site: migne

title: Epistola ad Titum

author: Anselm of Laon and his school

languages: en la

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 637D–642B

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0637D]

Titum commonefacit et instruit de constitutione presbyterii et de spirituali conversatione, et haereticis vitandis, qui in traditionibus Judaicis credunt, scribens ei a Nicopoli.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Paulus servus,* etc. Conditione non tamen peccati misera servitute. sed *Dei.* Quidam nobilitate, qualiter Moyses et David servi sunt appellati, et Maria ancilla. *Secundum fidem electi.* Id [0638D] est quam tenent vel qua salvantur electi Dei, et ideo per ea magis laborandum.

VERS. 2.-- *In spem vitae aeternae.* Haec res. hic fructus apostolici officii. Per hoc commendat officium apostolicum non tepidius agendum. *Ante tempora,* etc. Non recens promissio, sed ante tempora omnium saeculorum.

VERS. 3.-- *Manifestavit.* Congruis hoc factum est temporibus, scilicet Verbum, id est Filius: *Haec est vita aeterna.*

[0639A]VERS. 4.-- *Filio secundum communem fidem.* Id est catholicam non privatam alicujus. Catholicon Graece, commune vel universale dicitur Latine.

*Hujus rei gratia.* Primo dicit quid agere debeat et quales ordinare presbyteros, incipiens ita, *hujus rei gratia.* Dum haec recolit, sicut ei disposuerat monet exsequi.

VERS. 5.-- *Presbyteros.* Pluraliter dicit presbyteros, non autem singulariter, ut scilicet pastoralis curae onus facilius sustineatur, per multos divisum.

VERS. 6.-- *Sine crimine.* Si dixisset, sine peccato, nullus in Ecclesia recte posset ordinari minister. Multi enim baptizati fideles sunt sine crimine, sine peccato vero in hac vita neminem dixerim; non quia peccati aliquid remaneat quod in baptismate [0639B] non dimittatur, sed quia in nobis in hujus vitae infirmitate manentibus quotidie fieri non quiescunt, quae fideliter orantibus quotidie remittantur. Quamlibet valde justum discutias in hac vita, non est tamen sine peccato.

*Unius uxoris virum.* [n: (HIERON. Epist. ad Oceanum. )] Post baptismum, etc., *usque ad* quia est ab uno Deo apostatare, et in alterius superstitionem ire.

*Filios habens fideles.* Id est, nec saltem de luxuria accusatos, vel sibi non subditos. Alioquin nec spes in illo est corrigendi alios, nec frontem habet ad alios talium cohabitator.

VERS. 7.-- *Oportet enim.* Talis debet constitui: necesse est enim ad tractationem officii eum *esse sine crimine,* id est irreprehensibilem episcopum. [0639C] Hic aperte ostendit presbyterorum nomine episcopos supra fuisse designatos.

VERS. 9.-- *Eos qui contradicunt, arguere.* Contradicentes non uno modo intelligendi sunt, paucissimi quippe nobis contradicunt loquendo, sed multi male vivendo. Quis enim audet apertissime loquendo contradicere veritati. Non contradicunt multi lingua, sed vita: quos redarguere bonum opus est, grandis sarcina, clivus arduus.

VERS. 12.-- *Dixit quidam ex illis. [n: (AUG., lib. II contra adversarium leg. et prophet.)]* Iste fuit Epimenides Cretensis, in cujus libris hoc invenitur, etc., *usque ad* ad ministerium domus Dei assumendum est.

VERS. 14.-- *Mandatis.* Quia mandata legis post manifestam veritatem, jam hominum, non Dei mandata [0639D] sunt.

VERS. 15.-- *Omnia munda mundis.* Hoc ipsi negant ideo, quia in lege quaedam Moyses prohibuit, et ab immundis munda discrevit. Hoc autem non secundum naturas quas Deus creavit, intelligi voluit, sed secundum significationes: Omnia ergo munda sunt mundis secundum naturam; unde in Genesi: *Vidit Deus cuncta quae fecerat, et erant valde bona.* Secundum significationes quaedam immunda sunt Judaeis: nec nobis omnia apta sunt, vel propter salutem corporum, vel propter consuetudinem humanae societatis.

VERS. 16.-- *Factis autem.* Si negatio non tantum lingua fit, sed etiam factis, certe multos invenimus [0640A] Antichristos, qui ore confitentur Christum, et moribus dissentiunt ab eo. Quisquis factis negat Christum Antichristus est. Tales sunt omnes mali catholici, qui non verbis, sed factis negant. Nolite ergo esse tanquam de fide securi, adjungite fidei rectae vitam rectam, ut Christum confiteamini, et verbis vera docendo, et factis bene vivendo. Nam si confitemini verbis et non factis, fides tantum meorum proprie fides est daemoniorum.

## CAPUT II.

VERS. 1.-- *Tu autem loquere quae decent sanam doctrinam.* Haec sunt quae ad bonos mores pertinent.

VERS. 2.-- *Senes ut sobrii sint. [n: (CHRYS.)]* Habet senectus vitia quaedam propria, et morbos quibus juventus caret. Et ipsa quoque senectus morbus est, [0640B] inest illi tamen praeterea segnities quaedam ac tarditas, oblivio profunda, obtusio sensuum et iracundia. Sunt enim plurima quae in hujusmodi aetate vix fieri patiantur.

VERS. 3.-- *In habitu sancto.* Ut scilicet earum incessus, motus, vultus, sermo praeferant sanctitatem. *Non vino multo.* Solent enim esse quaedam, quae corporis frigescente luxuria, vino se pro libidine dederunt.

VERS. 4.-- *Ut viros suos.* Quos naturali affectu naturaliter diligunt, ament etiam pudica dilectione, ut scilicet cum pudore viris debitum potius reddant, quam exigant.

VERS. 5.-- *Ut non blasphemetur.* Hoc ad senes et ad omnia superiora potest referri, quasi dicat: Hortare senes, et anus, et adolescentulas, ut ita se habeant [0640C] ut dixi, quod ideo facere debent ut non blasphemetur, etc.

VERS. 7.-- *In omnibus,* etc. Omnis enim qui male vivit in conspectu eorum quibus praepositus est, quantum in ipso est occidit eos; etiamsi illi vivunt, de misericordia Dei vivunt.

VERS. 10.-- *Ut doctrinam Salvatoris.* Hoc refertur ad omnia praedicta, scilicet ad senes, et anus, et servos, quasi dicat: Hortare omnes praedictos, ut ita se habeant sicut praescriptum est, ut ita ornent in actibus suis doctrinam Salvatoris, etc. *Ornent.* Ornamentum doctoris est honesta vita discipuli.

VERS. 11.-- *Apparuit enim.* Quasi dicat: Omnes monendi sunt, quia omnibus natus est Christus, nullum exclusit. Vel, *Gratia,* id est Christus qui est [0640D] gratia Dei. Vel, *gratia Dei et Salvatoris,* etc., id est Deus et Salvator noster, scilicet Dei Filius, etsi invisibilis sit in forma Dei, tamen per gratiam apparuit in forma servi.

VERS. 13.-- *Et adventum gloriae magni Dei,* etc. Qui non in infirmitate ut prius, sed in gloria et potestate veniet praemia daturus secundum merita, qui in primo adventu adeo humilis fuit, quod non solum erudivit, sed etiam dedit semetipsum. *Sectatorem bonorum operum,* etc. Quia ad hoc redemit nos Christus, ut puram vitam sectantes et repleti operibus bonis, Dei haeredes esse possimus.

VERS. 15.-- *Argue cum omni,* etc. Ut non aspere accipiatur, cum pro salute fieri scitur.

## CAPUT III.

[0641A]

VERS. 1.-- *Ad omne opus,* etc. Quasi dicat: Admone, ut ad malum tardi sint, sed ad bonum parati, scientes quod singulis persolvi oporteat, quia singulis paratur.

VERS. 3.-- *Eramus enim et nos aliquando.* Etsi philosophi essent quidam nostrum, vera tamen sapientia carebant.

VERS. 4.-- *Benignitas,* etc. Per quam dona nobis spiritualia abunde tribuit.

VERS. 10.-- *Haereticum hominem.* Haereticus est qui per verba legis legem impugnat: proprium enim sensum astruit ex verbis legis, ut pravitatem mentis [0641B] suae legis auctoritate confirmet, qui vitandi sunt: [0642A] quia frequentius correcti exercitatiores essent ad malum.

VERS. 11.-- *Proprio judicio.* Se damnat qui errorem laudat, et veritatem vituperat.

VERS. 13.-- *Zenam legisperitum.* Hoc dicit, non quia peritior sit Apollo, sed quia hujus professionis erat in Synagoga. *Apollo.* Episcopus fuit Corinthiorum, qui propter seditionem concitatam adversum se a pseudo-apostolis discesserat cum Zena socio suo ad Titum Cretensem episcopum. Sed Corinthiis jam sedatis per epistolas Pauli mandat Tito, ut priusquam veniat Nicopolim, praemittat eos ita solite, ut nihil in viatico illis desit. *Ut nihil,* etc. Ideo jubet sumptus illis necessarios dari, quia dignum erat, ut qui spiritualia [0642B] tradebant, non illis deessent carnalia.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0637D]

He admonishes Titus and instructs him concerning the constitution of the presbytery and concerning spiritual manner of life, and concerning heretics to be shunned, who believe in Jewish traditions, writing to him from Nicopolis.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *Paul a servant,* etc. By condition, yet not by the wretched servitude of sin. but *of God.* Certain men by nobility, in the manner in which Moses and David were called servants, and Mary a handmaid. *According to the faith of the elect.* [var: Vulg. *electorum Dei*, "of the elect of God"] That [0638D] is, the faith which the elect of God hold, or by which they are saved, and therefore one must labour the more through these things.

VERS. 2.-- *Unto the hope of life everlasting.* This is the matter. this the fruit of the apostolic office. By this he commends the apostolic office, as not to be carried on the more lukewarmly. *Before the times,* etc. Not a recent promise, but before the times of all the ages.

VERS. 3.-- *He hath manifested.* This was done at fitting times, namely the Word, that is, the Son: *This is life everlasting.*

[0639A]VERS. 4.-- *To a son according to the common faith.* That is, catholic, not the private faith of anyone. Catholicon in Greek is called in Latin common or universal.

*For this cause.* First he says what he ought to do and what sort of presbyters he ought to ordain, beginning thus, *for this cause.* While he recalls these things, he admonishes him to carry them out as he had appointed for him.

VERS. 5.-- *Presbyters.* He says presbyters in the plural, and not in the singular, so that, namely, the burden of pastoral care may be more easily borne, being divided among many.

VERS. 6.-- *Without crime.* If he had said, without sin, no one in the Church could rightly be ordained a minister. For many baptized faithful are without crime, but without sin in this life I would call no one; not because anything of sin remains which is not remitted in baptism, [0639B] but because in us, who remain in the infirmity of this life, they do not cease to be committed daily, which are daily remitted to those who pray faithfully. However exceedingly just a man thou mayest examine in this life, yet he is not without sin.

