title: De exterminatione mali et promotione boni

source_edition: Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 196, coll. 1073C–1116C

source_text:
## TRACTATUS PRIMUS.

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

[1073C]

*Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti; et tu Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum? [n: (Psal. CXIII.)]* Exclamatio est vox ista Prophetae, cum admiratione; admiratio cum exsultatione. Videbat enim divinum quoddam miraculum; nec unum tantum, sed geminum, utrumque magnum, utrumque mirum, utrumque valde stupendum. Videbat mare ante conspectum Israel fugere; videbat Jordanem cursus sui impetum in fontem reflectere; videbat utrumque Hebraeo populo cedere et proficiscentibus liberum iter relinquere. Quid horum non novum, quid horum non mirum? Utrumque ita contemplabatur, et ad utrumque mirabatur, et de utroque gratulabatur. Exclamat ergo in voce exsultationis et confessionis: [1073D] Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti: et tu, Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum? Primum miraculum fit in exitu Israel de Aegypto, secundum autem fit in exitu Israel de deserto. Quis mihi tandem aliquando det perfecte deserere regionem dissimilitudinis: quis mihi dare possit introire in terram promissionis, ut aeque videre possim fugam maris, et conversionem Jordanis? Pulchrum spectaculum, satisque jucundum videre aquam maris fugientem, videre aquam Jordanis revertentem, amaram recedere, dulcem refluere, amaritudinem deficere, dulcedinem [1074C] redundare. Quisquis haec vides, miror si non et ipse exclames: *Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti; et tu Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum?* Nunquam solent fieri hujusmodi miracula, nisi ante veros Judaeos, nisi ante bonos Hebraeos.

## CAPUT II. *De gemina confessione, et gemina promotione.*

Confessio facit Judaeum, transitus facit Hebraeum. Judaeus siquidem *confitens,* Hebraeus *transiens* interpretatur. Et est confessio vera, et est confessio ficta. Similiter est transitus bonus et est transitus malus. Confessio vera facit Judaeum verum, et transitus bonus facit Hebraeum bonum. Ascribere tibi mala tua, ascribere Deo tuo bona tua, confessio vera, confessio recta. Illa est criminis, ista est laudis; utraque sane [1074D] utilis, utraque laudabilis. Similiter est duplex transitus; uterque quidem bonus, uterque necessarius. Qui transit de malo ad bonum, bene quidem transit; et qui transit de bono ad optimum, bonum et ipse transitum facit. Cognosce ergo, et confitere mala tua, et noli in ipsis remanere; sed transi ea, et factus est transitus primus, et confessio prima. Similiter confitere Deo de bonis tuis, lauda ipsum pro bonis suis, et noli torpere in ipsis: sed nitere quantum potes ad meliora, et transi ad optima, et factus est transitus secundus, et confessio secunda. [1075A] Ad confessionem primam solet fieri miraculum primum et ad confessionem secundam solet fieri miraculum secundum. Per confessionem siquidem criminis efficitur fuga maris, et ad confessionem laudis statim convertitur Jordanis.

## CAPUT III. *Quomodo confessio criminis valeat ad exterminium mali.*

Omnia namque in confessione lavantur: conscientia mundatur, amaritudo tollitur, mare fugatur, tranquillitas redit, spes reviviscit, animis hilarescit. Siquidem beati qui lugent, quoniam ipsi consolabuntur. Quid est lugere, contristari, nisi maris tempestatibus agi? Et quid est gaudium consolationis, nisi fuga maris et absentatio doloris? Audi [1075B] Judaeum crimina sua confitentem, et attende ante eum aquam maris fugientem: *Dixi,* inquit, *confitebor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino, et tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*. Iniquitatem confitebatur, et mare fugabatur, quia impietas remittebatur. Impietas enim mare est, dulcem siquidem aquam facere non potest; sed est aqua ejus salsa valde et multum amara, et amaritudo ejus amaritudo amarissima. Quid, quaeso, dulcedinis habet invidia? Quid, obsecro, dulcoris habet iracundia; quid suavitatis impatientia? Hujusmodi, ut arbitror, aquae quaelibet amarae sunt, et mare faciunt, quia nulli penitus sapere, nemini placere possunt. Vides ne ergo quale sit hujusmodi mare magnum, et spatiosum manibus quod potest [1075C] appellari malitiae. Nam est et aliud quod potest dici miseriae habens et ipsum quidem minime dulcem aquam, sed minus tamen amaram. Sed felix qui dominatur a mari usque ad mare, ut nulli subjaceat culpae, nulli succumbat poenae, in tantum, ut non dominetur omnis ei iniquitas, nec eum opprimat ulla adversitas. Felix ante cujus conspectum mare fugit malitia recedit, miseria cedit, conscientia hilarescit. Nunquidnam qui ejusmodi est, fiducialiter psallere non potest? Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti? Si vis ergo et tu fac quemdam bonae professionis Judaeum; confitere ex corde peccatum tuum, ut possis et ipse videre tale spectaculum, tam grande miraculum, et psallere non dubites hujusmodi hymnum. [1075D] Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti?

## CAPUT IV. *Quomodo confessio laudis valeat ad promotionem boni.*

Sed nunc illud consideremus, quomodo ad confessionem laudis soleat fieri conversio Jordanis. Sed hoc melius, ut arbitror, operando quam disputando discimus, hoc citius experiendo quam loquendo probamus. Denique satage et tu confiteri, mirari, venerari Dei potentiam, Dei sapientiam, Dei misericordiam, et certus sis quia, quanto plus laudabis, tanto ardentius amabis. Ne te ergo pigeat divinam gratiam multum laudare, ut multum ames; multum amare, ut multum desideres. Quanto enim vehementius desiderabis, tanto citius obtinebis [1076A] quod multum concupiscis. Ama quod prius contemnebas, contemne quod prius amabas, et securus sis, quia conversus est Jordanis. Dilige Deum, despice mundum, et vere fatebor quia Jordanis conversus est retrorsum. Qualis, quaeso, ista est conversio Jordanis: quam mirabilis, quam laudabilis, quam amabilis, totum impetum amoris, totam inundationem dilectionis, totam affluentiam delectationis, magna cum festinatione currere non deorsum, sed sursum, quaerere quae sursum sunt, non quae super terram; ita ut veraciter profiteri possis, quia Jordanis conversus est retrorsum! Haec causa, ut arbitror, exstitit, cur Prophetam fieri Judaeum nec piguit, nec puduit, eo quod veraciter agnoverit quia *Bonum est confiteri Domino, et [1076B] psallere nomini tuo, Altissime [n: (Psal. XCI)]*. Inde est illa firma professio et devota promissio: *Confitebor Domino nimis in ore meo, et in medio multorum laudabo eum [n: (Psal. CVIII)]*. Nonne Judaeum se esse voluit, cum dixit: *Lauda, anima mea, Dominum? [n: (Psal. CXLV.)]* Nonne aquam Jordanis deorsum fluere prohibuit cum animam suam blanda allocutione admonuit? *Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi, salutare vultus mei, et Deus meus [n: (Psal. XLII)]*. Nonne Jordanis fluenta converti desideravit, cum ait: *Convertere, anima mea, in requiem tuam, quia Dominus benefecit tibi [n: (Psal. CXIV)]*. Miror si hoc audies, et ipse non ambis fieri Judaeus, et confiteri Domino, quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus, et inveniaris dignus, cui dignetur Dominus [1076C] ostendere tam grande miraculum, ut cum Propheta psallere possis; quia Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.

## CAPUT V. *Quod prima promotio virtutis sit in contemptu mundi.*

Sed nec illud, quaeso, tibi satis, cum fueris Judaeus, nisi efficiaris pariter et Hebraeus. Profecto idem ipsi Hebraei, qui et Judaei, licet ex alio Judaei, et ex alio Hebraei. Nam confessio, ut dictum est, Judaeum, et transitus efficit Hebraeum. Denique et tu ipse, si in Aegypto es, transi, et desere Aegyptum, et fecisti quemdam bonae spei Hebraeum, et videbis in fuga maris magnum illud et stupendum miraculum. Sed, si ipsum etiam desertum transire studueris, videbis adhuc majora [1076D] his in conversione Jordanis. Primus ergo transitus est de Aegypto, secundus de deserto. Primo transi de mundo ad teipsum, secundo de teipso in Deum, Mundum amasti, mundum despice, et transi. Desere curas saeculi, et age curam tui, et incipis esse cultor eremi. Rediens de Aegypti tenebris, de erroribus mundanis ad secretiora cordis, nihil aliud invenies, nisi locum horroris et vastae solitudinis. Haec est enim terra illa deserta, invia, et inaquosa, conscientia videlicet diu neglecta, omnino inculta, spinis et tribulis obsita, et omni horrore plena. Oportet ergo te Aegyptum deserere, et hujusmodi eremum petere, si cupis fugam maris oculis tuis aspicere, sicut et David elongavit fugiens, et mansit in solitudine, imple [1077A] praevaricator, quod praevaricatoribus praecipitur, ubi dicitur: *Redite, praevaricatores, ad cor [n: (Isai. XLVI)]*, et factus est transitus primus, et de caetero recte appellaris Hebraeus.

## CAPUT VI. *Quod secunda promotio virtutis sit in contemptu sui.*

Redi ergo ad teipsum, et omni custodia custodi cor tuum. Sed vae tibi, si remanes ibi. Noli remanere, sed transi pergens, et pertransiens in locum tabernaculi admirabilis, usque ad domum Dei. Transi ergo et teipsum, perge in Deum tuum, quaere et apprehende summum bonum. Audi illam qui clamitat in plateis; ausculta vocem Sapientiae, ad hunc secundum nos transitum admonentis: *Transite ad me,* inquit, *omnes qui concupiscitis me (Eccle. [1077B] XXIV)*. Desere mundum, et factus est transitus Israel de Aegypto. Contemne teipsum, et factus est transitus Israel de deserto. Primum ergo transitum facit contemptus mundi, secundum transitum efficit contemptus sui. Ad primum transitum mare fugatur. Ad secundum transitum Jordanis convertitur. Fuga maris exterminatio amaritudinis. Conversio Jordanis reordinatio charitatis.

## CAPUT VII. *Quomodo per contemptum mundi fiat exterminium mali.*

Vis apertius audire, plenius nosce quomodo ad primum transitum Hebraeorum, qualiter ad mundi contemptum fiat fuga maris, amaritudinis exterminium. [1077C] Statim absque dubio ut Aegyptum deserueris, ut mundum post te totum rejeceris: perit causa timoris, causa doloris, radix amaritudinis (radix siquidem omnium malorum cupiditas). Cum enim poteris mundum plene evadere, cum coeperis nulla ejus prospera concupiscere, nulla ejus adversa pertimescere, quid jam erit quod tuam mentem poterit perturbare? Quid, quaeso, rectius in fuga maris accipimus, quam nullis fatigari perturbationibus? Denique non turbetur cor vestrum, neque formidet, et mare ante conspectum nostrum fugiens abiit et recessit. Puto quia mare non jam erit amplius quando absterget Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis sanctorum, quando jam non erit amplius neque luctus, neque clamor, sed nec ullus dolor, quoniam [1077D] priora transierunt. Quid enim est timor et tremor et moeror, nisi aquae maris amarae nimis, omnisque omnino expertes dulcedinis? Venit in altitudinem maris hujusmodi Propheta, ni fallor, cum diceret: *Timor et tremor venerunt super me [n: (Psal. LIV)]*. Et illud: *Tribulatio et angustia invenerunt me [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. Mare hujusmodi offendunt quotquot Aegyptum deserunt, desertum petunt, promissionis terram concupiscunt. Oportet enim nos per multas tribulationes transire in regnum Dei.

## CAPUT VIII. *Quod contritio animi nunc sit in adjutorium, nunc ad firmamentum boni.*

Hujusmodi mare alii habent ante se, alii autem post se. Qui autem ante se habent, est eis ad impedimentum; [1078A] qui juxta se habent, est eis in adjutorium; qui post se habent, est eis ad firmamentum. Sic itaque Israelitici Aegyptum deserentes, desertum intrare volentes, et ad promissionis terram suspirantes, prius habuerunt mare ante se ad impedimentum profectionis; post habuerunt juxta se in adjutorium defensionis, quando erat eis pro muro a dextris et sinistris; tandem habuerunt post se in firmamentum securitatis, inimicis eorum ab eo submersis seu interclusis. Ante nos futura, juxta nos praesentia, post nos praeterita. Mare ante nos, timor futurorum periculorum est. Mare juxta nos, labor incumbentium certaminum est. Mare post nos, dolor perpetratorum malorum; mare ante nos, timor pusillanimitatis; mare autem juxta nos, labor [1078B] sollicitudinis; mare post nos, dolor poenitudinis. Timor pusillanimitatis impedit; labor sollicitudinis munit; dolor poenitudinis protegit. Alius aliorum vitam considerans et studium, cum videat multos etiam post professionis votum reverti ad vomitum, redire ad saeculum, nec saltem audet inchoare bonum, iste ante se mare habet, sed ad impedimentum. Quid enim est cordis trepidatio, mentis haesitatio, nisi quaedam quasi maris fluctuatio? Qui enim haesitaverit, similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento movetur et circumfertur. Alius hunc timorem viriliter calcat, maris fluctuationes ante se fugat, cordis sui trepidationem castigat, ad toleranda pro Domino quaelibet pericula animum fortiter praeparat, et pro hac parte psallere non dubitat, mare vidit [1078C] et fugit, eo quod omnis inutilis trepidatio ante ejus conspectum fugiat atque discedat. Sed, quia sollicitus est, adhuc quomodo debeat vel bonorum negligentiam cavere, vel malorum subreptionem declinare, patitur quidem mare, quamvis non ante se, in utroque tamen latere, eo quod oporteat hinc ad bona, illinc contra mala constanter agere, multum laborare, et utrobique sollicitum esse. Sed felices illi quos jam virtutum exercitia, laborum certamina, non tam fatigant quam delectant, qui licet solum plangunt, quod tot anteactae vitae tempora, vel in iniquitate consumpserunt, vel in vanitate perdiderunt. Qui hujusmodi est, mare post tergum se habere ostendit, sicut ille, qui dixit: *Recogitabo [1078D] tibi omnes annos meos in amaritudine animae meae [n: (Isa. XXXVIII)]*. Quis autem dubitet hujusmodi hominibus mare post tergum relictum esse, ad tutissimum firmamentum, et subversionem inimicorum? Solet enim amaritudo poenitentiae non solum perpetrata mala satisfaciendo delere, verum etiam illud in nobis consuevit efficere, ut quae non licet, nec libeat repetere.

## CAPUT IX. *De utili et inutili contritione.*

Consideremus et illud quomodo hic maris aqua, amaritudinis unda aliis sit extra viam, aliis in via. Quis dubitet hanc vitam esse viam ad vitam futuram? Alius dolet pro his quae sunt praesentis vitae, alius pro his quae sunt vitae futurae. Qui pro his dolet, [1079A] quae sunt in hac vita, huic est mare in via. Qui pro illis dolet, quae sunt extra hanc vitam, illi est mare juxta viam. In hac vita, et bona et mala; in illa vita, aut sola bona, aut sola mala. Itaque quae nulla sunt, multum a se differunt, et nulla se similitudinis vicinitate contingunt, eo quod inter ea chaos magnum firmatum sit, in quibus aliqua consimilis qualitatis proportio reperiri non possit. Sed haec vita inter illa quae futurae vitae sunt, bona sed mala quasi media interjacet, eo quod ad utraque seu hinc seu inde aliqua similitudine appropinquet, quae bona et mala permista habet. Illius igitur vitae bonis bonorum suorum (quamvis umbratili similitudine jungitur, sicut et vitae illius malis, malorum suorum) imaginaria affinitate sociatur. Extra ergo [1079B] hanc viam sunt, quae post hanc vitam occurrunt. Extra quidem, et juxta non solum qualitatis similitudine, sed temporis cohaesione. Statim ut ista deserimus in illa absque mora incidimus. Qui igitur pro his timet, dolet et plangit moeroris undam, amaritudinis affluentiam, quasi maris aquam juxta decursus sui viam effundit.

## CAPUT X. *De gemina cordis compunctione.*

Moeror pro nobis aeternis, mare est a dextris; moeror pro malis aeternis, mare est a sinistris. Sane si sanae mentis sumus, pro utrisque debemus time re, dolere et amaris compunctionis lacrymis affluere. Ista timeamus amittere, illa timeamus incurrere, [1079C] et habemus geminum mare muniens nos fortiter, et ab utroque latere. Recte, ut arbitror, mare, quod in via occurrit, quod profectionis nostrae iter impedit, quod profectus nostri cursum intercludit, justae severitatis virga percutimus, divinae districtionis consideratione terremus, futuri examinis recordatione amovemus. Omnis ergo metus noster, omnis moeror noster amoveatur a via, et pro vita inutili, mundanae vitae sollicitudine compunctio nostra dividatur ad gemina, ut per timoris moerorem mala diluamus aeterna et per desiderii lacrymas, bona mercemur aeterna. Felices qui et hoc geminum duplicis moeroris mare pertranseunt, qui omnem futurae exspectationis ambiguitatem, et metum, longe post tergum relinquunt, et universum diffidentiae [1079D] luctum certae spei securitate transeunt, utinam et in nobis absorbeatur hujusmodi metus et moeror a supervenientis fiduciae securitate! Fugiat atque discedat etiam hujusmodi mare, ut possimus et nos cum Propheta psallere: Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti? Nonne mare putamus de juxta, illud aufugerat, qui dicebat? *Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi, de reliquo reposita est mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi in illa die justus judex [n: (II Tim. IV)]*. Puto quia mare omne longe post tergum reliquerat, nec erat unde jam contristari et conturbari debuerat, cum dicebat: Nihil mihi conscius sum.

## CAPUT XI. *De vano vel vero mundi contemptu*

Sed quid, quaeso, illud esse dicimus, quod usque [1080A] hodie tam multos videamus Aegyptum deserere, qui non merentur tamen in maris effugio tam grande miraculum cernere? Si vere Aegyptum deserunt, si veri Hebraei sunt, eo quod de mundo transeant, et primum Hebraeorum transitum faciant, cur et primi saltem miraculi experimentum non capiant? An forte relinquunt saeculum professione, non autem et conversatione, habitu, non affectu? Si gloriari oportet, possum pro hac tantum parte gloriari. Si quidem Hebraei sunt, et ego. Sed videte ne forte non sufficiat nobis et vobis mutasse locum non animum, saeculum non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt. Quid sic juvat transire et Hebraeum non facere? Absque dubio in exitu Israel de Aegypto profugium maris indicat, quam recte sibi quisque hujus [1080B] vocabuli dignitatem vindicat.

## CAPUT XII. *Quam sit difficile ad perfectum sui contemptum pertingere.*

Transeamus ex Aegypto corpore, transeamus et corde. Sed neque hoc putemus nobis posse sufficere. Grandis enim adhuc nobis restat via, si ad secundi miraculi visionem volumus pertingere. Procul dubio non est ejusdem facultatis, seu facilitatis Aegyptum exire et eremum pertransire, mundum relinquere, et seipsum vincere, et post seipsum projicere. Illud quasi modicum, quod modico tempore perficitur, hoc post multos labores, per multas tentationes vix tandem aliquando et a paucis consummatur. Illud unius diei est opus, hoc vix post multa [1080C] tempora explemus. Durum, difficile, grande, seipsum relinquere bene inspicere et plene despicere, perfecto probare et penitus improbare. Hic labor, hic gemitus. Pravum est cor hominis et inscrutabile, et quis cognoscet illud? Filii hominum, usquequo gravi corde, dura cervice et indomabili corde, et quis vincet illud?

## CAPUT XIII. *Quibus modis mens ad plenum sui contemptum eruditur.*

O quoties necesse est loca mutare, quam saepe castra figere, quot tentationes tolerare, omnia probare, quod bonum est tenere, abstinere ab omni specie mala! O quoties necesse est ire et reverti, et quae [1080D] retro sunt oblivisci, et in anteriora extendi, et item post tergum redeundo capere experientiam sui, et per proprium defectum propriam infirmitatem edoceri! O quoties necesse est in tot errorum devia, tot ambiguitatum opaca, tot vitiorum monstra incidere, perlustrare, aspicere, antequam quis, extrema eremi teneat, et ad humilitatis ultima perveniat, et ad summum sui contemptum perfecte attingat! O quoties necesse est ad Dei misericordiam confugere, et inter tot pericula deprehensum divinam misericordiam quaerere et gratiam impetrare! O quam stupenda magnalia! O quam jucunda miracula! O quam admiranda beneficia, in tot divinis revelationibus, in tantis visitationibus, in talibus consolationibus, experiuntur, mirantur, venerantur, quos [1081A] eremi vastitas, et propriae infirmitatis magnitudo docuit, nil de sua virtute confidere, sed totum de Dei pietate praesumere, jactare in Domino curam suam, et ponere in Domino Deo spem suam! Ibi experiri licet in coelestis cibi dulcedine, quam magna multitudo dulcedinis, quam abscondit Deus diligentibus se, gustare et videre quam suavis Dominus, et quam bonus Israel Deus, his qui recto sunt corde. Ibi qui ascendunt in montem Domini, et appropinquant pedibus ejus, accipient de doctrina ejus probantes et profitentes quoniam magna virtus ejus et sapientiae ejus non est numerus. Novit itaque hoc quicunque in illa terra deserta et inaquosa, sic in sancto apparuit ei, ut videret virtutem suam et gloriam, illius sententiae experimentum capiens, [1081B] quoniam magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis, et magnitudinis ejus non est finis. Sed quis enumerare sufficiat quam innumera hujusmodi alternantium vicissitudinum nunc desolationum, nunc consolationum experiri oporteat, quam multa humanae infirmitatis judicia, quam multa divinae pietatis argumenta eremi habitatoribus, Deique cultoribus videre contingat, antequam eremi extrema attingant, perfectaeque humilitatis metas apprehendant, antequam Jordanis unda venientibus cedat, cursumque retorquens in fontem redeat, humanusque animus sua spernens, seseque contemnens totus in Deum transeat, et in illum a quo omne datum optimum, et omne donum perfectum per desiderium currat, et ad [1081C] Deum fontem vivum totum amoris sui impetum retorqueat.

## CAPUT XIV *Quod superfluus amor sui inter successus virtutum difficilius vincitur.*

O felix anima quae digna es pro qua dignatur Dominus tam grande miraculum facere; cui liceat tale spectaculum videre, aquas quae inferiores sunt, et quaelibet desideriorum fluenta quae ad ima tendunt decurrere, atque deficere aquas quae desuper veniunt, desideria quae desursum sunt in una mole consistere, ita ut veraciter possit psallere: *Unam petii a Domino, hanc requiram, ut inhabitem in domo Domini omnibus diebus vitae meae [n: (Psal. XXVI)]*. O infelix anima quae tardas, quae non festinas, quae multum [1081D] non anhelas currere et videre mirari, et obstupescere fluenta Jordanis primo cursum figere, in uno loco stare; et in uno aeternitatis desiderio immobiliter inhaerere, postea in inferioribus penitus deficere, et in superioribus paulatim crescere. Quid putas, obsecro, miraculi, quid esse prodigii Jordanem retroagi, et tantum fluminis impetum in superiora reverti, praesertim si tempore messis fiat, quo solet implere ripas alvei sui? Cum enim coeperit semen illud quod cecidit in terram bonam producere de se fructum, aliud tricesimum, aliud sexagesimum, aliud centesimum, solet nimirum eo tempore Jordanis unda altius intumescere, et ut est humani animi, magna de se aestimare, magnum se aliquem credere, cum viderit se multum fructum facere, et [1082A] ad maturitatis messem pervenire. Tunc, non mirum, quo majora de seipso aestimat, eo majori dilectione dignum se esse judicat, magnumque est valde si non usque ad superfluitatis in ima effluat, et justae aequitatis metas utilitatisque ripas non excedat. Quantum ergo putas, quam magnum miraculum existimas tibi ipsi vilescere, tibi ipsi magis magisque displicere, eo praecipue tempore, cum incipis veraciter magnus esse, magnusque omnibus apparere? Solent sane, sed neque hoc mirum est, tempore glacialis frigoris, seu etiam aestivi fervoris siccitate Jordanis aquae minui atque decrescere: et quamlibet elata mens, inter malitiae frigus et nimios concupiscentiae aestus sibi ipsi vilescere, et, quamvis invita, infirmitatem suam recognoscere, et a sua de [1082B] se aestimatione non modicum detumescere. Quis, quaeso, tam immane desipiat, qui sibi ipsi inter scelera et flagitia quandoque non displiceat? Sed illud magnum erit, si in tempore messis, et inter virtutum successus possit Jordanis undas intra alvei sui ripas includere, et amoris privati impetum intra modestiae metas cohibere. Magnum erit si non erumpat ad illicita, vel effluat ad inutilia. Magnum erit si nec seipsum diligit nisi quantum convenit, vel expedit. *Jordanis autem,* inquit Scriptura, *ripas alvei sui tempore messis impleverat [n: (Josue VIII)]*. Impleverat inquit, non excesserat. Noxium ergo, ut puto, non erit ripas implere, sed ripas excedere.

## CAPUT XV. *Quomodo gradatim animus ad sui contemptum est promovendus.*

[1082C]

Primum ergo est cuique amorem sui ad certam mensuram restringere, ut postmodum mereatur etiam magnum illud et stupendum miraculum videre, Jordanem videlicet primo quidem cursum figere, deinde intumescere, tandem retro ire et ad altiora ascendere. Et illud quidem primum, cohibere videlicet excessum etsi magnum, non tamen mirum; sed ad montana cursum reflectere, mirabile spectaculum et spectabile miraculum. Omnino et absque dubio aliud est amorem sui temperare, et aliud est suspendere atque deflectere. Aliud est moderatus amor sui, et aliud magnus contemptus sui. Puto non sine causa nonnisi in Jordane celebratum est tale miraculum, [1082D] quod interpretatur *descensio eorum.* Sed quae est ista descensio nisi cordis humiliatio? Vel quorum eorum, nisi ipsorum descendentium et sponte humiliantium? Quorum enim descensio voluntaria non est, in ipsis quidem est, sed eorum quodammodo non est; quia ipsis non prodest. Oportet ergo ut spontanea sit, ut eis prosit, et eorum veraciter dici possit. Nunquid sponte descendisse, vel in hoc quidquam profecisse ereduntur de quibus legitur: *Dejecisti eos dum allevarentur? [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII.)]* Oportet ergo ab omni mentis elatione descendere, et humiliari spontanea voluntate qui vult magnum illud miraculum videre, non sicut illi inviti dejecti, ad laudem quidem Dei, quamvis ad nullam utilitatem sui. Fit ergo in Jordane tantum in descensione [1083A] eorum, in descensione descendentium, in humiliatione humiliantium tam celebre factum et coeleste miraculum. Quanto ergo major es, humilia te in omnibus, et tenes ripas Jordanis: dignus cui Jordanis cedat, cui Dominus miracula ostendat.

