EPISTOLA PRIMA. AD RANULPHUM DE MAURIACO. Quod charitas nunquam excidit.
Dilecto fratri R. HUGO peccator.
Charitas nunquam excidit (I Cor. XIII). Audieram hoc et sciebam quod verum erat. Nunc autem, frater charissime, experimentum accessit, et scio plane quod charitas nunquam excidit. Peregre profectus eram, et veni ad vos in terram alienam; et quasi aliena non erat, quoniam inveni amicos ibi: sed nescio an prius fecerim, an factus sim. Tamen inveni illic charitatem, et dilexi eam; et non potui fastidire, quia dulcis mihi erat; et implevi sacculum cordis mei, et dolui quod angustus inventus est, et non valuit capere totam: tamen implevi quantum 1011Bpotui. Totum implevi quod habui, sed totum capere non valui quod inveni. Accepi ergo quantum capere potui, et onustus pretio pretioso pondus non sensi, quoniam sublevabat me sarcina mea. Nunc autem longo itinere confecto, adhuc sacculum meum plenum reperio, et non excidit quidquam ex eo, quoniam charitas nunquam excidit. Illic ergo, frater charissime, inter caetera memoria tui primum inventa est, et signavi ex ea litteras istas, cupiens te sanum esse et salvum in Domino. Tu ergo vicem repende dilectionis, et ora pro me. Dominus Jesus Christus tecum sit. Amen.
LETTER ONE. TO RANULF OF MAURIAC. That charity never falls away.
To his beloved brother R., HUGH a sinner.
Charity never falls away (I Cor. XIII). I had heard this, and I knew that it was true. But now, dearest brother, proof has come, and I plainly know that charity never falls away. I had set out abroad, and I came to you into a foreign land; and yet it was not as though foreign, since I found friends there — though I know not whether I made them first, or was myself made. Nevertheless I found charity there, and I loved it; and I could not disdain it, because it was sweet to me; and I filled the little bag of my heart, and grieved that it was found too narrow, and could not hold it all: yet I filled it as much as 1011BI could. I filled the whole of what I had, but I could not hold the whole of what I found. I received, then, as much as I could hold, and, laden with a precious price, I did not feel the weight, because my burden bore me up. But now, the long journey completed, I still find my little bag full, and nothing has fallen out of it, because charity never falls away. There, then, dearest brother, among the rest, the memory of you was found first, and from it I sealed this letter, desiring you to be sound and safe in the Lord. Do you, then, repay the return of love, and pray for me. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
EPISTOLA II. AD EUMDEM. De solutione quatuor quaestionum per Ranulphum de Mauriaco propositarum.
HUGO RANULPHO DE MAURIACO.
Fervor charitatis tuae pondus quaestionum nobis invexit. Postulas primum expositionem tibi fieri in illud opus quod Coena Cypriani dicitur: quod quia nunc prae manibus non erat, convenientem apud te excusationem accepimus.
QUAEST. 1. Deinde quaeris quid sibi velit illa altercatio Michaelis cum diabolo pro corpore Moysi, quae in Epistola apostoli Judae commemoratur. Hic tibi hoc sufficere putamus quod patres nostri qui ante nos verbum Dei ministraverunt, per corpus Moysi populum Judaicum intelligendum putaverunt, cujus et ipse caput exstiterat. Per Michaelem vero divinam 1011Dpotentiam cum diabolo, id est cum adversaria virtute, quasi concertantem pro populo eodem, ut 1012Asalvus fieret; neque alia maledictione adversarii virtutem repulsam, nisi quia Dominus qui elegit Hierusalem, ab his potestatem inimici repulit, quos de populo illo per solam gratiam ad salutem elegit.
