in one mass. It is therefore necessary, as we hear, to have the ark of the Lord's covenant present, if we desire that the lower waters fail, and the higher rise in one mass. O happy ones who can have her, if not always, yet frequently present, in whose presence so great and so delightful miracles take place. But what is this, I pray thee, the ark of the covenant? except perhaps that prerogative grace of the divine gifts, that is to say contemplation? What is that gilded box, if not human intelligence resplendent with the brightness of heavenly wisdom and irradiated with the light of divine inspiration? What more correctly do we understand by that venerable sanctuary and repository of sacred divine things, than the spiritual understanding of spiritual men, who apprehends the most sacred of divine secrets and mysterious wisdom both by intelligence and preserves by memory? But what do we say that this ark is called the ark of the covenant? For is it customary to give this great grace as a sign of love and a pledge of charity, who loves those who care for him and makes them worthy of his love, so much so that they deserve to hear from him: I will no longer call you slaves, but friends, because he has made known to you all that I have heard from my Father? (John XV.)Therefore this ark is not always considered present, because the grace of contemplation is sometimes withdrawn even from those who are allowed to have it according to the season. Therefore we have the ark present when we receive the ray of contemplation from the inspiring grace. We carry this ark with us, insisting diligently upon divine contemplation, and earnestly forbidding the study of saving wisdom through investigation or re-examination.
CHAPTER II. How the investigation and reconsideration of the salutary are effective in correcting the mind.
For these are, if I am not mistaken, the jewels of our ark, by which it is usual either to lift up high, or to bring forward, the unknown, that is, the investigation and revision of the known. Indeed, without these, it quickly either slides down, or is pushed back. Indeed, without reconsideration one is not kept from falling into oblivion, and without investigation the progress of knowledge is never advanced. But usually, as we all know, the duty of priests is about the protection and care of salvation to watch over souls. Therefore, our investigation, and our re-examination, must carefully focus on those who are salutary, those who are subject to salvation, and insist unceasingly, that they may claim the dignity of the priesthood by their merits, and defend the honor of the name. O how worthy priests! Oh, how fit are the ark-bearers, the salutary search, the salutary re-examination! By the office of these priests we bring our ark to the flowing Jordan, when we reflect the eye of our contemplation through the study and study of our desires. At the entrance of these, and the approach to the ark, you will see the course of the Jordan, and the dissolution of the kingdom, at first slow down, afterwards stick together, and finally turn back. And away from the doubt of affection. The more perfectly you look at the progress of mankind, the more fully you recognize it, the more surely you will be amazed, the more vehemently you will detest it. Consider, therefore, frequently, to contemplate carefully the light of your heart, and the flow of your desires. See, then, where your love runs, where it tends through desire, or where it retreats through disgust, you will see how it slides from the highest to the lowest and is derived from the highest to the lowest. And there is no doubt that when you begin to look carefully at these things, and to understand them deeply, you will begin to proclaim together with the Prophet: What is there for me in heaven, and what did I want from you on earth? (Psa. 72.)
CHAPTER III. It is easier to correct the mind than to penetrate into its inmost parts.
This truth, how much we think it worthy of wonder, and how much delight we should embrace, that God does not want to postpone his miracle any longer, nor to prolong our waiting, nor does he urge us to descend even to the bottom of the Jordan, and to penetrate even to that unfathomable depth of the human heart, before he begins the promise to fulfill his Of course, since he himself knew our plot, he does not want to suspend us for a long delay of waiting, knowing truly that the heart of man is perverse and unsearchable. For who can understand worthily? who is sufficient to explain how foolish it is what infinite misery, to willingly forsake the highest goods, to eagerly seek the lowest goods, to loathe eternal joys, to ardently covet transitory ones, and to destroy infinite rewards for perishable ones, and incur eternal evils? The incomprehensibility of this consideration seems to be the reason why we are not compelled by the Lord to penetrate to this depth of immensity, lest he should seem to demand from us not only difficult but also impossible things. But what does the Bible say? Enteringsays,to the priests the Jordan, and their feet dipped in the water, the waters came down in one place and appeared in the distance, swelling like a mountain (Joshua iii). Have you noticed, please, how immediately at the first dip of Jordan's feet he begins to check his course, and turn back? hardly a part the waters, as you hear, had reached, and already the flowing Jordan was turning its attack upon itself.
CHAPTER IV. It may be worth while to linger longer in the contemplation of our weakness with profound wonder.
But who are these, I pray thee, the feet of the priests, to whose dipping in the Jordan the back is turned? But if we rightly understand research by the priest, what is more rightly understood by his foot (which is the bottom of his body) than the depth of the research? The foot of the priest is therefore the depth of the investigation. To put one's foot in the water, then, is to penetrate deep into the hidden. Such a person's foot is dipped in water, when the mind marvels at the subtlety of its invention, and in its wonder is delighted For what is the use of dyeing, if not affected? What is to be affected, if not to be contemplated, to be surprised, to be delighted? And although we do not extend the feet of our investigation to the bottom of the gurgling, because we penetrate only partially into the errors of our desires; yet the feet themselves, although they are only placed in part, we dip a great deal, much to our astonishment, which we scarcely, or in a small part, apprehend. We must, therefore, by searching the inmost parts of our hearts, descend at least so far into the waters, until we can fully immerse the feet of our inquiry, and turn our mind over the consideration of our error into wonder and astonishment. For this very thing that we can understand about our follies and errors, I think that it can be sufficient for us, as Jordan let him check his course on the opposite side, and with a spontaneous nod return to the latter, condemning and detesting the deviations of his former custom, spontaneously checking the slippage of his manners, and directing them to the contrary. I think that at that time the Prophet had raised the ark of his intelligence over the waters of the Jordan, when he uttered a general opinion not only about his own, but about every human heart: All living is vanity (Psal. 38). He saw whither they were running in the course of the Jordan, when he cried out in rebuke: How long do you love vanity and seek falsehood? (Ps. 14.)He saw where he would end his course, and how he would fail in the sea, when he said: In the picture the man passes, but also in vain is disturbed (Ps. 38). He had dipped his feet deep in the water, when he burst into this voice of wonder: For what is there for me in heaven, and what did I want from you on earth? (Ps. 78.)I think that for the immersion of his feet and the wonder of contemplation, leaving the bottom of the Jordan of desires, he returns to the higher ones, and repeats the fountain at once, so as to say: My soul refuses to be comforted; I was mindful of God and I was delighted (Ps. 76).
CHAPTER V. How, after complete self-correction, the soul is introduced to the contemplation of the eternal.
No one, therefore, ought to neglect this very thing which is worthy of being comprehended in the consideration of his corruption, nor to see this negligently, and as if in transit; but at once to the entrance of the ark and the dipping of the feet to fix the step, and to tarry until the upper water rises, and the lower subsides, and the whole people of the Hebrews pass through. For as soon as we begin to review and discuss our life, and to dip our feet in the water of investigation, as soon as we feel our mind affected, and to be astonished and indignant at self-reflection, we must willingly dwell in this spectacle of our admiration, until the love of the inward ones swells up, and the inferior ones utterly fail, and the whole may the multitude of our desires pass through, and touch and hold the land of the promise of his hope. Then finally, as I think, it will be time for the very ark of our intelligence to enter the land of promise. when he set before the people all their wishes and wills. For first of all it is necessary to believe, to hope, to love, and to long for the good things of the Lord in the earth that are given to us to know and understand, to see face to face.unlesssays,you will believe, but you will not understand (Isa. 7).who loves mesays,He will be loved by my Father and I will reveal myself to him (John 14). Love therefore precedes manifestation, so that manifestation follows love. Let the crowd of affections precede the ark, so that the crowd should be followed by the ark of contemplation. The land of promise must first be held by desire rather than by understanding. I think that the apostle conveyed the whole multitude of his thoughts and feelings when he said: I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ (Philippians I). For what had he left to himself of the desires of this life, who did not even love life itself above the excessive desire of Christ? It is from this, as I think, that he prevailed upon his contemplation to bring the ark into the earth flowing with milk and honey, that he might see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of his life, and learn from the revelation of the Lord what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of man. I would be lying if he did not boast that such a man was caught up to the third heaven, and that he heard there secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak.