## CAPUT XVI. *Quomodo vano amore exhausto animus in Dei amore dilatatur.*

Vis videre aquas Jordanis cursum figere, et in uno loco stare? *Mihi autem,* inquit, *adhaerere Deo bonum est; ponere in Domino Deo spem meam [n: (Psal. LXXXII)]*. Vis videre aquas inferiores decurrere atque deficere? *Renuit consolari anima mea [n: (Psal. LXXXVI)]*. Vis videre aquas superiores intumescere et sursum currere? *Quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes [1083B] aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus [n: (Psal. XLI)]*. Denique et tu non eas post concupiscentias tuas et fixisti aquas. Noli diligere mundum, nec ea quae in mundo sunt: et defecerunt aquae inferiores quae deorsum currunt. Denique delectare in Domino, et videbis fixas stare in uno loco. Diligas Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua, et videbis aquas vehementer intumescere, et in magnam, nec mirum, molem consurgere. Puto te non invenire quo eas latius expandas, quam ut toto corde diffundas, et per totam animam extendas, et ex eis totam mentem repleas. O quam vehementer haec salutaris unda intumuerat in ejus pectore qui dicebat: *Cupio dissolvi, [1083C] et esse cum Christo! [n: (Philipp. VIII.)]* In hanc illud sententiam currit quod Propheta psallendo de seipso pronuntiavit: *Defecit in salutare tuum anima mea [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. Sed qualis, quaeso, erat illa aquarum inundatio ubi pater exclamare cogitur pro parricida filio? *Absalon fili mi, fili mi Absalon: quis mihi det ut ego moriar pro te, fili mi Absalon? [n: (II Reg. XXIX.)]* Puto locum reperiri non posse, quo se possent latius expandere. Majorem siquidem charitatem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis. Sic et illa inundatio intumuit non modicum, de qua habemus Dominicum testimonium: *Dimissa sunt ei peccata multa, quoniam dilexit multum [n: (Luc. VII)]*. Quid mirum, quaeso, si procul apparebant quae multum tumuerant? Vultis nosse quam procul appareat [1083D] illius dilectionis inundatio quae tantum aestuabat, quae se et usque ad pedum deosculationem unctionemque inclinabat: *Amen dico vobis, ubicunque praedicatum fuerit hoc Evangelium in toto mundo, dicetur, quod et haec fecit in memoriam ejus [n: (Matth. XXVI)]*. Vultis autem adhuc apertius nosse quam procul apparere possint, si tamen ad instar montis intumuerint? *In hoc cognoscent omnes quia mei estis discipuli, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem [n: (Joan. XIII)]*. Quam longe, obsecro, apparet quod omnes cognoscere oportet? Sed necesse est, uti jam diximus, verae charitatis fluenta ad instar montis intumescere quae volunt tam procul apparere. Sed forte adhuc montem quaeris, ad cujus similitudinem aquas intumescere legis. Vide ne forte sit ille mons coagulatus, [1084A] mons pinguis, mons domus Domini praeparatus in vertice montium, eo quod Dominus exaltaverit illum, et donavit illi nomen quod est super omne nomen, ut in nomine Jesu omne genuflectatur, coelestium, terrestrium et infernorum. Ad instar hujus montis, ad similitudinem illius magnae mirabilisque dilectionis, qua animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis, aquas intumescere debere cognoscat qui eas procul apparere, et Dominicum praeceptum implere desiderat: *Hoc est praeceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem, sicut ego dilexi vos [n: (ibid.)]*. Audi similitudinem et adhibe imitationem. Sicut dilexi vos, inquit. Similitudo dilectionis est instar montis. Quantum amavit nos, qui mortuus est propter nos? Nunquidnam hujus montis similitudinem in sua dilectione [1084B] non tenuerunt qui pro Christo lapidati sunt, secti sunt, tentati sunt, in occisione gladii mortui sunt? Idcirco, ut arbitror, in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum, ut apparerent procul, ut ab omnibus viderentur, et illos omnes imitarentur. Sed quid, quaeso, miramur si procul apparuerunt aquae, quae, sicut scriptum est: *Usque ad Sartan intumuerunt? [n: (Josue III.)]* Sartan interpretatur *tribulatio eorum.* Tribulatio autem eorum quid est aliud, secundum quod de Jordane jam diximus, nisi tribulatio tribulatorum? Tribulatio autem voluntaria cuique est sua. Quam enim quisque patienter seu etiam libenter suscipit, suam esse facit; quia suae eam utilitati deservire cogit. Sicut ergo descensio, descensio eorum est qui se sponte [1084C] humiliant, sic et tribulatio, tribulatio eorum est qui pro Domino tribulationem amant. Illa itaque tribulatio est tribulatorum, quae tribulatis imputatur ad meritum. Vide ergo aquae illae quae superiores erant, quantum creverant, quantum tumuerant, quae se et usque ad Sartan extenderant. O fortis ut mors dilectio, quae et te usque ad Sartan extendis, et usque ad voluntariam tribulationem sinum tuum expandis? Qualis, quaeso, est ista dilectionis dilatatio, qualis est ista aquarum inundatio, cor suum extendere et dilatare usque ad voluntariam tribulationem, usque ad spontaneam passionem, usque ad votivam mortem? Ne dubites ergo se in id loci extendisse aquas superiores, quoties vides in tribulatione [1084D] gaudentes, et suam propter Dominum tribulationem amantes, sicut ibant apostoli gaudentes a conspectu concilii, quoniam digni habiti sunt pro nomine Jesu contumeliam pati.

## CAPUT XVII. *De vani amoris defectu, et veri amoris profectu.*

Ergo aquae superiores usque ad Sartan ascendunt, et aquae inferiores usque ad mare descendunt. Illae ascendunt et crescunt, istae descendunt et decrescunt. Illae crescunt et intumescunt, istae decrescunt et deficiunt. Pulchrum spectaculum aquas superiores circa Sartan intumescere et aquas inferiores in mari deficere. Hic intende et obstupesce. Hic intende diligenter, et obstupesce vehementer. Elige in his tam magnis tamque mirandis quid [1085A] prius, quid amplius mireris an aquas in montanis non defluere sed intumescere, an aquas ex aquis non intumescere sed deficere. *Aquae autem,* inquit Scriptura, *quae inferiores erant in mare solitudinis, quod nunc vocatur mortuum, descenderunt usquequo omnino deficerent [n: (Josue III)]*. Quae ergo inferiores sunt, necesse est in mare descendere, et in mari deficere. Scimus autem quia aquae quantumlibet dulces sint, quoniam, cum in mare perveniunt, dulcedinem suam servare non possunt. Quae ergo in mare descendunt, cito amarescunt. *Risus,* inquit, *vester vertatur in luctum, et gaudium in moerorem [n: (Jac. IV)]*, hoc est dulcem aquam in mare descendere et dulcedinem amittere et dulcem in amaram vertere. Risus sane et gaudium dulcem [1085B] aquam facit, et hujusmodi quamlibet quam ardenter sitit, tam libenter unusquisque et bibit. Sed luctus et moeror dulcem facere non possunt, nec hujusmodi bibere homines facile volunt. Quoties risus in luctum vertitur, toties aqua inferior in mare labitur et in amaram mutatur. Neque enim risus ad superiores aquas pertinere potest de quo ab ore veritatis dictum est: Vae vobis qui nunc ridetis, quia plorabitis. Quid ergo est inferiores aquas in mare decurrere atque deficere, nisi carnales et infimas delectationes in dolorem trahere, et poenitendo exstinguere? Qui enim de perpetrata delectatione plangit et gemit, qui supervenientem horret et respuit, qui futuram timet et declinare satagit, quid aliud quam dulcem sibi in amaram vertit? Hoc itaque, hoc, [1085C] inquam, est quod superius mirabamur, quod adhuc usque miramur, dulcem in amaram vertere, gaudium deflere, delectationem dolere, et in hunc modum dulcem in mari deficere. Ergone aquae circa Sartan intumescunt, ergone aquae in mari deficiunt? Siccine, homo, de tribulatione laetaris? Siccine, homo, de delectatione turbaris? O mirum, o stupendum! In voluntaria tribulatione gaudia cumulantur, occursantes delectationes dolore spontaneo exterminantur.

## CAPUT XVIII. *Quomodo per vani amoris defectum mentis perturbationes deficiunt.*

Sed quid, quaeso, hoc sibi vult quod vocatur [1085D] mare Mortuum, in quo contigit tam celebre factum? Quid, quaeso, tale nomen accepit? Nam, quod prius non habuerit ex eo Scriptura satis innuit, quo ait: *Mare solitudinis, quod nunc vocatur Mortuum (Josue III)*. Puto quia non omne mare solitudinis, nec omnis amaritudo desolationis, imo hoc ipsum mare de quo modo loquimur haud digne tali nomine censetur; nec debet dici mortuum nisi forte in illo contingat praedictum miraculum. Scimus quia quod mortuum est omnino se movere non potest, forte hoc mare postquam incidens unda defecit, postquam influentem et impellentem gurgitem non habuit, a suo fervore defecit, et tumentes illas atque ebullientes fluctuationum suarum procellas amisit. Impetus siquidem influentes Jordanis cursusque rapidissimus [1086A] illapsu suo vehementissimo ipsum impellebat atque exagitabat, et tranquillum, et quietum esse penitus non sinebat. Ibat ergo tunc temporis tumens et spumans et multum exaestuans, et quasi ad commotionis et inquietationis suae injuriam vehementer indignans. Sed postquam coepit influens inundatio deficere, et commotionis causa perire, coepit et ipsum mare ab illa sua procellosa exagitatione quiescere, et quasi mortuum motum pristinae inquietationis amittere, et nomen mutare. Sic nimirum, sic torrens voluptatis carnalis et vehemens impetus carnis, quandiu viget, solet esse causa tumoris et indignationis. Solet sane conscientiam totam turbare, amaritudinis fluctus exagitare, et profundissimam illam humani cordis abyssum ab [1086B] imo evertere, et magnum illud mare magnis tempestatibus agitare. Mens siquidem coelesti desiderio fervens, puritati studens, et ad perfectionem tendens, quandiu turpes delectationes ex carnis impetu sentire cogitur, necesse est infimis desideriis, et ad ima fluentibus reluctetur. Hinc est quod sibi irascitur, quod sibi indignatur, adversus seipsam saevire videtur, puto quia hujusmodi perturbatio et tumultuatio, vehemensque fluctuatio non facit mare mortuum, sed vivum, sed validum, sed inquietum. Sed postquam coeperint inferiores aquae decurrere atque deficere, et infimarum delectationum fluxus languescere atque evanescere, incipit et conscientia pariter ad pacem et tranquillitatem seipsam paulatim componere, futuri judicii metum magis magisque deponere, [1086C] et illas praeteritae indignationis et anxietatis aestuationes amittere, ad mortui similitudinem trepidationis et perturbationis motum non habere. In hunc itaque modum carnalis voluptatis profluvium exhaustum atque exsiccatum, penitusque absumptum facit mare invalidum, et infirmum, et tranquillum, et quod jure debeat dici, mortuum. Vides certe, ut arbitror, quam recte mare suum nomen mutavit, mortuisque nomen concepit, in quo inferiorum decursus aquarum decidit atque defecit.

## CAPUT XIX. *Cum qua cautela debeamus cordis perturbationes delere.*

Notandum autem quomodo mare hoc debeat juxta [1086D] aliquid permanere, et tamen secundum aliquid mortuum esse: nam semper necesse est de perpetratis malis poenitere, odio et detestatione persequi et perhorrescere, non tamen illa semper deflere et trepidare, sed post dignam satisfactionem et concupiscentiam edomitam, consolationem recipere, et ad spem veniae securitatisque quietem animum reformare. O vere felix multumque beatus, cui datum est cordis perturbationes et tristitiae tempestates compescere, et magnas illas et mirabiles elationes maris ad tranquillitatem componere! Unum scio, nec dubitare audeo, quia quandiu amor ad multa spargitur et ad ima derivatur, nunquam ad plenam pacem perducitur, nunquam ad verae securitatis tranquillitatem serenatur. O anima infelix et misera, [1087A] usquequo sollicita es, et turbaris erga plurima? porro cum unum sit necessarium, tandem aliquando fige desiderium, dilige unum. Felices illius civitatis cives, cujus participatio in idipsum. Congregentur aquae quae sub coelo sunt in locum unum, noli sinere eas fluere deorsum. An nescis quia qui dimittit aquas suas caput est jurgiorum? Quid per ima desideria defluis? Quid tibi cum bonis perituris, gaudiisque lugendis? An nescis quia omnis aqua quae deorsum currit, in mare descendit? Omnia siquidem flumina intrant in mare, et omnis infima delectatio desinit in dolore. Risus enim dolore miscebitur, et [1088A] extrema gaudii luctus occupant, eo quod omnis dulcis aqua in mare descendat, et dulcedinem amittat: transit enim mundus, et concupiscentia ejus. Et scimus quia sine dolore non relinquitur, quod cum amore possidetur. Quanto ergo melius est quae sursum sunt sapere, quae sursum sunt quaerere, et Jordanis fluenta in suum fontem retorquere, ut audeamus et nos illam congratulationis vocem in usum nostrae confessionis assumere? Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti; et tu, Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum?

## TRACTATUS SECUNDUS. *Ab hoc loco agitur de studio contemplationis, et quomodo vel quantum valeat ad reformationem veri amoris.*

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

[1087B]

Sed nec illud hoc in loco praetereundum puto, qua arte, quave industria effici valeat, ut se ultro Jordanis convertat, et spontaneo nutu in suum fontem recurrat. Aliud siquidem est nosse quid expediat, vel quid fieri oporteat, et aliud non ignorare quomodo obtinere valeas quod utile, seu etiam necessarium fore non dubitas. Quis non desperet tanti fluminis impetum posse in montana convertere? Quis, inquam, praesumat naturalem illum humanae affectionis cursum rapidissimum, impetumque ad ima vehementissimum, posse cohibere, et in contraria deflectere, nisi artem accipiat qua se illud speret efficere? Denique cursum aquae defluentis praepeditum saepe audivimus, frequenter et [1087C] vidimus, neque hoc impossibile judicamus. Nam aliud est in necessariis appetitibus, et in naturalibus affectibus saepe consensum cohibere et aliud affectionem mutare et humanae concupiscentiae profluvium in virtutum montana convertere, et spontaneo quodam intimi amoris nutu contra morem in supercoelestium desideriorum concupiscentias assurgere. Parum ergo puto meam vel cujusque hominis inde proferre sententiam, discamus ab eo qui docet hominem scientiam. Audiamus itaque quid nobis in hoc negotium proponat, vel quid in rei exitum promittat. Cum posuerint, inquit, vestigia pedum suorum sacerdotes qui portant arcam foederis Domini Dei universae terrae, in aquis Jordanis, aquae quae inferiores sunt decurrent atque deficient; [1087D] quae autem desuper veniunt in una mole consistent. Oportet ergo, ut audimus, arcam foederis Domini praesentem habere, si concupiscimus inferiores aquas deficere, et superiores in una mole consurgere. O felices qui eam, etsi non semper, verumtamen frequenter praesentem habere possunt, in cujus praesentia tam magna, tamque jucunda miracula fiunt. Sed quae est ista, quaeso, arca foederis, [1088B] nisi forte illa divinorum donorum praerogativa gratia, videlicet contemplationis? Quae est illa arca deaurata, nisi humana intelligentia coelestis sapientiae fulgore splendida et divinae inspirationis luce irradiata? Quid rectius intelligimus per illud venerabile sacrarium et sacrorum divinorum reconditorium, quam spiritalem spiritalium virorum intellectum, qui secretorum divinorum sacratiora et sapientiae arcana et per intelligentiam capit, et per memoriam custodit? Sed quid illud dicimus quod haec arca dicitur foederis arca? Nunquid nam dare solet hanc tantam gratiam in signum dilectionis et pignus charitatis, qui diligit diligentes se, et suo dignos efficit amore, intantum ut ab illo mereantur audire: Jam non dicam vos servos, sed [1088C] amicos, quia omnia nota fecit vobis quae audivi a Patre meo? [n: (Joan. XV.)] Haec itaque arca non semper praesens habetur, quia contemplationis gratia etiam ipsis quandoque subtrahitur quibus eam secundum tempus habere conceditur. Arcam ergo praesentem habemus, quando ex inspirante gratia radium contemplationis accipimus. Arcam istam nobiscum portamus, cum divinae contemplationi diligenter insistimus, et studio sapientiae salutaris per investigationem seu retractationem vehementer interdimus.

## CAPUT II. *Qomodo investigatio et retractatio salubrium valeat ad corrigendum animum.*

Isti etenim sunt, ni fallor, arcae nostrae bajuli, [1088D] quibus solet vel in alta sustolli, vel in anteriora deferri, ignotorum, scilicet investigatio et cognitorum retractatio. Sine his etenim cito aut deorsum labitur, aut retrorsum repellitur. Sine retractatione siquidem ab oblivionis lapsu non custoditur, et sine investigatione ad cognitionis profectum nunquam promovetur. Solet autem, ut omnes novimus, officium sacerdotum esse circa salutis custodiam, curamque [1089A] animarum vigilare. Debet ergo investigatio nostra, debet et retractatio nostra circa salutaria, circa saluti obnoxia diligenter intendere, indesinenter insistere, ut sacerdotii dignitatem sibi meritis vindicent, et nominis honorem defensent. O quam digni sacerdotes! O quam idonei arcae portitores, investigatio salutarium, retractatio salubrium! Horum sacerdotum officio ad Jordanica fluenta arcam nostram deferimus, cum per investigationis et retractationis studium ad desideriorum nostrorum considerationem nostrae contemplationis oculum reflectimus. Ad horum itaque ingressum arcaeque accessum, videbis cursum Jordanis, imperiumque dissolutionis, primo lentescere, postmodum haerere, tandemque retrorsum redire. Absque dubio affectionis [1089B] humanae profluxum quanto perfectius inspexeris, quanto plenius agnoveris, tanto profecto amplius miraberis, tanto vehementius detestaberis. Considera ergo frequenter, contemplare diligenter cordis tui luxum, desideriorumque profluvium. Vide ergo amorem tuum, unde quo currat, quo per desiderium tendat, vel unde per fastidium recedat, videbis quomodo de sublimibus ad ima labitur et de summis ad infima derivatur. Absque dubio cum haec coeperis diligenter inspicere, profundeque intelligere, incipies et pariter cum Propheta proclamare: *Quid mihi est in coelo, et a te quid volui super terram? [n: (Psal. LXXII.)]*

## CAPUT III. *Quod facilius est animum corrigere quam ejus intima penetrare.*

[1089C]

Verum illud quanta putamus admiratione dignum, quantave jucunditate amplectendum, quod non vult Deus miraculum suum diutius differre, nec exspectationem nostram in longum protrahere, nec urget nos vel usque ad Jordanis ima descendere, et usque ad illud humani cordis inscrutabile profundum penetrare, antequam incipiat promissionem suam implere. Utique quoniam ipse cognovit figmentum nostrum, non vult nos diutinae praestolationis mora suspendere, veraciter sciens quoniam pravum est cor hominis et inscrutabile. Quis enim digne comprehendat? quis explicare sufficiat quanta sit stultitia, [1089D] quam infinita miseria, summa bona sponte deserere, infima bona avide quaerere, aeterna gaudia fastidire, transitoria ardenter concupiscere, et pro perituris praemia infinita perdere et mala aeterna incurrere? Hujus considerationis incomprehensibilitas causa esse videtur cur a Domino usque ad hoc immensitatis profundum penetrare non cogimur, ne a nobis non modo difficilia, sed et impossibilia exigere videretur. Sed quid ait Scriptura? *Ingressis,* inquit, *sacerdotibus Jordanem, et pedibus eorum tinctis in parte aquae, steterunt aquae descendentes in uno loco et ad instar montis intumescentes apparuerunt procul [n: (Josue III)]*. Animadvertis, obsecro, quomodo statim ad primam intinctionem pedum Jordanis incipit cohibere cursum, et converti retrorsum? vix partem [1090A] aquae, ut audis, attigerant, et jam Jordanis fluenta impetum suum in seipsa retorquebant.

## CAPUT IV. *Quantum valeat cum profunda admiratione infirmitatis nostrae considerationi diutius inhaerere.*

Sed qui sunt isti, quaeso, pedes sacerdotum, ad quorum intinctionem Jordanis convertitur retrorsum? Sed, si per sacerdotem recte intelligimus investigationem, quid rectius intelligitur per ejus pedem (quod est ejus corporis imum) quam investigationis profundum? Pes igitur sacerdotis est profunditas investigationis. Pedem ergo in aqua ponere, est profunda investigatione occulta penetrare. Pes hujuscemodi in aqua tingitur, quando mens adinventionis suae subtilitatem miratur, et in sua admiratione [1090B] delectatur. Quid enim est tingi, nisi affici? Quid est affici, nisi contemplari, mirari, delectari? Et quamvis investigationis nostrae pedes non usque ad gurgitis ima extendimus, quia desideriorum nostrorum errores nonnisi ex parte penetramus; ipsos tamen pedes, quamvis nonnisi in parte positos, multum intingimus, multum obstupescentes quod vix, vel ex modica parte comprehendimus. Debemus ergo cordis intima perscrutando eo usque saltem in aquas descendere, donec possimus investigationis nostrae pedes plene intingere, et animum nostrum super erroris nostri considerationem in admirationem et stuporem convertere. Nam hoc ipsum quod comprehendere possumus de stultitiis et erroribus nostris, puto posse sufficere nobis intantum, ut Jordanis [1090C] cursus sui impetum ultro cohibeat, et nutu spontaneo in posteriora recurrat, pristinae consuetudinis devia damnans atque detestans, morum suorum lapsum sponte coercens, et in contraria dirigens. Puto quia tunc temporis Propheta super aquas Jordanis intelligentiae suae arcam levaverat, cum generalem nec de suo tantum, sed de quolibet corde humano sententiam proferebat: *Universa vanitas omnis homo vivens [n: (Psal. XXXVIII)]*. Videbat quorsum Jordanis fluenta currerent, cum per increpationem exclamaret: *Usquequo diligitis vanitatem et quaeritis mendacium? [n: (Psal. XIV.)]* Videbat ubi cursum suum terminaret, et quam in mari deficeret, cum diceret: *In imagine pertransit homo, sed et frustra [1090D] conturbatur [n: (Psal. XXXVIII)]*. Profunde pedes in aqua tinxerat, cum in hanc admirationis vocem erumperet: *Quid enim mihi est in coelo, et a te quid volui super terram? [n: (Psal. LXXVIII.)]* Puto quia ad hanc pedum intinctionem considerationisque admirationem, Jordanis ima desideriorum deserens in superiora redeat, fontemque repetat intantum, ut dicat: *Renuit consolari anima mea; memor fui Dei, et delectatus sum [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*.

## CAPUT V. *Quomodo post plenam correctionem sui, animus ad aeternorum contemplationem introducitur.*

Nemo ergo debet hoc ipsum quod comprehendi valet de corruptionis suae consideratione negligere, neque hoc negligenter, et quasi in transitu videre; [1091A] sed statim ad arcae ingressum intinctionemque pedum gressum figere, morasque innectere, donec aqua superior crescat, inferiorque deficiat populusque Hebraeorum totus pertranseat. Ut enim coeperimus vitam nostram retractare atque discutere, perscrutationisque nostrae pedes in aqua tingere, statim ut senserimus animum nostrum affici, et ad sui considerationem mirari et indignari, debemus in hoc admirationis nostrae spectaculo libenter immorari donec internorum amor intumescat, inferiorum autem omnino deficiat, totaque desideriorum nostrorum turba pertranseat, terramque promissionis spei suae certitudine tangat et teneat. Tunc demum, ut arbitror, tempus erit ut et ipsa intelligentiae nostrae arca promissionis terram intrare possit, [1091B] cum votorum omnium voluntatumque plebem praemiserit. Prius enim necesse est bona Domini in terra viventium credere, sperare, diligere, multumque desiderare, quam detur nobis cognoscere et intelligere, facie ad faciem videre. *Nisi,* inquit, *credideritis, non intelligetis [n: (Isa. VII)]*. *Qui diligit me,* inquit, *diligetur a Patre meo et manifestabo ei meipsum [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. Manifestationem ergo praecedit dilectio, ut dilectionem sequatur manifestatio. Praecedat arcam affectionum turba, ut turbam subsequatur contemplationis arca. Prius oportet promissionis terram tenere per desiderium quam per intellectum. Puto quia Apostolus totam cogitationum affectionumque suarum multitudinem transegerat, cum dicebat: *Cupio dissolvi, et esse cum Christo* [1091C] [n: (Philipp. I)]. Quid enim sibi de hujus vitae desideriis reliquerat, qui nec ipsam vitam prae nimio Christi desiderio diligebat? Inde est, ut arbitror, quod praevaluit contemplationis suae arcam in terram lacte et melle manantem introducere, ut videret bona Hierusalem omnibus diebus vitae suae, et ex revelatione Domini disceret quod oculus non vidit et auris non audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit. Mentior, si ipse non gloriatur hujusmodi hominem raptum usque ad tertium coelum, et audisse ibi arcana verba, quae non licet homini loqui.

## CAPUT VI. *Quod in futura vita post aeternorum contemplationem, animus ad omne desiderii sui beneplacitum relaxatur.*

[1091D]Puto quia et nos ipsi post internae familiae tantaeque multitudinis transitum cum coeperimus contemplationis nostrae arcam illuc introducere, et non jam per speculum et in aenigmate, sed facie ad faciem videre, cum tenuerimus actu quod interim tenemus affectu, jam ulterius necesse non erit Jordanem alvei sui fluenta suspendere, et cursus sui impetum renitendo cohibere. Absit, absit, cum corruptibile hoc induerit incorruptionem, et mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem; absit, inquam, absit, ut adhuc necesse sit castigare corpus, et in servitutem redigere, atque etiam tunc mortificari tota die: *Quando justi,* Christo etiam testante, *fulgebunt sicut sol in regno Patris sui [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, et tolletur impius ne videat gloriam Dei. Non nobis [1092A] omnino dicetur amplius: Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quae in mundo sunt, cum fecerit Dominus novum coelum et novam terram, juxta quod ipsa creatura liberabitura servitute corruptionis in libertatem filiorum Dei. Et licet in creaturis decor sit tunc quam modo incomparabiliter major atque venustior, corporeisque oblectamentis dulcior, propensior atque jucundior, nihil erit quod concupiscentias spiritus imminuere possit in omnibus his quae sensus corporeus attigerit. Nesciet concupiscentia carnis, nesciet concupiscentia oculorum, concupiscentias spiritus exstinguere, sed accendere; non refrigerare, sed acrius inflammare. Quidquid exterius, quidquid interius occurrerit, spirituali amori, divinae dilectioni alimenta ministrabit. Tunc absque dubio [1092B] animus delectabitur interius, et delectabitur exterius. Delectabitur in rebus spiritualibus, delectabitur in rebus corporalibus, et ingredietur, et egredietur, et pascua inveniet. Tunc revertentur aquae Jordanis in alveum suum, et fluent sicut ante consueverant. Jordanis alveus commodi appetitus. In hujusmodi alveo aquae Jordanicae cum impetu feruntur, quia cordis desideria juxta commodi sui appetitum huc illucque derivantur. Quo putas tendit hujusmodi decursus aquarum nisi in beneplacitum? Quid ergo est aquas ut ante consueverant currere, nisi beneplacitum sequi et apprehendisse? Naturaliter quidem omnis appetitus ad commodum trahitur, et hujus alvei ductum sequi in suo illic desiderio nemo prohibetur. Multa hic placent, quae tamen non decent, [1092C] et idcirco fieri non debent. Necesse est ergo in hac saepe vita aquarum impetum cohibere, et concupiscentiarum violentiam viriliter frangere. Nihil illic libebit, nisi et quod licebit. Nihil ergo oberit desideriorum fluenta pro voto effluere, et ad omne beneplacitum derivare. Hujus, ut arbitror, libertatis licentiam Propheta sperabat et suspirabat, cum psallendo proclamaret: *Voluntaria oris mei beneplacita fac, Domine [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. Saepe et supra modum sunt alia voluntaria oris et beneplacita cordis. Quia alia mente concupiscimus, atque alia sunt ea quae ore probamus. Alia sane sunt ea persaepe quae placent ex sententia, atque alia ea quae placent ex concupiscentia. Illa placent ex judicio, [1092D] ista ex desiderio. Illa ex diffinitione, ista ex delectatione. Rogat ergo Propheta ut eadem ipsa quae sunt votiva, sint et beneplacita, ut in unum conveniant sibique semper occurrant, votum et beneplacitum, sententia et concupiscentia, judicium et desiderium, diffinitio et delectatio. Voluntaria oris mei beneplacita fac, Domine, ut quidquid placet ex discretione placeat ex delectatione, et sola libeant ex delectatione quae licent ex deliberatione. Transeat ergo, transeat populus Hebraeorum; transeat et arca post ipsum in illam terram lacte et melle manantem, in supernam illam et sempiternam jucunditatem, ut tandem aliquando facie ad faciem videat, quod multo desiderio tantopere ante quaesierat. Transeat ergo grandis illa tot desideriorum turma; [1093A] transeat et theorica illa intelligentiae arca in illa interna et aeterna gaudia, ut vel tunc Jordanis liberum cursum recipiat, et omnis humanus affectus licenter et libere in omne se beneplacitum volvat, et humanus animus (utpote summis spiritualibusque bonis firmiter immobiliterque inhaerens) in rebus exterioribus et inferioribus nihil contradictionis inveniat. Ni fallor, illa quae superius intumuerat unda, majori quam prius impetu in alveum suum recurret, et latius expandet, modumque pristinae limitationis excedet; eo quod amor Verbi creaturarumque majoris incendii alimenta uberrima reperiat, et ob hoc quaquaversum ferventiori desiderio ad omnia ruat.