*The husband of one wife.* [n: (HIERON. Epist. ad Oceanum. )] After baptism, etc., *as far as* because it is to apostatize from the one God, and to go over into the superstition of another.

*Having faithful children.* That is, not so much as accused of wantonness, or not subject to him. Otherwise there is neither hope in him of correcting others, nor has one who dwells with such persons the face to confront others.

VERS. 7.-- *For it behoveth.* Such a man ought to be appointed: for it is necessary, for the handling of the office, that he *be without crime,* that is, a blameless bishop. [0639C] Here he plainly shows that under the name of presbyters bishops were designated above.

VERS. 9.-- *To reprove those who contradict.* Those who contradict are not to be understood in one manner only, for very few contradict us by speaking, but many by living ill. For who dares, by speaking most openly, to contradict the truth. Many contradict not with the tongue, but with the life: to confute whom is a good work, a great burden, a steep slope.

VERS. 12.-- *A certain one of them said. [n: (AUG., lib. II contra adversarium leg. et prophet.)]* This was Epimenides the Cretan, in whose books this is found, etc., *as far as* it is to be taken up unto the ministry of the house of God.

VERS. 14.-- *Commandments.* Because the commandments of the law, after the truth has been made manifest, are now the commandments of men, not of God [0639D].

VERS. 15.-- *All things are clean to the clean.* This they deny for this reason, that in the law Moses forbade certain things, and separated clean things from unclean. But he willed this to be understood not according to the natures which God created, but according to significations: all things therefore are clean to the clean according to nature; whence in Genesis: *God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good.* According to significations certain things are unclean to the Jews: nor are all things fitting for us, either for the health of bodies, or for the custom of human society.

VERS. 16.-- *But by deeds.* If denial is made not only with the tongue, but also by deeds, certainly we find many [0640A] Antichrists, who confess Christ with the mouth, and in their manners dissent from him. Whosoever denies Christ by deeds is an Antichrist. Such are all evil Catholics, who deny not with words, but by deeds. Do not therefore be as though secure concerning the faith; join to right faith a right life, that you may confess Christ, both by teaching true things in words, and by living well in deeds. For if you confess with words and not with deeds, the faith only of my own is properly the faith of devils.

## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 1.-- *But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.* These are the things which pertain to good morals.

VERS. 2.-- *That the aged men be sober. [n: (CHRYS.)]* Old age has certain vices of its own, and diseases which youth lacks. And old age itself also is a disease; [0640B] yet there is besides in it a certain sluggishness and slowness, deep forgetfulness, dullness of the senses, and irascibility. For there are very many things which at an age of this kind scarcely suffer themselves to be done.

VERS. 3.-- *In holy habit.* So that, namely, their gait, their movement, their countenance, their speech may display holiness. *Not in much wine.* For there are wont to be certain women who, the wantonness of the body growing cold, have given themselves to wine in place of lust.

VERS. 4.-- *That they may love their own husbands.* Whom they love naturally with a natural affection, let them love also with a chaste love, so that, namely, with modesty they may rather render the debt to their husbands than exact it.

VERS. 5.-- *That the word of God be not blasphemed.* This can be referred to the aged men and to all the foregoing, as if he should say: Exhort the aged men, and the aged women, and the young women, that they so conduct themselves [0640C] as I have said, which they ought therefore to do that it be not blasphemed, etc.

VERS. 7.-- *In all things,* etc. For everyone who lives ill in the sight of those over whom he is set, as far as in him lies, kills them; and even if they live, they live of the mercy of God.

VERS. 10.-- *That they may adorn the doctrine of the Saviour.* This is referred to all the aforesaid, namely to the aged men, and the aged women, and the servants, as if he should say: Exhort all the aforesaid, that they so conduct themselves as has been prescribed, that so they may adorn in their acts the doctrine of the Saviour, etc. *Let them adorn.* The ornament of the teacher is the honourable life of the disciple.

VERS. 11.-- *For there hath appeared.* As if he should say: All are to be admonished, because Christ was born for all; he excluded no one. Or, *Grace,* that is, Christ who is [0640D] the grace of God. Or, *the grace of God and of the Saviour,* [var: Vulg. *gratia Dei Salvatoris nostri*, without *et*] etc., that is, God and our Saviour, namely the Son of God, who, although he be invisible in the form of God, yet by grace hath appeared in the form of a servant.

VERS. 13.-- *And the coming of the glory of the great God,* etc. Who will come not in infirmity as before, but in glory and power, about to give rewards according to merits: who in his first coming was so humble that he not only instructed, but even gave himself. *A pursuer of good works,* etc. Because for this Christ redeemed us, that, pursuing a pure life and filled with good works, we may be able to be heirs of God.

VERS. 15.-- *Reprove with all,* etc. That it be not taken harshly, since it is known to be done for the sake of salvation.

## CHAPTER III.

[0641A]

VERS. 1.-- *Unto every work,* etc. As if he should say: Admonish, that they be slow to evil, but ready to good, knowing that it must be paid out to each, because it is prepared for each.

VERS. 3.-- *For we also were once.* Even if certain of us were philosophers, yet they lacked true wisdom.

VERS. 4.-- *Benignity,* etc. Through which he bestowed spiritual gifts upon us abundantly.

VERS. 10.-- *A heretical man.* A heretic is he who through the words of the law assails the law: for he builds up his own meaning out of the words of the law, that he may confirm the depravity of his mind [0641B] by the authority of the law; who are to be avoided: [0642A] because, being the more frequently corrected, they would be the more practised for evil.

VERS. 11.-- *By his own judgment.* He condemns himself who praises error and blames truth.

VERS. 13.-- *Zenas the lawyer.* This he says, not because he is more skilled than Apollo, but because he was of this profession in the Synagogue. *Apollo.* He was bishop of the Corinthians, who, on account of the sedition stirred up against him by the false apostles, had departed with Zenas his companion to Titus the bishop of Crete. But the Corinthians being now quieted through the epistles of Paul, he charges Titus that, before he come to Nicopolis, he send them on ahead so customarily that nothing be lacking to them in provision for the journey. *That nothing,* etc. Therefore he commands that the necessary expenses be given them, because it was fitting that to those who imparted spiritual things [0642B] carnal things should not be lacking.

license_source: Public Domain Mark 1.0

license_translation: CC BY-NC 4.0

license_apparatus: CC BY-NC 4.0


title: Epistola canonica B. Jacobi

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 671A–680B

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0671A]

Jacobus apostolus sanctum instituit clerum de cultura coelestium praeceptorum, et regula catholicae observantiae, et de invictae patientiae majestate, et de revelatione plurimorum, et de mandatione magistrorum.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

VERS. 1.-- *Jacobus.* Iste ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae, post apostolos ad praedicandum missos, curam et regimen suscepit. *Duodecim tribubus.* Praecipuam sollicitudinem de istis habere ad duodecim pertinebat apostolos, qui legatione pro Domino in circumcisione fungebantur. Unde et Paulus dicit: *Jacobus, et Cephas, et Joannes, qui videbantur columnae esse, dexteras dederunt,* etc. Idcirco eis scribit praecipue, [0671B] et quia ipse a caeteris apostolis super eos ordinatus erat episcopus.

VERS. 2.-- *Omne gaudium.* Ne indignemini si mali in mundo florent, si vos patimini, quia non est Christianae veritatis in temporalibus exaltari, sed potius deprimi. Mali nihil habent in coelo, vos nihil in mundo. Spe illius boni ad quod tenditis, quidquid in via contingat, gaudere debetis. *Cum in tentationes.* A perfectioribus incipit de extrinsecis tentationibus.

VERS. 3.-- *Probatio fidei,* etc. [n: (BED.)] Eadem sententia, sed converso ordine in Paulo legitur, etc., *usque ad* per quod fides perfecta probatur.

VERS. 6.-- *Qui autem haesitat.* Qui conscientia peccati pressus dubitat de praemiis coelestibus, superveniente vento tentationum, facile deserit fidei [0671C] statum, et secundum tentantis voluntatem, ad flatum venti per diversos vitiorum raptatur errores.

VERS. 10.-- *Dives autem.* Divitem vocat eum qui totam spem in divitiis ponit; non nocet habere divitias, sed amare. *Dives autem glorietur.* Ironice. Quasi: Non debet gloriari in sua gloria qua superbit et alios opprimit, quia finienda est et humilianda in inferno. Vel, *Glorietur in humilitate sua,* id est, non in superbia, sed humiliet se subserviendo aliis de divitiis. *Quoniam sicut flos feni.* Justus ut palma floret, injustus ut fenum: quia ille manet, hic cito transit. Flos justi spes quae fructum exspectat, radix justi charitas quae immobilis manet; mali radix cupiditas, flos delectatio temporalium.

VERS. 11.-- *Dives in itineribus.* Viae divitis temporalia [0671D] sunt, quibus beatificari quaerit, quae cito destruentur. Ardor solis, adventus severi Judicis: vel in morte cujusque improvisus, vel in judicio communiter. In quo justus ut arbor fructifera manebit.

VERS. 12.-- *Beatus vir.* Quia difficile est hortari ad contemptum mundi, subdit de magnitudine praemii: [0672A] *Beatus vir,* etc. Non solum verbera et carceres debetis pati, sed et amissionem rerum temporalium, quae sunt viles et transitoriae, et amatores earum puniendi.

VERS. 13.-- *Nemo, cum tentatur. [n: (BED.)]* Hactenus de tentationibus exterioribus, nunc, etc., *usque ad* et hominem quasi ex necessitate peccare.

*Quoniam a Deo tentatur.* Exteriorem tentationem immittit Deus ad probationem suorum, interiorem vero, qua saepe concipitur furtum, adulterium, homicidium, non immittit Deus.

VERS. 14.-- *Unusquisque tentatur.* Duo sunt genera tentationum: unum quod probat, secundum quod tentavit Deus Abraham. Aliud quod decipit, secundum quod Deus neminem tentat. Cum super [0672B] fundamentum, lignum, fenum, stipulam aedificamus, diabolus superponit incendium. Aedificemus aurum, argentum, lapides pretiosos: et tentare non audebit; nec tamen omnino desistit, sed sedet in occultis ut interficiat innocentem.

*Generat mortem.* Sicut qui tentatus superat, praemia vitae; ita qui concupiscentiis illectus superatur, merito ruinam mortis incurrit.

VERS. 17.-- *Omne datum,* etc. [n: (BED.)] Postquam docuit quod vitia non a Deo nobis, sed a nobis sunt, etc., *usque ad* donum perfectum potest intelligi.

*Nec vicissitudinis.* Lumen ejus aliqua umbra non interdicit, ut aliqua mala immittat. Semper bona lucis sunt in Deo, sed ejus dona in nobis aliquando sunt quae supervenientia obumbrant peccata.