QUAEST. 2. Quaeris rursum quos intelligi oporteat libros illos, et utrumne adhuc supersint, quorum in libro Numerorum et Jesu Nave mentio fit, sed et in Malachim et Paralipomenon, cum dicitur: Nonne hoc scriptum est in libro Justorum et libro Bellorum Domini; et item: in libro Gad videntis, et Addo, sive Semeiae, aut Haiae Silonitis. Nos itaque et in hoc sensum doctorum sequentes, librum Justorum et librum Bellorum Domini non alios, sed hos ipsos libros in quibus haec scripta sunt intelligimus, 1012Bmore Scripturarum narrationem suam commendantium, quando ad confirmationem suam, suo quasi alieno testimonio adducto, auctoritas congeminari videtur. Liber autem Gad et Addo et Semeiae et Haiae libros fuisse proprios ab ipsis qui praenominati sunt auctoribus editos, sed per translationis seriem ad nos nequaquam pervenisse. Utrum autem adhuc apud Hebraeos habeantur, incertum, quamvis verisimilius post incensam legem a Chaldaeis hos quoque sublatos e medio nec superesse modo probabilius existimetur. Pro eo autem quod in Malachim et Paralipomenon dicitur: Nonne haec scripta sunt in libro Sermonum sive Verborum dierum regum Juda aut Israel (III Reg. XV), quamvis hic in quaestione tua propositum non sit, si quid supererogavero, tu 1012Ccum redieris, si reddere non placet, ne tamen succenseas: fieri etenim potest ut sint qui et hoc ignorent, quibus si tecum consulitur, displicere non debet. Librum igitur Verborum dierum regum Juda, et item librum Verborum regum Israel, singulos libros intelligendos arbitramur, in quibus gesta regum, scilicet Juda et Israel, non uno aliquo auctore descripta, sed diversis temporibus et diversis auctoribus, prout videlicet ea evenire contingebat, adnotata fuerunt. De quibus ea quae magis digna memoria videbantur, per subsequentes auctores excerpta et stylo elimatiore formata in hos libros, Malachim scilicet et Paralipomenon, compendiosa narratione expressa sunt. Illi ergo sunt libri ad quos 1012Dmittunt Malachim et Paralipomenon, reliqua cognoscere volentes. Hos autem nec per translationem 1013Aad nos venisse, nec apud Hebraeos modo exstare putamus.
QUAEST. 3. Quaeris item quomodo accipiendum sit id quod dicit Salvator: Quod omnis qui reliquerit uxorem, etc., propter me, centuplum accipiet, et vitam aeternam possidebit (Matth. XIX), cum ipse alibi dicat (Matth. V), uxorem, excepta causa fornicationis, recte dimitti non posse, neque a viro discedere debere. Ubi convenienter intelligitur quod id etiam quod homo propter se convenienter facere non potest, aliquando propter Deum recte facere potest. Tunc autem recte propter Deum facit, cum secundum Deum facit. Propter Deum igitur uxorem relinquere, est vel per continentiam propter Deum abstinere ne accipiat; aut cum reatus illius exigit, vel assensus 1013Bpermittit, concupiscentia non teneri ne discedat. Recte igitur relinquit propter Deum, qui relinquere potest secundum Deum. Quandiu autem secundum Deum relinquere non potest, propter Deum relinquere non potest. Cum autem causa Dei exigit, non solum relinqui sed recte etiam odio haberi potest, ut in eo propter Deum odiatur, quod contra Deum non diligitur.
QUAEST. 4. Quaeris etiam quid sibi velit hoc dictum Apostoli in illa Epistola quae scribitur ad Hebraeos: Impossibile est eos qui semel sunt illuminati, gustaverunt etiam donum coeleste et participes sunt facti Spiritus sancti, et prolapsi sunt, renovari rursus ad poenitentiam (Hebr. VI). Quod idcirco gravius auditu est, quia poenitentiae remedium tollere, et peccatoribus 1013Cdesperationem inducere videtur. Propterea non convenit verbum Dei ita interpretari, ut in eo aliquid veritati contrarium sentiamus. Quod igitur dicit, semel illuminatos et coelestis doni participes effectos, post lapsum, ad poenitentiam renovari non posse, vel sic accipimus, quia homo per se quidem peccare potest, sed per se sine adjutorio divinae gratiae corrigi non potest, sicut scriptum est: Spiritus vadens et non rediens (Psal. LXXVII.). Vel sic: quod, post lapsum, homo renovari non potest, ut scilicet hoc sit quod fuisset si non peccasset. Verbi gratia, si virgo est et corrumpitur, poenitere potest, sed iterum virgo esse non potest. Et si poenitende forte facit ut melior sit quam fuit cum cecidit, non tamen facere potest ut talis sit qualis fuisset si non 1013Dpeccasset, et tamen haec bona quae nunc facit fecisset; secundum quod aliquo modo irrecuperabile praeteritae culpae damnum constat, cum praesentibus lucris justitiae hoc semper deesse cernitur, quod in culpa praeterita amissum comprobatur: quod utique si adesset, plus esset. Potest et aliter convenienter intelligi haec impossibilitas. Peccator enim semel morte Christi redemptus, et a peccati vetustate liberatus, si denuo lapsus fuerit, secundum id iterum renovari non potest, quod