Sermo in rogationibus
391BLegimus in historia Regum quemdam celebrem prophetarum, exiguo superni pastus alimento, multis diebus iter longissimum sine ullo adminiculo cibi terrestris egisse; adeo divini beneficii virtus in corpore humano sequestrata infirmitate praevaluit. Comparatio autem modo haec in sermone non causa est. Sic ergo etiam nobis annuum quoddam iter actionum, casuum, timorum diversitate currentibus, quidam qui nos inter ista confortet Rogationum veluti coelo porrectus sumitur panis: cujus fortitudo atque salubritas non solum inopiam praeteritae sterilitatis suppleat, verum etiam periculum famis ab spiritu nostro non in pane solo, sed in verbo Dei vivente secludat. Quod si quisquam Rogationes nostro saeculo institutas miretur, quas tantis ante temporibus Ecclesiarum multitudo 391Cnescivit, constat hunc posse et muneribus redemptionis, quae mundi aevo jam pene consumpto in saeculorum fine adfuit, derogare. Viderit quis certe quid sentiat, qualitatem medicaminis rideat furibundus, nesciat desperatus, caeterum frequenter expertus. Sed quis est iste sic ad integrum sanus, ut medicinae non egeat, ut nulli aegrotantis animae morbo succumbat, ut non aut cupiditate ardeat, aut avaritia palleat, aut invidia liveat, aut superbia tumeat, aut iracundia caleat, aut obloquio pruriat? Si quis ergo ex his alicujus taedii sibi conscius est qui cuncto 392Btempore poenitentiam debet, non renuat triduum Quod etiam pleno ordine atque digesto prophetia qua lecta est, si gradibus suis replicetur, insinuat, sic a principio sermonis exorsa: Vos, inquit, cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terrae (Amos III, 2). Hic statim se Judaeorum populus, in quamdam rapinam non amore, sed ambitione praecipitat, ut ad divinae familiaritatis notitiam prae omnibus videatur ascitus. Sed desistat hinc opportunitas obstrependi, quia potius sub judicio rationis de proprietate sermonum causarum certa metienda sunt. Vos cognovi, non dixit Inter omnes, sed Ex omnibus cognationibus terrae. Qui sunt autem qui acquiruntur ex omnibus cognationibus terrae, nisi qui ab universitate gentium in unum redacti fiunt ex diversis mundi partibus unus populus, et de 392Cmultis membris sub Christo capite unum corpus? Cui postmodum vocationi agnoscendae atque praedicandae beatissimus Petrus per mentis stuporem defixus vidit linteum quoddam coelo descendere, quod quatuor angulis sinu turgente submissum, omne genus animantium cum volatilibus atque reptilibus continebat, commonitusque ut necessariae refectioni quod vellet ipse mactaret; appetitum quidem talem, cum talis ciborum modus praecipiebatur, per observantiam legalem exhorruit; sed mox ad eum sermo divinus, Quae Deus, inquit, mundavit, tu immunda ne dixeris 393A(Act. X, 15). Atque ille, In veritate, inquit, comperi, quia non est personarum acceptio apud Deum; sed in omni populo et gente qui timet Deum et voluntatem ejus facit, acceptus est illi (Ibid., 34). Tunc ergo qui cogniti sunt ex omnibus cognationibus terrae vides, nempe prophetis atque apostolis, qua unitate conveniat. Hoc est profecto, quod etiam nunc lectio ait: Nunquid ambulabunt duo pariter, nisi convenerit eis (Amos III, 3)? Convenit autem duobus, Christo et Moysi, quia de isto ille scripsit. Convenit legi et gratiae, quia . . . . . . . illa districtius imposuit, ut pretiosius ista laxaret. Convenit veritati et prophetiae, quia ista peperit quod illa concepit. Apud Judaeos ista duo non pariter ambulant, ideo non concordant. Inter ipsa enim duo Testamenta quasdam minutias ponunt. Ad 393Bunum verum Deum nisi uno itinere non itur. Certe si propter quascunque alias causas potest diverso, adverso non potest. Apud nos vero ista duo pariter junguntur atque conveniunt. Est tamen in hoc prophetae verbo etiam quod personaliter accipi queat, si dualitas ipsa quam convenire necesse est, sit primum in homine uno, sit deinde in genere humano. Spiritus enim noster et corpus nostrum ex disparis substantiae qualitate compacta sunt. Quae duo viam hujus saeculi currere nullatenus queunt, nisi inter se custodita divinae ordinationis lege consenserint. Si enim non subjaceat spiritus carnis, sed ad refrenandam concupiscentiam cedat potius menti caro, ducit duos pariter concordia rationis per viam legis ad patriam aeternitatis. Si autem dum per hujus saeculi iter curritur, 393Cspiritu retardante, animam caro praevenerit, et facultatem viae, permissa sibi peccati libertate, praecluserit, deserit ipsa currendi aequalitas, quae homini a Creatore praecipitur, et incipit impedita lege mentis perire, et superexaltare lege corporis, nec jam duo pariter pergunt, ibi unum jacet et aliud premit. Et haec, quod magis dolendum est, non tam ignaris subrepunt, quam dominantur allisis. Docet hoc sermo qui sequitur: Leo, inquit, irrugiit, quis non timebit? Dominus locutus est, quis non prophetabit (Ibid.)