Epistolae
by Hugh of Saint Victor
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://migne.app/pl/176/epistolae/
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## LETTER ONE. TO RANULF OF MAURIAC. *That charity never falls away.*

[1011A]

To his beloved brother R., HUGH a sinner.

*Charity never falls away [n: (I Cor. XIII)]*. I had heard this, and I knew that it was true. But now, dearest brother, proof has come, and I plainly know that charity never falls away. I had set out abroad, and I came to you into a foreign land; and yet it was not as though foreign, since I found friends there — though I know not whether I made them first, or was myself made. Nevertheless I found charity there, and I loved it; and I could not disdain it, because it was sweet to me; and I filled the little bag of my heart, and grieved that it was found too narrow, and could not hold it all: yet I filled it as much as [1011B] I could. I filled the whole of what I had, but I could not hold the whole of what I found. I received, then, as much as I could hold, and, laden with a precious price, I did not feel the weight, because my burden bore me up. But now, the long journey completed, I still find my little bag full, and nothing has fallen out of it, because *charity never falls away.* There, then, dearest brother, among the rest, the memory of you was found first, and from it I sealed this letter, desiring you to be sound and safe in the Lord. Do you, then, repay the return of love, and pray for me. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

## LETTER II. TO THE SAME. *On the solution of four questions proposed by Ranulf of Mauriac.*

[1011C]

HUGH TO RANULF OF MAURIAC.

The fervor of your charity has brought upon us the weight of your questions. You ask first that an exposition be made for you upon that work which is called the *Supper of Cyprian*: which, because it was not now at hand, we have received a fitting excuse for with you.

QUESTION 1. Next you ask what that contention of Michael with the devil over the body of Moses means, which is recalled in the Epistle of the apostle Jude. Here we think it enough for you that our fathers, who ministered the word of God before us, held that by the body of Moses the Jewish people is to be understood, of which he himself had been the head. But by Michael, the divine [1011D] power, contending, as it were, with the devil — that is, with the adversary power — for that same people, that it [1012A] might be made safe; and that the power of the adversary was repelled by no other malediction than that the Lord, who chose Jerusalem, repelled from these the power of the enemy, whom out of that people he chose by grace alone unto salvation.

QUESTION 2. You ask again what those books ought to be understood to be, and whether they yet survive, of which mention is made in the book of Numbers and of Joshua the son of Nun, but also in the books of Kings and of Chronicles, when it is said: *Is not this written in the book of the Just and the book of the Wars of the Lord;* and likewise: *in the book of Gad the seer, and of Addo, or of Semeias, or of Haias the Shilonite.* We therefore, following in this too the sense of the doctors, understand the book of the Just and the book of the Wars of the Lord to be no others than these very books in which these things are written, [1012B] after the manner of the Scriptures commending their own narrative, when, for their own confirmation, a testimony as it were another's being adduced, the authority seems to be doubled. But the book of Gad and of Addo and of Semeias and of Haias were books proper to them, put forth by the very authors above named, but through the course of transmission have by no means come down to us. Whether, however, they are yet held among the Hebrews, is uncertain — although it is more probably reckoned that, after the law was burned by the Chaldeans, these too were taken away from the midst and now do not survive. But as to that which is said in Kings and in Chronicles: *Are not these things written in the book of the Sayings, or Words, of the days of the kings of Judah or Israel [n: (III Reg. XV)]*, although this is not set down in your question, if I shall have paid something over and above, do you, [1012C] when you shall have returned, if it does not please you to render it, yet be not displeased: for it may be that there are those who are ignorant even of this, whom, if it is consulted with you, it ought not to displease. The book of the Words of the days of the kings of Judah, then, and likewise the book of the Words of the kings of Israel, we judge to be understood as single books, in which the deeds of the kings, namely of Judah and of Israel, were noted down, not by any one author, but at diverse times and by diverse authors, according as it befell those things to come to pass. Of these, the things that seemed more worthy of memory, excerpted by subsequent authors and formed with a more polished style, were set forth in a compendious narrative in these books, namely Kings and Chronicles. Those, therefore, are the books to which [1012D] Kings and Chronicles send those who wish to know the rest. But these we think have come to us neither through transmission, [1013A] nor to exist now among the Hebrews.