Christi mortem aliam ad renovationem habere non potest, quamvis eamdem possit [ an poscit?] et eadem denuo renovari possit. Terretur autem probabiliter peccator, ut scilicet quia Christus cujus morte redemptus est, iterum 1014Amori non potest, sic caveat peccatum iterare, sicut impossibile videt mortem Christi iterari pro peccato, sicut scriptum est (Hebr. X), post acceptam veniam voluntarie peccantibus, hostiam pro peccato non relinqui, id est, vel hanc ad excusationem vel aliam ad remissionem. Voluntaria enim peccata intelligenda non sunt, de quibus dicitur: Jam nihil damnationis est his qui sunt in Christo Jesu (Rom. VIII). Nam voluntarie peccantibus etiam in Christo positis haec hostia ad excusationem damnationis non relinquitur, sicut poenitentibus etiam de voluntariis peccatis ad remissionem condonatur. Sic itaque post acceptam gratiam lapsi iterum renovari non possunt et tamen renovari possunt, quia iterari non potest, quo renovantur, ut aliud sit; sed ab his 1014Bqui renovandi sunt denuo recuperari potest, ut eo recuperato amisisse damnabile non sit.
LETTER II. TO THE SAME. On the solution of four questions proposed by Ranulf of Mauriac.
HUGH TO RANULF OF MAURIAC.
The fervor of your charity has brought upon us the weight of your questions. You ask first that an exposition be made for you upon that work which is called the Supper of Cyprian: which, because it was not now at hand, we have received a fitting excuse for with you.
QUESTION 1. Next you ask what that contention of Michael with the devil over the body of Moses means, which is recalled in the Epistle of the apostle Jude. Here we think it enough for you that our fathers, who ministered the word of God before us, held that by the body of Moses the Jewish people is to be understood, of which he himself had been the head. But by Michael, the divine 1011Dpower, contending, as it were, with the devil — that is, with the adversary power — for that same people, that it 1012Amight be made safe; and that the power of the adversary was repelled by no other malediction than that the Lord, who chose Jerusalem, repelled from these the power of the enemy, whom out of that people he chose by grace alone unto salvation.
QUESTION 2. You ask again what those books ought to be understood to be, and whether they yet survive, of which mention is made in the book of Numbers and of Joshua the son of Nun, but also in the books of Kings and of Chronicles, when it is said: Is not this written in the book of the Just and the book of the Wars of the Lord; and likewise: in the book of Gad the seer, and of Addo, or of Semeias, or of Haias the Shilonite. We therefore, following in this too the sense of the doctors, understand the book of the Just and the book of the Wars of the Lord to be no others than these very books in which these things are written, 1012Bafter the manner of the Scriptures commending their own narrative, when, for their own confirmation, a testimony as it were another's being adduced, the authority seems to be doubled. But the book of Gad and of Addo and of Semeias and of Haias were books proper to them, put forth by the very authors above named, but through the course of transmission have by no means come down to us. Whether, however, they are yet held among the Hebrews, is uncertain — although it is more probably reckoned that, after the law was burned by the Chaldeans, these too were taken away from the midst and now do not survive. But as to that which is said in Kings and in Chronicles: Are not these things written in the book of the Sayings, or Words, of the days of the kings of Judah or Israel (III Reg. XV), although this is not set down in your question, if I shall have paid something over and above, do you, 1012Cwhen you shall have returned, if it does not please you to render it, yet be not displeased: for it may be that there are those who are ignorant even of this, whom, if it is consulted with you, it ought not to displease. The book of the Words of the days of the kings of Judah, then, and likewise the book of the Words of the kings of Israel, we judge to be understood as single books, in which the deeds of the kings, namely of Judah and of Israel, were noted down, not by any one author, but at diverse times and by diverse authors, according as it befell those things to come to pass. Of these, the things that seemed more worthy of memory, excerpted by subsequent authors and formed with a more polished style, were set forth in a compendious narrative in these books, namely Kings and Chronicles. Those, therefore, are the books to which 1012DKings and Chronicles send those who wish to know the rest. But these we think have come to us neither through transmission, 1013Anor to exist now among the Hebrews.