CHAPTER VI. That in the future life, after the contemplation of the eternal, the mind is relaxed to all the satisfaction of its desire.
I think that we ourselves, after the passage of the internal family and such a multitude, when we have begun to bring the ark of our contemplation thither, and no longer to see through a mirror and in an enigma, but face to face, when we have actually held what we hold in the meantime with affection, will no longer need the Jordan of its channel. to suspend the currents, and to check their course by resisting the onslaught. Absent, absent, when this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality; It is far, I say, far, that it is still necessary to chastise the body and reduce it to slavery, and even then to be mortified all day.when justalso bearing witness to Christthey will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13), and the wicked will be taken away from seeing the glory of God. Not us it will be absolutely said further: Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, since the Lord has made a new heaven and a new earth, according to which the creature itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the children of God. And although beauty in creatures is then incomparably greater and more beautiful, and sweeter, more inclined, and more delightful in corporeal pleasures, there will be nothing that can diminish the concupiscences of the spirit in all that touches the bodily sense. He will not know how to extinguish the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, the concupiscence of the spirit, but to kindle it; not to cool, but to inflame more keenly. Whatever is external, whatever is encountered internally, will serve as food for spiritual love, for divine love. Then without a doubt the mind will delight inwardly, and it will delight outwardly. He will delight in spiritual things, he will delight in bodily things, and he will go in and go out and find pasture. Then the waters of the Jordan will return to their channel, and flow as they used to before. Jordan's reservoir is convenient for the appetite. In a channel of this kind the waters of the Jordan are carried with a rush, because the desires of the heart are driven hither and thither according to the appetite of their own convenience. Where do you think that such a course of waters tends but to good pleasure? What, then, is the waters that they were wont to run before, but to follow and seize the good pleasure? Naturally, indeed, every appetite is drawn to convenience, and no one is prevented from following the lead of this channel in his desire there. Many things please here, which are not and therefore they should not be done. It is necessary, therefore, in this frequent life to restrain the rush of the waters, and to manfully break the violence of concupiscence. Nothing will be desired there, except what is permitted. There is nothing, then, to prevent the flow of desires from flowing out for a wish, and leading to every good pleasure. For this, as I think, the Prophet hoped and sighed for the license of freedom, when he proclaimed in a psalm: Make the wishes of my mouth acceptable, O Lord (Ps. 118). Often and exceedingly, the will of the mouth and the pleasure of the heart are different. Because we desire with a different mind, and the things we taste with our mouth are different. Of course, there are often those who please from opinion, and others who please from concupiscence. They please from judgment these from longing. The former from definition, the latter from pleasure. The Prophet asks, then, that the same things that are votive may also be well-pleasing, so that they may come together and meet each other always, the wish and the well-pleasing, the decision and the concupiscence, the judgment and the desire, the definition and the pleasure. Make the volitions of my mouth well-pleasing, O Lord, so that whatever pleases from discretion may be pleased from pleasure, and only that which is permitted from deliberation may please from pleasure. Let the people of the Hebrews pass over, then; let the ark pass after him into that land flowing with milk and honey, into that heavenly and eternal delight, that at last he may see face to face what he had longed for so much before. Let that great company of so many desires pass away; let that theoretical ark of intelligence also pass into that internal and eternal joy, so that even then the Jordan may receive its free course, and every human affection freely and freely roll into all that pleases itself, and the human soul (being firmly and immovably attached to the highest and spiritual goods) in external things and let him find no contradiction in the lower ones. Lest I be mistaken, that wave which had swelled above, will return to its channel with a greater force than before, and will spread more widely, and will exceed the measure of its former limitation; because the love of the Word and of creatures finds the most abundant food for the greater fire, and because of this it rushes to everything in every direction with a fervent desire.
CHAPTER VII. How some, even in this life, are lifted up to the contemplation of the eternal.
But what we read about the passage of the ark seems to be fulfilled in some way even in this life. This proves the apostolic testimony which we have given above, that we have no doubt that he who says such things still lives in this corruptible life.I knowsays,A man in Christ, whether in the body or outside the body, I do not know, God knows, rapture of this kind even to the third heaven: and I know of this kind, because he was caught up into paradise and heard secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak (II Cor. 12). Behold, where he had introduced the ark of his contemplation, who had fixed his eye on the secret intelligence of even the third heaven. But I think that neither did he Paul would have lifted the ark up to that place, if he had not brought there the whole family of his desires, so much so that he considered everything as dung, in order to make a profit of Christ. Many, as I think, possess this land of promise of which we are speaking by merit, who are not able to bring their ark thither, according to the likeness of Paul, because they still retain some of that internal family of their affections outside this land through desire. But when this whole company of Hebrews has crossed the Jordan, and when the ark of the covenant itself has been brought into the land of promise, what, I pray thee, is now obliged to resume its course, and to flow back into its channel according to custom; should not exceed the banks of necessity, provided that the following channel of equity and modesty does not overflow into the field of superfluous freedom? For what is the reason that the crowd of Hebrews crossed the channel of the Jordan, unless the heavenly desires and the tendency to future glory have subdued the appetite of the flesh to such an extent that it can no longer ensnare or hinder them? And indeed, before the Lord's people pass over with the Lord's ark, lest the wave of the Jordan hinder their passage, it is necessary to check its course, and to break the onslaught of the flesh, and often to turn the mind away from necessary concupiscence. For the human affection is never completely inflamed with the desire for eternity, the human intellect is never fully sharpened to the contemplation of the eternal, except in the flesh. interest in matters even lawful and much necessary is frequently and strongly repelled. Until then, therefore, the body must be chastised and reduced to slavery, until it can no longer in any way hinder the progress of the meritorious. But after he has passed the passing crowd and accompanying ark, inasmuch as he will not be able to meet with spiritual exercises, it will be permissible for each one to follow the channel of his interest. Hence it is that we have often seen many men afflict their bodies with strange abstinence, and incur serious, nay, incurable diseases; he indulged more than his preserved health required. For this is often spiritual He strives for studies, as a man full of grace preserves or restores the strength of his body, as far as he can profitably. However, he who indulges himself already according to this license must take care not to relax the waters too much, lest they leave the channel of their utility, and their modesty exceed the banks, at least they flow as they used to before, of which it is written that they filled the banks of their channel. I think that only those who know how to do this well are those who already know what is above, who have already tasted the sweetness of the heavenly, who loathe the earthly, who have already brought their ark into that land of promise. It is impossible, as I think, to reach the perfect summit of external goods, who has not yet merited to taste the sweetness of internal goods. I think that the Prophet only before If he had tasted how sweet the Lord is, and how great is the abundance of the sweetness of his house, I think that unless he had learned this by experience, he could not have said it at all from a sentence.My soul refuses to be comforted (Ps. 76). Therefore, lest it should always be necessary to check the course of the Jordan, we must transpose our ark into its further reaches; but even that is not permitted, unless we are able to advance all that crowd of our wishes.
CHAPTER VIII. It is always necessary to anticipate by the study of contemplation where we should aim by desire.
Of course, this box must not be followed everywhere, nor always preceded. In a place of horror and desolate solitude he goes before the crowd, into the land of promise the crowd succeeds. It should precede ours, it should follow the divine ones. Citrate the Jordan, which belong to us; beyond the Jordan, which are above us. Here we are asked to discuss and approve and then hold: everything says the apostletry and hold fast what is good (1 Thess. 5). There we are commanded to believe, that sometimes we may deserve and understand: unless you believe says,do not understand (Isa. 7). So long as we are still in the desert, as long as we are traveling through the desert, we must place our ark before us, and foresee exactly where the family of virtues should tend, by study, or by longing to follow: that you maysays the Lordto see and know by which way you must go, because you have not walked before through her (Joshua III). Hence he puts it in the opinion of the Wise, when he says: And let your eyelids go before your steps (Prov. 4). But for those things which are beyond the Jordan, which are beyond our understanding, it is better for us to rely on desire than on desire, on affection than on understanding, because we are commanded not to lead the crowd before the ark; break through For he who is a searcher of majesty will be overwhelmed by glory (Prov. 25). He must go there, then, to show the way.