? Peccatum longe apparet, quare non fugimus? Scriptura prope clamat, quare non credimus? Quis est leo rugiens, nisi de quo apostolus dicit, quia adversarius vester diabolus tanquam leo rugiens circuit quaerens devorare vos (I Petr. I, 8)? Facit furoris incontinentia, 393Dne tacens discubitet qui rugitum longe praemittit: sed audit rugitum, et non cavet qui praecepti conscientiam secum fert ad exordia peccati, confestimque rabido invaditur morsu, nisi praemisso terretur auditu; quod revera nec absurde conjicimus, nam statim in consequentibus qualitas ipsius morsus ostenditur: Quomodo, inquit, si eruat pastor de ore leonis duo crura ovis, aut extremam partem auriculae (Amos III, 12). Pastor nobis procul dubio ille est bonus qui, relictis nonaginta novem ovibus, unam 394Avagantem non despexit inquirere. Operae pretium autem est diligentius intueri, quod illas nonaginta novem quas iste pastor in montibus reliquit, manifestatus in carne, non deseruit permanens in nativitate. Angelorum enim in coelesti altitudine gloriantium, qui utique jam errare non possunt, evidenter gerunt figuram. Leo enim de quo supra diximus, post illam proprii casus ruinam qua consortium Divinitatis affectans, etiam homine miserior factus est, dum dedignatur esse inferior Creatore, omnis archangelicae potestatis dignitate nudatus est. Sed huic tamen quantulamcunque potestatem coelestium ministrorum, ne solus periret, casui suae dejectionis innexuit. Et his hoc tamen de illo eminentis creaturae vigore nunc superest, ut damnationem futuram jam patientes dum 394Bpraesciunt, cum vivendi meritum perdiderunt, et ipsum saltem moriendi remedium habere non possint. Ab illo itaque, ut dixi, casu quisque in amore conditoris sui et angelicae beatitudinis honore permansit, ulterius seduci non potuit, ac proinde nec periclitari; et factum est in principio de angelis quod de hominibus in fine faciendum est, ut evolutus scilicet salutis et perditionis cursus exacto impletoque numero terminetur. Istas ergo supernae celsitudinis oves reliquit pastor bonus, et venit ad illam unam ovem perditam, in cujus signatione jacebat genus humanum, et illam quae ab isto leone corrosa per se ascendere ad illas nonaginta novem non poterat, suis humeris vexit, quia in suo corpore sublevavit: et quando cum homine carnis assumptae ad superna coelorum rediit, 394Ceamdem utique quae de paradiso erraverat, angelis retulit. Quocirca jam patet qui sit pastor qui liberat duo crura et partem auriculae, et qui sit leo qui reliquum devorat: hoc est, iste Christus, ille diabolus. Omissa vero utcunque consideratione carnali, videamus quae sit minima pars corporis quae devoranti legitur remansisse. Neque enim puto quod ille pastor bonus rem tam dilaceratam et pene consumptam tanto studio vellet eruere, nisi particulae ipsi adhuc aliquid palpitantis vitae inesse cognosceret. Ovis ista, sicut jam prolocuti sumus, quicunque peccator est utique, si de caulis se protegentibus evagatus suopte vitio incursurus bestiam, cum a pastore declinavit. Dum enim ambulat per deserta, hoc est, dum cogitat inania perituraque, occurrit illi diabolus, et cogitationem 394Dejus morsu pestiferae persuasionis invadit. Qui cum jam concupiscentiam captivi hominis in potestate habere coepit, priorem quodammodo ejus partem vorax laniator absorbuit. Et tamen si concupiscentiam et definitionem peccati non sequatur effectus, liberantur quasi duo crura, hoc est, pars posterior quae adhuc comesa non fuerat. Nam etsi quosdam priores suae cogitationis pedes per concupiscentiam in fauce leonis amisit, et residuos quos ad effectum non deduxit operis gressus misericordia pastoris eripuit. 395AAnimadvertendum est tamen quod illius se miscuit corporis portionem extremi auriculae quae videtur superesse liberaverit. Postquam enim dixerat, quomodo si eruat pastor duo crura, addidit et extremam partem auriculae. Auris ergo nostra est obedientia nostra: nam cum precamur et resipiscimus, primam istius auris partem leo devorat, novissimam pastor solvat. Prima pars auriculae est Non concupiscas. Ista jam deglutita est, quia cogitatio concupivit. Sequens pars est, Post concupiscentias tuas non eas. Itaque si malum quod concepimus cogitatione, opere non impleamus, priore parte obedientiae vulnerata, et illa quae extrema est ab ore leonis eruitur. Quomodo? Utique per poenitentiam et correctionem. Quae multipliciter lectio ipsa per totum a Domino 395Brevolvente, quae et qualia passi necdum resipiscamus: Misi in vos indigentiam panum, stuporem dentium; percussi vento urente (Amos IV, 6). Indigentia panis est, ut sciamus quod cum a Domino receditur, non est unde vivatur. Stupor autem dentium unde contrahitur? puto convenire illud quod Salomon quodam loco ait, dum comparationem poneret dicens: Sicut uva acerba dentibus