## CAPUT VII. *Quomodo quidam in hac etiam vita ad aeternorum contemplationem sublevantur.*

[1093B]

Sed hoc quod de arcae transitu legitur etiam in hac vita secundum aliquem modum impleri posse videtur. Probat hoc apostolicum illud testimonium quod et superius protulimus, quem adhuc talia dicentem in hac corruptibili vita degere non dubitamus. *Scio,* inquit, *hominem in Christo, sive in corpore, sive extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit, raptum hujusmodi usque ad tertium coelum: et scio hujusmodi, quoniam raptus est in paradisum, et audivit arcana verba quae non licet homini loqui [n: (II Cor. XII)]*. Ecce ubi contemplationis suae arcam introduxerat, qui in tertii etiam coeli secreta intelligentiae oculum fixerat. Puto autem quia nec ipse [1093C] Paulus usque in id loci arcam levasset, nisi totam illam desideriorum suorum familiam illuc praemisisset, intantum ut omnia arbitraretur ut stercora, ut Christum lucrifaceret. Multi, ut arbitror, hanc de qua loquimur promissionis terram per meritum possident, qui illuc arcam suam juxta Pauli similitudinem introducere non valent, eo quod adhuc aliquos de interna illa affectionum suarum familia extra hanc terram per desiderium retinent. Sed, cum haec omnis Hebraeorum turba Jordanem transierit, cum et ipsa foederis arca in terram promissionis subintroducta fuerit, quid, quaeso, jam oberit cursum suum repetere, et juxta morem in alveum suum refluere: dummodo congruae utilitatis justaeque [1093D] necessitatis ripas non excedat, dummodo aequitatis modestiaeque alveum sequens ad superfluae libertatis campum non effluat? Quid enim est Hebraeorum turbam Jordanis alveum transisse, nisi coelestia desideria et ad futuram gloriam tendentia carnis appetitum eo usque perdomuisse, quo jam ulterius non possit ea irretire vel impedire? Et quidem antequam populus Domini cum Domini arca transeat, ne eorum transitum Jordanis unda praepediat, necesse est ejus decursum coercere, et carnis impetum frangere, et animum saepe etiam a necessaria concupiscentia avertere. Nunquam enim humanus affectus ad aeternitatis desiderium perfecte inflammatur, nunquam humanus intellectus ad aeternorum contemplationem plene acuitur, nisi carnis [1094A] cura in rebus etiam licitis multumque necessariis frequenter fortiterque repellatur. Eo usque ergo oportet corpus castigare et in servitutem redigere, donec ulterius jam non possit meritorum profectum ullatenus impedire. Sed postquam praetereuntem turbam arcamque comitantem transmiserit, inquantum spiritualibus exercitiis obviare non poterit, utilitatis suae alveum sequi cuique licebit. Hinc est quod multos saepe jam vidimus mira prius abstinentia corpus afflixisse, morbosque graves, imo incurabiles incurrisse, eosdemque ipsos post edomitam concupiscentiam, post acceptam divinitus gratiam, rigoris pristini frena laxare, et corpori suo in cibo et potu, in sommo et vestitu, multo amplius quam custodita sanitas postulasset indulgere. Nam hoc saepe spiritalibus [1094B] studiis militat, quod vir plenus gratia corporis vires, inquantum utiliter potest, custodit, aut reparat. Cavere tamen debet qui sibi jam secundum hanc licentiam indulget, ne aquas nimis relaxet, ne utilitatis suae alveum deserant, modestiaeque ripas excedant, fluant saltem ut ante consueverant, de quibus scriptum est quod alvei sui ripas impleverant. Hoc, ut arbitror, soli illi bene facere noverunt qui jam ea quae sursum sunt sapiunt, qui coelestium dulcedinem jam degustaverunt, qui terrena fastidiunt, qui arcam suam in illam promissionis terram jam introduxerunt. Non potest, ut arbitror, ad perfectum exteriorum bonorum fastigium pertingere, qui interiorum bonorum dulcedinem nondum meruit gustando sentire. Puto quia Propheta nisi prius [1094C] gustasset quam suavis est Dominus, et quam magna multitudo dulcedinis domus ejus, puto quia nisi hoc per experimentum didicisset, illud omnino ex sententia dicere non posset: *Renuit consolari anima mea [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*. Ne ergo semper necesse sit Jordanis cursum cohibere, oportet arcam nostram in ejus ulteriora transponere; sed nec illud licet, nisi possimus omnem illam votorum nostrorum turbam praemittere.

## CAPUT VIII. *Quod semper oportet per contemplationis studium praevidere quo debeamus per desiderium tendere.*

Debet sane haec arca nec ubique sequi, nec semper praemitti. In loco horroris et vastae solitudinis turbam praecedat, in terram promissionis ingredienti [1094D] turbae succedat. Praecedat ad nostra, subsequatur ad divina. Citra Jordanem, quae pertinent ad nos; ultra Jordanem, quae sunt supra nos. Hic jubemur discutere et approbare et postea tenere: *Omnia,* inquit Apostolus, *probate, quod bonum est tenete [n: (I Thess. V)]*. Illic praecipimur credere, ut quandoque mereamur et intelligere: *Nisi credideritis,* inquit, *non intelligetis [n: (Isa. VII)]*. Debemus ergo, quandiu adhuc in deserto sumus, quandiu per eremum iter agimus, arcam nostram ante nos praemittere, et subtiliter praevidere quo debeat virtutum familia per studium, vel per desiderium subsequendo tendere: *Ut possitis,* inquit Dominus, *videre et nosse per quam viam ingrediamini, quia prius non ambulastis [1095A] per eam [n: (Josue III)]*. Hinc illud Sapientis sententiae concinit, cum dicit: *Et palpebrae tuae praecedant gressus tuos [n: (Prov. IV)]*. Sed ad illa quae ultra Jordanem sunt, quae sensum nostrum excedunt, melius nitimur desiderio quam studio, affectu quam intellectu, eo quod jubemur turbam non arcam praemittere, meliusque sit in hac parte multum desiderare quam multum discutere, ut illuc mereamur introduci quo non valeamus virtute irrumpere. Qui enim scrutator est majestatis, opprimetur a gloria [n: (Prov. XXV)]. Illic ergo praecedat, ut viam ostendat.

## CAPUT IX. *De gemina imperfectione quas semper oportet prae oculis habere.*

Sed nec illud quidem sermo divinus voluit tacite [1095B] praeterire, quanto viae spatio debeat subsequentem turbam praeire. Sit, inquit, inter arcam spatium cubitorum duorum millium. Vis scire quid sit arcam cum turba esse, vel quid arcam turbam praeire? Cum quales per facta vel desideria sumus, diligenti contemplatione attendimus, arcam nostram nobiscum et quasi praesentem habemus. Cum vero quales nos esse oporteat subtiliter aspicimus, intelligentiae nostrae arcam ante faciem nostram praemittimus, ut quo tendere necesse sit non ignoremus. Quis, quaeso, gloriari potest, vel totum facere quod utiliter facere potest, vel totum posse quod fieri oporteret, si fieri potuisset? Sicut enim nec totum volunt, quod valent, sic nec totum valent, quod debent. [1095C] Ergo ulterior est facultas quam voluntas, et necessitas longe remotior quam facultas. Praemittamus ergo arcam nostram, non solum usque ad considerationem nostrae possibilitatis, sed etiam usque ad speculationem necessariae utilitatis, ut attendamus non solum quid melius facere possemus quam facimus, verum etiam quid melius fieri oporteret quam possumus. Quasi ergo cubitos mille arcam suam ante faciem suam praemittit, qui diligenter attendit, qui frequenter aspicit, ubi per meritum esse potuisset, si de possibilibus sibi nihil negligeret. Sed usque ab duo millia cubitorum ulterius progreditur, qui non solum frequenter, sed pene indesinenter contemplatur, quam innumera non faciat, et quam innumera etiam non facere valeat, [1095D] quae fieri oporteret si ad illa adimplenda sua virtus non succumberet. Cum aliquid fortiter agere volumus, cubitum nostrum extendimus, et ideo recte per cubitos virtutum exercitia intelligimus. Millenarius perfectionem significare solet, quia majorem numerum nostra computatio non habet. Duo ergo millia cubitorum, ut arbitror, geminam perfectionem designare videntur, integritatem videlicet voluntatis et plenitudinem fortitudinis. Sed quisquis necdum totum valet quod debet, sed nec totum quidem complet quod valet: utraque perfectione caret. Quid ergo est intelligentiae suae arcam usque ad duo millia cubitos ante seipsum praemittere, nisi prudenter praevidere quantum sibi desit de gemina perfectione, quarum neutrum necdum [1096A] potest adimplere? Verum utique dicam quod sentio, illum solum hoc Dominicum praeceptum implevisse puto; solum illum, inquam, existimo, arcam suam de duobus millibus cubitis praemisisse, qui seipsum indicat geminae perfectionis, nec saltem exordia hucusque apprehendisse. Nam, si vel unum quidem cubitum de tanto spatio, ambulando, accedendo, properando praecideret, et consummatae perfectionis saltem sibi primordia arrogasset, duobus millibus cubitis retro post arcam seipsum remanere non vidisset. O virum perfectum, summaque humilitate fundatum, qui semper potest et festinando proficere, et proficiendo festinare, et hanc sibi semper humilitatem servare, ut semper in bono proficiat, et tamen semper nec perfectionis initia [1096B] habere se credat! Grande spectaculum videre arcam praecedendo festinare, conspicere turbam subsequendo accelerare, et semper tamen tantae interstitionis modum ad invicem custodire. Quanto promovetur arca, tanto amplius festinat et turba; et quo turba sequens amplius properat, eo et arca praecedens iter suum accelerat. Sane perfectionis gratiam quanto melius agnoscimus, tanto ardentius et concupiscimus, et quo amplius accendimur ad amorem, eo perfectius illuminamur ad agnitionem. Semper inveniet vir justus quo possit eam ante se duobus millibus cubitis elongare, quia in hac vita nunquam possunt in unum concurrere velle, posse et debere. Hoc est futuri temporis, non vitae praesentis. Ibi [1096C] sane, sicut totum volet quod juste valebit, sic totum poterit quod jure debebit. Hic autem et actionem superat agendi facultas, et faciendi possibilitatem excedit debiti necessitas. Constat autem unum ex altero crescere; quia, cum crescit nostrum velle, crescit et posse, et cum utriusque incremento crescit et debere. Quia quo ardentius bonum appetimus, eo facilius efficimus, et quo majora possumus, eo et majora debemus. Juxta hunc modum necesse est arcam semper in anteriora procedere, et subsequentem turbam post ipsam properare. Parum autem tibi esse debet qui ad terram properas promissionis, quod arcam tuam ante faciem tuam praemittas, nisi iter tuum duobus millibus cubitis praeveniat, et quo sequi debeas ostendat. Satage [1096D] ergo in perfectionis tuae consideratione et contemplatione, eo usque in ulteriora penetrare, ut veraciter te credas ejus saltem primordia, seu per affectum, seu per effectum necdum attigisse.

## CAPUT X. *Exemplum vel forma propositae considerationis.*

Vultis audire hominem duobus millibus cubitis post arcam iter legentem, et perfectioris vitae nec saltem sibi primordia arrogantem? *Dum adhuc,* inquit, *ordirer, succidit me [n: (Isa. XXXVIII)]*. Non dicit dum adhuc texerem, sed, dum adhuc ordirer. Quid est ordiri, nisi praemeditari; et quid texere, nisi facere? Nempe quid aliud est texenda ordiri et texere ordita, nisi praeordinare facienda et facere praeordinata? Dum adhuc, inquit, ordirer, dum [1097A] adhuc praemeditarer, dum adhuc per meditationem quaererem quid facere debuissem, et necdum plene potuissem invenire, misit manum suam et succidit me. Nondum, inquit, aliquid texeram, necdum bonum agere inchoaveram, non licuit mihi ordinatae vitae telam incipere; quia, cum adhuc ordirer, succidit me. Fateor quidem, jam bona facere proposueram, jam quomodo fieri possent disponebam, et jam telam meam ex magna parte orditus eram; sed, dum adhuc ordirer, succidit me, et non potui propositi mei telam, non dicam pertexere, sed nec inchoare. Quantus, quaeso, vir iste fuit qui de se tam humiliter sentit, qui sibi nec boni saltem primordia arrogat, cum adhuc ordiri se credat? Nonne ille tibi adhuc ordiri videtur telam quam cum multis texerat, [1097B] qui diligenter quaesivit ut inveniret, et videret quid esset utile filiis hominum, quo facto opus est sub sole, numero dierum vitae suae? Nonne et sibi ipsi videtur adhuc ordiri, non texere, qui diu studuerat cognoscere rationem quam adhuc quaerit anima sua, nec potuit invenire? *Ecce hoc inveni,* dixit Ecclesiastes, *unum et alterum, ut invenirem rationem quam adhuc quaerit anima mea, et non invenit [n: (Eccle. VII)]*. Quid boni, quid, quaeso, magni, homo iste crederet se fecisse qui fatetur se quaesisse, nec tamen invenisse, quo facto opus esse sub sole numero dierum vitae suae? Constat quia intelligentiae suae arcam ante faciem suam praemiserat, qui quo per desiderium, vel actum sequi deberet quaerebat. [1097C] Sed reputat, ut arbitror, desideriorum suorum turbam quasi otio jam stare, qui rationem quam quaerebat fatetur se nondum invenisse. An adhuc audire desideras apertius hominem vix sibi boni exordia ascribentem, et quasi duobus millibus cubitis tunc post arcam legentem? Audi ergo quid dicat: *Et dixi: Nunc coepi; haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*. Vix eadem aliquando, inquit, coepi, quod qui incoepisse me credidi, vix sero coepi fieri bonus de malo, justus de injusto. Qualem me inveni, talem me esse pronuntiavi, nec puduit imperfectionem meam confiteri; sed dixi: Nunc coepi; haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi. Non dicit quondam, vel extunc, sed nunc. Nec negat se modo coepisse, ne putes eum plus quam duobus millibus cubitis post arcam [1097D] remansisse. Vix cum quaedam boni exordia tandem apprehendisse se memorat, ut juxta divinae institutionis modum arcam suam se subsequi ostendat. Sed, ne quis eum vel hoc ipsum boni exordium sibi ascribere credat, audiat quid huic sententiae adnectat haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi. Non sibi sufficere potuit ut diceret haec mutatio Dei, nisi diceret haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi. Ipsum cui noluit hoc opus ascribere, maluit designare ex descriptione. Excelsum dicit qui hoc fecit, et dexteram nominavit. Ac si aperte dicat: Ille hoc fortiter fecit qui fortia potenter efficere consuevit. Erat sane in oculis ejus admirabile talem de malo ad bonum committere, qualem se meminit quandoque fuisse. Quid, quaeso, ille alius de perfectionis itinere [1098A] confecisse se credidit, qui omnes justitias suas panno menstruatae mulieris comparavit? Habemus itaque quomodo debeamus arcam nostram ante faciem nostram ad certam mensuram praemittere, ut quantumcunque properemus, nunquam audeamus de duorum millium cubitorum spatio praesumptuosa existimatione aliquid minuere, arbitrantes nos semper vix primordia perfectionis attigisse. Debemus itaque quandiu in deserto sumus, in arcae nostrae provectione, provectionis nostrae iter colligere, et quo per bonae conversationis studium sequi oporteat, alia consideratione praenosse.

## CAPUT XI. *De his quae pertinent ad meditationem vel contemplationem, et quantum valeant ad virtutis promotionem talium captus.*

[1098B]

Sed non est ejusdem facilitatis praesentis vitae ordinem disponere, et futurae gloriam aestimare, meritorum qualitatem discutere, et praemiorum aeternorum quantitatem pensare. Quae enim in terra sunt difficile aestimabimus, et quae in prospectu sunt inveniemus cum labore; quae in coelis sunt autem quis poterit investigare? Invenire itaque quae in terra sunt, difficile, investigare autem quae in coelis sunt, impossibile. Hinc est quod Apostolus monet: *Noli,* inquit, *altum sapere [n: (Rom. XI)]*. Merito ergo arca Domini nonnisi post Hebraeorum introitum in illam promissionis terram introducitur, ut quo nostra intelligentia perscrutationis suae passibus irrumpere non sinitur, divinae revelationis manuductione [1098C] intromittatur. Nec tamen negamus de futurae vitae qualitate nonnulla, imo multa et magna esse quae possumus et investigando quaerere, et ratiocinando invenire et argumentando construere. Invisibilia enim Dei a creatura mundi per ea quae facta sunt intellecta conspiciuntur. Nequaquam ergo negligenda sunt quae per investigationem inveniri possunt, sicut et illa ex nostra virtute non praesumere quae nostram intelligentiam, et humanam rationem excedunt. Illa sunt secundum rationem, ista sunt supra rationem. Illa debemus alta perscrutatione diligenter inquirere, ista debemus ex divina revelatione humiliter exspectare. Illa pertinent ad meditationem, ista ad contemplationem. [1098D] Nunquam animus ad aeternorum bonorum desiderium plene accenditur, nisi qualia vel quanta sit studiose praemeditetur. Et, sicut nunquam sine ingenti desiderio ad eorum contemplationem sublevari meretur, ita sane in aeternorum concupiscentias sine vehementi studio perfecte non inflammatur. Hinc est quod ante introitum Israel in promissum regnum, exploratores praemittuntur, et tamen nisi post turbae ingressum arca non introducitur. Quid est enim exploratores ante introitum suum praemittere, et illius terrae in quam festinamus introire qualitatem sagaci perscrutatione velle praenosse, nisi mentis suae cogitationes coelestium bonorum exploratrices in invisibilium perscrutinium dirigere, et meditationes suas in id operis destinare, [1099A] ut per investigationem inveniat unde possit affectionum suarum turbam in eorum amorem urgere? Praemittamus ergo ante faciem nostram exploratores nostros, sicut et illi Israelitae quondam praemiserunt suos, nec semel tantum, sed alios post alios secundosque post primos. Quoties de futuris bonis sperandis, seu promerendis subtiliter aliquid quaerimus, nuntios exploratores ante nos ipsos praemittimus.

## CAPUT XII. *De gemina praemeditatione, praemiorum videlicet et meritorum.*

Sed aliud est quaerere qualia, vel quanta, vel cujusmodi bona debeamus de meritorum retributione sperare, atque aliud studiose investigare quibus studiis [1099B] vel exercitiis valebimus ea viriliter obtinere. Illud est primum, istud vero secundum. Primum investigare bona speranda, secundum bona facienda. Quis enim se ad laborum certamina fortiter accingat, nisi mercedis magnitudinem ex divina retributione praenoscat? Sed quid proderit aeternam retributionem credere et desiderare, nisi pari studio quaerat quis ut agnoscat quibus meritorum studiis possit eam acquirere? Necesse est ergo nuntios post nuntios praemittere, et exploratores alios post primos dirigere. Primi nuntii sunt exploratores praemiorum, secundi nuntii sunt exploratores meritorum. Illi sunt exploratores retributionum, isti sunt exploratores operum. Sic sane sunt alii exploratores, qui mittuntur a Moyse, atque alii exploratores [1099C] illi qui mittuntur a Josue. Alii sunt quos praemittit Domini propheta, alii sunt quos praemittit Domini athleta. Aliud est officium prophetae, aliud est officium athletae. Prophetae officium est praedicere futura, athletae autem officium est praeordinare facienda. Ad illum pertinet praenosse firmiter credenda, ad istum pertinet praemeditari fortiter agenda. Illud est praescientiae, istud est providentiae. Illius est praevidere, istius est providere. Quid est enim praevidentia, nisi exploratio futurorum? Et quid est providentia, nisi exploratio faciendorum? Habemus itaque duo genera exploratorum; utrumque negotiosum, utrumque necessarium. Primum videtur ad Moysen pertinere, secundum vero ad [1099D] Josue. Juxta hanc itaque similitudinem cogitatuum nostrorum, alii debent esse futurorum praevisores, alii faciendorum provisores, utrique quidem occultorum exploratores, et ignotorum perscrutatores. Vultis audire hominem de futuris praemeditantem, juxta similitudinem Moysi, exploratores ante faciem suam praemittentem? *Meditatus sum,* inquit, *nocte cum corde meo. Nunquid in aeternum projiciet Deus, et non apponet, ut complacitior sit adhuc? aut in finem misericordiam suam abscindet a generatione in generationem? aut obliviscetur misereri Deus? aut continebit in ira sua misericordias suas? [n: (Psal. LXXVI.)]* Vultis audire hominem de faciendis providentem, et ad Josue similitudinem exploratores ante se destinantem? *Quid,* inquit, *retribuam Domino, pro omnibus [1100A] quae retribuit mihi? [n: (Psal. CXV.)]* Vultis audire unum de subtilibus exploratoribus, quid explorando invenerit, vel quid ad illam primam Prophetae quaestionem ex sententia responderit? *Absterget,* inquit, *Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis sanctorum, et jam non erit amplius neque luctus, neque clamor, sed nec ullus dolor, quoniam priora transierunt [n: (Apoc. XXI)]*. Ecce quam propitium Deum in futuro iste praevidit de quo David quaerit, an aliquando complacitior sit. Sed ad secundam, ut arbitror, explorationem respicit, quod alias invenit, unde et dicit: *Bonum est confiteri Domino, et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime [n: (Psal. XCI)]*. Ad primos itaque exploratores pertinet negligentibus animis justa persuadere, ad secundos autem promptos animos et ad omnia paratos ad [1100B] agenda instruere. Attende ergo cujusmodi nuntia exploratores boni de regionibus illis reportare soleant, vel quantum ad erigendos animos valeant haec ipsa quae reportant, et stude alia quaerere, et renuntiare, ut et tu valeas in similium concupiscentias audientium animos erigere, vox exploratoris est: *Oportet corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem, et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem [n: (I Cor. XV)]*. Vox exploratoris est: *Fulgebunt justi, et tanquam scintillae in arundineto discurrent, judicabunt nationes, et regnabunt in aeternum [n: (Sap. III)]*. Vox exploratoris est: *Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuae, Domine, quam abscondisti timentibus te! [n: (Psal. XXX.)]* Nunquidnam putandus est iste explorator egregius terram illam lacte et melle manantem non intrasse, diligenterque [1100C] visam perlustrasse, cum intraturis in illam audet tam audacter promittere? *Inebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae, et torrente voluptatis tuae potabis eos [n: (Psal. XXXV)]*. Nonne in his verbis in illam exploratorum sententiam concurrere videtur, ubi dicitur: *Intravimus,* inquiunt, *in terram ad quam misisti nos, quae vere fluit lacte et melle, ut ex his fructibus cognosci potest [n: (Num. XIII)]*.

## CAPUT XIII. *Quomodo speculationi praemiorum oportet vehementius insistere.*

Oportet, ut arbitror, huic explorationi quam aliae vehementius incumbere, et primae quam secundae meditationi frequentius insistere, eo quod facilius sit discernere justa quam persuadere laboriosa. [1100D] Hinc esse, arbitror, quod filii Israel in prima legatione mittunt plures, in secunda autem exploratione mittuntur pauciores. Et merito sane. Siquidem in prima perscrutatione, ut dictum est, fit exploratio praemiorum, in secunda autem exploratione fit perscrutatio meritorum. Sed incomparabiliter majora sunt futurae beatitudinis praemia, quam possint esse qualiacunque merita nostra. Non sunt enim condignae passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis. Multi ergo sunt qui mittuntur primo, pauci autem qui mittuntur secundo. Merito multi mittuntur, ubi multa quaeruntur, et ad pauca quaerenda pauci diriguntur. Illic duodecim, hic duos invenimus. Illic senarius, hic geminatur [1101A] unus. Unitas a qua senarius inchoat, inchoationem recte designat, sicut et senarius pro sua perfectione, perfectionem designare constat. Quod ergo ibi quaeritur est ad perfectionem, non ad inchoationem; quod autem hic invenitur, videtur esse ad inchoationem, non autem ad perfectionem. Ibi perfectio nostrae glorificationis, sed hic est, nonnisi quaedam inchoatio nostrae justificationis. In illa glorificatione erit exinanitio omnium malorum et plenitudo omnium bonorum. Sed in hac nostra justificatione, nec est plena exterminatio vitiorum, nec perfecta consummatio virtutum. Ibi plena securitas, perfecta jucunditas. Hic nec plena puritas, nec perfecta integritas. Ibi plena securitas, ubi nullum malum timetur. Ibi perfecta jucunditas, ubi omne bonum possidetur. [1101B] Hic nec plena puritas, ubi vitium reluctatur; hic nec perfecta integritas, ubi infirmitas dominatur. Ibi ergo ex gemina perfectione securitatis et jucunditatis una beatitudo consummatur, ut senarius duplicetur et duodenarius perficiatur; hic ex gemina imperfectione puritatis, et integritatis nostra justificatio inchoat, ut ex geminatione unitatis in duodenarii consummationem uterque senarius perfectionis suae exordium capiat. Recte ergo in illa legatione duodecim exploratores mittuntur, ubi geminae perfectionis beatitudo per investigationem quaeritur. Recte duo in ea delegatione diriguntur, ubi perfectae justificationis vix quaedam exordia inveniuntur. Denique duodecim sunt, si bene memini, qui mittuntur in prima exploratione, et duodecim [1101C] sunt quae jubentur explorare. Sed et duo sunt, qui in secunda exploratione mittuntur, et duo sunt quae perscrutari praecipiuntur. Multa sunt quae de prima exploratione dici possunt; sed haec ut digne explicentur proprium syntasma requirunt.

## CAPUT XIV. *Quod speculatio meritorum in duobus constat.*

Sed ut de secunda latius aliquid dicamus, sufficit in ista exploratione illa sufficienter quaerere quae ad illam propheticam admonitionem possint sufficere: *Declina a malo, et fac bonum [n: (Psal. XXXVI)]*. Sufficit, inquam, solerter providere, quam caute mala caveamus, quam discrete bona perficiamus. Alia est praemeditatio in cavendis malis, alia praemeditatio in [1101D] complendis bonis. Sed licet utraque sit alia, nulla tamen debet esse sine altera. Simul eant, simul currant, sibique invicem succurrant, et sine adjutorio alterutro negotium suum nunquam plene expleant. Hi sunt, ut arbitror, exploratores duo provida cautela a malo, provida solertia in bono, quos debemus ante faciem nostram praemittere, et profectuum nostrorum itinera praetentare: *Ite,* ait Josue, *et considerate terram et urbem Jericho [n: (Josue II)]*. Considerate, inquit, terram regionumque qualitatem, diligenter inquirite locorum opportunitatem, ut praenoscamus quo in loco opportunius possimus castra figere, ubi necessitatis articulo expediat declinare, unde oporteat quotidianis usibus necessaria petere. Considerate ergo et inquirite quaeque utilia, quaeque [1102A] opportuna et usibus necessaria. Considerate autem non solum bona, sed et mala, commoda et incommoda, munimenta et pericula. Considerate ergo terram et urbem Jericho. Considerate urbem, munitionum firmitatem, hostiumque multitudinem, ut scire possimus quomodo oporteat obsidionem ordinare, qualiter oppugnare, contra quales bellum agere. Inspicite ergo terram et urbem. Inspicite terram quam Deus fecit, et urbem quam humana inventio instituit. Discutite bonum quod Deus creavit ad bonum nostrum, et malum quod homo invenit in malum suum. Considerate terram et urbem, naturam et consuetudinem. Distinguite bonum creationis et malum corruptionis, bonum conditionis et malum consuetudinis. Si naturae bonum cognoscimus, [1102B] scimus quid excolere, quid nutrire, quid multiplicare debeamus. Si morum nostrorum malum perspicimus, quos hostes cavere, quos adversarios oppugnare, quales inimicos interficere oporteat non dubitamus. Ecce quales exploratores debemus ante ingressum nostrum praemittere, ut sciamus contra quae mala cavenda, et ad quae bona agenda debeamus vigilare. Qui tales exploratores ante faciem suam praemittit, errorum devia minime formidabit.

## CAPUT XV. *Quid sit meditationis, et quid sit contemplationis.*

Sed ille virtutum exercitus secure incedit, sibique de viae certitudine nihil diffidit, quem exploratorum [1102C] sagacitas instruit. et arcae ordinata antecessio in suo itinere dirigit. Parum nobis sit ante Hebraeorum turbam exploratores dirigere; faciamus et arcam nostram post exploratorum vestigia faciem nostram praecedere. Primum est faciendorum rationem meditationum nostrarum exploratione perquirere et invenire, et postea tandem oportet in contemplationem adducere, ut possimus notam, et promptam, et familiarem habere. Contemplatio pertinet ad arcae evectionem, sicut meditatio ad explorationem. Aliud est contemplationis, aliud est meditationis. Meditationis est perscrutari occulta, contemplationis est admirari perspicua. Siquidem meditatio est occultae veritatis studiosa investigatio. Contemplatio est perspicuae veritatis jucunda admiratio. Quae autem occulta sunt, [1102D] solent ad manifestationem prodire, modo ex propria meditatione, modo ex divina revelatione. Ubi ergo revelationis gratiam praesentem habemus, meditationis officio non egemus. Ubi autem divina revelatio defuerit, mens humana, nec mirum, ad meditationis studium ex necessitate recurrit, et quasi ad exploratorum officia refugit. Sed quidquid mens humana de morum instructione poterit meditationum exploratione cognoscere, debet iterum in contemplationem adducere, et in eorum certitudinem et desiderium animum roborare. Sed cum meditationis adinventio in contemplationem adducitur, quid aliud quam via prius explorata ad arcae evectionem repetitur, ut virtutum turma absque deviationis [1103A] suspicione secure subsequatur? Per meditationem itaque agitur, ut quidquid utiliter fieri debeat non ignoretur. Sed et contemplatio illud efficere solet, ut adinventa veritas memoriae tenacius inhaereat, et desiderium acrius inflammet. Per meditationem [1104A] ergo ad bonum instruimur, et per contemplationem in bono solidamur. Haec est ratio, ut arbitror, cur debeamus profectuum nostrorum viam, et meditationis exploratione, et intellectualis arcae processione praetentare.