QUESTION 3. You ask likewise how that is to be taken which the Savior says: That everyone who shall have left wife, etc., for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life (Matth. XIX), whereas he himself says elsewhere (Matth. V) that a wife, except for the cause of fornication, cannot rightly be put away, nor ought she to depart from her husband. Where it is fittingly understood that even that which a man cannot fittingly do for his own sake, he can sometimes rightly do for God's sake. And then he rightly does it for God's sake, when he does it according to God. To leave a wife for God's sake, then, is either through continence to abstain, for God's sake, from taking one; or, when her guilt requires it, or her consent 1013Bpermits, not to be held by concupiscence, so as not to depart. Rightly, then, does he leave for God's sake who can leave according to God. But so long as he cannot leave according to God, he cannot leave for God's sake. But when God's cause requires, she can not only be left but even rightly held in hatred, so that in her that be hated for God's sake which is not loved against God.
QUESTION 4. You ask also what this saying of the Apostle means, in that Epistle which is written to the Hebrews: It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, have also tasted the heavenly gift and been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have fallen away, to be renewed again unto penitence (Hebr. VI). Which is the graver to hear, because it seems to take away the remedy of penitence, and to bring in upon sinners 1013Cdespair. Therefore it is not fitting so to interpret the word of God that in it we perceive anything contrary to truth. That, then, which he says — that those once enlightened and made partakers of the heavenly gift, after a fall, cannot be renewed unto penitence — we take either thus: that a man of himself indeed can sin, but of himself, without the help of divine grace, cannot be corrected, as it is written: A spirit that goes and returns not (Psal. LXXVII.). Or thus: that, after a fall, a man cannot be renewed so as to be, namely, that which he would have been if he had not sinned. For example, if she is a virgin and is corrupted, she can repent, but she cannot again be a virgin. And if by repenting she perhaps brings it about that she is better than she was when she fell, yet she cannot bring it about that she is such as she would have been if she had not 1013Dsinned, and yet had done these good things which she now does; according to which, in some way, the loss of past fault stands irrecoverable, since with the present gains of righteousness this is always discerned to be lacking, which is proved to have been lost in the past fault: which, assuredly, if it were present, there would be more. This impossibility can also be otherwise fittingly understood. For a sinner, once redeemed by the death of Christ and freed from the oldness of sin, if he shall have fallen anew, cannot again be renewed in this respect: that he cannot have another death of Christ for his renewal — although he can [ an poscit?] the same, and by the same be renewed anew. But the sinner is probably terrified, namely, that because Christ, by whose death he was redeemed, cannot again 1014Adie, so he should beware of repeating sin, even as he sees it impossible for the death of Christ to be repeated for sin, as it is written (Hebr. X), that for those sinning voluntarily after pardon received there remains no sacrifice for sin — that is, either this one for excuse or another for remission. For voluntary sins are not to be understood of those of which it is said: Now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. VIII). For to those sinning voluntarily, even though placed in Christ, this sacrifice is not left for the excuse of condemnation, just as to those repenting, even of voluntary sins, it is granted unto remission. So then, those who have fallen after grace received cannot again be renewed, and yet can be renewed, because that whereby they are renewed cannot be repeated, so as to be another; but by those 1014Bwho are to be renewed it can be recovered anew, so that, it being recovered, to have lost it may not be damnable.
EPISTOLA III. AD JOANNEM HISPALENSEM ARCHIEPISCOPUM. Quod non solum corde tenenda, sed et ore confitenda sit fides Christiana.
JOANNI Hispalensium archiepiscopo, HUGO servus crucis Christi.
