What sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Obseruation of the commandments, 4. and sacrifice of the iust please God, 12. not the sacrifice of the wicked. 14. God protecteth the poore and desolate, 19. heareth the prayer of the humble, and rendereth to alas they deserue.
1He that keepeth the law, multiplieth offerings.Fa molte obblazioni chi osserva la legge:HE that keepeth the law, multiplieth oblation. It is an holsomeQui conservat legem / multiplicat oblationem. 2It is a wholesome sacrifice to take heed to the commandments, and to depart from all iniquity.Sagrifizio di salute egli è il custodire i comandamenti, e allontanarsi da ogni iniquità.sacrifice to attend to the commandments, and to depart from al iniquitie.Sacrificium salutare est attendere mandatis, / et discedere ab omni iniquitate. 3And to depart from injustice, is to offer a propitiatory sacrifice for injustices, and a begging of pardon for sins.Il fuggir l'ingiustizia è un offerir sacrifizio di propiziazione per le in giustizie, e rimuovere la pena de' peccati.To departEt propitiationem litare sacrificii super injustitias: / et deprecatio pro peccatis, recedere ab injustitia. 4He shall return thanks, that offereth fine flour: and he that doth mercy, offereth sacrifice.Rende grazie a Dio colui, che offerisce il fior di farina; e colui, che fa l'opra di misericordia offerisce un sagrifizio.fromRetribuet gratiam qui offert similaginem: / et qui facit misericordiam offert sacrificium. 5To depart from iniquity is that which pleaseth the Lord, and to depart from injustice, is an entreaty for sins.Quello, che piace al Signore si è la fuga dell'iniquità, e si rimuove la pena de' peccati coll'allontanarsi dalla ingiustizia.iniquitie is a thing that pleaseth our Lord wel: and to depart from iniustice is an intreating for sinnes.Beneplacitum est Domino recedere ab iniquitate: / et deprecatio pro peccatis recedere ab injustitia. 6Thou shalt not appear empty in the sight of the Lord.Non comparir dinanzi al Signore colle mani vuote;Thou shalt not appeare before the sight of our Lord emptie.Non apparebis ante conspectum Domini vacuus: 7For all these things are to be done because of the commandment of God.Perocché tutte queste cose si fanno per comandamento del Signore.For al these thinges are done because of the commandment of God.hæc enim omnia propter mandatum Dei fiunt. 8The oblation of the just maketh the altar fat, and is an odour of sweetness in the sight of the most High.L'obblazione del giusto impingua l'altare, ed è un odore soave nel cospetto dell'Altissimo.The oblation of the iust maketh a fatte altar, and is an odour of sweetenes in the sight of the Highest.Oblatio justi impinguat altare, / et odor suavitatis est in conspectu Altissimi.
9The sacrifice of the just is acceptable, and the Lord will not forget the memorial thereof.Il sagrifizio del giusto è gradito, e non se ne dimenticherà il Signore.The sacrifice of the iust is acceptable, and our Lord wil not forget the memorie thereof.Sacrificium justi acceptum est, / et memoriam ejus non obliviscetur Dominus. 10Give glory to God with a good heart: and diminish not the firstfruits of thy hands.Con lieto animo rendi onore a Dio, e non isminuire le primizie di tue fatiche.Render glorie to God with a good minde: and diminish not the first fruites of thine handes.Bono animo gloriam redde Deo, / et non minuas primitias manuum tuarum. 11In every gift shew a cheerful countenance, and sanctify thy tithes with joy.Tutto quello, che dai, dallo con volto ilare, e santifica le tue decime colla tua letizia.In euerie gift make thy countenance chereful, and in ioyfulnes sanctifie thy tithes.In omni dato hilarem fac vultum tuum, / et in exsultatione sanctifica decimas tuas. 12Give to the most High according to what he hath given to thee, and with a good eye do according to the ability of thy hands:Da all'Altissimo a proporzione di quello, che egli ti ha dato, e con lieto occhio offerisci secondo le tue facoltà;Geue to the Highest according to his gift, and with a good eie, doe according to the abilitie of thine handes:Da Altissimo secundum datum ejus, / et in bono oculo adinventionem facito manuum tuarum, 13For the Lord maketh recompense, and will give thee seven times as much.Perocché Dio è rimuneratore, e renderà a te il settuplo.because our Lord is a rewarder, and wil repay thee seuen times so much.quoniam Dominus retribuens est, / et septies tantum reddet tibi. 14Do not offer wicked gifts, for such he will not receive.Non offerire doni di rifiuto; perocché Dio non gli accetterà.Offer not wicked giftes, for he wil not receiue them.Noli offerre munera prava, / non enim suscipiet illa. 15And look not upon an unjust sacrifice, for the Lord is judge, and there is not with him respect of person.E non far capitale sopra un sagrifizio ingiusto, perché il Signore è giudice, ed egli non ha riguardo alla gloria delle persone.And looke not vpon an vniust sacrifice, because our Lord is iudge, and there is not with him the glorie of person.Et noli inspicere sacrificum injustum, / quoniam Dominus judex est, / et non est apud illum gloria personæ. 16The Lord will not accept any person against a poor man, and he will hear the prayer of him that is wronged.Il Signore non fa accettazione di persone in danno del povero; ed esaudisce la preghiera di lui quand'è offeso.Our Lord wil not accept person against the poore, and he wil heare the prayer of him that is hurt.Non accipiet Dominus personam in pauperem, / et deprecationem læsi exaudiet.