QUESTION 3. You ask likewise how that is to be taken which the Savior says: That *everyone who shall have left wife,* etc., *for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life [n: (Matth. XIX)]*, whereas he himself says elsewhere [n: (Matth. V)] that a wife, except for the cause of fornication, cannot rightly be put away, nor ought she to depart from her husband. Where it is fittingly understood that even that which a man cannot fittingly do for his own sake, he can sometimes rightly do for God's sake. And then he rightly does it for God's sake, when he does it according to God. To leave a wife for God's sake, then, is either through continence to abstain, for God's sake, from taking one; or, when her guilt requires it, or her consent [1013B] permits, not to be held by concupiscence, so as not to depart. Rightly, then, does he leave for God's sake who can leave according to God. But so long as he cannot leave according to God, he cannot leave for God's sake. But when God's cause requires, she can not only be left but even rightly held in hatred, so that in her that be hated for God's sake which is not loved against God.

QUESTION 4. You ask also what this saying of the Apostle means, in that Epistle which is written to the Hebrews: *It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, have also tasted the heavenly gift and been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have fallen away, to be renewed again unto penitence [n: (Hebr. VI)]*. Which is the graver to hear, because it seems to take away the remedy of penitence, and to bring in upon sinners [1013C] despair. Therefore it is not fitting so to interpret the word of God that in it we perceive anything contrary to truth. That, then, which he says — that those once enlightened and made partakers of the heavenly gift, after a fall, cannot be renewed unto penitence — we take either thus: that a man of himself indeed can sin, but of himself, without the help of divine grace, cannot be corrected, as it is written: *A spirit that goes and returns not [n: (Psal. LXXVII.)]*. Or thus: that, after a fall, a man cannot be renewed so as to be, namely, that which he would have been if he had not sinned. For example, if she is a virgin and is corrupted, she can repent, but she cannot again be a virgin. And if by repenting she perhaps brings it about that she is better than she was when she fell, yet she cannot bring it about that she is such as she would have been if she had not [1013D] sinned, and yet had done these good things which she now does; according to which, in some way, the loss of past fault stands irrecoverable, since with the present gains of righteousness this is always discerned to be lacking, which is proved to have been lost in the past fault: which, assuredly, if it were present, there would be more. This impossibility can also be otherwise fittingly understood. For a sinner, once redeemed by the death of Christ and freed from the oldness of sin, if he shall have fallen anew, cannot again be renewed in this respect: that he cannot have another death of Christ for his renewal — although he can [ *an* poscit?] the same, and by the same be renewed anew. But the sinner is probably terrified, namely, that because Christ, by whose death he was redeemed, cannot again [1014A] die, so he should beware of repeating sin, even as he sees it impossible for the death of Christ to be repeated for sin, as it is written [n: (Hebr. X)], that for those sinning voluntarily after pardon received there remains no sacrifice for sin — that is, either this one for excuse or another for remission. For voluntary sins are not to be understood of those of which it is said: *Now there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus [n: (Rom. VIII)]*. For to those sinning voluntarily, even though placed in Christ, this sacrifice is not left for the excuse of condemnation, just as to those repenting, even of voluntary sins, it is granted unto remission. So then, those who have fallen after grace received cannot again be renewed, and yet can be renewed, because that whereby they are renewed cannot be repeated, so as to be another; but by those [1014B] who are to be renewed it can be recovered anew, so that, it being recovered, to have lost it may not be damnable.



## LETTER III. TO JOHN, ARCHBISHOP OF SEVILLE. *That the Christian faith is to be held not only in the heart, but also confessed with the mouth.*

To JOHN, archbishop of Seville, HUGH the servant of the cross of Christ.