Quid, frater charissime, quid dicam tibi? Si coeperimus loqui tibi, forsitan moleste accipies. Vir ille fortis erat et magnus, et omnium contemptor tormentorum, et nemo illi loquebatur verbum, quia videbant dolorem ejus esse vehementem (Job II). Quomodo igitur nos tibi loqui poterimus in tanti doloris vehementia? Si tamen doles quantum tibi dolendum 1014Cest [ al., tu dolendus es]? quid tibi faciemus? Tenebimus conceptum sermonem, quem cor nostrum et anima nostra, non (quomodo in illis) impatientia loquendi, sed vehementia dolendi parturire jam coepit. Ergo tacere poterit charitas, ut non erumpat et clamet in doloribus suis, et in angustia tribulationis suae. Jam enim gladius pervenit usque ad animam, et venit mors fraudulenta carni parcens, ut spiritum exstinguat. Nosti, frater, quid velim? De anima tua causa agitur. Vide quid facias. Christus tibi opponit mortem suam, Christianus redemptionem suam. Quaerit ille emptum, iste redemptum. Ille se pretium pro te incassum dedisse conqueritur; iste pretio redemptum perditum lamentatur. Sed dicis: Ego conscientiam meam novi. Nemo me 1014Dterreat: Christianum non facit lingua, sed conscientia. Ego Christum diligo: sufficit mihi. Non amplius ille quaerit. Quod potissimum meum est, illi dedi. Cor habet, illud possideat. Dicam homini quodlibet. Ipse Dominus novit quod invitus nego. Lingua hoc dicit, non conscientia. Ore quidem nego, sed corde confiteor. Audi, frater. Scriptura dicit: Corde creditur ad justitiam, ore autem confessio fit ad salutem (Rom. XVI). Quomodo ergo salutem habere putas, si confessionem non habes? Christum negas et dicis te Spiritum sanctum habere? Quid est ergo quod ait Apostolus: Nemo in Spiritu Dei loquens, dicit anathema Jesu? (I Cor. XII.) Si dicis anathema Jesu, Spiritum Christi quomodo habes? Si 1015Avero non habes Spiritum Christi, non es Christi. Qui non habet, inquit Scriptura, Spiritum Christi, hic non est ejus (Rom. VIII). Audi iterum: Qui, inquit, me erubuit et meos sermones, hunc Filius hominis erubescet, cum venerit in majestate sua (Luc. IX). Sed dicis bene: Qui pro erubescentia Christum negat, juste damnatur, juste a Christo non cognoscitur. Parum enim est hoc verecundiam Christo anteferre. Ego plus habeo quod in excusatione praetendam. Non enim erubesco, sed timeo. Majus est quod me terret. Ipse novit quia pati non valeo. Parcit ergo infirmitati, condescendit devotioni. Non attendit ad vocem, sed ad charitatem respicit. Nemo carnem suam odio habuit (Ephes. V). Timeo pro carne mea, quam odire non possum. O fallax deceptio! 1015BErgo carnem amabis, et Creatorem blasphemabis? Quid ergo sibi vult quod ait: Qui amat animam suam plus quam me non est me dignus (Luc. XIV). Si animam recte plus amare non potes, carnem potes? Sed dicis: Non plus carnem diligo: plus enim diligo Deum nostrum quam carnem meam. Videamus modo. Quod plus diligis, hoc potius eligis. Dicit Deus tuus: Noli timere eos qui corpus occidunt, animae autem non habent quid faciant (Matth. X). Hoc ergo Deus dicit, hoc caro contradicit; vide modo. Quod plus diligis, hoc potius eligis. O qualis pastor! Quomodo tu animam poneres pro ovibus tuis (Joan. X), qui nec pro anima tua animam tuam ponis? Tu pro anima tua dare non vis carnem tuam, et pro ovibus tuis dares animam tuam? O qualis pastor? 1015CNon sic fecit bonus ille Pastor, qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis, et pro grege suo mori dignatus est. Quid tibi videtur? Si sic ille ut tu mortem timuisset, quae, putas, ovis adhuc a morte liberata fuisset? Putavit ille bonum pastorem eligere ovibus suis, qui, veniente lupo, non effugeret, neque sub trepidationis latebra sese ovium periculo posthabito occultavit. Venit lupus, oves rapere non potuit; pastorem non solum rapuit, sed abstraxit. Mira res! Ovis audet, et pastor trepidat. O qualis pastor! Si talis futurus fuisti, quare curam ovium suscepisti? Si accepisti dignitatem, quare non impendis bonitatem: Bonus pastor animam suam ponit pro ovibus suis (ibid.). Sed dicis: Petrus ore negavit; tamen, quia corde non negavit, respexit illum Dominus, et 1015Dvocatus est nomine suo ad resurrectionis gaudium cum aliis apostolis. Hoc, ut audio, maximum est quod ad excusationem tui