## TRACTATUS TERTIUS. *Hucusque de boni promotione, abhinc de ejusdem confirmatione.*

## CAPUT PRIMUM.

[1103A]

Libet et illud considerare quid sit quod Dominus jubet de Jordanis medio, de loco ubi steterunt sacerdotum [1103B] pedes, lapides colligere, et in loco castrorum ponere, et alios undecunque collectos in priori loco reponere. Quaeramus ergo quis ille sit locus, quo sacerdotum pedes tempore faciendi miraculi subsistunt, vel quo itidem loco post celebratum miraculum castra figenda sunt. Quis dubitet supra humanam virtutem esse Jordanem retroire, et aquarum congeriem in unam molem consurgere? Quis, quaeso, nisi mente excidat, tam stupendum miraculum de sua virtute praesumat? Ubi ergo debet animus sub tantae rei exspectatione spem suam figere, nisi in fiducia divinae magnificentiae? Tutus stationis locus et magnae securitatis, praesumptio de adjutorio divinae pietatis. Sed est alius locus loco huic valde dissimilis, subreptio videlicet diffidentiae et desperationis. [1103C] Locus sane horridus, plenus timoris, plenus sollicitudinis, et qualem denique decet castris munire, vallo cingere, excubiis circumdare, eo quod non sit tutum propter imminentia pericula in ulteriora procedere. Illum primum tempore divinae visitationis, istum autem tempore probationis incurrimus. Solet enim divinae pietatis dispensatio hominem cum sua visitatione confortare, et iterum vario tentationum genere probare: *Visitas,* inquit Job, *eum diluculo, et subito probas illum [n: (Job VII)]*. Ecce duos locos assignavimus, unum confidentiae, alterum diffidentiae; unum quo solent divina miracula contingere, alterum quo oportet castra figere. Qui confidunt in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem, assument [1103D] pennas ut aquilae, current et non deficient. Nonne totum supra hominem est fortitudinem mutare, juxta aquilae similitudinem volare, currere et non deficere? Sed hoc tamen soli ipsi possunt qui de Domini pietate, non de sua fortitudine praesumunt. Sic Petrus super undas currere potuit quandiu confidentiae locum spei pede tenuit [n: (Matth. XIV)]. Sed postquam coepit hunc suae securitatis locum deserere, non potuit eum unda in superioribus suis amplius librare. Vides quomodo ventus validus superveniens de loco confidentiae ad locum eum diffidentiae dejecit, eo quod Dominus juxta morem suum visitasset eum diluculo, et subito probasset illum. Sic filii Israel post factum visumque miraculum, venerunt ad locum castrorum.

## CAPUT II. *De confirmatione mentis in bono et obduratione mentis in malo.*

[1104A]

[1104B]Assignavimus differentiam locorum, videamus et duo genera lapidum. Puto esse unum genus lapidum bonorum, puto esse et aliud malorum lapidum. Ad lapides bonos pertinet quaelibet mentis confirmatio in bono; ad lapides autem malos, quaelibet mentis obduratio in malo. Quid tibi videtur? Soliditas, stabilitas, firmitas, gravitas et multa in hunc modum, nonne tibi videntur quamdam in se lapidum similitudinem trahere, et pro similitudinis jure sibi tale nomen juste vindicare? Quid dicimus de cordis duritia, tenacia vel obstinatia? quid de asperitate, austeritate et crudelitate? Nonne sibi lapidis nomen defendunt quae in se lapidum similitudinem trahunt? Sed priores illi pertinent ad lapides bonos, sicut et isti posteriores ad lapides malos. [1104C] Sed puto non esse ejusdem facilitatis bonos vel malos lapides invenire, eo quod difficilius sit bonos lapides quam malorum copiam reperire. Omne enim pretiosum rarum. Boni ergo colliguntur de medio Jordanis, mali autem de quibuscunque locis. De illis Scriptura, ubi eos quaerere vel invenire oporteat, manifeste designat; de his autem adinventionis locum determinare quasi superfluum judicat.

## CAPUT III. *De malo praesumptionis seu desperationis.*

Sed illud videtur mirum magnaque admiratione dignum quod jubemur bonos lapides de bono loco collectos in malo loco reponere, malos autem lapides [1104D] undecunque collectos in bono loco aggregare. Locus bonus praesumptio confidentiae, locus malus desperatio diffidentiae. Sed tamen debemus in loco confidentiae congregare lapides malos, et in loco diffidentiae congregare lapides bonos. In die bonorum ne immemor sis malorum, et congregasti lapides malos in loco bono, et in die malorum ne immemor sis bonorum, et congregasti lapides bonos in loco malo. Quid enim est lapides bonos de medio Jordanis (de loco videlicet facti prodigii) colligere, nisi statum mentis qualis tempore divinae visitationis fuerit diligenter retractare, et cujus firmitatis secundum unamquamque virtutem exstiterit subtiliter investigare, memoriaeque commendando quasi quemdam testimonii tumulum erigere? Sed nunquam talium lapidum [1105A] copiam habemus, nisi prius divinae visitationis et inspirationis gratiam acceperimus. Testatur hoc qui dicit: *Sine me nihil potestis facere [n: (Joan. XV)]*; ergo nec lapides bonos est uspiam colligere nisi ex ejus operatione. Sed malorum lapidum innumeram multitudinem facile invenimus, quos ex tota vita nostra copiose et ad manum colligimus. Quid ergo opus fuit horum locum designare, quos ubertim possumus undecunque congregare? Cogitet ergo quisque cujus duritiei, cujus obstinationis fuerit, quoties eum divina gratia deseruit, sibique ipsi reliquit: et hoc faciens malorum lapidum tumulum erexit. In hunc itaque modum possumus tumulos erigere, et diversos e diverso constituere, hinc unum de lapidibus bonis, illinc alium de lapidibus malis. Bonorum lapidum [1105B] sibi congeriem instituit, qui dixit: *In aeternum non obliviscar justificationes tuas, quia in ipsis vivificasti me [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. Malorum lapidum tumulum erexerat, cum dicebat: *Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, et peccatum meum contra me est semper [n: (Psal. L)]*.

## CAPUT IV. *Quomodo ex malorum nostrorum recordatione oporteat praesumptionem reprimere.*

Sic et tu cum locum confidentiae teipsum tenere praesenseris, et meritis tuis altiora praesumere perspexeris, memento statim quid aliquando fueris, et ad malorum lapidum congeriem oculos reflectens teipsum in humilitate custodis. Bonum est sane [1105C] praesumere, non de tua tamen fortitudine, sed de Domini pietate. Ad hoc malorum lapidum in loco bono congregatio cuique valeat, ut per malorum suorum memoriam nunquam de suis viribus praesumat. Ut ergo discat unusquisque praesumere, non de seipso, sed de Domino, semper sibi in praesumptionis loco occurrat malorum suorum recordatio: illa sane praesumptionis fiducia Dominum placat, et magnalia impetrat, quam humilitas commendat. Qui confidunt in Domino sicut mons Sion. Sic econtrario abominabilis est illa praesumptionum fiducia quam generat superbia. Non enim salvatur rex per multam virtutem suam, et gigas non salvabitur in multitudine virtutis suae. Maledictus ergo homo qui confidit in homine, et ponit carnem brachium [1105D] suum: erit enim sicut myricae in deserto, et non saturabitur cum venerit aestas, quam utilis ergo, putamus, erit in hujusmodi loco illa quam praescripsimus malorum lapidum congregatio, vitiorumque recordatio, quae nos poterit custodire ab hoc exsecrabili superbiae typo, et protegere ab hujusmodi maledicto.

## CAPUT V. *Quomodo ex bonorum nostrorum recordatione oporteat desperationem repellere.*

Sic sane periculo imminente, tentatione superveniente, cum praesenseris animum tuum desperatione tangi, et ad diffidentiae locum dejici, et ad praefinitum castrorum locum devolvi, debes bonorum lapidum tumulum praesentem habere, et ad virtutum [1106A] praeteritarum memoriam oculos reflectere, et ex earum recordatione spei tuae fiduciam reformare. Sic Job rebus nudatus, filiis viduatus, ulcere percussus, cum se in loco castrorum deprehensum cerneret, et desperationis malo se pulsari praesentiret, ut diffidentiae malum temperaret, ad bonorum lapidum acervum recurrit, et ex bonorum recordatione castra sua undique munit, et desperationis insultus fortiter repellit, cum dicit: *Oculus fui caeco, et pes claudo; pater eram pauperum, et causam quam nesciebam diligenter investigabam. Conterebam molas iniqui, et dentibus illius auferebam praedam [n: (Job XXIX)]*. Sic et Ezechias sub necessitatis articulo ad hujusmodi lapidum munimina recurrebat, cum de vita diffideret, et ex bonorum actuum [1106B] suorum repraesentatione, Domini misericordiam provocabat, precumque suarum obtentu, diffidentiae pericula propulsabat: *Memento,* inquit, *Domine, quomodo ambulaverim coram te in veritate et corde perfecto, et quod bonum est in oculis tuis fecerim [n: (IV Reg. XX)]*. Debemus itaque et nos promptum et familiare haberi sub omni tempore tentationis, anteactorum bonorum memoriam praesentem tenere et cum hanc consuetudinem in continuum usum duxerimus, quasi lapides bonos, et juxta divinum documentum electos in loco castrorum collocavimus. Nihil enim aliud est electos lapides in unum locum congregare, nisi divinae confirmationis et corroborationis qualitates diligenter retractare, memoriaeque [1106C] commendare, et nihil aliud est eos in loco castrorum fixisse, nisi hujusmodi memoriam in omni tentationis articulo firmiter assuevisse.

## CAPUT VI. *De duodceim principalibus virtutibus in quibus solidandus est animus.*

Hos autem de medio Jordanis alveo per Dei virtutem siccato, et ad numerum duodecim tribuum colligimus, quando statum mentis nostrae, qualis sub divinae visitationis tempore fuerit, diligenter discutimus, et quales tunc temporis in unaquaque principalium virtutum, juxta aliquid fuerimus, subtiliter exquirimus. Hoc est enim singulos de singulis tribubus homines suum lapidem tollere, quantae firmitatis, juxta aliquid ad singulas virtutes per [1106D] aspirationis gratiam aliquando exstiterit, veraciter invenisse. Quid autem de duodecim filiis Jacob sentiamus, ex quibus originem trahunt hae duodecim tribus, alio loco jam diximus. Per Ruben et Simeonem intelligimus timorem et compunctionem; per Levi, spem; per Judam, charitatem; per Issachar, jucunditatem; per Zabulon, severitatem; in Gad intelligitur abstinentia; in Aser, patientia; in Dan et Nephtalim, circumspectio et speculatio; in Joseph et Benjamin, discretio et invisibilium contemplatio. Horum autem rationem hoc loco ostendere jam volumus, de quibus quod nobis rectius videbatur alias jam diximus. Sed qui ex tali sobole semen suum in duodecim tribubus multiplicatum esse confidit discat quales lapides de medio Jordanis tollere debuerit, [1107A] cum hanc virtutum progeniem usque ad ejus transitum promoverit. Recolat ergo quid roboris, quid fortitudinis vel firmitatis ad divinae aspirationis afflatum se senserit hausisse, hoc est et lapides electos de loco determinato tulisse. Sed ut per singulos de singulis tribubus homines haec lapidum electio fiat, hanc considerationis suae operam per singulas quas distinximus virtutes exerceat, et lapidum suorum numerum usque in duodenarium extendat. Cogitet ergo quisquis cupit post Jordanis conversionem hoc Dominicum praeceptum implere; cogitet, inquam, sub tempore divinae visitationis cujus vigoris fuerit juxta aliquid in unaqualibet virtute. Cogitet quanta soliditas tunc temporis ei fuerit in timore, quanta gravitas in compunctione, [1107B] quanta stabilitas in spe, quanta integritas in charitate, quanta maturitas in jucunditate, quanta asperitas in severitate. Cogitet quam austerus fuerit in abstinentia, quam robustus in patientia, quam sollicitus in circumspectione, quam assiduus in speculatione, quam certus in discretione, quam quietus in contemplatione. Cum autem haec omnia plene perspexerit memoriaeque mandaverit, tumulum qualem oportuit erexit. Infiniti negotii esset, et quod nemo omnino explere potuisset, si juberet Dominus omnes de omnibus tribubus lapidem suum tollere, eo quod nemo sufficeret seipsum digne pensare, qualis sit ad omnia, non dicam in omni, sed una solummodo qualibet virtute. Sufficit ergo unum [1107C] aliquod praeclarum et insigne aestus sui desiderium per omnes has quas determinavimus virtutes segregare, talisque memoriae usum firmare et in ejusmodi recordatione sub omni diffidentiae periculo contra desperationis malum pugnare. Facile enim animum suum quantumlibet dejectum, quantalibet tentatione pulsatum, ad spem divinae miserationis statumque confidentiae reparat: qui qualis aliquando ex divina operatione fuerit, ad memoriam revocat. Omnino et absque dubio libenter se exercet in tali studio, cui datum est nosse quid valeat, vel quod utilis sit haec hujusmodi lapidum studiosa collectio.

## CAPUT VII. *De soliditate timoris.*

[1107D]Quam utilem, quaeso, putamus illum lapidem quem primo loco posuimus, soliditatem videlicet timoris per quem mens fundatur in solido humilitatis. Quantum autem valeat Dominica illa sententia probat, quae dicit: *Super quem requiescet Spiritus meus, nisi super humilem, et quietum, et trementem sermones meos? [n: (Isa. LVI.)]* Hic est lapis offensionis et petra scandali, nisi forte dubites hunc esse lapidem quem reprobaverunt aedificantes, et factus est in caput anguli. Superbae etenim mentes, et suam justitiam statuere volentes, nil solent molestius pati, nihil amplius indignari quam apparere despecti et viles videri.

## CAPUT VIII. *De gravitate compunctionis.*

[1108A]

Sed et secundum lapidem, qui dictus est gravitas compunctionis, apud Jeremiam puto posse reperiri, qui petivit capiti suo aquas ut lugeat interfectos populi sui [n: (Jer. V)], et datum ei non dubito ab eo qui convertit petram in stagna aquarum et rupes in fontem aquarum. Hanc eamdem petram apud Petrum puto inveniri posse, eo quod tactus dolore cordis intrinsecus egressus sit foras, et flevit amare, percutiens bis silicem, et egressae sunt aquae largissimae, et factum est irriguum superius, et irriguum inferius.

## CAPUT IX. *De spei longanimitate.*

[1108B]Tertiam petram, quae est longanimitas spei, apud Job non dubito posse reperiri, de qua sibi fundebat rivos olei, unde et lenibat dolores corporis sui. Sperabat enim usque ad mane inter tot damna, dolorumque vulnera, nunquam exhaustus oleo spei suae, nusquam diffidens de unctione divinae misericordiae: *Etiamsi occiderit me,* inquiens, *in ipso sperabo [n: (Job XIII)]*.

## CAPUT X. *De charitatis integritate.*

Quartam itidem apud Petrum petram invenio, cui dictum esse non dubitamus a Domino: *Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam [n: (Matth. XVI)]*, eo quod diligeret Christum Domini ex [1108C] toto corde suo, et ex tota anima sua, et ex tota mente sua, veraciter agnoscens quod ipse esset Christus Filius Dei vivi. Ubi, obsecro, invenitur charitatis integritas si eam apud Petrum non reperias, qui coram cordium inspectore audet profiteri et dicere: *Domine, tu scis quia amo te? [n: (Joan. XXI.)]*

## CAPUT XI. *De maturitate jucunditatis.*

Quintam autem petram apud populum illum esse dubitare quis audeat, quem Propheta Domini inter caetera prophetiae dogmata beatificat? *Beatus,* inquit, *populus qui scit jubilationem [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII)]*. Beatos utique esse quis neget, quos Dominus cibavit adipe frumenti, et de petra melle saturavit eos: jucunditatem etenim et exsultationem thesaurizavit [1108D] super eos. Animadvertis, ut arbitror, quale sit etiam hunc lapidem inter caeteros possidere, qui fluit jucunditatis melle, et satiat intrantem in gaudium Domini sui interna dulcedine. Quale, quaeso, erit quoties opportunum fuerit de petra melle saturari, et de torrente voluptatis in via bibere et inebriari? Hic est quintus ille, ut dictum est, lapis, qui dictus est maturitas jucunditatis. Nil ergo levitatis habeat, nil ei caducum, nil carnale sapiat, ad magnam autem maturitatis gravitatem animum componat, qui solum hoc esurit et sitit, quod de hoc lapide manat.

## CAPUT XII. *De asperitate severitatis.*

Sed ille, ut arbitror, dimicabat in lapide sexto, [1109A] cui dictum est a Domino: *Ecce dedi faciem tuam valentiorem faciebus eorum, et frontem tuam duriorem frontibus eorum, ut adamantem et ut silicem dedi faciem tuam [n: (Ezech. III)]*. Conterebat ergo Jeremias exasperantem domum Israel in adamante et silice, eo quod esset attrita fronte et duro corde, stansque in porta domus Domini, annuntiabat eis scelera eorum, verba eorum non timens, nec vultus eorum. Hunc lapidem tenet in manibus rex ille fortis et potens in praelio, in quo dejectus est fortis armatus, et vir bellicosus ab adolescentia sua. Praevaluit enim David in Philisthaeum in funda et lapide in nomine Domini. Vides certe qualibus armis ille adolescentulus et contemptus et statura pusillus dejecerit Goliam gigantem immanissimum, eo quod [1109B] doctus esset a Domino doctas habere manns ad praelium et digitos suos ad bellum. Habebat sane arma non carnalia, sed potentia a Deo ad destructionem munitionum, et erat in eis pugnans et destruens omnem altitudinem extollentem se adversus scientiam Dei, et in captivitatem redigens omnem intellectum in obsequium Christi. Super omnes enim docentes se intellexit, et idcirco fiducialiter annuntiavit justitiam Domini in Ecclesia magna, sicut et ipse de seipso de praeterito perhibuit, et de futuro promittit: *Annuntiavi,* inquit, *justitiam tuam in Ecclesia magna, ecce labia mea non prohibebo: Domine, tu scisti [n: (Psal. XXXIX)]*. In promptu itaque habes ulcisci omnem inobedientiam, arguebat elatos, corripiebat inquietos, et in asperrimae increpationis lapide et correptionis [1109C] asperitate dejiciebat veritatis adversarios. Et cum esset vir mitissimus in populo suo et mansuetissimus: *Memento,* inquiens, *Domine, David, et omnis mansuetudinis ejus [n: (Psal. CXXXI)]*; cum esset, inquam, tantae mansuetudinis, nihilominus tamen in matutino interficiebat omnes peccatores terrae, ut disperderet de civitate Domini omnes operantes iniquitatem.

## CAPUT XIII. *De austeritate abstinentiae.*

Septimum lapidem diximus esse austeritatem abstinentiae. In hac petra pater Samson obtulit Domino holocaustum, et obtinuit gignere de sterili virum fortissimum virorum, ad ignominiam gentium, [1109D] et gloriam plebis suae Israel [n: (Judic. XIII)]. Puduit sane eum tandem aliquandiu pavisse sterilem, et quae non parit, et ulterius noluit, sicut nec debuit, debitor esse carnis, ut secundum carnem viveret, sed castigans corpus suum, et in servitutem redigens, haedinasque carnes in abstinentiae petra immolans, jusque carnium cum carnibus ipsis accepto coelitus igne consumens, fluxasque corporis restringens noluit de caetero ire post concupiscentias suas. Sicque, impetu carnis edomito, impetum spiritus roboravit, qui carnis infirmitate fit fortior.

## CAPUT XIV. *De robore patientiae.*

Post hos lapides sequitur robur patientiae: quem [1110A] lapidem me recolo octavo loco annumerasse. Ecce lapis fortissimus, omniumque durissimus. Hunc lapidem tenet in manibus coelestis militiae signifer ille protomartyr Stephanus, et factus est ei turris fortitudinis a facie inimici. In hoc lapide lapidum se prementium sustinuit fortiter ictus, nec timuit lapidantium manus, nec eorum impetum, qui stridebant dentibus in eum [n: (Act. VII)]. O lapis fortis et durus, sed dulcedine plenus! O pectus robustissimum, sed pietate plenum! Miraris quilibet audis quomodo in patientia sua possedit animam suam, sed mirari potius debuisses quomodo animus sub tanta persecutionis amaritudine non amiserit dulcedinem suam. Ab inimicis premebatur, et pro inimicis precabatur. Sustinebat saevitiam humanam, et [1110B] suspiciebat gloriam divinam: *Ecce,* inquit, *video coelos apertos, et Jesum stantem a dextris virtutis Dei [n: (ibid.)]*. In terris premebatur, et de coelis consolabatur. Affligebatur ex illata miseria, afficiebatur ex inolita misericordia, gratulabatur ex inspecta gloria. Ecce sub uno eodemque tempore videbat inferius unde compateretur, videbat superius unde jucundaretur. Ecce quomodo de eodem pectore manabat pietas cum jucunditate, jucunditas cum pietate. Ecce quomodo de eodem vase manat oleum cum melle, oleum pietatis cum melle jucunditatis. Quae, quaeso, est ista in lapide isto olei et mellis impermista confusio et inconfusa permistio? Miror si non miraris quomodo pugnator fortis sub uno eodemque momento sugebat mel de petra oleumque de saxo durissimo. [1110C] Mira virtus patientiae, et quis digne penset pretium hujus petrae, quae in tanta copia distillat oleum cum melle? Quanta, quaeso, olei et mellis copia inesse deprehenditur, ubi misericordia nulla malitia minuitur, ubi dulcedo nullo dolore attenuatur? Imo mirum in modum crescit ex dolore delectatio, et ex passione compassio. Martyr sane cum lapidaretur, magis miserebatur inimicis suis quam membris suis. Positis enim genibus orabat, dicens: *Domine, ne statuas illis hoc peccatum, quia nesciunt quid faciunt [n: (ibid.)]*. Ecce quoad positionem genuum effusum est oleum, et de caetero velut oleum effusum factum est nomen suum. Siquidem ad miserationem inimici facta est effusio olei, intantum ut [1110D] adolescens, qui eminus sedebat, respersus sit ex odore unguenti. Incurvato namque corpore et inclinato capite, coepit oleum effluere, et factum est sicut unguentum in capite, et descendit in oram vestimenti ejus qui vestimenta servabat. Velociter ergo surgens, qui diu sederat in tenebrosis et in umbra mortis coepit currere in odorem unguentorum, exsultansque ut gigas ad currendam viam suam, quocunque erat impetus Spiritus, illic gradiebatur, et de caetero factus est Christi bonus odor omni loco.

## CAPUT XV. *De sollicitudine circumspectionis.*

Nonam petram invenio apud Ezechiam, invenio eam et apud amici sponsam, sponsique amicam, cui [1111A] dicitur in Canticis: *Surge, amica mea, speciosa mea, et veni, columba mea, in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae [n: (Cant. II)]*. Sic et Ezechias ad sponsae similitudinem quietem eligens, secretumque captans, sedensque in foraminibus petrae, seu etiam caverna maceriae, sicut pullus hirundinis, sic clamabat, meditabatur ut columba: O quis mihi dabit pennas sicut columbae, et volabo, et requiescam, si forte possim evolare in id loci, ubi passer invenit sibi domum, et turtur nidum ubi reponat pullos suos! Ubi, quaeso, quidquam tuti reperietur, si in foraminibus hujusmodi petrae non invenietur, ubi studiosa praemeditatio quaecunque pericula, antequam eveniant, praevidet, et ventura praeveniens, ex praeteritis futura colligit, et de dubiis rebus non dubios [1111B] eventus saepe praenoscit? Quid enim est aliud circumspectio, nisi circumstantium malorum sollicita sagaxque perscrutatio? Ad hanc pertinet praeteritorum malorum retractatio, praesentium consideratio, futurorum praemeditatio, ut secundum nomen suum veraciter sit circumspectio. Hujus assiduitas hominem cautum efficit, et quantum possibile est, tutum reddit.

## CAPUT XVI. *De assiduitate speculationis.*

Decimus lapis dictus est assiduitas speculationis. Jacob declinans a malo, dansque locum irae, dum peregre proficiscitur festinans, ne fuga sua fieret hieme aut Sabbato, hunc lapidem in itinere invenit, [1111C] inventumque capiti suo supposuit, ne non haberet ubi caput suum reclinaret, dum in via obdormiret [n: (Gen. XXVIII)]. In hoc lapide in pace, in idipsum obdormit et requiescit, et in itinere requiem invenit, quam nec in cubiculis stratisque purpureis invenire possunt qui mollibus vestiuntur, et in domibus regum sunt. Reclinato itaque capite, Jacob in hoc lapide, clausisque oculis concupiscentiae (quos apertos legimus in primo parente), dum in hoc reclinatorio alta quiete sopitur, dum exteriorum omnium libenter obliviscitur, animus ejus ad interiora evigilat, videtque quae prius vigilans et videns videre non poterat. Scala usque in coelum porrecta, ante ejus oculos erigitur, Dominusque innixus scalae conspicitur, ut per invisibilem formam, invisibiliumque figuram, [1111D] in intellectibilium intelligentiam, speculantis animus sublevetur. Felix cui visibilium scientia fit scala ad invisibilia cognoscenda. Pulchrum spectaculum videre hujus scalae scalaria modo congruo, proportionabiliterque locata, et usque in summum ordinatae distinctionis continuatione producta, ut per multiplicem creaturarum differentiam, dignitatumque degradationem ordinate distinctam, distincteque ordinatam, paulatim se animus ad superiora promoveat, provectionisque gradibus semper ad altiora conscendat, donec invisibilia Dei a creatura mundi, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciantur, et Dominus innixus scalae videatur. Quis, quaeso, hoc, nisi in hoc reclinatorio dormiens videret, quis hoc evigilans efficeret, ut ascensionis suae [1112A] scalam usque in coelum protenderet, et visibilium speculationi speculationem invisibilium continuaret? Quid quod in hoc ascensionis tramite angelicae occursionis alludium sponte se ingerit, ut humanae investigationi divina revelatio occurrat? Itaque videntur angeli in hac scala nunc ascendere, nunc vero descendere, et nunc ad summa, nunc ad ima animum erudire, ut in divinis et humanis multa, quae per seipsum non poterat, ex divina revelatione cognoscat. Et possent quidem angeli sine scalae ministerio pro desiderii sui arbitrio, sive in ima descendere, sive ad summa evolare, nec opus esset divinae inspirationi in ulla revelationum suarum manifestatione ullius corporeae similitudinis instrumentum quaerere, nisi vellet nos primo per [1112B] speculum, et in aenigmate, et non statim facie ad faciem videre. Ascendunt itaque angeli in hac similitudinum scala atque descendunt, atque alii post alios modo accedunt, modo discedunt, ut dum multiplicium revelationum alia ingeritur, alia subtrahitur, speculantis animus multiformiter illuminetur, ut quae simul pro intelligentiae suae exiguitate capere non poterat, succedenter et per morarum intervalla sigillatim intelligat. Ecce quid inveniunt, qui in hoc lapide obdormiunt. Felices quibus vertitur in scalam, quod aliis solet esse in ruinam. Felices quibus exteriorum scientia fit scala ascensionis, non ruina dejectionis. Felices quibus scientia illa quae inflat, non est ad inflationem, sed ad inflammationem ejus quae aedificat. Felices quibus temporalium pulchritudo fit [1112C] aeternitatis instigatio. Oportet ergo, ut animadvertis, caput in lapide reclinare, et in hujus speculationis desiderio animum obdurare, et huic studio pertinaciter insistere, qui cupit hanc ascensionis scalam invenire.

## CAPUT XVII. *De certitudine discretionis.*

Certitudinem discretionis undecimum lapidem diximus, quam si diligenter quaerimus, citius apud Paulum invenimus. Tantum siquidem de discretionis dono confidit, tantum de consilii sui certitudine praesumit, ut fidenter consilium det, ubi Dominicum praeceptum non habet: *De virginibus,* inquit, *praeceptum Domini non habeo, consilium autem do (I [1112D] Cor. VII)*. Hinc est quod aliis seipsum in exemplum conversationis proponit, et vitam suam vivendi formam sequacibus ostendit, cum dicit: *Imitatores mei estote, sicut et ego Christi [n: (I Cor. XL)]*. Et recte sane eo quod statuerit Dominus supra petram pedes suos, et direxit gressus suos. Hujusmodi, ut arbitror, lapidibus viatorum illorum via strata erat, de quibus Propheta pro admiratione exclamat: *Quam speciosi pedes evangelizantium pacem, evangelizantium bona! [n: (Rom. X.)]* His, ni fallor, lapidibus magnus ille patriarcha Joseph, quem princeps populorum constituit dominum domus suae, et principem omnis possessionis suae, ut erudiret principes ejus sicut semetipsum, et senes ejus prudentiam doceret. His, inquam, lapidibus plateas Aegypti [1113A] recte creditur stravisse, intantum ut non haberent filii Israel necesse servire in luto et latere omnibus diebus vitae suae. Horum adhuc lapidum penuriam Propheta sustinebat, et sub magna discretionis inopia laborabat, cum adhuc fixus esset in limo profundi, eo quod nondum sibi constaret rati certitudo consilii, intantum ut Domino proclamaret et diceret: *Quandiu ponam consilia in anima mea? [n: (Psal. XVIII.)]* Sed de hoc limi profundo nunquam plene emersisset, nisi hanc, de qua loquimur, petram tandem aliquando invenisset: *In petra,* inquit, *exaltavit, me, et nunc exaltavit caput meum super inimicos meos [n: (Psal. XXVI)]*. Qui de hoc genere lapidum viam sibi non sternit, nunquam munde incedit, nunquam stabiles gressus figit. Qui vult [1113B] ergo firmiter et honeste incedere, debet nil omnino inconsulte agere, et quali debuit lapide constat sibi viam stravisse, et potest secure incedere. Omnia, inquit Sapiens, fac cum consilio, et nunquam poenitebis [n: (Eccle. XXXII)].

