ORDOCAPITVLORVMDEDIVINISSCRIPTVRISn. CXLIIII. I. Deunodeo. II. Dedistinctionepersonarumpatrisetfiliietspiritussancti. III. Despiritusancto. IIII. Dedilectionedomini. V. Deconuersioneetcontemptusaeculi. VI. Detimoredomini. VII. Debonopacisetcaritatis. VIII. Quodubiquesitdominus. VIIII. Quodnoueritdominusoccultacordis. X. Iusteiudicandum. XI. Benefaciendumpauperietnonpignerandum. XII. Benefaciendamuiduae, orfanoetaduenae. XIII. Nonretinendammercedemmercennarii. XlIII . Nonlaedenduminfirmum. XV. Nonambulandumindolouelhypocrisi. XVI. Nonreddendummalumpromalo. XVII. Remittendumfratriquodinfratremdeliquerit. XVIII.
THE ORDER OF THE CHAPTERS CONCERNING THE DIVINE SCRIPTURES, namely 144. I. Of the one God. II. Of the distinction of the persons of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. III. Of the Holy Spirit. IV. Of the love of the Lord. V. Of conversion and contempt of the world. VI. Of the fear of the Lord. VII. Of the good of peace and charity. VIII. That the Lord is everywhere. IX. That the Lord knoweth the hidden things of the heart. X. That one must judge justly. XI. That one must do good to the poor and not take a pledge. XII. That one must do good to the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. XIII. That the wage of the hireling must not be withheld. XIV. That the weak must not be injured. XV. That one must not walk in guile or hypocrisy. XVI. That evil must not be rendered for evil. XVII. That one must forgive a brother what he hath transgressed against his brother. XVIII.
Of guarding against the seduction of the wicked. XIX. Of honouring priests or ministers. XX. Of honouring parents. XXI. Of the proud son. XXII. That treasures profit not the wicked. XXIII. Of penitence. XXIV. Of almsgiving. XXV. That one must always pray. XXVI. Of the wrath of God and the judgment to come. XXVII. Of the resurrection. XXVIII. Of the tribulations and proving of the righteous. XXIX. That the Lord abideth not in those who have deviated from his precepts. XXX. That the servant of God must not be overcome by the detraction of the wicked. XXXI. That one must not detract. XXXII. Of correction. XXXIII. Of transgressors. XXXIV. Of pride. XXXV. Of meekness. XXXVI. Of patience. XXXVII. Of humility. XXXVIII. Of the wise man. XXXIX.
Of the conduct of the young. XL. That one must not perjure. XLI. That one must not swear. XLII. That one must not bear false witness. XLIII. That one must not lie. XLIV. Of the prohibition of idolatry. XLV. That one must not commit fornication. XLVI. Of the negligence of priests. XLVII. Of the sanctification of priests. XLVIII. Of the sanctification of the people. XLIX. Of contention to be avoided. L. Of false prophets and heretics to be avoided, or of the contentions of the law. LI. Of the restraint of the mouth. LII. That drunkenness must be shunned. LIII. That the malice of a woman must be avoided. LIV. That thunders, rains, lightnings, hails, frosts, snows, winds, thunderbolts, and clouds are from the Lord. LV. That one must not use divination or soothsaying. LVI. Of the making of the world, and that all things were made by God out of nothing.
LVII. That darkness was created by God. LVIII. Of accidental homicide. LIX. That tithes and firstfruits of crops or of all things ought to be given to the church by the precept of the law. LX. That little ones must be corrected earnestly. LXI. That one must cleave to the conversation and discourse of the saints. LXII. That usury must not be taken. LXIII. That a merchant cannot be free from lying. LXIV. That double weights must not be kept. LXV. That vows must be paid to God at once. LXVI. That one must not laugh unbecomingly. LXVII. That the testimony of one witness must not be received. LXVIII. That a man's garments must not be put on by a woman, nor a woman's by a man. LXIX. That the sin of parents must not be imputed to children, nor of children to parents. LXX. That children must be nurtured by parents in the fear of the Lord and not provoked to wrath.
LXXI. That one must first sow righteousness and afterward reap its fruits. LXXII. That tears must be shed over the dead. LXXIII. That no one is without sin. LXXIV. That one must not steal. LXXV. That one must not glory in the wisdom of the world. LXXVI. That honours must not be sought after. LXXVII. That he who despiseth a man of God despiseth the Lord. LXXVIII. Of obedience. LXXIX. That the fainthearted must not be scandalized. LXXX. Of the praise of virgins. LXXXI. Of concord in marriage and the apparel of women. LXXXII. Of the sanctity and work of widows. LXXXIII. That by the apostolic example one must labour with one's hands. LXXXIV. That one ought not to search into things too high. LXXXV. Of fasting. LXXXVI. That a man, after the example of the ant or the bee, ought to work without sloth. LXXXVII.
That the commandments of God must be preached without fear of men. LXXXVIII. Of the fool. LXXXIX. That anger must be laid aside. XC. That a man made by God is said to be of that kind or nature whose work he hath imitated. XCI. That one must answer a word wisely to him who asks. XCII. Of the faithful servant and the admonition of masters. XCIII. Of the admonition of servants. XCIV. That one must obey kings and the powers of the world in that which is just. XCV. That the light of our way in the fear of the Lord is the law of God. XCVI. Of the death of the righteous. XCVII. Of the death of the wicked. XCVIII. Of avarice. XCIX. Of spiritual sacrifice. C. That each one is judged by his own work. CI. That the Lord hath left man in his own choice and willeth not that any should perish. CII.
Of sorrow for sin. CIII. That in baptism all sins are forgiven, and that one must walk in newness of life. CIV. Of the substance of God. CV. That spiritual arms must be taken up against spiritual wickedness. CVI. That one must first do and so teach. CVII. That one must not put hope in man. CVIII. That the mourning must be consoled and the sick visited. CIX. That one must not call evil good nor good evil. CX. That one must abstain from delights. CXI. That those placed in tribulations must be rescued. CXII. That a man, a people, or nations are called a vineyard. CXIII. That holy men are called by the likeness of clouds. CXIV. That men bear the image of trees. CXV. That one must not murmur. CXVI. That men are named in the likeness of stars. CXVII.
That wicked men are called dogs. CXVIII. That a man himself is called a house or a temple. CXIX. That a man ought to be girt with spiritual loins. CXX. That men are called mountains or fields. CXXI. That unclean spirits and vices are named mountains, hills, beasts, birds, rocks, nations, stones, and thorns. CXXII. That not every saint is equal to God. CXXIII. That we are fortified by the guard of angels. CXXIV. That a man is named a wall. CXXV. That holy men are satisfied with spiritual food or drink. CXXVI. That water and fire are named peoples or vices. CXXVII. That he who is called to the faith ought not to turn back. CXXVIII. That the devil was made an angel by God and was afterward changed by transgression. CXXIX.
Of the likeness of the flesh. CXXX. That peoples are called waters. CXXXI. Of the fountains of the Lord. CXXXII. That there are waters above the heaven. CXXXIII. Of drunkenness and the cup of wrath. CXXXIV. That the Lord God hath this name. CXXXV. That a man of God is called the land of delights. CXXXVI. Of foxes. CXXXVII. Of hospitality. CXXXVIII. That men are named a harvest or crops. CXXXIX. That a wife must not be dismissed except for cause of adultery. CXL. Of the tabernacle. CXLI. Of the washing of feet. CXLII. That all things must be done to the glory or in the name of God. CXLIII. Of the holy life of Samuel and Paul the apostle. CXLIV. That the Lord is the fountain of life. I. OF THE ONE GOD. In Deuteronomy: Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God.
And you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole strength. Likewise there: The Lord alone led them, and there was no strange god among them. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: None is good but the one God. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and how untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, that it should be repaid to him? For of him, and through him, and unto him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Likewise to the Corinthians: We know that an idol is nothing, and that there is no God but one. Likewise to the Galatians: What then is the Law?
It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made, being ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not of one, but God is one. Likewise to Timothy: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a redemption for all. II. ON THE DISTINCTION OF THE PERSONS OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. In Genesis: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide the water from the water. And it was so done. And God made the firmament. Likewise there: And God said, Let us make man to our image and likeness. And God made man; to the image of God he made him. Likewise there:
Whoever sheds the blood of man, for that man's blood shall his own life be shed, because to the image of God I made man. Likewise there: And the angel of the Lord said to her: Hagar, handmaid of Sarah, whence do you come, and whither do you go? And she said: I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarah. But the angel of the Lord said to her: Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said to her: Multiplying I will multiply your seed, and it shall not be numbered for its multitude, because the Lord has heard your humiliation. And she called the name of the God who spoke to her: You are the God who has looked upon me. Likewise there: And when the sun had risen over the earth, and Lot had entered into Zoar, the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from heaven, from the Lord.
Likewise there: And the angel of the Lord said to me in a dream, Jacob; and I said, What is it? And he said, I have seen how great things Laban has done to you: I am the God who appeared to you in the place where you anointed a stone to me, and made a vow to me there. Likewise there: And the angel of the Lord called Abraham from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. And he said to him, Lay not your hand upon the boy, nor do anything to him: for now I know that you fear the Lord, and have not spared your most beloved son for my sake. Likewise there: And an angel wrestled with Jacob until morning. And he saw that he could not prevail: behold, a man wrestled with Jacob against him:
And he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob's thigh was strained as he wrestled with him. And he said to him: Let me go, for the dawn is rising. And Jacob said: I will not let you go unless you bless me. But he said to him: What is your name? And he said: Jacob. But he said to him: Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name: for you have prevailed with God, and with men you shall be made mighty. Jacob asked him and said: Tell me your name. And he said: Why do you ask my name? And it is wonderful. And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place the Vision of God: for I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved. Likewise there: And God said to Jacob:
Arise and go up to the place Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother. Likewise in Numbers: There shall be no toil in Jacob, nor shall sorrow be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the glorious sovereignty of a king is with him. Likewise in the book of Judges: And it came to pass, while Gideon was yet in Ophrah of his father — (chapter: There shall be no toil in Jacob, down to: the glorious sovereignty is with him. In Judges chapter 9: And it came to pass while Gideon was yet, down to: on the summit of Maoch. In Numbers chapter 9: There is no idol in Jacob, down to: the victory of the king is in him. In Judges chapter 4:)
And while Gideon was yet in Ephrah — the Lord spoke to him in that night, saying: Take two bullocks, one your father's fatted one and another of seven years, and go and overthrow the altar of Baal which your father built, and cut down the grove that is upon it, and you shall build an altar to the Lord your God who appeared to you on the summit of Maoch, in due order. Likewise there: And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord: What is your name, that when your word comes to pass we may honour you? And the angel of the Lord said to him: Why do you ask my name? And it is wonderful. Likewise in Psalm 32: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Likewise there:
For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. Likewise in Psalm 44: Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of your kingdom is a right sceptre. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. Likewise in Psalm 109: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. Likewise in the Proverbs of Solomon: The Lord created me in the beginning of his ways for his works, and before the ages he founded me: in the beginning, before he made the earth, and before he established the depths, before the fountains of waters came forth, before the mountains were set, before all hills he begot me.
The Lord made the regions and the deserts and the peaks that are inhabited under heaven. When he prepared the heaven, I was with him. And when he set apart his own seat: when he made strong the clouds on high, and set firm the fountains under heaven, and when he laid the firmest foundations of the earth, I was with him, ordering all things. Likewise there: Who holds the ends of the earth? What is his name? Or what is the name of his sons? Likewise in the book of Wisdom: For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of the majesty of God, and the image of his goodness: and being but one, she can do all things; and remaining in herself she makes all things new. Likewise there: O God of our fathers, and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your word, and by your wisdom appointed man.
Likewise there: And wisdom was with you, who knows your works, who was present when you made the world. Likewise there: She kept him who was first formed, the father of the world, when he was created alone, and brought him forth out of the clay of the earth, and gave him power to hold all things together. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures: I made in the heavens that an unfailing light should rise. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Come near to me and hear these things: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, nor in a dark place of the earth. When it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord has sent me and his Spirit. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: But I will have mercy on the sons of Judah, and will save them in the Lord their God.
Likewise in the book of the prophet Zechariah: Flee to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord almighty: After glory he has sent me against the nations which have plundered you; for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye. Behold, I will lay my hand upon them, and they shall be a prey to those who serve them; and they shall know that the Lord almighty has sent me. Likewise there: And the Lord said to the devil: May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Likewise there: And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in his name they shall glory, says the Lord. Likewise in the prophet Malachi: And suddenly the Lord whom you seek shall come into his temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire.
Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Simon Peter answering said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Likewise there: Behold, from the cloud a voice was heard saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear him. Likewise there: What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us? Likewise there: All things have been delivered to me by my Father. And no one knows the Son but the Father: neither does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him. Likewise there: Go now, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Likewise according to John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. (Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. According to John, chapter 1: In the beginning was the Word. Likewise chapter:) Likewise there: For God so loved this world, that he gave his only Son for it, that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into this world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. For he who believes in him is not judged: but he who does not believe in him is already judged; because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. Likewise there: If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.
But if I do them, even though you will not believe me, believe the works, that I am in the Father and the Father in me. For I and the Father are one. Likewise there: My Father works until now, and I work. On this account the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. Likewise there: For neither does the Father judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. Likewise there: Thomas said to him: Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? Jesus said to him:
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. If you had known me, you would also have known my Father: and from now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him: Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father also. How do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words which I speak to you I do not speak of myself, but the Father who remains in me, he himself speaks; and the works which I do, he himself does. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me: or else, believe for the sake of the works themselves. Likewise according to John:
If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Likewise according to John: Now this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you upon the earth; I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now glorify me, Father, with that glory which I had with you before the world was. Likewise there: Thomas answered and said: My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him: Because you have seen, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed! Likewise there: But these things are written, that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Likewise according to Luke, the angel to Mary: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born of you shall be called the Son of God. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: But Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. Likewise there: And the eunuch answering said: I believe the Son of God to be Christ Jesus. Likewise there: And Paul, having entered at once into the synagogue of the Jews, preached to them with confidence the Lord Jesus, saying that this is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Likewise there:
For he sent his word to the sons of Israel, announcing peace through Jesus Christ: he is Lord of all. Likewise there: To whom Paul preached, saying: This is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, by whom the whole world shall be judged. Likewise to the Romans: If God is for us, who is against us? If God did not spare his own Son, but delivered him for us all, how has he not also with him given us all things? Likewise there: Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Likewise to the Corinthians:
But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Likewise there: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which is hidden, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty. Likewise there: Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says anathema to Jesus. And no one can say the Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord:
And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same Lord who works all in all. Likewise there: Concerning the meats of things sacrificed, we know that an idol is nothing, and that there is no God but one. For though there be those that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, yet to us there is one God the Father, of whom are all things and we in him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him. Likewise to the Corinthians, Second Epistle: Grace to you, and mercy, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise there: Blessed be the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory. Likewise there:
Now it is Christ the Lord who confirms us with you, and it is God who has anointed us, and who has sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. Likewise there: But if our gospel is also veiled, it is veiled to those who perish, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, should not shine upon them. Likewise there: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Likewise to the Galatians: When the fullness of times came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law. Likewise there:
And because you are sons of God, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father. Likewise to the Philippians: Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.
Have this mind in you, down to: that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father. Likewise to the Ephesians: One God, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all of us. Likewise to the Colossians: Giving thanks to God the Father, who has called us into a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his glory, in whom we have redemption, the remission of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things were created. Likewise to Timothy, First Epistle: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
who gave himself a redemption for all. Likewise the apostle John in his First Epistle: We announce to you eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested to us. Likewise there: That you also may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Likewise there (chapter): Giving thanks to God the Father, down to: in him all things were created. To Timothy, chapter 6: For there is one God, and one mediator. In the Epistle of John, chapter 1: We announce to you eternal life. Likewise: That you also may have fellowship with us. Likewise chapter 7: The whole of John's First Epistle, chapter 1: We announce to you eternal life, that you also may have fellowship with us, down to: and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Likewise: Everyone who denies the Son has not the Father either: but he who confesses the Son has both the Son and the Father. Likewise there: In this the love of the Lord has been manifested in us, that he sent his only Son into this world, that we might live through him. Likewise there: Everyone who believes that Jesus Christ was born of God — God is in him and he in God: and everyone who loves the begetter loves him who is born of God. Likewise there: For there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood: and these three are one in Christ Jesus. And there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit: and these three are one. Likewise there: He who believes in the Son of God has the witness of God in himself:
but he who does not believe Jesus Christ makes God a liar, because he does not believe the witness that God has borne concerning his Son. (The love of God in us, down to: that we might live through him. Likewise chapter 17: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, down to: and these three are one. Likewise chapter 18: He who believes in the Son of God, down to.) Likewise there: And we know that the Son of God has come and put on our flesh for our sake, and suffered and rose again from the dead, and took us up and gave us understanding, that we might know him who is true, and might be in his true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life and our resurrection. Likewise in his Second Epistle:
64:36
Quoniammultifallacesprodieruntinhuncmundum, quinonconfitenturieaumchristumdominumnostrumincarneuenisse. hiifallacesetantichristisunt. III. ITEMDESPIRITVSANCTO, QVODCOOPERATORSITPATRISETFILIETQVODVNIVSCVMPATREETFILIOSPIRITVSSANCTVSSVBSTANTIAESITATQVEDEITATIS. Ingenesi: Etspiritusdeisuperferebatursuperaquam. epistulacap. III: Quoniammultiantichristiperdideruntinhuncmundum, III. ITEMDESPIRITVSANCTO, QVODCOOPERATOBSITPATBISETFILIIETQVODVNIVSCVMFILIOSPIBITVSSANCTVSSVВSTANTlAESITATQVEDEITATIS. Ingenesicap. I: SpiritusdeiferebaturIIcap. III:
For many deceivers have gone forth into this world, who do not confess that Jesus Christ our Lord has come in the flesh. These are deceivers and antichrists. III. AGAIN, CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT, THAT HE IS THE FELLOW-WORKER OF THE FATHER AND THE SON, AND THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OF ONE SUBSTANCE AND GODHEAD WITH THE FATHER AND THE SON. In Genesis: And the Spirit of God moved over the water. (Epistle chapter 3: For many antichrists have destroyed in this world. III. AGAIN, CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT, THAT HE IS THE FELLOW-WORKER OF THE FATHER AND THE SON, AND THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OF ONE SUBSTANCE AND GODHEAD WITH THE SON. In Genesis chapter 1: The Spirit of God was borne, Second Epistle chapter 3:)
For many seducers have gone out into the world, down to: this is the seducer and the antichrist. III. AGAIN, CONCERNING THE HOLY SPIRIT, THAT HE IS THE FELLOW-WORKER OF THE FATHER AND THE SON, AND THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OF ONE SUBSTANCE AND GODHEAD WITH THE SON. In Genesis chapter 1. Likewise in Psalm 142: Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your good Spirit shall lead me in the right way. Likewise in Psalm 32: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. Likewise in Job: The divine Spirit that made me, and the inspiration of the Almighty that teaches me. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah:
And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from the root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and piety. The Spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. Likewise there: Come near to me and hear these things: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, nor in a dark place of the earth. When they came to be, I was there. And now the Lord has sent me and his Spirit. Likewise there: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the contrite of heart. Likewise there: And they provoked the Holy Spirit, and the Lord was turned against them into enmity. Likewise there: Where is he who put the Holy Spirit in them?
He who led Moses out of the land by the arm of his glory? Likewise in the prophet Micah: The house of Jacob provoked the Spirit of the Lord. Likewise there: Because there will be no one to obey: if I do not fill up my strength with my Holy Spirit and with judgement and with power, that I may declare to this Jacob his iniquities and to this Israel his sins. Likewise in the prophet Joel: And it shall be after these things, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and daughters shall prophesy. Likewise in the prophet Haggai: And my Spirit stands in the midst of you. Likewise in the prophet Zechariah — (turned into enmity, the Lord. Likewise: Where is he who put the Holy Spirit? Who led you out of the land? Likewise in Micah chapter: The house of Jacob says: Is the Spirit of the Lord shortened?)
Likewise chapter: Because there is no answer of God; yet truly I am filled with strength, down to: and to Israel its sin. Likewise in Joel chapter: And it shall be after these things, I will pour out of my Spirit, down to: your sons and your daughters. In Haggai chapter: And my Spirit shall be in the midst — the prophet: And the words which the Lord almighty sent by his Spirit into the hands of the former prophets. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And the Spirit took me up and led me into the land of the Chaldeans in captivity, in a vision of the Spirit of God. Likewise there: And the Spirit of God came upon me and took me up and lifted me and set me upon my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me:
Son of man, come, I will send you to the house of Israel, who exasperate me according to the contempt of their fathers, even to this present day. Likewise in Daniel: And when Susanna was being led to death, the Lord raised up the Holy Spirit in the younger boy, whose name — (chapter: The Lord raised up the Holy Spirit in the younger boy whose name was Daniel. Likewise into Chaldea, down to: in the vision in the Spirit of God. Likewise there, chapter: And the Spirit entered into me after he had spoken to me, down to: my covenant, unto this day. In the vision of Daniel, 11: And while Susanna was being led to death, the Lord raised up the Holy Spirit of the younger boy. Likewise in the vision 5: was Daniel. Likewise there:)
For there is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the Holy Spirit of God. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: And when Jesus had been baptized, he went up straightway from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit descending like a dove and coming upon him. Likewise there: When therefore they deliver you up, do not be anxious about what you shall speak: for it will be given you in that hour what you shall speak: for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Likewise there: But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then surely the kingdom of God has come near. Likewise there: Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy — (Likewise chapter 12:)
Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven, down to: nor shall it be forgiven to men: but whoever blasphemes against the Spirit shall not be forgiven him. For whoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come. Likewise according to John: Jesus answered Nicodemus and said to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, for God is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you: you must be born again.
The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes. So is everyone who is born of water and the Spirit. Likewise there: If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, that he may be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth. Likewise there: These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things whatsoever I have said. Likewise there: When the comforter comes, whom I will send to you from my Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness of me: and you also will bear witness of me, because you have been with me from the beginning. Likewise there:
But because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go, the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. Likewise there: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he himself will expound to you all truth. For he will not speak of himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will announce to you the things to come. He will glorify me, because he will receive of what is mine and will announce it to you. All things whatsoever my Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he will receive of what is mine and will announce it to you. Likewise according to Luke: But Mary said to the angel:
How shall this be, since I have not known a man? The angel answered and said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born of you shall be called the Son of God. Likewise there: Go now, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Likewise to the Romans: For the love of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Likewise there: But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. The body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit that dwells in you. Likewise there: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. Likewise there: For I would not dare to say anything of what Christ has not accomplished through me for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed and by his power, by signs and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Likewise to the Corinthians, First Epistle: For God has revealed it to us through his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, which are in him, except the spirit that is in him? So also the things that are in God no one has known except the Spirit of God:
But we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we may know the things that have been given to us by God. Which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God: for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot know it, because it is spiritually examined. But he who is spiritual examines all things, and he himself is judged by no one. Likewise there: Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking in the Spirit of God says anathema to Jesus: and no one can say Christ the Lord Jesus except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but it is the same Lord who works all in all. But to each one of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit. To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom: to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another faith in the same Spirit: to another the graces of healings in the one Spirit. To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these one and the same Spirit works, distributing to each one as he wills. Likewise to the Corinthians, Second Epistle: For the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Likewise to the Philippians:
For I know that this will turn out to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. Likewise to the Galatians: 'Because you are sons of God, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father.' Likewise John in his First Epistle: 'It is the Spirit that bears witness, for the Spirit is truth.' Likewise there: 'There are three who bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Spirit; and these three are one.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, you have always resisted the Holy Spirit.' Likewise there: 'The Holy Spirit said to me that I should go with them.' Likewise there: 'And the Holy Spirit said to me: Behold, men are seeking you.'
'but rise, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them.' Likewise there: 'The Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Barnabas and Paul for the work to which I have called them.' Likewise there: 'For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.' Likewise there: 'They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God at all in Asia.' 'The Spirit said to me: Behold, men are seeking me.' Likewise chapter thirty-five: 'The Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Paul.' Likewise chapter forty-one: 'For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.' Likewise chapter forty-three: 'They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God at all in Asia.' Likewise there:
'Take heed therefore to yourselves and to the whole flock, over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you to be bishops, to feed the Church of Jesus Christ.' Likewise there: 'Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man whose belt this is, so shall the Jews bind him in Jerusalem.' IV. ON THE LOVE OF THE LORD. In Deuteronomy: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words, whatsoever I command you this day, shall be in your heart and in your soul; and you shall show them to your sons, and shall speak of them sitting in your house, and when you go on a journey by the way, and in resting and in waking; and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand.'
'And they shall be as things moving before your eyes; and you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.' Likewise there: 'And when you have eaten...' Likewise chapter fifty-five: 'Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, over which the Holy Spirit has set you as bishops.' Likewise chapter fifty-seven: 'Thus says the Holy Spirit: The man whose belt this is.' IV. ON THE LOVE OF THE LORD. In Deuteronomy chapter five: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God,' down to 'and you shall write them on the doorpost and doors of your house.' Likewise in the same chapter: '...and when you have eaten and are satisfied, take heed to yourself that you do not forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear.' Likewise there:
'You shall keep the precepts of the Lord your God, his testimonies and the ordinances which he has commanded you; and you shall do what is good and pleasing before the Lord your God, that it may be well with you.' Likewise there: 'And you shall keep in mind all the way by which the Lord your God has led you in the desert, that he might try you in all things and test you, and that your heart might be made known, whether you would truly keep his commandments or not. And therefore you experienced all these hardships: you hungered, and he gave you manna for food, which your fathers had not known, that he might make known to you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God man lives. Your garments are not worn out; your feet are not calloused; behold, these forty years.'
'And you shall know in your heart that, as a man teaches his son, so the Lord your God has instructed you. And you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him.' Likewise there: 'And now, Israel, what else does the Lord your God require of you, but that you fear the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul; to keep the precepts of the Lord your God and his ordinances, which I command you this day, that it may be well with you?' Likewise in Psalm ninety-six: 'You who love the Lord, hate evil.' Likewise in the Gospel according to John: 'If you love me, keep my commandments.' V. ON CONVERSION AND CONTEMPT OF THE WORLD. In Genesis, the Lord to Abraham:
'Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house, and go into the land which I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will magnify your name, and you shall be blessed; and I will bless him who blesses you, and I will curse him who curses you.' [Likewise in Psalm forty-four: 'Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, for the King has desired your beauty, for he is the Lord your God.'] Likewise there, to Lot, after they had cast them out, they said: 'Save, save your life, and do not look back, nor stay in all this region, but go into the mountain, and there you shall be saved.' Likewise in Numbers:
'In their land you shall possess nothing, and there shall be no portion for you among them, for I am your portion and your inheritance.' (Chapter eleven: 'And the Lord said to you.') Likewise in Deuteronomy: 'He who says to father and mother: I do not know you, and does not acknowledge his brothers, and does not recognize his sons, he has kept your words and will observe your covenant.' Likewise in Third Kings: 'And Elijah found Elisha the son of Shaphat, and he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him. And when he came to him, he cast his mantle over him and covered him. And Elisha, leaving his oxen, ran after Elijah and said: I will kiss my father, and I will follow you. And Elijah said: Go and return, for I have done to you what was in my power. And he returned after him.'
'And he loosed the oxen from their yokes and slew them, and boiled them with the vessels, and gave to the people, and they ate. And he arose and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.' Likewise in Psalm six: 'For in death there is no one who is mindful of you; and in hell who shall confess to you?' Likewise in Psalm seven. (Chapter: 'Who say to mother or father,' down to 'and will observe your covenant.' In the book of Third Kings, chapter forty-eight: 'Setting out therefore from there, he found Elisha,' down to 'and ministered to him.' In Psalm six: 'For in death there is no one.' In seven.) Chapter eighty-five: 'Setting out therefore from there, he found Elisha,' down to 'and ministered to him.' In Psalm six: 'For in death there is no one.' In seven: 'Unless you turn back, he will brandish his sword,'
'he has bent his bow and made it ready; and upon it he has prepared the instruments of death.' Likewise in Psalm twenty-four: 'Make known your ways to me, O Lord, and teach me your paths.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-one: 'Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding: with bit and bridle bind fast the jaws of those who do not draw near to you.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-three: 'Draw near to the Lord and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed. Taste and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man who hopes in him!' Likewise in the same psalm: 'Come, children, hear me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and longs to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile.'
'Turn away from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears toward their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-six: 'Do not be envious among the malicious, nor be jealous of those who do iniquity: for like hay they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs of the field they shall quickly fall. Hope in the Lord and do good, and dwell in the land, and you shall be fed in its riches. Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petition of your heart. Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in him, and he himself will act. And he will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like the noonday: be subject to the Lord and entreat him.'
'Do not be envious of him who prospers in his way, of the man who does iniquity. Do not be jealous so as to do evil, for those who do iniquity shall be exterminated, but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land. Yet a little while, and the sinner shall be no more; and you shall seek his place and shall not find it. But the meek shall possess the land and shall delight in abundance of peace. By the Lord the steps of a man are directed, and he shall greatly desire his way. Turn away from evil and do good, and dwell forever and ever. Guard innocence and behold equity, for there is a remnant for the man of peace.' Likewise in Psalm forty-five: 'Be still and see that I am the Lord.' Likewise in Psalm ninety-four: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'
Likewise in Psalm one hundred and eighteen: 'By what does a young man correct his way? By keeping your words.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'Do not delay to turn to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day: for his wrath comes suddenly, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you.' Likewise there: 'God from the beginning established man and left him in the hand of his own counsel. He added his commandments and precepts, if you are willing to keep the commandments and to keep faith pleasing to him. He set before you water and fire: stretch out your hand to whichever you will. Before man are life and death, good and evil: whatever pleases him shall be given to him. He has commanded no one to act impiously, and has given no one licence to sin. For he does not desire a multitude of unfaithful and useless children.' Likewise there:
'Turn to the Lord and forsake your sins, and hate exceedingly what is abominable. Know the ordinances and judgments of the Lord. Stand firm in the lot appointed to you and in the prayer of the Most High. Go into the portion of the holy age with the righteous and with those who give confession. Do not linger in the error of the impious. From the dead, as from one who is not, confession ceases: while living and in health you shall confess and praise the Lord, and you shall glory in his mercies. How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his propitiation to those who turn to him!' Likewise there: 'Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent.'
'If you draw near to them, they will seize you like the teeth of a lion, killing in devouring as with a two-edged sword; the avenger of iniquities, of whose stroke there is no remedy.' Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: 'Seek the Lord: and as soon as you find him, call upon him. But immediately, when he draws near to you, let the impious forsake his ways, and the man of iniquity his counsels: and let them turn to the Lord, and they shall obtain mercy, for he will greatly forgive your sins.' Likewise there: 'When you begin to cry out, I will draw you forth from your distress.' Likewise there: 'When, being converted, you groan, then shall you be saved, and shall know where you were.' Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: 'Stand in the ways of the Lord and see, and ask for the eternal paths of the Lord:
and see which is the good way, and walk in it, and you shall find sanctification for your souls.' Likewise there: 'Amend your ways and your devices: do not trust in yourselves in false words, for they will altogether profit you nothing.' Likewise there: 'Let us search out our ways, and let us turn to the Lord: let us cleanse our hearts with our hands, and let us look to the Lord, who dwells in the heavens.' Likewise in the prophet Micah: 'It has been declared to you, O man, what is good: or what else does the Lord require of you, but that you do equity,' (our ways, down to 'and let us look to the Lord who dwells in the heavens.' In Micah, chapter...):
'It has been declared to you, O man,' down to 'that you should walk with the Lord and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord your God?' Likewise in the prophet Zephaniah: 'Come together and be gathered, O undisciplined people, before you become like a passing flower, before the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, work equity, and seek righteousness, and answer to it, that you may be protected in the day of the wrath of the Lord.' Likewise in Job: 'For if, being converted, you humble yourself before him and put away all injustice far from your way, then the Almighty shall be your helper and shall free you from your enemies, and shall restore you clean from all iniquity, and shall receive you as silver tried by fire:
and you shall have confidence before him, looking up to heaven with cheerfulness. And when you pray to him he will hear you with gladness, and will grant you to pay your vows, and in your ways there shall be splendor.' Likewise in Tobit: 'Turn therefore, you sinners, and do righteousness before him. For who knows whether he may will you, that he may show mercy to you?' Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: 'And you, son of man, I have set you as a watchman for the house of Israel. And you shall hear the word from my mouth, that you may say to the sinner: You shall surely die.'