praetendis. Respexit ergo Dominus Petrum negantem. Quare? ut faceret confitentem: prius flentem, postea confitentem. Respexit ad compunctionem, vocavit ad confessionem. Si ergo tu respectum Christi habes, ubi sunt lacrymae? Si autem lacrymaris, quare non confiteris? Si sequeris Petrum negantem, cur non imitaris confitentem. Postremo, frater, si Christianus es, ubi est signum regis tui? Ego alienum characterem video in fronte tua. Scis quid futurum sit super illis qui characterem bestiae portant? Servi Dei nostri signati sunt in frontibus suis, et non possunt 1016Aexterminii sententiam evadere, nisi solum ii qui in figura Tau crucis Christi signaculo muniuntur. Crux in pectore, fides in corde; crux in fronte, confessio in ore: utrumque debetur, utrumque exigitur. Totum Christus vindicat sibi. Cor ad fidem sui, os ad confessionem sui. Sed astat tortor, gladius exertus minatur. Audi: Qui amat animam suam, perdet eam; et qui perdiderit animam suam in hoc mundo propter me, in vitam aeternam custodiet eam (Marc. VIII). Qui perdit propter me, recipiet a me. Ego commendatum servabo, ut melius restituam. Nihil trepides. Capillus de capite tuo non peribit (Luc. XXI). Quid sollicitaris de anima, qui de capillo etiam securitatem accepisti? Sed fortassis dices mihi, quod multi hodie intra sinum Ecclesiae 1016Bin fide et confessione Christi vivunt, qui, si sic interrogarentur, nullatenus Christum confiterentur. Ad quod ego tibi voce prophetica respondeo, quod judicia Domini abyssus multa (Psal. XXXV). Non possumus, nos, scrutari profundum judiciorum Dei, et investigabiles vias ejus penetrare. Miserebor, inquit, cui misertus fuero; et misericordiam praestabo, cui misericors fuero (Rom. IX; Exod. XXXIII; Rom. IX). Si ergo in oculis ejus placitum fuerit, ut quibusdam parvulis suis, quos mater Ecclesia aut conceptos portat, aut nutrit editos, parcat, et ad istos graviores tentationum interrogationes venire non permittat, tu quis es qui ei dicas: Cur ita facis (Job IX). Non tuam decet excellentiam, ut te in numero talium existimandum intelligas. Inter magnos 1016Cservos, non quasi parvulus, sed custos et provisor parvulorum locum acceperas. Tibi itaque, quasi magno et forti, et ad primam vel proximam consecutionem idoneo, dixit Jesus: Sequere me (Joan. XI). Te igitur proximum post ipsum locum adeptum, ut eum sequaris, admonuit, quatenus tu postea sequacibus tuis, quibus ad vitam ducatum praebere debueras, fiducialiter dicere posses: Imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi (I Cor. XI). Si ergo Dominus te, tanquam servum magnum et fidelem, ad gloriam suae imitationis vocare voluit, vide quale sit hoc, ut tu ad pusillos ejus qui interim fovendi sunt, non premendi, respiciens, dicas: Domine, hi autem quid? (Joan. XXI.) Dixit hoc ille, quem tu imitari putas, cum tamen per omnia non debeas, non intelligens 1016Ddignitatem vocationis illius, neque recte intuens pietatem dispensationis divinae. Et idcirco justae increpationis sententiam audivit, ut auscultare disceret, non judicare. Sic, inquit, eum volo manere, donec veniam. Quid ad te? Tu me sequere (ibid.). Hoc est ergo, frater, verbum quod intentisssime et diligentissime audire debes, ut Regem tuum sequaris et consequaris. Sequaris ad poenam, consequaris ad gloriam. Si patiendum est pro Christo, excusationem non habes. Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis (Rom. VIII). Si autem et sine passione negas, non solum dico, non excusaris, sed amplius dico quod accusaris. Miser, ubi est anima tua, ut non recogites 1017Aqualis factus sis? qualem gloriam perdidisti, et ad quantam miseriam et confusionem corruisti? Aspice temetipsum, qualis es: ubi est corona tua et gloria? Dereliquisti Regem tuum: unaquaeque gens deos suos sequitur: Et certe ipsi non sunt dii (Jer. II). Tu Dominum et Deum tuum reliquisti, et factus es vilis, opprobrium pessimorum. O qualis pastor 1018AChristianorum! Quomodo tu pasces oves Christi, qui te ipsum perdidisti? Lupo futuro oves pascendae datae sunt. O qualis pastor! Erubesce, miser, et confundere! Christianorum oculi in te sunt. De longe videris. Non potes latere. Error tuus te notum fecit. Non potes evadere confusionem, nisi ostendas confessionem.