noxia est. Uva autem acerba est praemature occupata promissio et contenta cum differtur temporis plenitudo. Nam ut dulcedinem et suavitatem quae nobis in aeternitate promittitur, in hoc mundo habere velimus, immaturum satis atque acerbum est. Hujus uvae adhuc asperae viridisque non vinum, sed virus intra paradisum Adam in sui nostrique perniciem degustavit; et quia parentes comederant 395Cuvam acerbam, dentes filiorum obstupuerunt. Sed praevidens Ezechiel originale debitum Christo solvente vacandum, sic ait: Vivo ego, dicit Dominus, si erit ultra proverbium illud in Jerusalem: Patres comederunt uvam acerbam; obstupescent dentes filiorum (Ezech. XVIII, 3). Jam tibi non nocet quidquid esset Adam quod concupivit superbe, quod praesumpsit illicite, quod desideravit incaute; tu tibi de tuo esu stuporem dentium metue, tu tactum appetitus ab inutili aviditate restringe. Desideras uvam acerbam, sed sustine maturitatem promissionis. Non tuo saeculo delectatio ista debetur. Si dulcem quaeris, exspecta coelestem; si humanam appetis, patieris immitem. Quae est autem mundi gloria, nisi ipse 395Dquem infra dicit, ventus urens? cujus etiam si lenitas delectat homines, terror tamen percutit amatores: Et quia nec sic redistis ad me, dicit Dominus, nunc ( praeparare in occursum Dei tui Israel (Amos IV, 10). Dicit quidem Paulus apostolus (I Thess. IV, 18) ubi Redemptoris describit adventum, qualiter rapiemur ad nubes obviam Christo in aera; hic tamen puto occursum 396Aistum ad alium pertinere. Nam et hic viventes quasi occurrimus Deo, si praeceptum quod porrigitur amplectamur; et quia paratus est ille ad ignoscendum, occurrat ei correctio ad poenitendum. Sed et quicunque propter amorem aeternae vitae non solum ab illicitis abstinet, verum etiam a licitis se coercet, sponte occurrisse judicandus est. Nam ut exempli gratia unumquodcunque dicamus, adulterio generaliter interdicto, simplex conjugium lege permittitur; cui tamen virginitatis nitor sine comparatione praefertur: unde qui dat nuptum virginem suam bene facit, et qui non dat melius facit (I Cor. VII, 38). Hoc ergo de omni debemus observatione sentire: qui male facit, fugit; qui bene, exspectat; qui melius, occurrit). Jam vero post multas et piissimas admonitiones quae profectui nostro 396Betiam secundum litteram constant, convenienter Rogationes nostras in ipsius lectionis fine describit, dicens: In omnibus plateis et viis sit planctus (Amos V, 16). Viae istae et plateae actus nostros significant, per quos humanam conversationem mortalitate decurrimus. Viae minora delicta, plateae vero latiora peccata sunt, quae ad illam amplam et spatiosam mittunt quae ducit ad perditionem; et multi sunt qui inveniunt eam. Per angustam vero semitam itur ad illum de quo praedixit propheta, quod vocem ejus in platea nemo audivit, cujus utique verbum in peccati libertate non sonuit. Ergo in ista platea quia est noster actus, sit noster et planctus: quem tamen planctum non confusum et tumultuarium esse debere testatur sermo subjectus, Vocabit, inquiens, agricolam 396Cad luctum, et ad planctum eos qui sciunt plangere (Ibid.). Cernis nempe quod istud plangere non omnes sciant, sed illi tantum vocandi sunt qui noverunt. Agricola est, qui isto poenitentiae luctu et compunctionis affectu terram, id est substantiam suam spinis purgat, praeceptis edomat, lacrymis rigat, humilitate fecundat, semine ditat, fruge multiplicat. Enimvero secundum statum calamitatis humanae, nullus est qui plangere nesciat, quippe est ita generatio, ut etiam ille qui non noverit aliud, istud noscat, ut ipsa quoque intrans hunc mundum nova aetas infantium primam vocem fletu erumpens, quasi quodam vaticinio calamitatum careat omni sensu, planctum quem adhuc non habet in scientia, jam tamen afferat in natura, et sine ullo doctrinae adminiculo ipsa inchoatio 396Ddiscriminum pariat magisteria lacrymarum. Quae cum ita sint, quaeramus secundum spiritum quae distantia sit inter eos qui sciunt et illos qui nesciunt flere. Nam prout sunt genera et ordines hominum, istam scientiam flendi habere singuli debent. Alia regi, alia subjecto, alia peccatori, alia justo causa lacrymarum. Quemdam Parthicum regem saecularis 397Ahistoria refert, inspecta post victoriam de eminentiore loco numerosissima sui exercitus multitudine, lacrymasse; qui mox a satrapis, quae in tali beatitudine causa flendi esset interrogatus; istam, inquit, multitudinem lugeo, quae quamlibet victrix, intra non multos annos omnis omnino naturae lege finienda est. Si ad saecularem sapientiam. . . . . . . ecce lacrymas dignas rege mundano, quam libet etiam Christiano principi conveniret post triumphos de morte magis quam de culmine cogitantem non tumere, sed plangere: quid si causa praesente istum religiosi principis fletum testem sciamus, cum David ille virtute magnus, potestate