## CAPUT XVIII. *De quiete contemplationis.*

Lapidem duodecimum, omniumque novissimum invenire possumus, ut arbitror, apud Dominicum sepulcrum. Dictus est, ut superius est dictum, lapis is tranquillitas contemplationis. De hoc genere lapidum Joseph ille ab Arimathaea sepulcra sibi incidit, sed Jesus in eo mortuus quievit, quia quietem quam prudentia sibi per meditationem quaerit, et per diffinitionem describit, sapientia per contemplationem [1113C] invenit, et per experimentum apprehendit. Semper vera prudentia quaerit, et semper quaerere debet illam quam Christus docuit pacem, ut non turbetur neque formidet. Semper studet ubi talem pacem inveniat, semper nititur ut veram sibi securitatem defendat, sed semper invenit quod de praeterito doleat, quod in praesenti oppugnet, quod in futurum caveat atque pertimescat. Potest ergo animus hanc pacem per prudentiam solerter quaerere, et per meditationem subtiliter investigare, nunquam eam tamen nisi per sapientiam et contemplationis gratiam poterit invenire. Sed, cum coeperit animus per puram intelligentiam semetipsum excedere, et in illam incorporeae lucis claritatem [1113D] totus intrare, et in his quae in intimis videt quemdam intimae suavitatis saporem trahere, et ex eo intelligentiam suam condire, et in sapientiam vertere, intantum in hoc mentis excessu pax illa quae neque turbatur, neque formidat, invenitur atque obtinetur ut fiat silentium in coelo quasi hora dimidia, ita ut contemplantis animus nulla altercantium cogitationum tumultuatione turbetur: nihil omnino invenies, vel quod per desiderium petat, vel per fastidium arguat, vel per odium accuset. Ad summam itaque pacem componitur, qui in hoc lapide sepelitur, qui intra contemplationis tranquillitatem totus colligitur atque concluditur. Neque enim lapis iste sicut ille Jacob soli capiti supponitur, neque sicut ille posterior pedibus substernitur, sed toto [1114A] corpori coaptatur atque applicatur. Hic itaque lapis totum corpus ambit, totum includit, et ab omni parte comprehendit, eo quod pax illa, quae omnem sensum exsuperat, omnem sensum humanum funditus absorbeat, et in divinum quemdam habitum puriorem animae partem felici transfiguratione convertat. Jacet hic corpus sine sensu et motu in hoc Dominico monumento; nihil sensualitas, nihil agit imaginatio, et omnis inferior vis animae proprio interim induitur officio.

Non enim hoc lapideum monumentum (sicut saxeum illud patriarchae Jacob reclinatorium) suscipit corpus vivum, quamvis sopitum, nec recipit corpus nisi mortificatum. Aliud dormire, aliud est obire. Aliud spiritum suum totum in seipsum colligere, [1114B] et aliud est supra se levare et seipsum deserere. Aliud est appetitum coercuisse, exteriorumque curam cordi excidisse atque aliud est ipsum sibi in oblivionem venire. Oportet ergo antequam introire liceat in illud intimae quietis secretum et summae tranquillitatis arcanum; oportet, inquam, ut fiat illa valde gravis et vere mirabilis, non dissolutio animae et corporis, sed alia hac multo mirabilior multoque gloriosior, illa denique, cujus ista est typus, divisio videlicet animae et spiritus. Hanc autem operari in nobis solet sicut testatur Apostolus, vivus ille Dei sermo et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti, et pertingens usque ad divisionem animae et spiritus. Quid, quaeso, uspiam creaturarum hac divisione mirabilius cernitur, ubi [1114C] id quod essentialiter unum est atque individuum in seipsum scinditur, et quod simplex in se et sine partibus constat a seipso dividitur atque separatur? Neque enim in homine uno alia essentia est ejus spiritus, atque alia ejus est anima, sed prorsus una eademque simplicisque naturae substantia. Non enim in hoc gemino vocabulo gemina substantia intelligitur; sed, cum ad distinctionem ponitur gemina vis ejusdem essentiae, una superior per spiritum, alia inferior per animam designatur. In hac itaque divisione, anima et quod animale est in imo remanet; spiritus autem et quod spirituale est ad summa evolat. Quod corpulentum atque feculentum quasi corpus emortuum deficit, et recidit in se [1114D] et sub seipsum; quod subtile et defaecatum est quasi spiritus efflatus ascendit, et transcendit intra, et ultra semetipsum. O alta quies, o sublimis requies, ubi omne quod humanitus moveri solet motum omnem amittit, ubi omnis qui tunc est motus divinitus fit, et in Deum transit! Hic ille Spiritus efflatus, et in manus Patris commendatus non, ut ille somniator Jacob, scala indiget, ut ad tertium, ne dicam ad primum, coelum evolet. Quid, quaeso, scala indigeat, quem Pater inter manus bajulat, ut ad tertii coeli secreta rapiat, intantum ut glorietur, et dicat: *Dextera tua suscepit me. Tenuisti manum dexteram meam, et in voluntate tua deduxisti me, et cum gloria suscepisti me? [n: (Psal. XVII.)]* Non ergo opus hic habet Spiritus [1115A] ille de medio sublatus officio scalae, nec eget in illa subtilitatis suae ascensione sustentari alicujus corporeae similitudinis adumbratione, ubi videt facie ad faciem, non per speculum, et in aenigmate. Mentior si ipsi de seipsis non idem asserunt qui ejusmodi sunt: *Nos autem omnes,* inquiunt, *revelata facie, gloriam Domini speculantes, in eamdem imaginem transformamur a claritate in claritatem, tanquam a Domini Spiritu [n: (II Cor. III)]*. Vides certe quid agat, et intelligis, ut arbitror, quid valeat illa divisio animae et spiritus, de qua superius jam diximus. Spiritus ab infimis dividitur ut ad summa sublimetur. Spiritus ab anima scinditur ut Domino uniatur. Qui enim adhaeret Domino, unus spiritus est. Felix divisio, et exspectabilis separatio, ubi quod [1115B] passibile, quod corruptibile dignoscitur, suis interim passionibus moritur, usque adeo ut nihil passibilitatis, nihil corruptibilitatis interim sentiatur; ubi et illud quod spirituale, quod subtile, usque ad speculationem divinae gloriae sublimatur, et in eamdem imaginem transformatur. Pars igitur inferior componitur ad summam pacem et tranquillitatem, pars autem superior sublimatur ad gloriam et jucunditatem. Sic faciem Moysi (superiorem sane corporis partem) a consortio Domini glorificatam agnovimus, ita ut non possent filii Israel intendere vultum ejus propter claritatem ipsius. Quis, quaeso, digne dicere, quis explicare sufficiat quid perfectionis in excessus sui glorificatione spiritus acquirat, [1115C] quamvis peregrinationis suae protelationem usque in diem tertium non extendat, etiamsi silentii moram usque ad dimidiam horam non producat, [1116A] licet eat et redeat in similitudinem fulguris coruscantis? Sic Moyses de consortio divini colloquii, cum clarificato vultu etiam cornua reportat, ostendens quid virtutis, quid fortitudinis de ejus contubernio contraxerit, qui dat virtutem et fortitudinem plebi suae benedictus Deus. Redit ergo tandem, et revertitur ad se spiritus ille qui longe excesserat supra se, et quod passibile et corruptibile posuerat, quasi impassibile et incorruptibile ad prioris status comparationem resumit, et in novitatem vitae resurgit. Quid tibi videtur ad illatam injuriam hilarescere, ad objectam contumeliam non erubescere, de tribulatione gaudere? nonne hoc est in novitate vitae ambulare, et secundum aliquem modum seipsum impassibilem ostendere, et suis passionibus [1116B] non subjacere? Ecce quousque proficiunt qui in hoc lapide requiescunt. Multa sunt quae de hac materia dici potuissent, si hoc loco dici debuissent et moderatae digressionis mensuram non excederent. Puto enim hoc novissimum genus lapidum omnium esse dignissimum atque pretiosissimum. Nullum tamen debemus spernere, sed singulos saltem de singulis quaerere, et in unum congregare.

Notandum sane hoc esse primum opus, quod in terra promissionis fieri praecipitur, ut divinorum operum aeternum memoriale primo omnium constituatur. Sine hoc enim lapidum cumulo, Dominica illa aeternae haereditatis promissio nunquam fortiter acquiritur, nunquam secure possidetur. Qui enim beneficiorum [1116C] divinitus perceptorum obliviscitur, ad majora obtinenda promoveri non meretur.

english:
## THE FIRST TREATISE.

## CHAPTER ONE.

[1073C]

*What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled; and thou, O Jordan, that thou art turned back? [n: (Psal. CXIII.)]* This utterance of the Prophet is an exclamation, with wonder; and the wonder is with exultation. For he was seeing a certain divine miracle; and not one only, but a twofold one, each great, each wondrous, each exceedingly astounding. He saw the sea flee before the face of Israel; he saw the Jordan bend the rush of its course back toward its spring; he saw both give way to the Hebrew people and leave a free road to those setting out. Which of these is not new, which of these is not wondrous? He contemplated each thus, and marvelled at each, and rejoiced over each. He cries out, therefore, in the voice of exultation and of confession: [1073D] What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled: and thou, O Jordan, that thou art turned back? The first miracle happens at Israel's going out from Egypt, but the second happens at Israel's going out from the desert. Who at length will one day grant me perfectly to forsake the region of unlikeness: who could grant me to enter into the land of promise, so that I might be able to see alike the flight of the sea and the turning back of the Jordan? A fair spectacle it is, and pleasant enough, to see the water of the sea fleeing, to see the water of the Jordan returning, the bitter withdraw, the sweet flow back, bitterness fail, sweetness [1074C] overflow. Whoever thou art that seest these things, I should wonder if thou too didst not cry out: *What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled; and thou, O Jordan, that thou art turned back?* Miracles of this kind are never wont to happen except before true Jews, except before good Hebrews.

## CHAPTER II. *On the twofold confession, and the twofold advancement.*

Confession makes the Jew, passage makes the Hebrew. For "Jew" is interpreted *confessing,* "Hebrew" *passing over.* And there is a true confession, and there is a feigned confession. Likewise there is a good passage and there is a bad passage. True confession makes a true Jew, and a good passage makes a good Hebrew. To ascribe to thyself thy evils, to ascribe to thy God thy goods — that is true confession, right confession. The former is of crime, the latter of praise; each of them indeed [1074D] useful, each praiseworthy. Likewise the passage is double; each of them indeed good, each necessary. He who passes from evil to good passes well indeed; and he who passes from good to best, he too makes a good passage. Know, therefore, and confess thy evils, and do not remain in them; but pass beyond them, and the first passage is made, and the first confession. Likewise confess to God concerning thy goods, praise him for his goods, and do not grow sluggish in them: but strive as much as thou canst toward better things, and pass over to the best, and the second passage is made, and the second confession. [1075A] At the first confession the first miracle is wont to happen, and at the second confession the second miracle is wont to happen. For through the confession of crime the flight of the sea is brought about, and at the confession of praise the Jordan is straightway turned back.

## CHAPTER III. *How the confession of crime avails for the extermination of evil.*

For all things are washed in confession: the conscience is cleansed, bitterness is taken away, the sea is put to flight, tranquillity returns, hope revives, in spirits it grows glad. For blessed are they that mourn, since they shall be comforted. What is it to mourn, to be made sorrowful, but to be driven by the storms of the sea? And what is the joy of consolation but the flight of the sea and the absenting of grief? Hear [1075B] the Jew confessing his crimes, and mark the water of the sea fleeing before him: *I said,* he says, *I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my sin [n: (Psal. XXXI)]*. He was confessing his iniquity, and the sea was being put to flight, because his impiety was being forgiven. For impiety is a sea, since it cannot make sweet water; but its water is exceedingly salt and very bitter, and its bitterness is a most bitter bitterness. What sweetness, I ask, has envy? What sweet taste, I beseech thee, has wrath; what pleasantness has impatience? Waters of this kind, as I judge, are every one of them bitter, and they make a sea, because they can taste good to none at all, can please no one. Dost thou see, then, what manner of thing this great sea is, and wide of hands, which can [1075C] be called the sea of malice. For there is also another which can be called the sea of misery, having indeed itself water by no means sweet, yet less bitter. But happy is he who has dominion from sea to sea, so that he lies under no fault, succumbs to no penalty, to such a degree that all iniquity may not have dominion over him, nor any adversity oppress him. Happy the man before whose face the sea flees malice withdraws, misery gives way, the conscience grows glad. Can it be that one who is such is unable to sing confidently? What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled? If therefore thou also wilt, make of thyself a Jew of good profession; confess from thy heart thy sin, that thou too mayest be able to see such a spectacle, so great a miracle, and mayest not hesitate to sing a hymn of this kind. [1075D] What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled?

## CHAPTER IV. *How the confession of praise avails for the advancement of good.*

But now let us consider this, how at the confession of praise the turning back of the Jordan is wont to happen. But this, as I judge, we learn better by working than by disputing; this we prove more quickly by experiencing than by speaking. In short, do thou also busy thyself to confess, to marvel at, to venerate God's power, God's wisdom, God's mercy; and be assured that the more thou shalt praise, the more ardently shalt thou love. Let it not irk thee, then, to praise the divine grace much, that thou mayest love much; to love much, that thou mayest desire much. For the more vehemently thou shalt desire, the more quickly wilt thou obtain [1076A] what thou greatly covetest. Love what before thou didst despise, despise what before thou didst love, and be secure, for the Jordan is turned back. Love God, scorn the world, and I will truly acknowledge that the Jordan is turned back. What manner of turning back of the Jordan is this, I ask: how wonderful, how praiseworthy, how lovable — that the whole rush of love, the whole inundation of love, the whole affluence of delight should run with great haste not downward but upward, should seek the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth; so that thou mayest truly profess that the Jordan is turned back! This, as I judge, was the reason why it neither irked the Prophet nor shamed him to become a Jew: because he had truly acknowledged that *It is good to confess to the Lord, and [1076B] to sing to thy name, O Most High [n: (Psal. XCI)]*. Hence that firm profession and devout promise: *I will confess to the Lord exceedingly with my mouth, and in the midst of many I will praise him [n: (Psal. CVIII)]*. Did he not will himself to be a Jew, when he said: *Praise the Lord, O my soul? [n: (Psal. CXLV.)]* Did he not forbid the water of the Jordan to flow downward, when he admonished his own soul with a coaxing address? *Hope in God, for I will still confess to him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God [n: (Psal. XLII)]*. Did he not desire the streams of the Jordan to be turned back, when he said: *Turn, O my soul, into thy rest, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee [n: (Psal. CXIV)]*. I should wonder if thou wilt hear this and not thyself seek to become a Jew, and to confess to the Lord, since he is good, since his mercy endureth unto the age, and to be found worthy — one to whom the Lord may deign [1076C] to show so great a miracle, that thou mayest sing with the Prophet: for the Jordan is turned back.

## CHAPTER V. *That the first advancement of virtue lies in contempt of the world.*

But let not even that, I ask, be enough for thee, when thou hast become a Jew, unless thou be made likewise a Hebrew also. Assuredly the Hebrews themselves are the very same as the Jews, although Jews on one account and Hebrews on another. For confession, as has been said, makes the Jew, and passage makes the Hebrew. In short, do thou thyself also, if thou art in Egypt, pass over and forsake Egypt, and thou hast made a Hebrew of good hope, and thou wilt see in the flight of the sea that great and astounding miracle. But if thou shalt take pains to pass over the desert itself as well, thou wilt see things yet greater [1076D] than these in the turning back of the Jordan. The first passage, then, is out of Egypt, the second out of the desert. First pass from the world to thyself, second from thyself into God, Thou hast loved the world, scorn the world, and pass over. Forsake the cares of this world, and take care of thyself, and thou beginnest to be a dweller of the wilderness. Returning from the darkness of Egypt, from worldly errors, to the more secret places of the heart, thou wilt find nothing else but a place of horror and of vast solitude. For this is that land desert, pathless, and waterless — the conscience, namely, long neglected, wholly untilled, beset with thorns and thistles, and full of every horror. Thou must therefore forsake Egypt and seek a wilderness of this kind, if thou desirest to behold with thine own eyes the flight of the sea, as David also went far off in flight and abode in the solitude; fulfil, [1077A] O transgressor, what is enjoined upon transgressors, where it is said: *Return, ye transgressors, to the heart [n: (Isai. XLVI)]*, and the first passage is made, and henceforth thou art rightly called a Hebrew.

## CHAPTER VI. *That the second advancement of virtue lies in contempt of self.*

Return, therefore, to thyself, and with all keeping keep thy heart. But woe to thee if thou remainest there. Do not remain, but pass over, going on, and passing through into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God. Pass over, then, thyself also; go on into thy God; seek and lay hold of the highest good. Hear her who cries aloud in the streets; hearken to the voice of Wisdom, admonishing us to this second passage: *Pass over to me,* she says, *all ye that covet me (Eccle. [1077B] XXIV)*. Forsake the world, and Israel's passage out of Egypt is made. Despise thyself, and Israel's passage out of the desert is made. The first passage, then, contempt of the world makes; the second passage contempt of self brings about. At the first passage the sea is put to flight. At the second passage the Jordan is turned back. The flight of the sea is the extermination of bitterness. The turning back of the Jordan is the reordering of charity.

## CHAPTER VII. *How through contempt of the world the extermination of evil comes about.*

Wouldst thou hear more openly, know more fully how at the first passage of the Hebrews, in what manner at contempt of the world, the flight of the sea, the extermination of bitterness, comes about. [1077C] Straightway and without doubt, as soon as thou hast forsaken Egypt, as soon as thou hast cast the whole world behind thee: the cause of fear perishes, the cause of grief, the root of bitterness (for cupidity is the root of all evils). For when thou shalt be able fully to escape the world, when thou shalt have begun to covet none of its prosperities, to dread none of its adversities, what will there then be that could disturb thy mind? What, I ask, do we more rightly understand by the flight of the sea than to be wearied by no perturbations? In short, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, and the sea, fleeing before our face, has gone away and withdrawn. I think that the sea will be no more when God shall wipe away every tear from the eyes of the saints, when there shall be no more mourning, nor crying, nor any grief at all, since [1077D] the former things are passed away. For what are fear and trembling and sorrow, but waters of the sea exceedingly bitter, and wholly devoid of all sweetness? The Prophet came into the depth of a sea of this kind, unless I am mistaken, when he said: *Fear and trembling came upon me [n: (Psal. LIV)]*. And that other word: *Tribulation and anguish have found me [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. A sea of this kind they meet with, as many as forsake Egypt, seek the desert, covet the land of promise. For we must pass through many tribulations into the kingdom of God.

## CHAPTER VIII. *That contrition of spirit is now for a help, now for the support of good.*

A sea of this kind some have before them, but others behind them. Those, however, who have it before them — to them it is for a hindrance; [1078A] those who have it beside them, to them it is for a help; those who have it behind them, to them it is for a support. And so the Israelites, forsaking Egypt, wishing to enter the desert, and sighing after the land of promise, first had the sea before them for a hindrance to their setting out; afterward they had it beside them for a help of defense, when it was to them for a wall on the right hand and on the left; at last they had it behind them for a support of security, their enemies having been drowned or shut off by it. Before us are things to come, beside us things present, behind us things past. The sea before us is the fear of dangers to come. The sea beside us is the labor of the conflicts pressing upon us. The sea behind us is the grief of evils committed; the sea before us, the fear of faint-heartedness; the sea beside us, the labor [1078B] of solicitude; the sea behind us, the grief of repentance. The fear of faint-heartedness hinders; the labor of solicitude fortifies; the grief of repentance protects. One man, considering the life and the zeal of others, when he sees many — even after the vow of profession — return to their vomit and go back to the world, does not so much as dare to begin what is good: this man has the sea before him, but for a hindrance. For what is the trembling of the heart, the hesitation of the mind, but a kind of billowing, as it were, of the sea? For he who has hesitated is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. Another manfully tramples this fear, puts the billowings of the sea to flight before him, chastises the trembling of his heart, bravely prepares his spirit to endure whatever perils for the Lord, and for this part does not hesitate to sing, the sea saw [1078C] and fled — inasmuch as all useless trembling flees and departs before his face. But because he is still solicitous how he ought either to beware of negligence in good things or to avoid the stealthy approach of evils, he does indeed suffer the sea, though not before him, yet on either side, inasmuch as he must act constantly on this hand toward good things, on that hand against evils, must labor much, and be solicitous on both sides. But happy are those whom now the exercises of the virtues, the conflicts of labors, do not so much weary as delight — who, though they lament only this, that they have consumed so many seasons of their past life either in iniquity, or squandered them in vanity. He who is of this kind shows that he has the sea behind his back, like him who said: *I will recount [1078D] to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul [n: (Isa. XXXVIII)]*. But who would doubt that for men of this kind the sea has been left behind their back, for a most safe support, and for the overthrow of their enemies? For the bitterness of penitence is wont not only to blot out by satisfaction the evils committed, but it has also been accustomed to bring this about in us: that what is not lawful should not even please us to repeat.

## CHAPTER IX. *On useful and useless contrition.*

Let us consider this also: how here the water of the sea, the wave of bitterness, is to some outside the way, to others in the way. Who would doubt that this life is the way to the life to come? One man grieves for those things which belong to the present life, another for those which belong to the life to come. He who grieves for those things [1079A] which are in this life, to him the sea is in the way. He who grieves for those which are outside this life, to him the sea is beside the way. In this life, both goods and evils; in that life, either goods alone, or evils alone. And so the things which are nothing differ much from one another, and touch one another by no nearness of likeness, inasmuch as between them a great chasm has been fixed, in which no proportion of a like quality can be found. But this life lies as it were midway between those things which belong to the life to come, the goods but the evils, inasmuch as it approaches both, on this side or on that, by some likeness, since it has goods and evils mingled together. Therefore with the goods of that life, by the goods of its own (although it is joined by a shadowy likeness, as also with the evils of that life, by the evils of its own), it is allied by an imaginary affinity. Outside, therefore, [1079B] this way are those things which come after this life. Outside indeed, and beside — not only by likeness of quality, but by the cohesion of time. As soon as we forsake these, we fall into those without delay. He therefore who fears, grieves and laments for these things, pours out the wave of sorrow, the affluence of bitterness, like the water of the sea, beside the way of its own running down.

## CHAPTER X. *On the twofold compunction of the heart.*

Sorrow for us eternal ones is the sea on the right hand; sorrow for eternal evils is the sea on the left hand. Assuredly, if we are of sound mind, for both we ought to to fear [sic: *time re*], to grieve, and to abound in the bitter tears of compunction. Let us fear to lose these, let us fear to incur those, [1079C] and we have a twofold sea strongly fortifying us, and that on either side. Rightly, as I judge, the sea which meets us in the way, which hinders the journey of our setting out, which blocks the course of our progress, we strike with the rod of just severity, we terrify by consideration of the divine strictness, we remove by remembrance of the examination to come. Let all our dread, then, all our sorrow be removed from the way; and, for a useless life, for the solicitude of worldly life, let our compunction be divided into two, that by the sorrow of fear we may wash away eternal evils, and by the tears of desire may purchase eternal goods. Happy are they who pass through this twofold sea also of a double sorrow, who leave far behind their back every ambiguity and dread of what is to be expected in time to come, and pass over the whole mourning of diffidence [1079D] by the security of sure hope — would that in us too a dread and sorrow of this kind might be swallowed up by the security of a confidence coming upon us! Let a sea of this kind also flee and depart, that we too may be able to sing with the Prophet: What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled? Do we not think the sea from beside, that one had fled away, who was saying? *I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the just judge shall render to me in that day [n: (II Tim. IV)]*. I think that he had left every sea far behind his back, nor was there anything whence he then ought to have been made sorrowful and troubled, when he was saying: I am conscious to myself of nothing.

## CHAPTER XI. *On the vain or the true contempt of the world*

But what, I ask, do we say that this is: that even [1080A] today we see so many forsake Egypt who nevertheless do not deserve to behold so great a miracle in the flight of the sea? If they truly forsake Egypt, if they are true Hebrews, inasmuch as they pass over out of the world and make the first passage of the Hebrews, why do they not take experience at least of the first miracle also? Or do they perhaps leave the world by profession, but not also by manner of life — in habit, not in affection? If it behooves me to glory, I can glory for this part only. If indeed they are Hebrews, so am I. But see lest perchance it be not enough for us and for you to have changed place, not spirit: they change the world, not the spirit, who run across the sea. What good is it thus to pass over and not to make a Hebrew? Without doubt, at Israel's going out from Egypt, the flight of the sea shows how rightly each man claims for himself the dignity of this [1080B] name.

## CHAPTER XII. *How difficult it is to attain to perfect contempt of self.*

Let us pass out of Egypt in body; let us pass out also in heart. But let us not think that this can suffice us either. For a great way still remains for us, if we wish to attain to the vision of the second miracle. Far beyond doubt, it is not a matter of the same capacity, or of the same ease, to go out of Egypt and to pass through the wilderness, to leave the world and to conquer oneself and to cast oneself behind. The former is as it were a small thing, which is accomplished in a small time; the latter, after many labors, through many temptations, is scarcely at length and by few ever completed. The former is the work of a single day; the latter we scarcely fulfil after many [1080C] seasons. Hard, difficult, great it is to leave oneself, to look well into oneself and fully to scorn oneself, to approve by the perfect and utterly to disapprove. Here is the labor, here the groaning. Depraved is the heart of man and unsearchable, and who shall know it? Ye sons of men, how long will ye be heavy of heart, with stiff neck and untameable heart — and who shall conquer it?

## CHAPTER XIII. *By what means the mind is trained to full contempt of self.*

O how often it is necessary to change places, how often to pitch camp, how many temptations to endure, to prove all things, to hold what is good, to abstain from every evil appearance! O how often it is necessary to go and to return, and to forget the things that are [1080D] behind, and to stretch forward to the things before, and again, by going back behind one's own back, to take experience of oneself, and through one's own failing to be taught one's own infirmity! O how often it is necessary to fall into so many bypaths of errors, so many shadowed places of ambiguities, so many monsters of vices — to traverse them, to look upon them — before one hold the far bounds of the wilderness, and come to the uttermost of humility, and perfectly attain to the highest contempt of self! O how often it is necessary to flee to God's mercy, and, caught amid so many perils, to seek the divine mercy and to obtain grace! O how astounding the mighty works! O how delightful the miracles! O how wonderful the benefits which — in so many divine revelations, in such visitations, in such consolations — they experience, marvel at, venerate, whom [1081A] the vastness of the wilderness and the greatness of their own infirmity have taught to trust nothing of their own virtue, but to presume the whole of it from God's mercy, to cast their care upon the Lord, and to place their hope in the Lord God! There it is granted to experience, in the sweetness of the heavenly food, how great is the multitude of sweetness which God has hidden for them that love him; to taste and see how pleasant the Lord is, and how good the God of Israel is to them that are right of heart. There they who ascend into the mountain of the Lord and draw near to his feet shall receive of his doctrine, proving and professing that great is his power, and of his wisdom there is no number. And so whoever, in that land desert and waterless, has known this — thus he appeared to him in the sanctuary, that he might see his power and his glory — taking experience of that saying, [1081B] that great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised, and of his greatness there is no end. But who could enumerate how innumerable are the alternating vicissitudes of this kind — now of desolations, now of consolations — that must be experienced; how many judgments of human infirmity, how many proofs of the divine mercy it falls to the dwellers of the wilderness and the worshippers of God to see, before they reach the far bounds of the wilderness and lay hold of the bounds of perfect humility; before the wave of the Jordan give way to those who come and, turning back its course, return to its spring; and the human spirit, spurning its own things and despising itself, pass over wholly into God, and run by desire into him from whom is every best gift and every perfect boon, and turn back to [1081C] God, the living fountain, the whole rush of its love.

