This the messengers sent by Moses said to the king of Edom, that is, 'the earthly,' because all earthly things, whether on the right or on the left, are evil. An evil lodging is folly, an evil lodging is intemperance, and therefore the Hebrew passes through these lodgings; he does not turn aside to them, but passes through, that he may reach the left hand of wisdom and the right, and abide in these, where are the riches of simplicity, where is glory, where is length of life; for 'length of life is in her right hand,' as Solomon says, 'but in her left hand riches and glory.' In the right hand is life, in the left is rest. Would that I might rest upon her left hand, that I might not seek pillows! For 'woe to those who sew pillows,' says Ezekiel.
These lodgings the good leader prepares for his Church, and directs her journey along the ways of wisdom. Hence the Wise One praises her ways: 'Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are in peace.' But because wisdom, honesty, brightness are perfect only if they have charity—'for charity is the fullness of the law'—he wills that charity be stirred up and reawakened: stirred up in the Old Testament, reawakened in the New. Charity is God, as we read; charity is Christ. He is stirred up like a lion and a lion's whelp, that he may go up from the seed of Judah; he is reawakened as one sleeping, as one reclining, because not by human, but by his own and the Father's majesty was he raised from the dead. Whence the Scripture says: 'Who shall raise him up?'
For neither an angel nor any alien power could raise him up, since he himself raised up others. Therefore when he says here, 'If you shall stir up or reawaken charity until it shall please,' he speaks of those who are able fittingly to preach his resurrection, so that they may kindle in their hearers the ardour of faith and devotion. Or Christ is stirred up in those who first approach, reawakened in those who, after they have approached, have fallen asleep. Christ sleeps, then, in the negligent, and is stirred up in the saints. The Church therefore has the means by which to advance; she has the dwellings of the lodgings, in which the saints rest, of whom is he who says: 'Set me, O Lord, the law, the way of your judgements.'
Well does he say 'establish,' that it may remain immovable and fixed in his breast, and not be torn from his affection by any tempest of the age, so that he may be a law to himself, having the work of the law written in his heart. 'And I will seek it always,' he says; for it is no small thing that is sought—the grace of paradise, the kingdom of God, the fellowship of the angels, and the dwelling-place of immortality. Therefore it is not sought for one day, nor for two or a few months, but it is sought always and is sought through all things, that many supports of merits may concur; for diá pantós signifies both 'all time' and 'through all things.' When therefore he says 'I will seek,' he says it must be sought without end. But it is not enough to seek, unless you understand what you seek. And therefore he says:
'Give me understanding, and I will search out your law and will keep it in my whole heart.' First it must be sought, then understood, and the whole mystery of the law must be searched out and kept in the heart. But who can keep the law of God unless he has received understanding? And he who understands and searches, by searching is led into the path of the commandments. In which this is to be noted, that the law is righteousness, the commandment is judgement, as we also read in this letter. There is the way of the law, to stand in the ways of the law; there is the way of righteousnesses according to the first verse. There is therefore also the way of testimonies: 'In the way of your testimonies I delighted'; and there is the way of commandments: 'I have run the way of your commandments.' Let us therefore inquire of these ways, that it may be said to us:
'Stand in the ways of the law and inquire of the eternal paths, and see which is the better way, and walk in it.' When therefore we have all walked the ways, we shall come to the end of all ways, who says: 'I am the way.' Christ, then, is the end of the ways; for he is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believes. Hence I dare to say that the end of righteousnesses is Christ, who is righteousness; the end of testimonies is Christ, of whom it was said: 'Be witnesses to me, and I am a witness, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen.' We observe, therefore, how far we must walk, that we may come to Christ—we must walk in the law, because the end of the law is Christ. Without the law, then, one does not come to Christ.
Whence it is manifest that the heretics, who do not accept the law of the Old Testament, even though they say that they hold Christ, nevertheless cannot hold the end, who have not held the beginning. He himself is Jesus, the beginning and the end. It behooves us, therefore, to walk according to the spiritual law, that we may come to the end of the law, the Lord Jesus. It behooves us to follow the testimonies, that we may be able to attain to the great testimony, the Lord Jesus. It behooves us also to walk in the precepts of the Lord, that we may attain to the great precept, of which you read: 'It was said to the men of old, You shall not kill; but I say to you'—that is: 'I speak above every precept.'