praeditus, pietate praecelsus, inter aurea serta gemmataque diademata, coelestis magis regni coronam instantissimo aestu ferventis 397Bdesiderii suspiraret, Quando veniam, dicens, et apparebo ante faciem Dei mei (Psal. XLI, 3)? Nunquid non lacrymas suas habuit panes die ac nocte, dum dicebant illi per singulos dies: Ubi est Deus tuus? quod ei certe dicebat, non negare compellens persecutor externus, sed videre concupiscens animus suus. Loquebatur enim sibi spiritus coelestibus intentus, Ubi est Deus tuus? Quando veniam et apparebo ante faciem ejus? Si decuerunt igitur regem sanctum lacrymae tales, quid nunc de ipso sanctorum Sancto dicamus, qui quatriduano funeri antequam resuscitandi virtutem ostenderet, flendi impendit infirmitatem? In summo itaque gradu conveniunt tales lacrymae Redemptori. Multum namque illic ipse deflevit. Ibi Adae peccatum; ibi peccati stipendium, mortem; ibi 397CLazarum, hoc est genus humanum; ibi defunctum lapide obtectum, id est duritiam qualitatis; ibi lacrymosos consolatores, id est incredulitatem resurrectionis; ibi quartam diem venisse defuncto: quae quatuor accidunt peccatoribus in animarum funere conclamatis: prima cogitandi malum, definiendi secunda, perpetrandi tertia, quarta in crimine permanendi. 398ADe quarto omnes nos per Lazarum recurrentes, ut resuscitemur, non solum miserendi dulcedo, sed etiam flendi opus est amaritudo. Post haec quia tali magisterio etiam nos docuit plangere, discernamus scientiam imperitiamque lacrymarum. Ecce hodie ad ecclesiam conveniunt multi, si quicunque semetipsum in oratione prosternens coepit quantolibet fletu aliquid quod ad saeculum pertineat orare, aut conversationis mundanae felicitatem, aut inimicorum mortem, aut divitiarum amplificationem, aut vitae hujus longitudinem, aut honorem saecularium dignitatum: nunquid non hujuscemodi lacrymae docent hominem nescire quid plangat, quas inutiles satis imperitasque procul dubio perdidit, quoties sic profudit? Quod non tam miserum, quam si ea 398Bflendo ille sibi petat tribui, quae multi Deum nescientes sine ullis precibus peccando videntur adipisci. Econtra vides alium ingemiscentem et clamantem: Domine, propitius esto mihi peccatori, plangere vitam malam, quaerere bonam, iisdem lacrymis quibus irrigat stratum, lavare delictum, ostendere Deo in gemitibus imbecillitatem carnis, ardorem mentis, horrorem mortis, amorem resurrectionis. Hic plangendi peritus, hic doctissimus flendi est. Non cadit in terram lacryma talis, quia commendata est Deo, cui dicitur: Posuisti lacrymas meas in conspectu tuo (Psal. LV, 7). Postremo quoniam si Rogationes nostrae rite solvuntur, sine planctu nequeunt expediri, scientiam plangendi quam potero brevissime discernam. Maxima peritia est hic impendi fletum, 398Cut sanari possit quem supra diximus dentium stupor, quam illic servari ubi nunquam finiendus est dentium stridor. Nam illis dicitur: Vae qui nunc rident, quia lugebunt flebuntque; istis autem: Beati, qui nunc fletis, quia ridebitis et gaudebitis, et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis.
Sermon on the Rogations
391BWe read in the history of the Kings that a certain famous one of the prophets, on the scant nourishment of a food from above, accomplished for many days a very long journey without any support of earthly food: so far did the power of the divine benefit prevail in a human body, its infirmity set aside. But this comparison is at the moment a matter of the discourse, not its ground. So then for us also, who run a certain yearly journey through a diversity of doings, of chances, of fears, there is taken up a bread of the Rogations, held out as it were from heaven, to strengthen us amid these things: whose sturdiness and wholesomeness may not only supply the want of a past barrenness, but may also shut out the peril of famine from our spirit, which lives not by bread alone but by the word of God. But if anyone wonders at Rogations instituted in our own age, which for so long a time before the multitude of the Churches 391Cdid not know, it is plain that such a man is able to disparage even the gifts of redemption, which came at the end of the ages when the world's span was already nearly spent. Let each surely look to what he thinks: let the raving man laugh at the quality of the medicine, let the despairing man be ignorant of it — but let the man who has often tried it judge otherwise. Yet who is there so entirely sound that he has no need of medicine, that he succumbs to no disease of an ailing soul, that he neither burns with desire, nor grows pale with avarice, nor is livid with envy, nor swells with pride, nor is hot with anger, nor itches with slander? If, therefore, anyone is conscious to himself of any weariness from these things — he who at every 392Bseason owes penitence — let him not refuse a