'And if you have not spoken to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But you, if you forewarn the impious of his way, that he turn from the way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his impiety, but you have delivered your soul.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'And as Jesus was passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And immediately, leaving their nets, they followed him.' Likewise there: 'And therefore I say to you:
do not be anxious in your soul about what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor for your body about what you shall put on; for the soul is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Look at the birds of the air, which neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?' Likewise there: 'And which of you can add one cubit to his stature? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not labor nor spin, and yet they are not naked. But I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.'
'But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For all these things the Gentiles seek. But your Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow: for tomorrow will be anxious for itself: sufficient for the day is its own evil.' Likewise there: 'Enter by the narrow gate: for wide and spacious is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. For narrow and strait is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it.'
Likewise there: 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls: for my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light.' Likewise there: 'Then Peter answered and said to him: Behold, we have left all things and followed you; what then shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen I say to you, that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'
'And everyone who has left house or brothers or mother or children or fields for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life. But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' Likewise there: 'For as in the days of Noah, so shall be also the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying, and did not perceive it until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also be the coming of the Son of Man.' Likewise according to John: 'Walk therefore while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; and he who walks in darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light.' Likewise according to Luke: 'And Jesus said:
A certain man made a great supper and invited many. And he sent his servant at the hour of the supper to say to those who were invited: Come now, for all things are ready. And they all began to make excuse together. The first said: I have bought a farm, and I must needs go out and see it: I pray you, have me excused. And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them, and therefore I cannot come. And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. But I say to you, that none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'God, overlooking the times of ignorance, now proclaims to men that all everywhere should do penance, because he has appointed a day on which to judge the world in equity.' VI. ON THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
In Exodus: 'Follow after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his precepts, and hear his voice, and cleave to him.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-two: 'Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, who hope in his mercy.' Likewise in Psalm thirty-three: 'Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and twenty-seven: 'Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'The fear of the Lord adds days: but the years of the impious shall be shortened.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord is the fortress of the righteous man, but destruction to those who work evil.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord is unto life for a man: but he who is without fear shall dwell in a place which knowledge does not visit.' Likewise there:
'The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, riches and glory and life.' Likewise there: 'Let not your heart envy sinners, but be in the fear of the Lord all the day.' Likewise there: 'Blessed is he who fears all things through fear. For he who is of a hard heart shall fall into evils.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and it was created together with the faithful in the womb, and it is entrusted with the elect seeds, and it is acknowledged with the just and the sensible.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord acknowledges the knowledge of holiness. It will guard chastity, and the heart shall be justified, and it will give delight and joy.' Likewise there: 'With him who fears the Lord it shall go well, and in the days of his consummation he shall be blessed. The fullness of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and fullness from its fruits.'
'It will fill all his house with generations, and its storehouses from its treasures. The crown of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and both these are the gifts of God.' Likewise there: 'The fear of the Lord drives out sin: for he who is without fear cannot be justified.' Likewise there: 'Do not be incredulous of the fear of the Lord, and do not approach him with a double heart.' Likewise there: 'Those who fear the Lord will not be incredulous of his word: and those who love him will keep his way. Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in his sight will sanctify their souls.' Likewise there: 'Those who fear the Lord will keep his commandments and have patience until his inspection.'
'The fear of the Lord is not to despise a just poor man, and not to magnify a rich sinful man.' Likewise there: 'All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and in it is to fear the Lord.' Likewise there: 'How great is he who has found wisdom and knowledge! yet there is none above him who fears God. The fear of the Lord has set itself above all things.' Likewise there: 'If you do not hold fast to the fear of God with perseverance, your house shall quickly be overthrown.' Likewise in Ecclesiastes: 'The end of all discourse, O hearer: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole of man, since God will bring every work into judgment for every hidden thing, whether good or evil.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'The fear of the Lord hates malice, insolence and pride and the ways of the wicked.' VII. ON THE GOOD OF PEACE AND CHARITY.
In Deuteronomy: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and eighteen: 'Much peace have those who love your name, and there is no stumbling-block for them.' Likewise in Psalm one hundred and thirty-two: 'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!' Likewise in Proverbs: 'Those who desire peace shall rejoice.' Likewise there: 'Better is a little bread with sweetness in peace than a house full of many good things with unjust sacrifices and strife.' Likewise there: 'He who conceals an injury seeks friendship: but he who hates to conceal it separates friends and household members.' Likewise there: 'Grace and friendship set free; keep them for yourself, that you may not be in reproaches.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'The children of wisdom are the assembly of the just, and their nation is obedience and love.' Likewise there:
'In three things is my spirit pleased, which are approved before God and men: the concord of brothers, and the love of neighbors, and a man and a woman who agree together.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.' Likewise there: 'I say to you, that if two of you shall agree upon earth about anything whatsoever you shall ask, it shall be granted you by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' Likewise according to John: 'A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.' Likewise the apostle Paul to the Romans:
'Let not then our good be blasphemed. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this serves Christ is pleasing to God and approved by men. Let us therefore pursue the things of peace, and let us keep the things of edification toward one another.' Likewise there: 'With the charity of brotherhood be kindly affectioned toward one another: in honor preferring one another.' Likewise there: 'The love of neighbor works no evil, and the fullness of the Gospel is love.' Likewise in First Corinthians: 'Be zealous for the better gifts; and yet I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men or of angels, but have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.'
'And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my substance to the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity is patient, is kind: charity does not envy: charity is not perverse, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails.' Likewise there: 'Now there remain hope, faith, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.'
'Pursue charity.' Likewise there: 'Watch, stand firm in the faith, be strengthened, act manfully: let all your things be done in charity.' Likewise to the Philippians: 'If there is therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of charity, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of compassion: fulfill my joy, that you be all of one mind, having the same charity, of one accord, thinking one thing, doing nothing through contention nor through vainglory, but in humility of mind esteeming one another better than themselves, each one looking not to his own things but to the things of others.' Likewise to the Ephesians:
'I beseech you therefore, I the prisoner in the Lord, that you walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility of mind and meekness, with much patience, bearing with one another in charity, careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Likewise there: 'Be therefore imitators of God as beloved sons, and walk in charity, as Christ also loved you and delivered himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness.' Likewise to First Timothy: 'For the end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; from which some, turning aside, have turned to vain babbling.' Likewise in the First Epistle of the apostle Peter:
'Wherefore be you all of one mind, of one accord, compassionate, lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise, blessing, that you may inherit a blessing.' Likewise there: 'But above all things having perpetual mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covers a multitude of sins.' Likewise in the First Epistle of John: 'He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. But he who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no stumbling-block in him.' Likewise there:
'And by this we know his charity, that he laid down his soul for us: and we also ought to lay down our souls for our brothers.' VIII. THAT THE LORD IS EVERYWHERE. In Psalm one hundred and thirty-eight: 'Whither shall I go from your spirit? And whither shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there: and if I descend into hell, you are present. If I take my wings before the dawn and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.' Likewise in the book of Wisdom: 'For the spirit of wisdom is holy and will not free from cursing what comes from its lips: for God is witness of his reins, and the true observer of his heart, and the hearer of his tongue:
for the spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world.' Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the heavens and all the earth are full of his majesty.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'For great is the wisdom of God, mighty in power, seeing all without ceasing.' Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: 'I am a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off. And if a man is hidden in secret places, shall I not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.' IX. THAT THE LORD KNOWS THE HIDDEN THINGS OF THE HEART. In First Kings: 'Not as man sees, so does God see: for man sees in the face, but God in the heart.' Likewise in Third Kings: 'For you alone know the hearts of the children of men.'
Likewise in First Chronicles: 'And now, Solomon, know the God of your fathers and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul: for the Lord searches all hearts and knows every thought.' Likewise in Psalm seven: 'God searching hearts and reins.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'For in the sight of God are the ways of a man: and God is the observer of all his courses.' Likewise there: 'In every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil.' Likewise there: 'Death and hell are manifest before God: how much more the hearts of men?' Likewise in Job: 'If I have sinned, what can I do to you, you who know the human mind?' Likewise there: 'For he himself perceives the works of men, and nothing of what they do is hidden from him.' Likewise the prophet Jeremiah:
'O Lord, who judge justly and try the reins and hearts.' Likewise there: 'I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins, that I may give to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his devices.' Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: 'Thus says the Lord: So you have said, O house of Israel, and I know the thoughts of your spirit.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts?' Likewise according to John: 'And Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time: Do you love me? And he said to him: Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.' Likewise the apostle Paul to the Romans: 'In the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men according to my Gospel, through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
Likewise to First Corinthians: 'And therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the counsels of the heart: and then shall everyone have praise from God.' Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: 'You, Lord, who know the hearts of men, show us which of these two you have chosen.' Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: 'And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches the reins and hearts.' X. THAT ONE MUST JUDGE JUSTLY. In Exodus: 'You shall not pervert the judgment of the poor in his cause. Withdraw from every unjust word. You shall not kill the innocent and the just; you shall not justify the unjust. And you shall not accept bribes: for bribes blind the eyes of those who see, and pervert just words.' Likewise there: 'You shall not despise the poor in judgment.' Likewise in Leviticus:
You shall not do injustice in judgment: you shall not respect the person of the poor, nor shall you stand in awe of the person of the mighty: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. Again in the same place: You shall not do what is unjust in judgment, in measures, in weights, and in balances. Let the balance be even and the weight just, and the just measure shall be yours. I am the Lord your God. Again in Deuteronomy: You shall not respect persons in judgment; you shall judge the small as well as the great: you shall not respect the persons of men, because it is the judgment of God. Again there: Judges and teachers of the law you shall appoint for yourself in all your cities, which the Lord your God shall give you throughout each tribe, and they shall judge the people with just judgment:
they shall not pervert judgment, they shall not respect persons, nor shall they receive gifts: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise and subvert the just word. Follow after justice, that you may live. Again there: Cursed be he who perverts the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. And all the people shall say: Amen, amen. Again in the Second Book of Paralipomenon: And Josaphat appointed judges in all the fortified cities of Juda, and throughout each city he said to the judges: See what you do: for you judge not for man, but for the Lord: and he is with you in the word of judgment. Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, and observe and do it: for with the Lord our God there is no injustice, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.
Again there, to the priests: Thus you shall act in the fear of the Lord, in faith and with a perfect heart: and every judgment that shall come to you from your brethren, who dwell in their cities, whether between blood and blood, or between law and law, in the commandments touching justifications and judgments: and you shall explain them to them, and they shall not sin against the Lord. Again in the First Book of Esdras: But the truth abides and grows strong forever, and lives and endures unto ages of ages, and it accepts no man's person nor any distinctions, but judges justly and acts justly: from all the unjust, the deceitful, and the impious it departs, and all the just hope in it, and in its judgment there is no injustice:
and to it belong strength and kingship, and its power endures unto ages of ages. Blessed indeed is the Lord of truth! Again in Psalm 57: If indeed you truly speak justice, judge rightly, O sons of men. Again in Psalm 81: How long will you judge injustice and accept the persons of sinners? Judge for the orphan and the needy, justify the humble and the poor: rescue the poor, and deliver the needy from the hand of the sinner. Again in Proverbs: Let mercy and faith not forsake you, and let truth possess you: bind them diligently upon your soul, and you shall find grace. And provide good things before God and men. Again there: He destroys himself who accepts gifts: but he who hates the taking of gifts shall live. Again there:
The ways of those who receive gifts into their bosom unjustly shall not prosper. Again there: To admire the face of the wicked is not good, nor is it holy to turn aside the just man in judgment. Again there: To do justice and to be truthful pleases God more than the blood of sacrifices. Again there: These things I say to you who are wise to understand: it is not good to show partiality. Again in chapter 16: To do mercy and judgment pleases the Lord more than victims. Again in chapter 18: To respect the person of the wicked and not to reverence the person in judgment is not good. Again there: He who says that the just is wicked shall be cursed by peoples and hateful to the nations. But those who reprove shall hope for better things. Again there: Open your mouth with the word of God and judge all uprightly. Open your mouth and judge justly:
and distinguish the poor and the weak. Again there: The just man knows how to judge for the poor: but the wicked understands not knowledge, and in the needy there is no faculty of understanding. Again there: When the king judges the poor in truth, his throne shall rise up as a testimony. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Do not seek to be made a judge, unless you have the strength to break through iniquities: lest perhaps you dread the face of the mighty, and lay a stumbling-block against your own integrity. Again there: There is one who loses his soul through shame, and through respect of persons he shall destroy himself. Again there, chapter 5: Do not seek to be made a judge unless you have the strength. Again chapter 11: There is one who loses his soul through shame. Again chapter 11:
Gifts and presents blind the eyes of judges, and like a muzzle in the mouth they turn away reproof. Again in the prophet Isaiah: Woe to those who justify the wicked for gifts, and take away what is just from the just man unjustly! Again there: Woe to those who write iniquity, who turn aside the judgment of the needy and seize the judgment of the poor of my people! so that the widow becomes their prey, and the orphan their spoil. And what will they do in the day of visitation? Again there: He who walks in equity, who speaks the straight way, who hates iniquity and injustice, and keeps his hand from gifts, who stops his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood, who shuts his eyes that he may not see iniquity:
he shall dwell on high in the cave of the firm rock; strong bread shall be given him, and his water shall be sure. Again there: Thus says the Lord: Keep judgment, do justice, for my salvation has drawn near to come, and my mercy to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does these things, and the man who embraces them and keeps them, lest he profane my sabbaths, and keeps his hands from doing iniquity. Again there: I am the Lord who loves justice and hates robbery and iniquities. Again in Job: For the testimony of the wicked is death: and fire shall consume the houses of those who take gifts. He shall conceive groaning in his belly, and vain things shall come upon him, and his belly shall bear deceit. Again in Jeremiah:
Execute judgment in the morning, and act rightly, and deliver him who is plundered from the hand of the one who wrongs him, lest my anger be kindled like fire and burn, and there be none to quench it. And rescue him who is plundered from the hand of the one who wrongs him, and do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, and the widow: and do not act impiously, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Again in the prophet Micah: Hear therefore these things, you leaders of the house of Jacob and remnant of the house of Israel, you who abhor equity and overturn all right things, you who build Sion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquities.
Their leaders judged for bribes, and their priests answered for hire, and their prophets divined for money, and yet they rested upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evils shall come upon us. Again in the prophet Habakkuk: Why have you shown me toils and sorrows, to look upon misery and impiety? Judgment has risen up against me, and the judge has taken a bribe. Because of this the law is torn asunder, and judgment is not carried through to the end: for the wicked oppresses the just through power, and therefore perverted judgment goes forth. Again in the prophet Zechariah: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Judge just judgment, and let each one show mercy and piety to his brother:
and do not oppress by power the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, and the poor, and let none of you devise in your hearts the evil of his brother. Again in Job: I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a father to the powerless. I examined causes without partiality, and breaking the jaws of the unjust, I plucked the spoil out of the midst of their teeth. Again in the Gospel according to John: Do not judge according to appearance, but judge just judgment. 11. THAT ONE MUST DO GOOD TO THE POOR AND NOT TAKE A PLEDGE. In Deuteronomy: If your neighbor owe you any debt whatsoever, you shall not enter his house to take a pledge: you shall stand outside, and the man shall bring out to you outside the pledge for his debt which is in his possession.
But if the man be poor, you shall not sleep upon his pledge: you shall surely return to him his pledge about sunset, and he shall sleep in his garment and bless you, and it shall be reckoned to you as mercy from the Lord in the sight of your God. Again there: You shall not take a widow's garment as a pledge, for you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God delivered you from there. For this reason I command you to do this word. Again in Exodus: But if you lend money to any poor man of my people, you shall not press him nor exact usury from him. And if you take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset: for this is his only covering for his poverty; wherein shall he sleep? And if he cry out to me, I will hear him:
for I am merciful toward you. Again in Proverbs: Do not withhold from doing good to the poor, whenever your hand is able to help. Do not say: Go and return, tomorrow I will give, when you are able to do good at once. For you know not what the following day may bring. Again there: He who insults the poor sins: but he who has mercy on the poor is blessed. Again there: He who oppresses the poor provokes his Maker: but he who has mercy on the poor, until I will hear him, for I am merciful. In Proverbs, chapter 4: Do not forbid to do good. Again chapter 15: He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has mercy is blessed. Again chapter 15: He who oppresses the needy dishonors him, but he who has mercy on the poor honors him. Again there:
He who has mercy on the poor lends to the Lord: and according to what he has given, it shall be repaid to him. Again there: He who has mercy on the poor shall himself be nourished: for from his own loaves he gave to the poor. Again there: He who gives to the poor shall not want: but he who turns away his eye shall be in great need. Again in the prophet Isaiah: But you who set fire to my vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses, why do you wrong my people and confound the person of the needy? Again in the prophet Ezekiel: He who has not oppressed the needy and the poor, and has not taken by robbery, and has restored the pledge, and has not set his eyes upon idols, and has not committed iniquity, and has not given his money at usury: he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord who has mercy on the poor. Again chapter 22:
He who is inclined to mercy shall be blessed. Again chapter (...): He who gives to the poor shall not want. In Isaiah chapter (...): But you who set fire to the vineyard. In Ezekiel chapter (...): He has not oppressed the needy and the poor, up to: he is just, he has lent to life; he is just, he shall live for the Lord. Again in Tobit: But directing yourself to justice all the days of your life, do good before Him, and do not walk in the ways of iniquity, nor turn your face away from any needy or poor man, for almsgiving delivers from death. 12. THAT ONE MUST DO GOOD TO THE WIDOW, THE ORPHAN, AND THE STRANGER. In Exodus: You shall not harm the stranger, nor trouble him: for you also were strangers in Egypt.
You shall not harm any widow or orphan. But if you harm them with malice, and they crying out cry to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my soul shall be enraged, and I will slay you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your sons orphans. Again there: And you shall not trouble the stranger: for you know the souls of strangers, since you yourselves were strangers in the land of Egypt. Again in Leviticus: If any stranger come to you in your land, you shall not trouble him: the stranger who comes to you shall be among you as a native, and you shall love him as yourselves, because you too were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Again there:
And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not fully reap the harvest of your field: and the gleanings of your harvest you shall not gather. And you shall not go over your vineyard again, nor gather the grapes that have fallen from your vineyard: you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God. You shall not pervert the judgment of the stranger, the orphan, and the widow. Again in Job: For I saved the poor from the hand of the mighty, and I helped the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the widow came upon me. And I was clothed with judgment, and encompassed with equity. I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a father to the powerless. I examined causes without partiality, and breaking the jaws of the unjust, I plucked the spoil from the midst of their teeth. Again in Numbers:
But know that every soul which in pride shall despise the commandments of the Lord, whether he be of the natives or of the proselytes in the city, shall perish from his people, because he has contemned the word of the Lord and neglected his precepts; and therefore that soul shall be utterly crushed in tribulation, and his sin shall be upon him. 13. THAT THE WAGE OF THE HIRED LABORER MUST NOT BE WITHHELD. In Leviticus: You shall not harm your neighbor, nor commit robbery, and the wage of the hired laborer shall not remain with you until morning. Again in Deuteronomy: You shall not defraud the wage of the poor and needy among your brethren, or among the strangers who are in your city: you shall render his wage the same day:
the sun shall not go down upon it, because he is poor, and in it he has his hope, and let him not cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin in you. Again in Proverbs: Do not be violent toward the poor: for he is needy. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Do not harm the servant who works in truth, nor the hired laborer who gives his life. Again there: He who offers a sacrifice from the substance of the poor is like one who slays the son in the sight of his father. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor: he who defrauds him of it is a man of blood. He who takes away the bread earned by sweat is like one who slays his neighbor, and he who defrauds the hired man of his wage. Again in Tobit:
Wherefore you also, my son, love your brethren, and do not act with a proud heart toward the daughters of the daughters of your people: nor take any of them into servitude by reason of their poverty and need: for in pride abounds ruin and unfaithfulness, nor does he stand firm whose foothold is fixed upon boards: for the fruit of fraud is the tarnishing and diminishing of life: and in a time of distress the grasping after trifles is the mother of all wickedness: and the profit of shameful gain in famine is the acquiring of eternal fire. And avoiding these things, render his wage to every man who labors with you on the day of his work. 14. THAT THE WEAK MUST NOT BE HARMED. In Leviticus: You shall not curse the deaf, and before the blind you shall not set a stumbling-block.
and you shall fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord your God. Again in Deuteronomy: Cursed be he who leads the blind astray on the way. And all the people shall say: Amen, amen. Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor by deceit. And all the people shall say: Amen, amen. Cursed be he who takes gifts to strike down a life of innocent blood. And all the people shall say: Amen, amen. Again in Proverbs: He who hardens his ears that he may not hear the weak, he too shall call upon the Lord, and there shall be none to hear him. Again there: Do not be violent toward the poor: for he is needy. And do no insult to the weak in the gates: for the Lord judges his cause, and you shall deliver your own innocent soul. Again in Job:
Let not the desire of your soul turn you away from the prayers of the weak, when they are in need. 15. THAT ONE MUST NOT WALK IN DECEIT OR HYPOCRISY. In Leviticus: You shall not walk deceitfully among your people, you shall not lay an ambush against the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord your God. You shall not speak feignedly with your brother or your sister, but you shall speak from the heart, and there shall be no sin in you: for I am the Lord your God. You shall not hate your brother in your heart: reproving you shall reprove your neighbor, and you shall not incur sin on his account: and your hand shall not take vengeance, and you shall not be angry with the children of your people, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord your God. Keep my law.
You shall not consent with those who slander against your neighbor, and you shall not incur sin through them. You shall not let your cattle breed with a diverse kind, and in your vineyard you shall not sow so as to have a double crop, and a garment of double texture, which is accursed, you shall not put upon yourself. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Do not be unbelieving toward the fear of the Lord, and do not approach him with a double heart. Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men, and do not cause offense with your lips. Take heed in these matters, lest perhaps you fall and bring confusion upon your soul, and God lay bare your hidden things, and cast you down in the midst of the assembly: because you approached the Lord with malice, and your heart is full of guile and deceit. Again there:
Woe to the double heart and to wicked lips, and to the sinner who walks along two ways! Again there: A heart that enters upon two ways shall not have success: and one perverse of heart shall stumble in them. Again there: He who casts a stone on high, it shall fall upon himself: and the blow of the deceitful shall deal out wounds: and he who digs a pit shall fall into it: and he who sets a snare for his neighbor shall perish in it: upon the one who does the most wicked deed it shall roll back, and he shall not know whence it comes to him. Again in Job: Dissemblers and the crafty provoke the wrath of God. Again in the prophet Jeremiah: Their tongue is a wounding iron, the deceitful words of their mouth: they speak peaceful things to their neighbor, but among themselves they harbor enmity.
Shall I not visit them for these things, says the Lord, or shall my soul not take vengeance on such a people? Again in Solomon: The words of the crafty are smooth, but they smite the inward parts of the bowels. Again the Apostle in Second Corinthians: But we, beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. And therefore, having this ministry, according as we have obtained mercy, we do not faint, but we renounce the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of men before God. Again there: For we provide good things not only before God, but also before men.
Again there: Look at the things that are before your face. Again in the Gospel according to Matthew: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves: by their fruits therefore you shall know them. 16. THAT EVIL MUST NOT BE RENDERED FOR EVIL. In Exodus: If you meet your enemy's ox or his beast of burden going astray, you shall bring it back and return it to him. And if you see the beast of your enemy fallen under its burden, you shall not pass it by, but rather you shall help him raise it up along with him. Again in Proverbs: If your enemy fall, do not rejoice, and do not exalt yourself over his overthrow, lest perhaps the Lord see it and it not please him, and he turn away his anger from him. Again there: If your enemy is hungry, feed him:
if he is thirsty, give him drink. For in doing this you heap coals of fire upon his head. And the Lord will reward you. Again in Ecclesiasticus: He who takes vengeance shall find vengeance from the Lord, who will surely keep account of his sins. Forgive your neighbor who has harmed you, and then when you pray, your sins shall be loosed. One man keeps anger against another, and does he seek healing from God? He has no mercy on a man like himself, and does he entreat for his own sins? He, being but flesh, keeps his wrath, and does he ask propitiation from God? Who shall make expiation for his offenses? Remember your last end, and cease from enmity. Remember the fear of God, and be not angry with your neighbor. Remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the ignorance of your neighbor.
Abstain from strife, and you shall sin the less. Again in the prophet Isaiah: Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his name: say to those who hate you and abhor you: You are our brethren, that the name of the Lord may be magnified and appear to them in their gladness, and they shall be confounded. Again in the Gospel according to Matthew: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you: bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you: that you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven, who commands his sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust. Again the Apostle to the Romans: Be not wise in your own conceits: rendering to no one evil for evil:
providing good things not only before God, but also before men, if it be possible, as much as lies in you, having peace with all men, not avenging yourselves, dearly beloved, but give place to wrath. For it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. If your enemy is hungry, feed him: if he is thirsty, give him drink. For in doing this you heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Again the Apostle Peter in his First Epistle: Wherefore be all of one mind, of one soul, compassionate, lovers of the brotherhood, merciful, modest, humble, not rendering evil for evil or curse for curse: but on the contrary, blessing: that you may possess the blessing by inheritance.
Again in the Acts of the Apostles: And they stoned Stephen, who called upon the Lord and said: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And kneeling down he cried out with a loud voice, saying: Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge. 17. THAT ONE MUST FORGIVE A BROTHER WHAT HE HAS DONE AGAINST A BROTHER. In Genesis: But when the brothers of Joseph saw that their father was dead, they said: Perhaps Joseph may remember our malice and repay us all the evils which we did to him. And they came to Joseph, saying: Your father charged us before he died, saying: Say to Joseph: Forgive them the iniquity and the sin, for they showed you malice. And now forgive the iniquity of the servants of your father's God. And Joseph wept as they spoke to him.
And coming to him they said: Behold, we are your servants. And Joseph said to them: Do not fear: for I am God's. You thought evil against me, but God turned it into good, that it might come to pass as it is today, that a great people might be nourished. And he said to them: Do not fear, I will nourish you and your households. And he comforted them, and spoke to their heart. Again in the Gospel according to Matthew: Peter came to Jesus and said to him: Lord, if my brother sin against me, how often shall I forgive him? Up to seven times? He said to him: I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Again there: Wicked servant, I forgave you all the debt because you besought me:
ought you not also to have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you? And his lord, being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he should repay the debt. So also shall my Father who is in heaven do to you, if you do not each forgive his brother from your hearts. Again according to Luke: Take heed to yourselves: if your brother sin, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him. And if he sin against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn back to you saying, I repent, forgive him. Again according to Mark: And when you stand to pray, forgive if you have anything against anyone, that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your sins.
But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, who is in heaven, forgive you your sins. Again the Apostle to the Colossians: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, gentleness, justice, patience: bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another: even as the Lord has forgiven you, so do you also. 18. ON GUARDING AGAINST THE SEDUCTION OF THE WICKED. In Exodus: You shall not accept a vain report: you shall not consent with the unjust to become an unjust witness: you shall not be with the many in malice: you shall not join with the multitude to turn aside with the many, that you be led astray. Again in Psalm 1:
Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of pestilence: but his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night. Again in Psalm 25: I have not sat in the assembly of vanity, and with those who do iniquity I will not enter in. I have hated the congregation of the malignant, and with the wicked I will not sit. I will wash my hands among the innocent, and I will go about your altar, O Lord. Again in Proverbs: My son, let not wicked men seduce you, nor be willing, if they should entreat you, saying: Come, share with us in blood, let us unjustly hide a just man in the earth: let us swallow him up alive like hell, and take away his memory from the earth:
and let us possess their precious substance. Again there: My son, do not go on the way with them, turn aside your foot from their paths. For not unjustly are nets spread for the birds. For they themselves who are partners in murder gather evils for themselves, and the overthrow of unjust men is evil. Again there: Do not rejoice over evildoers, nor envy sinners: for they shall not be. The offspring of the wicked, and the light of the ungodly shall be extinguished. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Keep far off from a man who has power to kill, and you shall not suspect a fear of death. And if you draw near, commit no fault, lest he take away your life: know that you walk in the midst of snares, and stand upon the battlements of grieving men. According to your ability beware of your neighbor, and treat with the wise and prudent. Again in Tobit:
See, my son, that you do not follow the path of the unjust, and let not the multitude of sinners persuade you: for their wages are confusion, their end is death. But you, if you have done truth, God's regard shall be upon your works, and with all who do justice you shall inherit eternal life. 19. ON HONORING PRIESTS OR MINISTERS. In Exodus: You shall not curse the prince of your people. Again in Leviticus: You shall rise up before the face of one who has grey hair, and you shall honor the face of the elder: and you shall fear the Lord your God. I am the Lord your God. Again in Deuteronomy:
And any man whosoever shall act in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest who stands to minister in the name of the Lord your God, or to the judges who shall be in those days, that man shall die. Again in Ecclesiasticus: Make yourself affable to the assembly of the poor, and humble your soul before the elder, and bow your head before a great man. Again there: With your whole soul fear the Lord, and reverence his priests. With all your strength love him who made you, and forsake not his ministers. Honor God with your whole soul, and honor the priests. Again there: Do not despise the discourse of the wise elders, and be conversant in their proverbs: for from them you shall learn the doctrine of understanding, and to serve a great man without complaint.
Let not the discourse of the elders pass you by, for they too learned from their fathers. Again the Apostle to Timothy, First Epistle: Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and in doctrine. 20. ON HONORING PARENTS. In Exodus: Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the good land which the Lord your God will give you. Again in Leviticus: Let everyone fear his father and his mother. Again in Tobit: Show honor to your mother, and do not forsake her, but console her all the days of your life, and do not grieve her spirit even in the least: but do what pleases her. And remember, my son, how many perils she saw when she bore you:
nine months she carried you in her womb: and do not forget the groans of her travail, for except through her you would not have been. And therefore honor her in her lifetime. Again in Ecclesiasticus: He who honors his father shall live a longer life, and he who obeys his father refreshes his mother. And as to masters, so let him serve those who begot him, in deed and in word and in all patience: and his blessing shall remain unto the end. Again there: My son, support the old age of your father, and do not grieve him in his life: and if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and do not despise him in your strength: for the kindness done to a father shall not be forgotten.
and justice shall be built up for thee, and in the day of tribulation it shall be remembered for thee; and as fair weather upon ice, so shall thy sins be dissolved. Likewise there: Honour thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother; for hadst thou not been born through them? And now thou shalt requite them as they have done for thee. Be mindful of thy mother and thy father, for thou shalt sit in the midst of great men. Likewise the Apostle to the Colossians: Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to God. XXI. CONCERNING PROUD SONS. In Exodus: He that striketh his father or his mother shall be put to death; and he that curseth his father or his mother shall be put to death. Likewise in Deuteronomy:
Cursed is the man who does not honour his father or his mother; and let all the people say: So be it, so be it. Likewise in Proverbs: For a deceitful son there shall be nothing good. Likewise there: Cursed is the man who does not honour his father or his mother; and all the people said: So be it, so be it. In Proverbs: A wise son gladdens his father, but a foolish man despises his mother. Likewise: The son who forsakes his father and drives away his mother shall be put to shame and shall live in disgrace; the son who neglects to keep his father's discipline shall brood upon words of malice. Likewise there: For him who curses father or mother the light shall be quenched, and the pupils of his eyes shall see darkness. Likewise there:
An evil son curses his father and does not bless his mother. An evil son judges himself righteous, yet does not wash away his own end. An evil son has haughty eyes and is lifted up in his eyelids. An evil son has teeth like swords and molars like knives, so that he devours the lowly of the earth and the needy from among men. Likewise there: The eye that mocks its father and scorns the old age of its mother — let the ravens of the valleys dig it out and the young eagles devour it. Likewise there: A wise son keeps the law, but he who feeds on riotous living dishonours his father. Likewise there: He who drives away his father or his mother, and thinks he does not sin, is the companion of an ungodly man. Likewise there:
A father's blessing builds up the houses of his children, but a mother's curse tears up the foundations. XXII. THAT TREASURES DO NOT PROFIT THE WICKED. In Proverbs: Treasures shall not profit the wicked, but righteousness delivers from death. Likewise there: Riches shall not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Likewise there: He who trusts in riches shall fall, but he who helps the righteous shall flourish. Likewise there: Better is a little portion with the fear of the Lord than great treasures without fear. Likewise there: Better is a small acquisition with righteousness than much produce with iniquity. Likewise there: A good name is better than great riches, and above silver and gold is a good favour. Likewise there:
The rich and the poor have met one another; the Lord made them both. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not fix your attention on unjust possessions, and do not say: I have a life sufficient for me; for it shall profit nothing in the time of vengeance and calamity. Likewise there: Nothing is more wicked than to love money, for such men even put their own soul up for sale; because in his life he has cast away his inmost being. Likewise there: To a covetous, grasping man wealth is no good; and to an envious man, what is gold for? There is one who grows rich by acting sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward, when he says: I have found rest for myself; I shall eat of my goods alone. And he does not know that the time will pass, and he shall leave all things to others. Likewise there: He who heaps up much, that his wealth may lie in unjust riches:
for the unjust shall lose them entirely. Likewise: Nothing is more wicked than to love money. In Proverbs: He who unjustly heaps up much out of his own greed gathers for others, and another shall revel in his goods. Likewise there: He who loves gold shall not be justified, and he who pursues many things shall be led astray by them. Many have been given over to the ruin of gold, and destruction has come to be before their face. Likewise there: Gold is a stumbling-block: woe to those who chase after it! And every fool shall perish by it; for gold has led many astray, and those who set their hope in it have fallen. Likewise there: He who loves money shall not be satisfied with money. Likewise in Ecclesiastes:
There is a calamity which I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his own hurt, so that they are with him for his own destruction — as he came, so he shall receive nothing from his labour to carry away in his hand as he departs. I said: better than this man is a stillbirth — there is more rest for the one than for the other. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: As those who hunger in their dreams and eat, and when they rise the dream is empty, and as one who dreams that he thirsts, as though he drank, and rising he still thirsts — so is the soul that acts unjustly and gathers for others. Likewise: Gold is a stumbling-block: woe to those who chase after it. Likewise: He who loves money shall not be satisfied with money. In Isaiah: As his labour is in vain, so shall be the riches of all the nations.
Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Those who hoard silver and gold, in which men trusted, and there was no end to their substance — they were destroyed and went down to hell, and others rose up in their place. But they did not understand the way of the Lord, nor did they remember his paths. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: He shall possess money to his own destruction; their honours come from usury and from griefs. Likewise in the prophet Amos: Hear therefore this, you who oppress the poor in the morning and do violence to the needy of the land, saying: Let us open our storehouses, and make the measure smaller and enlarge the weight, and make the balance false, that we may buy the poor for money and the needy for a pair of shoes. Likewise in the prophet Zephaniah:
All who exalt themselves in silver and gold shall perish. Likewise in the prophet Habakkuk: Woe to him who gains evil covetousness for his house! You have devised confusion for your house; your soul has sinned. Likewise in the prophet Zephaniah: And I will pour out their blood like mire, and their flesh like the dung of oxen; and their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: Silver and gold shall be cast into the streets, and their gold shall be destroyed; their souls shall not be satisfied, and their bellies shall not be filled, because it has become the torment of their iniquities. They set their choice ornaments in pride, and made images of their abominations out of them. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah:
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength; but let him who glories glory in this, that he knows and understands the Lord, and does righteousness and justice, judgement in the midst of the earth. Likewise in Psalm 38: Though man walks in the image of God, yet he is troubled in vain; he heaps up treasure and does not know for whom he gathers it. Likewise in Psalm 48: Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, and when the glory of his house is multiplied; for when he dies he shall carry away nothing, nor shall the glory of his house go down with him. Likewise in Psalm 51: Behold the man who did not make God his helper, but hoped in the multitude of his riches and prevailed in his vanity.
Likewise in Psalm 61: Do not hope in iniquity, and do not covet robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Likewise Paul the apostle to Timothy, first letter: Charge the rich of this world not to be proud in mind, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy, for the doing of good works.
Let them do good, be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, laying up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of true life. Likewise James the apostle: Come now, you rich, weep and howl over your miseries which are coming upon your riches: your garments have rotted and become moth-eaten; your gold and silver, which you have laid up in the last days, have rusted, and their rust shall be a testimony against you and shall eat your flesh like fire. XXIII. ON REPENTANCE. In the third book of Kingdoms: For you alone, O Lord, are he who with your right hand raises up your people Israel when they fall before their enemies.
For if they sin against you, and turn again and confess to your name, and pray and make supplication in this house, then you will hear from heaven and be merciful to the sins of your people Israel. Likewise there: And if the enemy has humbled any one of their cities, you will be present to your people in every difficulty and will assuage every grief; for you, O Lord, are ready for every prayer and supplication, so that if a man turns and each one acknowledges the guilt of his own heart, then, as soon as he spreads out his hands toward this house, you will hear from your prepared dwelling-place and be merciful, and will do justice according to all the ways of those who entreat you, and according to what you know of the heart of man:
for you alone know the hearts of the children of men, that they may fear you all the days that they live upon the earth. Likewise in Psalm 31: I have made my offence known to you, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said: I will confess my iniquity against myself to my Lord; and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart. Likewise in Psalm 24: Do not remember the offences of my youth and my ignorance; for your name's sake, O Lord, you will be merciful to my sin, for it is great. Likewise in Psalm 50: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: For the Lord is gracious and merciful, and will forgive sins in the day of tribulation to all who seek him in truth. Likewise there:
If we do not repent, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord; but according to his greatness, so also is his mercy with him. Likewise there: He who loves the Lord will entreat for his sins and will restrain himself. In Psalm 31: I have made my offence known to you. In Psalm 50: A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit. In Ecclesiasticus: If we do not repent — he will restrain himself from them, and in the prayer of days he shall be heard. Likewise there: To the penitent he has given the way of righteousness, and has strengthened those who were failing to endure, and has appointed for them the lot of truth. Turn to the Lord and forsake your sins, and greatly hate abomination. Know the righteous acts and judgements of the Lord. Stand fast in the lot appointed and in the prayer of the Most High.
Go your way into the portion of the holy age with the righteous and with those who make confession; do not linger in the error of the ungodly. From a dead man, as one who is no more, confession is taken away; while living and in health you shall confess and praise the Lord and glory in his mercies. Great is the mercy of the Lord and his forgiveness to those who turn to him! Likewise there: My son, you have sinned; do not add to it again, but pray also concerning your former sins, that they may be forgiven you. Likewise there: Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent; if you draw near to them, they will seize you like the teeth of a lion, slaying men in devouring them like a two-edged sword. For iniquity there is a punishment; for its wound there is no healing. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah:
Remember these things and groan; repent, you who go astray, turn from your heart. Likewise there: Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: When you turn and groan, then you shall be saved and shall know where you have been. When you trusted in those things, your strength became vain, and you would not hear. Likewise there: O Lord, have mercy on us, for in you we have trusted; our seed has become the destruction of unbelievers, but our salvation is in the time of tribulation, because of the voice of your fear. Likewise there: I am he who grieves over your iniquities, and I remembered your iniquities before, that you might be justified. Likewise there: Refrain from iniquity, and you shall not fear it; death shall not draw near to you. Likewise there:
Seek the Lord, and soon you shall find him; call upon him. And as soon as he draws near to you, let the ungodly forsake his ways and the unjust man his counsels, and let them turn to the Lord, and they shall obtain mercy; for he will forgive your sins abundantly. Likewise there: When you begin to cry out, I will draw you out of your distress. Likewise there: Be strong, you slack hands and feeble knees; take comfort, you who are faint-hearted; be strong in heart, do not fear; turn, and you shall be saved. Likewise there: The Spirit of the Lord.
Likewise in Jeremiah: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and to restore sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the day of recompense; to comfort all who mourn, to give to those who mourn in Zion glory for ashes, the oil of gladness to those who mourn, a garment of glory for a spirit of sorrow; and they shall be called ages of righteousness, the planting of the Lord unto glory. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Turn back, you rebellious children, and I will heal your afflictions. Likewise there: Behold, I judge against you, in that you say: I have not sinned. Because you have utterly despised me by repeating your ways, because God has rejected your hope, and you shall not prosper in it. Likewise there:
Gird yourselves with sackcloth and wail and howl, for the Lord's wrath has not turned away from you. Likewise there: Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved; how long shall the thoughts of your griefs remain within you? Likewise there: Thus says the Lord: Shall he who falls not rise again? Or shall he who turns away not return? Why then has this people turned with a wicked turning, and held fast to their presumption, and refused to turn back? Give ear therefore and hear: there is no man repenting of his wickedness, saying: What have I done? He has failed because he ran from his course, like a horse sweating in its neighing. And the stork in the heaven knows its appointed time, the turtledove and the swallow — whose nests are in the field — have kept the times of their coming in:
but my people did not know the judgement of their Lord. Likewise there: Now let each one turn from his evil way, and make your endeavours better. Likewise there: O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, the soul in anguish and the anxious spirit cries out to you. Hear me, O Lord, for you are a merciful God, and have mercy, for we have sinned in your sight, because you are God for ever. Likewise there: To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us the confusion of our face, because we have sinned in the sight of the Lord and did not believe him, and did not hear the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his precepts which he gave us. And we did not entreat the Lord, that each of us might turn from the thoughts of his most wicked heart.
We have sinned, we have done impiously, we have committed iniquity, O Lord our God, against all your righteous ordinances. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see. For the dead who are in the underworld, whose spirit you have taken from their inmost being, shall not give glory and righteousness to the Lord; but the soul that is anxious in its state, which walks bowed down and weak, and eyes that fail and a hungering soul — these shall give you glory and righteousness, O Lord. Likewise there: Let us search out our ways and turn to the Lord; let us cleanse our hearts together with our hands, and look to the Lord who dwells in the heavens. Likewise in the prophet Hosea:
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have been made weak by your iniquities. Take many with you and turn to the Lord your God; say to him: You have power to forgive sins, that you may receive good things. Likewise in the prophet Joel: And now thus says the Lord your God: Turn to me with your whole heart and with your whole soul, in fasting and weeping and mourning. And rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and patient and great-hearted, and abundant in mercy and patient toward wickedness. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel:
And if the wicked man turns from all his iniquities which he has done, and keeps all my commandments and does righteousness and mercy, he shall surely live and not die; and all the offences which he has committed shall not be remembered: in his righteousness which he has done he shall live, says the Lord. For do I desire the death of the wicked, rather than that he should turn from his evil way and live? Likewise there: Turn and turn yourselves away from all your ungodly deeds, and they shall not be to you a punishment of iniquity. Cast away from you all your ungodly deeds which you have wickedly committed against me, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And why will you die, O house of Israel? Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew:
Which of you, having a hundred sheep, if one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go to seek that one which went astray? And if it should happen that he find it, truly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which did not go astray. Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Likewise Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, second letter: Now I rejoice, not because you were made sorrowful, but because you were made sorrowful unto repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to God, so that in nothing you should suffer loss from us.
For sorrow according to God works a steadfast repentance unto salvation, but the sorrow of this world works death. Likewise Peter the apostle in his second letter: The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to a place of repentance. Likewise in the Apocalypse: And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say: I am rich and have grown wealthy, and have need of nothing:
and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich and become wealthy, and white garments of mine, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear; and anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. All those whom I love I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. To him who conquers I will grant to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sit with my Father on his throne. XXIV. ON ALMSGIVING. In Psalm 111: He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness abides for ever and ever.
Likewise in Proverbs: Do not withhold from doing good to the poor, whenever your hand has the means to help. Do not say: Go and come back, tomorrow I will give, when you are able to do good at once; for you do not know what may happen on the following day. Likewise there: The ransom of a man's soul is his own riches. Likewise there: He who has pity on the poor is blessed. Likewise there: He who honours the Lord has pity on the poor. Likewise there: By almsgiving and faith sins are cleansed; and he who shows mercy shall obtain mercy. Likewise there: He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and according to his gift it shall be repaid him. Likewise there: A man's fruit is his almsgiving. Likewise there:
He who stops his ears so as not to hear the weak shall himself also call upon the Lord, and there shall be none to hear him. Likewise there: He who has pity on the poor shall himself be nourished, for from his own bread he gave to the poor. Likewise there: He who gives to the poor shall not be in want; but he who turns away his eye shall be in great destitution. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Water shall quench a blazing fire, and almsgiving shall withstand sins; and God, who beholds and repays grace, remembers hereafter, and in the time of your falling you shall find a support. Likewise there: My son, do not defraud the poor of alms, and do not turn away your eye from the needy and the poor; do not despise the hungry soul, and do not prolong a gift to one in distress:
do not cast off the petition of one in tribulation, and do not turn away your face from the needy, and from the poor do not turn away your eye in anger; and do not give one who seeks cause to curse you behind your back; for the prayer of him who curses you in bitterness shall be heard, and he who made him shall hear it. Incline your ear to the poor, and pay your debt, and answer peaceable things in gentleness. Likewise there: Do not be faint-hearted in your soul; do not despise to entreat and to give alms; and stretch out your hand to the poor, that your propitiation and blessing may be made perfect. Likewise there: Do good to the righteous man, and you shall find a great reward; and if not from him, then surely from the Lord. Likewise there:
My son, do good to yourself while you have the means, and offer to the Lord worthy offerings. Remember that death does not tarry, and the covenant of the grave has been shown to you: the covenant of this world is that one dies by death. Before death do good to your friend, and according to your strength reach out and give to the poor. Do not deprive yourself of a good day, and let not the portion of a good gift pass you by. Will you not leave your labours and griefs to others? Before your departure prepare righteousness, for among the dead there is no finding of food. Likewise there: A man's almsgiving is like a signet with him, and he will preserve a man's grace like the pupil of an eye. Likewise there: Yet be patient toward the humble in soul, and do not put him off for the sake of your alms.
Lose your money for the sake of a brother and a friend, and do not hide it under a stone to be lost. Lay up your treasure in the commandments of the Most High, and it will profit you more than a mother. Enclose alms in the heart of the poor, and this shall entreat for you against every evil. Likewise there: Mercy is beautiful in the time of tribulation, like clouds of rain in the time of need. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: For I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Likewise in Deuteronomy: The needy shall not be lacking from your land; therefore I command you to do this word, saying:
You shall surely open your hands to your poor and needy brother in your land, each one according to the strength of his hands, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you. Likewise Job: I never made the widow's eye to weep over me, nor did I ever eat my bread alone and not give of it to the orphan; if I despised the naked man passing by and did not clothe him, if the shoulders of the weak did not bless me, if they were not warmed from the shearing of my sheep, if I did not open my hand to the orphan or was not a help to them: let my shoulder fall from my collarbone, and let my arm be broken from its socket. For the fear of the Lord restrained me from doing such things.
If I have allowed the least and powerless man to go out of my door with empty bosom, may the hand of the Lord not regard me; for in this, directing my heart, I feared God. Likewise Tobit: Do good before him, and do not walk in the ways of iniquity; do not turn your face from the needy and the poor, for almsgiving delivers from death. And see, my son, that you do not follow the ways of the unrighteous, and let not the multitude of sinners persuade you. Likewise there: But if you work the truth, God's regard will be upon your works, and with all who do righteousness you shall inherit eternal life. Likewise there: Do not delay to give alms from your substance, and do not turn your face from the poor; for when you do this, Tobit:
Do good before him, that the multitude of sinners may not persuade you. Likewise: Do not delay to give alms from your substance — God's face will not be turned from you; for he will repay each one according to his works. Likewise there: But give according to what your hand has; and if you have abundant substance, give readily and do good, and be rich in good works. But even if your substance is small, share of that very thing without sadness, and do not fear to give alms in poverty, for it fails not in his gifts; and you shall lay up for yourself a good reward, preparing his protection for the day of need. For almsgiving delivers from death, and does not allow one who does good to go into darkness.
For almsgiving is an acceptable gift of God, and is present with all who do it before the Lord. And share of your bread with the hungry, and cover the naked with your garments; of all that abounds to you, give alms, and let not your eye be grudging toward your good will. And do not be troubled, my son, that we have lived a poor life; for you have many good things, if you keep the inheritance of my commandments; for prayer is perfect with fasting, and almsgiving with righteousness. And in all these things even a little with righteousness is better than very much with iniquity; and it is better for you to lay up the alms of mercy than an abundance of money.
For almsgiving delivers from death and does not allow one to go into darkness, and it is that which purges sins; and those who give alms work righteousness, and shall be satisfied unto eternal life. Likewise Paul the apostle to the Romans: For it pleased those in Macedonia and Achaia to make some contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. For they are their debtors; for if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, the Gentiles ought also to minister to them in carnal things. Likewise to the Corinthians, second letter: I thought it necessary to ask the brethren to go before to you and to prepare beforehand this blessing that was promised to be ready, as a blessing and not as a matter of grasping.
But this I say: he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows in blessing shall of blessing also reap eternal life. Each one as he has purposed in his heart, not out of sadness or necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. Likewise to the Galatians: In doing good let us not grow weary, for in due season we shall reap if we do not faint. Therefore, while we have time, let us work good toward all, but especially toward those of the household of faith. Likewise to the Philippians: Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. I have all things and abound; I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, an odour of sweetness, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. Likewise John the apostle, first letter:
But whoever has the substance of this world, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word only and with the tongue, but in deed and in truth. Likewise James the apostle: Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Likewise there: For judgement is without mercy to him who has not shown mercy; for mercy is preferred above judgement. Likewise there: What does it profit, brethren, if someone says that faith abides in himself, but has no works? Can faith alone save him?
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them: Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but does not give them the things needful for the body, what does it profit to have said these things to them? So also faith, which does not have works, is dead in itself. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Give to everyone who asks you, and do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow from you. Likewise there: When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men; truly I say to you, they have their reward.
But when you give alms, let not your left hand know what your right hand does, so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly. Likewise according to Luke: But give alms, and behold, all things are clean to you. Likewise there: And Jesus, looking up, saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw also a certain poor widow putting in two small coins. And he said: Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these have put into the gifts of God out of their abundance, but she out of that which she lacks has put in all the livelihood she had. Likewise there: Sell what you possess, and give alms.
Make for yourselves purses that do not grow old, a treasure that does not fail in the heavens, where no thief draws near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: But all who believed held all things in common, and they sold their goods and possessions and whatever they had, and distributed daily to all, as each one had need. Likewise there: The heart and soul of the multitude of believers was one, and none of them said that anything of what they possessed was his own, but all things were common to them. XXV. THAT ONE MUST ALWAYS PRAY. In Psalm 118: I remembered your name in the night, O Lord, and kept your law. Likewise there:
At midnight I rose to give you thanks for the judgments of your righteousness. Likewise in Psalm 6: Every night I will wash my bed; I will drench my couch with tears. Likewise in Psalm 133: In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless the Lord. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Be not hindered from praying always, and be not slack until death to be justified; for the reward of the Lord abides forever. Before prayer prepare your soul, and be not like a man who tempts God. Likewise there: The prayer of the poor man passes swiftly from his mouth up to the clouds, and judgment shall come swiftly to him, and it shall hear his supplication without delay. Likewise there: He will not despise the prayers of the orphan, nor the widow if she pours out her prayer.
Does not the tear run down upon the cheek, while the outcry rises up to heaven, and God who hears takes delight in them? Likewise there: He who pleases the Lord shall be received with delight, and his prayer shall draw near up to the clouds. The prayer of him who humbles himself shall pierce the clouds, and until it draws near it shall not be turned away, nor depart until the Most High looks upon it. Chapter X: Be not hindered from praying always. Likewise chapter X: The prayer of the poor man passes swiftly from his mouth. Likewise chapter XX: He will not despise the prayers of the orphan nor the widow, if she pours out her prayer. Likewise chapter XX: He who worships God shall be received with delight. According to Luke, the Most High. Likewise according to Luke: And Jesus said: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him:
Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within will answer and say: Do not trouble me, for the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you. And if he continues knocking, I say to you, even if he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as much as he desires. I say to you: ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Likewise there:
Watch therefore at every time, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of Man. Likewise to the Philippians: The Lord is near; be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer with thanksgiving let your requests be made known before God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every mind, shall guard your hearts and bodies in Christ Jesus. Likewise to the Thessalonians I: Rejoice always in the Lord, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you. Likewise to the Colossians: Continue in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving. Likewise to Timothy I:
I desire therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dispute. Likewise there: But she who is truly a widow and desolate hopes in God and continues in prayers night and day. XXVI. ON THE WRATH OF GOD AND THE COMING JUDGMENT. In Deuteronomy: For a fire is kindled from my wrath, and it shall burn down to the lowest hell; it devours the earth and its produce, and consumes the foundations of the mountains. Likewise there: Behold, these things are gathered up in my treasuries; in the day of judgment I will repay in due time, when their foot shall have slipped; for the day of their destruction is near, and it shall come, prepared for you; for the Lord will judge his people, and will take comfort in his servants. Likewise there:
And I will render judgment upon my enemies, and requite those who hate me. Likewise in Psalm 7: God is a righteous judge, strong and patient; is he angry every day? Unless you turn, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready, and in it he has prepared vessels of death; he has fashioned his arrows for the burning. Likewise in Psalm 49: God shall come manifestly, our God, and will not keep silence; fire shall burn in his sight, and round about him a mighty tempest. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Howl, for the day of the Lord is near, and destruction shall come from God. Likewise there: For behold, the day of the Lord shall come without respite, a day of indignation and wrath, to make the world a desert and to destroy sinners out of it.
For the stars of heaven and the morning star and all the ornament of heaven shall not give their light, and the sun shall be darkened at its rising, and the moon's light shall not endure. And I will lay upon the whole world its evils, and upon the ungodly their sins; and I will destroy the insolence of the wicked, and I will humble the arrogance of the proud. And those who are left shall be more precious than gold, and a man more precious than a stone of sapphire. Likewise there: For behold, the Lord shall come like fire, and his chariots like a tempest, to render vengeance in wrath and the destruction of a flame of fire. For in the fire of the Lord shall all the earth be judged, and by his sword all flesh. Likewise there:
For there shall be a visitation with commotion and thunders and earthquake, with a very loud voice, a tempest sweeping down, and a consuming flame of fire. And the heaven shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all its stars shall fall like leaves from a vine and like leaves from a fig tree. For it is the day of the Lord's judgment and the year of recompense. Likewise in the prophet Amos: Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord! And to what end is this day of the Lord for you? It is a day of darkness and not light, as when a man flees from the face of a lion, and a bear meets him, and he rushes into his house and props his hands against the wall, and a serpent bites him. Is not that day of the Lord darkness and not light, and gloom without brightness? Likewise in the prophet Joel:
Gird yourselves and lament, O priests; wail, you who serve the altar; go in, sleep in sackcloth, you who serve God, for the sacrifice and the drink offering have ceased from the house of your God. Likewise there: Sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord our God, and cry mightily to the Lord: Woe is me, woe is me, woe is me, for the day of the Lord! For the day of the Lord is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and mist. Before his face the earth shall be troubled and the heaven shall be shaken, and the sun and moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall fall and shall not give their light.
And the Lord shall utter his voice before the face of his army, for his army is exceedingly great, and mighty are the works of his words; and great is the day of the Lord, great and exceedingly manifest, and who shall be able to endure it? Likewise in the prophet Zephaniah: The voice of the day of the Lord is appointed bitter and hard. That day is a mighty day, a day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and extermination, a day of darkness and tempest, a day of cloud and gloom, a day of trumpet and outcry over the fortified cities and over the high corners. Likewise there: And I will pour out their blood like mire, and their flesh like the dung of oxen; and their silver and gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.
Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And the saints shall go forth, and shall see the limbs of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh. Likewise according to Matthew: So shall it be at the consummation of this age: the angels shall go forth and separate the evil from the company of the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be their weeping and gnashing of teeth. Likewise there: But immediately after those days of tribulation the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds' corners, from the highest parts of heaven to their utmost bounds. Likewise the apostle Peter II: But the day of the Lord shall come like a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be dissolved by the heat of fire, and the earth and all the works in it. Since all these things are to perish, what manner of persons ought they to be who feed on execrable foods and impieties, not awaiting the presence of the day of the Lord, through which the burning heavens shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent fire.
Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: But for the doubting and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and adulterers and sorcerers and idolaters and liars, their portion shall be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. XXVII. ON THE RESURRECTION. In Job: Your children shall be as the green things of the field; and at the consummation of the age, rising from the grave, you shall return like ripe wheat, which is reaped in its own season, and rises up into the heap of the threshing floor, which is heaped up hour by hour. For he who is without malice has raised him up from the earth, and will not forget him. Likewise there: For I know that even if a man dies, completing the days of his life, he shall not perish before you, but shall live.
Wherefore I too will endure, until I be made again; and when you call me, I will obey the works of your hands. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord led me out in the spirit, and set me down in the midst of a plain, and it was full of human bones. And he led me round about over them by a circuit; and behold, there were very many upon the face of the plain, and exceedingly dry. And he said to me: Son of man, shall these bones live? And I answered: Lord, you know these things. And he said to me: Son of man, prophesy over these bones and you shall say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord to these bones:
Behold, I will bring the spirit of life into you, and I will put sinews upon you, and I will bring flesh over you, and I will stretch skin over you, and I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as the Lord commanded me. And it came to pass, while I prophesied, that behold, there was a great earthquake, and the bones came together, each to its own joint. And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh grew upon them, and skin was stretched over them, but there was no spirit in them. And the Lord said to me: Prophesy in the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord: Come from the four winds of heaven, O spirit, and breathe upon these dead, that they may live. And I prophesied as he commanded me:
And the spirit of life entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great host. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, these bones are the house of Israel. And they say: Our bones are become dry, our hope has perished. Therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will bring you out of your tombs, that I may lead you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring out my people from the tombs. And I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will set you in your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord: I have spoken it and I will do it, says the Lord. Likewise in the prophet Daniel:
And many of those who sleep shall rise up in the covering of the earth, and shall rise up to eternal life. Likewise there: And these to reproach and eternal confusion. Likewise there: And you shall rise up in your lot at the end of days. Likewise in Maccabees II: The Lord therefore, who made heaven and earth and sea, who made man and searches out the deed of all, he himself will restore to us again spirit and soul with mercy. Likewise there: You indeed, wicked and impious one, will destroy us from the present life; but the King of the world — who reigns forever, and of whose kingdom there is no end — will raise us up, who die for his holy laws, into the conversation of eternal life. Likewise there:
It is better to choose to be put to death by men, and to have from the Lord the hope of a resurrection yet to come. But for you, O tyrant, there shall be no resurrection unto life. Likewise there: Do not therefore fear this executioner, but, showing yourself worthy of such brothers, accept death, that in his great mercy I may receive you again together with your brothers. Likewise in the Gospel according to John: For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he wills. Likewise there: Amen I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live. Likewise there:
For I say to you, do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice and shall come forth: those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. Likewise there: For this is the will of my Father who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: But when these things begin to come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Corinthians I: But now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who sleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: the beginning, Christ; then those who are Christ's, who have believed in his coming; then the end. Likewise there: Do not be deceived: evil conversations corrupt good morals. Be sober and righteous, and do not sin, for some have ignorance of God. I speak to your shame. But someone will say: How do the dead rise? And with what body do they come? Foolish one: what you sow is not made alive unless it dies; and what you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare grain, of wheat, say, or of some of the rest; but God gives it a body as he wills, and to each of the seeds its own body.
Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of birds, and another of fishes. And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another: one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in brightness. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it rises in perpetuity; it is sown in dishonor, it rises in glory; it is sown in weakness, it rises in power; it is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual body. So also it is written: The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam a life-giving spirit.
But the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. Likewise there: Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall all indeed rise, but we shall not all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Likewise to the Corinthians II: For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Likewise there: For we know that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our dwelling which is from heaven, if indeed being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this dwelling groan, being burdened, in that we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon, desiring that this mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he who has wrought us for this very thing is God, who has given us the pledge of the Spirit. Likewise to the Philippians: But our conversation is in heaven, from where also we await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall refashion the body of our lowliness, conformed to the body of his glory. Likewise to the Thessalonians: But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who sleep, that you may not be sorrowful as also the rest who have no hope in the Lord.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with him, through Jesus, those who have fallen asleep. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep; for the Lord himself, at the cry of the archangel and at the trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Likewise in the Apocalypse: And I saw the dead, small and great, standing in the sight of the throne; and the books were opened:
And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to those things which were written in the books, and according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his deeds. XXVIII. ON THE TRIBULATIONS AND TESTINGS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. In Psalm 19: These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we shall be magnified in the name of the Lord our God. They are bound and have fallen, but we have risen and stand upright. Likewise in Psalm 32: But our soul is patient in the Lord, for he is our helper and protector; and in him shall our heart rejoice, and in his holy name have we hoped.
Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in you. Likewise in Psalm 33: I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me out of all my distresses. The Lord sends his angel round about those who fear him, and delivers them. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him. Likewise in Psalm 36: When the righteous man falls, he shall not be cast down, for the Lord upholds his hand. Likewise in Psalm 41: My tears have been my bread day and night, while it is said to me daily: Where is your God? These things I remembered, and poured out my soul within me. Likewise in Psalm 43: In you we will scatter our enemies, and in your name we will despise those who rise against us.
For you have saved us, O God, from those who afflict us, and have put to shame those who hate us. You have given us up like sheep for food, from the voice of him who reproaches and slanders, from the face of the enemy and persecutor. All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you, nor dealt unjustly with your covenant, and our heart has not turned back. And you have turned our paths aside from your way, and the shadow of death has covered us. If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have spread out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search out these things? For he knows the secrets of the heart. For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Likewise in Psalm 54:
I am grieved in my meditation, and am troubled by the voice of the enemy and by the tribulation of the sinner. My heart is troubled within me, and the terror of death has fallen upon me. And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove's, that I may fly away and be at rest? Likewise in Psalm 65: For you have proved us, O God; you have tried us by fire, as silver is tried in the fire. We have passed through fire and water, and you have brought us out into a place of refreshment. Likewise in Psalm 125: Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going out they went and wept, casting their seed; but coming they shall come in exultation, carrying their sheaves. Likewise in Proverbs: As silver and gold are tried in the furnace, so are choice hearts before God. Likewise there:
Do, my son, what I command you, and you shall be saved. For you have come into the hands of the wicked for your friend's sake. Be untiring, and attend to your friend, for whom you have pledged yourself. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, that you may escape like a gazelle from the snares, and like a bird from the trap. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of the Lord, and no torment shall touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to die, and their departure was reckoned as an affliction; and though before men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality; and having been afflicted in a few things, in many things they shall be well rewarded; for God tested them and found them worthy of himself.
As gold in the furnace he proved them, and received them as a whole burnt sacrifice, and in due time there shall be a regard for them. They shall shine like sparks running through the reed-bed; they shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and their Lord shall reign forever. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Son, when you come to the service of the Lord, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. Humble your heart and endure; incline your ear and receive the words of understanding, and do not hasten in the time of overwhelming. Endure the Lord's sustaining; cleave to the Lord and endure, that your life may grow in the end. Whatever is laid upon you, accept it, and in sorrow endure, and in your humility have patience:
for gold and silver are proved in the fire, but righteous men in the furnace of humiliation. Likewise there: The furnace proves the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation proves righteous men. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: And God will seek out the persecution that is patiently endured. Likewise in Tobit: Blessed is the Lord our God, for behold I see you, my son; and blessed is his name, which is great; and blessed are all his holy angels; and may his name be holy and blessed unto all ages of ages. For he himself scourged me in my rebuke, and he himself had mercy on me, and restored the light to my eyes, that I might see my son. Likewise in Job: And hearing these things the Lord said from the cloud to Job: Therefore now gird up your loins like a man:
and I will question you, and you answer me. Do not think my judgment is foreign to you, nor suppose that I have decreed otherwise than that you should appear less unjust. Likewise there: For I am conscious to myself that my tongue has uttered nothing wrong, and my throat never ceases to meditate understanding. For the trial of a man on earth is his life, and his deed is like a daily wage. Likewise there: Take upon yourself height and power, and clothe yourself with brightness and honor. Send forth the angels of wrath, and extinguish every insolent and proud one. Separate the wicked from yourself at once, and hide them all in the earth, and cover their faces with shame, and repay them their due.