What, dearest brother, what shall I say to you? If we begin to speak to you, perhaps you will take it ill. That man was strong and great, and a despiser of all torments, *and no one spoke a word to him, because they saw that his grief was very great [n: (Job II)]*. How, then, shall we be able to speak to you in the vehemence of so great a grief? If yet you grieve as much as you ought [1014C] to grieve [ *al.,* tu dolendus es]? what shall we do for you? Shall we hold back the conceived speech which our heart and our soul — not (as in those men) from impatience of speaking, but from vehemence of grieving — has now begun to bring forth? Shall charity, then, be able to keep silent, so as not to burst forth and cry out in its griefs, and in the anguish of its tribulation? For now the sword has reached even to the soul, and fraudulent death has come, sparing the flesh, that it may extinguish the spirit. You know, brother, what I wish? The cause of your soul is at issue. See what you do. Christ sets against you his death, the Christian his redemption. He seeks the purchased, this one the redeemed. He complains that he gave himself as a price for you in vain; this one laments the redeemed lost. But you say: I know my own conscience. Let no one [1014D] terrify me: it is not the tongue that makes the Christian, but the conscience. I love Christ: it suffices me. He seeks nothing more. What is chiefly mine, I have given to him. He has the heart; let him possess it. I will say to man whatever he pleases. The Lord himself knows that I deny unwillingly. The tongue says this, not the conscience. With the mouth indeed I deny, but with the heart I confess. Hear, brother. Scripture says: *With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation [n: (Rom. XVI)]*. How, then, do you think to have salvation, if you do not have confession? Do you deny Christ and say that you have the Holy Spirit? What, then, is it that the Apostle says: *No one speaking in the Spirit of God says anathema to Jesus? [n: (I Cor. XII.)]* If you say anathema to Jesus, how do you have the Spirit of Christ? But if [1015A] you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are not Christ's. *He who has not,* says Scripture, *the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [n: (Rom. VIII)]*. Hear again: *He who,* he says, *has been ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty [n: (Luc. IX)]*. But you say well: He who denies Christ out of shame is justly damned, is justly not acknowledged by Christ. For it is a small thing this — to prefer bashfulness to Christ. I have more that I may put forward in excuse. For I am not ashamed, but afraid. Greater is that which terrifies me. He himself knows that I am not able to suffer. He spares, then, my weakness, he condescends to my devotion. He attends not to the voice, but looks to the charity. *No one ever hated his own flesh [n: (Ephes. V)]*. I fear for my flesh, which I cannot hate. O deceitful deception! [1015B] Will you, then, love the flesh, and blaspheme the Creator? What, then, does that mean which he says: *He who loves his soul more than me is not worthy of me [n: (Luc. XIV)]*. If you cannot rightly love the soul more, can you the flesh? But you say: I do not love the flesh more: for I love our God more than my flesh. Let us now see. What you love more, this you rather choose. Your God says: *Fear not those who kill the body, but have nothing they can do to the soul [n: (Matth. X)]*. This, then, God says; this the flesh gainsays; see now. What you love more, this you rather choose. O what a shepherd! How would you lay down your life for your sheep [n: (Joan. X)], you who do not lay down your life even for your own soul? You are unwilling to give your flesh for your soul, and would you give your life for your sheep? O what a shepherd! [1015C] Not so did that Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, and deigned to die for his flock. What does it seem to you? If he had feared death as you do, what sheep, do you think, would yet have been freed from death? He thought to choose a good shepherd for his sheep, one who, when the wolf came, would not flee, nor, hiding in a covert of trembling, conceal himself, setting aside the peril of the sheep. The wolf came, he could not seize the sheep; the shepherd he not only seized, but dragged away. A wondrous thing! The sheep dares, and the shepherd trembles. O what a shepherd! If you were to be such, why did you take up the care of the sheep? If you received the dignity, why do you not expend the goodness: *The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep [n: (ibid.)]