17He will not despise the prayers of the fatherless: nor the widow, when she poureth out her complaint.Egli non disprezza il pupillo, che lo prega, né la vedova, che gli parla co' suoi sospiri.He wil not despise the prayers of the pupil: nor the widow, if she power out speach of mourning.Non despiciet preces pupilli, / nec viduam, si effundat loquelam gemitus. 18Do not the widow’s tears run down the cheek, and her cry against him that causeth them to fall?Le lagrime della vedova, che scorron sulle sue guance, non son elleno tante grida contro di lui, che le fa scorrere.Do not the widows teares runne downe to the cheeke, & her exclamation vpon him that causeth them to runne?Nonne lacrimæ viduæ ad maxillam descendunt, / et exclamatio ejus super deducentem eas ? 19For from the cheek they go up even to heaven, and the Lord that heareth will not be delighted with them.Dalle guance di lei salgono insino al cielo, e il Signore, che esaudisce non le vedrà con piacere.For from the cheeke they goe vp euen to heauen, and our Lord the hearer wil not be delighted in them.A maxilla enim ascendunt usque ad cælum, / et Dominus exauditor non delectabitur in illis. 20He that adoreth God with joy, shall be accepted, and his prayer shall approach even to the clouds.Chi adora Dio con buona volontà, sarà ajutato, e la preghiera di lui arriverà sino alle nubi.He that adoreth God in delectation, shal be receiued, & his petition shal approch euen to the cloudes.Qui adorat Deum in oblectatione suscipietur, / et deprecatio illius usque ad nubes propinquabit. 21The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shall pierce the clouds: and till it come nigh he will not be comforted: and he will not depart till the most High behold.L'orazione di colui, che si umilia, penetrerà le nubi, ed ella non si darà posa fino, che si avvicini all'Altissimo, e non ne partirà, fino a tanto che egli a lei volga lo sguardo.The prayer of him that humbleth himself, shal penetrate the cloudes: and til it approch he wil not be comforted: and he wil not depart til the Highest behold.Oratio humiliantis se nubes penetrabit, / et donec propinquet non consolabitur, / et non discedet donec Altissimus aspiciat. 22And the Lord will not be slack, but will judge for the just, and will do judgment: and the Almighty will not have patience with them, that he may crush their back:Il Signore non differirà, ma vendicherà i giusti, e farà giustizia, e il Fortissimo non sarà paziente riguardo ad essi; ma aggraverà di tribolazioni il dorso di coloro:And our Lord wil not be long, but wil iudge the iust, and wil do iudgement: and the strongest wil not haue patience in them, that he may crush their backe:Et Dominus non elongabit: / et judicabit justos, et faciet judicium: / et Fortissimus non habebit in illis patientiam, / ut contribulet dorsum ipsorum:
23And he will repay vengeance to the Gentiles, till he have taken away the multitude of the proud, and broken the sceptres of the unjust,E punirà le nazioni fino a tanto, che abbia annichilata la moltitudine de' superbi, e spezzati gli scettri iniqui:and he wil repay vengeance to the Gentiles, til he take away the multitude of the proude: & breake the scepters of the vniust,et gentibus reddet vindictam, / donec tollat plenitudinem superborum, / et sceptra iniquorum contribulet: 24Till he have rendered to men according to their deeds: and according to the works of Adam, and according to his presumption,Fino a tanto, che abbia renduta mercede agli uomini secondo le opere loro, e secondo le opere dell'uomo, e secondo la presunzione di lui.til he reward men according to their doings: and according to the workes of man, and according to his presumption,donec reddat hominibus secundum actus suos, / et secundum opera Adæ, et secundum præsumptionem illius: 25Till he have judged the cause of his people, and he shall delight the just with his mercy.Fino a tanto, che abbia fatto giustizia al suo popolo, e abbia consolati i giusti colla sua misericordia.til he iudge the iudgement of his people, and shal delight the iust with his mercie:donec judicet judicium plebis suæ, / et oblectabit justos misericordia sua. 26The mercy of God is beautiful in the time of affliction, as a cloud of rain in the time of drought.Amabile la misericordia di Dio nel tempo di tribolazione come la piovosa nuvola in tempo di siccità.The mercie of God is beautiful in the time of tribulation, as a cloude of raine in the time of drught.Speciosa misericordia Dei in tempore tribulationis, / quasi nubes pluviæ in tempore siccitatis.