But if they are with you without honor, then you shall see and confess that my right hand is able to save you. Likewise there: The Lord knows my way, and he judges me as gold that is tried by fire, that I may go forth in his commandments, that I may keep his way. And I will not turn aside from his precepts, nor go out from his ways, and I will not be moved, but in my bosom I will hide his words. For what I endure, I know that he has judged as he willed. And who is there that can contradict him? For what he willed, this he did. And because of this, being rebuked, I will hasten to him, and anxiously fix my gaze upon him, for he is the Lord, and he himself has softened my heart, and he himself has encompassed me. Likewise in the book of Maccabees I:
And the days of Mattathias drew near, the days of his dying, and he said to his sons: Now is pride and oppression consummated, and the time of overthrow and of wrath and indignation. Now, my sons, be zealous for the law, and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers; and remember the deeds of your fathers which they did in their times, leaving behind an example to their posterity, and you shall receive great glory and an everlasting name. Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness? Joseph in the time of his distress kept the commandment, and was made lord in Egypt. Phinehas our father, because he was zealous with zeal, received the promise of an eternal priesthood.
Joshua, when he had fulfilled the word, was made judge over Israel. Caleb, when he bore witness in the assembly, received an inheritance. David in his mercy obtained the throne of an everlasting kingdom. Elijah, because he was zealous with zeal for the law, was taken up into heaven. Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, believing, were delivered from the flame. Daniel in his simplicity was delivered from the mouth of the lions. Therefore you also, considering through the generations of generations that all who hope in God shall not be weakened, do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory shall be in dung and in worms. Today he is exalted, and tomorrow he shall not be found, for he shall return to his own dust, and his thought shall perish.
And, my sons, be strengthened and prevail in the law, for it shall glorify you. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Romans: And not only so, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience proof, and proof hope; and hope does not confound, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who is given to us. Likewise there: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation? Or distress? Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Likewise to the Corinthians II: In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed:
we are perplexed, but not in despair; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but do not perish; always bearing about in our body the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, that the life also of Jesus Christ may be made manifest in our body. For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Likewise according to Matthew: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Likewise there: Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and shall drive you out and persecute you and reproach you, and speak all evil against you. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens:
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Likewise there: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Likewise there: Beware of men, for they will deliver you up in the councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you; and you shall stand before kings and governors for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. But when they deliver you up, do not be anxious what you shall speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body and cast them into Gehenna. Likewise there: He who finds his soul shall lose it:
and he who loses his soul for my sake shall find it. XXIX. THAT THE LORD DOES NOT ABIDE IN THOSE WHO HAVE STRAYED FROM HIS PRECEPTS. In Genesis: And the angels of God, seeing the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives from all whom they chose. And then God said: My spirit shall not abide in these men forever, because they are carnal. Likewise in Kings I: Does God will burnt offerings and sacrifices more than to obey his voice? For obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken to the commandments than the fat of rams. For sin is a reproach; grief and groaning shall be brought to you. Likewise there:
Because for this you have spurned the word of the Lord, the Lord will spurn you, that you shall not reign over Israel. And the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord seized him and choked him. Likewise in Third Kingdoms: And king Solomon was a lover of women; and through this it came about that in the time of his old age his heart was not turned straight toward the Lord. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he had turned his heart away from the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Lord raised up Satan against Solomon, and Satan was over Israel all the days of Solomon. Likewise in Paralipomenon: The Lord your God is with you, so long as you are with him; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
Likewise in Psalm 80: But my people did not heed my voice, and Israel gave no ear to me; so I let them go according to the desires of their heart. If my people had listened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways, I would soon have brought their enemies low, and laid my hand upon those who afflict them. Likewise in the Wisdom of Solomon: For perverse thoughts separate men from God, and virtue when tested convicts the foolish; for wisdom will not enter a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin. For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and withdraw itself from thoughts that are without understanding, and be put to rebuke by iniquity when it draws near. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah:
Who gave Jacob up to spoil, and Israel to those who plundered him? Was it not God, against whom they sinned, and in whose ways they refused to walk? And he brought his wrath upon them, and war prevailed against them, and not one of them understood, nor laid it to heart. Likewise there: Is the hand of the Lord not strong enough to save? or has he made his ear heavy, that it cannot hear? But your sins separate between you and God; and because of your sins he has turned away his face, that he might not have mercy. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins; your lips have spoken iniquity, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks justice, nor is there any true judgment:
they trust in vain things and speak empty words, for they conceive deceit and bring forth iniquity. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: And your sins have removed good things from you, because impieties are found among my people. Likewise there: But because you have provoked the Lord, you have been handed over to your adversaries; for you have exasperated him who made us, the everlasting Lord, by sacrificing to demons and not to God. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: For claiming to be wise they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds and four-footed beasts and serpents.
Therefore God gave them up in the desires of their heart to uncleanness, so that among themselves they dishonor their own bodies; who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. For this cause God gave them up to passions of dishonor. 30. THAT THE SERVANT OF GOD MUST NOT BE OVERCOME BY THE SLANDER OF THE WICKED. In the prophet Isaiah: Hear me, you who know judgment, my people, in whose heart is my law; do not fear the reproaches of men, nor let yourselves be overcome by their slander. For like a garment they shall be consumed with time, and like wool the moth shall devour them.
But my justice shall be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Likewise Tobit: All my neighbors mocked me, saying: How does this man not fear, who was but lately sought out to be killed for this very cause, and fled? How does he again undertake to bury the dead? But I, being intent on the commandments of God, did not fear what man might say. Likewise in First Maccabees: Do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory shall be dung and worms; today he is exalted, and tomorrow he shall not be found, for he has returned to his dust, and his thought has perished. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew:
Blessed shall you be when men hate you, and cast you out, and persecute you, and revile you, and speak all manner of evil against you. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets also who were before you. 31. THAT ONE MUST NOT SLANDER. In Numbers: And the Lord said to Aaron and Miriam: Hear my words. If there be a prophet of the Lord among you, I will make myself known to him in a vision, and I will speak to him in a dream, not as to my servant Moses, who is faithful in all my house; mouth to mouth will I speak to him, in plain sight and not by riddles, and he has seen the glory of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to disparage my servant Moses? And the wrath of the Lord's indignation shall be upon you. Likewise in Psalm 49:
You sat and spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you laid a stumbling-block. These things you did, and I kept silence; you thought, wickedly, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set these things before your face. Likewise in Psalm 100: Him who secretly slandered his neighbor, I persecuted. Likewise in Psalm 70: Let those who slander my soul be confounded and fail. Likewise in Proverbs: Do not love to slander, lest you be uprooted; but open your eyes, and you shall see just things. Likewise in Wisdom: Keep yourselves therefore from murmuring, which profits nothing, and refrain your tongue from slander; for no secret word shall go forth in vain, and the mouth that lies slays the soul. Likewise the Apostle James:
Brethren, do not slander one another. For he who reviles his brother and judges him, reviles the law and judges it. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge, who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you that judge your neighbor? Likewise in Psalm 100: He who speaks iniquities has not prospered in the sight of my eyes. In the mornings I slew all the sinners of the land, that I might cut off from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity. 32. ON CORRECTION AND DISCIPLINE. In Psalm 2: Hold fast to discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the right way, when his anger is quickly kindled. Likewise in Proverbs: Reprove a wise man, and he will love you;
a fool, and he will only add to hate you. Likewise there: Give a wise man an occasion, and he will be the wiser; make it known to the just man, and he will add to his understanding. Likewise there: He who loves discipline loves understanding; but he who hates those who reprove him is a fool. Likewise there: The undisciplined man does not love those who reprove him, nor does he confer with the wise. Likewise there: He who casts off discipline hates his own self; but he who keeps rebuke acquires prudence. Likewise there: The fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom. Likewise there: He who receives discipline shall be among good things; for he who keeps reproofs shall become wise. Likewise there: When a pestilent man is chastised, the fool becomes more shrewd; but if you reprove a prudent man, he will understand knowledge. Likewise there:
Apply your heart to discipline, and prepare your ears to the words of prudence. Likewise there: Death meets the undisciplined, and the fool dies in his sins. Likewise there: Though you flog a fool in the midst of the assembly, heaping shame on him, you will not take away his folly. Likewise there: Better is a man who reproves than a man who is stiff-necked; for suddenly, when he is inflamed, there will be no healing for him. Likewise there: He who reproves a man's ways shall find favor more than he who flatters. Likewise there: Stripes and rebukes give wisdom; but a boy left to wander shames his father. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: For he who casts away wisdom and discipline is unhappy; their hope is empty, and their labors without fruit, and their works useless.
Likewise there: For your judgments are great and unspeakable; therefore undisciplined souls have gone astray. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: He who rejoices in iniquity shall be branded; and he who hates correction, his life is shortened. Likewise there: Reprove your neighbor before you threaten him, and give place to the fear of the Most High. Likewise there: How good it is to reprove rather than to be angry, and not to forbid one who confesses in prayer! Likewise there: For the undisciplined man, discovery turns to his loss. Likewise there: He who hates correction is a sinner's footprint; but those who fear the Lord will turn to their own heart. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: In vain have I smitten your children; you have not received discipline. Likewise there: Thus says the Lord:
This nation, which does not hear the voice of the Lord nor accept discipline, faith has failed from their mouth. Likewise in the prophet Amos: They hated him who reproved in the gates, and abhorred the most upright word. Likewise Job: Blessed is the man whom the Lord reproves; for the correction of God almighty is salvation. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: The house of Israel are unwilling to hear you, because they are unwilling to hear me; for the whole house of Israel are contentious and hard of heart. Likewise the Apostle to the Galatians: Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, will you now be made perfect in the flesh? Likewise to the Thessalonians, First: Rebuke the disorderly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient toward all. Likewise to Timothy, First:
Be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, exhort, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine. 33. ON TRANSGRESSORS. In Psalm 100: I have hated those who commit transgressions; no perverse heart has clung to me. Likewise in Proverbs: As a dog which returns to its own vomit becomes loathsome, so is the fool turned back by his own malice into his sins. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: The beginning of man's pride is to fall away from God; for the beginning of all sin is pride. Likewise there: At two things my heart was afraid, and at the third indignation came upon me: a warrior failing through want, and a man of sense despised; and one who turns from justice to sin — God prepares him for the sword. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah:
Woe, apostate sons, says the Lord; you have taken counsel not by me, and made a covenant not by my Spirit, heaping sins upon sins. Likewise there: And the holy ones shall go forth, and shall look upon the limbs of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: If he prosper, shall he who does adverse things be delivered? So too, shall he who transgresses the covenant be saved? Likewise there: And I will choose out from among you your impious ones and deserters, for I will lead them out from their sojourning; they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: Woe to them, because they have departed from me:
they are made manifest, because they have sinned against me, and they have not cried out to me with their hearts. Likewise in the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter: For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of truth, than after knowing justice to fall away from the divine commandment delivered to them. There has befallen them the common saying: As a dog returning to its own vomit, and as a washed sow which is defiled again in her wallowing. Likewise in the Epistle of the Apostle Jude: The angels also, who did not keep their own rank, but left their own dwelling, he has reserved in the judgment of the great God, in chains of the holy angels,
reserving them for darkness. Sodom too, and Gomorrah, and the cities round about them, when they had committed fornication and gone after flesh, were set forth as an example, made citizens of that state, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Likewise in Numbers: Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let all who hate you flee, and be broken to pieces; and turn back, O Lord, unto the thousands of Israel. 34. ON PRIDE. In Psalm 30: And he will repay those who act with abounding pride. Likewise in Psalm 72: Therefore their pride has taken hold of them; their iniquity has come forth as though from fatness. Likewise in Psalm 100: Those who act with pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house. Likewise in Psalm 118: The proud acted unjustly on every side.
Likewise in Proverbs: The Lord resists the proud, but to the humble he gives grace. Likewise there: He who guards his mouth keeps his soul; but he who is rash with his lips shall terrify his own self. Likewise there: The Lord will destroy the houses of the proud. Likewise there: Everyone who exalts his heart is unclean before the Lord. Likewise there: An evil son has proud eyes, and is lifted up in his eyelids. Likewise there: The rash and the proud man is called a pestilence. Likewise there: Do not be proud before the face of the king, nor stand in the places of the powerful; for it is better for you to be told, 'Come up to me,' than to be humbled in the presence of the powerful. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Pride is hateful before God and men. Likewise there:
And why is earth and ashes proud? Likewise there: For the assembly of the proud there shall be no healing; for the shrub of sin shall take root in them. Likewise there: The beginning of man's pride is to fall away from God, for the beginning of all sin is pride. The Lord has cast down the thrones of proud rulers, and set the meek in their place. The Lord has dried up the roots of proud nations, and has planted the humble from among those same nations. The Lord has destroyed the memory of the proud, and left the memory of the humble in mind. Pride was not created for men, nor wrath for the race of women. Likewise there: He who touches pitch shall be defiled by it; and he who keeps company with a proud man shall put on pride. Likewise there: A house that is exceedingly rich shall be brought to nothing by pride.
Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: But every unjust one shall fail, and the proud shall perish, and those who do iniquity in sorrow shall be destroyed, and those who cause men to sin by their word. Likewise there: And those who are proud shall be worn down with reproach, and shall be humbled, and the lofty shall fall by the sword. Likewise there: And I will humble the insolence of the proud. Likewise there: The pride and riches of the impious have ceased. Likewise in the prophet Amos: For the Lord has sworn by himself: I abhor all the pride of Jacob, and I have hated his regions. Likewise in Habakkuk: But the just man lives by my faith; the man well-pleased with himself, however, a scorner and a proud man, shall gain nothing. Likewise in Deuteronomy:
And everyone who acts in pride, so as not to hearken to the priest who stands to minister in the name of his God, or to the judges who shall be in those days, that man shall die; and you shall put away the evil from Israel; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear and shall not do wickedness. Likewise in Job: And because the years of his pride are numbered, so are they laid up in the ears of the Lord; and when they seem to be at peace, their overthrow shall come upon them. For he who dwells on high sees the one who does injury, and humbles the proud. Likewise Tobit: For which cause, my son, love your brethren, and do not in the pride of your heart deal harshly with the daughters of the daughters of your people; nor take any of these into subjection for cause of poverty and need:
for in pride there abounds destruction and unfaithfulness; nor does one's footing stand firm which is fixed on shifting planks; for the fruit of deceitful dealing is discoloration and the diminishing of life. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: But you seek to be exalted in small things, and to be diminished in the greatest. Likewise there: For what is lofty among men is an abomination before the Lord. 35. ON MEEKNESS. In Numbers: And Moses was meek above all the men who are upon the earth. Likewise in Psalm 24: The Lord is sweet and meek; therefore he will establish a law for those who err in the way; he will guide the meek in judgment, he will teach the meek his ways. Likewise in the Proverbs of Solomon: A man meek of heart is a physician:
but envy is a moth to the bones, and an understanding heart. Likewise there: Better is a meek man with humility than one who divides spoil with the insolent. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: My son, perform your works in meekness, and you shall be loved by every man. Likewise there: Be meek in hearing the word, that you may understand; and with wisdom give a true answer. Likewise there: My son, in meekness keep your soul, and give it honor according to its worth. Likewise the Apostle to the Ephesians: I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility of mind and meekness, with much patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Likewise the Apostle James: Who among you is wise and knowing? Let him show, by his good conduct, his works in meekness and prudence. 36. ON PATIENCE. In Proverbs: In the heart of a good man patience will be found; but in the heart of fools it is not recognized. Likewise there: Better is a patient man than a strong one; for he who restrains his anger is better than he who takes a city. Likewise there: He who forbears to utter a harsh word is prudent; and a patient man is wise. Likewise there: The patient man is abundant in wisdom; but the fainthearted is exceedingly foolish. Likewise the Apostle to the Thessalonians, First: Be patient toward all.
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good toward one another and toward all. 37. ON HUMILITY. In Proverbs: Every work of the humble is manifest before God; but the impious shall fall in the day of evils. Likewise there: Humble your spirit greatly, for the vengeance upon the flesh of the impious is fire and worms. Likewise there: A humble answer turns away wrath. Likewise there: Humility exalts nations. Likewise in Psalm 33: The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: For God has had mercy on his people, and has comforted the humble of his people. Likewise there: And to whom shall I look, says the Lord, but to the humble and quiet one, who trembles at my words?
Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, and he who exalts himself shall be humbled. Likewise in the First Epistle of Peter: But all of you, clothe yourselves with quietness and humility of mind; for the Lord resists the proud, but to the humble he gives grace. Likewise the Apostle James: Humble yourselves before God, and resist the devil, and he will flee from you; draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Likewise there: Humble yourselves before the face of the Lord, and he will exalt you. 38. ON THE WISE MAN. In Proverbs: Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and immortal is he who finds prudence. For it is better to gain her than treasures of gold and silver. Likewise there: The wise shall possess glory, but fools shall share disgrace.
Likewise there: Good understanding comes to those who know it, and a prudent man will find it. Likewise there: Wisdom is an ornament to the young, and gray hair is the glory of the aged. Likewise there: Give a wise man an occasion, and he will be the wiser; I make it known to the just man, and he will add to his understanding. Likewise there: He who is wise of heart will receive the commandments. Likewise there: The wise will conceal understanding. Likewise there: A wise man acts quietly. Likewise there: A wise man is the seat of understanding. Likewise there: The law is a fountain of life to the wise. Likewise there: The heart of the wise will possess understanding. Likewise there: A treasure to be desired rests in the mouth of the wise. Likewise there: Better is a wise man than a strong one, and a man having prudence than a great field. Likewise there:
The wise do not turn aside from the mouth of the Lord, but ponder in counsels. Likewise there: He who walks wisely shall be saved. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: The heart of the wise is understood in wisdom. Likewise there: Do not hide your wisdom in its beauty; for by the tongue is wisdom made known, and understanding and knowledge of doctrine in words of truth, and steadfastness in works of justice. Likewise there: Humble wisdom shall lift up his head, and shall make him sit in the midst of the great. Likewise there: Happy the wise man who meditates on truth and justice in his wisdom, and in his mind ponders the all-seeing providence of God! Likewise there: A wise man will fear in all things. Likewise there:
The prudent have acted wisely in words, and have understood truth and justice, and have poured out proverbs and judgments. Likewise there: A wise man will keep silence until the time; but the loose and imprudent will not observe the time. Likewise there: A wise man makes himself affable in his words. Likewise there: The mouth of the prudent is sought in the assembly, and men will ponder his words in their hearts. Likewise there: A devout man remains in wisdom like the sun; but a fool changes like the moon. Likewise there: A man of sense believes the law of God. Likewise there: A skilled man has instructed many, and is sweet to his own soul. Likewise there: A wise man shall be filled with blessing, and those who see him will praise him. Likewise there:
The wise man shall inherit honor among the people, and his name shall live forever. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of fools in the house of revelry. Likewise there: The words of the wise are heard in quietness. Likewise Job: For wisdom is to fear the Lord, and to abstain from evils is knowledge. Likewise Tobit: But attend to yourself, my son, in all your works, and be wise in all your speech; and what you would not have done to you, do not do to another. Likewise in Proverbs: A wise man, fearing, turns away from evil; but a fool, trusting in himself, is mingled with the wicked. 39. ON THE CONDUCT OF THE YOUNG. In Psalm 118: How does a young man correct his way? By keeping your words.
Likewise in the Proverbs of Solomon: To know wisdom and discipline, and to understand the words of prudence, and to receive the subtleties of speech, and to understand true justice, and to direct a just judgment: that he may give shrewdness to the innocent, and to the younger boy understanding and skill. For when the wise man hears these things, he will be the wiser. Likewise there: My son, let no evil thought take hold of you, which forsakes the teaching of youth and has forgotten the divine covenant; for it has set its house near death, and its courses are near hell among the earthborn. All who go by it shall not return, but shall come to repentance. Likewise there: My son, do not faint; but keep my counsel and thought:
that your soul may live forever, and grace be about your neck. Then there shall be health to your flesh, and care for your bones. Likewise there: Do not enter the ways of the impious, nor emulate the ways of the wicked; in whatever place they pitch their camp, do not go there, but turn away from them and depart. Likewise there: With all watchfulness keep your heart, for from it are the issues of life. Put away from you the perverse mouth, and drive iniquitous lips far from you. Let your eyes look on what is right, and let your eyelids give warning of just things. Make straight paths for your feet, and direct your ways; do not turn aside to the right or to the left, but turn your foot away from the evil way. Likewise there: Wisdom is an ornament to the young, and gray hair is the glory of the aged.
Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: My son, from your youth take up instruction, and until your gray hairs you shall find wisdom. Come to her as one who plows and sows, and await her good fruits; for in laboring at her work you shall labor but a little, and soon you shall eat of her produce. How exceedingly harsh she is to the untaught! and the senseless shall not remain in her. Likewise there: Be constant with the holy man, whomsoever you know to keep the fear of the Lord. Likewise there: Stand in the multitude of prudent elders, and join yourself from the heart to their wisdom; and desire to hear every discourse about God, and let no proverbs of praise escape you. When you see a man of sense, wake early to seek him, and let your foot wear out the steps of his doors.
Have your thought in the precepts of God, and be constant in his commandments; and he himself will give you a heart, and the desire of wisdom shall be given to you. Likewise there: My son, in your life test your soul; and if it be wicked, do not give it power; for not every kind of thing pleases every soul. Likewise there: Young man, speak in your own cause, barely when asked. Let your answer be brief. In many things be as one who is ignorant, and at the same time inquiring. In the midst of the great do not presume, and where there are elders, do not speak much. Lightning goes before hail, and before a modest man goes favor. And if it be the hour to rise, do not linger. But hasten first into your own house:
there call for recreation, there play and pursue your fancies, yet not in transgressions or in a proud word, but in blessing him who blessed you, who filled you with his good things and satisfies you with his good things. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart dispose you well in the days of your youth; and walk in the way of your heart without blemish, and not in boldness in the sight of your own eyes. And know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Put away anger from your heart, and remove wickedness from your flesh, for youth and folly are vanity. And remember him who created you in the days of your youth. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: The Lord is my portion, I said; therefore I will wait for him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for him. For the soul that seeks him, it is good to wait and to hope in the salvation of God. It is good for a man when he has borne the heavy yoke in his youth: he shall sit alone and keep silence, because he has taken the heavy yoke upon himself. He shall put his mouth in the dust; if perhaps there be hope for one who endures. He shall give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and shall be filled with reproaches; because the Lord will not cast me off forever. For when he has humbled, he will have mercy according to the multitude of his mercy. Likewise Tobit: But you, my son, all the days of your life, fear your God, and do not desire to sin or to transgress his precepts; for mercy and wrath are with him.
But loving justice all the days of your life, do well before him, and do not walk in the ways of iniquity. Likewise there: And now, my little sons, this is what I command you, that in what I appoint you may serve God, and do before him what pleases him. And you also, command your children to work justice, and doing alms to be mindful of God in all their ways, and to bless his name at all times in truth and with all their strength. Likewise the Apostle to Timothy: Flee youthful desires; pursue rather justice, faith, charity, peace, with those who call upon God from a pure heart. 40. THAT ONE MUST NOT SWEAR FALSELY. In Leviticus:
You shall not swear unjustly by my name, and you shall not profane the holy name; I am the Lord your God. Likewise in Psalm 14: He who swears to his neighbor and does not deceive him. Likewise in Psalm 23: He who has not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his savior. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: For either while they make merry they become mad, or they prophesy falsehoods, or they live unjustly, or they quickly forswear themselves. For while they trust in idols, which are without soul, swearing wickedly they do not expect to be harmed, and they have sworn unjustly, feignedly despising justice. Likewise in the prophet Zechariah:
And do not love a false oath, for all these things I have hated, says the Lord almighty. 41. THAT ONE MUST NOT SWEAR AT ALL. In Ecclesiasticus: Do not accustom your mouth to swearing, for in it there are many falls; and do not busy yourself with names, for you shall not be innocent of them. For as a servant continually questioned will not be lessened of bruises, so everyone who swears and names the Name in every matter shall not be cleansed of sin. A man who swears much shall be filled with iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house; and if he swears in vain, he shall not be justified. Likewise there: The speech of one who swears much makes the hair stand on end. Likewise according to Matthew: You have heard that it was said: You shall not swear falsely, but you shall render to the Lord your oaths.
But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King; nor shall you swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your speech be: yes, yes; no, no; for whatever is more than these is from evil. 42. THAT ONE MUST NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS. In Exodus: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not consent with the unjust to become an unjust witness. Likewise in Psalm 34: Unjust witnesses, rising up, asked me of things I knew not; they repaid me evil for good. Likewise in Proverbs: An unjust false witness kindles falsehoods and sows judgments among brethren.
Likewise there: But a swift witness has a wicked tongue. Likewise there: A faithful witness will deliver a soul from evils, but a deceitful man kindles up falsehoods. Likewise there: A fickle man with his tongue will fall into evils. Likewise there: A false witness shall not go unpunished, and he who accuses unjustly shall not escape. Likewise there: A lying witness shall perish, but an obedient man shall speak with caution. Likewise there: Be not a lying witness against your fellow citizen, neither be enlarged with your lips. Likewise there: A club and a sword and a piercing arrow, such is the man who bears false witness against his friend. Likewise there: A lying tongue hates the truth, and an unrestrained mouth stirs up seditions. XLIII. THAT ONE MUST NOT LIE. In Exodus:
You shall not steal, and you shall not lie, nor shall anyone bring a false charge against his neighbor. Likewise in the Book of Wisdom: But the mouth that lies kills the soul. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not utter a lie against your brother. In Wisdom, chapter I: But the mouth that lies kills the soul. In Ecclesiasticus, chapter V: Do not utter a lie against your brother, and do likewise to a friend. Likewise there: Do not be willing to tell any lie whatever, for the habit of it is not good. Likewise there: A lie is a foul disgrace in a man; it will be continually on the mouth of the undisciplined. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah:
Lying and not faithfulness has prevailed upon the earth, for from evils they have gone out to evils, and they have not known me. Likewise there: Better is a poor man walking in truth than a rich man who lies. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Ephesians: Putting away lying, let each one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Likewise to the Colossians: Do not lie to one another, putting off the old man with his deeds. Likewise John the apostle: Every lie is not of the truth. XLIIII. ON THE PROHIBITION OF IDOLATRY. In Exodus: And Moses went down to the people, and said to them: The Lord has spoken all these words, saying: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything whatever that is in heaven above or whatever is in the earth beneath: you shall not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord your God. Likewise there: And the Lord said to Moses: These things you shall say to the house of Jacob, and you shall testify to the children of Israel, saying: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven: you shall not make for yourselves gods of silver nor gods of gold, nor shall you make for yourselves an idol. Likewise there: He who sacrifices to gods shall be uprooted, unless to the Lord alone. Likewise there: And you shall not remember the names of strange gods, neither let them be heard from your mouth. Likewise there: You shall not adore their gods, nor serve them.
You shall not do according to their works, but you shall cast down and destroy and break in pieces their images, and you shall serve the Lord your God. And I will bless your bread and your water, and I will turn away sickness from you. Likewise there: Take heed to yourself, lest perchance you make a covenant with those who dwell upon the land into which you are about to enter, lest they become an offense among you. Their altars you shall destroy, and their pillars you shall break down, and their sacred groves you shall cut down. For you shall not adore another god: for I am the Lord your God: jealous is my name, a jealous God is he. Lest perchance you make a covenant with those who dwell upon the land, and commit fornication after their gods, and they invite you and you eat of their sacrifices:
and you take of their daughters for your sons, and give your daughters to their sons: and your daughters commit fornication after their gods. And you shall not make for yourselves molten gods. Likewise in Leviticus: You shall not serve idols, and you shall not make for yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God. Likewise there: Do not eat upon the mountains: you shall not observe omens, you shall not practice augury. Likewise there: You shall not follow those with familiar spirits, and to enchanters you shall not cling, so as to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. Likewise there: And the soul that follows after those with familiar spirits or enchanters, so as to commit fornication by going after them, I will set my face against that soul and destroy it from among its people.
And you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Likewise there: You shall not make for yourselves idols made by hand, nor graven images, nor shall you set up standing stones for yourselves, nor shall you place a carved transparent stone in your land, that you may adore them: I am the Lord your God. Likewise in Numbers: And you shall take away their watchtowers, and all their molten images you shall destroy, and all their set-up stones you shall take away. Likewise in Deuteronomy:
See that you do not commit iniquity, nor make for yourselves a graven likeness of male or female, or the likeness of any beast that is upon the earth, or the likeness of birds flying under heaven, or the likeness of serpents upon the earth, or the likeness of fish that are in the waters under the earth. And lest, looking up to heaven and seeing the sun and the moon or the stars and all the ornaments of heaven, you go astray and adore them, and serve those things which God has apportioned to all the nations that are under heaven. But you God has taken up and brought out from the iron furnace, out of Egypt, that you might be a people for his inheritance to this day. Likewise there:
Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a graven likeness of any of the things which the Lord your God forbade you: because the Lord your God is a consuming and jealous fire. Likewise there: Their altars you shall cast down, and their pillars you shall break in pieces, and their sacred groves you shall cut down, and their graven images you shall burn with fire: because you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you for himself, that you might be to him an everlasting people above all the nations that are upon the face of the earth. Likewise there: The graven images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you sin because of it:
because it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring filthiness into your house. You shall be accursed, just as it is. With hatred you shall hate them, and with abhorrence you shall abhor them, for it is accursed. Likewise there: And it shall be, if you forget the Lord your God and go after strange gods, and serve them and adore them, behold, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you shall utterly perish: just as the other nations also, which the Lord God is about to destroy from before your face, so shall you perish, if you do not hear the voice of the Lord your God. Likewise there: If you are sons of God, you shall not fear, and you shall not practice divination. Likewise there:
Cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten thing, an abomination to God, the work of craftsmen's hands, and puts it in a secret place. And all the people answering shall say: Amen, amen. Likewise there: They sacrificed to demons and not to God, to gods whom they had not known. New ones came, whom their fathers did not know. Likewise there: See, see that I am he, and there is no God besides me. I will kill and I will make alive, I will strike and I myself will heal, and there is none who can deliver out of my hands. Likewise in the book of Joshua son of Nun: And therefore be exceedingly strong to keep and to do all the things that are written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not to the right hand or to the left. And that you do not, going in to these nations, associate with them.