[0672C]VERS. 18.-- *Voluntarie.* Omne bonum est a Deo, et non meritis vestris ad hoc accessistis, sed sola gratia divinae voluntatis. *Ut simus initium,* etc. Per hanc genituram non putemus nos esse id quod ipse est, sed quemdam principatum in creaturis, adoptione nobis concessit. Unde alius translator: *Ut simus primitiae creaturarum ejus.*

VERS. 19.-- *Tardus ad iram.* Non temere, et sine causa aliquis irascatur, vel contra subditos peccantes, vel contra quoslibet fratres, vel contra felicitatem malorum, quia maturitas sapientiae non nisi tranquilla mente percipitur. Et qui iratus judicat, etiamsi justitiam judicat, tamen divini examinis justitiam, in qua perturbatio non cadit, non potest imitari.

[0672D]VERS. 21.-- *Propter quod abjicientes,* etc. Monuit ad inquirendam doctrinam, ad quam suscipiendam, et ut in ea possint proficere, hortatur nunc ad munditiam corporis et animae. Qui enim non declinat a malo, non potest bonum facere. *Insitum verbum.* Quod vestris cordibus praedicando imponimus, vel [0673A] verbum quod insitum et seminatum est in die redemptionis, quando vos genuit Deus; nunc perfectius suscipite, et operibus implete, quid in mysterio tenetis.

VERS. 23.-- *Consideranti vultum.* Qui proponit in animo suo considerare in Scripturis quasi in speculo vultum nativitatis, qualiter homo sit natus, quam fragilis, vel quid futurus, quam brevis aevi, in quantis miseriis positus, compunctionem magnam et voluntatem poenitendi contraxit; sed statim, aliqua tentatione seductus, obliviscitur compunctionis, et ad peccata redit. Hujus inconstantiae comparat eum qui libenter verbum audit, et implere negligit. Et est similitudo inter illum qui sponte sua, sine doctore se ad Scripturas applicuit, et illum qui ab alio [0673B] Scripturas audit, cum neuter impleverit.

Puer cum nascitur vagit, per quod indicatur dolor animae, et quod in vita intrat ad miserias carnis, quem dolorem postea obliviscitur, consueta illecebris carnis anima.

VERS. 26.-- *Non refrenans linguam suam,* etc. [n: (AUG., Serm. 3 ad fratres in eremo.)] Verbositas quid aliud est? etc., *usque ad* et tu diligenter attendas: *Qui non refrenat linguam suam, hujus vana est religio,* etc.

VERS. 27.-- *Et immaculatum se custodire ab hoc saeculo.* Per saeculum intelligit mundum, seu omnia quae sunt in mundo, ut sunt concupiscentia carnis, et oculorum, et superbia vitae.

## CAPUT II.

[0673C]VERS. 1.-- *Nolite. Quasi dicat:* Dominus non divites invitat ad fidem et pauperes despicit, sed pauperes elegit in hoc mundo, et eos fide donavit. Mundus pauperem abjicit, divitem colit; fides Christi econtra docet quia omnis gloria divitum tanquam flos feni, misericordia in pauperes floret in aeternum. *Domini gloriae.* Dominum gloriae nominat, ut ejus jussis obediatur, qui sempiterna gloria remunerat id quod pro ejus amore pauperibus datur.

VERS. 5.-- *Audite. [n: (BED.)]* Diligentius attendite, quia non qui ditiores in saeculo, etc., *usque ad* sed hos tamen exspectatione futuri regni praeclaros reddidit et nobiles.

*Nonne Deus. [n: (BED.)]* Pauperes elegit Deus qui alibi ait: *Nolite timere, pusillus grex, quia complacuit Patri [0673D] vestro dare vobis regnum.* Pauperes etiam parentes quorum nutriretur officio elegit.

VERS. 6.-- *Nonne divites.* Apertius ostendit quos divites superius dixerit, scilicet illos qui divitias Christo praeferunt, et ipsi alieni a fide, eos qui credunt per potentiam opprimunt, et ad judicia potentiorum trahunt. Et est alia causa quare non sunt eligendi, quia mala inferunt fidelibus.

VERS. 7.-- *Blasphemant.* Haec apostolorum temporibus plures gentilium et Judaeorum, maxime ditiores fecisse inveniuntur.

VERS. 8.-- *Si tamen legem.* Quia aspere et de contemptu divitum locutus erat, et quodammodo contrarius legi divinae, quae omnes diligi praecipit, [0674A] ne omnino contemnendi divites putentur, subdit: quasi dicat propter praedictas causas non sunt eligendi, sed si perficitis hanc legem quae dicit: *Diliges proximum [n: (Matth. XXII)]*, benefacitis; quia, etsi divites propter divitias non sunt eligendi, non tamen propter Deum minus sunt diligendi.

*Regalem.* Id est excellentem, vel quia communis est omnibus, et omnes complectitur. Vel quae dicit: *Non confundas personam pauperis, nec honores vultum potentis [n: (Levit. XIX)]*, et alibi: *Nulla erit distantia personarum: ita parvum ut magnum audietis, quia judicium Dei est [n: (Deut. I)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Quicunque autem.* Ne putarent contemptibile esse peccatum in hac una re legem transgredi, addit: *Quicunque autem,* etc. *Offendat autem [0674B] in uno factus est omnium reus.* Vere qui in uno offendit est transgressor totius legis, quia qui peccat, contra auctorem legis facit, quem in sua lege negligit, et contra charitatem, quae est causa et mater totius legis. Hanc sententiam ex simili videamus: Si quis me offenderet, omnes fratres et amicos meos in me offenderet, et quodammodo contra omnes peccaret. Sic qui unum mandatum negligit, caetera, quae completa videbantur adjuvare, sibi inutilia reddit.

VERS. 12.-- *Sic loquimini. [n: (BED.)]* Quandoquidem malum est divitem propter divitias eligi, etc., *usque ad* quae spontaneos vocat ad poenitentiam et peccata dimittit.

Quasi diceret: Bene loquimini, et bene facite: quia si negligitis, gravius damnabimini quam qui fuerunt [0674C] in tempore Moysi, quia cui plus committitur, plus ab eo exigitur. Quo plus majorem quis misericordiam a Domino consequitur, eo injustius indigenti proximo misericordiam negat, et justius luit poenas impietatis.

VERS. 13.-- *Superexaltat autem. [n: (BED.)]* Sicut in judicio dolebit ille qui non fecit misericordiam, ita qui fecit, remuneratus exsultabit atque gaudebit.

VERS. 14.-- *Quid proderit,* etc. [n: (ID.)] Hic latius disputat de operibus misericordiae, ut quos praecedente sententia terruerat, consoletur, docendo quibus remediis expientur quotidiana peccata, sine quibus non agitur vita. Ne illi qui non in uno tantum, sed in multis offendunt, in judicio inveniantur rei omnium.

[0674D]VERS. 18.-- *Sed dicet quis.* Non solum propter praedictas rationes debetis ad bene operandum incitari, sed etiam propter hoc ne improperium ab aliis patiamini, quia aliquis assumpta fiducia de suis operibus ut ostendat solam fidem non valere, improperando dicet: *Tu fidem,* etc.

VERS 19.-- *Tu credis,* etc. Probavit eos qui opera non habent veram fidem non habere; nunc cujusmodi fidem habeant, patefacit, ne illam talem fidem magnifaciant. *Et daemones credunt, et contremiscunt. [n: (BED.)]* Scriptum est, etc., *usque ad* daemonibus tardiores et proterviores sunt existimandi.

[0675A]VERS. 20.-- *Vis autem scire, o homo inanis? [n: (BED.)]* Probato, quod fides sine operibus mortua est, etc., *usque ad* imitentur in tentatione et in operatione.

VERS. 21.-- *Abraham pater noster,* etc. [n: (ID.)] Quod Abraham per fidem sine operibus justificatus dicitur, etc., *usque ad* de utroque in exemplum proponitur. *Offerens filium suum Isaac super altare?* Magna tentatio, cum filium jubebatur occidere; magna fides, cum etiam de mortuo credebat se posse semen accipere; magnum opus, cum dilectissimum non dubitaret offerre.

VERS. 22.-- *Vides quoniam fides cooperabatur operibus illius, et ex operibus,* etc. Quia obtulit illum, in quo acceperat promissionem, apparet magna virtus fidei: quia, etsi eum offerret, credebat promissionem [0675B] implendam, quia potentem credebat Deum etiam suscitare mortuum.

*Similiter et Raab meretrix. [n: (BED.)]* Ne causarentur opera tanti patris se imitari non posse, etc., *usque ad* et annumerata in generationibus Salvatoris.

## CAPUT III.

VERS. 1.-- *Nolite.* Sicut monui vos ad opera facienda, sic moneo ad vitanda stulta magisteria. *Nolite plures.* Multi fuere temporibus apostolorum, qui descendentes de Judaea Antiochiam, non bene eruditi in lege fidei, docebant, credentes ex gentibus debere circumcidi, et alios errores inducebant, quae veris praedicatoribus non parvum laborem quaestionis contulerunt. Hos ergo ab officio verbi removet, ne impediant [0675C] veros praedicatores.

*Majus. [n: (BED.)]* Qui indoctus officium docendi usurpat, et Christum non sinceriter nuntiat, majorem damnationem meretur quam si solus suo scelere periret; sicut contra, qui bene ministrat, gradum sibi bonum acquirit.

VERS. 2.-- *In multis.* Vere periculosum est reliquis praeesse velle, quia non tantum vos minus eruditi, sed nos omnes praedicatores, etiam majores in multis offendimus, alii male docendo, et aliis male vivendo, et aliis modis. Se illis beatus Apostolus connumerat, ut liberius arguat. Aliter justus, aliter malus offendit; justus carnis fragilitate, nec justus esse desinit, unde Salomon: *Septies in die cadet justus et resurget;* sicut quotidiana est offensio, ita [0675D] quotidiana est medela orationum, et bonorum operum, sed impii corruunt in malum. *Si quis.* Vult ostendere inevitabilem verbi offensionem, ut imperitos deterreat, ne cupiant praelationem: quia eum qui cupit praeesse, oportet aliis perfectiorem esse, ne offendat dum debet prodesse; sed imperiti non possunt in praedicando non offendere.