three days' observance. And this too the prophecy which has been read intimates in full and ordered arrangement, if it be unfolded in its several steps, beginning thus from the opening of the discourse: You, he says, have I known out of all the kindreds of the earth (Amos III, 2). Here at once the people of the Jews hurls itself into a kind of plunder, not out of love but out of ambition, that it may seem to have been admitted before all others to the acquaintance of divine intimacy. But let the occasion for clamoring here cease, since rather, under the judgment of reason, what is certain in the matter must be measured by the precise force of the words. You have I known — he did not say Among all, but Out of all the kindreds of the earth. And who are they that are gained out of all the kindreds of the earth, but they who, gathered into one from the whole body of the nations, are made out of the world's diverse parts one people, and out of 392Cmany members under Christ the head one body? For the acknowledging and the preaching of which calling the most blessed Peter afterwards, fixed in a trance of mind, saw a certain linen sheet coming down from heaven, which, let down by its four corners with a swelling fold, held every kind of living thing together with the birds and the creeping things; and he was admonished that he should himself kill what he would for the refreshment he needed. Such an appetite indeed he shuddered at, through the observance of the law, when such a manner of foods was enjoined; but presently the divine word came to him: What God, it says, hath cleansed, call thou not unclean 393A(Act. X, 15). And he answered: In truth, he says, I have found that there is no respect of persons with God; but in every people and nation he that feareth God and doeth his will is acceptable to him (Ibid., 34). Then, therefore, you see with what unity those agree who have been known out of all the kindreds of the earth — namely, the prophets and the apostles. This assuredly is what the reading also now says: Shall two walk together, unless they have agreed (Amos III, 3)? Now there is agreement between two, Christ and Moses, for the latter wrote of the former. There is agreement between the law and grace, for . . . . . . . the one imposed the more strictly, that the other might the more preciously loosen. There is agreement between truth and prophecy, for the one brought forth what the other conceived. Among the Jews these two do not walk together, and therefore they do not accord. For between the two Testaments themselves they set certain petty distinctions. To 393Bthe one true God there is no going save by one road. Certainly, if for whatever other reasons it may be by a different one, by an opposed one it cannot be. But with us these two are joined together and agree. There is, however, in this word of the prophet something also that may be taken personally, if that very duality which must needs agree be first in one man, and then in the human race. For our spirit and our body are compacted out of the quality of an unlike substance. These two can in no way run the way of this world unless, keeping between themselves the law of the divine ordinance, they consent together. For if the spirit be not made subject to the flesh, but rather the flesh yield to the mind for the reining in of concupiscence, the concord of reason leads the two together by the way of the law to the fatherland of eternity. But if, while the journey of this world is being run, 393Cthe flesh, with the spirit lagging, outstrips the soul and blocks the means of the way, sin's liberty having been granted it, then that very evenness of running which is enjoined upon man by the Creator fails, and the law of the mind, being hindered, begins to perish, and the law of the body to exalt itself; and now the two no longer go on together — there the one lies prostrate and the other presses it down. And these things, which is the more to be lamented, do not so much creep up on the unwitting as lord it over the stricken. This the discourse that follows teaches: The lion, it says, hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord hath spoken, who will not prophesy (Ibid.)