*. But you say: Peter denied with his mouth; yet, because he did not deny with his heart, the Lord looked upon him, and [1015D] he was called by his own name to the joy of the resurrection with the other apostles. This, as I hear, is the greatest thing that you put forward in your excuse. The Lord, then, looked upon Peter denying. Why? that he might make him confessing: first weeping, afterward confessing. He looked to compunction, he called to confession. If, then, you have the regard of Christ, where are the tears? But if you weep, why do you not confess? If you follow Peter denying, why do you not imitate him confessing? Lastly, brother, if you are a Christian, where is the sign of your King? I see an alien mark upon your forehead. Do you know what shall be over those who bear the mark of the beast? The servants of our God are sealed in their foreheads, and none can [1016A] escape the sentence of extermination, save only those who in the figure of the Tau are fortified with the seal of the cross of Christ. The cross on the breast, faith in the heart; the cross on the forehead, confession in the mouth: both are owed, both are required. Christ claims the whole for himself. The heart for faith in him, the mouth for confession of him. But the tormentor stands by, the drawn sword threatens. Hear: *He who loves his soul shall lose it; and he who shall have lost his soul in this world for my sake shall keep it unto life eternal [n: (Marc. VIII)]*. He who loses for my sake shall receive from me. I will keep what is entrusted, that I may the better restore it. Do not tremble at all. *A hair of* your *head shall not perish [n: (Luc. XXI)]*. Why are you anxious for the soul, you who have received security even for a hair? But perhaps you will say to me that many today within the bosom of the Church [1016B] live in the faith and confession of Christ who, if they were so interrogated, would in no way confess Christ. To which I answer you with the prophetic voice, that *the judgments* of the Lord *are a great deep [n: (Psal. XXXV)]*. We cannot search out the depth of the judgments of God, and penetrate his unsearchable ways. *I will have mercy,* he says, *on whom I have had mercy; and I will show mercy to whom I shall be merciful [n: (Rom. IX; Exod. XXXIII; Rom. IX)]*. If, then, it shall be pleasing in his eyes to spare certain of his little ones, whom mother Church either bears conceived or nurses when brought forth, and not to permit these graver interrogations of temptations to come upon them, who are you to say to him: *Why do you do so [n: (Job IX)]*. It does not befit your excellence to reckon yourself to be counted in the number of such. Among the great [1016C] servants you had received your place, not as a little one, but as guardian and provider of the little ones. To you, therefore, as to one great and strong, and fit for the first or nearest attainment, Jesus said: *Follow me [n: (Joan. XI)]*. You, then, having obtained the place next after himself, he admonished to follow him, so that you afterward might be able to say confidently to your followers, to whom you ought to have furnished a leading unto life: *Be imitators of me, as I also of Christ [n: (I Cor. XI)]*. If, then, the Lord willed to call you, as a great and faithful servant, to the glory of his imitation, see what kind of thing this is, that you, looking to his little ones who meanwhile are to be cherished, not pressed down, should say: *Lord, but what of these? [n: (Joan. XXI.)]* This he said whom you think to imitate — though nevertheless you ought not in all things — not understanding [1016D] the dignity of that calling, nor rightly regarding the mercy of the divine dispensation. And therefore he heard the sentence of just rebuke, that he might learn to hearken, not to judge. *So,* he says, *I will that he remain, until I come. What is that to you? Do you follow me [n: (ibid.)]*. This, then, brother, is the word which you ought most intently and most diligently to hear, that you may follow your King and attain him. Follow to the penalty, attain to the glory. If it must be suffered for Christ, you have no excuse. *The sufferings of this time are not worthy of the future glory that shall be revealed in us [n: (Rom. VIII)]*. But if even without suffering you deny, I not only say that you are not excused, but I say further that you are accused. Wretch, where is your soul, that you do not consider [1017A] what you have become? what glory you have lost, and into what misery and confusion you have fallen? Look upon yourself, what you are: where is your crown and glory? You have forsaken your King: every nation follows its own gods: *And surely these are not gods [n: (Jer. II)]*. You have forsaken your Lord and your God, and have become base, the reproach of the worst men. O what a shepherd [1018A] of Christians! How will you feed the sheep of Christ, you who have destroyed your very self? The sheep to be fed have been given to a wolf-to-be. O what a shepherd! Blush, wretch, and be confounded! The eyes of Christians are upon you. From afar you are seen. You cannot lie hidden. Your error has made you known. You cannot escape confusion, unless you show forth confession.