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Haydock
Offerings. He cannot otherwise observe the law. (Haydock)
Worthington
The sacrifices of penance, of justice, and of praise, are to be preferred before all external ones. (Worthington)
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Haydock
And to. Greek, (4.) "He," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
The peace-offering and that for sin, as well as the oblation of fine flour and of praise, (which is the most perfect of all) are noticed. (Calmet)
Worthington
External sacrifice must not be neglected. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Sacrifice. Greek adds, "of praise." (Haydock)
Calmet
This was the true spirit of the law. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Lord. The poor, who present a virtuous heart, are more acceptable than the rich, who are buried in sin, though the latter may offer the most splendid sacrifices. (Haydock)
Calmet
God requires that all should do according to their abilities. If they have nothing, they must fulfill the commandments, and he will be satisfied. Some have inferred from Exodus 23:16., that the poor were rejected. But the meaning of the law is here explained. (Calmet)
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Heart. Literally, "mind." Greek, "eye," (Haydock) free from avarice, 2 Corinthians 9:7.
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Calmet
Sanctify: "set apart" for the use of the ministers, and of the temple. (Calmet)
Worthington
God will reward thee much more. (Worthington)
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Haydock
For, etc., is not in Greek. God will protect the defenceless. (Haydock)
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Calmet
He, or "it." (Calmet)
Prayer is personified, and presents itself before God.
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Haydock
Them, the Gentiles, etc., ver. 23. Greek, "will not delay to punish them, till he crush the loins of the unmerciful. And," etc. (Haydock)
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Unjust Egyptians, Syrians, and Greeks, who then oppressed the Jews.
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Calmet
Adam, who was not spared. (Calmet)
Haydock
Greek, "of men and their desires." (Haydock)
Du Hamel
Our version seems to be taken from the Hebrew. (Du Hamel)
Menochius
Adam sometimes denotes any man. (Menochius)
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Haydock
The. Greek, "mercy is beautiful," etc., Psalm 9:10. (Haydock)
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Sacrifices of penance, Psal ••. of iustice Psal. • and of praise, ••a. 4•. 〈…〉 then 〈…〉
Concordance 1. Reg. 15. v. 22. Iere. 7.
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Neuertheles 〈…〉 is also necessarie
Exo. ••.
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Concordance 〈◊〉 •4. D••• ••.
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Concordance 2 Cor. •. ••• •.
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Often times so much. A• Prou. 24. Seuen times shal the iust fal, & shal ••• againe.
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Concordance Leuit. 22. Deut. 1•.
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Concordance 2 P••••. 19.