And so I would say, not by usurpation but truly, that just as there is a holy of holies, so there is a precept of precepts. But that we may be able to keep these things, let us ask understanding from the Lord. Let us understand what circumcision is. Jesus (Joshua) circumcised with knives of stone and took away the reproach of Egypt from the children of Israel. The rock is Christ; let the Word of God and the sword of his mouth circumcise you, and so you will be free of the reproach of Egypt. Circumcision, therefore, is to be understood not of the body but of the heart. If you understand the law, you will keep it in your heart. The Jew does not keep the law in his heart, but recites the law with his lips and is ignorant of the law. Hence: 'This people,' he says, 'honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'
How can he keep the law who is far from the author of the law? Let us consider what the third verse contains. 'Lead me into the path of your commandments, for I have willed it.' Who says this but he who follows Christ? No other can say this but he who carries out that which is written: 'After the Lord your God you shall walk, and to him you shall cleave,' because he himself leads you. How he leads, hear: 'Unless one take up his cross and follow after me, he is not worthy of me.' Christ therefore goes before, that we may follow; the Word goes before. Christ is the beginning; therefore Wisdom says: 'The Lord created me the beginning of his ways.' We observe that Christ is both the beginning and the end of the ways. I do not fear lest anyone say:
'Do you then assert that Christ was created?' I will answer: I say that he was created in the very sense in which I have read that he was 'made'—that is, 'made of a woman, made under the law'—that is, created in respect of his assumption of the flesh, in respect of his being born of a Virgin. He was created in order to redeem creatures; he was made man in order to free men from everlasting death. He was created in order to show me the eternal ways by which man may return to the kingdom of God. Therefore, since he is the beginning of the ways of God, let us follow this beginning. He first entered upon the way of the New Testament, that he might lay open for us the path of devotion. If we fast, he fasted before us. If for the name of God we endure injuries, he first endured them for our redemption.
He gave his neck to the scourges, his cheeks to the palms of hands; he ascended the cross, that he might teach that death is not to be feared. Finally, as one going before, he says to Peter: 'You, follow me'; and therefore Peter accomplished his course, because he followed Christ. There follows the fourth verse: 'Incline my heart unto your testimonies, and not unto covetousness.' Others have 'unto gain,' and I think it was so altered because a useful thing seems rather to be desired than turned away from. But since most men reckon the profit of money to be their advantage, therefore, if we read 'advantage,' we ought not to take it that the prophet turns away from the advantage of the soul, but from the advantage of money.
For the holy man does not know these gains, but counts all such things loss, that he may gain Christ. And rightly so; for what we suppose to be the gain of money is the loss of the soul, since it is the detriment of virtue. Therefore, according to those who took it thus—that the prophet wishes his heart to be inclined unto the testimonies and not unto covetousness—we too agree with the sense. And would that, following the prayer of the holy man, we might both pray what he prayed and imitate with feeling what we pray! For what does it profit me if I pray that the Lord turn my heart away from covetousness, and I myself by day and by night seek the gains of money? If we pray with our speech, let us also suffer with the mind in sympathy.
Jesus hears our intent, and knowing that these two things—speech and desire—do not agree, he does not hearken to the one who speaks. And therefore he who wished to pray well said: 'I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind.' Thus he hears the one praying the more, if he spurns covetousness. But because we are weak, and often, while wishing to turn our heart away from money or gold or silver, we are caught by the sight, and seeing another's field or building we covet it, the prophet well added, saying: 'Turn away my eyes, that they may not behold vanity; in your way give me life.' For he who is in the way of God does not behold vanities; the perfect way is Christ.
He therefore who is in Christ, how can he behold vanities, since Christ in his flesh has crucified all the vanities of this world? Let us then turn our eyes away from vanities, lest what the eye has seen the mind should covet; for now let us defer the mystical meaning. Would that by this interpretation we might call back those who hasten to the diverse spectacles of the circus games and of the theatre! It is vanity, that which you gaze upon. You behold the pantomime—it is vanity; you behold the wrestlers—it is vanity. For you see them, wrestling, win crowns of green foliage; whereas those are the true wrestlers who strive against the enticements of this age, and the wrestling-school of the limbs does not captivate their eyes.
You behold the running horses—it is vanity, for they run in vain who cannot save the one who mounts them. Finally, let the return-course itself teach you that they run in vain who do not accomplish a straight journey, forgetting the things that are before and reaching after the things that are behind. Christ is before us, before us is his prize, to which he attains who has not run uncertainly nor called back his course, but spurred it on. Direct your eyes to him, turn them away from spectacles, turn them away from all worldly pomp. If anywhere you have recognized popular applause, turn your eyes away from these, bend them, lower them and keep them, that you may lift them to better things. Lift them to heaven; by night behold the necklaces of the stars, the comely orb of the moon, or by day gaze upon the sun.