CHAPTER IX. Of the twin imperfections which must always be kept in mind.
But not even that divine word willed in silence to pass, how much distance of the road must he overtake the subsequent crowd. Let there be, he said, between the ark a space of two thousand cubits. Do you want to know what it is to be an ark with a crowd, or what an ark is to be ahead of a crowd? When we pay close attention to what we are by deeds or desires, we have our ark with us and as it were present. But when we look carefully at what we ought to be, we place the ark of our intelligence before our face, so that we do not ignore where we must aim. Who, I pray thee, can boast, either of doing all that he can profitably do, or of being able to do all that ought to be done, if it were possible? For just as they do not want all that they can, so they are not able to do all that they owe. Therefore ability is further than will, and necessity is far more remote than ability. Let us therefore advance our ark, not only to the consideration of our possibility, but also to the speculation of necessary utility, so that we may attend not only to what we could do better than we do, but also to what ought to be done better than we can. It is as if, therefore, he places his ark a thousand cubits before his face, who pays careful attention, who frequently looks at where he might have been by merit, if he had neglected nothing of the possibilities for himself. But he goes even further from two thousand cubits, who is not only frequently, but almost endlessly contemplated, what he does not do innumerable, and how innumerable he is also not able to do. which would have to be done if his virtue had not succumbed to accomplishing it. When we want to do something strongly, we stretch out our elbows, and therefore we correctly understand the exercises of the virtues by the elbows. A millennium usually means completion, because our calculation does not have a greater number. Two thousand cubits, then, as I think, seem to denote a twin perfection, that is to say, the integrity of the will and the fullness of strength. But whosoever is neither worthy of all that he ought, nor completes all that he is worth: he lacks both perfections. What, then, is the purpose of his intelligence to place the ark two thousand cubits ahead of himself, unless he prudently anticipates how much he lacks from the twin perfections, neither of which is as yet can it be fulfilled? I will certainly say what I feel, I think that only the Lord fulfilled this precept; He alone, I say, I think, has advanced his ark from two thousand cubits, who shows himself to be of twin perfection, and has not yet apprehended at least the beginnings. For if he had cut even one cubit out of such a distance, by walking, approaching, hastening, and had arrogated to himself at least the beginnings of consummated perfection, he would not have seen himself remaining two thousand cubits behind the ark. O perfect man, and founded on the utmost humility, who can always make progress by hastening, and make haste by making progress, and always keep this humility for himself, so that he may always make progress in good, and yet always not the beginnings of perfection He believes he has! It is a grand spectacle to see the ark hasten in advance, to see the crowd hasten behind, and yet always to keep the manner of such an interval to each other. The more the ark is advanced, the more does the crowd hurry; and the more the following crowd hastens, the more the preceding ark accelerates its journey. Of course, the better we recognize the grace of perfection, the more ardent and lustful we are, and the more we are kindled to love, the more perfectly enlightened we are to recognition. She will always find a man just enough to be able to draw her two thousand yards before him, because in this life they can never come together to want, can, and must. This is of the future, not of the present life. There indeed, just as he wills all that he can justly be able to do, so he will be able to do all that he justly owes. Here, however, the ability to act exceeds the action, and the necessity of the debt exceeds the possibility of doing it. Now it is agreed that the one grows out of the other; because when our will increases, our ability also increases, and with the increase of both, our duty also increases. Because the more ardently we desire good, the more easily we achieve it, and the greater we can do, the greater we owe. According to this method it is necessary to always advance the ark in front, and the subsequent crowd to hasten behind it. But it must be little for you who hasten to the land of promise, that you set your ark before your face, unless he precedes your journey by two thousand cubits, and shows you where you must follow. Satage therefore, in the consideration and contemplation of your perfection, penetrate even further, so that you truly believe that you have not yet reached at least the beginnings of it, either by feeling or by effect.
CHAPTER X. An example or form of a proposed consideration.
Would you like to hear a man traveling two thousand yards behind an ark, and boasting of a more perfect life and not at least the beginnings of it? While still says,I was born, he cut me off (Isa. 38). He does not say while I was still weaving, but while I was still growing. What is the beginning, if not to be premeditated; and what to weave, but to make? Of course, what else is the weaving of yarns and the weaving of yarns, if not to preorder to do and to do preordered? While he was still rising, he said still premeditated, while I was still searching by meditation what I ought to do, and had not yet been able to fully discover, he sent forth his hand and cut me off. Not yet, he says, had I woven anything, nor had I begun to do good, it was not permitted for me to begin the web of an ordered life; because, while I was still rising, he cut me down. I confess indeed that I had already proposed to do good things, I had already arranged how they might be done, and I had already spun my web from a large part; but, while I was still rising, he cut me off, and I could not weave the web of my purpose, I would not say weave, but neither could I begin. What kind of man, I ask, was this man who feels so lowly about himself, who does not arrogate to himself even the beginnings of good, when he believes that he is yet to be born? Does it not seem to you that he is still weaving the web which he had woven with many? Who diligently inquired to find out and see what would be useful to the children of men, what work is needed under the sun, according to the number of days of their life? Does it not seem to him that he is yet to be born, not to weave, who had long sought to know the reason which his soul still seeks, and could not find? Behold, I found thissaid Ecclesiastesone and the other, that I might find the reason which my soul still seeks, and does not find (Eccl. 7). What good, what, I pray thee, great, does this man believe that he has done, who confesses that he has sought, and yet has not found, by which deed there is need under the sun for the number of days of his life? It is evident that he had set before his face the ark of his intelligence, which he sought to follow by desire or action. But he considers, as I think, the multitude of his desires to be already at rest, who confesses that he has not yet found the reason he was looking for. Or do you still long to hear more openly a man writing hardly any good beginnings to himself, and reading as it were two thousand yards away behind a box? Listen then to what he says: And I said: I have now begun; this change of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 76). I hardly ever began, says he, because he who believed that I had begun, I scarcely began too late to become good from evil, just from unjust. As I found myself, I declared myself to be such, and was not ashamed to confess my imperfection; but I said: I have now begun; this change of the right hand of the Most High. He does not say once, or since then, but now. Nor does he deny that he has just begun, lest you should think him more than two thousand yards behind the ark have remained Scarcely does he remember that he has finally grasped some of the beginnings of good, so that he shows himself to follow his ark according to the manner of the divine institution. But lest any one believe that he or this very beginning of good should be ascribed to himself, let him hear what this change of the right hand of the Most High attaches to this sentence. It could not be sufficient for him to say this change of God, unless he said this change of the right hand of the Most High. He did not want to ascribe this work to him, preferring to designate it from the description. He says that he who did this is high, and he named him the right hand. And if he should say plainly: He did this bravely, who is wont to do brave things powerfully. It was certainly in his eyes admirable to commit such a man from evil to good, as he remembers himself to have been at one time. What, please, is that other about the journey of perfection He believed that he had finished, who compared all his righteousness with the cloth of a menstruating woman? We have, therefore, how we ought to place our ark before our faces to a certain measure, so that, however much we hasten, we may never dare to diminish anything from the distance of two thousand cubits by presumptuous estimation, thinking that we have always scarcely reached the beginnings of perfection. We must, therefore, while we are in the desert, in the progress of our ark, gather up the path of our progress, and by which the study of good conduct ought to be pursued, we must have a different consideration in advance.
CHAPTER XI. Of those things which pertain to meditation or contemplation, and how much they are capable of promoting the virtue of such captives.