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Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistles of Pope Pontianus 2
… and until the before-noted matters are investigated, and the parties are found to be clear of such, they are not to be received: for the right sacrifice is to give heed to the commandments, and to depart from all iniquity. “To depart from wickedness is a thing pleasing to the Lord, and to forsake unrighteousness is a sacrifice of praise.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 69.19
… 16 ). He hath given this as a reason why He ought to be hearkened unto, because sweet is the mercy of God.…To a man set in trouble the mercy of God must needs be sweet. Concerning this sweetness of the mercy of God see ye what in another place the Scripture saith: “Like rain in drought, so beautiful is the mercy of God in trouble.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 42.15
… but it is “in the night” only that He “declares” His mercy to thee, which He “commended” to thee by day. When tribulation shall actually come, He will not leave thee destitute of His help; He will show thee that which He commended to thee in the daytime is true. For it is written in a certain passage, “The mercy of the Lord is seasonable
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But it should be read "oblation" (not "prayer"); for thus read the Roman and Greek texts. And the Syriac: "You have made," it says, "something which is written in the law, you have multiplied worship or service, namely, sacred rite or liturgy, which the Hebrews and Syrians call עבודה aboda. Similarly some read "word" for "law"; others, "word of the law." All of which come to the same thing. The sense is, as if to say, Many offer many external victims of oxen and sheep to God, and meanwhile live negligently or impiously, thinking that the force of sacrifice pleasing to God consists in external sacrifices. But they err: for God requires before all things an internal sacrifice, by which the soul is offered to God, and is slain for keeping His law, and for mortifying the desires that resist the divine law. I assert therefore that he who keeps the law offers many mystical oblations most pleasing to God: for each act conformable to the law is an act of obedience, justice, charity, temperance, etc., which please God exceedingly, and in which God delights as if in sacrifices offered to Him. For, as St. Augustine says, book X of the City of God, chapter vi: "True sacrifice is every work which is done, that we may cleave to God in holy fellowship, namely referred to that end of good by which we can truly be blessed." Such, however, is every work which God prescribed and sanctioned in the law. St. Augustine proves this very thing from St. Paul, Romans XII, 1, when he says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living host, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service. If therefore the body, which the soul uses as something lower, as a servant, or as an instrument, when its good and right use is referred to God, is a sacrifice; how much more the soul itself, when it refers itself to God, so that inflamed by the fire of His love, it loses the form of worldly desire, and reformed as subject to Him as to an unchangeable form; hence pleasing to Him, which it has received from His beauty, is a sacrifice?" Thus St. Augustine. Morally, let Religious who live under obedience note this teaching, and who are applied by it to the works of Martha, so that with Magdalene they cannot be free for prayer and sacrifice as often as they desire: and from this let them learn that obedience and the work of obedience is to them prayer and sacrifice; For obedience slays one's own will and judgment to God. Which is indeed a rational victim, intimate to man, and therefore most noble; and "it immolates itself by the sword of precept," says St. Gregory, book XXXV of the Morals, chapter x. Wherefore God said to Saul: "Obedience," He says, "is better than victims: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. For it is like the sin of divination to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to be unwilling to obey," I Kings XV, 22. To this pertains that saying of St. Basil, homily on Juliet the Martyr: "He who," it says, "always acts well, he always prays." For through every virtue we are joined to God. Which is the office of prayer. A saving sacrifice is to attend to the commandments. — It is a proof or confirmation of what he said: "He who keeps the law multiplies oblation;" because, namely, "a saving sacrifice," that is, one which is offered for salvation obtained or to be obtained, "is to attend to the commandments," as if to say, The observance of commandments is esteemed before God in the place, degree and dignity of sacrifice, and therefore avails as much for obtaining salvation as sacrifice avails. For although it be not a sacrifice properly so called, it is nevertheless a metaphorical and mystical sacrifice, more necessary and more pleasing to God than the sacrifice of lambs and goats: because through it man offers himself and his human, rational, spiritual and divine acts to God: but these far excel the brute flesh of lambs and goats, which is offered in carnal sacrifice. He alludes to the sacrifice of peace, Leviticus III. For God at the beginning of Leviticus ordained a threefold sacrifice, namely, first, a holocaust, which was offered entirely in honor of God, and therefore was entirely burned; second, for sin; third, a peace offering or salutary offering, which namely for peace, that is for one's own or another's salvation, private or public, whether already obtained for the giving of thanks, or still to be obtained for the obtaining from God, was offered. Whence the Zurich version translates: He who keeps the law makes abundant sacrifice; he who is devoted to the precepts offers a salutary victim; others: He who attends to the commandments offers a victim of salvation; the Greek Complutensian: A sacrificer of salvation, namely of a sacrifice, for instance a peace offering, attends to the commandments; the Roman: He who sacrifices a salutary offering, who attends to the commandments. For, as St. Gregory says, IX Morals XXXI: "We offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God, when we dedicate our life to divine worship." The Syriac: He who keeps the precept, blessed is his spirit.
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Add that withdrawal from iniquity cannot happen unless by eliciting an act of the opposite virtue. For no one withdraws from lust except through an act of chastity; nor from pride except through an act of humility; nor from anger except through an act of patience; nor from gluttony except through an act of temperance; nor from denial of faith, if a tyrant compels him to it, except through an act of martyrdom, and so forth with the others. Moreover, all acts of virtues are a great worship of God; because through them God, their author and legislator, is greatly honored and revered. Thus the Romans read and understand this passage. Otherwise Jansenius reads the former part differently, namely: "And mercy is a sacrifice of atonement"; and thus he explains it, as if to say: Clemency, by which someone readily forgives another who has sinned against him and becomes propitious to him, is before God as it were to offer a sacrifice for sins committed: because through such clemency pardon for one's own offenses is obtained, according to that saying of the Savior: "If you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses," Matthew VI. Or as if to say: Mercy, by which someone strives to render God propitious to himself, is as it were to offer a sacrifice for injustice. But it should be read with the Romans in the manner which I cited a little before; wherefore the sense given at the beginning is true and genuine. This verse is now lacking in the Greek; because it says almost the same thing as verse 1 said. The Greek text, however, is accustomed to cut out such things as are repeated and to embrace them in a summary. It is also lacking in Rabanus, but he substituted this for it: "His supplication before the eyes of God shall find grace," and thus he explains it, as if to say: His supplication, namely of him who withdraws from iniquity, shall find grace before God: because by doing well he preserved justice, according to that saying of Isaiah LVIII, 6: "Loose the bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress, let them that are broken go free, and break asunder every burden. Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into thy house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear: thou shalt cry, and he shall say: Here I am."