*In verbo non offendit. [n: (BED.)]* Illo videlicet, cujus offensionem humana potest vitare fragilitas. Ut verbum doli, detractionis, superbiae, jactantiae, sed et otiosae et superfluae locutionis, *hic perfectus est vir.*

VERS. 3.-- *Si autem frenos equis in ora mittimus. [n: (BED.)]* In ora nostra multo magis debemus mittere. Quidam libri habent: *Sicut autem frenos equis,* et [0676A] conjungitur sic ad sequentia: *Sicut autem frenos equis in ora mittimus, ita et lingua modicum quidem membrum est, et magna exaltat.*

VERS. 5.-- *Et magna exaltat. [n: (ID.)]* Praemia, si impetus dirigentis bene eam gubernat; si male, sibi suisque magnam perditionem exaltat, unde Salomon: *Mors et vita in manibus linguae [n: (Prov. XVIII)]*. Vitam exaltat, si bene docet Ecclesiam; mortem si male. Agitur namque contra illos qui, et vita et scientia destituti, docere praesumebant. Magna ergo exaltat lingua quae caeterorum verba et sensus despiciens, singulariter se sapientiem jactat et facundam. Contra quod: *Nolite multiplicare loqui sublimia gloriantes.*

*Ecce quantus ignis.* Sic et lingua incontinens magnam materiam bonorum operum perire facit, itaque, [0676B] cum fere sit impossibile vitari peccatum linguae etiam a perfectis, non quivis debet appetere magisterium.

VERS. 6.-- *Universitas iniquitatis.* Universitatem dicit, quia per eam cuncta fere facinora, aut concinantur, ut latrocinia, stupra: aut patrantur, ut perjuria, falsa testimonia: aut defenduntur, ut cum quilibet impurus excusando scelus quod admisit, simulat bonum quod non fecit. *Quae maculat totum corpus.* Et quia talis est lingua totum corpus maculat, et immundum facit reputari in conspectu Dei, et ideo grave est subire magisterium: quia *constituitur in membris nostris,* una est de membris nostris, nimis propinqua nobis.

*Inflammat rotam,* etc. [n: (BED.)] Contaminat totum [0676C] procursum vitae temporalis, etc., *usque ad* per caetera membra ad effectum perducere cogit.

VERS. 7.-- *Omnis enim natura bestiarum,* etc. [n: (ID.)] Legimus in Plinio immanissimam aspidem in Aegypto a quodam patrefamilias domitam, quotidie de caverna sua egressam et a mensa ejus annonam percipere solitam. Legimus in Marcellino, tigridem mansuetam factam ab India Anastasio principi missam.

VERS. 10.-- *Ex ipso ore procedit.* Alii videntes quod agimus exemplo nostro inducuntur, ut similiter benedicant et maledicant. *Non oportet.* Vere non oportet ut eodem ore benedicamus de capite, et maledicamus de membris, quia amaritudine maledictionis consumitur dulcedo benedictionis.

[0676D]VERS. 11.-- *Nunquid fons.* Oportet praedicatorem aliquando amara praedicatione uti, abstrahendo, increpando. Quod satis difficile est, ut diversis verbis ad idem tendentibus utrumque facere possit.

VERS. 12.-- *Nunquid potest, fratres.* Non potest fieri ut doctor sit ficus dulcedine beatitudinis ad quam monet, et dulcibus utatur verbis, et ut sit vitis, faciens oblivisci omnium temporalium, ad quod oportet asperis uti: hoc ergo difficile est. *Sic neque salsa dulcem potest facere aquam,* id est, aliquis praedicator acriter mordens mores aliorum, in eadem doctrina non potest esse dulcis eisdem.

VERS. 13.-- *Quis sapiens et disciplinatus inter vos?* Confutatis illis qui nec vitae sanctitatem, nec linguae [0677A] continentiam habent, monet illos qui sibi sapientes videbantur, vel etiam erant, ut sapientiam magis ostendant disciplinate vivendo, quam alios docendo, quia qui proclivior est ad docendum quam faciendum, aliquando jactantiam, vel contentionem incurrit, vel invidiam contra alios doctores, et alia multa mala.

VERS. 14.-- *Et mendaces esse adversus veritatem.* Nolite mentiri Deo, cui in baptismo promisistis abrenuntiare pompis diaboli, quod non facitis cum de bonis superbire vultis.

VERS. 17.-- *Quae autem.* Haec est mansuetudo quam superius habendam esse praecepit, zelo amaritudinis et contentionibus adversa. *Primum quidem pudica est.* Nisi primum pudicitia sedeat in mente, nulla perfectio sequetur in opere. *Suadibilis, bonis [0677B] consentiens.* Si quid minus agit, vel propter ignorantiam, vel propter negligentiam, bonorum suasioni assensum praebet.

VERS. 18.-- *Fructus autem.* Postquam sapientiam per singulas virtutes distinxit; ut facilius invitet ad hanc, fructum ejus subjungit: *In pace seminatur.* Non postulat videri doctior vel sanctior quam est: non lacerat proximum ad commendationem sui, quod contentiosa facit sapientia. Non solum propter praedicta debet hujusmodi sapientiam appetere, sed etiam ideo; quia a facientibus pacem quasi jacientibus hoc semen seminatur, et praeparatur in pace aeternae beatitudinis fructus, id est merces justitiae, quae pro justis operibus retribuitur. Qui igitur hic studet paci, et terram cordis sui operibus pacis quasi semente [0677C] aspergit, justum est ut habeat aeternam pacem, quasi fructum hujus seminis.

## CAPUT IV.

VERS. 1.-- *Unde bella,* etc. [n: (BED.)] Prohibuerat zelum et contentionem, unde etiam latius disputat, addens alia vitia quae inde sequuntur: ex contentione concupiscentia, ex concupiscentiis bella et lites. Qui enim cupit praeferri, vel temporalibus abundare, odit, invidet, occidit.

VERS. 2.-- *Propter quod.* Propter haec, scilicet quod Deum digne postulatis; si enim illum pia intercessione postularetis etiam temporalia ad usum necessaria, et non solum sempiterna daret.

VERS. 4.-- *Adulteri, nescitis,* etc. [n: (BED.)] Dixerat supra de apertis inimicis Dei, etc., *usque ad* et per [0677D] hoc inimici Dei constituimini.

VERS. 5.-- *An putatis?* etc. Non debetis litigare: nam spiritus, qui in vobis est, non concupiscit ad invidiam, sed potius facit concordes, et hoc dicit Scriptura: *Ad invidiam concupiscit spiritus qui habitat in vobis.* Vel: *spiritus concupiscit ad,* id est *contra invidiam,* id est hoc desiderat, ut invidia tollatur; vel, cupit ut invideatis mundo, nec ametis eum; vel, spiritus cujuslibet hominis cupit temporalia ad invidiam, quia invidet aliis quod non habet.

VERS. 6.-- *Majorem autem dat gratiam.* Spiritus gratiae non facit invidere, imo dat gratiam, id est gratuita dona, majora quam sunt divitiae saeculi. Propter quod, id est ut sciamus, dat, et quibus non [0678A] det, dicit Scriptura: *Superbis resistit, humilibus autem dat gratiam,* etc. Malos omnes punit Deus, sed superbis specialiter resistere dicitur, quia majori poena plectuntur, qui Deo subdi poenitendo negligunt Sed humilibus dat gratiam, qui in suorum plagis vitiorum manibus veri medici se subdunt.

VERS. 11.-- *Detrahit legi, judicat legem.* Quae detractionem prohibuit. Quasi dicat, lex non fecit. Vel, qui detrahit fratri legem facienti, detrahit et judicat legem quare talia jussa dederit, quae injurias fratrum jubet oblivisci.

VERS. 13.-- *Tu autem.* Non solum ideo debes vitare detractionem, ne ut transgressor a Deo judiceris, sed ideo etiam quia fortasse in nullo praecellis illos quos vituperas. *Ecce nunc, qui dicitis.* Post increpationem [0678B] detractionis, arguit illorum temeritatem qui, non habentes certitudinem vitae, cupiditate temporalium vitam et lucrum promittunt sibi in futurum. *Faciemus ibi quidem annum, et mercabimur,* etc. Multimodam stultitiam notat eorum qui et de lucrorum augmento agunt, et se multo tempore victuros arbitrantur, et suae potestatis aestimant, ut annum faciant, et in his omnibus superni judicis examen ad mentem revocare contemnunt.

VERS. 15.-- *Quae est enim vita vestra?* etc. Non consentit illis qui dicunt post mortem nihil esse, et mortem ipsam nihil esse. Sed ita loquitur ut doceat quod vita pravorum brevis est in praesenti: quam tamen in futuro mors aeterna sequetur.

## CAPUT V.

[0678C]

VERS. 1.-- *Agite nunc.* Tempore accepto et in die salutis, futuras poenas fletibus et eleemosynis redimite.

VERS. 3.-- *Et aerugo. [n: (BED.)]* Non solum immisericordes divites visibilis gehennae ignis cruciabit, etc., *usque ad* et propterea gravius punietur.

*In testimonium.* Id est ad augmentum poenarum, id est ut hanc visibiliter intuendo, majores cruciatus sustineatis. *Manducabit carnes.* Id est corpora vel carnales concupiscentias, quia luxuriosas animas, et exterius saeviens flamma cruciabit, et interius pungens dolor suae tenaciae accusabit. *Sicut ignis,* qui consumit metalla et caeteras res, sic aerugo vestras carnes.

[0678D]VERS. 4.-- *Ecce merces. [n: (BED.)]* Magna est hominum iniquitas, qui pauperes nolunt suscipere; sed major est quando mercenariis, et famulis debitam laboris mercedem nolunt reddere. Unde Job: *Si adversum me terra mea clamat et sulci ejus deflent? si fructus ejus comedi absque pecunia?*

VERS. 5.-- *Epulati. [n: (ID.)]* Nec tantum peccastis superflue congregando, etc., *usque ad* et caeterorum scelerum quae fecerant Judaei.

VERS. 7.-- *Patientes [n: (ID.)]* Increpatis superbis et incredulis, etc., *usque ad* unde Apostolus: *Habetis fructum vestrum in sanctificatione, finem vero vitam aeternam [n: (Rom. VI)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *Prophetas. [n: (ID.)]* Prophetae, qui tam [0679A] sancti erant ut Dei Spiritus per eos sua mysteria loqueretur, etc., *usque ad* de Domino quantum ad exitum mortis.

VERS. 11.-- *Sufferentiam Job.* Non dicit: *finem Job,* cui temporalia sunt restituta, sed *sufferentiam Job. Et finem Domini,* quia ad patiendum exemplo Job invitat, et tamen non ut temporalia recipiant, sicut Job vetus homo, sed aeterna sicut Christus novus homo.

*Et finem Domini. [n: (BED.)]* Audistis lectione, vidistis oculis in cruce longaminiter patientem, sed et gloriam resurrectionis et ascensionis Evangelica praedicatione didicistis.

VERS. 13.-- *Oret.* Ne murmuret, nec judicia Dei vituperet, sed ad Ecclesiam currat flexis genibus, [0679B] ut Deus consolationem mittat.

VERS. 15.-- *Et si in peccatis. [n: (BED.)]* Multi propter peccata etiam corporis plectuntur morte, etc., *usque ad* unde recte subditur: *Confitemini,* etc.