## CHAPTER XIV *That superfluous love of self is more hardly overcome amid the successes of the virtues.*

O happy soul, thou who art worthy — thou for whom the Lord deigns to work so great a miracle, to whom it is granted to see such a spectacle: the waters which are lower, and whatever streams of desires tend toward the depths, running down and failing, and the waters which come from above, the desires which are from on high, standing together in a single mass — so that she may truly sing: *One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life [n: (Psal. XXVI)]*. O unhappy soul, thou who delayest, who dost not hasten, who dost not greatly [1081D] pant to run and to see, to marvel and to be astounded that the streams of the Jordan first fix their course, stand in one place, and cling immovably in one desire of eternity, and thereafter utterly fail in the lower parts and little by little increase in the higher. What miracle, I beseech thee, dost thou think it, what prodigy, that the Jordan should be driven backward, and so great a rush of the river return to the upper parts — especially if it happen at the time of harvest, when it is wont to fill the banks of its channel? For when that seed which fell upon the good ground has begun to bring forth fruit of itself, one thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, another a hundredfold, then indeed the wave of the Jordan is wont to swell higher; and, as is the way of the human spirit, to esteem great things of itself, to believe itself someone great, when it has seen itself bring forth much fruit and [1082A] come to the harvest of ripeness. Then — no wonder — the greater the things it esteems of itself, by so much the greater love does it judge itself worthy of; and it is a very great thing if it does not flow out even unto the depths of superfluity, and does not overpass the bounds of just equity and the banks of usefulness. How great, then, dost thou think, how great a miracle dost thou reckon it, to grow cheap to thyself, to displease thyself more and more, and that especially at the time when thou beginnest truly to be great and to appear great to all? The waters of the Jordan are indeed wont — nor is this a wonder — at the time of icy cold, or even by the drought of summer heat, to be lessened and to shrink; and any mind, however exalted, amid the cold of malice and the excessive heats of concupiscence, to grow cheap to itself, and, however unwillingly, to acknowledge its own infirmity, and to subside not a little from its own estimation [1082B] of itself. Who, I ask, is so monstrously foolish as not sometimes to displease himself amid wickednesses and outrages? But this will be the great thing: if at the time of harvest, and amid the successes of the virtues, he can shut in the waves of the Jordan within the banks of its channel, and restrain the rush of private love within the bounds of modesty. It will be a great thing if it does not burst out to unlawful things, or flow away to useless ones. It will be a great thing if he does not even love himself except so far as is fitting, or expedient. *But the Jordan,* says the Scripture, *had filled the banks of its channel at the time of harvest [n: (Josue VIII)]*. It had filled, it says, not overpassed. It will not be harmful, then, as I think, to fill the banks, but to overpass the banks.

## CHAPTER XV. *How the spirit is to be advanced step by step to contempt of self.*

[1082C]

The first thing, then, for each man is to restrain love of self to a fixed measure, that afterward he may deserve to see that great and astounding miracle also: the Jordan, namely, first indeed fixing its course, then swelling, at last going backward and ascending to the higher places. And that first thing indeed — namely, to check excess — although great, is nevertheless not wondrous; but to bend the course back toward the mountains is a wonderful spectacle and a spectacular miracle. Altogether and beyond doubt it is one thing to temper love of self, and another to hold it back and turn it aside. Moderated love of self is one thing, and great contempt of self another. I think it was not without cause that such a miracle was celebrated nowhere but in the Jordan, [1082D] which is interpreted *their descent.* But what is that descent but the humbling of the heart? Or of whom is it "their," unless of those very ones who descend and humble themselves willingly? For those whose descent is not voluntary — it is indeed in them, but in a certain way it is not theirs, because it does not profit them. It must therefore be of their own accord, that it may profit them and may truly be called theirs. Are they thought [sic: *ereduntur*] to have descended of their own accord, or to have profited anything in this, of whom it is read: *Thou hast cast them down while they were lifted up? [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII.)]* He therefore who wishes to see that great miracle must descend from every elation of mind and be humbled by a willing will — not like those who were cast down unwillingly, to the praise of God indeed, though to no profit of their own. So then, only in the Jordan, in the descent [1083A] of them, in the descent of those who descend, in the humbling of those who humble themselves, is so renowned a deed and heavenly miracle wrought. The greater thou art, therefore, humble thyself in all things, and thou keepest the banks of the Jordan: worthy that the Jordan give way to thee, that the Lord show thee miracles.

## CHAPTER XVI. *How, when vain love has been drained away, the spirit is enlarged in the love of God.*

Wouldst thou see the waters of the Jordan fix their course and stand in one place? *But for me,* he says, *it is good to cleave to God; to put my hope in the Lord God [n: (Psal. LXXXII)]*. Wouldst thou see the lower waters run down and fail? *My soul refused to be comforted [n: (Psal. LXXXVI)]*. Wouldst thou see the upper waters swell and run upward? *As the hart longeth after the fountains [1083B] of waters, so longeth my soul after thee, O God [n: (Psal. XLI)]*. In short, do thou also not go after thy concupiscences, and thou hast fixed the waters. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: and the lower waters, which run downward, have failed. In short, delight thou in the Lord, and thou wilt see them stand fixed in one place. Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and thou wilt see the waters swell vehemently and rise up — nor is it a wonder — into a great mass. I think thou canst find nothing whereby to spread them more widely than to pour them out with the whole heart, and to stretch them through the whole soul, and out of them to fill the whole mind. O how vehemently this saving wave had swelled in the breast of him who said: *I desire to be dissolved, [1083C] and to be with Christ! [n: (Philipp. VIII.)]* To this same sense runs that which the Prophet, in singing, declared of himself: *My soul hath fainted after thy salvation [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. But what manner of inundation of waters, I ask, was that, where a father is compelled to cry out for a parricide son? *Absalom my son, my son Absalom: who would grant me that I might die for thee, Absalom my son? [n: (II Reg. XXIX.)]* I think no place could be found whither they might spread themselves more widely. For no one has greater charity than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So too that inundation swelled not a little, concerning which we have the Lord's own testimony: *Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much [n: (Luc. VII)]*. What wonder, I ask, if those things appeared from afar which had swelled much? Do you wish to know how far off appears [1083D] the inundation of that love which surged so greatly, which bowed itself even to the kissing and the anointing of the feet: *Amen I say to you, wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told in memory of her [n: (Matth. XXVI)]*. But do you wish to know yet more openly how far off they can appear, if only they have swelled after the fashion of a mountain? *In this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one toward another [n: (Joan. XIII)]*. How far off, I beseech thee, does that appear which all men must know? But it is necessary, as we have already said, that the streams of true charity swell after the fashion of a mountain, if they would appear so far off. But perhaps thou art still seeking the mountain, after whose likeness thou readest that the waters swelled. See whether perhaps it be that curdled mountain, [1084A] the fat mountain, the mountain of the house of the Lord prepared on the top of the mountains — inasmuch as the Lord has exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every thing may bend the knee, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. After the fashion of this mountain, after the likeness of that great and wonderful love by which he laid down his life for his sheep, let him know that the waters must swell who desires them to appear from afar and to fulfil the Lord's precept: *This is my precept, that you love one another, as I have loved you [n: (ibid.)]*. Hear the likeness, and apply imitation. As I have loved you, he says. The likeness of love is after the fashion of a mountain. How much did he love us, who died for our sake? Can it be that they did not hold the likeness of this mountain in their love [1084B] — they who for Christ were stoned, were cut asunder, were tempted, died in the slaying of the sword? For this reason, as I judge, their sound went out into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world: that they might appear from afar, that they might be seen by all, and that all might imitate them. But why, I ask, do we wonder if those waters appeared from afar which, as it is written: *swelled even unto Sartan? [n: (Josue III.)]* Sartan is interpreted *their tribulation.* But what else is their tribulation, according to what we have already said concerning the Jordan, but the tribulation of the tribulated? And a voluntary tribulation is each man's own. For what each man takes up patiently, or even gladly, he makes his own, because he compels it to serve his own profit. As therefore the descent is the descent of those who willingly [1084C] humble themselves, so also the tribulation is the tribulation of those who for the Lord's sake love tribulation. And so that tribulation is the tribulation of the tribulated which is reckoned to the tribulated for merit. See, then, those waters which were the upper ones — how much they had grown, how much they had swelled, which had stretched themselves even unto Sartan. O love, strong as death, thou who dost stretch thyself even unto Sartan, and dost spread thy bosom even unto voluntary tribulation? What manner of enlargement of love, I ask, is this; what manner of inundation of waters — to stretch and enlarge one's own heart even unto voluntary tribulation, unto willing suffering, unto a death that is wished for? Doubt not, then, that the upper waters have stretched themselves to that place, as often as thou seest men rejoicing in tribulation [1084D] and loving their own tribulation for the Lord's sake, as the apostles went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were held worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.

## CHAPTER XVII. *On the failing of vain love, and the progress of true love.*

Therefore the upper waters ascend even unto Sartan, and the lower waters descend even unto the sea. The former ascend and grow, the latter descend and diminish. The former grow and swell, the latter diminish and fail. A fair spectacle, that the upper waters swell about Sartan and the lower waters fail in the sea. Here give heed and be astounded. Here give heed diligently, and be astounded vehemently. Choose, among things so great and so much to be wondered at, what [1085A] thou shouldst wonder at first, what thou shouldst wonder at more: whether that waters among the mountains do not flow down but swell, or that waters out of waters do not swell but fail. *But the waters,* says the Scripture, *which were the lower ones went down into the sea of solitude, which is now called the Dead, until they wholly failed [n: (Josue III)]*. Those, then, which are lower must needs descend into the sea and fail in the sea. But we know that, however sweet the waters may be, since, when they come into the sea, they cannot keep their own sweetness. Those, then, which descend into the sea quickly grow bitter. *Let your laughter,* he says, *be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow [n: (Jac. IV)]* — that is, for sweet water to descend into the sea, and to lose its sweetness, and to turn the sweet into the bitter. Laughter indeed and joy make sweet [1085B] water, and of this kind, howsoever ardently each man thirsts, so gladly also does he drink. But mourning and sorrow cannot make water sweet, nor do men readily wish to drink of this kind. As often as laughter is turned into mourning, so often does the lower water slip into the sea and be changed into bitter. For that laughter cannot belong to the upper waters of which it was said by the mouth of Truth: Woe to you that now laugh, for you shall weep. What, then, is it for the lower waters to run down into the sea and to fail, but to draw carnal and lowest delights into grief, and to extinguish them by repenting? For he who laments and groans over a delight already committed, who shudders at one coming upon him and spits it out, who fears one to come and busies himself to avoid it — what else does he do than turn the sweet into the bitter for himself? This, then, this, [1085C] I say, is what we were wondering at above, what we wonder at still: to turn the sweet into the bitter, to bewail joy, to grieve over delight, and in this manner for the sweet to fail in the sea. Do the waters, then, swell about Sartan; do the waters, then, fail in the sea? Is it thus, O man, that thou rejoicest over tribulation? Is it thus, O man, that thou art troubled over delight? O wondrous, O astounding! In voluntary tribulation joys are heaped up; the delights that come to meet us are exterminated by a grief freely taken.

## CHAPTER XVIII. *How, through the failing of vain love, the perturbations of the mind fail.*

But what, I ask, does this mean, that it is called [1085D] the Dead Sea, in which so renowned a deed came to pass? Why, I ask, did it receive such a name? For that it did not have it before, the Scripture sufficiently intimates in this, that it says: *The sea of solitude, which is now called the Dead (Josue III)*. I think that not every sea of solitude, nor every bitterness of desolation — nay, this very sea of which we are now speaking — is by no means worthily reckoned by such a name; nor ought it be called dead, unless perchance the aforesaid miracle come to pass in it. We know that what is dead cannot move itself at all; perhaps this sea, after the wave falling into it had failed, after it no longer had a flood flowing in and driving it, fell away from its own seething, and lost those swelling and boiling storms of its own billowings. For the inflowing rushes of the Jordan, and its most rapid course, [1086A] by their most vehement gliding-in used to drive it and shake it, and did not at all suffer it to be tranquil and quiet. It went, therefore, at that time swelling and foaming and greatly boiling up, and as it were vehemently indignant at the injury of its own commotion and unrest. But after the inflowing inundation began to fail, and the cause of its commotion to perish, the sea itself also began to rest from that stormy agitation of its own, and, as though dead, to lose the motion of its former unrest, and to change its name. So indeed, so the torrent of carnal pleasure and the vehement rush of the flesh, so long as it is vigorous, is wont to be the cause of swelling and of indignation. It is wont indeed to trouble the whole conscience, to stir up waves of bitterness, and to overturn from [1086B] the bottom that deepest abyss of the human heart, and to agitate that great sea with great tempests. For the mind, fervent with heavenly desire, zealous for purity, and tending toward perfection, so long as it is compelled to feel base delights from the rush of the flesh, must needs struggle against the lowest desires, and against those that flow to the depths. Hence it is that it is angry with itself, that it is indignant with itself, that it seems to rage against itself; and I think that a perturbation and tumult of this kind, and a vehement billowing, makes the sea not dead, but living, but strong, but restless. But after the lower waters have begun to run down and to fail, and the flux of the lowest delights to grow faint and to vanish away, the conscience too begins likewise to compose itself little by little to peace and tranquillity, to lay aside more and more the dread of the judgment to come, [1086C] and to lose those seethings of past indignation and anxiety, and, after the likeness of a dead thing, to have no motion of trembling and of perturbation. In this manner, then, the outflow of carnal pleasure, drained and dried up and utterly consumed, makes the sea weak and feeble and tranquil, and such as by right ought to be called dead. Surely thou seest, as I judge, how rightly the sea changed its own name and took on the name of the dead, in which the running down of the lower waters fell away and failed.

## CHAPTER XIX. *With what caution we ought to blot out the perturbations of the heart.*

But it is to be noted how this sea must in [1086D] some respect remain, and yet in some respect be dead: for it is always necessary to repent of the evils committed, to pursue them with hatred and detestation and to shudder at them, yet not always to bewail them and tremble at them, but, after worthy satisfaction and concupiscence subdued, to receive consolation, and to reform the spirit to the hope of pardon and the quiet of security. O truly happy and greatly blessed is he to whom it is given to check the perturbations of the heart and the tempests of sadness, and to compose to tranquillity those great and wonderful liftings-up of the sea! One thing I know, nor dare I doubt it: that so long as love is scattered upon many things and drawn off to the depths, it is never brought through to full peace, never made serene unto the tranquillity of true security. O unhappy and wretched soul, [1087A] how long art thou solicitous, and troubled about very many things? further, since one thing is necessary, fix at length thy desire, love the one. Happy are the citizens of that city whose participation is in the selfsame. Let the waters that are under heaven be gathered together into one place; do not suffer them to flow downward. Or dost thou not know that he who lets his waters go is the head of quarrels? Why dost thou flow away through the lowest desires? What hast thou to do with goods that will perish, and with joys that must be bewailed? Dost thou not know that every water which runs downward descends into the sea? For all rivers enter into the sea, and every lowest delight ends in grief. For laughter shall be mingled with grief, and [1088A] mourning takes hold of the ends of joy, inasmuch as every sweet water descends into the sea and loses its sweetness: for the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof. And we know that what is possessed with love is not relinquished without grief. How much better, then, is it to savor the things that are above, to seek the things that are above, and to turn the streams of the Jordan back into their own spring, that we too may dare to take up that voice of congratulation for the use of our own confession? What ails thee, O sea, that thou hast fled; and thou, O Jordan, that thou art turned back?

## THE SECOND TREATISE. *From this place onward the zeal of contemplation is treated, and how, or how much, it avails for the reforming of true love.*

## CHAPTER ONE.

[1087B]

But neither do I think that this is to be passed over in this place: by what art, or by what industry, it can be brought about that the Jordan turn itself back of its own accord, and by a spontaneous inclination run back to its own spring. For it is one thing to know what is expedient, or what ought to be done, and another not to be ignorant how thou canst obtain what thou dost not doubt will be useful, or even necessary. Who would not despair of being able to turn the rush of so great a river toward the mountains? Who, I say, would presume that he could check that most rapid natural course of human affection, and that most vehement rush toward the depths, and bend it into the contrary direction, unless he receive an art whereby he may hope to accomplish it? In short, we have often heard, and frequently also [1087C] seen, the course of flowing water hindered, nor do we judge this impossible. For it is one thing often to check consent in necessary appetites and in natural affections, and another to change the affection and to turn the outflow of human concupiscence toward the mountains of the virtues, and, by a certain spontaneous inclination of inmost love, to rise up against custom into the concupiscences of supercelestial desires. I think it of little worth, then, to bring forward my own opinion on this, or any man's: let us learn from him who teaches man knowledge. Let us hear, then, what he sets before us for this business, or what he promises for the issue of the matter. When the priests, he says, who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord God of all the earth shall have set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters which are lower shall run down and fail; [1087D] but those which come from above shall stand together in one mass. We must therefore, as we hear, have the ark of the Lord's covenant present, if we covet that the lower waters fail and the upper rise up in one mass. O happy they who can have it present — if not always, yet nevertheless frequently — in whose presence miracles so great and so delightful come to pass. But what is that ark of the covenant, I ask, [1088B] unless perhaps that prerogative of divine gifts, the grace, namely, of contemplation? What is that gilded ark, but human intelligence made splendid by the brightness of heavenly wisdom and irradiated by the light of divine inspiration? What do we more rightly understand by that venerable shrine and repository of divine holy things than the spiritual understanding of spiritual men, which both grasps by intelligence and guards by memory the more sacred of the divine secrets and the hidden things of wisdom? But what do we say to this, that this ark is called the ark of the covenant? Can it be that he is wont to give so great a grace as a sign of love and a pledge of charity — he who loves those that love him, and makes them worthy of his love, so far that they deserve to hear from him: Now I will not call you servants, but [1088C] friends, because he has made known to you all things which I have heard from my Father? [n: (Joan. XV.)] And so this ark is not always had present, because the grace of contemplation is sometimes withdrawn even from those to whom it is granted to have it for a time. We have the ark present, then, when from inspiring grace we receive a ray of contemplation. We carry that ark with us when we diligently apply ourselves to divine contemplation, and vehemently strain [sic: *interdimus*] in the zeal of saving wisdom through investigation or review.

## CHAPTER II. *How the investigation and review of wholesome things avails to correct the spirit.*

For these, unless I am mistaken, are the bearers of our ark, [1088D] by whom it is wont either to be lifted on high or to be carried forward: namely, the investigation of things unknown and the review of things known. For without these it quickly either slips downward or is driven backward. For without review it is not kept from the lapse of forgetfulness, and without investigation it is never advanced to the progress of cognition. But the office of priests, as we all know, is wont to keep watch over the guarding of salvation and the care [1089A] of souls. Our investigation, then, and our review also, ought to attend diligently and to apply themselves unceasingly to the things of salvation, to the things that bear upon salvation, that they may claim for themselves by merit the dignity of the priesthood, and may defend the honor of the name. O how worthy priests! O how fit bearers of the ark — the investigation of things of salvation, the review of things wholesome! By the office of these priests we carry down our ark to the streams of Jordan, when through the zeal of investigation and of review we turn the eye of our contemplation to the consideration of our own desires. And so at their entering in, and at the approach of the ark, thou wilt see the course of the Jordan, and the empire of dissolution, first slacken, then stick fast, and at last go back again. Beyond doubt, the more perfectly thou shalt have inspected the outflow [1089B] of human affection, the more fully thou shalt have known it, by so much assuredly wilt thou wonder at it the more, by so much the more vehemently wilt thou detest it. Consider frequently, then, contemplate diligently the wantonness of thy heart, and the outflow of thy desires. See, then, thy love — whence and whither it runs, whither it tends by desire, or whence it withdraws by loathing — and thou wilt see how it slips from lofty things to the depths, and is drawn off from the highest to the lowest. Beyond doubt, when thou hast begun to inspect these things diligently and to understand them deeply, thou wilt likewise begin to proclaim with the Prophet: *What have I in heaven, and besides thee what have I desired upon earth? [n: (Psal. LXXII.)]*

## CHAPTER III. *That it is easier to correct the spirit than to penetrate its inmost parts.*

[1089C]

But how great a wonder do we think that worthy of, with how great delight to be embraced: that God does not wish to defer his miracle longer, nor to draw out our expectation at length, nor does he press us to descend even to the depths of the Jordan and to penetrate even to that unsearchable deep of the human heart, before he begins to fulfil his promise. Assuredly, since he himself has known our frame, he does not wish to hold us in suspense by the delay of a long waiting, truly knowing that the heart of man is depraved and unsearchable. For who could worthily comprehend it? who could suffice to unfold how great a folly it is, [1089D] how infinite a misery, of one's own accord to forsake the highest goods, greedily to seek the lowest goods, to loathe eternal joys, ardently to covet transitory ones, and for things that shall perish to lose infinite rewards and to incur eternal evils? The incomprehensibility of this consideration seems to be the reason why we are not compelled by the Lord to penetrate to this deep of immensity — lest he should seem to exact of us not merely difficult things, but even impossible ones. But what says the Scripture? *When the priests,* it says, *had entered the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, the descending waters stood still in one place, and, swelling after the fashion of a mountain, appeared from afar [n: (Josue III)]*. Dost thou observe, I beseech thee, how straightway at the first dipping of the feet the Jordan begins to check its course and to be turned backward? scarcely had they touched part [1090A] of the water, as thou hearest, and already the streams of the Jordan were turning their own rush back upon themselves.

## CHAPTER IV. *How much it avails to cleave the longer, with deep wonder, to the consideration of our own infirmity.*

But what, I ask, are those feet of the priests, at whose dipping the Jordan is turned backward? But if by the priest we rightly understand investigation, what is more rightly understood by his foot (which is the lowest part of his body) than the depth of investigation? The priest's foot, therefore, is the profundity of investigation. To set the foot in the water, then, is to penetrate hidden things by deep investigation. A foot of this sort is dipped in the water when the mind marvels at the subtlety of its own finding out, and in its own wonder [1090B] takes delight. For what is it to be dipped, but to be affected? What is it to be affected, but to contemplate, to marvel, to be delighted? And although we do not stretch the feet of our investigation all the way to the bottom of the flood, because we penetrate the wanderings of our desires only in part, yet we dip those very feet deeply, though set only in a part, being greatly astounded at what we scarcely, or only in small part, comprehend. We ought therefore, by searching out the inmost parts of the heart, to descend into the waters at least so far that we may be able fully to dip the feet of our investigation, and to turn our spirit into wonder and stupor over the consideration of our own wandering. For this very thing which we can comprehend concerning our follies and our wanderings, I think can suffice us so far that the Jordan [1090C] of its own accord checks the rush of its course, and by a spontaneous inclination runs back to the parts behind, condemning and detesting the bypaths of its former custom, of its own will restraining the lapse of its own ways, and directing them into the contrary. I think that at that time the Prophet had lifted the ark of his own intelligence over the waters of the Jordan, when he was bringing forth a general judgment, not concerning his own heart only, but concerning every human heart: *All is vanity, every man living [n: (Psal. XXXVIII)]*. He saw whither the streams of the Jordan were running, when he cried out by way of rebuke: *How long will ye love vanity and seek after lying? [n: (Psal. XIV.)]* He saw where it would end its course, and how it would fail in the sea, when he said: *Man passeth away in an image, yea and in vain [1090D] is he troubled [n: (Psal. XXXVIII)]*. He had dipped his feet deep in the water when he burst forth into this voice of wonder: *For what have I in heaven, and besides thee what have I desired upon earth? [n: (Psal. LXXVIII.)]* I think that at this dipping of the feet and this wonder of consideration the Jordan, forsaking the depths of desires, returns to the upper parts and seeks again its spring, so far that it says: *My soul refused to be comforted; I remembered God, and was delighted [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*.

## CHAPTER V. *How, after the full correction of self, the spirit is brought in to the contemplation of eternal things.*

No one, then, ought to neglect this very thing which can be comprehended from the consideration of his own corruption, nor to look upon it negligently and as it were in passing; [1091A] but straightway, at the entering in of the ark and the dipping of the feet, to fix his step and to weave delays, until the upper water grow and the lower fail, and the whole people of the Hebrews pass over. For as soon as we have begun to review and to examine our life, and to dip the feet of our searching in the water, as soon as we have felt our spirit affected and, at the consideration of itself, marvelling and growing indignant, we ought gladly to linger in this spectacle of our own wonder, until the love of inward things swell, but the love of lower things wholly fail, and the whole throng of our desires pass over, and touch and hold the land of promise by the certitude of its own hope. Then at last, as I judge, it will be time that the ark itself of our intelligence may enter the land of promise, [1091B] when it has sent on before it the people of all its vows and wills. For it is necessary first to believe, to hope for, to love, and greatly to desire the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, before it is granted us to know and to understand them, to see them face to face. *Unless,* he says, *you believe, you shall not understand [n: (Isa. VII)]*. *He that loveth me,* he says, *shall be loved by my Father, and I will manifest myself to him [n: (Joan. XIV)]*. Love, then, precedes manifestation, that manifestation may follow love. Let the throng of affections go before the ark, that the ark of contemplation may follow after the throng. The land of promise must be held first by desire rather than by understanding. I think that the Apostle had brought over the whole multitude of his thoughts and of his affections when he said: *I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ* [1091C] [n: (Philipp. I)]. For what had he left himself of the desires of this life, who did not even love life itself, by reason of his exceeding desire for Christ? Hence it is, as I judge, that he prevailed to bring the ark of his contemplation into the land flowing with milk and honey, that he might see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of his life, and might learn from the Lord's revelation that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it ascended into the heart of man. I lie, if he himself does not glory that a man of this kind was caught up even to the third heaven, and there heard secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak.

## CHAPTER VI. *That in the life to come, after the contemplation of eternal things, the spirit is loosed to every good pleasure of its own desire.*

[1091D]I think that we ourselves also, after the passage of the inward household and of so great a multitude, when we have begun to bring our ark of contemplation in thither, and to see no longer through a glass and in a riddle, but face to face — when we shall hold in act what meanwhile we hold in affection — it will then no longer be necessary for the Jordan to hold back the streams of its own channel and to check by resisting the rush of its own course. Far be it, far be it — when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality — far be it, I say, far be it, that it should still be necessary to chastise the body and to bring it into servitude, and even then to be mortified all the day long: *When the just,* Christ himself also bearing witness, *shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father [n: (Matth. XIII)]*, and the wicked man shall be taken away, that he may not see the glory of God. It will not [1092A] be said to us any more at all: Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world — when the Lord shall have made a new heaven and a new earth, according as the creature itself shall be delivered from [sic: *liberabitura*] the servitude of corruption into the liberty of the sons of God. And although the comeliness in creatures shall then be incomparably greater and more beautiful than now, and sweeter in bodily gratifications, more abundant and more delightful, there will be nothing that can lessen the concupiscences of the spirit in all these things which the bodily sense shall touch. The concupiscence of the flesh shall not know how, the concupiscence of the eyes shall not know how, to extinguish the concupiscences of the spirit, but to kindle them; not to cool them, but to inflame them more keenly. Whatever shall meet it without, whatever within, will minister nourishment to spiritual love, to divine love. Then beyond doubt [1092B] the spirit will be delighted within, and will be delighted without. It will be delighted in spiritual things, it will be delighted in bodily things, and it will go in and go out, and will find pastures. Then the waters of the Jordan will return into their own channel, and will flow as they had been wont before. The channel of the Jordan is the appetite for what is advantageous. In a channel of this kind the waters of Jordan are borne with a rush, because the desires of the heart are drawn off hither and thither according to the appetite for their own advantage. Whither dost thou think a running down of waters of this kind tends, if not into good pleasure? What, then, is it for the waters to run as they had been wont before, but to follow good pleasure and to have laid hold of it? Naturally indeed every appetite is drawn to what is advantageous, and no one is forbidden there to follow the leading of this channel in his own desire. Many things please here which nevertheless are not seemly, [1092C] and therefore ought not to be done. It is necessary, therefore, often in this life to check the rush of the waters, and manfully to break the violence of the concupiscences. Nothing there will please but what will also be lawful. It will therefore do no harm that the streams of desires flow out at will, and be drawn off to every good pleasure. The license of this liberty, as I judge, the Prophet was hoping for and sighing after when in singing he proclaimed: *Make the free offerings of my mouth well-pleasing, O Lord [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. Often, and beyond measure, the free offerings of the mouth and the good pleasures of the heart are other things. For we covet one thing with the mind, and other are the things which we approve with the mouth. Very often indeed those things are other which please by sentence, and other those which please by concupiscence. The former please from judgment, [1092D] the latter from desire. The former from definition, the latter from delight. The Prophet asks, therefore, that the very same things which are vowed may also be well-pleasing, that they may come together into one and always meet one another: the vow and the good pleasure, the sentence and the concupiscence, the judgment and the desire, the definition and the delight. Make the free offerings of my mouth well-pleasing, O Lord: that whatever pleases from discretion may please from delight, and that those things alone may please from delight which are lawful from deliberation. Let it pass over, then; let the people of the Hebrews pass over; let the ark also pass over after them into that land flowing with milk and honey, into that supernal and everlasting delightfulness, that at length it may one day see face to face what it had before sought so earnestly with much desire. Let that great troop of so many desires pass over; [1093A] let that theoric ark of intelligence pass over also into those inward and eternal joys, that then at least the Jordan may receive a free course, and every human affection may roll itself licitly and freely into every good pleasure, and the human spirit (as one cleaving firmly and immovably to the highest and spiritual goods) may find nothing of contradiction in things outward and lower. Unless I am mistaken, that wave which had swelled above will run back into its own channel with a greater rush than before, and will spread more widely, and will exceed the measure of its former limitation — inasmuch as the love of the Word and of creatures finds most abundant nourishment for a greater burning, and for this reason rushes toward all things on every side with a more fervent desire.