LETTER III. TO JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SEVILLE. That the Christian faith is to be held not only in the heart, but also confessed with the mouth.
To JOHN, archbishop of Seville, HUGH the servant of the cross of Christ.
What, dearest brother, what shall I say to you? If we begin to speak to you, perhaps you will take it ill. That man was strong and great, and a despiser of all torments, and no one spoke a word to him, because they saw that his grief was very great (Job II). How, then, shall we be able to speak to you in the vehemence of so great a grief? If yet you grieve as much as you ought 1014Cto grieve [ al., tu dolendus es]? what shall we do for you? Shall we hold back the conceived speech which our heart and our soul — not (as in those men) from impatience of speaking, but from vehemence of grieving — has now begun to bring forth? Shall charity, then, be able to keep silent, so as not to burst forth and cry out in its griefs, and in the anguish of its tribulation? For now the sword has reached even to the soul, and fraudulent death has come, sparing the flesh, that it may extinguish the spirit. You know, brother, what I wish? The cause of your soul is at issue. See what you do. Christ sets against you his death, the Christian his redemption. He seeks the purchased, this one the redeemed. He complains that he gave himself as a price for you in vain; this one laments the redeemed lost. But you say: I know my own conscience. Let no one 1014Dterrify me: it is not the tongue that makes the Christian, but the conscience. I love Christ: it suffices me. He seeks nothing more. What is chiefly mine, I have given to him. He has the heart; let him possess it. I will say to man whatever he pleases. The Lord himself knows that I deny unwillingly. The tongue says this, not the conscience. With the mouth indeed I deny, but with the heart I confess. Hear, brother. Scripture says: With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. XVI). How, then, do you think to have salvation, if you do not have confession? Do you deny Christ and say that you have the Holy Spirit? What, then, is it that the Apostle says: No one speaking in the Spirit of God says anathema to Jesus? (I Cor. XII.) If you say anathema to Jesus, how do you have the Spirit of Christ? But if 1015Ayou do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are not Christ's. He who has not, says Scripture, the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Rom. VIII). Hear again: He who, he says, has been ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty (Luc. IX). But you say well: He who denies Christ out of shame is justly damned, is justly not acknowledged by Christ. For it is a small thing this — to prefer bashfulness to Christ. I have more that I may put forward in excuse. For I am not ashamed, but afraid. Greater is that which terrifies me. He himself knows that I am not able to suffer. He spares, then, my weakness, he condescends to my devotion. He attends not to the voice, but looks to the charity. No one ever hated his own flesh (Ephes. V). I fear for my flesh, which I cannot hate. O deceitful deception! 1015BWill you, then, love the flesh, and blaspheme the Creator? What, then, does that mean which he says: He who loves his soul more than me is not worthy of me (Luc. XIV). If you cannot rightly love the soul more, can you the flesh? But you say: I do not love the flesh more: for I love our God more than my flesh. Let us now see. What you love more, this you rather choose. Your God says: Fear not those who kill the body, but have nothing they can do to the soul (Matth. X). This, then, God says; this the flesh gainsays; see now. What you love more, this you rather choose. O what a shepherd! How would you lay down your life for your sheep (Joan. X), you who do not lay down your life even for your own soul? You are unwilling to give your flesh for your soul, and would you give your life for your sheep? O what a shepherd! 1015CNot so did that Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, and deigned to die for his flock. What does it seem to you? If he had feared death as you do, what sheep, do you think, would yet have been freed from death? He thought to choose a good shepherd for his sheep, one who, when the wolf came, would not flee, nor, hiding in a covert of trembling, conceal himself, setting aside the peril of the sheep. The wolf came, he could not seize the sheep; the shepherd he not only seized, but dragged away. A wondrous thing! The sheep dares, and the shepherd trembles. O what a shepherd! If you were to be such, why did you take up the care of the sheep? If you received the dignity, why do you not expend the goodness: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (ibid.). But you say: Peter denied with his mouth; yet, because he did not deny with his heart, the Lord looked upon him, and 1015Dhe was called by his own name to the joy