Gaze upon the sea, look around upon the earth, that every creature, made by the divine work, may feed you. What grace of forms there is even in the beasts, how great beauty in men, how great loveliness in the birds! Behold these things, and you will not see iniquity and contradiction in the city; see these, and death will not enter through the windows of your eyes. If you have looked upon a woman to covet her, death has entered through the window; if you have looked upon the possession of a lesser one or a widow and have coveted to seize it, death has entered through the window; if you have looked upon another's necklaces, gold, silver, and have coveted to extort them, death has entered through the window. Shut therefore this window by which you look upon the beauty of another's wife, lest death be able to enter;
let your eyes not look upon another's wife, lest the tongue speak what is perverse. Shut therefore your own window, lest it lie open to death entering in. But beware also of another's window; for from the window of her own house the harlot enters. From her window she enters; she enters then, when the wantonness of a roving eye tempts someone. Shut out therefore this window by the door of the word, lest you be captured by the harlot's eyes and carried off by her eyelids. But there is not one window only through which death is wont to enter. There is also the window of words, through which the harlot's speeches pass to and fro. And therefore guard yourself from another's wife, lest she assail you with gracious words; for from the window of her own house she enters. Death enters through kisses, and therefore beware, lest she bind you with the snares of her lips.
Death enters if a harlot kisses you; death enters if you too quickly yield to her who speaks. Death enters if you speak; death enters if you speak much—for by much speaking sin is incurred—; death enters even if you do not speak and are afraid to confess Christ—for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation—; death enters also through the caverns of the ears, and therefore the ears are to be hedged with thorns, that you may shut out the enticements of harlot-like speech. These are the moral senses. There are also mystical eyes, which you ought to turn away from vanity; for there is also a vanity of the senses, which the eyes of your soul ought not to see, since those see it whom the Apostle condemns. Wherefore from that same author let us rather learn what vanity is and who those eyes are.
For it is manifest that there are very many who are darkened in heart by the vanity of their own sense and alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, through the blindness of their heart. Yet these the Apostle calls the Gentiles. Let that Gentile, then, be ignorant of what he has not learned, ignorant of what he has not believed: but for you it is not lawful to be ignorant of what you confess. Christ came not in vanity, but in power; he did not puff up the sense of man, but quickened it; he wrought not blindness of heart, but illumination of mind. He kindled your heart, that you might comprehend what is the reason of the heavenly commandments, what is the substance of the soul, what is the grace of the life to come, in what state we shall be hereafter. Lift up therefore your mind, use your natural endowment;
you were made unto the image of God, that you might gaze upon things above and not seek things earthly. Do not bend your neck to be pressed down by the weight of the world; do not gape after gold and silver, lest you offer yourself to be bound by the chains of the age. Therefore the Lord said: 'Do not possess gold and silver,' lest the greedy desire of gold and silver possess us. Do not then insert your neck into the snares of the devil. Covetousness strangles the poor man in this age, but the rich man is forever suffocated by his own snares, whose sense is in vanity, who walks in darkness, who toils in those things which cannot profit him. Vanity is the anxiety of this life:
wherefore not in surfeiting and drunkenness, not in the delights of the body, but in the knowledge of the heavenly precepts ought we to place our delight. He runs in vanity who seems to himself to abound in worldly successes, which pass away like a shadow. Turn away therefore your eyes, that they may not see vanity. But it is not enough that you turn them away—lest perhaps you wish and cannot, the devil set before you the spectacles of vanities and insinuate the incentives of pleasures—; pray that the Lord turn your eyes away. And this is the grace of God and the gift of the Lord, that he turn the eyes of our soul away from the affairs of this world. For all blessedness is from the Lord: 'Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and who has not regarded vanities and false follies.'