VERS. 17.-- *Oratione oravit.* Astruit exemplo quantum valeat justi deprecatio assidua cum Elias tantum [0680A] una oratione orando tam longo tempore continuerit coelos, terris imbres averterit, fructus mortalibus negaverit.

*Et rursum. [n: (BED.)]* Ubi Elias tempus perspexit, etc., *usque ad* quid ergo multi fideles multis orationibus?

VERS. 19.-- *Si quis ex vobis.* Ostensa efficacia orationis, ostendit quanti sit meriti pro fratribus orare, et ad sospitatem revocare, ut qui in superiori parte a lingua nostra malignam et otiosam locutionem removit, in fine Epistolae quid loqui debeamus, ostenderet. Oremus, et psallamus, quoties adversis pulsamur, peccata confiteamur, pro invicem oremus ut salvemur: pro salute proximorum non solum temporali, sed potius aeterna. Si enim magnae mercedis est a morte eripere corpus quandoque [0680B] moriturum, quanti meriti est a morte animam liberare in coelesti patria sine fine victuram?

VERS. 20.-- *Salvabit.* Quidam codices habent: *Salvabit animam suam a morte.* Et vere qui errantem corrigit, per hoc ampliora gaudia vitae coelestis sibi conquirit.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0671A]

The apostle James instructed the holy clergy concerning the cultivation of the heavenly precepts, and the rule of catholic observance, and concerning the majesty of unconquered patience, and concerning the revelation of very many things, and concerning the commissioning of masters.

## CHAPTER ONE.

VERS. 1.-- *James.* This man, after the apostles had been sent forth to preach, took up the care and government of the church of Jerusalem. *To the twelve tribes.* To have a special solicitude concerning these belonged to the twelve apostles, who discharged the embassy for the Lord among the circumcision. Whence Paul also says: *James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave the right hands,* etc. For that reason he writes to them especially, [0671B] and because he himself had been ordained bishop over them by the rest of the apostles.

VERS. 2.-- *All joy.* Be not indignant if the wicked flourish in the world, if you suffer, because it belongs not to Christian truth to be exalted in temporal things, but rather to be brought low. The wicked have nothing in heaven, you nothing in the world. In the hope of that good toward which you strive, whatever may befall on the way, you ought to rejoice. *When you shall fall into temptations.* He begins from the more perfect, concerning outward temptations.

VERS. 3.-- *The trying of faith,* etc. [n: (BED.)] The same sentence, but in reversed order, is read in Paul, etc., *as far as* by which faith is proved perfect.

VERS. 6.-- *But he that wavereth.* He who, pressed by the conscience of sin, doubts concerning the heavenly rewards, when the wind of temptations comes upon him, easily deserts the [0671C] state of faith, and, according to the will of him that tempts, is swept at the blast of the wind through divers errors of vices.

VERS. 10.-- *But the rich.* He calls that man rich who puts his whole hope in riches; it is not harmful to have riches, but to love them. *But let the rich man glory.* Ironically. As if: He ought not to glory in his own glory, wherein he is proud and oppresses others, because it must be ended and humbled in hell. Or, *Let him glory in his humility,* that is, not in pride, but let him humble himself by serving others out of his riches. *For as the flower of the grass.* The just man flowers as the palm, the unjust as the grass: because the one remains, the other quickly passes away. The flower of the just man is hope, which awaits fruit, the root of the just man is charity, which remains unmoved; the root of the wicked is covetousness, his flower the delight of temporal things.

VERS. 11.-- *The rich in his ways.* The ways of the rich man are the temporal [0671D] things by which he seeks to be made blessed, which shall quickly be destroyed. The heat of the sun is the coming of the severe Judge: either unforeseen at each man's death, or in the judgment, in common. In which the just man shall remain as a fruitful tree.

VERS. 12.-- *Blessed is the man.* Because it is hard to exhort to contempt of the world, he adds concerning the greatness of the reward: [0672A] *Blessed is the man,* etc. Not only ought you to suffer stripes and prisons, but also the loss of temporal things, which are vile and transitory, and their lovers are to be punished.

VERS. 13.-- *Let no man, when he is tempted. [n: (BED.)]* Thus far concerning outward temptations, now, etc., *as far as* and that man sins as it were of necessity.

*For that he is tempted by God.* God sends the outward temptation for the proving of his own, but the inward, by which theft, adultery, murder are often conceived, God does not send.

VERS. 14.-- *Every man is tempted.* There are two kinds of temptations: one which proves, according to which God tempted Abraham. The other which deceives, according to which God tempts no man. When upon [0672B] the foundation we build wood, hay, stubble, the devil lays fire upon it. Let us build gold, silver, precious stones: and he will not dare to tempt; nor yet does he altogether desist, but he sits in secret places that he may kill the innocent.

*Bringeth forth death.* As he who, being tempted, overcomes, [has] the rewards of life; so he who, enticed by concupiscences, is overcome, deservedly incurs the ruin of death.

VERS. 17.-- *Every gift,* etc. [n: (BED.)] After he had taught that vices are not to us from God, but from ourselves, etc., *as far as* the perfect gift can be understood.

*Nor of alteration.* No shadow shuts off his light, so as to send in any evils. Always the goods of light are in God, but his gifts in us are sometimes such as supervening sins overshadow.

[0672C]VERS. 18.-- *Of his own will.* Every good is from God, and you have not come to this by your own merits, but by the sole grace of the divine will. *That we might be some beginning,* etc. By this begetting let us not think that we are that which he himself is, but a certain primacy among creatures he granted to us by adoption. Whence another translator: *That we might be the firstfruits of his creatures.*

VERS. 19.-- *Slow to anger.* Let no one be angry rashly and without cause, whether against sinning subjects, or against any brethren whatsoever, or against the prosperity of the wicked, because the ripeness of wisdom is not perceived save with a tranquil mind. And he who judges in anger, even if he judges justice, yet cannot imitate the justice of the divine examination, into which disturbance does not fall.

[0672D]VERS. 21.-- *Wherefore casting away,* etc. He has admonished them to seek out doctrine, for the receiving of which, and that they may be able to advance in it, he now exhorts to cleanness of body and of soul. For he who declines not from evil cannot do good. *The engrafted word.* That which by preaching we lay upon your hearts, or [0673A] the word which was engrafted and sown in the day of redemption, when God begot you; now receive it more perfectly, and fulfil in works what you hold in mystery.

VERS. 23.-- *To him that considereth the countenance.* He who purposes in his mind to consider in the Scriptures, as in a glass, the countenance of his nativity, how man is born, how frail, or what he shall be, of how brief an age, set in how many miseries, has contracted great compunction and a will of repenting; but straightway, seduced by some temptation, he forgets his compunction, and returns to sins. To this inconstancy he compares him who gladly hears the word and neglects to fulfil it. And there is a likeness between him who of his own accord, without a teacher, has applied himself to the Scriptures, and him who from another [0673B] hears the Scriptures, since neither has fulfilled them.

When a boy is born he wails, whereby is signified the grief of the soul, and that it enters into life unto the miseries of the flesh, which grief the soul afterwards forgets, being accustomed to the enticements of the flesh.

VERS. 26.-- *Not bridling his tongue,* etc. [n: (AUG., Serm. 3 ad fratres in eremo.)] What else is wordiness? etc., *as far as* and do thou diligently attend: *He that bridleth not his tongue, his religion is vain,* etc.

VERS. 27.-- *And to keep himself unspotted from this world.* By *saeculum* he understands the world, or all the things which are in the world, as are the concupiscence of the flesh, and of the eyes, and the pride of life.

## CHAPTER II.

[0673C]VERS. 1.-- *Do not hold the faith in respect of persons. As if he should say:* The Lord does not invite the rich to the faith and despise the poor, but he chose the poor in this world, and endowed them with faith. The world casts out the poor man, courts the rich; the faith of Christ on the contrary teaches that all the glory of the rich is as the flower of the grass, while mercy toward the poor flowers unto eternity. *Of the Lord of glory.* He names him the Lord of glory, that his commands may be obeyed, who repays with everlasting glory that which is given to the poor for love of him.

VERS. 5.-- *Hearken. [n: (BED.)]* Attend more diligently, because not those who are richer in the world, etc., *as far as* yet these he has rendered illustrious and noble by the expectation of the kingdom to come.

*Hath not God. [n: (BED.)]* God chose the poor, who elsewhere says: *Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your [0673D] Father to give you a kingdom.* He chose poor parents also, by whose office he himself should be nourished.

VERS. 6.-- *Do not the rich.* More openly he shows whom he had called rich above, namely those who prefer riches to Christ, and, themselves strangers to the faith, oppress by power those who believe, and drag them to the judgment-seats of the more powerful. And there is another cause why they are not to be chosen, because they bring evils upon the faithful.

VERS. 7.-- *They blaspheme.* In the times of the apostles many of the Gentiles and of the Jews, and especially the richer, are found to have done these things.

VERS. 8.-- *If yet the law.* Because he had spoken harshly and concerning contempt of the rich, and in a manner contrary to the divine law, which commands that all be loved, [0674A] lest the rich be thought to be despised altogether, he adds: as if he should say, for the aforesaid causes they are not to be chosen, but if you fulfil this law which says: *Thou shalt love thy neighbour [n: (Matth. XXII)]*, you do well; because, although the rich are not to be chosen on account of their riches, yet they are not the less to be loved for God's sake.

*Royal.* That is, excellent, or because it is common to all, and embraces all. Or that which says: *Thou shalt not confound the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty [n: (Levit. XIX)]* [var: Vulg. *Non consideres*, "Thou shalt not regard"], and elsewhere: *There shall be no difference of persons: you shall hear the little as the great, because it is the judgment of God [n: (Deut. I)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *But whosoever.* Lest they should think it a contemptible sin to transgress the law in this one matter, he adds: *But whosoever,* etc. *But offend [0674B] in one, he is become guilty of all.* Truly he who offends in one point is a transgressor of the whole law, because he who sins acts against the author of the law, whom he slights in his own law, and against charity, which is the cause and mother of the whole law. Let us see this sentence from a like case: If anyone should offend me, he would offend all my brothers and friends in me, and in a manner would sin against all. So he who neglects one commandment renders useless to himself the rest, which, when fulfilled, seemed to help.

VERS. 12.-- *So speak ye. [n: (BED.)]* Since it is an evil that a rich man be chosen on account of his riches, etc., *as far as* which calls the willing to penance and remits sins.

As if he should say: Speak well, and do well: because if you neglect it, you shall be more grievously condemned than those who were [0674C] in the time of Moses, because from him to whom more is committed, more is required. By how much the greater mercy a man obtains from the Lord, by so much the more unjustly does he deny mercy to his needy neighbour, and the more justly does he pay the penalties of impiety.

VERS. 13.-- *But mercy exalteth itself. [n: (BED.)]* As in the judgment he shall grieve who has not shown mercy, so he who has shown it, being rewarded, shall exult and rejoice.