And the names of their gods shall not even be named among you, neither shall you serve them, nor adore them, but you shall cling to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day. And the Lord himself has destroyed them from before your face. Likewise there: And Joshua said to the people: If you serve strange gods, you shall not be able to serve the Lord, because the Lord is holy: and when he is jealous of you, you shall not patiently bear your sins: but on the day you forsake the Lord, wrath coming upon you shall afflict you and destroy you. Why should you serve strange gods, when he has done well by you in all things? And the people answered Joshua, saying: We will not adore strange gods, but we will serve our God. And Joshua said to the people:
You yourselves therefore are witnesses that you have chosen to serve the Lord. And now put away the gods of foreigners that are among you, and direct your heart to the Lord God of Israel. And all the people answered Joshua, saying: We will serve the Lord, and we will hear his voice. Likewise in First Kingdoms: And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If with your whole heart you turn to the Lord, put away the strange gods from your midst, and cut down their sacred groves, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the foreigners. And when they heard this, the children of Israel put away the Baals, and turned away the groves of Astaroth, and served the Lord alone. Likewise in Psalm 80:
Hear, my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify to you. O Israel, if you will hear me, there shall be no new god in you, nor shall you adore a strange god: for I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Likewise in Psalm 95: For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens. Likewise in Psalm 96: Let all be confounded who adore graven images, who glory in their idols. Likewise in Psalm 113: The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands: they have a mouth, and shall not speak: they have eyes, and shall not see: they have ears, and shall not hear: they have nostrils, and shall not smell: they have hands, and shall not feel: they have feet, and shall not walk:
they shall not cry out in their throat, for there is no breath in their mouth. Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them! Likewise in the Book of Wisdom: Neither, by attending to the works, did they recognize who the craftsman was, but they supposed either fire, or wind, or swift air, or the circle of stars, or vast water, or the sun or the moon, to be the gods that govern the world: and if it was because of their beauty that they esteemed them so, let them know how much more beautiful than these is their Lord: for the author of beauty established all these things. Likewise there:
But unhappy are they, and their hope is among the dead, who have called gods the works of men's hands, gold and silver and the invention of art and the likeness of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand. Likewise there: He is not ashamed to speak with that which is without a soul: and for health indeed he beseeches the weak, and for life he asks the dead, and for a journey he petitions that which cannot walk: and concerning gain and concerning labor and concerning the outcome of all things he petitions that which is in all things incapable. Likewise there: For the beginning of fornication is the seeking out of idols, and the invention of them is the corruption of life. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And you shall abominate the silvered and gilded images:
you shall make their face crumble to bits, and you shall scatter them like the water of an unclean woman, and like dung you shall carry them away. Then there shall be rain for the seed of your land, and bread from the produce of your land, and it shall be in fullness and fatness. Likewise there: Let them draw near and announce to us the things that are to come, or tell the former things that have been, and we will attend with our mind, and we will know the last things and the things that are to come in the last time, and we will know that you are gods. Do good or do harm, and we will marvel, and we will see. For whence are you, and whence is your fabrication? From the land of abomination they chose you. For among the nations, behold, there is none, nor any of their idols who declares. And if I ask: Whence are you? they will not answer me:
for there are those who make you, and who vainly seduce you. Likewise there: Be red with shame, you who trust in graven images, who say to molten images: You are our gods. You deaf, hear; and you blind, look up, that you may see. And who are blind, except my children? And who are deaf, except those who rule over them? And the servants of God are blinded. Likewise there: Have you not heard from the beginning, and have I not declared to you? You are my witnesses, whether there is a God besides me. And then there were none who could form and carve a god. All are vain who make those things that please their own minds, which shall not profit them: but all shall be ashamed who form a god and carve useless things. And all from whom they were made have withered: for they are deaf, apart from men.
Know that their heart is ashes, and they go astray, and no one can deliver their soul. See therefore, you shall not say that there is a lie in my right hand. Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant: and, O Israel, do not forget me. For behold, I have blotted out your iniquities like snow, and your sins like a mist. Likewise there: Remember these things and groan: repent, you who go astray: turn back from your heart, and call to mind the things of former ages, that I am the Lord and there is none besides me. Likewise there: This people that provokes me is always against me:
these sacrifice in gardens and burn incense upon bricks to demons which are nothing, and they sleep in tombs and in caves on account of dreams, those who eat swine's flesh. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord: Do not walk according to the ways of the nations, and do not fear the signs of heaven, fearing at the sight of their face: for the ordinances of the nations are vain: a tree cut from the forest, the work of the craftsman and cast, they are adorned with silver and gold, and with hammers and nails they fasten them: and they shall not be moved, for they are fixed. Likewise there: Is there any among the idols of the nations who sends rain? And if heaven will give its fullness, are you not he yourself? And we will wait for you, O Lord, for you have made all these things. Likewise there:
O Lord, my strength and my help, and my refuge in the day of evils. To you the nations shall come from the ends of the earth and say: How false are the idols our fathers possessed! And there is no profit in them. If a man makes for himself gods, yet these are not gods. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: But I am the Lord your God, who make firm the heaven and create the earth, whose hands created all the host of heaven, and I did not show them to you that you should go after them. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: Their silver shall be cast out in the streets, and their gold shall be scattered: their souls shall not be satisfied, and their bellies shall not be filled. For the torment of their iniquities has come to pass.
The choice things of the world they set up for pride, and out of them they made the images of their abominations. Likewise in Daniel: And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered Nebuchadnezzar: We have no need to answer you concerning this matter: for there is a God in heaven, whom we serve, mighty to deliver us from the furnace of burning fire and to snatch us out of your hands and to save us. Know therefore, O king, that we do not serve your gods, and the image which you have set up we do not adore. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Corinthians, First: Concerning the foods of those who sacrifice, therefore, we know that an idol is nothing and that there is no God but one. Likewise there: What then do I say? That what is sacrificed to idols is anything? Not that the idol is anything.
but the things which they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons. I do not want you to become partners of demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Likewise to the Galatians: Then indeed, not knowing God, you served those who are not gods: but now, since you have known God, or rather have been known by God, how do you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, which you wish to serve again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear lest perhaps I have labored among you in vain. Be as I am, for I too am as you are. Likewise John the apostle: Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles:
Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine is like gold or silver or stone, the work of art and of man's imagination. Likewise in the Apocalypse: If anyone adores the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his right hand, he too shall drink of the wrath of God, which is mingled unmixed in the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented. In First Corinthians, chapter XI: What then do I say, that what is sacrificed to idols is anything... up to ...the cup of demons. To the Galatians, chapter V: But then indeed, not knowing God, you served those who by nature are not gods... up to ...Be as I am, for I too am as you are. In the First Epistle of John, chapter XX: Little children, keep yourselves from idols. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter XLVIII:
Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think of the divine as being like gold or silver... up to ...the divine to be like. In the Apocalypse, chapter XXXIII: If anyone adores the beast and its image... with fire and brimstone in the sight of the angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, those who adore the beast and its image, and whoever has received the mark of its name. XLV. THAT ONE MUST NOT COMMIT FORNICATION. In Exodus: You shall not commit fornication. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Likewise in Leviticus: Whatever man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, let him die the death, both the one who has committed adultery and she who has committed adultery. Whoever lies with his kinswoman has uncovered the shame of his kindred: they shall die without children.
Whoever takes his brother's wife, it is uncleanness, he has uncovered his brother's shame: they shall die without children. Likewise in Deuteronomy: You shall not commit adultery. Likewise there: There shall be no fornicator among the sons of Israel, and there shall be no harlot among the daughters of Israel. Likewise in the Proverbs of Solomon: But a woman captures the precious souls of men. Can a man bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments? Or will he walk upon coals of fire, and not burn his feet? So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife: he shall not be unpunished, nor shall anyone who touches her. XLV. THAT ONE MUST NOT COMMIT FORNICATION. In Exodus, chapter XI: You shall not commit adultery... up to ...nor shall you desire his wife. In Leviticus, chapter XII:
If a man commits adultery with another's wife... up to ...because they have wrought wickedness: their blood shall be upon them. In Deuteronomy, chapter IIII: You shall not commit adultery. Likewise in Deuteronomy, chapter XIII: There shall be no harlot among the daughters of Israel, nor any whoremonger among the sons of Israel. In Psalm 72: For behold, those who remove themselves far from you shall perish... up to ...in the gates of the daughter of Zion. In Proverbs, chapter VII: But a woman captures the precious soul of a man... up to ...so he who goes in to his neighbor's wife shall not be unpunished, nor anyone who touches her. Likewise there: But the adulterer, through want of sense, procures the destruction of his own soul, he shall suffer pains and disgraces, and his reproach shall not be blotted out. Likewise there:
An iniquitous thought is an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the holy are chaste. Likewise there: The father of a man who loves wisdom rejoices, but he who feeds harlots wastes his riches. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not give your soul to harlots in anything, lest you destroy yourself and your inheritance. Likewise in Job: If my heart has followed after my eye, or if I have handled a bribe with my hands, may I be scattered and not gathered together. Or if my sense has followed after another man's wife, or if I have lain in wait at her doors in lust, may my wife be taken away, and given to another. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Wine and women make wise men apostatize, and they convict men of sense. And he who joins himself to harlots will be worthless:
rottenness and worms shall inherit him. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: They have become like maddened horses after women! Each one goes in to his neighbor's wife, to the woman of his neighbor: he shall not be clean when he has touched her. Likewise chapter VII: But he who is an adulterer, through want of heart... up to ...and his reproach shall not be blotted out. Likewise chapter XXVIIII: The man who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but he who nourishes harlots wastes his substance. In Ecclesiasticus, chapter VII: Do not give your soul to harlots in anything, lest you destroy yourself and your inheritance. In Hosea, chapter: All the princes are adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker. In Job, chapter:
And if my eye has followed my heart, and a stain has clung to my hands... up to ...may my wife be another's harlot and may others bow down upon her. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus, chapter XI: Wine and women make wise men apostatize... up to ...and rottenness and worms shall inherit him. In Jeremiah, chapter: I filled them full, and they committed adultery, and in the harlot's house he neighed. Shall I not visit for these things, says the Lord, or shall not my soul take vengeance on such a nation? Likewise Tobit to his son: But take heed to yourself against all fornication. Likewise in Psalm 72: For behold, those who remove themselves far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all who commit fornication away from you.
But for me it is good to cling to God, to put my hope in God, that I may tell forth all your promises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: All the princes who commit adultery are like an oven burning for baking, a blaze of flame. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: You have heard that it was said: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Likewise there: Everyone who dismisses his wife and marries another commits adultery: and whoever marries her who has been dismissed by her husband commits adultery. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Corinthians, First: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? God forbid.
Do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For the two shall be one flesh. But he who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin whatever a man commits is outside the body: but he who commits fornication sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price. Glorify and bear the Lord in your body. XLVI. ON THE NEGLIGENCE OF PRIESTS. In the prophet Jeremiah: And the priests did not say: Where is God? And the keepers of my law did not know me, and the shepherds acted impiously against me. Likewise there: Horrible things have been done upon the earth:
the prophets prophesy wickedly, and the priests clap with their hands, and my people have loved them. What will you do in the time to come? Likewise there: From the priest even to the false prophet, all have committed falsehood, saying: Peace, peace. And where is peace? Likewise there: How do you say: We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? In vain has your measuring line been made. The scribes have been confounded, the wise men have been dismayed, because they have rejected the word of the Lord: what wisdom is there in them? Likewise there: Your tabernacle has been made wretched, it has perished, and all its coverings have been torn asunder: because the shepherds have acted foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore they have not understood. Likewise there:
Therefore thus says the Lord against the shepherds who rule my people: You have scattered my sheep, and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I take vengeance on you according to your evil endeavors. And I will raise up for them shepherds who will feed them: and they shall no more fear nor be dismayed, says the Lord. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: The priests have hidden the way of the Lord, and fire has consumed their judges, and there was none among them who called upon me. Likewise in the prophet Micah: And the priests answered for reward, and they rested upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in our midst? Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: O evil shepherds!
you have corrupted my sheep, teaching them according to your own wills, and you have not taught them the things that are true. Likewise in the prophet Zephaniah: Her priests defile holy things and reject the law. Likewise in the prophet Malachi: You priests, who deceive my name, and have said: In what have we deceived your name? By offering polluted bread upon my altar. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: behold, you devour the milk, and clothe yourselves with their wool, and you have slaughtered what was fat, and you have scattered my sheep:
the weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and the broken you have not bound up, and the straying you have not turned back, and what was perishing you have not sought, and the strong you have oppressed with labor. And my sheep were scattered because there were no shepherds, and they became food for all the beasts of the field. And my sheep were scattered upon every mountain and upon every high hill, and upon the face of all the earth they were scattered, and there was none who sought them nor any who called them back. Likewise in the prophet Malachi: You who have provoked the Lord with your words, and have said: In what have we provoked him? In that you say: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he is pleased with them. And where is the God of justice?
Likewise in the prophet Hosea: Their sacrifices are like the bread of mourning: all who eat them shall be defiled. Likewise in Numbers: Separate yourselves from the tents of these most hardened men, and touch nothing of all that is theirs, lest you perish together in their sin. XLVII. ON THE SANCTIFICATION OF PRIESTS OR OF THOSE WHO MINISTER TO GOD, AND ON THE WHOLE ORDERING OF ECCLESIASTICAL DISCIPLINE. In Exodus: And let the priests who approach the Lord be sanctified, lest perchance the Lord forsake them. Likewise there: And you shall make for them linen breeches, that they may cover the shame of their body, from the loins to the knees. Likewise there: Everyone who touches the altar shall be sanctified. Likewise in Leviticus:
They shall be holy to their Lord, and they shall not defile the name of the Lord their God, and they themselves shall offer gifts, and they shall be holy. They shall not take a harlot or a defiled woman, they shall not take a woman cast off by her husband, because they are holy to the Lord their God. And you shall sanctify them. For they offer the gifts of the Lord your God: they shall be holy, for I the Lord who sanctify them am holy. Likewise there: And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying: Wine and strong drink you shall not drink, you and your sons with you, when you enter the tabernacle of the testimony, or when you approach the altar, lest you die. Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Likewise in First Chronicles:
And David called Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites Ariel, Asaiah, Joel, Aminadab. And he said to them: You are the chiefs of the families of the Levites, sanctify yourselves and your brethren, and bring back the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. And the priests and the Levites were purified, that they might carry the ark of the Lord of Israel. Likewise the apostle Paul to Titus: For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might correct the things that were lacking, and appoint elders throughout the cities, as I disposed for you. If any man is without crime, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riotous living, or unruly.
For a bishop must be without crime, as a steward of God, not proud, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not eager for base gain: but hospitable, kindly, prudent, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word according to the doctrine, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many who are also disobedient, vain talkers and seducers. Likewise to Timothy, First: It is a human saying: If anyone desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
For a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, orderly, hospitable, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, but modest, not quarrelsome, not covetous, ruling his own house well, having his children in subjection with all chastity — for if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he have care for the church of God? — not a novice, lest, lifted up in pride, he fall into the judgment of the devil. Moreover he must also have a good testimony from those who are without, that he fall not into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Deacons likewise must be chaste and modest, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, not covetous, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved, and so let them minister, having no crime laid against them. Likewise there: Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, who rule their children well and their own households. For those who have ministered well acquire for themselves a good standing, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Likewise Peter the apostle in his first epistle:
I who am a witness of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and likewise a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, exhort the elders who are among you, that you shepherd the flock of the Lord, taking the oversight of it not for gain, nor for lording it over the brethren, but willingly, from the heart, gladly. And be without blame, that you may be a pattern to the sheep in good works, in all conduct that is according to God: that when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you may render an account concerning the sheep, and receive that unfading and blossoming crown of glory. Likewise you younger ones, be subject to the elders. And all of you put on quietness and humility of mind: for God resists the proud, but to the humble he gives grace.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of his visitation: casting all your care upon him, for he himself has care over all. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Who then is the faithful and prudent servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, that he will set him over all that he possesses. But if that wicked servant shall say:
My lord delays his coming, and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken, the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not look for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Likewise Paul the apostle to the Colossians: Say to Archippus: Take heed to the ministry which you have received, that you fulfil it. Likewise in Leviticus: You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the testimony for seven days, until the days of your consecration be fulfilled. Likewise there: At the door of the tabernacle of the testimony you shall sit seven days, day and night. Keep the observances of the Lord, that you die not. XLVIII. ON THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE PEOPLE. In Exodus:
And Moses came down from the mountain to the people, and spoke to them, and sanctified them: and they washed their garments. And he said to them: Be ready in three days, and do not approach a woman. Likewise in Deuteronomy: Behold, I have shown you judgments and ordinances of righteousness, as the Lord commanded me, so to do in the land into which you are entering to possess it. Keep them therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and understanding before all the nations, whoever shall hear all these ordinances, and they shall say: Behold a wise and understanding people, what a great nation is this. For what nation is so great, whose God draws near to it, as the Lord our God is in all things wherein we call upon him?
And what other nation is so great, that has righteousness and just judgments according to all this law which I set before you this day? Take heed to yourself and keep your soul, lest you forget all the words which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And you shall instruct your children and your children's children. Likewise in the second book of Chronicles, Jehoiada the priest: And he set porters over the gates of the house of the Lord, and no unclean person in anything should enter in. Likewise Peter the apostle in his first epistle: And you too, be holy in all your conduct, for it is written: Be holy, for I also am holy. XLIX. ON AVOIDING STRIFE. In Proverbs:
Strife stirs up hatred, but friendship shelters all who do not contend. Likewise there: The silent man stills contradictions, and settles them among the powerful. Likewise there: Do not rush quickly into a brawl, lest afterward you repent of it. When your friend has reviled you, withdraw back. Do not contend when your friend upbraids you. Grace and friendship set free — keep them for yourself, that you be not in reproaches, but guard your ways by preserving them well. Likewise there: A hot-spirited man digs up strife, but an angry man heaps up sins. Likewise the apostle to the Corinthians, first epistle: For while there is envy and strife among you, are you not carnal, and walking according to man? Likewise to the Philippians:
If therefore there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies: fulfil my joy, that you all say the same thing, having the same love, of one accord, of one mind, doing nothing through strife nor through vainglory, but in humility of mind esteeming one another better than yourselves, each looking not to his own things, but to the things of others. L. ON HERETICS AND FALSE PROPHETS TO BE AVOIDED, OR ON CONTENTIONS ABOUT THE LAW. In Jeremiah: And the Lord said to me: The prophets prophesy falsely in my name: I did not send them, nor command them, nor speak to them: for they prophesy to you false visions and divinations and the presumptions of their own heart. Likewise there:
Do not listen to the words of the prophets, for they are vain, and they speak the visions of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord. They say to those who reject the word of the Lord: Peace shall be to you. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me: for in vain do they worship me, teaching doctrines that are the commandments of men. Likewise in Ezekiel: And I will stretch out my hand against the prophets who see lies and speak vain things: they shall not be in the council of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Because they have seduced my people, saying: Peace, peace, and there was no peace. Likewise there:
Woe to those who sew cushions under every elbow, and make veils over the head of every stature, to entrap souls. And they defiled me among my people, and seduced souls to slay them, which ought not to die, and to save alive souls which ought not to live, while you speak to a people that listens to vain words. Because you have overturned the heart of the righteous, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should by no means turn from his evil way and live. Likewise Paul the apostle to the Romans: I beseech you, brethren, mark diligently those who cause tumults and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, whether by saying or by doing. Turn away from them.
For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and blessings they seduce the hearts of the innocent. But your obedience is come abroad to all. I rejoice therefore over you, and I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto evil. And the God of peace will crush the enemy under your feet quickly. Likewise to the Corinthians, second epistle: But what I do, and will do, is to cut off the occasion of those who desire an occasion, that in the thing wherein they glory they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, workers of iniquity, deceitful, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.
But it is no wonder, since Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light; it is no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Likewise to the Philippians: Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision, who serve God in the spirit and glory in Christ, and put no confidence in the flesh. Likewise there: For many walk, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things: but our citizenship is in heaven. Likewise to the Colossians:
Let no one therefore judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a feast day, or of the new moons, or of new moons, or of fasts, or of a sabbath, which is a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no one seduce you, willingly, in humility of sense and superstition of angels, walking in the things which he has seen, puffing himself up without cause, inflated by the sense of his own flesh, and not holding the Head, from which the whole body, joined and knit together through joints and bands, grows with the increase of God. If then you are dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why, as though living in this world, do you decree: Touch not, taste not, handle not!
These are all things which perish by the very use of them, according to the precepts and commandments of men; which things indeed have a show of wisdom in self-imposed religion and humility of heart, and in not sparing the body, in no honour toward the satisfying of the flesh. Likewise to Timothy, first epistle: But the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned; from which some, straying, have turned aside to vain babbling, wishing to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. These things teach and exhort.
If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but sick about questions and battles of words, from which arise envies, strifes, blasphemies, evil suspicions, wranglings of men of corrupt mind and destitute of the truth, supposing that the worship of God is a means of gain. Depart from such. Likewise to the same above, second epistle: But shun profane novelties of words, for they will advance greatly toward impiety, and their word spreads like a canker.
Likewise there: O Timothy, keep the commandment, avoiding profane novelties of words and the oppositions of knowledge falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Likewise to Timothy, second epistle: But know this, that in the last times perilous times shall come: men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, proud, disdainful, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without faith, without affection, keeping a covenant so as to disparage it, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness, traitors, insolent, puffed up, lovers of pleasures more than of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. And these avoid.
Of these are they who creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins, who are led away by various lusts, ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. For as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men corrupt in mind, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest to all, as theirs also was. Likewise there: As I begged you to remain at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that you might charge some not to teach otherwise, nor to give heed to Jewish fables and endless genealogies, which furnish questions rather than the edification of God, which is in faith. Likewise to Titus:
But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law: for they are unprofitable and vain. A heretical man, after one admonition, avoid, knowing that such a one is perverse, and sins, being condemned by his own judgment. Likewise to the Laodiceans: And let not the vain talk of certain persons deceive you, insinuating things to turn you away from the truth of the gospel which is preached by me. Likewise the apostle John: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, for many false prophets have gone out into this world. Likewise John the apostle, second epistle: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, and do not say 'Hail' to him.
For he who says to him 'Hail' shares in his malicious works. Behold, I have foretold you, that you be not condemned in the day of the Lord. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves: by their fruits you shall know them. Likewise to the Ephesians: But prove what is well-pleasing to God: and do not share in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them: for the things that are done by them in secret, it is shameful even to speak of. LI. ON CONTINENCE OF THE MOUTH. In Psalm 139: A man full of tongue shall not be established upon the earth. Likewise in Proverbs: In much talking you shall not escape sin: but sparing your lips you shall be wise. Likewise there:
He who uses many words hurts his own soul. Likewise there: Making yourself dumb, you will seem to be wise. Likewise there: He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and reproach to him. Likewise there: Death and life are in the hands of the tongue: but he who is continent shall eat the fruits thereof. Likewise there: He who keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from distresses. Likewise there: A man's own lips are a strong snare to him, and he is caught by the word of his own mouth. Likewise there: He who fixes his eye is an abomination to the Lord, and the untaught are incontinent of tongue. Likewise there: If you see a man swift in words, know that a fool has more hope than he. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus:
Do not be hasty in your tongue, and slack and remiss in your works. Likewise there: Be not called a whisperer, and be not caught by your tongue: for confusion and repentance are upon the thief, but upon the whisperer are hatred and enmity and reproach. Likewise there: Do not repeat a harsh and wicked word. Likewise there: There is one silent who is found wise, and there is one silent who has no sense of speech: and there is one silent who knows the time of the fitting season. Likewise there: A wise man will be silent until his time: but the wanton and imprudent will not observe the time. He who uses many words hurts his own soul, and he who unjustly assumes power to himself is likewise advanced in evils. Likewise there: He who is a whisperer in all things and needlessly, shall be hated.
Likewise there: The silent and sensible man shall be honoured with honour. Likewise there: In the midst of the sensible, keep the word of the season: but in the midst of those who deliberate, be assiduous. Likewise there: An angry man kindles strife, and a sinful man will trouble friends, and cast slander into the midst of those who have peace. According to a man's strength is his anger, and according to his substance he will exalt strife. A hasty contest kindles fire, and a hasty quarrel sheds blood, and a witnessing tongue brings death: if you blow upon it, it will burn like a spark; if you spit upon it, it will be quenched; and both proceed from the mouth. A whisperer and a double-tongued man is accursed: for he will trouble many who have peace. Likewise there:
A third person's tongue has stirred up many and scattered them from nation to nation: it has destroyed the cities of the rich and dug down the houses of the great: it has cut down the powers of peoples and dissolved strong nations. He who regards it shall have no rest, nor shall he dwell in quiet. Likewise there: The strokes of a whip make bruises, but the stroke of the tongue crushes the bones. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as those who have perished by the tongue. Happy is he who has been delivered from a wicked tongue, who has not passed through its wrath, and has not been bound with its chains! For its yoke is a yoke of iron, and its death is a most wretched death, and hell is more profitable than it. Likewise there:
Melt down your gold and your silver, and for your words make a balance, and right bridles for your mouth: and take heed, lest perhaps you slip with the tongue and fall in the sight of enemies who lie in wait for you, and your fall be incurable. Likewise there: Who will set a guard over my mouth, and a sure seal upon my lips, that I fall not by them, and my tongue destroy me not? O God, Father and Ruler of my life, do not let me fall by them: let not my ignorances increase, that I be caught in the sight of adversaries, and my enemy rejoice. Likewise there: Do not accustom your mouth to undisciplined speech, for in it there is a word of sin. Likewise in Ecclesiastes:
Do not be hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart make haste to utter a word before the face of God: for God is in heaven and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few. Likewise there: Do not give your mouth to make your flesh sin: and do not say before the face of God that it is ignorance, lest the Lord be angry at your words, and destroy the works of your hands. Likewise in Job: And therefore hide yourself from a most wicked tongue, and you shall not fear the evils that come upon you. Mock the unjust and curb the mouth of the wicked. Likewise there: And if we are exalted in much speaking, before the Lord we shall not be acquitted. Likewise in Psalm 13: With their tongues they dealt deceitfully, the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Likewise in Psalm 33: Who is the man that desires life, and loves to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile: turn away from evil and do good: seek peace and pursue it. Likewise in Psalm 38: I said: I will keep my ways, that I offend not with my tongue. I have set a guard upon my mouth, while the sinner stands against me. Likewise in Psalm 140: Set a guard, O Lord, upon my mouth, and a door round about my lips. Do not incline my heart to evil words, to make excuses in sins, with men who work iniquity: and I will not join with their chosen ones. Likewise the apostle to the Ephesians:
Let no evil word proceed out of your mouth, but if any is good for the edification of the faith, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and indignation and clamour and reviling be put away from you, with all malice. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not strive with a talkative man, and heap not wood upon his fire. Likewise the apostle James: Let every man indeed be swift to hear and slow to speak. Likewise there: If anyone thinks himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Likewise there: Do not be many talkers, my brethren, knowing that you will receive the greater judgment.
For in many things we all offend. If anyone offends not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body and direct it. Why then are bridles put into horses' mouths, except that they may be persuaded by us, and we turn about their whole body? Behold also the ships, which are so immense, are driven by fierce winds and turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the one steering shall will. So too the tongue is a small part of the members, but it speaks great things. And as a little fire kindles a great forest, so also the tongue is a fire: and the world of iniquity is set among our members through the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and inflames the wheel of our nativity, and is inflamed from our nativity.
For every nature of beasts and of birds and of serpents and of sea-creatures is tamed and subjected to human nature: but the tongue of men no one can tame nor restrain from evil, for it is full of deadly poison. LII. THAT DRUNKENNESS IS TO BE FLED. In Proverbs: He who is merry in the tarryings over wine will leave behind reproach. Likewise there: Wine is a wanton thing and drunkenness an injurious one. Every fool is entangled with these. Likewise there: Do not be given to wine, nor stretch yourself out to buy meat: for every drunkard and fornicator shall beg, and shall be clothed in torn rags, and every sluggard. Likewise there: To whom is woe? To whom tumults? To whom judgments? To whom brawls and quarrels? To whom needless bruises?
Whose eyes are bloodshot? Are they not those who linger over wine? Are they not those who search out where banquets are held? Do not therefore be drunk with wine, but speak with righteous men and converse in your walks. For if you set your eyes upon flasks and cups, at the last you shall walk barer than a hair. Likewise there: The powerful are prone to anger: let them not drink wine, lest, when they have drunk, they forget wisdom and cannot rightly judge the weak. Likewise there: Thorns grow up in the hands of the drunkard. Likewise: As a thorn springs up in the hand of the drunken, so is a parable in the mouth of fools. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: A drunken workman shall not grow rich, and he who despises small things shall little by little fall.
Wine and women make wise men fall away, and convict men of sense. And he who joins himself to fornicators shall be wicked: rottenness and worms shall inherit him. Likewise there: A drunken and gadding woman is a great wrath, and her contumely and shame shall not be covered. Likewise there: And if you have sat in the midst of many, do not reach out to drink before them. Let a little wine suffice for a well-disciplined man, and in sleeping you shall not labour from it and shall feel no pain. Watchfulness and choler and gripings are for the intemperate man: healthful sleep is for the frugal man; he shall sleep till morning, and his soul shall delight itself with him. Likewise there: Do not provoke those who love wine: for wine has destroyed many.
Fire tries hard iron, so wine convicts the hearts of the proud. Wine is life to men if drunk in fair measure, not in drunkenness: if you drink it moderately, so that you are sober: for death defrauds life. Wine was created for gladness, not for drunkenness from the beginning. Wine moderately drunk is the exultation of the soul and heart. Wine drunk in excess brings on provocation and wrath, and the passion of drunkenness causes many ruins. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: It is better to go into the house of mourning than to go into the house of drinking. Likewise in the prophet Joel: Be sober, you who are drunk from your wine: weep and howl, all you who drink wine to drunkenness, for gladness and joy are taken away from your mouth. Likewise the apostle to the Romans:
As in the day, let us walk honestly, not in revellings, not in drunkenness, not in couplings and immodesties, not in strife and rivalry: but put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise to the Corinthians, first epistle: Neither the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, shall possess the kingdom of God. Likewise to the Ephesians: Do not be drunk with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. LIII. THAT THE MALICE OF A WOMAN IS TO BE AVOIDED. In the Proverbs of Solomon: Do not give heed to a deceitful woman: for honey distils from the lips of a harlot woman, who for a time makes your throat smooth: but in the end you shall find her more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. For her footsteps do not accord with life:
For she does not follow the ways of life; her ways are deceitful and not well considered. Keep your way far from her: do not draw near to the doors of her house, lest you give your life to others, and your substance to those who are without mercy. Likewise there: Do not be excessive toward a strange woman, nor be joined in the embraces of her who is not yours. Likewise there: My son, let not the desire of beauty overcome you, nor be caught by your eyes, nor be seized by her eyelids. For how much is the price of a harlot? A single loaf: but a woman captures the precious souls of men. Likewise there: Can a man bind fire in his bosom, and not burn his garments? Or will he walk upon coals of fire, and not burn his feet?
So he who goes in to his neighbour's wife shall not be unpunished, nor anyone who touches her. Likewise there: A foolish and bold woman becomes destitute of prudence, one who knows not shame. Likewise there: As the moth to the garment and the worm to the wood, so shall a malicious woman ruin a man. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not gaze upon a wanton woman, lest perhaps you fall into her snares. Do not be assiduous with a dancing girl, nor listen to her, lest perhaps you perish in her wiles. Likewise there: Do not give your soul to harlots, lest you destroy yourself and your inheritance. Do not be seen in the streets of the city, nor wander in its open places. Turn away your face from a decked-out woman, and do not gaze upon another's beauty.
Every woman who earns by prostitution is trodden underfoot like dung in the road. Many, admiring the beauty of a strange woman, have become reprobate: for converse with her burns like fire. Do not recline at the elbow beside another man's wife, and do not dispute with her over wine, lest perhaps your heart incline toward her, and you slip by your blood into perdition. Likewise there: Do not give a woman power over your soul, lest she enter into your strength and you be confounded. Likewise there: Brief are all evils beside the malice of a woman: let the lot of a sinner fall upon her. Likewise there: As a sandy ascent to the feet of an old man, so is a talkative woman to a quiet man. Do not give heed to a woman's beauty, and do not covet a woman's form.
Wrath and irreverence and confusion is a great woman, if she has the primacy and rules over her husband. From a woman was the beginning of sin made, and because of her we all die. Likewise there: The fornication of a woman is known by the lifting up of her eyes and by her eyelids. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: And I will call a woman more bitter than death. Her heart is a net and a trap, and her hands are a snare. A wicked woman — he who holds her is as one who holds a scorpion. Likewise in Proverbs: As a golden ring in a swine's snout, so is beauty in a wicked woman. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: A humbled soul and a sad face and a wound of the heart is a wicked woman who is contrary to her husband. Likewise there: Slack hands
and weak knees is a woman who will not make her husband content in his straits. Likewise there: A drunken and gadding woman is a great wrath, and her contumely and shame shall not be covered. LIV. THAT THUNDERS, RAINS, LIGHTNINGS, HAILSTONES, SNOWS, FROSTS, WINDS, FLASHES AND CLOUDS ARE FROM THE LORD. In Exodus: And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunders and hail, and fire ran along upon the land of Egypt. Likewise there: And it came to pass on the third day, when morning was come, that there were thunders and lightnings and thick clouds upon Mount Sinai, and the sound of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, for the Lord had descended upon the mountain in the likeness of fire: and the smoke went up as the smoke of a great furnace. Likewise in Genesis:
And the Lord spoke to Noah, saying: After seven days I will bring a flood of water for forty days and as many nights, and I will blot out every generation which I have made from the face of the earth. And all the fountains of the deep burst forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened, and the rains of the flood came upon all the earth. And then the Lord sent a wind, and stayed the water. Likewise in the book of Joshua son of Nun: And it came to pass, when they fled from before the face of the children of Israel in the descent of Bethhoron, the Lord cast down upon them stones of hail from heaven: and the wrath of the Lord pursued them as far as Azekah, and more died by the hailstones than those whom the children of Israel slew with swords in the battle. Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms:
And Samuel called upon the Lord God, and He gave forth voices and rains on that day; and all the people feared the Lord God exceedingly, and Samuel. Likewise in the Third book of Kingdoms: And the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying: Go and show yourself to Ahab, and I will give rain upon the earth. Likewise in Psalm 147: He gives snow like wool, He scatters mist like ashes; He sends forth His crystal like morsels of bread. Before the face of His cold, who shall endure? He sends forth His word and melts them; His spirit breathes, and the waters flow. Likewise in Psalm 148: Praise the Lord, O sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars and light.
Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord. For He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created. Likewise there: Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all deeps: fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy wind, which fulfil His word. Likewise in Jeremiah: The Lord, who made the earth by His power, and by His wisdom stretched out the heaven and the multitude of the waters in heaven; and He brought up clouds from the ends of the earth, and made lightnings and flashes into rain, and brought forth light from His treasuries. And every man has become foolish, void of his knowledge. Likewise there: Is there among the idols of the nations one who sends rain? And if heaven gives its fullness, are You not He yourself?
And we will wait for You, O Lord, for You have made all these things. Likewise in Leviticus: And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire went forth from the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Likewise in Job: For with the Lord is wisdom; deep is His thought and understanding. And if God shall pull down, who shall build up? If He shall shut in, who shall open? If He dry up the waters, who shall water the earth? And if He multiply the rain, He Himself overturns it. For with Him is all power. LV. THAT ONE MUST NOT PRACTISE LUSTRATIONS NOR DIVINATION. In Deuteronomy:
There shall not be found among you one who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, nor one who divines divinations, an augur, a soothsayer, one who bewitches with drugs, an enchanter, a ventriloquist, one who examines omens, or who questions the dead. For everyone who does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. For because of these abominations the Lord will root them out from before you. But you shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations, whom you shall possess, hearken to auguries and divinations; but to you the Lord your God has not so granted. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: For You hated the ancient inhabitants of Your holy land, because they did works hateful to You through their sorceries and unjust sacrifices, and were pitiless slayers of their own children. LVI.
CONCERNING THE MAKING OF THE WORLD, AND THAT ALL THINGS WERE MADE OUT OF NOTHING. In Genesis: In the beginning God made heaven and earth. Likewise in Exodus: For in six days God made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Likewise in Ezra: You, O Lord God, made heaven and earth and the heaven of heaven and their hosts. You made the earth and all that is in it, the seas and what is in them, and by Your power all things are made to live. The hosts of the heavens also worship You always, O Lord. Likewise in Psalm 32: By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and all their host by the breath of His mouth. Likewise in Psalm 73: Yours is the day and Yours is the night; You made the sun and the moon. You made all the borders of the earth; summer and spring, You made them.
Likewise in Psalm 88: Yours are the heavens and Yours is the earth; the round world and its fullness You have founded. Likewise in Psalm 148: Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights. Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars and light. Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord. For He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created. He established them for ever and for age upon age. Likewise in Maccabees: I beseech you therefore, look upon heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, and seeing, know that out of nothing these were created by the Lord God, who likewise made the race of men.
And He Himself shall judge the round world. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: My hand founded the earth, and My right hand made firm the heaven. Likewise there: For the heaven was made firm like smoke. Likewise there: I made the earth and man upon it, and My hand made firm the heaven; I commanded all the stars to shine. Likewise in the Gospel according to John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing. Likewise to the Ephesians: Of the mystery hidden from the ages in God, who created all things. Likewise to the Colossians:
Who rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His brightness, in whom we have redemption, the remission of sins; who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created through Him and in Him; and He is before all, and all things hold together in Him. Likewise in Jeremiah: The Lord, who made the earth by His power, and by His wisdom stretched out the heaven and the multitude of the waters in heaven; and He brought up clouds from the ends of the earth, and made lightnings and flashes into rain, and brought forth light from His treasuries. Likewise Tobit:
Let the heavens and every creature of all the earth bless You; for You spoke, and all things were made, and You confirm all things by Your word. You made Adam, and gave him Eve as a helper. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: We also are men of like passions with you, preaching to you God, that you should turn from these vain things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them; who in past generations suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways. And yet He did not leave Himself without witness, doing good from heaven, giving you eternal fruitful rain, filling your hearts with food and gladness. Likewise there: God, who made this world and all things that are in it,
He, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. LVII. THAT DARKNESS ALSO WAS CREATED BY GOD. In Isaiah: I who created light and made darkness, making peace and creating good things; I am the Lord who does all these things. Likewise in Job: Consider therefore, Job, these things, and be silent, corrected by the power of the Lord, who set in order His works, making light out of darkness. LVIII. CONCERNING ACCIDENTAL HOMICIDE. In Exodus: But if anyone strike his manservant or maidservant with a rod, and he die under his hand, let it be avenged by judgment. But if he survive a day or two, it shall not be avenged, for he is his price. Likewise there:
But if two men quarrel, and one of them strike his neighbour with a stone or with his fist or with iron, and he does not die but takes to his bed, and if that man rises up and walks about with a staff, then he who struck him shall be guiltless; only he shall pay for his loss of time and for his cures. Likewise there: But if two men quarrel, and they strike a pregnant woman, and her child comes out unformed, he shall suffer loss; whatever the woman's husband demands, he shall give at the request. But if it be formed, he shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. LVIIII.
THAT TITHES AND FIRSTFRUITS OF THE CROPS AND OF ALL THINGS OUGHT TO BE GIVEN TO THE CHURCH BY THE PRECEPT OF THE LAW. Abraham and Melchizedek, in Genesis: And he gave him tithes of all that was his. Likewise there: And Jacob vowed a vow, saying: If the Lord God will be with me and keep me in this way in which I go, and give me bread to eat and a garment to cover me, and bring me back in health to my father's house, then the Lord shall be my God; and this stone, which I have set up, shall be to me the house of God; and of all that the Lord shall give me, I will surely tithe a tenth to You. Likewise in Leviticus: Every tithe of the land, of the seed of the earth and of the fruits of the trees, is holy to the Lord.
But if a man would at all redeem his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it, and it shall be his. Likewise there: And every tithe of oxen and sheep, and whatsoever passes under the rod in counting, every tenth shall be holy to the Lord. You shall not exchange the good for the bad, nor the bad for the good. Likewise in Numbers: You shall not defraud from the firstfruits of your threshing-floor and of your winepress; the firstfruits of all the fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. Likewise there: The firstfruits of your kneading, the bread of the offering, you shall set apart; as an offering from the threshing-floor, so shall you offer it, the firstfruits of your kneading. Likewise there: And the Lord said to Aaron:
All the firstfruits of oil and all the firstfruits of wine and of wheat, those firstfruits whatsoever they shall give to the Lord, I have given them to you. Likewise there: In their land you shall possess nothing, and there shall be no portion for you among them, for I am your portion and your inheritance. And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given the whole tithe as their lot, in return for their services with which they serve in the tabernacle of testimony. Likewise in Deuteronomy: And there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose, that His name be invoked there; there you shall bring all that I command you this day: your holocausts and sacrifices, and your tithes and firstfruits, and your gifts, and all the choicest things from your hands, whatsoever you shall vow to the Lord your God. Likewise there:
You shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed, that which is grown in your field year by year. You shall bring the tithes of your wheat and your wine and your oil, and the firstlings of your oxen and your sheep, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God all the days of your life. And the Levite shall come, because he has no portion nor lot with you, and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow who are in your cities, and they shall eat and be filled; and the Lord your God shall bless you in all the works of your hands, whatsoever you shall do. Likewise Tobit: I used to go up to Jerusalem on the feast days, keeping what is written to be done by all Israel. And keeping the everlasting precept appointed by God, I would carry with me the firstfruits and the tithes of the herd,
and of the flocks, and the firstlings of the shearing of my sheep I would carry with me and give to the priests, the sons of Aaron. And according to the custom of the law, of the wheat and wine and oil and figs and the firstfruits of the other fruits, I would bring them to the Levites and to all who served in Jerusalem for the Lord; and according to the law of tithing, what had to be exchanged I would exchange, and I gathered the price of the redeemed things over six years, and afterwards I would go and reckon up the produce of each year, and count out the money in the holy place, so that in the third year I gave the tithe to the proselytes and orphans and widows; doing all things that are commanded by the Lord to Israel. Likewise the prophet Haggai: You have sown much and brought in little, and I have blown it away. Likewise there:
Thus says the Lord: Because My house is left waste, while each of you busies yourself enough with his own house, therefore heaven shall withhold its dew, and the earth shall withdraw its fruits. And I will bring a sword upon the land, and upon the grain and upon the wine and upon the oil, and upon men and upon cattle, and upon all the labours of their hands. Likewise in Malachi: Shall a man supplant God? For you have supplanted Me. And you have said: In what have we supplanted You? Because My tithes and firstfruits are with you, and dissembling you have dissembled, and you have supplanted Me. And you have brought your pledges into your storehouses, and there shall be plunder in your houses. Likewise there:
Cursed is the man who had the power, and there was in his flock a male, and his vow was upon it, yet he sacrifices a blemished thing to the Lord. Likewise in Proverbs: Honour the Lord with your just labours, and give Him firstfruits of the fruits of your righteousness, that your barns may be filled with abundance of wheat, and that your presses may overflow with wine and oil. LX. THAT LITTLE CHILDREN ARE TO BE CORRECTED WITHOUT DELAY. In the Proverbs of Solomon: He who spares the rod hates his son; but he who loves him corrects him diligently. A father does not rejoice in an untrained son. Likewise there: Do not cease to correct the little child; for if you strike him with the rod, he will not die: you indeed shall strike him with the rod, but you shall deliver his soul from death. Likewise there:
Instruct your son, and he will make you glad and give delight to your soul. Likewise there: The young man who keeps company with the holy one, his way is made straight; the ear that hears and the eye that sees, both are works of the Lord. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Have you sons? Instruct them from their childhood. Have you daughters? Keep their bodies, and show not your face cheerful toward them. Likewise there: He who loves his son applies the whip to him frequently, that he may rejoice at his latter end and not grope at the doors of his neighbours. He who teaches his son shall be praised in him, and shall glory in him in the midst of friends. Likewise there: He who teaches his son provokes his enemy to envy. The father is dead, and yet as if not dead, for he has left one like himself after him. Likewise there:
An untamed horse turns out stubborn, and a son left to himself turns out headstrong. Bend his neck in his youth and beat his sides while he is a child, lest he grow hard and not obey you, and you have grief of soul. LXI. THAT ONE OUGHT TO CLEAVE TO THE COMPANY AND CONVERSE OF THE SAINTS. In Proverbs: The young man who keeps company with the holy one, his way is made straight; the ear that hears and the eye that sees, both are works of the Lord. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Be constant with the holy man, whomsoever you know to keep the fear of God. Likewise there: Stand in the multitude of the prudent elders, and join yourself from your heart to their wisdom; and be willing to hear every discourse of God, and let the proverbs of praise not escape you.
And if you see a man of understanding, watch for him early, and let your foot wear away the steps of his doors. Likewise there: With your whole soul fear the Lord, and reverence His priests. With all your strength love Him who made you, and do not forsake His ministers. Honour the Lord with your whole soul, and honour the priests. Likewise there: Do not despise the discourse of the wise elders, but dwell among their proverbs; for from them you shall learn the doctrine of understanding, for they themselves learned from their fathers. Likewise there: Be constant in the midst of those who teach, and make yourself affable to the assembly of the poor; humble your soul to the elder, and bow your head to the great man. Likewise there:
According to your ability, beware of your neighbour, and take counsel with the wise and the discerning. Likewise there: Let just men be your table-companions, and let your glory be in the fear of the Lord. Let your discourse be with the discerning, and all your talk in the precepts of the Most High. In the hands of craftsmen the work shall be praised, but in the sense of elders, the word. LXII. THAT USURY IS NOT TO BE TAKEN. In Leviticus: You shall not give your money at usury, and you shall not give him your food for the sake of receiving increase: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Likewise in Deuteronomy: You shall not exact from your brother usury of money, and usury of food, and usury of any things whatsoever you have lent. Likewise in Psalm 14:
He who swears to his neighbour and does not deceive him; who has not given his money at usury. LXIII. THAT A TRADER CANNOT BE STRIPPED OF FALSEHOOD. In Ecclesiasticus: Two kinds of things have appeared to me difficult and dangerous: hardly shall a trader be freed from falsehood, and an innkeeper shall not be justified from sin. As a stake is fixed in the midst of the joining of stones, so shall sin be pressed in between selling and buying. LXIIII. THAT DOUBLE WEIGHTS ARE NOT TO BE KEPT. In Deuteronomy: There shall not be in your house a weight great or small, and there shall not be in your house a measure great or small; a true and just weight shall you have: that you may be of many days upon the land which the Lord your God will give you for a possession:
for everyone who does unjust things is an abomination to the Lord. Likewise in Proverbs: An unjust balance is an abomination before the Lord, but a just weight is acceptable to Him. Likewise there: A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good before Him. Likewise there: A great weight and a small, and double measures, both are unclean before the Lord, and he who does them in his dealings shall be hindered. Likewise in the prophet Amos: Hear this therefore, you who oppress the poor in the morning and do violence to the needy of the land, saying:
When will the harvest pass, that we may sell and gain, and the sabbaths, that we may open the storehouses and make the measure smaller, and enlarge the weight and make the balance unjust, that we may possess the poor with money and the needy for a pair of sandals, and we will trade in every kind of business? The Lord has sworn against the pride of Jacob: Surely He will not forget all their works. And for these things the land shall be troubled, and all who dwell in it shall mourn. LXV. THAT VOWS OUGHT TO BE PAID TO THE LORD AT ONCE. In Deuteronomy: But if you vow a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it shall be a sin in you. But if you are unwilling to vow, there shall be no sin in you.
You shall keep what goes forth from your lips, and you shall do just as you have vowed to your God the vow which you spoke with your mouth. Likewise in Ecclesiastes: As soon as you vow a vow to the Lord, you shall not delay to pay it. Therefore pay what you have vowed. It is better not to vow than to have vowed and not to pay. LXVI. THAT ONE MUST NOT LAUGH FOOLISHLY. In Ecclesiasticus: A fool lifts up his voice in laughter, but a wise man will scarcely laugh softly. Likewise there: The talk of sinners is hateful, and their laughter is in the offences of sin. Likewise there: Anger is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart shall be gladdened. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, and the heart of fools in the house of luxury. Likewise there: As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is he who hears the laughter of fools. LXVII.
THAT THE TESTIMONY OF A SINGLE WITNESS IS NOT TO BE ACCEPTED. In Deuteronomy: A single witness shall not stand up to give testimony against a man concerning any sin and against any offence whatsoever he has committed: by the mouth of two witnesses and by the mouth of three witnesses shall every word stand. LXVIII. THAT A MAN'S GARMENTS ARE NOT TO BE WORN BY A WOMAN, NOR A WOMAN'S BY A MAN. In Deuteronomy: There shall not be men's things upon a woman, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. LXVIIII. THAT THE SIN OF PARENTS IS NOT TO BE IMPUTED TO CHILDREN, NOR OF CHILDREN TO PARENTS. In Deuteronomy: The parents shall not die for the children, and the children shall not die for the parents: each one shall die in his own sin. Likewise in Jeremiah:
In those days they shall no longer say: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge; but each one shall die in his own sin, and whoever eats the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge. Likewise in Ezekiel: But the soul that has sinned shall die. The son shall not bear the righteousness of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the iniquity of the wicked shall be upon himself. LXX. THAT CHILDREN ARE TO BE REARED BY THEIR PARENTS IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD. In Deuteronomy: And these words, whatsoever I command you this day, shall be in your heart and in your soul, and you shall show them to your children, and you shall speak of them sitting in your house and when you go on the way, both in rest and in your wakings:
and you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be moving before your eyes; and you shall write them upon the lintels of your house and on your gates. Likewise the apostle Paul to the Ephesians: And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but rear them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord. Likewise to Timothy: Ruling his own house well, having his children in subjection with all chastity. Likewise there: Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, who rule their children well and their own households. Likewise to the Colossians: Fathers, provoke not your children to indignation, lest they become faint-hearted. LXXI. THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS IS TO BE SOWN FIRST, AND AFTERWARDS ITS FRUITS REAPED. In the prophet Hosea:
Sow for yourselves righteousness, and reap the fruit of life; seek for yourselves the light of knowledge; wait for the Lord, until the fruit of righteousness comes to you. Why have you loved ungodliness, and reaped its iniquities? Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: My son, from your youth receive instruction, and even to grey hairs you shall find wisdom. Come to her as one who ploughs and sows, and wait for her good fruits; for in labouring at her you shall labour but a little, and soon you shall eat of her produce. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Renew for yourselves newness, and do not sow among thorns.
Be circumcised to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart, you men of Judah and you who dwell in Jerusalem, lest My indignation go forth like fire and blaze up, and there be none to quench it, because of the wickedness of your thoughts. Likewise in Psalm 125: They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they shall come in exultation, carrying their sheaves. Likewise the apostle to the Galatians: Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap: because he who sows in his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows in the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not fail in doing good:
for in due season we shall reap, if we do not fail. LXXII. THAT TEARS ARE TO BE SHED OVER THE DEAD. In Ecclesiasticus: My son, shed tears over the dead, and begin to lament as one who has suffered grievously; and according to what is fitting cover his body, and do not despise his burial. Because of report bitterly bear his mourning for one day, and be consoled on account of the sadness. LXXIII. THAT NO ONE IS WITHOUT SIN. In Proverbs: Who shall boast that he has a pure heart? Or who shall dare to say that he is clean from sin? Likewise in Job: For if I be righteous, I doubt not that my mouth has admitted iniquity; and if I say, I am without complaint, I have equally spoken hard things.
For what man or what mortal is pure and unspotted from his works before the Lord? For no one is clean from filth, not even one, even if his life upon the earth be but a single day. For what man is without complaint? Or who can be righteous, being born of woman? For if not even the heaven is clean before the sight of the Lord, how much more abominable and unclean is man? Likewise John the apostle, first epistle: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. LXXIIII. THAT ONE MUST NOT STEAL. In Exodus: You shall not commit theft and you shall not lie. Likewise in Psalm 49:
If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and with adulterers you cast in your portion. Likewise there: I will reprove you and set these things before your face. Likewise in Proverbs: He who shares with a thief hates his own soul. Likewise in first Corinthians: Neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God. Likewise in the prophet Zechariah: And I turned and lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes forth against the evildoers who are over the face of the whole earth; for every thief and perjurer shall be punished out of it even unto death.
And I will bring it forth, says the Lord Almighty, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him who swears falsely by My name in a lie, and it shall rest in the midst of his house, and shall consume him and its timber and its stones. Likewise in Exodus: But if anyone steal a calf or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five calves for one calf, and four sheep for one sheep. Likewise there: But if he be poor and have not the means to restore, he shall be sold for the theft. But if what was stolen be found alive in his hands, from an ass to a sheep, he shall restore double. LXXV. THAT ONE MUST NOT GLORY IN THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD. In Proverbs: Be confident with your whole heart in the Lord, but be not lifted up in your own wisdom. Likewise there:
Be not wise in your own eyes: but fear God and turn away from all evil. Then there shall be health to your body and care for your bones. Likewise there: I saw a man who esteemed himself to be wise; but a fool had more hope than he. Likewise in Isaiah: Woe to those who are prudent in their own eyes and wise in their own sight. Likewise there: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the prudence of the prudent. Likewise in Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord: Let not the wise glory in his wisdom, and let not the strong glory in his strength, and let not the rich glory in his riches:
but let him who glories glory in this, to know and understand that I am the Lord who show mercy and judgment and righteousness upon the earth; for in these is My will, says the Lord. Likewise the apostle to the Romans: For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Likewise in first Corinthians: Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Likewise there: Behold your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble:
but God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the base things and the contemptible things and the things that are not, He chose to bring to nought the things that are, that no flesh should glory before God. Likewise there: Let no one deceive himself. If anyone seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: I will catch the wise in their own craftiness. And again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. LXXVI. THAT HONOURS ARE NOT TO BE SOUGHT AMBITIOUSLY. In Ecclesiasticus: Be not proud before the sight of the king, nor stand in the places of the powerful; for it is better that it be said to you:
Come up to me, than that you be humbled in the sight of the powerful. Do not seek leadership from God, nor a chair of honour from the king; do not justify yourself before the Lord, for He is the knower of the heart. Do not seek to be chosen as a judge, unless by your virtue you can break through iniquities, lest perchance you fear the face of the powerful and set a stumbling-block in your cunning. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to the Lord with her sons, worshipping Him and asking something of Him. But He said: What do you wish? She says: That these two sons of mine may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your kingdom. But Jesus said: You know not what you ask: can you drink the cup which I am about to drink? But they said: We can.
Jesus says to them: You shall indeed drink My cup, but to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has been prepared by My Father. And when the other ten disciples heard this, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Him and said: You know that the princes of the nations lord it over them, and the great exercise power over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your servant: just as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. But you seek to be exalted in little things, and to be diminished in the greatest.
But when you have been invited and enter to the supper, do not recline in the places of honour, lest perchance one more worthy than you come in, and the one who invited you draw near and say to you, 'Go still lower,' and you be put to shame. But if you recline in the lower place, one lower than you will arrive, and he who invited you to the supper will say to you, 'Go up still higher,' and this will be more profitable for you. For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord, who bring low the high tree and exalt the low tree, and dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish again. I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. LXXVII.
THAT WHOEVER DESPISES A MAN OF GOD DESPISES THE LORD. In Deuteronomy: And whatever man shall act in pride, so as not to obey the priest who stands to minister in the name of your God, or the judges who shall be in those days, that man shall die, and you shall take away the evil from Israel; and all the people, when they hear, shall fear and shall not commit injustice. Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms, the Lord to Samuel: They do not despise you, but me, that I should not reign over them. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: But the house of Israel will not hear you, because they will not hear me; for the whole house of Israel is contentious and hard of heart. Likewise in Exodus: For your murmuring is not against us, but against God. Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke, the Lord Jesus:
Whoever hears you hears me, and whoever despises you despises me; but whoever despises me despises him who sent me. Likewise the Apostle to the Thessalonians: Wherefore he who despises, despises not a man, but God, who has given his Holy Spirit within us. Likewise in the same place, second epistle: But you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word, note that man by a letter, and do not associate with him, that he may be put to shame. LXXVIII. ON OBEDIENCE. In Exodus: If you hear the voice of the Lord your God, and do the things that are pleasing to him before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his righteousness, none of the infirmity which I brought upon the Egyptians will I bring upon you.
For I am the Lord who heals you. Likewise in Proverbs: As a golden ornament upon a chain of sardius, as a golden earring set with precious sardius, so is a wise word in the ear of the obedient. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: The children of wisdom are the church of the righteous, and their offspring is obedience and love. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which you have been delivered. And being made free from sin, you have become servants of righteousness. Likewise there: For as through the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one many shall be made righteous. Likewise to the Corinthians, second epistle:
For to this end I wrote to you, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things. Likewise Peter the Apostle, first epistle: Therefore purify your souls unto obedience of the faith through the Spirit. LXXVIIII. THAT THE FAINT-HEARTED ARE NOT TO BE SCANDALIZED BUT RATHER CONSOLED. In the Gospel according to Matthew: Whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone be hung about his neck and he be cast into the deep. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: Make no provision for the flesh in its desires. Receive him who is weak in the faith, not in disputes of thoughts. Likewise to the Galatians:
Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any fault, you who are spiritual instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ. Likewise to the Thessalonians, first epistle: Now we beseech you, brethren, admonish the unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all. See that none render evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, both among yourselves and toward all. Likewise to the Romans: Now we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of those who are weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of you please his neighbour unto good edification.
For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written: The reproaches of them that reproached you fell upon me. For whatever things were written, were written for our instruction, that through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God of all grant you to be of one mind among yourselves according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord and with one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also received you, unto the glory of God. Likewise there: Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, that you may abound in all hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of love and all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another. Likewise to the Corinthians, second epistle: But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overburden you all. Sufficient for such a one is this rebuke which is inflicted by the many, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you confirm your love toward him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things. But to whom you forgive anything, I also forgive; for what I have forgiven, I forgave it for your sakes in the person of Christ, that we be not overreached by Satan.
For we are not ignorant of his devices. Likewise to the Colossians: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, righteousness, patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do you. LXXX. ON THE PRAISE OF VIRGINS. In the book of Wisdom: For blessed is the barren and undefiled woman who has not known the bed in transgression; she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls. And blessed is the eunuch who has not worked iniquity with his hands, nor devised wicked things against the Lord; for to him shall be given the choice gift of faith, and a more acceptable lot in the temple of God.
For the fruit of good labours is a good reputation, and the root of wisdom which does not fall away. Likewise Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, first epistle: Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel, as one who has obtained mercy to be faithful. I think therefore that this is good on account of the present necessity, that it is best for a man to be so. Likewise there: But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains that both those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who weep as though they wept not, and those who rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and those who buy as though they possessed not, and those who use this world as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passes away. I would have you to be without anxiety.
He who is without a wife is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please God; but he who has a wife thinks about the things of this world, how he may please his wife. The married woman and the virgin are divided. She who is unmarried thinks about the things of God, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she who is married thinks about the things of this world, how she may please her husband. Likewise there: So then both he who gives his virgin in marriage does well, and he who gives her not does better. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: But I say to you, that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of adultery, causes her to commit adultery. The disciples say to him: If such be the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. But Jesus answered them:
Not all men receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who were so born from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom's sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it. LXXXI. ON CONJUGAL CONCORD AND THE ADORNMENT OF WOMEN. In Ecclesiasticus: In three things my spirit finds pleasure, which are approved before God and man: the concord of brethren, the love of neighbours, and a husband and wife who agree together. Likewise the Apostle to the Colossians: Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Likewise to Timothy, first epistle:
I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing. Likewise also that the women adorn themselves in orderly apparel with modesty and chastity, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly garment, but as becomes women professing chastity through good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I do not permit a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. But she shall be saved through the bearing of children, if she continue in faith and truth and holiness with sobriety. Likewise to Titus:
But as for you, speak the things which become sound doctrine: that the aged men be sober, chaste, prudent, sound in faith, in love, and in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in holy behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach prudence; that they may instruct the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be prudent, chaste, keepers of the home, kind, and subject to their own husbands. The young men likewise exhort, that they be prudent in all things. Likewise Peter the Apostle in his first epistle: Wives, be subject to your own husbands, that even if any do not believe this word, they may be won without a word through the conduct of their wives, beholding your chaste conduct in fear.
Let their adorning not be the outward plaiting of hair, or the wearing of gold, or the putting on of garments or ornaments, but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptibility of a meek and modest spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. For after this manner in old time the holy women also, who hoped in the Lord, adorned themselves, being subject to the stronger vessel, their husbands; as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters you have become, doing well and not fearing any disturbance. Husbands likewise, dwelling with them according to knowledge, giving honour to the woman as to the weaker vessel, as to co-heirs of the grace and of life, that your prayers be not hindered. LXXXII. ON THE HOLINESS AND WORK OF WIDOWS.
In the third book of Kingdoms: And the Lord said to Elijah: Arise and go to Zarephath of Sidon; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to feed you. And he arose and went to Zarephath of Sidon. And when he came there, behold, at the gate of the city a widow woman was gathering sticks. And Elijah cried out after her and said to her: Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch and bring the water, Elijah cried out again after her and said: Bring me bread that I may eat. And she said: As the Lord your God lives, I have no cake, but only a little flour in a jar and a little oil in a vessel; and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and make it for myself and my sons, and we shall eat it and die.
And Elijah said: Fear not; go in and do according to your word, but first make me a little cake from it, and afterward make for yourself and your sons. For thus says the Lord: The jar of meal shall not fail, nor the cruse of oil be diminished, until the day when God gives rain upon the earth. And she went and did so, and both she and he and her sons ate; the jar of meal did not fail, nor the vessel of oil, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by the hand of Elijah. Likewise in the book of Judith: And Judith was a widow in her house for three years and six months.
And she made herself a tent upon the roof of her house, and put sackcloth upon her loins, and fasted all the days of her life, except on the sabbaths and new moons and the feasts of the house of Israel. And she was of a very good countenance, and there was none that spoke an evil word against her, for she feared the Lord greatly. Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; and she was far advanced in her days, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, serving with fastings and prayers night and day. Likewise: And Jesus, looking up, saw the rich who were casting their gifts into the treasury.
And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in two mites, and he said: Truly I say to you, that this poor widow has cast in more than all; for all these have cast into the gifts of God out of their abundance, but she out of that which she lacks has cast in all the living that she had. Likewise the Apostle to Timothy, first epistle: Honour widows who are truly widows. But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let her first learn to treat her own household piously and to requite her parents; for this is acceptable before God. But she who is truly a widow and desolate hopes in God and continues in prayers night and day. But she who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives. And command these things, that they may be blameless.
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a widow be chosen of not less than sixty years, who has been the wife of one husband, having a testimony in good works: if she has brought up children, if she has received strangers with hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has ministered to those suffering tribulation, if she has diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: Now in Joppa there was a certain widow named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. She was full of good works and alms and many mercies which she did. And it came to pass in those days that she fell sick and died.
When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, entreating and saying: Do not delay to come to us. Then Peter arose and came with them; and when he had arrived, they led him into the upper room, and all the widows stood about him weeping and showing the coats and other garments, telling him how much Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter, having put them all out, kneeled down and prayed, and turning to the body he said: Arise in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! And she immediately opened her eyes, and when she had seen Peter, she sat up; and giving her his hand, he raised her up alive.
And calling the saints and the widows, he presented her alive. And this was made known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. LXXXIII. THAT BY THE APOSTLE'S EXAMPLE WE MUST LABOUR WITH OUR HANDS. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians: Give no place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working that which is good, that he may have wherewith to give to him who suffers need. Likewise to the Thessalonians, first epistle: For you remember, brethren, our labour and toil: working night and day, wearied, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached among you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe:
As you know how we exhorted and comforted each one of you, as a father his own children, that you would walk worthily of God, who has called you into his own kingdom and glory. Likewise there: But we exhort you, brethren, to abound more and more, and to study to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands the thing that is good, as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing of any man. Likewise to the Thessalonians, second epistle: Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us:
For we did not behave ourselves disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread for nothing, but in labour and toil, working night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you: not because we had not the power, but to make ourselves an example to you to imitate us. For even when we were with you, this we declared to you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk disorderly among you, working not at all, but being busybodies. Now such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. But you, brethren, do not grow weary in well-doing. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles:
Now Paul had become known to Aquila, because they were of the same race and the same trade, and he stayed with them, doing work; for by trade they were tent-makers. Likewise there, Paul the Apostle: I have coveted no one's silver or gold or garment. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that so labouring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of our Lord Jesus, that he himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. LXXXIIII. THAT ONE OUGHT NOT TO SEARCH OUT THINGS TOO HIGH, NOR TO LISTEN TO HERETICS. In Deuteronomy: You shall not add to this word which I command you this day, neither shall you diminish from it.
Likewise in the Apocalypse: I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God shall lay upon him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city. Likewise in Proverbs: Drink water from your own vessels and from the fountain of your own wells, and let no stranger share with you. Likewise there: He who trusts in falsehoods feeds the winds; and the same man follows the flying birds; for he has forsaken the ways of his own vineyard, and wandered from the tracks of the cultivation of his own field; he walks through dry and desert places, and land set in droughts, and gathers barrenness with his own hands. Likewise there:
Withdraw therefore from strange water, and do not drink from a strange fountain, and you shall live a long time, and years of life shall be added to you. Likewise there: He who follows after vain things lacks understanding. Likewise there: Do not add to his commandments, lest you be reproved and be found a liar. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Seek not the things that are too high for you, and search not out the things above your strength; but the things which the Lord has commanded you, those think upon always, and in his many works be not curious. For their suspicion has led many astray, and detained their minds in vanity. Likewise there: Be not tossed about with every wind, and go not into every way, that the word of peace and knowledge may attend you. Likewise there: To whom does it suffice to declare his works?