But it is not of the same ease to arrange the order of the present life, and to estimate the glory of the future, to discuss the quality of merits, and to weigh the amount of eternal rewards. For what is on earth we shall estimate with difficulty, and what is in prospect we shall find with labor; But who will be able to inquire into the things that are in the heavens? It is therefore difficult to find what is on earth, but to investigate what is in heaven is impossible. This is why the apostle warns: don't says,deep wisdom (Rom. 11). Therefore, the ark of the Lord is deservedly introduced only after the entrance of the Hebrews into that land of promise, so that our intelligence is not allowed to break through the steps of its investigation, by the guidance of the divine revelation let in And yet we do not deny that there are certain things about the quality of the future life, nay, that there are many and important things that we can search for by researching, and find out by reasoning, and construct by arguing. For the invisible things of God are seen by the creatures of the world, understood by the things that have been made. Therefore, we must not neglect what can be found through research, just as we must not assume from our power that which exceeds our understanding and human reason. The former are according to reason, the latter are above reason. We must carefully search for these things with deep investigation, we must humbly wait for them from divine revelation. The former belong to meditation, the latter to contemplation. The mind is never fully inflamed with the desire of eternal goods, unless it is diligently premeditated as to what or how much it may be. And just as he never deserves to be relieved by the contemplation of them without an immense desire, so certainly he is not completely enflamed in the lusts of the eternal without intense desire. Hence it is that before the entrance of Israel into the promised kingdom, the spies are sent ahead, and yet the ark is not introduced until after the entrance of the multitude. For what is the purpose of spies to anticipate before their entrance, and to wish to foretell the quality of that land into which we hasten to enter, by a shrewd investigation, but to direct the exploratory thoughts of the heavenly goods into invisible investigations, and to direct their meditations to that work? to find out by research how he can force the multitude of his affections into their love? Let us then set our spies before our face, just as those Israelites once set theirs before us, not once only, but others after others, and secondly after the first. Every time we ask for something in detail about hoping for future goods, or earning, we put news scouts ahead of ourselves.
CHAPTER XII. On the double premeditation, that is, of rewards and merits.
But it is one thing to inquire what kind, or how much, or what sort of goods we ought to hope for from the recompense of merit, and another thing to diligently investigate by what studies or by exercises we shall be able to obtain them manfully. This is the first, this is the second. First to investigate the good to be hoped for, secondly the good to be done. For who prepares himself bravely for the struggle of labors, unless he foresees the greatness of the reward from the divine retribution? But what is the use of believing in and desiring eternal retribution, unless one seeks with equal diligence to recognize by what meritorious pursuits he can acquire it? It is therefore necessary to send news after news, and to direct other spies after the first. The first messengers are spies of rewards, the second messengers are spies of merit. They are spies of rewards, these are spies of works. Thus, of course, there are other spies who are sent by Moses, and other spies those who are sent by Joshua. There are some whom the prophet of the Lord precedes, there are others whom the athlete of the Lord precedes. The duty of a prophet is one thing, the duty of an athlete is another. The prophet's duty is to foretell the future, but the athlete's duty is to make arrangements in advance. It belongs to him to firmly believe in foreknowledge, to him it belongs to premeditation to act boldly. This is foreknowledge, this is foresight. His is to foresee, his is to provide. For what is foresight but the exploration of the future? And what is providence, if not the investigation of the doings? So we have two kinds of explorers; both busy, both necessary. The first seems to belong to Moses, and the second to Joshua Accordingly, according to this similarity of our thoughts, some must be forerunners of the future, others providers of doings, for both indeed explorers of the hidden, and searchers of the unknown. Would you like to hear a man premeditating the future, according to the likeness of Moses, sending spies before his face? I meditatedsays,night with my heart Shall God cast forth for ever, and not add, that he may be still more agreeable? or in the end will he cut off his mercy from generation to generation? or will God forget that he is merciful? or will he contain his mercies in his anger? (Ps. 76.) Would you like to hear a man foreseeing what to do, and, like Joshua, appointing spies before him? what says,I will repay the Lord for all what will he repay me? (Ps. 115.)Would you like to hear one of the subtle spies, what did he find when he spied, or what was his answer to that first question of the Prophet from his point of view? wipesays,God wipes away every tear from the eyes of the saints, and there will be no more mourning or crying, but neither will there be any pain, since the former things have passed away (Apoc. 21). Behold how propitious a God he foresaw in the future, of whom David inquires whether he will ever be more complacent. But to the second, as I think, he refers to the exploration which he found elsewhere, whence he says: It is good to confess to the Lord, and sing praises to your name, Most High (Ps. 101). It therefore belongs to the first spies to convince the negligent minds of the righteous, but to the second to the quick minds and ready for everything to to set up an agenda Pay attention, then, to what kind of news good spies bring back from those regions, or as far as these very things which they bring back are capable of raising the spirits, and endeavor to seek other things, and report them, so that you too may be able to raise the spirits of the hearers to similar concupiscences, is the voice of the spy: The corruptible must put on incorruption, and the mortal must put on immortality (1 Cor. 15). The voice of the scout is: The righteous will shine, and like sparks in a reed, they will judge the nations and reign forever (Sap. 3). The voice of the scout is: How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden from them that fear thee! (Psa. 30.)Is it to be supposed that this excellent explorer did not enter that land flowing with milk and honey, and carefully? would he dare so boldly to promise to scan the visa when entering it? They will be drunk with the abundance of your house, and you will make them drink from the torrent of your pleasure (Psal. 35). In these words does it not seem to coincide with that opinion of the spies, where it is said: we entered they sayto the land to which you sent us, which truly flows with milk and honey, as can be known from these fruits (Num. 13).
CHAPTER XIII. How we must insist more strongly on the prospect of prizes.
It is necessary, as I think, to devote ourselves more vigorously to this exploration than to others, and to insist more frequently on the first than on the second meditation, because it is easier to discern the just than to persuade the laborious. Hence, I think, that the children of Israel send more in the first mission, but fewer in the second exploration. And deservedly so. Indeed, in the first examination, as has been said, the examination of rewards takes place, but in the second examination, the examination of merits takes place. But the future rewards of happiness are incomparably greater than any of our merits can be. For the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the future glory which will be revealed in us. Therefore there are many who are sent first, but few who are sent second. It is right that many are sent where much is sought, and few are directed to seek a few. There we find twelve, here two. There he is older, here he is twinned one The unit from which the senary begins, rightly designates the beginning, just as the senary for its completion is agreed to designate the completion. What is sought there, then, is for completion, not for beginning; but what is found here seems to be for the beginning, but not for the completion. There is the consummation of our glorification, but here is only a kind of beginning of our justification. In that glorification there will be the emptying of all evil and the fullness of all good. But in this justification of ours, there is neither the complete extermination of vices, nor the perfect consummation of virtues. There full security, perfect enjoyment. Here neither full purity, nor perfect integrity. There is complete security, where no evil is feared. There is perfect delight, where all good is possessed. Here neither is complete purity, where vice is resisted; nor is there perfect integrity here, where weakness prevails. There, therefore, from the twin perfection of security and delight, one happiness is consummated, so that the senarius is doubled and the twelve-denarius is completed; Here, from the twin imperfection of purity and integrity, our justification begins, so that from the twinning of unity into the consummation of the duodenum, each senary takes the beginning of its perfection. Therefore twelve spies are sent on that mission, where the happiness of the twin perfections is sought by research. The two are rightly addressed in that delegation, where there are scarcely any rudiments of perfect justification to be found. Finally, there are twelve, if I remember correctly, who are sent in the first exploration, and twelve There are things that are commanded to be explored. But there are two which are sent in the second exploration, and there are two which are ordered to be explored. There are many things that can be said about the first exploration; but these, in order to be worthily explained, require their own syntax.
CHAPTER XIV. The merits of this speculation consist in two things.
But in order to say something more broadly about the second, it is sufficient in this exploration to sufficiently search for those things which may be sufficient for that prophetic warning: Turn away from evil and do good (Psal. 36). It is sufficient, I say, to provide skillfully, how cautiously we avoid evils, how discreetly we accomplish good things. There is one premeditation in avoiding evils, and another premeditation in completing the goods. But although both are different, none must exist without the other. Let them walk together, run together, help each other, and never fully complete their task without the help of each other. These are, as I think, two spies, provided with caution from evil, and provided with skill in good, whom we must set before our face, and try out the routes of our departure.gosaid Joshuaand consider the land and the city of Jericho (Joshua II). Consider, he says, the quality of the land and the country, carefully inquire into the suitability of the places, so that we may foresee in what place we can more conveniently fix the camp, where it will be expedient to decline in the moment of necessity, whence it is necessary to ask for the necessities of daily use. Therefore consider and inquire into every useful thing convenient and necessary for use. And consider not only the good, but also the bad, advantages and disadvantages, defenses and dangers. Consider then the land and the city of Jericho. Consider the city, the strength of the fortifications, and the multitude of the enemy, that we may know how we ought to organize the siege, how to attack it, and against whom to make war. Look therefore upon the land and the city. Look at the earth that God made, and the city that human invention established. Discuss the good that God created for our good, and the evil that man invented for his own evil. Consider the land and the city, nature and custom. Distinguish between the good of creation and the evil of corruption, the good of condition and the evil of custom. If we know the good of nature we know what to cultivate, what to nourish, what to multiply. If we perceive the evil of our manners, we do not doubt which enemies we ought to beware of, which adversaries to attack, and what enemies to slay. Behold, what kind of spies we ought to set before our entrance, that we may know what evils to beware of, and what good deeds we ought to watch for. He who places such scouts before his face will not be afraid of the deviants of error.