VERS. 14.-- *What shall it profit,* etc. [n: (ID.)] Here he disputes more at large concerning the works of mercy, that he may console those whom he had terrified by the preceding sentence, teaching by what remedies daily sins are expiated, without which life is not passed. Lest those who offend not in one point only, but in many, be found in the judgment guilty of all.

[0674D]VERS. 18.-- *But some man will say.* Not only for the aforesaid reasons ought you to be incited to work well, but also for this, lest you suffer reproach from others, because someone, having taken confidence from his own works, that he may show that faith alone avails not, will say by way of reproach: *Thou hast faith,* etc.

VERS 19.-- *Thou believest,* etc. He has proved that those who have not works have not true faith; now he makes plain of what sort the faith is that they have, lest they should make much of such a faith. *And the devils believe, and tremble. [n: (BED.)]* It is written, etc., *as far as* they are to be reckoned slower and more insolent than the devils.

[0675A]VERS. 20.-- *But wilt thou know, O vain man? [n: (BED.)]* It having been proved that faith without works is dead, etc., *as far as* let them imitate in temptation and in working.

VERS. 21.-- *Abraham our father,* etc. [n: (ID.)] That Abraham is said to have been justified by faith without works, etc., *as far as* he is set forth as an example of both. *Offering his son Isaac upon the altar?* A great temptation, when he was bidden to slay his son; a great faith, when even of the dead he believed that he could receive seed; a great work, when he did not hesitate to offer his best beloved.

VERS. 22.-- *Thou seest that faith did co-operate with his works, and by works,* etc. Because he offered him in whom he had received the promise, the great power of faith appears: because, although he offered him, he believed that the promise was to be [0675B] fulfilled, since he believed that God was able even to raise the dead.

*In like manner also Raab the harlot. [n: (BED.)]* Lest they should plead that they were not able to imitate the works of so great a father, etc., *as far as* and was numbered in the generations of the Saviour.

## CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1.-- *Be ye not many masters.* As I have admonished you to do works, so I admonish you to shun foolish masterships. *Be ye not many.* There were many in the times of the apostles who, coming down from Judaea to Antioch, not well instructed in the law of the faith, taught that believers from among the Gentiles ought to be circumcised, and brought in other errors, which brought upon the true preachers no small labour of controversy. These therefore he removes from the office of the word, lest they hinder [0675C] the true preachers.

*Greater. [n: (BED.)]* He who, being unlearned, usurps the office of teaching, and announces Christ not sincerely, deserves a greater damnation than if he alone should perish by his own wickedness; as, on the contrary, he who ministers well acquires for himself a good degree.

VERS. 2.-- *In many things.* Truly it is perilous to wish to be set over the rest, because not only you who are less instructed, but we all preachers, even the greater, offend in many things, some by teaching ill, and others by living ill, and in other ways. The blessed Apostle numbers himself with them, that he may reprove the more freely. The just man offends in one way, the wicked in another; the just man by the frailty of the flesh, and he does not cease to be just, whence Solomon: *Seven times in the day shall the just man fall and shall rise again;* as the offence is daily, so [0675D] daily is the remedy of prayers and of good works, but the wicked fall down into evil. *If any man.* He wishes to show the unavoidable offence of the word, that he may deter the unskilled, lest they desire preferment: because he who desires to be set over others must be more perfect than the rest, lest he offend when he ought to profit; but the unskilled are not able not to offend in preaching.

*Offendeth not in word. [n: (BED.)]* In that word, namely, whose offence human frailty is able to avoid. As the word of guile, of detraction, of pride, of boasting, and also of idle and superfluous speech, *he is a perfect man.*

VERS. 3.-- *But if we put bits into the mouths of horses. [n: (BED.)]* Into our own mouths much more ought we to put them. Certain books have: *But as bits to horses,* and [0676A] it is thus joined to what follows: *But as we put bits into the mouths of horses, so the tongue also is indeed a little member, and exalteth great things.*

VERS. 5.-- *And exalteth great things. [n: (ID.)]* Rewards, if the impulse of him that directs governs it well; if ill, it exalts great destruction for itself and for its own, whence Solomon: *Death and life are in the hands of the tongue [n: (Prov. XVIII)]* [var: Vulg. *in manu linguae*, "in the hand of the tongue"]. It exalts life, if it teaches the Church well; death, if ill. For the matter is against those who, destitute both of life and of knowledge, presumed to teach. Great things therefore does that tongue exalt which, despising the words and the meanings of others, singularly boasts itself wise [sic: *sapientiem*] and eloquent. Against which: *Do not multiply to speak lofty things, glorying.*

*Behold how great a fire.* So too an incontinent tongue makes a great matter of good works to perish, and so, [0676B] since it is almost impossible that the sin of the tongue be avoided even by the perfect, not everyone ought to seek the mastership.

VERS. 6.-- *The universality of iniquity.* He says universality, because through it almost all crimes are either contrived, as robberies, ravishments: or are perpetrated, as perjuries, false testimonies: or are defended, as when any impure man, by excusing the wickedness he has committed, feigns the good which he has not done. *Which defileth the whole body.* And because the tongue is such, it defiles the whole body, and makes it be reckoned unclean in the sight of God, and therefore it is a grave thing to undergo the mastership: because *it is set among our members,* it is one of our members, exceedingly near to us.

*It inflameth the wheel,* etc. [n: (BED.)] It defiles the whole [0676C] course of temporal life, etc., *as far as* it compels to bring it to effect through the other members.

VERS. 7.-- *For every nature of beasts,* etc. [n: (ID.)] We read in Pliny that a most savage asp in Egypt was tamed by a certain householder, and, going forth daily from its cavern, was wont to receive its allowance from his table. We read in Marcellinus that a tigress, made tame, was sent from India to the emperor Anastasius.

VERS. 10.-- *Out of the same mouth proceedeth.* Others, seeing what we do, are led on by our example, so that they likewise bless and curse. *It ought not.* Truly it ought not to be that with the same mouth we bless concerning the head and curse concerning the members, because by the bitterness of cursing the sweetness of blessing is consumed.

[0676D]VERS. 11.-- *Doth a fountain.* The preacher must sometimes use bitter preaching, by withdrawing, by rebuking. Which is difficult enough, that with different words tending to the same end he should be able to do both.

VERS. 12.-- *Can, brethren.* It cannot come to pass that a teacher be a fig tree by the sweetness of the beatitude to which he exhorts, and use sweet words, and that he be a vine, making men forget all temporal things, for which it behoves to use harsh ones: this therefore is difficult. *So neither can the salt water make sweet water,* that is, a preacher sharply biting the manners of others cannot in the same teaching be sweet to those same men.

VERS. 13.-- *Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?* Those being confuted who have neither holiness of life nor [0677A] continence of tongue, he admonishes those who seemed to themselves wise, or even were so, that they should show wisdom rather by living in discipline than by teaching others, because he who is more inclined to teaching than to doing sometimes incurs boasting, or contention, or envy against other teachers, and many other evils.

VERS. 14.-- *And be liars against the truth.* Do not lie to God, to whom in baptism you promised to renounce the pomps of the devil, which you do not do when you wish to be proud of good things.

VERS. 17.-- *But that which.* This is the meekness which he commanded above was to be had, contrary to bitterness of zeal and to contentions. *First indeed it is chaste.* Unless chastity first sit in the mind, no perfection will follow in the work. *Easy to be persuaded, consenting to good [0677B] things.* [var: Vulg. *bonus consentiens*, nominative] If he does aught the less, whether through ignorance or through negligence, he yields assent to the persuasion of good men.

VERS. 18.-- *But the fruit.* After he had distinguished wisdom through the several virtues; that he may the more easily invite to it, he subjoins its fruit: *It is sown in peace.* He does not demand to seem more learned or more holy than he is: he does not tear his neighbour for his own commendation, which contentious wisdom does. Not only for the aforesaid things ought a man to seek wisdom of this sort, but also for this; because by those who make peace, as by those who cast it, this seed is sown, and there is prepared in peace the fruit of eternal blessedness, that is the reward of justice, which is repaid for just works. He therefore who here is zealous for peace, and sprinkles the ground of his heart with the works of peace as with [0677C] seed, it is just that he should have eternal peace, as the fruit of this seed.

## CHAPTER IV.

VERS. 1.-- *From whence wars,* etc. [n: (BED.)] He had forbidden zeal and contention, whence he disputes yet more at large, adding other vices which follow from it: from contention, concupiscence, from concupiscences, wars and strifes. For he who desires to be preferred, or to abound in temporal things, hates, envies, kills.

VERS. 2.-- *Because that.* On account of these things, namely that you ask God worthily [cj: *postulatis*; read *non postulatis*, "you ask not"]; for if you were to ask him with devout intercession, he would give also the temporal things necessary for use, and not the everlasting only.

VERS. 4.-- *Adulterers, know you not,* etc. [n: (BED.)] He had said above concerning the open enemies of God, etc., *as far as* and by [0677D] this you are made enemies of God.

VERS. 5.-- *Do you think?* etc. You ought not to contend: for the spirit which is in you does not covet unto envy, but rather makes men of one accord, and this the Scripture says: *The spirit which dwelleth in you coveteth unto envy.* Or: *the spirit coveteth unto,* that is *against envy,* that is, it desires this, that envy be taken away; or, it desires that you envy the world, and love it not; or, the spirit of any man whatsoever covets temporal things unto envy, because it envies others what it has not.

VERS. 6.-- *But he giveth greater grace.* The Spirit of grace does not make men envy, nay rather gives grace, that is gratuitous gifts, greater than are the riches of the world. For which cause, that is, that we may know that he gives, and to whom he does not [0678A] give, the Scripture says: *He resisteth the proud, but to the humble he giveth grace,* etc. God punishes all the wicked, but he is said specially to resist the proud, because they are struck with the greater punishment who neglect to be made subject to God by repenting But to the humble he gives grace, who in the wounds of their own vices submit themselves to the hands of the true physician.

VERS. 11.-- *He detracteth from the law, he judgeth the law.* Which forbade detraction. As if he should say, the law did not act [rightly]. Or, he who detracts from a brother that keeps the law detracts from and judges the law, for that it gave such commands, which bid us forget the injuries of brethren.

VERS. 13.-- *But thou.* Not only oughtest thou for this reason to avoid detraction, lest as a transgressor thou be judged by God, but for this also, that perhaps in nothing dost thou excel those whom thou revilest. *Behold now, you that say.* After the rebuke [0678B] of detraction, he reproves the rashness of those who, not having certainty of life, out of covetousness of temporal things promise themselves life and gain for the time to come. *We will spend there indeed a year, and will traffic,* etc. He notes the manifold folly of those who both busy themselves about the increase of gains, and think that they shall live a long time, and reckon it to be of their own power to spend a year, and in all these things disdain to recall to mind the examination of the judge above.