He who does not regard these things is blessed; but he who regards them is insane and frenzied. And therefore let each one come to his senses out of the madness of worldly desires, which so disturb the mind and soul that one cannot be master of himself. If you have been placed in a tossing ship, you turn your eyes away from the bilge, lest it stir up vomiting in you; if walking in the city you meet with something of foul odor, you flee far off and turn aside; if anything occur that your eye shudders at, it is closed or turned away. You toss upon the open sea of this world; the bilge of vices flows in;
in this ship of your body the tide of desires is stirred up, and you do not turn away the eyes of your soul, that they may not see the bilge of lusts, that they may not look upon the dung of this world, that the unclean stench may not fill the nostrils of your mind, in which the Holy Spirit is wont to dwell, so that you may be able to say: 'The divine spirit which is in my nostrils.' Let the nostrils of your soul therefore be turned away from the stench of diverse crimes; for there is in them as it were a certain mark of discernment. Whence it is said to the bride:
'Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon that looks toward the face of Damascus,' inasmuch as the ointment of the true Priest, which descended from the head upon the beard—that is, that divine fragrance, the fragrance of spiritual grace, which was from the Father in Christ and in the mystery of the incarnation descended upon the earth, that all things might be filled with the poured-out ointment—stands forth in the lofty power of judgment and fills the nostrils of the soul, that it may discern things sweet-smelling and things foul: the sweet things of the saints, who can say, 'For we are a good fragrance of Christ unto God,' and the foul things of sinners. These are the nostrils like the tower of Lebanon, lofty above the world, and therefore it looks toward the face of Damascus—namely, the Gentile people—smelling its faith, by whose grace it might wipe away the stench of its own offenses.
The face of Damascus, then, is the faith of the Gentiles, overshadowed by no covering, veiled by no garment, naked and free, more intent upon heaven than upon earthly things. This the nostrils of the Church watch and look toward, gathering whatever in it is sweet and of the breathing-forth of fragrance and of grace. And well are her nostrils like the tower of Lebanon, because in the sacrifices is the sweet fragrance of the Church, in which is the sacrifice of good odor: the remission of sins. Take therefore these nostrils, O man, that you may distinguish the flowery from the heavy-smelling, and then the Lord will give you life.
For when he has perceived that which you ask of him—that he turn the eyes of your mind away from vanity—he cooperates with your soul, so that, if it is captivated by some appearance, or by hardness and infirmity is not bent, he may bend it by the yoke of the word and govern it by his reins, that by the will of God it may be led away from vices and may take in the fragrance of eternal life. For life here is not perfect, but this life is in a shadow. Therefore, that the man Christ Jesus might be born of a Virgin, the power of the Most High overshadowed the future mother, because he descended in a shadow, beginning from the shadow to work the salvation of man, and to consummate it by the brightness of the eternal sun. This life, then, is a shadow; hasten to the Sun, that it may defend you from the cold of this shadow and pour out upon you summer's warmth.
And therefore he counsels us to pray that our flight be not in winter or on the sabbath—not signifying a time and a day, but forbidding us to grow cold in merits and to be fasting of good works. Learn now in what manner he turns away from vanity the eyes of him on whom the Lord has mercy. For from those things which follow we can understand this; for he subjoined: 'Establish your word to your servant in your fear.' The prophet says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And what is the beginning of wisdom but to renounce the world, since to be wise about worldly things is folly? Finally, the Apostle says that the wisdom of this world is folly with God. But even the fear of the Lord itself, unless it be according to knowledge, profits nothing—nay, it is most hurtful;
since the Jews have zeal for God, but because they have it not according to knowledge, in that very zeal and fear they incur the greater offense against the Godhead. That they circumcise their little ones, that they keep the sabbath, they have the fear of God; but because they do not know that the law is spiritual, they circumcise the body, not their heart; they dread to kindle fire on the sabbath, whereas the law of sanctification forbids the fire of lusts to be kindled on that day. And what shall I say of these? There are even among us those who have the fear of God, but not according to knowledge, laying down harsher precepts than the human condition can bear.
The fear is in this, that they seem to themselves to take counsel for discipline and to exact the work of virtue; but the ignorance is in this, that they do not sympathize with nature, that they do not weigh what is possible. Let not the fear, then, be irrational. For true wisdom begins from the fear of God, nor is there spiritual wisdom without the fear of God; so neither ought fear to be without wisdom. Holy fear is a certain base of the word.
For just as some image is set upon a base, and then has the greater grace when the statue has been placed upon a base and has received the firmness of standing, so the word of God, or that which is rational of God, is better established in holy fear, more firmly rooted—that is, in the breast of him who fears God—lest the word slip from the heart of the man, lest the birds come and carry it off by the disposition of one careless and dissembling. But even the fear itself is seen to be fitted to advantage and made stable by the word of God, so that it is not a stranger to knowledge, just as a base on which a statue has been received is no stranger to grace. Fear, then, is the place of the word, as in peace is his place; fear is a certain zeal for the word, the word of fear is discipline; for fear full of discipline does not totter to a fall.