of the resurrection with the other apostles. This, as I hear, is the greatest thing that you put forward in your excuse. The Lord, then, looked upon Peter denying. Why? that he might make him confessing: first weeping, afterward confessing. He looked to compunction, he called to confession. If, then, you have the regard of Christ, where are the tears? But if you weep, why do you not confess? If you follow Peter denying, why do you not imitate him confessing? Lastly, brother, if you are a Christian, where is the sign of your King? I see an alien mark upon your forehead. Do you know what shall be over those who bear the mark of the beast? The servants of our God are sealed in their foreheads, and none can 1016Aescape the sentence of extermination, save only those who in the figure of the Tau are fortified with the seal of the cross of Christ. The cross on the breast, faith in the heart; the cross on the forehead, confession in the mouth: both are owed, both are required. Christ claims the whole for himself. The heart for faith in him, the mouth for confession of him. But the tormentor stands by, the drawn sword threatens. Hear: He who loves his soul shall lose it; and he who shall have lost his soul in this world for my sake shall keep it unto life eternal (Marc. VIII). He who loses for my sake shall receive from me. I will keep what is entrusted, that I may the better restore it. Do not tremble at all. A hair of your head shall not perish (Luc. XXI). Why are you anxious for the soul, you who have received security even for a hair? But perhaps you will say to me that many today within the bosom of the Church 1016Blive in the faith and confession of Christ who, if they were so interrogated, would in no way confess Christ. To which I answer you with the prophetic voice, that the judgments of the Lord are a great deep (Psal. XXXV). We cannot search out the depth of the judgments of God, and penetrate his unsearchable ways. I will have mercy, he says, on whom I have had mercy; and I will show mercy to whom I shall be merciful (Rom. IX; Exod. XXXIII; Rom. IX). If, then, it shall be pleasing in his eyes to spare certain of his little ones, whom mother Church either bears conceived or nurses when brought forth, and not to permit these graver interrogations of temptations to come upon them, who are you to say to him: Why do you do so (Job IX). It does not befit your excellence to reckon yourself to be counted in the number of such. Among the great 1016Cservants you had received your place, not as a little one, but as guardian and provider of the little ones. To you, therefore, as to one great and strong, and fit for the first or nearest attainment, Jesus said: Follow me (Joan. XI). You, then, having obtained the place next after himself, he admonished to follow him, so that you afterward might be able to say confidently to your followers, to whom you ought to have furnished a leading unto life: Be imitators of me, as I also of Christ (I Cor. XI). If, then, the Lord willed to call you, as a great and faithful servant, to the glory of his imitation, see what kind of thing this is, that you, looking to his little ones who meanwhile are to be cherished, not pressed down, should say: Lord, but what of these? (Joan. XXI.) This he said whom you think to imitate — though nevertheless you ought not in all things — not understanding 1016Dthe dignity of that calling, nor rightly regarding the mercy of the divine dispensation. And therefore he heard the sentence of just rebuke, that he might learn to hearken, not to judge. So, he says, I will that he remain, until I come. What is that to you? Do you follow me (ibid.). This, then, brother, is the word which you ought most intently and most diligently to hear, that you may follow your King and attain him. Follow to the penalty, attain to the glory. If it must be suffered for Christ, you have no excuse. The sufferings of this time are not worthy of the future glory that shall be revealed in us (Rom. VIII). But if even without suffering you deny, I not only say that you are not excused, but I say further that you are accused. Wretch, where is your soul, that you do not consider 1017Awhat you have become? what glory you have lost, and into what misery and confusion you have fallen? Look upon yourself, what you are: where is your crown and glory? You have forsaken your King: every nation follows its own gods: And surely these are not gods (Jer. II). You have forsaken your Lord and your God, and have become base, the reproach of the worst men. O what a shepherd 1018Aof Christians! How will you feed the sheep of Christ, you who have destroyed your very self? The sheep to be fed have been given to a wolf-to-be. O what a shepherd! Blush, wretch, and be confounded! The eyes of Christians are upon you. From afar you are seen. You cannot lie hidden. Your error has made you known. You cannot escape confusion, unless you show forth confession.