## CHAPTER VII. *How some, even in this life, are lifted up to the contemplation of eternal things.*

[1093B]

But that which is read concerning the passage of the ark seems to be able to be fulfilled in some manner even in this life. That apostolic testimony proves this, which we brought forward above also; and we do not doubt that he who still says such things was living in this corruptible life. *I know,* he says, *a man in Christ — whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not, God knoweth — such a one caught up even to the third heaven: and I know such a man, that he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak [n: (II Cor. XII)]*. Behold where he had brought in the ark of his contemplation, who had fixed the eye of intelligence even upon the secrets of the third heaven. But I think that not even [1093C] Paul himself would have lifted the ark as far as that place, had he not first sent thither the whole household of his desires, so far that he counted all things as dung, that he might gain Christ. Many, as I judge, possess by merit this land of promise of which we speak, who cannot bring their ark in thither after the likeness of Paul, inasmuch as they still keep back by desire, outside this land, some of that inward household of their affections. But when all this throng of the Hebrews shall have crossed the Jordan, when the ark of the covenant itself shall have been brought in after them into the land of promise, what harm, I ask, will it now do to resume its course and, after its custom, to flow back into its own channel — provided only it do not overpass the banks of fitting usefulness and of just [1093D] necessity, provided only that, following the channel of equity and of modesty, it do not flow out into the field of superfluous liberty? For what is it for the throng of the Hebrews to have crossed the channel of the Jordan, but that heavenly desires, tending toward the glory to come, have so far subdued the appetite of the flesh that it can no longer ensnare or hinder them? And indeed, before the people of the Lord pass over with the Lord's ark, lest the wave of the Jordan hinder their passage, it is necessary to restrain its running down, and to break the rush of the flesh, and often to turn the spirit away even from a necessary concupiscence. For never is human affection perfectly inflamed to the desire of eternity, never is human understanding fully sharpened to the contemplation of eternal things, unless the care of the flesh [1094A] be frequently and strongly repelled even in things lawful and very necessary. So far, then, must the body be chastised and brought into servitude, until it can no longer in any way hinder the progress of merits. But after it has let pass the throng going by and the ark accompanying it, in so far as it will not be able to stand in the way of spiritual exercises, it will be lawful for each man to follow the channel of his own advantage. Hence it is that we have often now seen many afflict the body first with wondrous abstinence, and fall into grave, nay incurable, diseases; and these same men, after concupiscence had been subdued, after grace received from God, loosen the reins of their former rigor, and indulge their body in food and drink, in [sic: *sommo*] and clothing, far more than the keeping of health would have required. For this often serves spiritual [1094B] pursuits, that a man full of grace guards or repairs the strength of the body, so far as he usefully can. Yet he who now indulges himself according to this license ought to beware lest he loose the waters too much, lest they forsake the channel of his own advantage and overpass the banks of modesty; let them flow at least as they had been wont before — those waters of which it is written that they had filled the banks of their channel. This, as I judge, they alone know how to do well who now savor the things that are above, who have now tasted the sweetness of heavenly things, who loathe earthly things, who have now brought their ark into that land of promise. No one can, as I judge, attain to the perfect summit of outward goods who has not yet deserved to feel by tasting the sweetness of inward goods. I think that unless the Prophet had first [1094C] tasted how sweet the Lord is, and how great is the multitude of the sweetness of his house — I think that unless he had learned this by experience, he could not at all have said that from his own sentence: *My soul refused to be comforted [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*. That it may not therefore always be necessary to check the course of the Jordan, we must carry our ark over into the parts beyond it; but neither is that permitted, unless we can send on before all that throng of our vows.

## CHAPTER VIII. *That we ought always, through the zeal of contemplation, to foresee whither we should tend by desire.*

Assuredly this ark ought neither to follow everywhere, nor always to be sent on before. In the place of horror and of vast solitude let it go before the throng; let it follow after the throng [1094D] as it enters into the land of promise. Let it go before toward our own things, let it follow after toward divine things. On this side of the Jordan, the things that pertain to us; beyond the Jordan, the things that are above us. Here we are bidden to examine and to approve and afterward to hold: *Prove all things,* says the Apostle, *hold that which is good [n: (I Thess. V)]*. There we are commanded to believe, that one day we may deserve also to understand: *Unless you believe,* he says, *you shall not understand [n: (Isa. VII)]*. We ought therefore, so long as we are still in the desert, so long as we make our journey through the wilderness, to send our ark on before us, and subtly to foresee whither the household of the virtues ought to tend, following after by zeal or by desire: *That you may be able,* says the Lord, *to see and to know by what way you enter, because you have not walked [1095A] by it before [n: (Josue III)]*. Hence that of the Wise Man's sentence chimes in with this, when he says: *And let thine eyelids go before thy steps [n: (Prov. IV)]*. But toward those things which are beyond the Jordan, which exceed our sense, we strive better by desire than by zeal, by affection than by understanding — inasmuch as we are bidden to send on before the throng, not the ark, and it is better in this part to desire much than to examine much, that we may deserve to be brought in thither where we cannot break in by our own strength. For he who is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory [n: (Prov. XXV)]. There, then, let it go before, that it may show the way.

## CHAPTER IX. *On the twofold imperfection, which we ought always to have before our eyes.*

But neither indeed did the divine word wish silently [1095B] to pass this over: by how great a space of the way it ought to go before the following throng. Let there be, he says, between the ark a space of two thousand cubits. Wouldst thou know what it is for the ark to be with the throng, or what it is for the ark to go before the throng? When we attend with diligent contemplation to what sort we are by our deeds or our desires, we have our ark with us and as it were present. But when we look subtly at what sort we ought to be, we send the ark of our intelligence on before our face, that we may not be ignorant whither we must tend. Who, I ask, can glory either that he does the whole of what he can usefully do, or that he can do the whole of what ought to be done, if it could be done? For as they do not will the whole of what they can, so neither can they do the whole of what they ought. [1095C] Therefore capacity reaches further than will, and necessity is far more remote than capacity. Let us therefore send our ark on before, not only as far as the consideration of our own possibility, but even as far as the speculation of necessary usefulness, that we may attend not only to what better we might do than we do, but also to what better ought to be done than we are able. He therefore sends his ark before his face, as it were a thousand cubits, who diligently attends, who frequently looks, at where he might have been by merit if he neglected nothing of what was possible to him. But he advances further, even from two thousand cubits, who contemplates not only frequently but almost unceasingly how innumerable are the things he does not do, and how innumerable also are the things he is not able to do, [1095D] which ought to be done if his own strength did not fail for the fulfilling of them. When we wish to do something strongly, we stretch out our elbow; and therefore we rightly understand by cubits the exercises of the virtues. The number a thousand is wont to signify perfection, because our reckoning has no greater number. Two thousand cubits, then, as I judge, seem to designate a twofold perfection: namely, the integrity of the will and the fullness of fortitude. But whoever cannot yet do the whole of what he ought, and does not even complete the whole of what he can, lacks both perfections. What, then, is it to send the ark of one's intelligence on before oneself as far as two thousand cubits, but prudently to foresee how much is wanting to one of the twofold perfection, neither of which can one yet [1096A] fulfil? But assuredly I will say what I feel: I think that he alone has fulfilled this precept of the Lord; him alone, I say, I reckon to have sent his ark on before by two thousand cubits, who declares of himself that he has not up to now laid hold even of the beginnings of the twofold perfection. For if he cut off even one cubit from so great a space, by walking, by approaching, by hastening, and arrogated to himself at least the first beginnings of consummate perfection, he would not have seen himself remaining two thousand cubits behind the ark. O perfect man, founded in the highest humility, who can always both make progress by hastening and hasten by making progress, and always keep this humility for himself: that he may always advance in good, and yet may always believe that he has not even the beginnings [1096B] of perfection! A great spectacle, to see the ark hasten by going before, to behold the throng quicken by following after, and yet always to keep between them the measure of so great an interval. The more the ark is advanced, by so much the more does the throng also hasten; and the more the following throng presses on, by so much the more does the preceding ark quicken its own journey. Assuredly, the better we recognize the grace of perfection, the more ardently do we also covet it; and the more we are kindled to love, the more perfectly are we enlightened unto recognition. The just man will always find how he may set it two thousand cubits ahead of himself, because in this life willing, being able, and owing can never run together into one. This belongs to the time to come, not to the present life. There [1096C] assuredly, as he will will the whole of what he justly will be able to do, so he will be able to do the whole of what he by right will owe. But here the capacity of acting surpasses the action, and the necessity of what is owed exceeds the possibility of doing. But it is agreed that the one grows out of the other: because, when our willing grows, our being able grows also; and with the increase of both, our owing grows also. For the more ardently we seek the good, the more easily we accomplish it; and the greater the things we can do, the greater also are the things we owe. After this manner the ark must always proceed to the parts before, and the following throng hasten after it. But it ought to be a small thing to thee, who hastenest to the land of promise, that thou send thy ark on before thy face, unless it go before thy journey by two thousand cubits and show thee whither thou oughtest to follow. Busy thyself, [1096D] therefore, in the consideration and contemplation of thy own perfection, to penetrate so far into the parts beyond that thou mayest truly believe that thou hast not yet attained even its first beginnings, whether by affection or by effect.

## CHAPTER X. *An example or form of the consideration proposed.*

Do you wish to hear a man picking his way two thousand cubits behind the ark, and not claiming for himself even the first beginnings of a more perfect life? *While I was yet,* he says, *laying the warp, he cut me off [n: (Isa. XXXVIII)]*. He does not say, while I was yet weaving, but, while I was yet laying the warp. What is it to lay the warp, but to premeditate; and what is it to weave, but to do? Indeed, what else is it to lay the warp of what is to be woven and to weave what has been warped, than to preordain the things to be done and to do the things preordained? While I was yet, he says, laying the warp, while [1097A] I was yet premeditating, while I was yet seeking through meditation what I ought to have done, and could not yet fully find it, he sent forth his hand and cut me off. I had not yet, he says, woven anything, I had not yet begun to do good, it was not granted me to begin the web of an ordered life; because, while I was yet laying the warp, he cut me off. I confess indeed that I had already purposed to do good things, that I was already arranging how they might be done, and that I had already warped my web in great part; but, while I was yet laying the warp, he cut me off, and I could not — I will not say weave through, but not even begin — the web of my purpose. How great, I ask, was that man who thinks so humbly of himself, who claims for himself not even the first beginnings of good, since he believes himself still to be laying the warp? Does he not seem to you to be still laying the warp of that web which he had woven with many, [1097B] who diligently sought that he might find and see what was profitable to the sons of men, what work they must needs do under the sun, in the number of the days of their life? And does he not seem even to himself to be still laying the warp and not weaving, who had long striven to know the reason which his soul still seeks, and could not find it? *Behold this I have found,* said Ecclesiastes, *one and another, that I might find the reason which my soul still seeks, and it has not found it [n: (Eccle. VII)]*. What good thing, what great thing, I ask, would that man believe himself to have done, who confesses that he sought and yet did not find what work must needs be done under the sun in the number of the days of his life? It is plain that he had sent the ark of his understanding on before his face, who was seeking whither he ought to follow by desire or by act. [1097C] But he reckons, as I judge, that the throng of his desires now stands as it were idle, who confesses that he has not yet found the reason he was seeking. Or do you still desire to hear more openly of a man who scarcely ascribes to himself the first beginnings of good, and who then, as it were, picks his way two thousand cubits behind the ark? Hear then what he says: *And I said: Now have I begun; this change is of the right hand of the Most High [n: (Psal. LXXVI)]*. Scarcely at some time, he says, did I begin these same things, in that I who believed myself to have begun scarcely and late began to become good out of evil, just out of unjust. Such as I found myself, such I declared myself to be, nor was I ashamed to confess my imperfection; but I said: Now have I begun; this change is of the right hand of the Most High. He does not say formerly, or from that time, but now. Nor does he deny that he has only now begun, lest you should think that he had remained more than two thousand cubits behind the ark. [1097D] Scarcely, when he records that he has at last laid hold of certain beginnings of good, does he show himself to be following after his ark according to the measure of the divine appointment. But, lest anyone believe that he ascribes even this very beginning of good to himself, let him hear what he joins to this saying: this change is of the right hand of the Most High. He could not be content to say, this change is of God, unless he said, this change is of the right hand of the Most High. The very one to whom he was unwilling to ascribe this work, he preferred to designate by a description. He calls him who did this the Most High, and he named the right hand. As if he said openly: He did this mightily who is accustomed to accomplish mighty things powerfully. It was indeed marvellous in his eyes to commit such a man from evil to good as he remembers himself once to have been. What, I ask, did that other man believe himself to have accomplished of the road of perfection, [1098A] who compared all his righteousnesses to the cloth of a menstruous woman? We have, therefore, how we ought to send our ark before our face to a fixed measure, so that, however much we hasten, we may never dare by presumptuous estimation to diminish anything of the space of two thousand cubits, judging that we have always scarcely attained the first beginnings of perfection. We ought therefore, so long as we are in the desert, to gather up the road of our furtherance in the furtherance of our ark, and by another consideration to know beforehand whither we must follow through zeal for a good manner of life.

## CHAPTER XI. *On those things which belong to meditation or to contemplation, and how much the grasp of such things avails for the advancement of virtue.*

[1098B]

But it is not of the same ease to arrange the order of the present life and to estimate the glory of the life to come, to examine the quality of merits and to weigh the quantity of the eternal rewards. For the things that are on earth we shall estimate with difficulty, and the things that are in view we shall find with labor; but the things that are in the heavens, who will be able to investigate? To find, therefore, the things that are on earth is difficult; but to investigate the things that are in the heavens is impossible. Hence it is that the Apostle admonishes: *Be not,* he says, *high-minded [n: (Rom. XI)]*. Rightly, therefore, is the ark of the Lord brought in only after the entrance of the Hebrews into that land of promise, so that where our understanding is not allowed to break in by the steps of its own searching out, it may be led in by the hand-leading of divine revelation [1098C]. Nor yet do we deny that there are some things — nay, many and great things — concerning the quality of the life to come which we can both seek by investigating, and find by reasoning, and construct by arguing. For the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. By no means, therefore, are those things to be neglected which can be found by investigation, just as those things which exceed our understanding and human reason are not to be presumed upon out of our own strength. The former are according to reason, the latter are above reason. The former we ought diligently to inquire into by deep searching out; the latter we ought humbly to await from divine revelation. The former belong to meditation, the latter to contemplation. [1098D] Never is the mind fully kindled to the desire of eternal goods, unless it zealously premeditate of what sort and how great they are. And just as it never deserves to be lifted up to the contemplation of them without immense desire, so indeed it is not perfectly inflamed into longings for eternal things without vehement zeal. Hence it is that before Israel's entrance into the promised kingdom scouts are sent ahead, and yet the ark is not brought in until after the entry of the throng. For what is it to send scouts ahead before one's own entrance, and to wish to know beforehand by sagacious searching out the quality of that land into which we hasten to enter, but to direct the thoughts of one's mind, as scouts of the heavenly goods, into the searching of invisible things, and to appoint one's meditations to that work, [1099A] so that by investigation one may find whereby he can urge the throng of his affections into love of them? Let us therefore send our scouts ahead before our face, just as those Israelites once sent theirs, and not once only, but some after others and second after first. As often as we subtly seek anything concerning the goods to come that are to be hoped for or to be merited, we send messengers and scouts ahead before our very selves.

## CHAPTER XII. *On the twofold premeditation, namely of rewards and of merits.*

But it is one thing to seek of what sort, or how great, or of what kind are the goods we ought to hope for from the recompense of merits, and another to investigate zealously by what pursuits [1099B] or exercises we shall be able manfully to obtain them. The former is first, the latter second. The first is to investigate the goods to be hoped for, the second the goods to be done. For who would gird himself bravely for the contests of labors, unless he knew beforehand the greatness of the wage from the divine recompense? But what will it profit to believe and to desire the eternal recompense, unless with equal zeal a man seek to know by what pursuits of merits he may acquire it? It is necessary, therefore, to send messengers ahead after messengers, and to dispatch other scouts after the first. The first messengers are the scouts of rewards, the second messengers are the scouts of merits. The former are scouts of recompenses, the latter are scouts of works. So indeed the scouts who are sent by Moses are one set, and those scouts [1099C] who are sent by Joshua another. Some are they whom the prophet of the Lord sends ahead, others they whom the athlete of the Lord sends ahead. The office of the prophet is one thing, the office of the athlete another. The office of the prophet is to foretell things to come, but the office of the athlete is to preordain the things to be done. To the one it belongs to know beforehand the things firmly to be believed; to the other it belongs to premeditate the things bravely to be done. The one is of foreknowledge, the other is of providence. It is the part of the former to foresee, of the latter to provide. For what is foresight, but the scouting of things to come? And what is providence, but the scouting of things to be done? We have, therefore, two kinds of scouts; each busy, each necessary. The first seems to belong to Moses, the second to [1099D] Joshua. According to this likeness, therefore, some of our thoughts ought to be foreseers of things to come, others providers of things to be done, both indeed scouts of hidden things and searchers-out of things unknown. Do you wish to hear a man premeditating concerning things to come, after the likeness of Moses, sending scouts ahead before his face? *I meditated,* he says, *in the night with my heart. Will God cast off for ever, and will he add no more, that he should be yet more well-pleased? or will he cut off his mercy unto the end, from generation to generation? or will God forget to show mercy? or will he in his anger shut up his mercies? [n: (Psal. LXXVI.)]* Do you wish to hear a man providing concerning things to be done, and after the likeness of Joshua appointing scouts before himself? *What,* he says, *shall I render to the Lord for all the things [1100A] that he has rendered to me? [n: (Psal. CXV.)]* Do you wish to hear one of the subtle scouts — what he found by scouting, or what he answered out of his own judgment to that first question of the Prophet? *God,* he says, *shall wipe away every tear from the eyes of the saints, and now there shall be no more mourning, nor crying, nor any sorrow at all, for the former things are passed away [n: (Apoc. XXI)]*. Behold how favorable a God this man foresaw in the time to come — he concerning whom David asks whether he will at some time be more well-pleased. But it looks, as I judge, to the second scouting, what he found elsewhere, whence also he says: *It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to thy name, O Most High [n: (Psal. XCI)]*. To the first scouts, therefore, it belongs to persuade negligent minds of what is just; but to the second, to instruct minds that are ready and prepared for all things for the things [1100B] to be done. Consider therefore what sort of tidings good scouts are wont to bring back from those regions, or how much these very things which they bring back avail to raise up minds; and strive to seek out other things and to report them, that you too may be able to raise up the minds of your hearers into longings for the like, it is the voice of a scout: *This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality [n: (I Cor. XV)]*. It is the voice of a scout: *The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds; they shall judge nations, and shall reign for ever [n: (Sap. III)]*. It is the voice of a scout: *How great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! [n: (Psal. XXX.)]* Is that excellent scout to be thought not to have entered that land flowing with milk and honey, and not diligently [1100C] to have surveyed it once seen, when he dares so boldly to promise to those who are to enter it? *They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house, and thou shalt give them to drink of the torrent of thy pleasure [n: (Psal. XXXV)]*. Does he not seem in these words to run together with that saying of the scouts, where it is said: *We entered,* they say, *into the land to which thou didst send us, which truly flows with milk and honey, as can be known from these fruits [n: (Num. XIII)]*.

## CHAPTER XIII. *How one must press more vehemently upon the speculation of rewards.*

One must, as I judge, apply oneself to this scouting more vehemently than to the other, and press upon the first meditation more frequently than upon the second, because it is easier to discern what is just than to persuade to what is laborious. [1100D] Hence it is, I judge, that the children of Israel send more men on the first mission, but on the second scouting fewer are sent. And rightly indeed. For in the first searching out, as has been said, there is made the scouting of rewards; but in the second scouting there is made the searching out of merits. But the rewards of the blessedness to come are incomparably greater than any merits of ours whatsoever can be. For the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that shall be revealed in us. Many, therefore, are they who are sent the first time, but few they who are sent the second. Rightly are many sent where many things are sought, and for few things to be sought few are dispatched. There we find twelve, here two. There the number six, here the number one is doubled [1101A]. Unity, from which the number six takes its beginning, rightly designates inception, just as the number six, by reason of its own perfection, is agreed to designate perfection. What therefore is sought there pertains to perfection, not to inception; but what is found here seems to pertain to inception, and not to perfection. There is the perfection of our glorification; but here there is only a certain inception of our justification. In that glorification there will be the emptying out of all evils and the fullness of all goods. But in this our justification there is neither a full extermination of vices nor a perfect consummation of virtues. There, full security, perfect gladness. Here, neither full purity nor perfect integrity. There is full security, where no evil is feared. There is perfect gladness, where every good is possessed. [1101B] Here there is no full purity, where vice struggles against us; here no perfect integrity, where infirmity holds sway. There, therefore, out of the twofold perfection of security and gladness one blessedness is consummated, so that the number six is doubled and the number twelve is completed; here, out of the twofold imperfection of purity and integrity, our justification takes its beginning, so that from the doubling of unity each number six may take the beginning of its own perfection unto the consummation of the number twelve. Rightly, therefore, are twelve scouts sent on that mission, where the blessedness of the twofold perfection is sought by investigation. Rightly are two dispatched on that delegation, where scarcely certain beginnings of a perfect justification are found. Finally there are twelve, if I remember well, who are sent on the first scouting, and there are twelve [1101C] things which they are bidden to scout out. But there are also two who are sent on the second scouting, and two things which they are commanded to search out. There are many things that could be said concerning the first scouting; but these, that they may be worthily set forth, require a *syntasma* of their own.

## CHAPTER XIV. *That the speculation of merits consists in two things.*

But that we may say something more at large concerning the second, it suffices in that scouting to seek sufficiently those things which can suffice for that prophetic admonition: *Turn away from evil, and do good [n: (Psal. XXXVI)]*. It suffices, I say, shrewdly to provide how cautiously we may beware of evils, how discreetly we may accomplish goods. One premeditation is in the evils to be avoided, another premeditation in [1101D] the goods to be fulfilled. But although each is other than the other, yet neither ought to be without the other. Let them go together, let them run together, and let them succor one another in turn; and without the help of the one or the other they never fully complete their business. These, as I judge, are the two scouts — provident caution against evil, provident shrewdness in good — whom we ought to send ahead before our face, and by whom we should try out beforehand the roads of our progress: *Go,* says Joshua, *and consider the land and the city of Jericho [n: (Josue II)]*. Consider, he says, the land and the quality of its regions; inquire diligently into the suitability of the places, that we may know beforehand in what place we can more suitably pitch camp, whither in a moment of necessity it may be expedient to turn aside, whence we must seek the things necessary for daily uses. Consider therefore and inquire into whatever things are useful, whatever [1102A] are suitable and necessary for our uses. But consider not only the goods, but the evils also, the advantages and the disadvantages, the fortifications and the dangers. Consider therefore the land and the city of Jericho. Consider the city, the strength of its fortifications and the multitude of its enemies, that we may be able to know how we must order the siege, in what manner to assault it, against what sort of men to wage war. Look therefore upon the land and the city. Look upon the land which God made, and the city which human invention established. Examine the good which God created for our good, and the evil which man invented to his own evil. Consider the land and the city, nature and custom. Distinguish the good of creation and the evil of corruption, the good of our making and the evil of custom. If we know the good of nature, [1102B] we know what we ought to cultivate, what to nourish, what to multiply. If we discern the evil of our own habits, we do not doubt what enemies we must beware of, what adversaries we must assault, what sort of foes we must slay. Behold what manner of scouts we ought to send ahead before our entry, that we may know against what evils to be on guard and unto what goods to be done we ought to keep watch. He who sends such scouts ahead before his face will by no means dread the byways of errors.

## CHAPTER XV. *What belongs to meditation, and what to contemplation.*

But that army of virtues advances securely, and has no diffidence about the certainty of the way, which the sagacity [1102C] of the scouts instructs. and the ordered precedence of the ark directs on its journey. Let it be too little for us to dispatch scouts before the throng of the Hebrews; let us make our ark also go before our face in the tracks of the scouts. First it is to search out and find the reason of the things to be done by the scouting of our meditations; and afterwards at last it must be brought into contemplation, that we may be able to have it known, and ready, and familiar. Contemplation belongs to the carrying forward of the ark, as meditation to the scouting. One thing belongs to contemplation, another to meditation. It is meditation's part to search out hidden things; it is contemplation's part to wonder at things clearly seen. For meditation is the zealous investigation of hidden truth. Contemplation is the glad wonder at truth clearly seen. But the things that are hidden [1102D] are wont to come forth into manifestation, now from one's own meditation, now from divine revelation. Where, therefore, we have the grace of revelation present, we do not need the office of meditation. But where divine revelation is wanting, the human mind — and no wonder — of necessity has recourse to the zeal of meditation, and takes refuge, as it were, in the offices of the scouts. But whatever the human mind can come to know concerning the instruction of morals by the scouting of meditations, it ought again to bring into contemplation, and to strengthen the mind in the certainty and the desire of those things. But when the discovery of meditation is brought into contemplation, what else is it than that the way previously scouted is retraced for the carrying forward of the ark, so that the troop of virtues may follow after securely without suspicion [1103A] of straying? By meditation, therefore, it is brought about that whatever ought profitably to be done is not unknown. But contemplation too is wont to accomplish this: that the truth discovered may cleave the more tenaciously to the memory, and the more keenly inflame desire. By meditation [1104A] therefore we are instructed unto good, and by contemplation we are made solid in good. This is the reason, as I judge, why we ought to try out beforehand the way of our progress both by the scouting of meditation and by the going forward of the intellectual ark.

## THIRD TREATISE. *Thus far concerning the advancement of good; henceforth concerning the confirmation of the same.*

## CHAPTER ONE.

[1103A]

It is pleasing to consider this also: what it is that the Lord commands — to gather stones from the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests stood [1103B], and to set them in the place of the camp, and to lay others, gathered from anywhere at all, in the former place. Let us ask, therefore, what that place is where the feet of the priests halt at the time when the miracle is to be wrought, or in what place likewise the camp is to be pitched after the miracle has been celebrated. Who would doubt that it is above human power that the Jordan should go back, and that a heap of waters should rise up into one mass? Who, I ask, unless he were out of his mind, would presume upon so stupendous a miracle from his own power? Where, then, ought the mind to fix its hope under the expectation of so great a thing, save in trust in the divine magnificence? A safe place of standing, and one of great security, is presumption upon the help of the divine mercy. But there is another place very unlike this place, namely the stealing in of diffidence and of despair. [1103C] A place indeed dreadful, full of fear, full of solicitude, and such as it befits at last to fortify with camps, to gird with a rampart, to surround with watches, because on account of impending dangers it is not safe to go forward into what lies beyond. The former we run into at the time of the divine visitation, the latter at the time of testing. For the dispensation of the divine mercy is wont to comfort a man with its visitation, and again to test him with various kinds of temptations: *Thou visitest him,* says Job, *early in the morning, and suddenly thou provest him [n: (Job VII)]*. Behold, we have assigned two places, one of confidence, the other of diffidence; the one where divine miracles are wont to come to pass, the other where the camp must be pitched. They that trust in the Lord shall change their strength, they shall take [1103D] wings as eagles, they shall run and not faint. Is it not wholly above man to change one's strength, to fly after the likeness of an eagle, to run and not faint? Yet these things they alone can do who presume upon the mercy of the Lord and not upon their own strength. So Peter was able to run upon the waves so long as he held the place of confidence with the foot of hope [n: (Matth. XIV)]. But after he began to forsake this place of his security, the wave could no longer hold him poised upon its surface. You see how a strong wind coming upon him cast him down from the place of confidence to the place of diffidence, because the Lord, after his manner, had visited him early in the morning and suddenly had tested him. So the children of Israel, after the miracle had been wrought and seen, came to the place of the camp.

## CHAPTER II. *On the confirmation of the mind in good and the hardening of the mind in evil.*

[1104A]

[1104B]We have assigned the difference of the places; let us see also the two kinds of stones. I think there is one kind, of good stones, and I think there is another, of evil stones. To the good stones belongs every confirmation of the mind in good; but to the evil stones, every hardening of the mind in evil. What do you think? Solidity, stability, firmness, weight, and many things after this manner — do they not seem to you to draw to themselves a certain likeness of stones, and by the right of that likeness justly to claim such a name for themselves? What do we say of hardness of heart, of tenacity or obstinacy? what of harshness, austerity, and cruelty? Do not those things claim for themselves the name of stone which draw to themselves the likeness of stones? But the former belong to the good stones, as these latter to the evil stones. [1104C] But I think it is not of the same ease to find good stones or evil ones, because it is more difficult to find good stones than an abundance of evil ones. For everything precious is rare. The good, therefore, are gathered from the midst of the Jordan, but the evil from any places whatsoever. Concerning the former, Scripture plainly designates where they must be sought or found; but concerning the latter it judges it as it were superfluous to determine the place of their discovery.