There is no diminishing nor adding to them, nor finding out the great works of God. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: With difficulty do we estimate the things that are upon earth, and the things that are in our sight we find out with labour; but the things that are in the heavens, who shall search out? And who shall know your mind, unless you give wisdom? Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him? For of him, and through him, and in him are all things: to him be glory for ever and ever. LXXXV. ON FASTING. In Ecclesiasticus:
He who is baptized after touching a dead body, what does his washing profit him? So is the man who fasts in his sins and does the same things again: what does he profit by humbling himself? Who shall hear his prayer? To attend to the commandments and to depart from all iniquity is a saving sacrifice. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: There is no rejoicing for the wicked, says the Lord. Cry aloud, and spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities. They seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a people that had done righteousness and had not forsaken the judgement of their God; they ask of me now a just judgement, and desire to draw near to God, saying: Why is it that we have fasted, and you have not seen it?
We have afflicted our souls, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the days of your fasting your own wills are found, and you afflict all who are subject to you. Do you fast for strifes and quarrels, and to smite your neighbour wrongfully? And why do you fast to me, that your voice may be heard this day in outcry? This is not the fast that I have chosen, says the Lord, that a man should afflict his own soul. Not even if you bend your neck down like a hoop, and spread sackcloth and ashes under you, not even so shall you call it an acceptable fast. Such a fast I have not chosen, says the Lord; but loose every bond of iniquity, dissolve the obligations of oppressive contracts, let the broken go free unto rest, and break asunder every unjust bond.
Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor who are without shelter into your house. When you see the naked, clothe him, and do not despise those of your own seed. Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your healing shall speedily arise, and righteousness shall go before you, and the majesty of God shall surround you. Then shall you cry, and the Lord shall hear you; while you are yet speaking, he shall say: Behold, here I am. If you take away from you the bond of iniquity and the obligation and the word of murmuring, and give your bread to the hungry from the heart, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be to you as noonday. And your God shall be with you always, and you shall be satisfied according as your soul desires.
And your bones shall grow fat, and shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And your waste places shall be built, and your foundations shall be everlasting for ever and ever. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: But when you fast, be not like the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to be fasting. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that you may not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in heaven; and your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you. LXXXVI. THAT A MAN OUGHT, AFTER THE EXAMPLE OF THE ANT AND THE BEE, TO WORK WITHOUT SLOTH THE THINGS THAT ARE GOOD.
In Proverbs: Go to the ant, O sluggard, and observe her ways with emulation, and be wiser than she; for although she has no field to possess, nor anyone to compel her, nor is under a master, how she prepares her food in summer, and makes an abundant storing in the harvest! Or go to the bee, and learn how industrious she is, and what holy work she performs; whose labours kings and common men bring to their health; she is welcome to all and glorious, and though feeble in strength, she has been brought forth exalting wisdom. How long, O sluggard, will you lie down? When will you rise from sleep? You sleep a little, you sit a little, you slumber a little, a little you fold your arms upon your breast:
then poverty shall come upon you like an evil traveller, and want like a good runner. But if you are diligent, your harvest shall come to you like a fountain, and want shall flee from you like a good runner. Likewise there: Fear casts down the sluggard, and the souls of the effeminate shall hunger. Likewise there: The sluggard when rebuked is not ashamed; likewise he who borrows wheat in the harvest. Likewise there: Desires kill the sluggard, for his hands refuse to do anything. Likewise there: The sluggard seeks occasions and says: There is a lion in the ways, and murderers in the streets. Likewise there: As a door turns on its hinge, so does the sluggard on his bed. Likewise there: The sluggard seems wiser to himself than one who brings back a message in fullness.
Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: The sluggard is pelted with a dirty stone, and everyone speaks of his contemptibleness. The sluggard is pelted with cow-dung, and everyone who touches him shakes his hands. LXXXVII. THAT THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD ARE TO BE PROCLAIMED WITHOUT FEAR OF MEN. In the prophet Ezekiel: And you, son of man, do not fear them, neither be afraid at their face, for they shall rage and gather against you round about. Do not fear their words, and be not afraid at their face, for it is a provoking house. Likewise there: Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and I will strengthen your firmness against their contentions, and your firmness shall be stronger than rock. Likewise there:
And do not fear them, neither be terrified at their face, for it is a provoking house. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: What I tell you in darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops and in the streets. And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. LXXXVIII. ON THE FOOL. In Proverbs: A foolish and wicked man goes in ways that are not good; he winks with his eye and makes signs with his foot. Likewise there: A foolish man devises evils for himself, and treasures up fire in his own lips. Likewise there: Faithful lips do not befit a fool, nor lying lips the just. Likewise there:
Why do riches abound to a fool? For a senseless man cannot possess wisdom. Likewise there: A foolish son is a grief to his father, and a sorrow to his mother. Likewise there: He in whom sense is lacking does not desire wisdom, for he is rather led by imprudence. Likewise there: The mouth of a foolish man is his own destruction, and his lips are a snare to his own soul. Likewise there: The folly of a man ruins his ways, but he blames the Lord in his heart. Likewise there: Folly is bound up in the heart of a youth, but the rod and discipline are far from it. Likewise there: A stone is heavy, and sand hard to bear, but a fool's wrath is heavier than both. Likewise there: A senseless man is like a field, and a man who lacks prudence is like a vineyard:
if you leave it, it will be filled with thorns and will turn to weeds, and it will become a desert, and the fences of its walls will be dug up. Likewise there: As a dog when he returns to his vomit becomes hateful, so is the fool who by his own malice turns back into his sins. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Do not take counsel with fools, for they cannot keep a secret. Likewise there: He who is diminished in heart thinks vain things, and an imprudent and erring man thinks foolish things. Likewise there: From the mouth of a fool a parable is unbecoming, for he does not utter it in its season. Likewise there: The heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, and it will hold no knowledge. Wisdom is a closed house to a fool, and the knowledge of the senseless is unutterable words. Likewise there:
Instruction is like fetters on the feet of fools, and like a bond on the right hand. A fool lifts up his voice in laughter, but a wise man will scarcely laugh quietly. Likewise there: The heart of fools is in their mouth, but the mouth of the wise is in their heart. Likewise there: Sand and salt and a lump of iron are easier to carry than an imprudent, foolish, and impious man. Likewise there: The clothing of the body, and the laughter of the teeth, and a man's gait declare concerning him. Likewise there: The heart of a fool is like the wheel of a cart, and his thoughts turn like a rolling axle. Likewise there: He who teaches wisdom to a fool is like one who glues together a potsherd. Likewise there: The tale of a fool is like a burden on a journey. Threats grieve the heart of the wise man; but the fool is scourged and does not feel it.
He who teaches a foolish child does violence to equity. Likewise in Proverbs: In laughter a fool commits wicked deeds. Likewise there: Out of the mouth of fools comes a rod of contumely, but the lips of the wise preserve them. Likewise there: All things are contrary to the senseless man, but the lips of wisdom are the weapons of understanding. Likewise there: A wise man by fearing turns aside from evil, but a fool trusting in himself mingles with the wicked; and the fool shall be servant to the prudent. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart understands vain things, so that he may accomplish iniquity and speak error against the Lord, to scatter hungry souls, and to make empty the souls that thirst.
For the counsel of the wicked has devised unjust things: to destroy the lowly with wicked words and to scatter the words of the humble in judgment. But the godly have devised justice, and this counsel shall stand. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'The gift of a fool shall do you no good, for his eyes are sevenfold. He gives little and reproaches much, and the opening of his mouth is a blast of wind.' 89. THAT WRATH IS TO BE LAID ASIDE. In Proverbs: 'Every simple soul is blessed, but the passionate or wrathful man does not act honorably.' Likewise there: 'The fool on that very same day declares his anger, but the shrewd man conceals his own disgrace.' Likewise there: 'The wrathful man acts without counsel, but the prudent man endures much.' Likewise there:
'Anger destroys even the wise, but a humble answer turns away wrath.' Likewise there: 'A wrathful man stirs up quarrels, but the patient man calms even those to come.' Likewise there: 'Do not be a friend to a passionate man, and do not keep company with a wrathful man, lest perhaps you learn his ways and take a snare for your own soul.' Likewise there: 'The fool pours out all his anger, but the wise man dispenses it by portions.' Likewise there: 'A passionate man digs up strife, but a wrathful man heaps up sins.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'A wrathful man kindles quarrels, and a sinful man troubles friends and sows slander among those who are at peace.' Likewise there: 'Envy and wrath shorten one's days, and anxious thought brings on old age before its time.' Likewise in Ecclesiastes:
'Do not be quick in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.' Likewise the Apostle to the Ephesians: 'Be angry, and do not sin; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.' Likewise there: 'Let all bitterness and wrath and indignation and clamor and blasphemy be put away from you, together with all malice.' Likewise there: 'But now put away from yourselves all anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, and much speaking.' Likewise James the Apostle: 'Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak, slow to anger; for the wrath of man does not work the justice of God.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'Whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council.'
'But whoever says, You fool, shall be liable to the fire of Gehenna.' 90. THAT A MAN IS SAID TO BE OF THAT KIND OR NATURE MADE BY GOD WHOSE WORK HE HAS IMITATED, WHETHER OF GOD OR OF THE DEVIL. In Deuteronomy: 'Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he himself your father, who possessed you and created you and made you?' Likewise there: 'You have forsaken the Lord who begot you, and you have forgotten the God who nourished you.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew, John the Baptist: 'But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: O offspring of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. And do not say within yourselves: We have Abraham for our father.'
'For I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree; every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire.' Likewise there: 'Amen, amen, I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides forever. If therefore the Son sets you free, you shall be truly free. I know that you are the seed of Abraham, but you seek to kill me, because my word does not take hold in you. I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.' Likewise there: 'You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father.'
'For he was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth, and there is no truth in him.' Likewise there: 'He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.' Likewise the Apostle to the Ephesians: 'And you, when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of this air, the spirit that now works in the sons of unbelief, among whom we too all once conducted ourselves in the desires of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.' Likewise to the Colossians:
'And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by evil works, yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through his death, to present you holy and unblemished and blameless before him.' Likewise there: 'Do not lie to one another, stripping off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new, who is renewed unto the knowledge of God according to the image of him who created him.' Likewise Peter the Apostle, First Epistle:
'May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, who now by his divine power has bestowed on us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own illustrious power, by which honorable and very great promises are granted to us, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped that which is in the world through the lust of a perishing life.' Likewise John the Apostle, First Epistle: 'Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning. And for this the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil.'
'Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest: everyone who is not righteous is not of God, and he who does not love his brother.' 91. THAT THE WISE MAN MUST GIVE AN ANSWERING WORD TO ONE WHO ASKS. In Ecclesiasticus: 'Be gentle to hear the word, that you may understand; and with wisdom speak a true answer.' Likewise Tobit: 'Take heed, my son, in all your works, and be wise in all your speech.' Likewise to the Colossians: 'Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly in all wisdom and all spiritual understanding,'
'teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.' Likewise there: 'Let your speech be always seasoned with the salt of the grace of God, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.' Likewise to the Corinthians, First Epistle: 'And you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound for the building up of the Church.' Likewise there: 'When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification among you.' Likewise Peter the Apostle in his First Epistle:
'Being always ready to make confession to everyone who asks of you a reason for the faith and hope that is in you, with modesty and fear, having a good conscience, so that in the matter in which they speak against you they may be put to shame, seeing your good conduct in Christ.' 92. CONCERNING THE FAITHFUL AND PRUDENT SLAVE AND THE ADMONITION OF MASTERS. In Proverbs: 'A prudent slave shall rule over foolish masters, and among the brothers he shall divide the portion.' Likewise there: 'For a deceitful son there shall be nothing good, but for a wise slave affairs shall prosper.' Likewise there: 'A prudent slave calms the anger of his master; but who shall bear a faint-hearted man?' Likewise there: 'Do not injure a slave who works in truth, nor a hired man who gives his life.' Likewise there:
'Let a sensible slave be dear to you as your own soul; do not deprive him of freedom, nor leave him destitute.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'If you have a faithful slave, let him be to you as your own soul; treat him as a brother, for you have gained him with the blood of your soul. If you injure him unjustly and he departs and runs off, whom will you seek? And by what road will you seek him? Free men shall serve a sensible slave, and a knowing man shall not murmur.' Likewise Paul the Apostle to the Colossians: 'Masters, render to your slaves what is just and equitable, knowing that you also have a Master in the heavens, a most just judge.' Likewise to the Ephesians:
'And you masters, do the same things toward them, forbearing threats, knowing that both their Master and yours is in the heavens, and there is no respect of persons with God.' Likewise in Deuteronomy: 'You shall not deliver up a slave to his master who has fled to you, but he shall dwell with you in whatever place, wherever it pleases him, nor shall you oppress him.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'Do not hand over a slave into the hands of his master, lest perhaps he curse you and you be destroyed.' 93. CONCERNING THE ADMONITION OF SLAVES. Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians: 'Slaves, obey your fleshly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;'
'not serving to the eye, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart, serving with goodwill as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good each one does, this he shall receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.' Likewise to Timothy, First Epistle: 'Let as many slaves as are under the yoke count their masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of the Lord and the teaching may not be blasphemed. But those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather serve them, since they are believers and beloved, who are partakers of the benefit.' Likewise to Titus:
'Let slaves be subject to their own masters in all things, and be pleasing, not contradicting, not defrauding, but in all things showing good faith, that they may adorn in all things the teaching of God our Savior.' Likewise Peter the Apostle, First Epistle: 'Slaves, obey your masters with all fear, not only the good and gentle, but also the harsh. For this is grace with God, if for conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering unjustly. For what glory is it if, when you sin and are beaten, you endure it? But if, doing well and suffering wrong, you bear it patiently, this is grace with God.' 94. THAT ONE MUST OBEY KINGS AND WORLDLY POWERS. Paul the Apostle to the Romans: 'Be subject to all the higher powers,'
'for there is no power except from God, and those that exist are ordained by God. Therefore he who resists the power resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist bring judgment upon themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good work, but to evil. Do you wish not to fear the power? Do what is good, and you shall have praise from it, for it is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword without cause; it is God's minister, an avenger unto wrath upon him who does evil. Therefore be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For this reason also you pay taxes, for they are God's ministers, attending to this very thing. Render to all their dues: to whom tribute, tribute; to whom custom,'
'custom; to whom fear, fear; to whom honor, honor. Owe no one anything, except to love one another.' Likewise to Titus: 'Remind them to be subject to rulers and powers, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to blaspheme no one, not to be quarrelsome, but gentle, showing all meekness to all men.' Likewise Peter the Apostle, First Epistle:
'Be subject to every human institution for the Lord's sake: whether to the king as supreme, or to governors as those sent by him for this very purpose, for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of the good — for so is the will of God, that by doing well you may silence the ignorance of foolish men — as free, yet not using your liberty as a cloak for malice, but as slaves of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.' 95. THAT THE LAW OF GOD IS THE LIGHT OF OUR JOURNEY. In Psalm 18: 'The precept of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes.' Likewise in Psalm 118: 'Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths.' Likewise in Proverbs:
'For the commandment of the law is a lamp, and the light of life, and reproof, and discipline.' Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: 'By night my spirit keeps watch toward you, O God, for your precepts are a light upon the earth.' 96. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. In the book of Wisdom: 'But the righteous man, if he be overtaken by death, shall be in refreshment. For venerable old age is not that which is long-lived, nor reckoned by the number of years; for the understanding of a man is gray hair, and the age of old age is an unspotted life, which having been made pleasing to God is beloved, and living among sinners was translated. He was caught away, lest malice should change his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.' Likewise there: 'Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled long times;'
'for his soul was pleasing to the Lord; therefore he hastened to lead him out of the midst of iniquity. But the peoples, seeing and not understanding, nor laying such things to heart — that the grace of God and mercy is upon his saints, and his regard is upon his elect. Moreover the righteous man who is dead condemns the living ungodly, and youth quickly perfected condemns the long life of the unjust. For they shall see the end of the wise man, and shall not understand what God has purposed concerning him, and why the Lord has fortified him. But the Lord shall mock them; and they shall afterward be falling without honor and in disgrace among the dead forever.' Likewise there:
'But the righteous shall live forever, and their reward is with the Lord, and their thought is with the Most High. Therefore they shall receive the kingdom of glory and the diadem of beauty from the hand of the Lord; for with his right hand he shall cover them, and with his arm he shall defend them.' Likewise Job: 'For death gives rest to the righteous man.' Likewise in the Apocalypse: 'And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me: Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow them.' Likewise there: 'Weep but little over the dead, for he has found rest.' Likewise there: 'The mourning for the dead is seven days.' 97. CONCERNING THE DEATH OF THE WICKED. In Ecclesiasticus:
'For when a worthless man dies, he shall inherit serpents and beasts and worms.' Likewise there: 'The assembly of sinners is like gathered tow; for their end is the flame of fire. The way of sinners is smooth, free of stumbling, but their end is hell and darkness and punishments.' Likewise in the book of Wisdom: 'For they shall see the end of the wise man, and shall not understand what God has purposed concerning him, and why the Lord has fortified him. But the Lord shall mock them; and they shall afterward be falling without honor and in disgrace among the dead forever.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: 'There was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day.'
'And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who lay at his gate full of sores, desiring to be filled with what fell from the rich man's table, and no one gave to him; but even the dogs came and licked his sores. Now it came to pass that the beggar Lazarus died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes, being in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus resting in his bosom. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him:'
'Remember, son, that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil things; but now here he is comforted, and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to pass from here to you cannot, nor cross over from there to here. And he said to him: I beg you then, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they too come into this place of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said: No, father Abraham; but if someone from the dead were to rise and go to them, he would persuade them, and they would repent. But Abraham said to him:'
'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if someone should rise from the dead.' 98. CONCERNING AVARICE. In Proverbs: 'He who withholds grain in scarcity shall leave it to his enemies. He who oppresses the people by the price of grain shall be cursed; but a blessing is upon the head of him who shares it.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'There is one who grows rich by acting sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward, when he says: I have found rest for myself, and now I will eat of my goods alone; and he does not know that time will pass and he will leave all things to others.' Likewise in the prophet Habakkuk: 'Woe to him who acquires evil avarice for his house; you have devised confusion for your house, your soul has sinned.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: 'A certain man from the crowd said to Jesus:'
'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But Jesus said to him: Man, who appointed me a judge or divider over you? And he said to them: See and beware of all avarice, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. And he told them a parable: The land of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful fruits, and he pondered within himself, saying: What shall I do, for I have nowhere to gather my fruits? And he said: This I will do: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will gather all my fruits, and I will say to my soul: You have many good things laid up for many years; feast. But God said to him: Fool, this night they demand your soul from you;'
'and the things you have prepared, whose shall they be? So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.' Likewise the same passage, down to 'and his soul has sinned.' According to Luke, chapter 12: 'A certain man from the crowd said to him: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me,' down to 'and the things you have prepared, whose shall they be? So is he who lays up treasure for himself.' The Apostle to Timothy, First Epistle: 'We brought nothing into this world, and truly we can carry nothing out; but having food and clothing, with these let us be content. For those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and the snare of the devil and many desires, which profit nothing and do harm, which plunge a man into ruin and perdition. For the root of all evils is covetousness,'
'which some coveting have made shipwreck of their faith, and have plunged themselves into many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things.' 99. CONCERNING SPIRITUAL SACRIFICE. In Psalm 4: 'Sacrifice the sacrifice of justice, and hope in the Lord.' Likewise in Psalm 49: 'Offer to your God the sacrifice of praise, and render your vows to the Most High; and call upon me in the day of your tribulation, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' Likewise there: 'The sacrifice of praise shall honor me; there is the way by which I will show him my salvation.' Likewise in Psalm 50: 'A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise.' Likewise in Psalm 95:
'Give to the Lord, you families of the nations, give to the Lord glory and honor, give to the Lord the glory due to his name. Take up sacrifices and enter into his courts. Worship the Lord in his holy court.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'A saving sacrifice is to heed the commandments and to depart from all iniquity.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'The beginning of the good way is to do good things; these are more acceptable with God than to sacrifice victims.' 100. THAT EACH ONE IS JUDGED BY HIS OWN WORK. In Psalm 9: 'The nations are stuck fast in the destruction that they made; in the snare that they hid their foot is caught. The Lord is known as executing judgments; in the works of his own hands the sinner is caught.' Likewise in Proverbs:
'For by their own impiety they take away their own soul.' Likewise there: 'A man's iniquities catch him, and each one is bound fast with the cords of his own sins. He dies with countless others because he is without discipline; and out of the abundance of his own life he is cast out and perishes through his folly.' Likewise in Proverbs: 'As an unripe grape is harmful to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is iniquity to those who use it.' Likewise in the book of Wisdom: 'That they might know that by whatever things a man sins, by these also he is tormented.' Likewise there: 'But man kills himself through his own malice.' Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: 'By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.' Likewise according to John: 'But he who does not believe is already judged.'
Likewise in Leviticus: 'But of your brothers, the children of Israel, let no one oppress his brother with sighing.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: 'Do not despise a man who turns away from sin; remember that we are all liable to correction.' Likewise there: 'As sparrows and flying birds, so an empty curse shall not come upon anyone.' 101. THAT THE LORD HAS LEFT MAN TO HIS OWN CHOICE AND DOES NOT WISH ANYONE TO PERISH. In Ecclesiasticus: 'The Lord from the beginning established man, and left him in the hand of his own counsel. He added his commandments and precepts, if you are willing to keep the commandments and to perform acceptable faith. He set before you water and fire: stretch out your hand to whichever you wish. Before man are life and death, good and evil: whatever pleases him shall be given to him.'
Likewise there: 'He has commanded no one to act impiously, and has given no one license to sin.' Likewise the Apostle to Titus: 'For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.' Likewise James the Apostle: 'From where come wars? From where come quarrels among you? Is it not from your desires that war in your members, and are most pleasant to you?' — 'our God, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.' 102. CONCERNING SORROW FOR SIN. In Proverbs: 'As a moth to a garment and a worm to wood, so sorrow harms the heart of a man.' Likewise there: 'A glad heart makes good health, but the bones of a sorrowful man dry up.' Likewise in Ecclesiasticus:
'Blessed is the man who has not slipped by the word of his mouth, and is not pricked by sorrow for sin. Happy is he who has not had sadness, and has not fallen from his hope.' 103. THAT IN BAPTISM ALL SINS ARE FORGIVEN AND THAT ONE MUST WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE. Paul the Apostle to the Romans: 'But God commends his charity toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ suffered for you; much more now, being reconciled in his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.' Likewise there:
'Or do you not know, brothers, that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ rose from the dead, so also we might walk in newness of life. For if we have become planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be so in that of his resurrection; knowing that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, so that we might no longer serve sin — for he who has died is justified from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with him; knowing that Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him.'
'For in that he died, he died to sin once for all; but in that he lives, he lives to God. So also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.' Likewise there: 'Therefore I myself with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.' Likewise there: 'I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service.'
'And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, and what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.' Likewise to the Corinthians: 'Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' Likewise there: 'Do not be deceived:'
'neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor the effeminate, nor adulterers, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor thieves, nor the avaricious, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor the rapacious shall possess the kingdom of God. And such indeed you were, but you have been washed, but you have been sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.' Likewise to the Ephesians: 'This therefore I say and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, despairing, have given themselves over to lewdness, to the working of all uncleanness and avarice.'
'But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and been taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off, according to your former way of life, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of error. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who according to God is created in justice and holiness and truth.' Likewise Peter the Apostle, Second Epistle:
'May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, who now by his divine power has bestowed on us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own illustrious power, by which honorable and very great promises are granted to us, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped that which is in the world through the lust of a perishing life. But you also, all of you, make haste, supplying in your faith virtue, in virtue knowledge, in knowledge self-control, in self-control patience, in patience godliness, in godliness friendly brotherhood, and in the affection of brotherhood charity.'
'For if these things are yours and abound, they will make you neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he to whom these things are not at hand shall receive blindness, vanity, and forgetfulness, if he is not cleansed from the contagion of his former sins.' 104. CONCERNING THE SUBSTANCE OF GOD. In Psalm 68: 'I am stuck fast in the mire of the deep, and there is no substance.' Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: 'They have not heard the voice of substance; from the birds of the heaven to the cattle they have fallen away in mind and have perished.' Likewise there: 'For who has stood in the substance of the Lord and seen his word? Who has given ear and heard?' Likewise there:
Had they stood firm in my counsel and had they heard my words and had they taught my people, I would have turned them away from their most wicked devices. 105. THAT SPIRITUAL ARMS MUST BE TAKEN UP AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS. In Deuteronomy: But if you go out to wage war against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: Therefore let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you should obey it; neither present your members as weapons of iniquity unto sin, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as weapons of righteousness unto God. Likewise to the Corinthians, the second epistle:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh — for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God to the pulling down of strongholds — casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, leading captive every thought into obedience to Christ. Likewise to the Ephesians: For the rest, be strengthened in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil: for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore put on the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and in all things be perfect, having your loins girt about with truth, and clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in all things taking up the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to quench all the flaming darts of the most wicked one, and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying through every prayer and supplication at all times in the Spirit, and watching thereunto always with all perseverance in every prayer for all the saints. Likewise to the Thessalonians, the first epistle: Let us not sleep, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night, and they that are drunk are drunk in the night.
But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we may live together with him. 106. THAT ONE MUST FIRST DO AND SO TEACH. In the Gospel according to Matthew: Whosoever shall loose one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and so teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Likewise there: Not everyone that says to me:
Lord, Lord, shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Likewise to the Romans: For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified before God. Likewise to the Corinthians, the first epistle: I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so I fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. Likewise to the Romans: Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whosoever you are that judge; for wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you that judge do the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who do such things.
But do you think this, O man, you that judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, that you shall escape the judgment of God? 107. THAT ONE MUST PLACE NO HOPE IN MAN. In Psalm 117: It is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in man; it is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in princes. Likewise in Psalm 145: Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Cursed is the man that has his hope in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from God. Likewise there: They that trust in man are accursed, for God made them nothing. Likewise in the prophet Micah: Woe, for your vengeances have come; now shall be their trials.
Trust not in friends, nor put your hope in leaders. Likewise John the Apostle: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has torment, and he that fears is not made perfect in love. 108. THAT THE MOURNING MUST BE COMFORTED AND THE SICK VISITED. In Ecclesiasticus: Fail not to be with them that weep in their gathering, and walk with those that mourn; be not slow to visit the sick, for by these things you shall be established in love. Likewise the Apostle to the Romans: Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep; be of the same mind one toward another. 109. THAT ONE MUST NOT CALL EVIL GOOD NOR GOOD EVIL. In Proverbs: He that judges the just to be unjust, and the unjust to be just, is an abomination before God. Likewise there:
He that says the just is wicked shall be cursed by peoples and hateful to the nations; but they that rebuke the wicked shall hope for better things. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Woe to those who call that which is evil good, and that which is good evil; who call darkness light, and light darkness; who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter. 110. THAT ONE MUST ABSTAIN FROM LUXURIES. In Ecclesiasticus: He that is delicately nurtured from childhood shall become a servant, and in the end shall grieve over himself. Likewise in the prophet Amos: You that sleep upon beds of ivory and are wanton upon your couches, that eat the kids from the flocks and the sucking calves from the herds, that clap your hands to the sound of instruments, and reckon these things as everlasting and not as fleeting:
who drink strained wine and anoint themselves with the finest ointments, and grieve nothing over the ruin of Joseph. Likewise the Apostle Paul to the Romans: Let not then our good be blasphemed. For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in this serves Christ pleases God and is approved by men. Let us therefore follow after the things of peace, and keep among ourselves the things of edification. Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God. All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats through giving offence. It is good not to eat flesh and not to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother is made to stumble or is offended or is made weak. Likewise to the Corinthians, the first epistle:
And everyone that strives in the contest is temperate in all things; they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so I fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perchance, having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. Likewise to Timothy: But she that is truly a widow and desolate hopes in God and continues in prayers night and day; but she that lives in luxuries, though living, is dead. Likewise there: But avoid the younger widows; for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they wish to marry, having condemnation because they have made void their first faith. Likewise in the epistle of the Apostle James:
And you have lived in luxury upon the earth and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: They that ate dainties have perished in excess; they that were nursed upon scarlet have embraced dunghills. Likewise Peter the Apostle, the second epistle: For if the angels, though they are greater in strength and power, do not bring against the Lord an execrable judgment:
but these, like brute beasts naturally born for capture and destruction, and who, because they are ignorant, curse things they do not understand, shall perish in their own corruption, receiving the reward of unrighteousness. They count it pleasure to riot in wickedness; they are defiled by luxuries and infamous in the utmost pleasures, given to feasting, having eyes full of adultery and that cease not from sin; they seduce unstable souls and have a heart trained in covetousness — greedy and accursed children, forsaken, who have strayed from the way of truth. 111. THAT THOSE SET IN NEED AND IN SORROW MUST BE RESCUED. In Proverbs: Deliver those who are led to death, and redeem those who are being slain; do not spare. But if you say, I do not know this man, know that the Lord knows the hearts of all:
and he that fashioned the spirit of all, he knows all things, who renders to every man according to his works. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Deliver him that suffers wrong from the hand of the proud, and be not faint-hearted in your soul when you judge. Be merciful to the fatherless as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you shall be as an obedient son of the Most High, and he will have mercy on you more than a mother. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Seek judgment, rescue him that suffers wrong, judge for the fatherless, and justify the widow. And come, let us reason together, says the Lord: and if your sins be as scarlet, I shall make them white as snow; but if they be as crimson, I shall make them white as wool. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Rescue the plundered one from the hand of those who wrong him.
Likewise in Proverbs: Do not hand over a servant into the hands of his master, lest perchance he curse you and you be destroyed. Likewise in Psalm 81: Rescue the poor, and deliver the needy from the hand of the sinner. 112. THAT MAN, PEOPLES OR NATIONS ARE CALLED A VINEYARD. In Leviticus: You shall not sow your vineyard for a double crop, and you shall not cover yourself with a garment woven of a double texture, which is an abomination. Likewise in Deuteronomy: For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their branch of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness among them. Likewise in Psalm 79: You brought a vineyard out of Egypt, you cast out the nations and planted it; you made a way before it, and you planted its roots and it filled the land.
Its shadow covered the mountains, and its boughs the cedars of God. You stretched out its shoots even to the sea, and its branches even to the rivers. Why then have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass by the way pluck its grapes? The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the wild beast has fed upon it. O God of hosts, turn now, look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine, and set right that which your right hand has planted. Likewise in the Song of Songs: The vineyards have blossomed in fragrance, and everywhere is fragrance. Who is this that comes up from the desert? Like the shoot of the vine perfumed with the smoke of incense. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his newly beloved planting.
I waited that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns. Likewise in Proverbs: The foolish man is like a field, and the man who lacks prudence like a vineyard: if you leave him, he will be filled with thorns and will become as chaff and be forsaken, and the walls of his fences will be dug up. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Many shepherds have laid waste my vineyard and defiled my portion; they have made my desirable portion a wilderness. Likewise there: I planted you an altogether fruitful and true vine; how then are you turned into the bitterness of a strange vine? Likewise in the prophet Hosea: Israel is a good vine within a wall, its fruit most plentiful according to the multitude of its fruits. Likewise in the prophet Joel:
A strong and innumerable nation has come up upon my land: its teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and its jaw-teeth like a lion's whelps. It has laid my vineyard waste and stripped bare my fig trees; searching it out it has searched it and cast it away, and made its branches white. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Jesus said: The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them: Go you also into my vineyard, and whatever is just I will give you. And they went.
And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and said to them: Why stand you here idle all the day? And they said: Because no one has hired us. And he said to them: Go you also into the vineyard and labour. And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: Call the labourers and give them their wages, beginning from the last unto the first. Likewise there: And he said to them: Hear another parable. There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.
But when the time of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the tillers of the vineyard, that they might receive the fruit of the vineyard. And the husbandmen, having seized the servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. And again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did likewise. But at the last he sent his only son, saying: They will reverence my son. But they said among themselves: This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. And having seized him they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen? And they said: He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other tillers who shall render him the fruit in their seasons. 113.