VERS. 15.-- *For what is your life?* etc. He does not agree with those who say that after death there is nothing, and that death itself is nothing. But he so speaks as to teach that the life of the depraved is short in the present: which nevertheless in the time to come eternal death shall follow.

## CHAPTER V.

[0678C]

VERS. 1.-- *Go to now.* In the accepted time and in the day of salvation, redeem the punishments to come by weeping and by alms.

VERS. 3.-- *And the rust. [n: (BED.)]* Not only shall the visible fire of gehenna torment the unmerciful rich, etc., *as far as* and therefore he shall be the more grievously punished.

*For a testimony.* That is, unto the increase of punishments, that is, that by beholding it visibly you may sustain greater torments. *Shall eat the flesh.* That is, the bodies, or the carnal concupiscences, because the flame raging without shall torment lascivious souls, and the grief pricking within shall accuse them of their own tenacity. *As fire,* which consumes metals and the other things, so rust [consumes] your flesh.

[0678D]VERS. 4.-- *Behold the hire. [n: (BED.)]* Great is the iniquity of men who will not receive the poor; but greater is it when they will not render to hirelings and servants the wage due for their labour. Whence Job: *If my land cry against me, and its furrows weep? if I have eaten its fruits without money?*

VERS. 5.-- *You have feasted. [n: (ID.)]* Nor have you sinned only by gathering superfluously, etc., *as far as* and of the other crimes which the Jews had committed.

VERS. 7.-- *Be patient [n: (ID.)]* The proud and the unbelieving being rebuked, etc., *as far as* whence the Apostle: *You have your fruit in sanctification, and the end life everlasting [n: (Rom. VI)]*.

VERS. 10.-- *The prophets. [n: (ID.)]* The prophets, who were so [0679A] holy that the Spirit of God spoke his mysteries through them, etc., *as far as* concerning the Lord as regards the issue of death.

VERS. 11.-- *The patience of Job.* He does not say: *the end of Job,* to whom temporal things were restored, but *the patience of Job. And the end of the Lord,* because he invites to suffering by the example of Job, and yet not that they should receive temporal things, as Job the old man, but eternal things, as Christ the new man.

*And the end of the Lord. [n: (BED.)]* You have heard by the lesson, you have seen with your eyes him suffering long-sufferingly [sic: *longaminiter*] upon the cross, and you have also learned the glory of the resurrection and of the ascension by the preaching of the Gospel.

VERS. 13.-- *Let him pray.* Let him not murmur, nor find fault with the judgments of God, but let him run to the Church with bended knees, [0679B] that God may send consolation.

VERS. 15.-- *And if he be in sins. [n: (BED.)]* Many for their sins are punished even with the death of the body, etc., *as far as* whence it is rightly subjoined: *Confess ye,* etc.

VERS. 17.-- *With prayer he prayed.* He proves by an example how much the constant supplication of a just man avails, since Elias, by praying with only [0680A] one prayer, held back the heavens for so long a time, turned away the rains from the lands, denied fruits to mortals.

*And again. [n: (BED.)]* When Elias saw the time, etc., *as far as* what then of many faithful men with many prayers?

VERS. 19.-- *If any of you.* The efficacy of prayer being shown, he shows of how great merit it is to pray for the brethren, and to call them back to soundness, so that he who in the earlier part removed malignant and idle speech from our tongue, might show at the end of the Epistle what we ought to speak. Let us pray, and let us sing psalms, as often as we are beaten by adversities, let us confess our sins, let us pray for one another that we may be saved: for the salvation of our neighbours, not only the temporal, but rather the eternal. For if it be of great reward to snatch from death a body that must one day [0680B] die, of how great merit is it to free from death a soul that shall live without end in the heavenly country?

VERS. 20.-- *He shall save.* Certain codices have: *He shall save his own soul from death.* And truly he who corrects one that errs acquires for himself by this the ampler joys of the heavenly life.


title: Epistola Catholica Judae

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 114, coll. 705D–710B

source_text:
## ARGUMENTUM.

[0705D]

Judas apostolus fratres de corruptoribus viae veritatis ita informat, ut illicitum esse dissertet de sub [0706D] jugo semel erutos servitutis denuo operam suam officiis navare servilibus.

## CAPUT UNICUM.

[0707A]

VERS. 1.-- *Consolatis et vocatis.* Vocat, conservat, diligit filios, et membra Dei facit Jesus Dominus noster.

VERS. 2.-- *Misericordia vobis.* Si Deus coepit misereri vobis condonando delicta, impleat misericordiam, per ampla bona ducendo ad aeterna. Si est reconciliatus inimicis, aeternam pacem det factis amicis, in qua in nullo ab eo dissentiatis.

VERS. 3.-- *Charissimi.* Ego qui vestrae saluti volo providere, *habui necesse,* propter pseudo qui vobis se ingerunt, *scribendi vobis* admonitiones *de vestra salute communi,* id est de fide quae est tam mea salus quam vestra et omnium fidelium, scilicet fides quae per dilectionem operatur. Ego dico *faciens omnem [0707B] sollicitudinem scribendi vobis,* id est omnia quae pertinent ad sollicitum. Oro pro vobis, disputo contra seductores vestros, et ut vobis me sciatis providere, scribo vobis de illis: Detego nequitias eorum: ostendo vobis qualiter fidem et dilectionem debeatis tenere: et cum sim ita sollicitus pro vobis, admonitionem meam recipere debetis.

VERS. 4.-- *Gratiam transferentes.* Duritiam et districtionem legis: quae dicit oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, temperat gratia Evangelii, in quo purgantur scelera commissa per poenitentiam, et eleemosynae fructus. Sed hanc gratiam transferunt impii in luxuriam qui nunc tanto licentius peccant, quanto minus vident se asperitate legis de facinoribus examinari.

[0707C]VERS. 5.-- *Omnia.* Arcana fidei, et non habetis opus, recentia quasi sanctiora a novis audire magistris, id est: Perfecte scitis omnia quae scienda sunt de fide, et ideo non est opus ut audiatis illos. *Quoniam Jesus.* Confutatis haereticis, deinde ut revocat eos qui crediderant malignis et impiis, ostendit quanta sit magnitudo Domini quem negant, ostendens quod ipse est qui eduxit populum Israel ex Aegypto.

VERS. 6.-- *Angelos vero.* Et vere non sunt imitandi qui Jesum non verum Deum, sed hominem de utroque sexu genitum mentiuntur. Si enim angelis peccantibus non pepercit, nec hominibus superbientibus parcet. *Non servaverunt suum principatum.* Sic [0707D] homines, qui non servant principatum quo per gratiam adoptionis filii Dei sunt effecti. Sed relinquunt domicilium, id est unitatem Ecclesiae, in qua renati sunt, vel sedes regni coelestis quas accepturi erant, si fidem servarent, et ante judicium graviter et gravius in universali judicio damnabit. *Vinculis aeternis.* Id est superbia et corde impoenitenti. Vel sententia divina quae eos in perpetuum coarctabit Vel vinculum est cupiditas infimarum rerum, qua vincti ad superiora reverti non possunt.

VERS. 7.-- *Sicut Sodoma.* Dederat exemplum damnationis eorum qui solum dominatorem negant: commemorato interitu infidelis populi vel angelorum erigentium se contra Deum, dat etiam exemplum [0708A] poenae illorum qui Domini gratiam transferunt in luxuriam, commemorans incendium Sodomorum.

VERS. 8.-- *Dominationem autem spernunt.* In minoribus peccatis, majestatem blasphemantes: in criminalibus, nolendo humiliter confiteri et poenitere: nullum habentes timorem, nec fidem venturi judicis.

VERS. 9.-- *Cum Michael,* etc. Id est cum Moyses, qui ut Deus erat constitutus Pharaoni, et qui erat princeps et nuntius, quantum ad alios, *disputans* cum Pharaone, *altercaretur,* id est signa faceret alterna contra signa magorum, *de corpore Moysi,* id est populo Israel, ut permitteret illos sacrificare Deo suo, *non est ausus inferre poenam blasphemiae* hujus saeculi, *sed dixit: Imperet tibi Dominus.* Vel aliter: Cum Dominus Jesus altercaretur cum Pilato, [0708B] de corpore Moysi, id est de Ecclesia, noluit aliquam blasphemiam inferre, sed tanquam ovis ad occisionem ductus.

VERS. 11.-- *Vae illis,* etc. Quia per omnia haeretici monstrati sunt a verbo veritatis cecidisse, ostendit eos diversis malis subjectos.

[n: (BEDA.)] In viam Cain abeunt, qui propter invidiam, etc., *usque ad* veritatem quam noverunt impugnant.

VERS. 12.-- *Maculae.* Non solum in comessationibus et ebrietatibus carnalibus pereunt et maculantur, sed etiam sunt maculae illorum, et alios secum perdunt, Domini gratiam in luxuriam transferentes. *Nubes.* Comparat se praedicatoribus pluentibus justitiam, coruscantibus per miracula, sed haeretici sunt nubes obscurantes solem, ponentes in coelum os [0708C] suum, perversa superbe docendo, sine aqua sapientiae. *Arbores autem.* Impii et pseudoapostoli comparant se arboribus bonum fructum ferentibus, sed sunt arbores autumnales: tarde enim ferunt bonum fructum sicut arbor in autumno plantata, vel quia tunc folia cadunt et fructus, vel si supercrescit fructus, adulterinus est et inutilis. Si quid enim faciunt impii quod bonum videatur, non bona intentione id agunt, sed ut bona quae sunt in aliis exstirpent. *Bis mortuae. [n: (BEDA.)]* Semel moritur quae non facit fructum, etc., *usque ad* in qua sancti dicuntur radicati.

VERS. 13.-- *Sidera.* In hoc apostatas significat, quia in similitudinem diaboli, de sedibus angelorum ceciderunt, quibus propter apostasiam tenebrae reservantur. *Sidera.* Lucem veritatis promittunt in [0708D] hoc mari vitiorum, sed nunquam in eodem statu docendi vel vitae perdurant, et aliis causa naufragii sunt, et ipsis pro tenebris quas in Ecclesia Dei inducebant, tenebrae inferni parantur, et qui pacem fidei mundana tempestate turbabant, procella tormentorum percellentur.

VERS. 14.-- *Prophetavit.* Non solum, inquit, mea auctoritate probo quod puniendi sunt, sed etiam auctoritate Enoch, quod jam olim praescripti sunt in tale judicium impii homines, qui nostris temporibus subintroierunt ad subvertendam fidem piorum. *Enoch.* In stirpe Cain, Enoch, qui *dedicatio* interpretatur, primus nascitur; in electorum vero progenie, Enoch, septimus memoratur, qui reprobi in hac [0709A] vita, quae ante est, seipsos aedificando dedicant: electi vero aedificationis suae dedicationem in fine temporis, id est in septimo exspectant.