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Secondly, thus you may translate with the Zurich Bible and others: He that repayeth gratitude (the Complutensian edition adds ὡς, that is, as one who) offereth fine flour or maketh oblation: and he that exerciseth beneficence offereth a sacrifice of praise or thanksgiving; so that two offices of virtue are here commended, and are compared with one another, namely gratitude and beneficence, as if to say: He who for a benefit received repayeth gratitude, he as it were offereth fine flour to God: whereby it is signified that gratitude is pleasing to God in the manner of a sacrifice. In like manner he who exerciseth mercy or beneficence offereth a sacrifice, and (as the Greek hath it) is a sacrificer of praise, that is, offereth a sacrifice of praise to God. Two therefore are the sacrifices of praise, by which God is praised, delighted and glorified, namely gratitude and mercy. But why is mention made here of gratitude rather than of some other virtue, when there are others more excellent and more to be compared with mercy and sacrifice? Wherefore the first sense, being more strict and connected, is also more apt and genuine. And according to it you may easily explain this second version, and accommodate it to the first, so that the sense comes to the same thing, as if to say: As he that repayeth gratitude offereth fine flour, so he that doeth mercy offereth to God a sacrifice of praise, as if to say: Mercy is as it were an oblation of fine flour, which is offered "in ainesin," that is, in thanksgiving: because by almsgiving, which you give to the poor out of love of God, you repay the thanks due to God for so many gifts. Finally the Syriac version translateth it thus: He that offereth a great oblation to God maketh a loan: and he that doeth almsgiving keepeth the law. Note that in the Greek almsgiving is here called a sacrifice of praise αἰνέσεως, which correspondeth to the Hebrew תודה toda, that is, of praise and thanksgiving; and the almsgiver, a sacrificer of praise: first, because it is done unto the praise of God, and is a great praise of God; secondly, because it causeth the poor to praise God, to whom this disposition was inspired by the almsgiver, that he might succour their necessity; thirdly, because others seeing this beneficence praise God, and are incited to imitate it; fourthly, because the almsgiver himself giveth alms out of love and honour of God, and often in act praiseth God, that He hath inspired him with the faculty and will to give alms. Whence St. Paul, commending the alms of the Corinthians given to him, that he might carry them to the faithful dwelling in Judaea: "For," saith he, "the administration of this office not only supplieth that which was wanting to the saints, but also aboundeth through many thanksgivings in the Lord, by the proof of this administration, glorifying God in the obedience of your confession unto the Gospel of Christ, and in the simplicity of your communication towards them and towards all, and in their supplication for you, desiring you for the eminent grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift," II Cor. cap. IX, vers. 12. Wherefore wisely St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his oration On the Care of the Poor: "Exhibit," saith he, "some token of gratitude to God, in that He hath made you one of those who are able to bestow benefits, not one of those who have need to receive: and that you need not look upon the hands of others, but others upon yours. Be rich, not only in wealth, but also in piety. Surpass others not only in the possession of gold, but also of virtue, showing yourself more upright and benevolent. Be a god to the afflicted, imitating the mercy of God: for nothing more divine falleth upon man than beneficence. Let not night itself intercept your mercy. Say not: Come again another time, and I will give tomorrow; lest something perchance happen between your intention and the benefit, whereby it may be hindered. If you see one naked, clothe him, honouring your immortal garment, which is Christ." For, as St. Nilus saith: "As it is the property of light to illuminate, so it is the property of God to have mercy on His works. And Phocion in the writings of Maximus, serm. 7: "Neither from the temple is the altar to be taken away, nor from human nature" mercy," because this is an altar and a victim most pleasing to God. And Philo, ibid.: "You ought to love more, O Emperor, those who humbly beseech you to bestow benefits upon them, than those who study to offer gifts to you: for to these you owe recompense; but those make God your debtor, who reckoneth among His own what He hath bestowed upon them, who will recompense with the best gifts your humanity and the institution of your benevolence." Thus he himself to the Emperor Caius. Finally the divine Raphael to Tobias, cap. XII, vers. 6: "Bless," saith he, "the God of heaven, etc., because almsgiving delivereth from death, and it is that which purgeth away sins, and maketh to find mercy and eternal life. When you didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave your dinner, and didst hide the dead by day in your house, and didst bury them by night, I offered your prayer to the Lord. And now the Lord hath sent me to heal you."