? Sin appears far off — why do we not flee? Scripture cries out close at hand — why do we not believe? Who is the roaring lion, save he of whom the Apostle says that your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking to devour you (I Petr. I, 8)? The incontinence of his fury brings it about 393Dthat he who sends his roar far ahead does not lie silently in ambush; but he hears the roar and takes no heed who carries with him the awareness of the commandment to the very beginnings of sin, and he is straightway assailed with a raging bite, unless he is frightened by the hearing sent before him. And this indeed we conjecture not absurdly, for at once in what follows the quality of that bite is shown: As, it says, if a shepherd should rescue out of the lion's mouth two legs of a sheep, or the tip of an ear (Amos III, 12). The shepherd is for us beyond doubt that good one who, leaving the ninety-nine sheep, did not disdain to seek the one 394Athat had strayed. But it is worth the labor to look more carefully at this: that those ninety-nine which this shepherd left on the mountains he did not desert when he was made manifest in the flesh, remaining as he did in his birth. For they plainly bear the figure of the angels who glory in the heavenly height, and who assuredly can no longer stray. For the lion of whom we spoke above, after that ruin of his own fall — in which, aspiring to a partnership of the Divinity, he was made even more wretched than man, while he disdained to be lower than his Creator — was stripped of all the dignity of archangelic power. Yet to the fall of his own casting-down he bound whatever small power of the heavenly ministers he could, that he might not perish alone. And this much of that vigor of an eminent creature still remains to them: that, already suffering the damnation to come while 394Bthey foreknow it, having lost the deserving of life, they cannot have even the remedy of dying. And so from that fall, as I have said, whoever remained in the love of his Maker and in the honor of angelic blessedness could not thereafter be led astray, and therefore could not be imperilled; and it came about at the beginning with the angels as it must be done at the end with men, namely, that the course of salvation and of perdition, once unrolled, should be brought to its term when the number is completed and fulfilled. These sheep, then, of the height above the good shepherd left, and came to that one lost sheep, in whose signifying the human race lay; and that sheep, which, gnawed by this lion, could not of itself climb up to those ninety-nine, he bore upon his own shoulders, because he raised it up in his own body; and when with the man of the flesh he had assumed he returned to the heights of heaven, 394Che brought back to the angels that very sheep which had strayed out of paradise. Wherefore it is now plain who the shepherd is who frees the two legs and the part of the ear, and who the lion is who devours the rest: that is, this is Christ, that is the devil. But leaving aside as best we may the carnal consideration, let us see what is that least part of the body which we read remained to the devourer. For I do not think that that good shepherd would have wished with so much zeal to rescue a thing so torn apart and nearly consumed, unless he knew that in that very fragment there was still something of throbbing life. This sheep, as we have already said, is assuredly any sinner whatever, if, having strayed from the folds that shelter him, he is by his own fault to run upon the beast, once he has turned aside from the shepherd. For while he walks through the wilderness — that is, while he ponders empty and perishing things — the devil meets him, and assails his thought 394Dwith the bite of a pestilent persuasion. And when he has now begun to hold in his power the concupiscence of the captive man, the ravenous mangler has in a manner swallowed his forward part. And yet if the deed does not follow upon the concupiscence and the resolve of sin, two legs as it were are set free — that is, the hinder part, which had not yet been eaten. For even if through concupiscence he has lost in the lion's throat certain forward feet of his thinking, yet the shepherd's mercy has snatched away the remaining steps of deed, which he did not carry through to accomplishment. 395AIt is to be noted, however, that he has freed that portion of the body which mingled itself with the tip of the ear, and which is seen to remain over. For after he had said, as if a shepherd should rescue two legs, he added and the tip of an ear. Our ear, then, is our obedience: for when we pray and come to ourselves again, the lion devours the first part of that ear, and the shepherd looses the last. The first part of the ear is Thou shalt not covet. This has already been swallowed down, because the thought has coveted. The next part is, Go not after thy lusts. And so, if we do not fulfill in deed the evil which we have conceived in thought, then, the former part of obedience being wounded, that part also which is last is rescued from the lion's mouth. How? Assuredly through penitence and amendment. And the reading itself unfolds these things in manifold ways throughout, 395Bas the Lord recounts what things and of what sort we have suffered and yet do not come to ourselves again: I sent upon you want of bread, the setting of teeth on