## CHAPTER III. *On the evil of presumption or of despair.*

But this seems wonderful and worthy of great wonder: that we are bidden to lay good stones, gathered from a good place, in an evil place, but to heap up evil stones [1104D] gathered from anywhere in a good place. The good place is the presumption of confidence, the evil place the despair of diffidence. But nevertheless we ought to gather evil stones in the place of confidence, and to gather good stones in the place of diffidence. In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils — and you have gathered evil stones in a good place; and in the day of evils be not unmindful of good things — and you have gathered good stones in an evil place. For what is it to gather good stones from the midst of the Jordan (that is, from the place where the prodigy was wrought), but diligently to go back over the state of the mind, such as it was at the time of the divine visitation, and subtly to investigate of what firmness it stood in each several virtue, and, by committing this to memory, to raise up as it were a certain cairn of testimony? But we never have an abundance of such stones [1105A] unless we have first received the grace of the divine visitation and inspiration. He testifies to this who says: *Without me you can do nothing [n: (Joan. XV)]*; therefore neither is it possible anywhere to gather good stones save by his working. But we easily find an innumerable multitude of evil stones, which we gather abundantly and ready to hand out of our whole life. What need, then, was there to designate a place for these, which we can gather plentifully from anywhere? Let each one, therefore, consider of what hardness, of what obstinacy he was, as often as divine grace forsook him and left him to himself: and in doing this he has raised a cairn of evil stones. In this manner, therefore, we can raise cairns and set them up, different ones on different sides — on this side one of good stones, on that another of evil stones. He set up for himself a heap of good stones [1105B] who said: *I will never forget thy justifications, for by them thou hast given me life [n: (Psal. CXVIII)]*. He had raised a cairn of evil stones when he said: *For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always against me [n: (Psal. L)]*.

## CHAPTER IV. *How presumption must be repressed out of the recollection of our evils.*

So do you too: when you have perceived that you yourself hold the place of confidence, and have observed that you presume upon things higher than your merits, remember at once what you once were, and, turning your eyes back to the heap of evil stones, you keep yourself in humility. It is indeed good [1105C] to presume, yet not upon your own strength, but upon the mercy of the Lord. Let the gathering of evil stones in a good place avail each man for this: that through the memory of his own evils he may never presume upon his own powers. That each one, then, may learn to presume not upon himself but upon the Lord, let the recollection of his own evils always meet him in the place of presumption: that trust of presumption, surely, appeases the Lord and obtains great things, which humility commends. They that trust in the Lord are as mount Sion. So, on the contrary, that trust of presumptions is abominable which pride begets. For a king is not saved by his own great strength, and a giant shall not be saved by the multitude of his own strength. Cursed therefore is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm [1105D]: for he shall be as the tamarisks in the desert, and shall not be satisfied when the summer heat is come, how useful, then, do we suppose, will be in a place of this kind that gathering of evil stones which we have prescribed, and that recollection of vices, which will be able to keep us from this execrable type of pride, and to protect us from a curse of this kind.

## CHAPTER V. *How despair must be driven back out of the recollection of our goods.*

So indeed, when danger is at hand and temptation comes upon you, when you have perceived that your mind is touched by despair, and cast down to the place of diffidence, and rolled down to the appointed place of the camp, you ought to have the cairn of good stones present, and to turn your eyes back to the memory of virtues [1106A] past, and out of the recollection of them to refashion the trust of your hope. So Job, stripped of his goods, bereft of his sons, smitten with a sore, when he saw himself caught in the place of the camp, and perceived himself beaten by the evil of despair, in order to temper the evil of diffidence had recourse to the pile of good stones, and out of the recollection of good things fortified his camp on every side, and bravely drove back the assaults of despair, when he says: *I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame; I was the father of the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched out diligently. I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey [n: (Job XXIX)]*. So too Hezekiah, in a moment of necessity, had recourse to fortifications of stones of this kind, when he despaired of his life; and out of the setting forth of his own good acts [1106B] he called forth the mercy of the Lord, and by the obtaining of his prayers drove off the perils of diffidence: *Remember,* he says, *O Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy eyes [n: (IV Reg. XX)]*. And so we too ought to be held ready and familiar at every time of temptation, to keep present the memory of the goods done before; and when we shall have brought this habit into continual use, we have, as it were, placed good stones — and stones chosen according to the divine instruction — in the place of the camp. For it is nothing else to gather chosen stones into one place than diligently to go back over the qualities of the divine confirmation and corroboration and to commit them to memory [1106C]; and it is nothing else to have fixed them in the place of the camp than to have firmly made a habit of such memory at every moment of temptation.

## CHAPTER VI. *On the [sic: duodceim] principal virtues in which the mind must be made solid.*

And these we gather from the midst of the channel of the Jordan, dried up by the power of God, and to the number of the twelve tribes, when we diligently examine the state of our mind, such as it was at the time of the divine visitation, and subtly search out what sort of men we were at that time in each of the principal virtues, in some measure. For this is for single men from single tribes to take up each his own stone: to have truly found of how great firmness one once stood, in some measure, with respect to each several virtue [1106D] through the grace of the divine breathing. But what we think concerning the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom these twelve tribes draw their origin, we have already said in another place. By Reuben and Simeon we understand fear and compunction; by Levi, hope; by Judah, charity; by Issachar, gladness; by Zebulun, severity; in Gad is understood abstinence; in Asher, patience; in Dan and Naphtali, circumspection and speculation; in Joseph and Benjamin, discretion and the contemplation of invisible things. But the reason of these we now wish to set forth in this place, concerning which we have already said elsewhere what seemed to us more correct. But let him who trusts that his seed from such offspring has been multiplied into twelve tribes learn what sort of stones he ought to have taken up from the midst of the Jordan, [1107A] when he shall have advanced this progeny of virtues as far as its crossing. Let him therefore call to mind what strength, what fortitude or firmness he felt himself to have drawn in at the breathing of the divine inspiration; and this is to have taken up chosen stones from the determined place. But that this choosing of stones may be made by single men from single tribes, let him exercise this labor of his consideration through each of the virtues which we have distinguished, and extend the number of his stones as far as the number twelve. Let him therefore consider, whoever desires after the turning back of the Jordan to fulfill this precept of the Lord; let him consider, I say, of what vigor he was, in some measure, in each several virtue at the time of the divine visitation. Let him consider how great solidity he had at that time in fear, how great weight in compunction, [1107B] how great stability in hope, how great integrity in charity, how great maturity in gladness, how great harshness in severity. Let him consider how austere he was in abstinence, how robust in patience, how solicitous in circumspection, how assiduous in speculation, how certain in discretion, how quiet in contemplation. But when he shall have fully discerned all these things and committed them to memory, he has raised such a cairn as was needful. It would be a business without end, and one which no one at all could have fulfilled, if the Lord had bidden all men from all the tribes to take up each his own stone, because no one would suffice to weigh himself worthily — what he is with respect to all things, I will not say in every virtue, but in one only, whichever it be. It suffices, therefore, to set apart some one [1107C] notable and signal desire of his own ardor through all these virtues which we have determined, and to establish the use of such a memory, and in recollection of this kind, under every peril of diffidence, to fight against the evil of despair. For he easily restores his own mind, however cast down, however beaten by temptation, to the hope of the divine compassion and to the state of confidence, who calls back to memory what manner of man he once was by the divine working. Altogether and without doubt he gladly exercises himself in such a pursuit, to whom it has been given to know what it avails, or that this zealous collecting of stones of this kind is useful.

## CHAPTER VII. *On the solidity of fear.*

[1107D]How useful, I ask, do we suppose that stone to be which we set in the first place, namely the solidity of fear, through which the mind is founded upon the solid ground of humility. And how much it avails, that saying of the Lord proves which says: *Upon whom shall my Spirit rest, save upon the humble, and the quiet, and him that trembleth at my words? [n: (Isa. LVI.)]* This is the stone of stumbling and the rock of scandal, unless perchance you doubt that this is the stone which the builders rejected, and which is become the head of the corner. For proud minds, and such as wish to establish their own righteousness, are wont to suffer nothing more grievously, to be indignant at nothing more, than to appear despised and to be seen as worthless.

## CHAPTER VIII. *On the weight of compunction.*

[1108A]

But the second stone also, which has been called the weight of compunction, I think can be found in Jeremiah, who sought waters for his head that he might bewail the slain of his people [n: (Jer. V)]; and I do not doubt that it was given him by him who turned the rock into pools of waters, and the crags into fountains of waters. This same rock I think can be found in Peter, in that, touched inwardly with grief of heart, he went forth outside and wept bitterly, striking the flint twice; and most abundant waters came forth, and there was made a watering above and a watering below.

## CHAPTER IX. *On the longsuffering of hope.*

[1108B]The third rock, which is the longsuffering of hope, I do not doubt can be found in Job, from which he poured out for himself rivers of oil, wherewith also he soothed the pains of his body. For he hoped until the morning amid so many losses and wounds of griefs, never drained of the oil of his hope, nowhere diffident of the anointing of the divine mercy: *Although he should kill me,* saying, *I will hope in him [n: (Job XIII)]*.

## CHAPTER X. *On the integrity of charity.*

The fourth rock likewise I find in Peter, to whom we do not doubt it was said by the Lord: *Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church [n: (Matth. XVI)]*, in that he loved the Christ of the Lord with his [1108C] whole heart, and with his whole soul, and with his whole mind, truly acknowledging that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where, I beseech you, is the integrity of charity to be found, if you do not find it in Peter, who before the searcher of hearts dares to profess and to say: *Lord, thou knowest that I love thee? [n: (Joan. XXI.)]*

## CHAPTER XI. *On the maturity of gladness.*

But who would dare to doubt that the fifth rock is in that people whom the Prophet of the Lord, among the other teachings of his prophecy, calls blessed? *Blessed,* he says, *is the people that knoweth jubilation [n: (Psal. LXXXVIII)]*. Who indeed would deny that they are blessed whom the Lord fed with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock: for he laid up gladness and exultation in store [1108D] upon them. You perceive, as I judge, what sort of thing it is to possess this stone also among the rest, which flows with the honey of gladness, and satisfies with inward sweetness him that enters into the joy of his Lord. What will it be, I ask, as often as occasion serves, to be filled with honey out of the rock, and on the way to drink of the torrent of pleasure and be inebriated? This is that fifth stone, as has been said, which has been called the maturity of gladness. Let him therefore have nothing of levity, let nothing perishable, nothing carnal have savor for him; but let him compose his mind to the great weight of maturity, who hungers and thirsts for this alone which flows from this stone.

## CHAPTER XII. *On the harshness of severity.*

But that man, as I judge, was fighting in the sixth stone, [1109A] to whom it was said by the Lord: *Behold, I have made thy face stronger than their faces, and thy forehead harder than their foreheads; as adamant and as flint have I made thy face [n: (Ezech. III)]*. Jeremiah therefore was grinding down the provoking house of Israel with adamant and flint, in that it was of a worn-down forehead and a hard heart; and standing in the gate of the house of the Lord he announced to them their crimes, fearing neither their words nor their faces. This stone that king holds in his hands who is strong and mighty in battle, in whom the strong man armed was cast down, and the warlike man from his youth. For David prevailed against the Philistine with a sling and a stone in the name of the Lord. You surely see with what arms that stripling, both despised and small of stature, cast down Goliath, that most monstrous giant, in that [1109B] he had been taught by the Lord to have [sic: *manns*] skilled for the fight and his fingers for war. He had indeed arms not carnal, but mighty through God unto the destruction of fortifications; and he was in them fighting and destroying every height that lifted itself up against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ. For he understood above all that taught him, and therefore he confidently announced the justice of the Lord in the great Church, as he himself both bore witness of himself concerning the past and promises concerning the future: *I have declared,* he says, *thy justice in the great Church; lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou hast known it [n: (Psal. XXXIX)]*. And so you have ready to hand to avenge all disobedience: he rebuked the haughty, he corrected the unquiet, and in the stone of most harsh rebuke and in the harshness [1109C] of correction he cast down the adversaries of truth. And though he was a man most gentle among his people and most meek — *Remember,* saying, *O Lord, David, and all his meekness [n: (Psal. CXXXI)]* — though he was, I say, of so great meekness, nonetheless he slew in the morning all the sinners of the earth, that he might destroy out of the city of the Lord all that work iniquity.

## CHAPTER XIII. *On the austerity of abstinence.*

We have said that the seventh stone is the austerity of abstinence. Upon this rock the father of Samson offered a holocaust to the Lord, and obtained to beget from a barren woman the strongest of men, to the ignominy of the nations [1109D] and to the glory of his own people Israel [n: (Judic. XIII)]. He was ashamed indeed to have fed for some while at last a barren woman, and one that beareth not; and thereafter he would not — as neither ought he — be a debtor to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; but chastising his body and bringing it into servitude, and immolating the flesh of kids upon the rock of abstinence, and consuming the broth of the flesh together with the flesh itself by fire received from heaven, and restraining the flowing things of the body, he willed thenceforth no more to go after his own lusts. And so, the assault of the flesh being tamed, he strengthened the assault of the spirit, which is made stronger by the infirmity of the flesh.

## CHAPTER XIV. *On the strength of patience.*

After these stones there follows the strength of patience: which [1110A] stone I recall that I reckoned in the eighth place. Behold a stone most strong, and the hardest of all. This stone that standard-bearer of the heavenly warfare, the protomartyr Stephen, holds in his hands, and it became for him a tower of strength against the face of the enemy. In this stone he bravely endured the blows of the stones that pressed upon him, and he feared neither the hands of them that stoned him nor the onset of them that gnashed with their teeth at him [n: (Act. VII)]. O stone strong and hard, yet full of sweetness! O breast most robust, yet full of mercy! You wonder, whoever you are that hear, how in his patience he possessed his soul; but you ought rather to have wondered how his mind, under so great a bitterness of persecution, did not lose its own sweetness. By his enemies he was pressed, and for his enemies he prayed. He was enduring human savagery, and [1110B] he was looking up to the divine glory: *Behold,* he says, *I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of the power of God [n: (ibid.)]*. On earth he was pressed, and from the heavens he was consoled. He was afflicted by the misery brought upon him, he was moved by the mercy grown within him, he rejoiced at the glory beheld. Behold, at one and the same time he saw below that whereat he might have compassion, he saw above that whereat he might be glad. Behold how from the same breast there flowed mercy with gladness, gladness with mercy. Behold how from the same vessel there flows oil with honey, the oil of mercy with the honey of gladness. What, I ask, is this unmingled confusion and unconfused commingling of oil and honey in that stone? I marvel if you do not marvel how that strong fighter at one and the same moment sucked honey out of the rock and oil out of the hardest crag. [1110C] Marvellous is the virtue of patience; and who may worthily weigh the price of this rock, which in so great abundance distils oil with honey? How great an abundance of oil and of honey, I ask, is found to be within, where mercy is diminished by no malice, where sweetness is thinned by no grief? Nay, in a wondrous manner delight grows out of grief, and compassion out of suffering. The martyr indeed, when he was being stoned, had more pity upon his enemies than upon his own limbs. For kneeling down he prayed, saying: *Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, for they know not what they do [n: (ibid.)]*. Behold, at the placing of his knees the oil was poured out, and thereafter his name was made as oil poured out. For at the pitying of his enemy the pouring out of the oil was made, so much so that [1110D] the young man who sat at a distance was sprinkled with the odor of the ointment. For when the body was bowed and the head bent down, the oil began to flow forth, and it was made as ointment upon the head, and it ran down to the hem of the garment of him who kept the garments. Rising up therefore swiftly, he who had long sat in dark places and in the shadow of death began to run after the odor of the ointments; and exulting as a giant to run his way, whithersoever was the onset of the Spirit, thither he went, and thereafter he became the good odor of Christ in every place.

## CHAPTER XV. *On the solicitude of circumspection.*

The ninth rock I find in Hezekiah; I find it also in the friend's bride and the bridegroom's friend, to whom [1111A] it is said in the Canticles: *Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come, my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow of the wall [n: (Cant. II)]*. So too Hezekiah, after the likeness of the bride choosing quiet and seeking after solitude, and sitting in the clefts of the rock, or even in the hollow of the wall, cried out thus as the young of a swallow, and meditated as a dove: Oh who will give me wings like a dove's, and I will fly away and be at rest, if perchance I may be able to fly forth into that place where the sparrow has found herself a house, and the turtledove a nest where she may lay her young! Where, I ask, will anything of safety be found, if it be not found in the clefts of a rock of this kind, where zealous premeditation foresees whatever dangers before they come to pass, and, forestalling the things to come, gathers the future out of the past, and often knows beforehand the undoubted [1111B] outcomes of doubtful matters? For what else is circumspection, but the solicitous and sagacious searching out of the evils that stand round about? To this belongs the going back over past evils, the consideration of present ones, the premeditation of those to come, so that according to its own name it may truly be circumspection. The assiduity of this makes a man cautious, and, so far as is possible, renders him safe.

## CHAPTER XVI. *On the assiduity of speculation.*

The tenth stone has been called the assiduity of speculation. Jacob, turning away from evil and giving place to wrath, while he sets out abroad in haste, lest his flight should be in the winter or on the Sabbath, found this stone upon the road, [1111C] and having found it placed it under his head, lest he should not have where to lay his head while he slept upon the way [n: (Gen. XXVIII)]. Upon this stone, in peace, in the selfsame he sleeps and rests, and upon the road he found that rest which they cannot find even in chambers and on purple couches who are clothed in soft garments and are in the houses of kings. And so, Jacob's head being laid down upon this stone, and the eyes of concupiscence being closed (which we read were open in our first parent), while upon this headrest he is lulled in deep quiet, while he gladly forgets all outward things, his mind wakes up to inward things, and sees what before, while waking and seeing, it could not see. A ladder reaching up to heaven is raised before his eyes, and the Lord is seen leaning upon the ladder, so that through invisible form and the figure of invisible things [1111D] the mind of the beholder may be lifted up into the understanding of intelligible things. Happy the man for whom the knowledge of visible things becomes a ladder for knowing invisible things. A beautiful spectacle it is to see the rungs of this ladder set in fitting manner and in due proportion, and carried up to the topmost point by the continuity of an ordered distinction, so that through the manifold difference of creatures and the gradation of dignities, ordinately distinguished and distinctly ordered, the mind may little by little advance itself to higher things, and by the steps of its furtherance climb ever to loftier things, until the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, and the Lord is seen leaning upon the ladder. Who, I ask, would see this, save one sleeping upon this headrest? who while awake would bring it about that he should stretch out the ladder of his ascent [1112A] as far as heaven, and join the speculation of invisible things to the speculation of visible things? What of this, that upon this path of ascent the play of an angelic meeting offers itself unbidden, so that divine revelation may come to meet human investigation? And so the angels are seen upon this ladder now to ascend, now indeed to descend, and now to instruct the mind toward the highest things, now toward the lowest, so that in things divine and human it may come to know from divine revelation many things which it could not know by itself. And indeed the angels could, without the ministry of a ladder, at the choice of their own desire either descend into the lowest places or fly forth to the highest; nor would there be need for the divine inspiration, in any manifestation of its revelations, to seek the instrument of any bodily likeness, unless it willed that we should see first through [1112B] a glass and in a dark manner, and not at once face to face. And so the angels ascend and descend upon this ladder of likenesses, and some after others now approach, now depart, so that while of the manifold revelations one is brought in and another withdrawn, the mind of the beholder may be illumined in manifold fashion, in order that what it could not grasp all at once, by reason of the slenderness of its understanding, it may understand successively and one by one through intervals of delay. Behold what they find who fall asleep upon this stone. Happy they for whom that is turned into a ladder which for others is wont to be unto ruin. Happy they for whom the knowledge of outward things becomes a ladder of ascent, not a ruin of casting down. Happy they for whom that knowledge which puffs up is not unto puffing up, but unto the inflaming of her that buildeth up. Happy they for whom the beauty of temporal things becomes [1112C] an incitement to eternity. It behooves therefore, as you perceive, him who desires to find this ladder of ascent to lay his head upon the stone, and to harden his mind in the desire of this speculation, and persistently to press upon this pursuit.

## CHAPTER XVII. *On the certainty of discretion.*

We have said that the certainty of discretion is the eleventh stone; and if we seek it diligently, we find it soonest in Paul. For he so trusts in the gift of discretion, he so presumes upon the certainty of his own counsel, that he confidently gives counsel where he has no precept of the Lord: *Concerning virgins,* he says, *I have no precept of the Lord, but I give counsel (I [1112D] Cor. VII)*. Hence it is that he sets himself before others as an example of manner of life, and shows his own life to his followers as a form of living, when he says: *Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ [n: (I Cor. XL)]*. And rightly indeed, in that the Lord set his feet upon a rock and directed his steps. With stones of this kind, as I judge, was the way of those travellers paved concerning whom the Prophet cries out in wonder: *How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things! [n: (Rom. X.)]* With these stones, unless I am deceived, that great patriarch Joseph, whom the prince of peoples set as lord of his house and prince of all his possession, that he might instruct his princes as his own self, and teach his elders prudence. With these stones, I say, he is rightly believed to have paved the streets of Egypt [1113A], so much so that the children of Israel had no need to serve in clay and brick all the days of their life. The Prophet was still enduring a scarcity of these stones, and was laboring under a great want of discretion, while he was yet fixed in the mire of the deep, because the certainty of a settled counsel was not yet established for him — so much so that he cried out to the Lord and said: *How long shall I take counsels in my soul? [n: (Psal. XVIII.)]* But he would never have fully emerged from this deep of mire, had he not at last at some time found this rock of which we speak: *Upon a rock,* he says, *he hath exalted, me, and now he hath lifted up my head above my enemies [n: (Psal. XXVI)]*. He who does not pave a way for himself out of this kind of stones never walks cleanly, never plants steady steps. He therefore who wishes [1113B] to walk firmly and honorably ought to do nothing at all unadvisedly; and it is plain that he has paved a way for himself with such a stone as he ought, and he can walk securely. Do all things, says the Wise Man, with counsel, and thou shalt never repent [n: (Eccle. XXXII)].

## CHAPTER XVIII. *On the quiet of contemplation.*

The twelfth stone, and the last of all, we can find, as I judge, at the Lord's sepulchre. It has been called, as was said above, [sic: *lapis is*] the tranquillity of contemplation. Of this kind of stones that Joseph of Arimathea hewed out sepulchres for himself; but Jesus, dead, rested in it, because the quiet which prudence seeks for itself through meditation and describes by definition, wisdom finds through contemplation [1113C] and lays hold of by experience. True prudence always seeks, and always ought to seek, that peace which Christ taught, that it may not be troubled nor be afraid. It always strives after where it may find such peace, always endeavors to defend true security for itself; but it always finds something to grieve over out of the past, something to fight against in the present, something to beware of and to dread for the future. The mind, therefore, can shrewdly seek this peace through prudence and subtly investigate it through meditation; yet it will never be able to find it save through wisdom and the grace of contemplation. But when the mind has begun through pure understanding to go beyond its very self, and wholly to enter into that brightness of incorporeal light [1113D], and to draw from the things which it sees in its inmost parts a certain savor of inmost sweetness, and from that to season its own understanding and to turn it into wisdom, then so far, in this excess of mind, is that peace found and obtained which is neither troubled nor afraid, that there is made a silence in heaven as it were for half an hour, so that the mind of the contemplative is troubled by no tumult of contending thoughts: you will find nothing at all which it may either seek through desire, or reprove through disgust, or accuse through hatred. And so he is composed unto the highest peace who is buried in this stone, who is wholly gathered in and shut up within the tranquillity of contemplation. For this stone is not, like that of Jacob, set under the head alone, nor is it, like that later one, spread beneath the feet, but it is fitted and applied to the whole [1114A] body. And so this stone encircles the whole body, encloses the whole, and comprehends it on every side, in that that peace which surpasses all understanding utterly absorbs every human sense, and by a happy transfiguration turns the purer part of the soul into a certain divine habit. Here the body lies without sense and motion in this monument of the Lord; sensuality does nothing, imagination does nothing, and every lower power of the soul is meanwhile clothed with its own office.

For this stone monument does not (as that craggy headrest of the patriarch Jacob does) take up a living body, however lulled asleep, nor does it receive a body unless it be mortified. It is one thing to sleep, another to die. It is one thing to gather one's whole spirit into itself, [1114B] and another to lift it above itself and to forsake oneself. It is one thing to have curbed appetite and to have cut away from the heart the care of outward things, and another that the heart itself should come into forgetfulness of itself. It must be, therefore, before it is permitted to enter into that secret place of inmost quiet and that hidden chamber of the highest tranquillity — it must be, I say, that there take place that very grave and truly wondrous thing: not the dissolution of soul and body, but another far more wondrous and far more glorious than this, that one, in short, of which this is a type, namely the division of soul and spirit. And this, as the Apostle testifies, that living and effectual word of God is wont to work in us, more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of soul and spirit. What, I ask, anywhere among creatures is discerned more wondrous than this division, where [1114C] that which is essentially one and undivided is cleft into itself, and that which stands simple in itself and without parts is divided and separated from itself? For in one man the essence of his spirit is not one thing and that of his soul another, but altogether one and the same substance, and of a simple nature. For in this twofold term a twofold substance is not understood; but when a twofold power of the same essence is set down for the sake of distinction, the one, the higher, is designated by "spirit," the other, the lower, by "soul." In this division, therefore, the soul and what is animal remains below; but the spirit and what is spiritual flies forth to the heights. What is gross and dreggy fails like a body deadened, and falls back into itself [1114D] and beneath its very self; what is subtle and purged ascends like a spirit breathed forth, and transcends within and beyond its very self. O deep quiet, O sublime rest, where everything that is wont to be moved after a human manner loses all motion, where every motion that then is comes about divinely, and passes over into God! Here that Spirit breathed forth and commended into the hands of the Father does not need a ladder, as did that dreamer Jacob, that it may fly forth to the third — not to say the first — heaven. Why, I ask, should he need a ladder whom the Father bears between his hands, to snatch him to the secrets of the third heaven, so much so that he glories and says: *Thy right hand hath upheld me. Thou hast held my right hand, and by thy will thou hast conducted me, and with glory thou hast received me? [n: (Psal. XVII.)]* That Spirit, therefore, [1115A] taken up out of the midst, has here no need of the office of a ladder, nor does it need in that ascent of its own subtlety to be supported by the shadowing forth of any bodily likeness, where it sees face to face, not through a glass and in a dark manner. I lie, if they themselves who are of this kind do not assert the same concerning themselves: *But we all,* they say, *beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed into the same image from brightness to brightness, as by the Spirit of the Lord [n: (II Cor. III)]*. You surely see what it does, and you understand, as I judge, what that division of soul and spirit avails, of which we have already spoken above. The spirit is divided from the lowest things that it may be raised to the highest. The spirit is cleft from the soul that it may be united to the Lord. For he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit. Happy division, and separation to be longed for, where that which [1115B] is discerned to be passible, to be corruptible, meanwhile dies to its own passions, so far that nothing of passibility, nothing of corruptibility is meanwhile felt; where also that which is spiritual, which is subtle, is raised up even to the speculation of the divine glory, and is transformed into the same image. The lower part, therefore, is composed unto the highest peace and tranquillity, but the higher part is raised up unto glory and gladness. So we have recognized that the face of Moses (the higher part indeed of the body) was glorified from fellowship with the Lord, so that the children of Israel could not look upon his countenance because of its brightness. Who, I ask, would suffice worthily to tell, who to unfold, what of perfection the spirit acquires in the glorification of its own excess, [1115C] although it does not extend the prolonging of its pilgrimage as far as the third day, even if it does not draw out the delay of silence as far as half an hour, [1116A] granted that it goes and returns after the likeness of flashing lightning? So Moses brings back from the fellowship of the divine converse, together with a glorified countenance, horns also, showing what of power, what of strength he had drawn from companionship with him who gives power and strength to his people, the blessed God. That spirit therefore at last returns and comes back to itself which had gone far beyond itself; and what it had laid aside as passible and corruptible it takes up again as it were impassible and incorruptible, by comparison with its former state, and rises again into newness of life. What does it seem to you, to grow cheerful at an injury inflicted, not to blush at a contumely cast in one's teeth, to rejoice over tribulation? is not this to walk in newness of life, and after some manner to show oneself impassible, and not to lie subject [1116B] to one's own passions? Behold how far they advance who rest in this stone. There are many things which could have been said concerning this matter, if they ought to have been said in this place and did not exceed the measure of a moderate digression. For I think this last kind of stones to be the most worthy and most precious of all. Yet we ought to despise none, but to seek at least single ones out of the single kinds, and to gather them into one.

It is indeed to be noted that this is the first work which is commanded to be done in the land of promise, so that an eternal memorial of the divine works may be established first of all. For without this mound of stones that promise of the Lord of an eternal inheritance is never bravely acquired, never securely possessed. For he who forgets the benefits [1116C] divinely received does not deserve to be advanced to the obtaining of greater things.