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instruction given to his son, cap. IV, vers. 8: "In whatever way thou art able, be merciful in that way. If much shall be thine, give abundantly: if little shall be thine, even to give little willingly strive." For, as St. Ambrose says, lib. De Viduis: "Liberality is defined not by the heap of patrimony, but by the affection of generosity." And St. Chrysostom, hom. 10 in II Corinthians: "Much and little God does not define by the measure of what is given, but by the power of the giver's means." St. Gregory Nazianzen, orat. 43, reads: "Thou shalt not appear empty in the sight of the Lord." And explaining and illustrating this, he adds: "But if thou hast anything beautiful, thou shalt bring it with thee," for to God most beautiful and most excellent, the most beautiful and most excellent things must be given, as he himself ordained in Num. XVIII, 29: "All things," he says, "which you shall offer of the tithes, and in the gifts of the Lord you shall separate, shall be the best and chosen." St. Irenaeus gives the reason for this commandment, lib. IV, cap. XXXIV: "Thou shalt not appear," he says, "empty before the sight of the Lord thy God; so that in those things in which man has been pleasing, in those things pleasing to him, he may receive honor from him who is from him," that is to say. Therefore not empty, but bringing offerings before God you shall appear, first, so that you may profess that you have received these and many more things from God, and may give him thanks; secondly, so that through these you may conciliate the grace of God for yourselves; thirdly, so that through these you may obtain great honor. For God did not institute these things for his own sake, as if he needed this honor and desired it, since he himself from the Holy Trinity has infinite honor, so that nothing of honor can be added to him by angels, men and other creatures honoring him; but he did this for your sake, namely so that he might affect you with this honor. For it is great honor to be a priest of God, to sacrifice to God, to offer to God, and that God immense deigns to receive those things from a mere man, and to hold them as ratified and pleasing. Fourth, God ordained these offerings so that from them the Levites and priests might be sustained to minister to God in the temple; for these had no other inheritance in Israel. Whence morally St. Chrysostom, homil. 67 to the People, at the end, and homil. 1 in II Timothy, teaches from this place that we ought not to enter the temple empty, but bringing alms, which we distribute to the poor, who for this reason stand before the doors and beg: "Thou shalt not appear," he says, "empty before the Lord: these things were said to the Jews, how much more to us? for this reason the poor are placed before the doors, so that no one may enter empty, but that he may enter with alms: if, in order to obtain mercy, thou enterest, first have mercy. But he who comes later owes more; for when we have begun, the second gives more. Make God thy debtor, and then ask him; lend, and finally demand repayment from God, so that thou mayest receive with interest. God wills this, he does not refuse it. If thou askest with alms, he is grateful; if thou demandest repayment with alms, he lends, and thou receivest interest: thus I exhort you. It is not enough to be heard in the extension of hands. Extend thy hands, not to heaven, but to the hands of the poor. If thou extendest thy hand to the hands of the poor, thou shalt have touched the very summit of heaven: for he who sits there receives alms; if indeed thou shalt have offered empty hands, thou shalt have profited nothing." Mystically, Theodoret, in Exodus XXIII, Quaest. LIII: It is commanded, he says, that the rich man distribute alms while he prays to God; but he who has chosen poverty, so that his soul is by no means empty of goods, but enriched with an abundance of virtues, brings and offers it. Whence Nazianzen, orat. 43 On the Dedication, teaches that we ought to celebrate the dedication in this way, so that before God we appear not xeroi, that is empty, but kainoi, that is new: "But now," he says, "appear new in a different way, namely so that thou art wholly changed: the old things have passed away, behold all things are made new." Which Nicetas explaining: "Appear new," he says, "not according to this scripture of the empty, that is of one having nothing, but according to another meaning of the new, that is, renewed, and through progress and increase of virtue and wholly changed, either from vice to virtue, or from lesser virtue to greater." If therefore thou shalt empty thy heart of the vain love of the world, and shalt renew and fill it with the love of God alone, thou shalt certainly fulfill this precept. It is memorable what we read of St. Francis in the Chronicles, that he, conversing with God in prayer on Mount Alvemia, lest he should appear before Him empty, was commanded by God appearing in a flame of fire to make a threefold offering to Him. And when St. Francis responded: "Lord, I am wholly Thine, and I have nothing except my tunic, and my cord, and my breeches, and these likewise are Thine;" God commanded him to put his hand into his bosom, and whatever he should find there, to offer that to Him. When he had done this, he found in his bosom successively three enormous golden coins most brilliant, which he immediately offered to