edge; I smote you with a burning wind (Amos IV, 6). There is want of bread, that we may know that when one departs from the Lord there is nothing to live by. But whence is the setting of teeth on edge contracted? I think that fits which Solomon says in a certain place, when he set down a comparison, saying: As a sour grape is harmful to the teeth. Now the sour grape is a promise seized before its time, and a fullness of time striven for while it is deferred. For that we should wish to have in this world the sweetness and delight which is promised us in eternity is quite unripe and sour. Of this grape, still harsh and green, Adam within paradise tasted not the wine but the venom, to his own destruction and ours; and because the parents had eaten 395Ca sour grape, the teeth of the sons were set on edge. But Ezekiel, foreseeing that the debt of origin was to be discharged by Christ's paying it, speaks thus: As I live, saith the Lord, that proverb shall be no more in Jerusalem: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge (Ezech. XVIII, 3). Now it does not harm you, whatever Adam was — what he coveted proudly, what he presumed unlawfully, what he desired incautiously; do you fear for yourself the setting of teeth on edge from your own eating; do you restrain the touch of appetite from unprofitable greed. You desire a sour grape, but wait for the ripeness of the promise. That delight is not owed to your own age. If you seek a sweet one, await the heavenly; if you crave a human one, you will suffer a harsh one. But what is the glory of the world, save that very 395Dburning wind which he names below? Whose gentleness, even if it delights men, yet its terror strikes down its lovers: And because not even so did ye return to me, saith the Lord, now ( prepare to meet thy God, O Israel (Amos IV, 10). Paul the Apostle indeed says (I Thess. IV, 18), where he describes the coming of the Redeemer, how we shall be caught up to the clouds to meet Christ in the air; here, however, I think this meeting 396Apertains to another. For here also, while yet living, we as it were go to meet God, if we embrace the precept that is held out to us; and because he is ready to pardon, let amendment go to meet him for repenting. But also whoever, for the love of eternal life, not only abstains from things unlawful but restrains himself even from things lawful, is to be judged to have gone to meet him of his own accord. For, to name any one instance by way of example: adultery being forbidden generally, simple marriage is permitted by the law; yet before it the brightness of virginity is set beyond all comparison, whence he that giveth his virgin in marriage doeth well, and he that giveth her not doeth better (I Cor. VII, 38). This, then, we ought to hold concerning every observance: he who does ill flees; he who does well waits; he who does better goes to meet him). But now, after many and most devout admonitions which stand for our advancement 396Beven according to the letter, he fittingly describes our Rogations at the very end of the reading, saying: In all the streets and ways let there be lamentation (Amos V, 16). These ways and streets signify our doings, through which we run out our human manner of life in mortality. The ways are lesser faults, but the streets are broader sins, which send men into that ample and spacious way that leads to perdition; and many there are who find it. But by the narrow path one goes to him of whom the prophet foretold that no man heard his voice in the street — whose word assuredly did not sound in the license of sin. Therefore, since in this street is our doing, let our lamentation be there also — yet that this lamentation ought not to be confused and tumultuous the following sentence attests, saying, He shall call the husbandman 396Cto mourning, and to lamentation those who know how to lament (Ibid.). You perceive indeed that not all know this lamenting, but only those are to be called who have learned it. The husbandman is he who by that mourning of penitence and that affection of compunction purges his land — that is, his own substance — of thorns, tames it with precepts, waters it with tears, makes it fruitful with humility, enriches it with seed, multiplies it with harvest. For truly, according to the state of human calamity, there is none who does not know how to weep, since our begetting is such that even he who has learned nothing else knows this; so that the new age of infants also, as it enters this world and breaks out its first utterance in weeping, as though by a kind of prophecy of calamities, though it lacks all understanding, yet already brings forth in nature the lamentation which it does not yet have in knowledge, and without any support of teaching the very beginning 396Dof its perils