CHAPTER XV. What is meditation, and what is contemplation.
But that army of virtues marches securely, and has no confidence in the sureness of the way, that of the scouts he instructs in sagacity. and he directs the order of the ark in advance in his journey. It is a small thing for us to direct spies before a crowd of Hebrews; let us also make our ark go before our face after the footsteps of the spies. The first thing is to search for and find the reason for doing things through the exploration of our meditations; Contemplation pertains to the raising of the ark, as meditation pertains to exploration. Contemplation is one thing, meditation is another. Meditation is to examine the hidden, contemplation is to wonder at the clear. Indeed, meditation is the diligent investigation of hidden truth. Contemplation is the delightful wonder of a clear truth. But what is hidden they usually come to manifestation only from their own meditation, only from divine revelation. Therefore, where we have the grace of revelation present, we do not need the duty of meditation. But where the divine revelation was lacking, the human mind, no wonder, of necessity returns to the study of meditation, and retreats, as it were, to the duties of scouts. But whatever the human mind can learn about the instruction of manners by the exploration of meditations, it must again bring it into contemplation, and strengthen the mind in their certainty and desire. But when the discovery of meditation is brought into contemplation, what else but the way previously explored for the lifting up of the ark is repeated, as a troop of virtues without deviation Suspicion to follow securely? It is therefore done by meditation, so that whatever should be usefully done is not ignored. But contemplation also tends to make it so that the discovered truth clings more tenaciously to the memory and inflames the desire more keenly. Through meditation therefore we are instructed in the good, and through contemplation we are solidified in the good. This is the reason, as I think, why we ought to pretend the way of our progress, both by the exploration of meditation, and by the procession of the intellectual ark.
THE THIRD TREATISE. Hitherto the promotion of good, formerly of the confirmation of the same.
CHAPTER ONE
I would also like to consider what the Lord commands about the middle of the Jordan, about the place where the priests stood feet, to collect the stones, and to place them in the place of the camp, and to replace the others, collected from any place, in the former place. Let us inquire, then, what is the place where the feet of the priests stand at the time of the performance of the miracle, or in the same place where the camp is to be pitched after the celebrated miracle. Who doubts that it is beyond human power to turn back the Jordan, and to raise the heap of waters into one mass? Who, I pray thee, unless he falls out of his mind, presumes such a stupendous miracle of his own prowess? Where then should the mind fix its hope under the expectation of such a thing, except in the confidence of the divine majesty? A place of safe station and great security, presumption of the helper of divine mercy. But there is another place in this place very different, that is, the theft of distrust and despair. It is certainly a horrible place, full of fear, full of anxiety, and such a place as it is proper to fortify a camp, surround it with a wall, and surround it with guards, because it is not safe to proceed further on account of imminent dangers. We encounter him first at the time of divine visitation, and now at the time of trial. For the dispensation of divine mercy is wont to strengthen a man with his visitation, and to test him again by various kinds of temptations: you visitsays Jobyou will test him early, and suddenly you will test him (Job 7). Behold, we have assigned two places, one of confidence, the other of distrust; one in which divine miracles are wont to happen, the other in which one must fix the camp. Those who trust in the Lord will change their strength, take it wings like eagles, they will run and not fail. Is it not entirely beyond man to change his strength, to fly like an eagle, to run and not fail? But this can only be done by those who presume on the Lord's piety, not on their own strength. Thus Peter was able to run over the waves as long as he kept the place of confidence on the foot of hope (Matthew 14). But after he began to leave this place of his security, he could no longer balance the wave in his superiors. You see how a strong wind, coming from a place of confidence, drove him down to a place of distrust, because the Lord, according to his custom, had visited him early, and had suddenly tested him. So the children of Israel, after the miracle had been done and seen, came to the place of the camp.
CHAPTER II. On the confirmation of the mind in good and the hardening of the mind in evil.
We have assigned the difference of places, let us see and two types of stones. I think there is one kind of good stone, I think there is another kind of bad stone. To the good stones belongs every confirmation of the mind in the good; but to evil stones, every hardening of the mind in evil. What do you think? Solidity, stability, firmness, gravity, and many things of this kind, do they not seem to you to draw in themselves a certain similitude to a stone, and by right of similitude claim such a name for themselves? What do we say about hardness of heart, tenacity or obstinacy? what about harshness, austerity and cruelty? Do they not defend themselves by the name of stones, which draw in themselves the likeness of stones? But the former belong to the good stones, as also the latter to the bad stones. But I think that it is not of the same facility to find good or bad stones, because it is more difficult to find good stones than a supply of bad ones. For every precious thing is rare. The good, therefore, are gathered from the middle of the Jordan, but the bad from any places. Regarding them, the Scripture clearly indicates where it is necessary to seek or find them; and of these he judges it superfluous to determine the place of discovery.
CHAPTER III. Of the evil of presumptuousness or despair.
But it seems strange and worthy of great wonder that we are commanded to put the good stones collected from a good place in a bad place, and the bad stones to assemble those gathered from wherever in a good place. A good place is presumption of confidence, a bad place is despair of distrust. But still we must gather the bad stones in the place of confidence, and the good stones in the place of mistrust. On the day of the good, do not be forgetful of the bad, and you have collected the bad stones in a good place, and on the day of the bad, do not be forgetful of the good, and have collected the good stones in the bad place. For what is the purpose of gathering good stones from the middle of the Jordan (from the place where the prodigy took place) if not to carefully reexamine the state of mind as it was at the time of the divine visitation, and to investigate with precision the firmness of which according to each virtue it existed, and by recommending it to erect a kind of mound of testimony? But never such a stone we have plenty, unless we first receive the grace of divine visitation and inspiration. He testifies to this who says: Without me you can do nothing (John 15); therefore it is not necessary to collect good stones anywhere except from his operation. But we easily find an innumerable multitude of evil stones, which we collect abundantly and at hand throughout our life. What, then, was the need to designate the place of these, whom we can abundantly gather from anywhere? Therefore let every one think of whose hardness, whose obstinacy, whenever the divine grace forsook him, and left him to himself: and in doing this he erected a stone mound of evil. In this manner, therefore, we can erect mounds, and build different ones from different ones, on one side of good stones, on the other of bad stones. A good stone He instituted a gathering for himself, who said: I will never forget your justifications, because in them you quickened me (Psal. 118). He had erected a stone mound of evils, when he said: For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always against me (Psal. 5).
CHAPTER IV. How, from the remembrance of our evils, we ought to check our presumption.
So also when you are present to hold yourself in a place of confidence, and you see yourself presuming higher than your merits, remember at once what you once were, and reflecting your eyes upon the stones of evil, keep yourself in humility. Of course it's good to presume, not of your own strength, but of the Lord's piety. For this purpose the gathering of evil stones in a good place is good for each one, so that by the memory of his evils he may never presume on his strength. So that every one may learn to be presumptuous, not of himself, but of the Lord, always in the place of presumptuousness the recollection of his own evils should meet him: indeed, by the confidence of that presumptuousness he appeases the Lord, and obtains the great things which humility commends. Those who trust in the Lord like Mount Zion. Thus, on the contrary, that confidence of presumptions which pride generates is abominable. For a king is not saved by his great prowess, and a giant will not be saved by the multitude of his prowess. Cursed therefore is the man who trusts in man, and puts his arm in the flesh for it will be like myrrh in the desert, and will not be saturated when the summer comes; how useful, then, we think, will be in such a place that we have prescribed the gathering of evil stones, and the remembrance of vices, which will be able to keep us from this detestable type of pride, and protect us from such cursed
CHAPTER V. How from the remembrance of our good things we should repel despair.