God, and soon understood that by this threefold offering were figured golden obedience, the most exalted poverty, and the most splendid chastity, which God had placed in his mind, that he should offer them to Him. Hence therefore let us learn, and in deed practice it, that when we approach God praying, celebrating or hearing Mass, communicating, we do not approach empty; but let us offer Him some good resolution of overcoming ourselves in that matter which most hinders our progress, or of doing some heroic work, or certainly let us offer to God a heart empty of all earthly love, that He Himself may fill it with His love. Some after the Holy Synaxis use these two things with great fruit: first, that they offer to God that which they think is most pleasing to God, namely that which they judge God most to desire and seek from them; afterwards, that in turn they ask from Christ the Lord some grace or gift, of which they most have need. Thus they lead Christ as it were a physician through all the powers of their soul, and where they see greater infirmity, they beseech and implore that He deign to heal it. Wherefore in each Holy Synaxis they will obtain their own and particular grace, as we read happened to St. Catherine of Siena and others. This was the doctrine and practice of Cardinal Bellarmine. Anagogically, before the tribunal of Christ no one ought to appear empty of good works, who wishes to be saved. Hear St. Gregory (and from him Rabanus), book VII on Job, chapter XIII, on that passage of chapter VI, verse 18: They shall walk in vain, and shall perish. "In vain indeed, he says, do they walk, who carry with them nothing of the fruit of their labor. For one man sweats in acquiring honors, another is eager in multiplying wealth, another pants in earning praises; but because each man abandons all these things when dying, he has lost his labors in vain, because he brought nothing with him before the judge. On the contrary, it is well said by the law: Thou shalt not appear empty in the sight of the Lord. For he who does not provide for earning the reward of life by acting well, appears empty in the sight of the Lord. Hence of the just it is said through the Psalmist: But they that come shall come with rejoicing, carrying their sheaves. For they come bearing sheaves to the examination of judgment, who show in themselves the right works by which they merit life. Hence of each elect one the Psalmist again says: Who hath not received his soul in vain. For he receives his soul in vain, who thinking only of the present, does not attend to what follows in perpetuity. He receives his soul in vain, who neglecting its life, prefers care of the flesh to it: but the just do not receive their souls in vain, because with continuous intention they refer whatever they do bodily to its utility, so that even when the work passes away, the cause of the work does not pass away, which prepares the rewards of life after life. But the reprobate neglect to care for these things, because indeed walking in vain, they flee life, losing what they find."
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Devotion therefore is as it were the fat of a victim, enriching it and making it most pleasing and delightful to God; for devoted minds are God's delights. Moreover, St. Thomas examines, defines and explains true and manly devotion, not a womanish devotion of tears, from its deepest root in II II, Question LXXXII, article 1: "Devotion," he says, "is said to come from devoting oneself: whence those are called devoted who in some way devote themselves to God, so that they subject themselves entirely to Him. For which reason also formerly among the Gentiles those were called Devoted who devoted themselves to idols unto death for the safety of their army, as Titus Livius relates of the two Decii. Whence devotion appears to be nothing other than a certain willingness readily to give oneself to those things which pertain to the service of God. Whence in Exodus XXXV, it is said that the multitude of the children of Israel offered the firstfruits to the Lord with a most ready and devoted mind. Now it is manifest that the willingness readily to do what pertains to the service of God is a certain special act: whence devotion is a special act of the will." The same author, in article 3, assigning the causes of devotion, teaches that its extrinsic cause is God, who breathes and inspires it into the mind, but its intrinsic cause is meditation. For, as St. Augustine says, book XIV of On the Trinity, chapter VIII, the will arises from understanding: "And therefore," says St. Thomas, "it is necessary that meditation be the cause of devotion, inasmuch as namely through meditation man conceives that he should give himself to divine service, to which indeed a twofold consideration leads. One indeed which is from the side of divine goodness and His benefits, according to that Psalm LXII: It is good for me to adhere to God: to put my hope in the Lord God. And this consideration excites charity, which is the proximate cause of devotion. The other indeed is from the side of man considering his own defects, from which he needs to lean upon God, according to that Psalm CXX: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence shall help come to me. My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. And this consideration excludes presumption, by which someone is hindered from subjecting himself to