gives birth to a mastery of tears. Since these things are so, let us seek according to the spirit what difference there is between those who know and those who do not know how to weep. For according as the kinds and ranks of men are, individuals ought to have this knowledge of weeping. One cause of tears belongs to a king, another to a subject, another to a sinner, another to the just man. Secular 397Ahistory relates that a certain Parthian king, when after a victory he had surveyed from a higher place the exceedingly numerous multitude of his army, wept; and being presently asked by his satraps what cause for weeping there could be in such felicity, he said: I mourn for this multitude, which, however victorious, must within no many years be brought wholly to its end, every one of it, by the law of nature. If to worldly wisdom . . . . . . . behold tears worthy of a worldly king — how fitting it would be even for a Christian prince, after his triumphs, thinking of death rather than of his high estate, not to swell with pride but to lament. What if, the occasion being at hand, we should know as our witness that weeping of a religious prince, when that David, great in valor, endowed with power, exalted in devotion, amid golden garlands and jewelled diadems, sighed rather for the crown of the heavenly kingdom with the most urgent ardor of burning 397Bdesire, saying, When shall I come and appear before the face of my God (Psal. XLI, 3)? Did he not have his tears for bread day and night, while they said to him every day: Where is thy God? — which surely was said to him not by an outward persecutor compelling him to deny, but by his own soul longing to see. For his spirit, intent upon heavenly things, spoke to him: Where is thy God? When shall I come and appear before his face? If, therefore, such tears became a holy king, what shall we now say of the very Holy One of the holy, who, before he showed his power of raising the four days' dead, spent upon him the weakness of weeping? And so in the highest degree such tears befit the Redeemer. For much did he there bewail. There, Adam's sin; there, the wages of sin, death; there, 397CLazarus, that is, the human race; there, the dead man covered with a stone, that is, hardness of condition; there, the tearful comforters, that is, unbelief in the resurrection; there, that the fourth day had come upon the dead man — which four things befall sinners bewailed in the funeral of their souls: the first, of thinking evil; the second, of resolving on it; the third, of perpetrating it; the fourth, of persisting in the crime. 398AFor all of us who run back from the fourth by way of Lazarus, that we may be raised again, there is need not only of the sweetness of showing mercy but also of the bitterness of weeping. After these things, since by such teaching he taught us also to lament, let us distinguish the knowledge and the unskillfulness of tears. Behold, today many come together to the church; if anyone, prostrating himself in prayer, begins with however much weeping to pray for something that pertains to the world — whether the happiness of a worldly manner of life, or the death of enemies, or the enlargement of riches, or length of this life, or the honor of secular dignities — do not tears of this kind show that the man does not know what he is lamenting, tears quite unprofitable and unskilled, which beyond doubt he has squandered as often as he has poured them out so? And this is not so wretched as if by weeping he should 398Bask that those things be granted him which many who know not God are seen to obtain by sinning, without any prayers at all. On the other hand you see another groaning and crying out: Lord, be merciful to me a sinner — lamenting his evil life, seeking a good one, washing away his offense with the same tears with which he waters his bed, showing to God in his groans the frailty of the flesh, the ardor of the mind, the horror of death, the love of the resurrection. This man is skilled in lamenting; this man is most learned in weeping. Such a tear does not fall to the ground, because it is commended to God, to whom it is said: Thou hast set my tears in thy sight (Psal. LV, 7). Finally, since, if our Rogations are duly discharged, they cannot be accomplished without lamentation, I will distinguish the knowledge of lamenting as briefly as I am able. It is the greatest skill that weeping be spent here, 398Cso that the setting of teeth on edge, of which we spoke above, may be healed, rather than that it be kept for that place where the gnashing of teeth is never to be ended. For to those it is said: Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep; but to these: Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh and rejoice, and no one shall take your joy from you.