And because we have called fear the base of the word, lest anyone suppose that we have put down something foreign to the Scriptures, let him receive what is read concerning the word of God in the Song of Songs: 'His legs are pillars of marble, founded upon bases of gold,' signifying that the pillars of the Church are the apostles, who are founded in the fear of the saints. For just as Peter, James and John and Barnabas were seen to be pillars of the Church—and whoever conquers this age becomes a pillar of God, which he confirms who says, 'I have confirmed her pillars'—so also the base of gold is fear full of discipline, because it is the beginning of wisdom. In the fear, then, of the wise, the apostolic preaching is made firm as a pillar upon a base of gold.
To the word of Christ, then, and to the apostolic discourse the tribunal is the fear of the just man and the golden base full of prudence, while the good image, as it were the likeness of truth, is the discourse of the saints. And see how the fear of the saints is, as it were, a base of gold; read Isaiah, see to how many things he has subjected fear, that he might make fear blameless and good: 'The spirit,' he says, 'of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of strength, the spirit of knowledge and of godliness, the spirit of holy fear.' To how many things he subjected fear, that it might have what it could follow! It is formed through wisdom, instructed through understanding, directed by counsel, strengthened by strength, ruled by knowledge, adorned by godliness. Take away the fear of the Lord;
such is irrational and unwise fear, one of those: 'without were fightings, within were fears,' by which even Paul would have been afflicted, had he not had the Lord to console him. Nor is it idle that is said in Proverbs: 'Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord.' What is 'then'? That is: when you have called upon wisdom and given your voice to prudence, and if you have sought her as money and searched for her as treasures, then shall you understand the fear of the Lord. And therefore, as it were upon a good base, he says: 'Establish your word to your servant in your fear.' Full of discipline is the prayer, by which we are taught in what manner we ought to pray; every word is a teaching of how to entreat. And because he has taught us to pray, he shows what is the effect of that prayer.
'Take away my reproach which I have suspected.' It seems somewhat obscurely said, but the Apostle explained what here seemed obscure, where he says: 'I am conscious of nothing in myself, yet I am not hereby justified.' For he knew himself to be a man, even though he guarded himself as he could, lest after receiving the sacraments of baptism he should sin; and therefore he was not conscious to himself of a fault; but because he was a man, he confessed himself a sinner, knowing that Jesus alone is the true light, who did no sin nor was guile found in his mouth, and that he alone is justified who was truly a stranger to falling. Similarly, then, the prophet too, although he desired to turn away from sin, nevertheless wished that God should be, as it were, the remover of his sin.
He wished the reproach which he suspected to be taken away, either because he had thought it in his heart and not done it, and though it was abolished by penitence, he was nevertheless suspicious lest perhaps his reproach should still remain. And therefore he prays God to take it away, who alone knows what even he who did it can fail to know. Finally, elsewhere the prophet himself said: 'You know my reproach'—although this reproach is Christ's, which is not a true reproach, but the glory of God; for the cross of Christ is to the Jews a scandal, to the Greeks foolishness. To them, then, it is a reproach, to me it is power, through which I repel the adversary, conquer the world; to me it is wisdom, through which I escape the snares of folly. This reproach Moses preferred to the treasures of Egypt:
'esteeming,' he says, 'the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.' If your reproach is glory, Lord Jesus, how great is your glory! By the participation, then, of your glory, what shall we be, who are glorious by your reproach? 'I gave my back to the scourges, my cheeks to the palms of hands, but my face I turned not away from the confusion of spittings.' Behold your reproach, Lord, in which is the salvation of all, in which is the redemption of the world; through which reproach we who were ashamed have begun not to blush, we who were confounded not to be confounded. Finally, it is written: 'Come to him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not blush.' This reproach we are unwilling to have taken away from us—the reproach of the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which our reproaches are taken away.
For just as he was made a curse, that he might blot out our curses; was made man, that he might lift up the infirmities of man; so he was made a reproach, that he might take away the reproaches of all. Not at one time, not once, did he take away reproaches; he takes them away daily. We fall into sin, not one, but many; we are covered with reproach and confusion. We come to baptism: every sin is washed away, and with the sin the reproach. The Lord Jesus took away my reproach by his own reproach, because he was crucified for me, because, whoever of us have been baptized into Christ, we have been baptized into his death. I have nothing that I should ask to be taken away. But after baptism I have fallen into reproach; I ought to do penance, that I may say: 'Take away from me my reproach.'