Thus, indeed, when danger is imminent, when temptation is present, when your mind is touched by despair, and you are cast down to the place of distrust, and you are turned back to the predestined place of the camp, you must have the stone mound of virtues present, and to the virtues to reflect upon the memory of the past, and from the remembrance of them to reform the confidence of your hope. Thus Job, stripped of his possessions, bereaved of his children, stricken with an ulcer, when he saw himself caught in the camp-place, and presented himself to be struck down by the evil of despair, that he might moderate the evil of distrust, ran back to the pile of good stones, and from the remembrance of good things fortified his camp on every side, and the assaults of despair valiantly he repulses, when he says: My eye was blind, and my foot was lame; I was the father of the poor, and I diligently investigated the cause of which I did not know. I crushed the millstones of the iniquitous, and took the prey from his teeth (Job 29). Thus also Hezekiah, under the point of necessity, resorted to the bulwarks of such stones, when he was distrustful of his life, and of his good deeds by the representation of his own people, he provoked the Lord's mercy, and by obtaining his prayers, he warded off the dangers of unbelief: remembersays,Lord, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in your eyes (4 Kings 20). We ought therefore to be ready and familiar under every time of temptation, to keep present the memory of the good things of the past, and when we have brought this custom into continuous use, we have placed them as good stones, and according to the divine document chosen in the place of the camps. For there is nothing else to gather together the chosen stones in one place, than to carefully reconsider the qualities of divine confirmation and corroboration, and memories to recommend, and it is nothing else that he fixed them in the place of the camp, except that he firmly accustomed himself to the memory of this kind in every article of temptation.
CHAPTER VI. Of the twelve principal virtues in which the mind is to be strengthened.
Now we collect these from the middle of the Jordan by the power of God in a channel dried up and to the number of twelve tribes. This is for each man of each tribe to lift his own stone, of what strength, according to something according to each virtue that the grace of aspiration had once existed, that he had truly found it. But what we are to think of the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom these twelve tribes derive their origin, we have already said in another place. By Reuben and Simeon we understand fear and remorse; by Levi, hope; by Judas, charity; through Issachar, delight; through Zabulon, severity; in Gad is meant abstinence; in Asher, patience; in Dan and Naphtali, circumspection and speculation; in Joseph and Benjamin, discernment and contemplation of the unseen. Now we wish to show the account of these things in this place, of which we have already said elsewhere what seemed to us more correct. But he who trusts that from such a son his seed has been multiplied into twelve tribes, let him learn what stones he had to remove from the middle of the Jordan. when he promoted this progeny of virtues until his passing. Let him recall, then, what strength, what strength or firmness he felt drawn by the inspiration of the divine aspiration, that is to say, that he took the chosen stones from a certain place. But that this choice of stones may be made by each man of each tribe, that he may exercise this work of his consideration through each of the virtues which we have distinguished, and extend the number of his stones to twelve. Whoever, therefore, wishes to fulfill this precept of the Lord after the conversion of the Jordan; He thinks, I say, under the time of the divine visitation, whose vigor was near to something in any kind of power. Think how much strength he had at that time in fear, how serious in remorse, how much stability in hope, how much integrity in charity, how much maturity in delight, how much harshness in severity. Consider how austere he was in his abstinence, how robust in his patience, how anxious in his circumspection, how constant in his observation, how sure in his discretion, how quiet in his contemplation. But when he had fully seen all these things, and commanded them to be remembered, he erected such a mound as was necessary. There would be an infinite amount of business, and which no one could have accomplished at all, if the Lord had ordered everyone from all the tribes to remove their stone, because no one was sufficient to consider himself worthily worthy of all things, I will not say in all, but only one in every virtue. So one is enough by all these virtues which we have determined to set aside some excellent and remarkable heat of self-desire, and to strengthen the use of such memory, and in such remembrance to fight against the evil of despair under all danger of mistrust. For he easily restores his mind, no matter how much it has been cast down, no matter how much it has been beaten by temptation, to the hope of divine mercy and to a state of confidence; Without a doubt, he gladly exercises himself in such a study, to whom it is given to know what is worth, or what is the use of this studious collection of stones of this kind.
CHAPTER VII. On the solidity of fear (timoris, 'fear of the LORD').
How useful, please, let us consider that stone which we have placed in the first place, namely, the solidity of fear by which the mind is founded on the solidity of humility. But how much the Sunday is worth is proved by that sentence which says: Upon whom shall my Spirit rest, but upon my humble, quiet, and trembling words? (Isa. 56.)This is the stone of stumbling and the rock of stumbling, lest you doubt that this is the stone which the builders rejected, and became the head of the corner. For the proud minded, and desirous of establishing their own justice, are wont to suffer nothing more vexatiously, to be indignant at nothing more, than to appear to be despised and to be seen as base.
CHAPTER VIII. On the severity of compunction.
But also according to the stone, which is called the serious compunction, I think it can be found in Jeremiah, who asked his head for water to mourn the slain of his people(Jer. 5), and it was given to him, no doubt, by him who turned the rock into pools of water, and the rocks into springs of water. I think that this same rock can be found in Peter, because, touched by the inner pain of his heart, he went outside, and wept for love, striking the rock twice, and the most abundant waters came out, and there was a watering-place above, and a watering-place below.
CHAPTER IX. Of the long-suffering of hope.
There is no doubt that the third rock, which is the long-suffering of hope, can be found in Job, from which he poured streams of oil for himself, whence he soothed the pains of his body. For he hoped until the morning, amid so many losses and pains and wounds, never exhausted by the oil of his hope, never distrusting the anointing of divine mercy: Even if it kills me sayingI will hope in him (Job 13).
CHAPTER X. Of the integrity of charity.
I find a fourth rock in the same way with Peter, to whom we have no doubt that it was said by the Lord: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16), because he loved the Lord's Christ ex with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, truly acknowledging that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where, I beseech you, is the integrity of charity to be found if you do not find it in Peter, who dares to confess before the inspector of hearts and say: Lord, do you know that I love you? (John. XXI.)
CHAPTER XI. Of mature pleasure.
But who dares to doubt that there is a fifth rock among that people, whom the Prophet of the Lord beatifies among the rest of the dogmas of prophecy? blessedsays,the people who know how to rejoice (Ps. 88). Indeed, who can deny that they are blessed, whom the Lord fed with the fat of corn, and filled them with honey from the rock: indeed, he treasured up delight and exultation upon them Observing, as I think, what it is like to possess even this stone among the rest, which flows with the honey of delight, and satiates the one who enters into the joy of his Lord with internal sweetness. What, I pray thee, will it be, whenever it is opportune to be satisfied with honey from the rock, and to drink and be intoxicated from the torrent of pleasure on the way? This is the fifth stone, as has been said, which was called the maturity of delight. Let him therefore have nothing frivolous, nothing fleeting for him, nothing carnal in his mind, but adjust his mind to the great seriousness of maturity, who hungers and thirsts only for that which flows from this stone.
CHAPTER XII. Of the harshness of severity.
But he, as I think, fought in the sixth stone to whom it was said by the Lord: Behold, I have given your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads; I have given your face like a diamond and like flint (Ezek. 3). Therefore Jeremiah crushed the house of Israel with a diamond and a flint, because he had a bruised forehead and a hard heart, and standing at the gate of the Lord's house, he declared to them their crimes, not fearing their words, nor their countenance. That strong and mighty king holds this stone in his hands in the battle, in which he was slain a mighty man of arms, and a man of war from his youth. For David prevailed against the Philistines with a sling and a stone in the name of the Lord. Surely you see with what weapons that young man, despised and small in stature, overthrew Goliath, the most monstrous giant, because He had been taught by the Lord to have men trained for battle and their fingers for war. He had, of course, not carnal weapons, but power from God for the destruction of fortifications, and he was in them fighting and destroying every height that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity all understanding to the obedience of Christ. For he understood himself to be above all the teachers, and therefore confidently announced the justice of the Lord in the great church, just as he himself has witnessed of the past, and promises of the future: I announcedsays,your righteousness in the great church, behold, I will not hinder my lips: Lord, you know (Psal. 39). You therefore have ready to avenge all disobedience, he rebuked the proud, rebuked the restless, and with the harshest rebuke and rebuke he cast down the adversaries of the truth with harshness. And when he was the meekest man among his people, and the most meek: remember sayingLord, David, and all his meekness (Psal. 211); since he was, as I say, of such meekness, nevertheless in the morning he slew all the sinners of the earth, that he might disperse from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity.