THAT HOLY MEN ARE CALLED IN THE LIKENESS OF CLOUDS. In the prophet Isaiah: But now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its wall, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will break down its fence, and it shall be for a treading down; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Likewise in Deuteronomy: Let my speech be awaited like rain, and let my words come down like dew, as showers upon the grass, and as snow upon the hay. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Let the heaven rejoice from on high, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth bring forth mercy and righteousness together. Likewise there: Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young come to me? Likewise Jude the Apostle concerning the ungodly:
Clouds without water, carried about by winds. 114. THAT MEN BEAR THE IMAGE OF TREES AND OF HAY AND OF EVERY BIRD AND OF BEASTS. In Psalm 28: The voice of the Lord that prepares the cedars, and reveals the thickets. Likewise in Psalm 51: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord. Likewise in Psalm 91: The just shall flourish like the palm tree, and shall be multiplied like the cedar that is in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God. Likewise in Psalm 127: Your children like young olive plants round about your table. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: And in that day I will make for them a covenant with the beasts of the field and with the birds of the sky and with the creeping things of the earth. And judgment shall spring up like grass on untilled ground.
Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And I myself will take from the choice of the cedar, and from the top of their heart I will pluck a shoot, and I will plant it upon a high mountain, and I will hang it upon the lofty mountain of Israel, and I will plant it, and it shall bring forth a branch and bear fruit and become a great cedar. And under it every bird shall rest, and every winged thing shall rest under its shade, and its branches shall be restored. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord, who humble the high tree and exalt the lowly tree, who dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish again. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of men as the flower of grass.
The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures for ever. Likewise there: Behold, I will do new things which now shall spring forth, and I will make a way in the desert and a river in the dry land. The beasts of the field shall bless me, the sirens and the daughters of the sparrows, because I have given water in the desert and rivers in the dry land, to give drink to my chosen race, the people whom I have gained for myself, that they may declare my mighty deeds. For I will give water in the thirst to those who walk in the drought; and I will put my Spirit upon your seed, and it shall spring up like grass in the midst of water, and like a willow beside the streams of water. And all the trees of the field shall clap with their branches. Likewise in Psalm 102: Man, his days are as grass, and as the flower of grass, so shall he flourish. Likewise in Psalm 128:
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up. Likewise in the prophet Hosea: He shall blossom as the lily, and shall cast forth his roots as the frankincense tree. His branches shall spread, and he shall be as a fruitful olive tree, and his fragrance as that of frankincense. And I will strengthen him as a ripening juniper: from me is your fruit found. Likewise in the prophet Daniel: Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar: The tree which you saw made strong and great, whose height reached even to heaven and its breadth to all the earth, and its leaves broad, and its fruit abundant, and food for all in it, and beneath which the beasts of the earth dwelt, and in whose branches were the birds of the sky — it is you, O king:
for you have grown great and received power, and your greatness has increased and reached even to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. Likewise there: I saw a ram butting with his horns toward the sea and the north and the south; and all the beasts could not stand before him, and there was none that could rescue from his hand. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: Her princes in the midst of her are like roaring lions ready to seize, devouring the souls of men in their power. Likewise there: Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves seizing prey, to shed blood, that they may be possessed by covetousness. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Be not as a lion in your house, overthrowing your household and oppressing those subject to you. Likewise in Psalm 21:
Many young bulls have compassed me; fat bulls have besieged me. They have opened their mouth against me, like a lion ravening and roaring. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew, John the Baptist: But seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them: Brood of vipers, who has shown you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. And do not say: We have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. For now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire. Likewise there: Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Be therefore prudent as serpents and simple as doves. Likewise there: Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. Brood of serpents, how can you speak good things, being evil? Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: In tribulation and distress, the lion and the lion's whelp, thence also the asps and the brood of asps, who carried their riches upon asses and camels to a nation that shall not profit them. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Israel is a wandering sheep; the lions have driven him out. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last the king of Babylon has broken his bones. Likewise there: Like lions they have risen up, and like lions' whelps.
In their heat I will give them a cup and make them drunk, that they may be lulled asleep, that they may sleep an everlasting sleep and not rise, says the Lord. 115. THAT ONE MUST NOT MURMUR. In Exodus: Because the Lord has heard your murmuring, wherewith you murmured against us. For your murmuring is not against us, but against God. 116. THAT MEN ARE CALLED IN THE LIKENESS OF STARS. In Genesis: And he brought Abraham forth abroad and said to him: Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them; so shall your seed be. Likewise in Psalm 146: He that numbers the multitude of the stars, and calls them all by their names. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: The stars gave their light in their watches and rejoiced; you shall call them, and they said:
Here we are, and they shone with gladness. Likewise in the prophet Daniel: And those who have understanding shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and many of the just shall shine like the stars for ever. Likewise in the book of Judges: The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Likewise in the prophet Nahum: You have multiplied your merchants like the stars of heaven. Likewise the Apostle to the Corinthians, the first epistle: For star differs from star in brightness; so also is the resurrection of the dead. Likewise to the Philippians: Among whom you shine as lights in this world, holding forth the word of life. Then shall the just shine forth. 117. THAT WICKED MEN ARE CALLED DOGS. In Kingdoms, the second book: And Abishai the son of Zeruiah, hearing Shimei cursing King David, said to the king:
Why does this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray, and take off his head. Likewise in Psalm 21: For many dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the malicious has besieged me. Likewise in Psalm 58: They shall return at evening and shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city. They shall be scattered abroad to devour; but if they be not satisfied, they will also murmur. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: What fellowship has a holy man with a dog? Likewise in Isaiah: See that all are blinded; they have not known how to understand. All are dumb dogs that cannot bark, dreaming in their bed. And they are dogs of shameless soul, knowing no fullness; and they are worthless, knowing no understanding.
They have all followed their own ways, each one to his own gain. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest perchance they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you. Likewise there: It is not right to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. Likewise Paul the Apostle to the Philippians: Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Likewise in the Apocalypse: Without are dogs and sorcerers and adulterers and those who serve idols. 118. THAT THE HOUSE OR TEMPLE OUGHT TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS MAN HIMSELF. In Leviticus:
But if the plague come again and break out in the house, after the stones have been pulled out and after the house has been scraped and after it has been rubbed down, the priest shall enter and look: if the plague of the stone be spread in the house, and it be persisting in that house, it is unclean. And they shall pull down the house itself, and its timber and its stones and all the dust of the house they shall cast outside the city into an unclean place. Likewise in Proverbs: The Lord will destroy the house of the proud. Likewise there: He that makes his house high seeks ruin. Likewise there: By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is set up. By knowledge the storerooms are filled full of all precious and good riches. Likewise there:
Prepare your works for going out, and make ready in the field, and come after me, and you shall build your house. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: He that builds his house with other men's money is like one who gathers his stones in winter. Likewise there: If you do not hold fast the fear of the Lord earnestly, your house shall be quickly overthrown. Likewise there: Do not bring every man into your house, for many are the snares of the deceitful. Likewise in Job: Does he not know that death will wear down the earthly house, and all that is mortal shall be dissolved? Likewise in Jeremiah: Woe to him that builds his house not with righteousness, and its upper chambers not with judgment! Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew:
And everyone who hears these my words and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds came and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears these my words and does them not is like a foolish man who builds his house upon the sand. The rain descended, the floods came and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the ruin of that house. Likewise according to John: Destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will raise it up without hands. The Jews therefore said:
This temple was forty-six years in building, and will you raise it up in three days? But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. Likewise the Apostle to the Corinthians, the first epistle: Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, God will destroy him: for the temple of God is holy, which you are. Likewise there: Or do you not know that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body. Likewise to the Corinthians, the second epistle:
For we know that if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, longing to be clothed upon with our dwelling which is from heaven: if so be that, being clothed, we shall not be found naked. 119. THAT MAN OUGHT TO BE GIRDED IN HIS SPIRITUAL LOINS. In Exodus, concerning the paschal lamb: Thus shall you eat it: with your loins girded, and your sandals on your feet, and your staves in your hands, and you shall eat it in haste. Likewise in Kingdoms, the fourth book: And Elisha said to Gehazi: Gird up your loins, and take my staff in your hand, and go:
and if you meet anyone, do not salute him; and if anyone salute you, do not answer him; and when you come, lay my staff upon the face of the boy. Likewise there: Elisha called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him: Gird up your loins, and take this vial of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. And when you come there, behold, there is Jehu the son of Nimshi. And going in, you shall single him out from the midst of his brethren, and lead him from chamber to chamber. And you shall take the vial and pour it upon his head, and say: Thus says the Lord: I have anointed you king over Israel. And you shall open the door and flee, and not tarry there. Likewise in Proverbs:
She has strongly girded her loins and has made firm her arms for work. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And so he shall lift up a sign to the nations, to those that are far off and to those that are near; and he shall draw them from the end of the earth, and behold, swiftly and lightly shall they come. They shall not hunger, nor labour, nor slumber, nor sleep, nor shall they loose the girdles from their loins, nor shall the latchets of their shoes be broken. Likewise to the prophet Jeremiah: And you, gird up your loins, and arise, and speak all things whatsoever I shall command you; fear not their face, neither be dismayed before them. Likewise in the prophet Nahum: Consider the way, hold fast the loins, act manfully in exceeding strength. Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke:
But let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and you yourselves like men waiting for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, you may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Likewise Peter the Apostle: Gird up the loins of your mind, be perfectly sober, and hope for the grace that is offered to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As children, do not fashion yourselves according to the former desires of your ignorance; but according to him who called you as holy, be you yourselves also holy in all your conduct, because it is written: Be holy, for I also am holy. 120. THAT MEN, WHETHER HOLY OR UNGODLY, ARE CALLED MOUNTAINS.
In Psalm 64: And your fields shall be filled with plenty; the borders of the desert shall grow fat, and the hills shall be girded with exultation. The rams of the flock are clothed, and the valleys shall abound with corn; indeed they shall shout and sing a hymn. Likewise in Psalm 86: Its foundations are in the holy mountains; the Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Likewise in Psalm 113: The mountains shall leap like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock. Likewise in Proverbs: Wisdom is proclaimed upon the tops of the mountains, and stands at the gates of the mighty. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And I will not forsake them, but I will open rivers in the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the plains:
I will make the desert into pools and the thirsty land into streams of waters. Likewise the prophet Micah: Draw near to the everlasting mountains. Likewise the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in that day, the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk. Likewise in Nahum: Thus says the Lord, the prince of many waters: I will destroy your carved images and your molten images and consign them to the grave; for behold, swift upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings and proclaims peace. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel and prophesy to them, and you shall say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Likewise there: But you, mountains of Israel, shall bring forth your grapes and your fruit, which you shall eat, O my people, who draw near to come.
Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: Behold, cry out gladness, O mountains, and hills and all the trees that are upon them. Likewise there: Let the mountains break forth into joy, for God has had mercy on his people. Likewise there: For the mountains and the hills shall leap, awaiting you in gladness, and all the trees of the field shall clap their branches. Chapter 121: THAT UNCLEAN SPIRITS OR VICES ARE CALLED MOUNTAINS, HILLS, BEASTS, BIRDS, ROCKS, NATIONS, STONES, AND THORNS. In Psalm 45: Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be troubled and the mountains be carried into the heart of the sea. Their waters roared and were troubled, the mountains were shaken by his might. Likewise in Psalm 73: For the enemy has reproached the Lord, and a foolish people has provoked your name.
Do not deliver up to the beasts the souls that confess to you; forget not to the end the souls of your poor. Likewise in Ecclesiasticus: Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent; if you draw near to them, they will seize you like the teeth of a lion, slaying while they devour, like a two-edged sword avenging iniquities. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord will draw away the flies that hold sway over the regions of the river of Egypt, and the bees that are in their country. Likewise there: Cleanse the ways before his face, and take away the stumbling-blocks from the road of my people. Likewise there: Enter in through my gates and make a way for my people, and cast the stones out of the road. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah:
Give glory to the Lord your God before it grows dark, and before your feet stumble upon the shadowy mountains. Likewise in the prophet Nahum: The mountains were shaken by him, and the hills trembled, and the whole earth was dismayed before his face, and the rocks were shattered before him. Likewise in the prophet Habakkuk: The nations flowed away, the mountains were violently shaken, the everlasting hills were melted. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: That great eagle with great wings, of long extent, full of talons, which has leadership to enter into Lebanon and to take the choice of the cedar; it plucked off the topmost of its tenderness and carried it into the land of Canaan, in a walled city it set them. Likewise in Job: And dissolve that covenant of yours which is with the stones of the field.
Likewise in the prophet Amos: And I took away the Amorite from before their face, whose height was like the height of the cedar and whose strength was like the holm-oak; and I took away his fruit from above and his roots from below. Likewise the prophet Joel: For a nation has come up upon the land, a mighty nation and innumerable; its teeth are like the teeth of a lion, and its molars like the whelps of lions. It has laid my vineyard to waste and my fig trees to breaking. Likewise according to Matthew: Jesus commanded, and that demon went out, and the boy was made whole from that hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said: Why could we not cast it out? He said to them: Because of your unbelief. Amen I say to you:
if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it would move, and nothing would be impossible for you. Chapter 122: THAT NO HOLY ONE IS EQUAL TO GOD. In Exodus: Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Likewise in Psalm 88: For who among the clouds shall be compared to the Lord? Or who among the sons of God shall be like God? God, who is glorified in the council of the saints, great and to be feared above all who are round about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your truth is round about you. Chapter 123: THAT WE ARE GUARDED BY THE PROTECTION OF ANGELS. In Deuteronomy: He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. Likewise in Tobit the angel Raphael:
And when you and Sarah your daughter-in-law prayed, I offered up the memorial of your prayer before the Lord. Likewise according to Matthew: See that you despise not one of these little ones who believe in me; for I say to you that their angels always behold in heaven the face of my Father who is in heaven. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: She announced that Peter was standing at the door. They said: It is not so, but it is his angel. Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: And to the angel of the church of Ephesus write. Chapter 124: THAT A MAN IS CALLED A WALL. In Psalm 61: How long do you rush upon men, slaying them all as upon a wall that is leaning and a bulwark that is thrust down? But indeed they took thought to cast down my honor. Likewise in Psalm 79:
Why have you broken down its hedge? Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And they build a wall, and they themselves daub it over. If it shall fall, say to those who daub it. And it shall fall, and there shall be an overflowing rain, and I will give stones like clods of rock among their bonds, and they shall fall; and a lifting wind, and it shall be broken. And behold, the wall has fallen, and they will say to you: Where is your daubing with which you daubed it? Therefore thus says the Lord: I will break the lifting wind in wrath, and there shall be an overflowing rain in my wrath, and stones of rock and clods I will bring over in my fury unto their consuming. And I will dig out the wall which you daubed, and it shall fall; and I will set it to the ground and its foundations shall be laid bare, and it shall collapse, and you shall be consumed together with rebukes:
and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall and upon those who daub it, and it shall fall. And I said to you: There is no wall, nor those who daub it—that is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy in Jerusalem and who see peace for it, and there is no peace, says the Lord. Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful to men from without, but within are full of human bones and all filthiness. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles: God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall. Likewise to the Ephesians: And he abolished the law of commandments with its decrees, that he might make the two into one new man in himself:
and breaking down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, in his own flesh. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: And the bricks shall flow away, and the wall shall fall, because the Lord has reigned in Zion and in Jerusalem. Likewise there: The loftiness of the refuge of your wall he shall humble, and it shall come down even to the pavement. Likewise there: And the fortified cities you shall cast down and bring even to the pavement, and the feet of the meek and lowly shall trample them. Likewise there: And from the pavement your voice shall be made feeble. Likewise there: This people who provoke me to my face continually—these sacrifice in gardens and burn incense upon bricks to demons that are nothing, and they sleep in tombs and caves because of dreams, who eat swine's flesh and the broth of sacrifices:
all their vessels are defiled. Chapter 125: THAT THE SAINTS ARE SATISFIED WITH SPIRITUAL FOOD OR DRINK. In Deuteronomy: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Likewise in the prophet Habakkuk: But the just shall live by my faith. Likewise in the Gospel according to John: Jesus answered and said to her: Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall not thirst forever, but it shall become in him a fountain of living water springing up into eternal life. Meanwhile the disciples were asking him, saying: Rabbi, eat. But Jesus said to them: I have food to eat that you do not know of. Therefore the disciples said among themselves: Has anyone brought him something to eat?
Jesus says to them: My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Likewise there: And he said to them: Amen I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to this world. They said: Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said: I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. Likewise there: But the Jews murmured about him because he said: I am the bread that came down from heaven, and they said: Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say: I came down from heaven? Again he said:
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that whoever eats of it may not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I shall give for the life of this world is my flesh. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? And Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. For he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is truly food and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me shall also live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread shall live forever. Chapter 126: THAT WATER AND FIRE ARE CALLED PEOPLES OR VICES. In Psalm 17: The groanings of death encompassed me, and the torrents of iniquity troubled me. The sorrows of hell found me; the snares of death forestalled me. He took me up out of the multitude of waters; he delivered me from my mighty enemies. Likewise in Psalm 136:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, while we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung our instruments. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: I will set rivers in the islands and I will dry up the pools. And I will lead the blind in a way they knew not, and I will make them tread paths they did not know; and I will make darkness into light before them and the crooked things I will make straight. These words I will do and I will not forsake them. Likewise there: You are mine. Even if you pass through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. Even if you pass through water, I am with you and the rivers shall not overwhelm you; for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, who saves you. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah:
And now what have you to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of the Gihon? And what have you to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the waters of the rivers? Likewise there: The water of Egypt said: I will rise up and cover the land. Chapter 127: THAT ONE CALLED TO THE FAITH OUGHT NOT TO TURN BACK. In the prophet Isaiah: Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Likewise according to Matthew: But when Jesus saw a very great crowd about him, he gave orders to go across the region. And one of the scribes approached him and said to him: Master, I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus said to him: The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have where to rest, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And behold, another of his disciples said to him:
Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus answered him: Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead; but you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Likewise according to Luke: And another said: I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to bid farewell to those who are at my house. Jesus said to him: No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Chapter 128: THAT THE DEVIL WAS MADE AN ANGEL BY THE LORD AND WAS AFTERWARDS CHANGED BY HIS TRANSGRESSION. In Psalm 81: I said: You are gods and all of you sons of the Most High; but you shall die like men, and you shall fall like one of the princes. Likewise in Psalm 103: This dragon, which you formed to make sport of him. Likewise in Job:
But by his command he slew the deserter dragon. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who rose in the morning? Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: You are the seal of likeness and the crown of comeliness, and you were in the delights of the paradise of God. With the cherub I placed you on the holy mountain of God, and you sinned and were wounded by the mountain of the Lord. Your teaching was corrupted along with your comeliness. Because of the multitude of your sins I cast you down to the earth; in the sight of kings I gave you up as a spectacle because of the multitude of your sins. And you said: I am God, I have dwelt in the dwelling of God. Chapter 129: ON THE LIKENESS OF THE STAG. In Psalm 17:
God, who girded me with strength and made my way spotless, who made my feet like the feet of a stag and set me upon the heights. Likewise in Psalm 41: As the stag longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Likewise in Proverbs: Let the stag of friendship and the fawn of your favors converse with you. Likewise in the Song of Songs: Behold, here he comes, leaping upon the mountains and springing over the hills. My beloved is like a hind or a young stag upon the mountains of shadows. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: There the stags shall meet and shall behold each other's faces.
In their number they passed over, and not one of them perished; the one did not seek out the other, because the Lord commanded them and his Spirit gathered them. And he himself casts the lot for them, and his hand has divided the pasture. Forever you shall possess it as an inheritance, and for ages of ages you shall rest in it. Chapter 130: THAT PEOPLES ARE CALLED WATERS. In the book of Esther: But the rivers were the nations that came together to destroy the race of the Jews. Likewise in Jeremiah: Behold, waters rise up from the north into an overflowing torrent, and they shall overflow the land and its fullness, the city and those who dwell in it.
And all shall cry out and howl, all who dwell in the land, at the sound of his onslaught, at his weapons and at his feet, and at the commotion of his chariots and at the sound of his wheels. Likewise the prophet Amos: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the land—not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine for hearing the word of the Lord. And the waters shall be stirred from sea to sea, and from the north even to the south, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: The waters that you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. Chapter 131: ON THE FOUNTAINS OF THE LORD. In Psalm 67: In the congregations bless the Lord God from the fountains of Israel. Likewise in Proverbs:
Let not the fountains of the Lord fail you, but keep them in all your heart. Likewise there: You shall drink waters from your own vessels and from the fountain of your own wells. Let your waters overflow from your fountain, but in your streets let your waters flow abroad; let the fountain of your water be your own, and let no stranger share it with you. Likewise there: The fountain of life is in the hand of the just. Likewise there: The law of the wise is a fountain of life. Likewise there: The precepts of the Lord are a fountain of life: they cause one to turn away from the snare of death. Likewise there: Counsel is a fountain of life to him who possesses it. Likewise there: But the river flows, and the fountain of life. Chapter 132: THAT THERE ARE WATERS ABOVE THE HEAVEN. In Genesis:
And God divided between the water that is under the firmament and the water that is above the firmament. Likewise there: All the fountains of the deep burst forth, and the floodgates of heaven were opened, and the rains of the flood came upon all the earth. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: The Lord who made the earth in his power and by his wisdom stretched out the heaven and the multitude of water in the heaven. Likewise there: At his voice he set the sound of waters in the heaven. Likewise in Daniel: Bless the Lord, all you waters that are above the heaven. Likewise in Psalm 148: Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord. Chapter 133: ON DRUNKENNESS AND THE CUP OF WRATH. In the prophet Isaiah:
Grow faint, be senseless, and be drunk, but not with strong drink nor with wine; for God has made you drink a spirit of compunction. Likewise there: Therefore hear this, you who are humbled and drunk, but not with wine. For the wrath of the Lord shall come like a rushing river with indignation. Likewise in the prophet Habakkuk: The cup of the Lord's right hand has surrounded you, and disgrace has come upon your honor. Likewise in Psalm 10: He shall rain snares upon sinners, fire, brimstone, and the blast of storms shall be the portion of their cup. Likewise in the Apocalypse of John: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great; of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations have drunk. Likewise there:
If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too shall drink of the indignation of God, which is mixed unmingled in the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the sight of the angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever. Likewise there: And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, my people, that you share not in her sins and receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached even to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she herself has rendered, and pay back double, doubling according to her works. In the cup in which she has mixed, mix for her double:
and as much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much give her of torment and grief. For in her heart she says: I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and I shall see no grief. Therefore in one hour her plagues shall come, death and famine and grief, and she shall be burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judges her. Chapter 134: THAT THE LORD GOD BEARS THIS NAME. In Exodus: I am who I am. Likewise there: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: He who is has sent me to you. Likewise there: And the Lord said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you; this is my name forever and memorable throughout ages of ages. Likewise in Exodus:
The Lord who crushes wars, the Lord is his name. Likewise in the prophet Amos: He who calls forth the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth, the Lord God almighty is his name. Chapter 135: THAT THE MAN OF GOD IS CALLED A LAND OF DELIGHTS. In Psalm 84: You have blessed, O Lord, your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob. You have remitted the iniquity of your people; you have covered all their sins. Likewise there: And our land shall yield its fruit. Likewise in Psalm 106: You set the desert into pools of water, and the land without water into outflowings of water; and there he settled the hungry. Likewise in Isaiah: The land that is without water shall become a marsh, and in the thirsty land there shall be a fountain of water. No longer shall there be a lion there, nor any of the evil beasts. Likewise there:
Behold, I will do new things which shall now spring forth; and I will make a way in the desert and a river in the dry land. Likewise there: And they shall be like a watered garden and like a fountain whose water does not fail. Likewise in the prophet Ezekiel: And they shall say: That land which was laid waste has become like a garden of delights. Likewise according to Matthew: But he who was sown upon the good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it, and bears fruit: one a hundredfold, another sixtyfold, another thirtyfold. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Chapter 136: ON FOXES AS A LIKENESS OF MEN. In Judges:
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches and bound them tail to tail, two by two, and set a torch between each pair of tails in the middle, and kindled the torches with fire and let them loose into the sheaves of the foreigners; and he burned up their standing grain and what had been reaped, and also the vineyards and olive groves. Likewise in the Song of Songs: Catch us the little foxes that lay waste the vineyard. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Therefore our heart has become sorrowful, and because of this our eyes have grown dim, over Mount Zion, because it is laid waste; the foxes have passed over it. Likewise in Ezekiel: Thus says the Lord: Woe to those who prophesy out of their own heart and see nothing at all!
Your prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the desert; they did not stand firm in the breach, and they gathered a king over the house of Israel; they did not rise up who would speak in the day of the Lord. Likewise according to Matthew: The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have where to rest, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Likewise according to Luke: Certain of the Pharisees approached, saying to him: Get out and go away from here, because Herod wishes to kill you. And Jesus said to them: Go, tell that fox: Behold, I cast out demons and accomplish cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall be perfected. Go, for it is impossible that a prophet perish outside Jerusalem. Chapter 137: ON HOSPITALITY. In 4 Kings:
And Elisha went from there to Carmel, and from there he came to Shunem. And it came to pass one day that there was a great woman there, who, having detained him to eat bread, and as he frequently came in and went out, the woman said to her husband: Behold, I know that this is a holy man of God who comes to us, and he is holy; and therefore let us by all means make him a chamber above, with small walls, and let us set there a table and a bed and a chair and a lampstand; and when he comes to us, he shall turn aside there. And when the day came, Elisha came and went up into the upper chamber and lay down there. And afterwards, sitting up, he said to Gehazi his servant: Call that Shunammite. And he called her; and when she stood before him, he said to her:
Behold, you have honored us with all honor and prepared a lodging for us; what shall we give you in return? And Elisha said to Gehazi his servant: What then shall we do for her? And Gehazi said: Truly she has no son, and her husband is old. And he said: Call her. And he called her to the door. And Elisha said: This word shall be for a testimony, that at this time you shall live and you shall conceive a son. And the woman said: Do not, man of God, mock your handmaid. And the woman conceived and bore a son at that same time. Likewise in the book of Wisdom: For one ought to be just and humane. Likewise the apostle to the Romans: Pursuing hospitality, bless and do not curse. Likewise Peter the apostle:
Show hospitality to one another without murmuring. Likewise in the book of Judges: And the old man said to his guest: Peace be to you! Whatever you lack shall be from me, only do not stay here in the streets. And he brought the man into his house and gave fodder to his beasts, and they washed their feet, and ate and drank. Chapter 138: THAT MEN ARE CALLED A HARVEST OR CROPS. In the Gospel according to Matthew, John the Baptist: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but one mightier than I is coming, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit. His winnowing-fan is in his hand, and he shall cleanse his threshing floor; he shall gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he shall burn with unquenchable fire.
Likewise there: Jesus said to his disciples: The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. Likewise there: He who sows the good seed is the Son of man, and this field is the world, and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom; but the tares are the sons of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be at the consummation of the age. The Son of man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals and those who work iniquity. And he shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Likewise according to John:
Do you not say that there are yet four months and the harvest comes? Behold, I say to you: Lift up your eyes and see the regions, for they are white for the harvest. And he who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit unto eternal life, so that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the word of truth holds: that one is he who sows and another is he who reaps. I sent you to reap that at which you did not labor; others labored, and you have entered into their labor. Chapter 139: THAT A WIFE, EXCEPT FOR THE CAUSE OF ADULTERY, IS NOT TO BE DISMISSED. In the Gospel according to Matthew: The Pharisees approached him, tempting him and saying: Is it lawful for a man to dismiss his wife for any cause whatever?
Jesus answered them, saying: Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh? What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder. They say to him: Why then did Moses command that a bill of divorce be given and the wife be dismissed? Jesus said to them: Because Moses, according to your hardness of heart, permitted you to dismiss your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you that whoever dismisses his wife, except for the cause of adultery, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her who is dismissed by her husband commits adultery. Likewise the apostle to the Corinthians, first letter:
But to those who are joined in matrimony I command—not I, but the Lord—that a wife not depart from her husband. But if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And let not a husband dismiss his wife. Chapter 140: ON THE TABERNACLE. In the prophet Isaiah: Your tabernacles shall not be moved, nor shall the stakes of his tabernacle be worn out forever, nor shall its cords be broken; because you shall call upon the name of the Lord, which is great. Likewise in the prophet Jeremiah: Your tabernacle has been made wretched, it has perished, and all its skins are torn apart. Chapter 141: ON THE WASHING OF FEET. In Genesis, concerning Abraham: God appeared to him at the oak of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tabernacle at midday.
And lifting up his eyes he looked, and behold, three men were standing over him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of his tabernacle and bowed himself to the earth and said: Lord, if I have found favor before you, do not pass by your servant; let water be brought and let your feet be washed, and rest yourselves under the tree, and I will bring bread and you shall eat, and afterwards you shall pass on, since for this you have turned aside to your servant. And they said: Do so, as you have said. Likewise in the Gospel according to John:
And when supper was ended, the devil having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside his garments; and when he had taken a linen cloth, he girded himself. Then he put water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the linen cloth with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him: Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him: What I am doing you do not know now, but you shall know afterward. Peter said to him: You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered: If I do not wash you, you shall have no part with me. Simon Peter said to him:
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus says to him: He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is clean all over; and you are clean, but not all. For he knew who it was that would betray him; therefore he said: You are clean, but not all. And after he had washed their feet, he took his garments, and when he had again reclined, he said to them: Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If then I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, how much more ought you also to wash one another's feet? For I have given you an example, that as I have done for you, you also should do.
Amen I say to you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is the apostle greater than he who sent him. Knowing these things, you shall be blessed if you do them. Likewise in the First Letter to Timothy: Let a widow be chosen who is not less than sixty years of age, who has been the wife of one husband, having testimony in good works: if she has brought up children, if she has received strangers with hospitality, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has ministered to those suffering tribulation, if she has followed after every good work. Likewise in Genesis: And he brought Simeon out to them, and they brought water and washed their feet. 142. THAT ALL THINGS ARE TO BE DONE FOR THE GLORY OR IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. The Apostle in the First Letter to the Corinthians: Whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do all for the glory of God. Likewise in the Letter to the Colossians:
Whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 143. ON THE HOLY LIFE OF SAMUEL AND OF PAUL THE APOSTLE, THAT WE HAVE NOT BEEN SEIZED BY AVARICE. In the First Book of Kingdoms: And when Samuel had feasted with all the men of Israel to the full, he said to every man of Israel: Behold, I have heard your voice in all things whatsoever you have said to me, and I have set a king over you. And now behold, the king goes before you. And I have grown old, and it is fitting that I take my rest; but my sons are with you. And since I have walked before you from my youth even to this present day, behold, here I am.
Answer against me before the Lord and before his anointed: whether I have taken anyone's calf, or carried off anyone's ass, or harmed any man by my power, or oppressed anyone, or received from anyone's hand a bribe for entreaty, or even a shoe-latchet: speak against me, and I will restore it to you. They answered Samuel, saying: You have wronged no one by power, nor oppressed us, nor taken anything from anyone's hand. And Samuel said to the people: The Lord is witness among you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand. And they said: He is witness. Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul the apostle to the bishops and his disciples:
I have coveted no one's silver or gold or garment. You yourselves know that for the things which were necessary to me in all my need, and to those who are with me, these hands have provided. In all things I have shown you that, laboring thus, we ought to help the weak and to be mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. 144. THAT THE LORD IS CALLED THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. In the prophet Jeremiah: O Lord, let all who forsake you be confounded; let those who depart from the land be overthrown, who have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of life. Likewise there: The heaven was greatly astonished at these things, says the Lord; for my people have committed these two evils:
they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water. Likewise in the prophet Isaiah: For behold, a just king shall reign, and I have raised up a king with justice and a prince with judgment; he shall rule, and there shall be a man hiding his words, and he shall hide himself as from the beating of the water; and he shall appear in Zion like a glorious river in a thirsty land. Likewise there: For water has burst forth in the desert, and streams in the thirsty land; and the land that was without water shall become pools, and in the thirsty ground there shall be a fountain of water. Likewise the prophet Joel: And a fountain shall go forth from the house and shall water the multitude. Likewise according to John: On the last and great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying:
If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This he said of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive. Likewise in Psalm 35: They shall be inebriated with the plenty of your house, and you shall give them to drink of the torrent of your pleasure. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we shall see light.