*Ecce venit Dominus. [n: (BEDA.)]* Vera sententia quod Dominus arguet impios, et de operibus, etc., *usque ad* licet enim etiam de apocryphis testimonium veritatis sumere.

VERS. 16.-- *Hi sunt.* Si fratribus aliquid boni contigit, murmurant et conqueruntur, quasi sua felicitas in illorum prosperitate minuatur. Avari enim (quibus nihil sufficit) etiam ab aliis invident.

VERS. 19.-- *Spiritum non habentes.* Quia Spiritum sanctum (quo congregatur Ecclesia spiritualis efficitur) non habent, ideo animales, inscii, non providentes, ideo defluunt, quia coagulum charitatis [0709B] non habent.

VERS. 20.-- *Superaedificantes vosmetipsos,* etc. Aedificantes vos ipsos in bonis operibus super fundamentum fidei, ut lapides vivi ponamini in domo Dei. *In Spiritu sancto orantes.* Ut de vestris viribus non praesumatis, sed divinae tuitionis adjutorio speretis, non per vos salvari putantes, sed adventum Spiritus sancti in vos petite, quo inspirati ardentius oretis ne cum his qui Spiritum non habent, ab Ecclesia segregemini.

[0710A]VERS. 23.-- *Illos vero salvate.* Eos qui non sunt damnati apud Deum, sed etiam prope cadunt in ignem, docete ut seipsos liberent.

*In timore. [n: (BEDA.)]* Hoc ad priora illa omnia adjungendum est. Nam, etc., *usque ad* ne forte plus justo vel severus existat, vel pius.

*Odientes eam.* Non corpus nostrum odisse debemus, sed maculatum esse, ut immaculatum reddamus, ut de carnali spirituale efficiatur. Quod non nostri arbitrii potestate, sed Dei gratia perficiendum est.

VERS. 21.-- *In exsultatione.* Quos superius monebat in timore Deo servire, dicit constituendos in exsultatione, quia quanto magis trepidi de actibus in praesenti fuerimus, tanto amplius in futuro de [0710B] percepta mercede laetabimur.

VERS. 25.-- *Gloria et magnificentia.* Si habetis gloriam purae fidei et conscientiae et magnificentiam in operatione, et imperium super infirmitatem, vel super daemones, et potestatem resistendi vitiis vel tortoribus, Deo, non autem vobis imputare, qui ante tempora, in praesenti, et post omnia tempora, est gloriosus in essentia, magnificus in operibus, imperans tam volentibus quam nolentibus, et potens cui nihil resistit.

english:
## THE ARGUMENT.

[0705D]

Jude the apostle so instructs the brethren concerning the corrupters of the way of truth, that he argues it to be unlawful that men once torn out from beneath the [0706D] yoke of servitude should again devote their labour to servile offices.

## THE ONLY CHAPTER.

[0707A]

VERS. 1.-- *To them that are consoled and called.* [var: Vulg. *conservatis et vocatis*, "to them that are preserved and called"] Jesus our Lord calls, preserves, loves the sons, and makes them members of God.

VERS. 2.-- *Mercy unto you.* If God has begun to have mercy on you by forgiving your offences, may he fulfil that mercy, leading you through ample goods to eternal ones. If he has been reconciled to enemies, may he give eternal peace to those made friends, in which you may in nothing dissent from him.

VERS. 3.-- *Dearly beloved.* I, who wish to provide for your salvation, *had need,* because of the false ones who thrust themselves upon you, *of writing to you* admonitions *concerning your common salvation,* that is, concerning the faith which is as much my salvation as yours and that of all the faithful, namely the faith which works through love. I say, *making all [0707B] care in writing to you,* that is, all the things which belong to one who is solicitous. I pray for you, I dispute against your seducers, and, that you may know that I provide for you, I write to you concerning them: I uncover their wickednesses: I show you in what manner you ought to hold faith and love: and since I am so solicitous for you, you ought to receive my admonition.

VERS. 4.-- *Transferring the grace.* The hardness and strictness of the law: which says an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, the grace of the Gospel tempers, in which the crimes committed are purged through penance, and the fruit of almsgiving. But the ungodly transfer this grace into luxury, who now sin so much the more licentiously as they the less see themselves examined for their misdeeds by the harshness of the law.

[0707C]VERS. 5.-- *All things.* The secret things of the faith, and you have no need to hear recent things, as though holier, from new masters, that is: You know perfectly all the things which are to be known concerning the faith, and therefore there is no need that you should hear them. *That Jesus.* The heretics being confuted, then, as he calls back those who had given credence to the malignant and the ungodly, he shows how great is the greatness of the Lord whom they deny, showing that he himself is the one who led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

VERS. 6.-- *But the angels.* And truly they are not to be imitated who lyingly say that Jesus is not true God, but a man begotten of both sexes. For if he spared not the angels that sinned, neither will he spare men that behave proudly. *They kept not their own principality.* So [0707D] men, who keep not the principality by which through the grace of adoption they were made sons of God. But they leave their dwelling, that is, the unity of the Church, in which they were reborn, or the seats of the heavenly kingdom which they were to receive if they should keep the faith, and he will condemn them grievously before the judgment, and more grievously in the universal judgment. *With everlasting chains.* That is, with pride and an impenitent heart. Or the divine sentence which will confine them for ever Or the chain is the desire of the lowest things, bound by which they cannot return to the higher things.

VERS. 7.-- *As Sodom.* He had given an example of the damnation of those who deny the only ruler: the destruction of the unbelieving people, or of the angels raising themselves against God, having been recalled, he gives also an example [0708A] of the punishment of those who transfer the grace of the Lord into luxury, recalling the burning of the Sodomites.

VERS. 8.-- *But they despise dominion.* In lesser sins, blaspheming majesty: in criminal ones, by being unwilling humbly to confess and to repent: having no fear, nor faith in the judge who is to come.

VERS. 9.-- *When Michael,* etc. That is, when Moses, who had been appointed as a god to Pharao, and who was a prince and a messenger as regards the rest, *disputing* with Pharao, *contended,* that is, wrought signs in turn against the signs of the magicians, *concerning the body of Moses,* that is, the people of Israel, that he might permit them to sacrifice to their God, *durst not bring in the penalty of blasphemy* [var: Vulg. *judicium inferre blasphemiae*, "bring in a judgment of blasphemy"] of this world, *but said: The Lord command thee.* Or otherwise: When the Lord Jesus contended with Pilate, [0708B] concerning the body of Moses, that is, concerning the Church, he would not bring in any blasphemy, but was led as a sheep to the slaughter.

VERS. 11.-- *Woe unto them,* etc. Because in all things the heretics have been shown to have fallen from the word of truth, he shows them to be subject to divers evils.

[n: (BEDA.)] They go into the way of Cain, who because of envy, etc., *as far as* they assail the truth which they have known.

VERS. 12.-- *Spots.* Not only in carnal revellings and drunkennesses do they perish and are spotted, but they are also the spots of those, and destroy others with themselves, transferring the grace of the Lord into luxury. *Clouds.* The heretic compares himself to preachers raining justice, flashing with lightning through miracles, but the heretics are clouds darkening the sun, setting their mouth against heaven, [0708C] by teaching perverse things proudly, without the water of wisdom. *But trees.* [var: Vulg. *arbores autumnales*, "autumn trees"] The ungodly and the false apostles compare themselves to trees bearing good fruit, but they are autumn trees: for they bear good fruit late, like a tree planted in autumn, or because then the leaves fall, and the fruit, or, if fruit grows up besides, it is adulterate and useless. For if the ungodly do anything which may seem good, they do it not with a good intention, but that they may root out the good things which are in others. *Twice dead. [n: (BEDA.)]* The tree dies once which bears no fruit, etc., *as far as* in which the saints are said to be rooted.

VERS. 13.-- *Stars.* In this he signifies the apostates, because after the likeness of the devil they fell from the seats of the angels, for whom, because of their apostasy, darkness is reserved. *Stars.* They promise the light of truth in [0708D] this sea of vices, but they never continue in the same state of teaching or of life, and to others they are a cause of shipwreck, and for them, in return for the darkness which they were bringing into the Church of God, the darkness of hell is prepared, and they who were troubling the peace of the faith with a worldly tempest shall be beaten with a storm of torments.

VERS. 14.-- *He prophesied.* Not only, he says, do I prove by my own authority that they are to be punished, but also by the authority of Enoch, that ungodly men were long ago written down beforehand for such a judgment, who in our times have crept in to subvert the faith of the godly. *Enoch.* In the stock of Cain, Enoch, who is interpreted *dedication*, is born first; but in the progeny of the elect, Enoch is recorded as seventh, who, the reprobate, in this [0709A] life, which is before, dedicate themselves by building themselves up: but the elect await the dedication of their own building at the end of time, that is, in the seventh.

*Behold, the Lord cometh. [n: (BEDA.)]* A true sentence, that the Lord shall reprove the ungodly, and concerning works, etc., *as far as* for it is lawful to take the testimony of truth even from apocryphal writings.

VERS. 16.-- *These are they.* If any good thing befalls the brethren, they murmur and complain, as though their own happiness were lessened by the prosperity of those. For the covetous (to whom nothing suffices) are envious even of others.

VERS. 19.-- *Not having the Spirit.* Because they have not the Holy Spirit (by whom the Church is gathered together is made spiritual), therefore they are animal, ignorant, unforeseeing, therefore they flow away, because they have not the rennet [0709B] of charity.

VERS. 20.-- *Building yourselves up,* etc. Building yourselves in good works upon the foundation of faith, that as living stones you may be set in the house of God. *Praying in the Holy Spirit.* That you presume not upon your own strength, but hope in the help of the divine protection, not thinking to be saved through yourselves, but ask ye for the coming of the Holy Spirit into you, whereby, being inspired, you may pray the more ardently, lest with those who have not the Spirit you be separated from the Church.

[0710A]VERS. 23.-- *But save those.* Those who are not condemned before God, but yet almost fall into the fire, teach ye, that they may free themselves.

*In fear. [n: (BEDA.)]* This is to be joined to all those former things. For, etc., *as far as* lest perchance he prove more than is just either severe or merciful.

*Hating it.* We ought not to hate our body, but its being stained, that we may render it unstained, so that from carnal it may be made spiritual. Which is to be accomplished not by the power of our own choice, but by the grace of God.

VERS. 21.-- *In exultation.* Those whom above he was admonishing to serve God in fear, he says are to be established in exultation, because the more fearful we shall have been concerning our deeds in the present, so much the more abundantly shall we rejoice in the future over [0710B] the reward received.

VERS. 25.-- *Glory and magnificence.* If you have the glory of a pure faith and conscience, and magnificence in working, and dominion over infirmity, or over demons, and power to resist vices or tormentors, impute it to God, and not to yourselves, who before the times, in the present, and after all times, is glorious in essence, magnificent in works, ruling over the willing as much as over the unwilling, and mighty, whom nothing resists.