CHAPTER XIII. On the austerity of abstinence.
We have said that the seventh stone is the austerity of abstinence. On this rock Samson's father offered a holocaust to the Lord, and succeeded in bringing forth from the barren man the mightiest of men, to the shame of the nations. and the glory of his people Israel (Judg. XIII). Indeed, he was ashamed that he had fed the barren for a while, and that which did not bear fruit, and he would not, as he ought not, to be a debtor to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, but chastising his body, and reducing it to slavery, and sacrificing his children's flesh on the rock of abstinence, until the flesh with consuming the heavenly fire with the flesh itself, and restraining the discharges of the body, he refused to go after his concupiscences of the rest. Thus, having tamed the impulse of the flesh, he strengthened the impulse of the spirit, which is made stronger by the weakness of the flesh.
CHAPTER XIV. On the strength of patience.
After these stones follows the strength of patience: which I remember that I numbered the stone in the eighth place. Behold the strongest stone, and the hardest of all. Stephen, the standard-bearer of the heavenly army, holds this stone in his hands, and it has become for him a tower of strength in the face of the enemy. In this stone he withstood the blows of those who pressed him with great strength, and did not fear the hands of those who stoned him, nor the attack of those who gnashed their teeth at him. (Acts 7). O strong and hard stone, but full of sweetness! O most robust breast, but full of piety! Every one you hear wonders how he possessed his soul in his patience, but you ought rather to have wondered how his soul did not lose its sweetness under so much bitterness of persecution. He was oppressed by his enemies, and prayed for his enemies. He supported human cruelty, and he looked up to the divine glory: Beholdsays,I see the heavens open, and Jesus standing at the right hand of the power of God (ibid.). He was oppressed on earth, and comforted from heaven. He was afflicted by the misery inflicted upon him, he was affected by the unexpected mercy, he was congratulated by the unseen glory. Behold, under one, and at the same time, he saw below where he could be pitied, he saw above where he was delighted. Behold how from the same breast flowed piety with delight, delight with piety. Behold how oil flows with honey from the same vessel, the oil of piety with the honey of delight. What, I pray thee, is this unconfined confusion and unconfused permission in this stone of oil and honey? I wonder if you do not wonder how the mighty fighter at one and the same moment sucked honey from the rock and oil from the hardest rock. A wonderful virtue of patience, and who can worthily consider the price of this rock, which drips oil and honey in such abundance? How much, I pray thee, is there found to be an abundance of oil and honey, where mercy does not diminish malice, where sweetness is attenuated by no pain? Yea, pleasure grows in a strange manner from pain, and compassion from passion. Of course, when the martyr was stoned, he had more pity for his enemies than for his members. For he was praying on his knees, saying: Lord, do not set this sin on them, because they do not know what they are doing (ibid.). Behold, as to the position of the knees, oil was poured out, and from the rest, as oil poured out, his name was made. Indeed, the pouring out of the oil was done for the pity of the enemy, so much so that the youth, who was sitting at a distance, was sprinkled with the smell of the perfume. For when he bowed down with his body and bowed his head, the oil began to flow, and it became like ointment on his head, and it came down to the hem of the garment of him who kept the garments. Then rising quickly, he who had sat for a long time in darkness and in the shadow of death began to run in the scent of perfumes, and exulting like a giant to run his way, wherever the impulse of the Spirit was, he marched there, and from the rest became the good smell of Christ everywhere.
CHAPTER XV. On the solicitude of circumspection.
I find the ninth rock with Hezekiah, I find it also with his friends, the bride, and the bridegroom's friend, to whom it is said in the Canticles: Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come, my dove, in the holes of the rock, in the cave of the rock (Cant. II). Thus also Hezekiah, like a bride, choosing rest, seizing privacy, and sitting in the holes of the rock, or even in the cave of the rock, like a swallow's chick, cried thus, meditating like a dove: O who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and rest, if I may be able fly to that place where the sparrow finds a home, and the turtledove's nest where she stores her young! Where, I pray thee, is anything safe to be found, if it is not found in the holes of such a rock, where diligent forethought foresees all dangers before they occur, and anticipating what is to come, gathers the future from the past, and does not doubt about doubtful things Does he often predict events? For what else is surveying, if not a careful and shrewd investigation of the evils that surround us? To this belongs the reconsideration of the evils of the past, the consideration of the present, the premeditation of the future, so that, according to its name, it is truly circumspection. This assiduousness makes a man cautious, and makes him as safe as possible.
CHAPTER XVI. On the persistence of speculation or attentive observation (speculatio).
The tenth stone is called persistence of observation. Jacob turning away from evil, and giving place to anger, while he was setting out in haste, lest his flight should take place in the winter or on the Sabbath, found this stone on his way. and having found it, he laid it on his head, lest he should have no place to lay his head while he fell asleep on the road(Genesis 28). On this stone in peace, he falls asleep and rests on it, and on the journey he finds rest, such as those who are clothed in soft clothes and in the houses of kings cannot find in the rooms and purple beds. Reclining his head therefore, Jacob on this stone, and closing his eyes of concupiscence (which we read open in the first parent), while in this recliner he slumbers in deep peace, while he willingly forgets all external things, his mind awakens to the internals, and sees what he could not see before when he was awake and seeing . A ladder stretched up to heaven is erected before his eyes, and the Lord is seen leaning on the ladder, as if through an invisible form and an invisible figure. into the understanding of intelligible things, the mind of the beholder is lifted up. Happy is he to whom the knowledge of the visible becomes a ladder to the knowledge of the invisible. It is a beautiful spectacle to see the ladders of this ladder placed in a suitable and proportionate manner, and produced by the continuation of orderly distinction up to the top, so that through the manifold difference of creatures, and the degradation of dignity orderly distinct and distinctly ordered, the mind gradually advances itself to the higher, and by degrees of advancement always ascends to the higher, until Let the invisible things of God be seen by the creature of the world, understood by those things which have been made, and the Lord may be seen leaning on the ladder. Who, I pray thee, if he had not seen this while sleeping in this recliner, who would have done this while awake, so that his ascension would he extend the ladder to heaven, and continue the observation of the visible with the observation of the invisible? What is the allusion to an angelic encounter on this path of ascension, so that divine revelation meets human research? And so the angels seem now to ascend, now to descend, and now to the top, now to the bottom, to train the mind in this ladder, so that it may know many things in divine and human things, which it could not by itself, by divine revelation. And indeed the angels could, without the service of the ladder, at the discretion of their desire, either descend to the bottom, or fly to the top, and there would be no need for the divine inspiration to seek the instrument of any corporeal similitude in any of the manifestations of His revelations, unless He willed us first through mirror, and in a riddle, and not immediately see face to face. Angels therefore ascend and descend in this ladder of similitudes, and some after others approach and depart in such a way that while one of the manifold revelations is brought in and another withdrawn, the mind of the beholder is enlightened in many ways, so that what he could not grasp at the same time due to the narrowness of his intelligence, successively and through delays understand the intervals in detail. Behold what they find who sleep on this stone. Happy are those to whom it is turned into a ladder, which to others is usually a downfall. Happy are those to whom the knowledge of externals becomes a ladder of ascent, not a fall of descent. Blessed are those to whom that knowledge which inflates is not for inflation, but for the inflammation of that which edifies. Happy are those to whom temporal beauty becomes the instigation of eternity. It is therefore necessary, as you observe, to rest the head on a stone, and to harden the mind in the desire of this speculation, and to persevere in this study, who wishes to find this ladder of ascent.
CHAPTER XVII. Of the certainty of discretion.
We have said that the certainty of discretion is the eleventh stone, which, if we seek diligently, we quickly find in Paul. For if he trusts so much in the gift of discretion, he presumes so much in the certainty of his counsel, that he may confidently give counsel, where he has not the commandment of the Lord. Of virgins says, I do not have the commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel (I Cor. 7). Hence it is that he presents himself to others as an example of behavior, and he shows his followers the pattern of living his life, when he says: Be imitators of me, as I also of Christ (1 Cor. 40). And it is true that the Lord set his feet upon a rock, and directed his steps. Of this kind, as I think, the way was paved with the stones of those travelers, of whom the Prophet exclaims in astonishment: How beautiful are the feet of those who evangelize peace, who evangelize good things! (Rom. X.)With these stones, let me not be mistaken, that great patriarch Joseph, whom the prince of the peoples appointed master of his house, and prince of all his possessions, that he might educate his princes as himself, and teach his elders prudence. These, I say, are the streets of Egypt with stones it is rightly believed to have spread, so that the children of Israel did not have to serve in the mud and side all the days of their lives. The Prophet still endured the scarcity of these stones, and he labored under a great want of discretion, when he was still fixed in the deep mire, because he had not yet realized the certainty of a rational plan, so much so that he proclaimed to the Lord and said: How long shall I set plans in my soul? (Ps. XVIII.) But he would never have fully emerged from this deep mire, unless he had at last found this rock of which we are speaking.on the rocksays,he exalted me, and now he exalted my head above my enemies (Psal. 26). He who does not pave a stone path for himself of this kind, never treads cleanly, never takes firm steps. Who wants therefore, to proceed firmly and honestly, he must do nothing at all imprudently, and with such a stone as he ought, it is clear that he has paved the way for himself, and he can proceed safely. Do all things, says the Wise, with counsel, and you will never regret it (Eccl. 32).
CHAPTER XVIII. On quiet contemplation.
We can find the twelfth stone, and the last of all, as I think, at the Lord's tomb. It has been said, as has been said above, that the stone is the tranquility of contemplation. Of this kind, that Joseph of Arimathea cut a stone for himself in his tomb, but Jesus rested dead in it, because the rest which prudence seeks for itself by meditation, and describes by definition, wisdom by contemplation he found it, and by experiment he apprehended it. True prudence always seeks, and must always seek that peace which Christ taught, that it may not be troubled or afraid. He always seeks where he can find such peace, he always strives to defend his true security, but he always finds something to grieve over the past, something to attack in the present, something to be wary of and afraid of the future. Therefore, the mind can skillfully seek this peace through prudence, and investigate it precisely through meditation, but it will never be able to find it except through wisdom and the grace of contemplation. But when the mind began to go beyond itself through pure intelligence, and into that brightness of the incorporeal light to enter completely, and to draw from what he sees inwardly a certain taste of inmost sweetness, and from it to build his intelligence, and to turn it into wisdom; meanwhile, in this excess of mind, that peace which neither disturbs nor frightens, is found and obtained, so that it becomes silence in heaven for half an hour, so that the mind of the beholder is disturbed by no tumult of conflicting thoughts: you will find nothing at all, either to ask for through desire, or to accuse through disgust, or to accuse through hatred. He who is buried in this stone, who is completely collected and concluded within the tranquility of contemplation, is composed for the highest peace. For this stone, like that of Jacob, is not placed on the head alone, nor like the latter is placed under the feet, but on the whole it is grasped and applied to the body. This stone, therefore, surrounds the whole body, includes the whole, and grasps it from every side, because that peace which surpasses all sense, thoroughly absorbs all human sense, and turns into a certain divine attitude the purer part of the soul by a successful transfiguration. Here lies the body without sense or motion in this tomb on Sunday; Sensuality does nothing, the imagination does nothing, and all the lower power of the soul is put on its proper duty in the meantime.
For this stone monument (like the stone recumbent of the patriarch Jacob) does not receive a living body, however asleep, nor does it receive a body unless it is mortified. It is one thing to sleep, it is another thing to endure. Another to gather his whole spirit into himself, and it is another thing to rise above oneself and to abandon oneself. It is one thing to have controlled the appetite, and to have cut off the external cares of the heart, and it is another thing to forget oneself. It is necessary, therefore, before it is permitted to enter into that secret of the most intimate repose and the secret of the utmost tranquillity; it is necessary, I say, that it should be very serious and truly wonderful, not the dissolution of soul and body, but something else much more wonderful and much more glorious than this, namely, that of which this is the type, namely, the division of soul and spirit. But this is what the Apostle testifies, that he is the living and efficacious word of God, and more penetrating than any edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit. What, I pray thee, is seen anywhere in this division of creatures more wonderful, where That which is essentially one and an individual is divided into itself, and that which is simple in itself and consists without parts is divided and separated from itself? For in one man there is not another essence of his spirit, and another of his soul, but one and the same simple substance of nature. For in this twin term a twin substance is not meant; but when the twin forces of the same essence are used for distinction, one superior is designated by spirit, the other inferior by soul. In this division, therefore, the soul and that which is animal remains in the bottom; but the spirit and that which is spiritual flies to the top. That which is corpulent and starchy, like a dead body, fails, and falls back upon itself and under himself; that which is subtly and defecated as a breathed-out spirit ascends and transcends within and beyond itself. O deep rest, O sublime rest, where everything that is usually moved by human beings loses all movement, where everyone who is then moved becomes divine and passes into God! This Spirit, breathed out, and not entrusted to the hands of the Father, like that dreamer Jacob, needs a ladder, in order to fly to the third, not to say to the first, heaven. What need, I pray thee, of a ladder, whom the Father flatters between his hands, to rapture to the secrets of the third heaven, so that he may glory and say: Your right hand received me. Did you hold my right hand and lead me in your will, and received me with glory? (Ps. 17.)Therefore the Spirit has no work here he is removed from the middle of the duty of the ladder, and does not need to be supported in that ascent of his subtlety by the outline of any bodily likeness, where he sees face to face, not through a mirror, and in an enigma. I would lie if they do not say of themselves that they are of that kind.But we allthey saywith a revealed face, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image from brightness to brightness, as if by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3). You certainly see what he is doing, and you understand, as I think, what is the value of that division of soul and spirit, of which we have already spoken above. The spirit is divided from the lowest in order to rise to the highest. The spirit is separated from the soul in order to unite with the Lord. For he who clings to the Lord is one spirit. A happy division, and an expected separation, where that The passable, that which is recognized as corruptible, dies in the meantime by its passions, so much so that nothing of passability, nothing of corruption is felt in the meantime; where also that which is spiritual, that which is subtle, is sublimated even to the contemplation of the divine glory, and is transformed into the same image. Therefore the lower part is composed for the utmost peace and tranquillity, while the upper part is sublimated for glory and delight. Thus we recognized the face of Moses (certainly the upper part of the body) glorified by the company of the Lord, so that the children of Israel could not focus on his face because of his brightness. Who, I pray thee, can say with dignity, who is sufficient to explain what perfection the spirit acquires in the glorification of its own excess? although he does not prolong his journey until the third day, even if he does not produce a pause of silence until half an hour; may it go and return in the likeness of flashing lightning? Thus Moses, from the company of the divine conversation, with a glorified countenance also brings back the horns, showing what valor and what courage he has contracted from his company, who gives courage and strength to his people, blessed God. Then at last it returns, and that spirit which had gone far beyond itself, and which it had placed as passable and corruptible, resumes, as it were, impassive and incorruptible, in comparison with its former state, and rises again into newness of life. What do you think of being cheerful at an injury, not blushing at an insult, and rejoicing in trouble? Is this not to walk in the newness of life, and in some way to show oneself unmoved, and to one's passions? not subject? Behold how long those who rest on this stone advance. There are many things that could have been said about this matter, if they had to be said in this place and did not exceed the measure of moderate digression. For I think that this last kind of stone is the most worthy and precious of all. However, we must not reject anything, but at least ask each one about each one, and gather them together.
It must be noted that this is the first work that is commanded to be done in the land of promise, so that an eternal memorial of the divine works may be established first of all. For without this heaping of stones, that Sunday promise of an eternal inheritance will never be firmly acquired, never securely possessed. For those who benefit he forgets the divinely perceived, he does not deserve to be promoted to obtain greater things.
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John Uebersax (20 Jan 2023)