God, while he leans upon his own strength." Moreover St. Bernard, in the Sentences: "Four things," he says, "are said to increase the grace of our devotion. The memory of sins, which makes man humble in himself. The recollection of punishments, which urges him to act well. The consideration of pilgrimage, which exhorts him that visible things ought to be despised. The desire of eternal life, which inciting man to perfection, compels him to be suspended from earthly affections by a change of will. See the same author on the causes and signs of devotion and fervor, sermon 6 On the Ascension of the Lord. The same author, sermon 18 in the Canticles, assigns prayer as the cause of devotion: "By praying," he says, "the wine is drunk that gladdens the heart of man, the wine of the spirit, which inebriates, and brings forgetfulness of carnal pleasures. It moistens the interior of the parched conscience, digests the food of good works and conducts it through certain members of the soul, strengthening faith, comforting hope, enlivening and ordering charity, and enriching morals." And the odor of sweetness is in the sight of the Most High. — Clement of Alexandria, book III of the Paedagogus, chapter XII, reads: "The odor of sweetness to God is a heart that glorifies Him." And he adds: "These are the crowns, and sacrifices, and aromatics, and flowers of God." He alludes to that Genesis I, 9: "For a holocaust and a sweet odor to the Lord," that is, as the Chaldean clearly translates: It is an offering of holocaust, which is received with good pleasure before the Lord. Whence for sweet odor, or odor of sweetness, in Hebrew it is ריח ניחוח reach nichoach, that is, an odor of rest, in which namely God rests and delights sweetly as in a sacrifice acceptable to Him. For the cause and symbol of this thing, frankincense was placed upon every victim, and it was burned and consumed with the victim, so that it might emit a sweet smoke, which would smell sweetly to the nostrils both of men and of God anthropopathically, and would delight them, as is evident Leviticus II, 2. For frankincense was a symbol of the mind elevated to God, and ascending to God with this vaporization of frankincense. Whence that of the Psalmist Psalm CXL, 2: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight." Except the victim for sin; for frankincense was not placed upon it, so that it might be signified that sin does not smell well like frankincense, but most badly, and is abominable before God, as I showed Leviticus V, 11. Hence of Noah at the end of the flood sacrificing to God it is said Genesis VIII, 21: "And the Lord smelled a sweet odor, and said: I will no more curse the earth." Where St. Chrysostom: "The virtue of the just Noah," he says, "made the smoke and savor of the victim to God an odor of fragrance." That is, what Ben Sira teaches here, as if to say: The offering of the just mystically fattens the victim, and therefore makes it fragrant, that is, pleasing and acceptable to God, because in the nostrils of God justice, holiness and devotion smell more sweetly than all frankincense and perfume. Antistrophic to this sentence of Jesus Ben Sira is that of one of the seventy Interpreters of Holy Scripture, numbered the twenty-seventh. Whence some think him to be the same as our Jesus Ben Sira. For when Ptolemy Philadelphia had proposed to him the question: "What is more worthy of beauty?" he answered: "Piety; for it itself is a certain excellent beauty: but its power, charity, which is indeed a gift of God, which you also possess, embracing all good things in itself." Thus Aristeas, in the book On the Seventy Interpreters.
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Learn morally here how pleasing to God are religion and the worship of God, and therefore ought to be dear and a matter of care to us, especially because the Gentiles knew this very thing by the light and impulse of nature, and pursued it with great zeal. For no nation was so barbarous, says Cicero, in the book On the Nature of the Gods, which by the guidance of natural reason did not know and worship some divine power. The same thing St. Augustine demonstrates at length, I On the City of God, XXXIV; Rhodiginus, book XXIII, 1; Justin, book XXVIII; Halicarnassus, book II. The Romans excelled in this matter, who preferred the worship of the gods to all public and private affairs, and before all else sought in what way they could increase their worship. "It was more ancient, says Plutarch in the Life of Marcellus, for the safety of the state, if magistrates undertook the worship of the gods, than if they overcame enemies." Hence Romulus first of all established those things which pertain to the worship of the divine. From this, as if from a happy and holy beginning given to affairs, he proceeded to the ordering of the republic. Thus Halicarnassus, book II. Romulus was surpassed in arranging sacred things by his successor Numa Pompilius. Aristotle teaches the same thing to be done, book V of the Politics, chapter XI. The reason a priori is, because God is the highest and immense majesty, full of all holiness, wisdom, power, clemency, justice, and every virtue and perfection; therefore all honor and glory is owed to Him. Again, God is the principle, cause and end of all fruits and things; therefore the firstfruits of all things are owed to Him. Whence St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in the Oration on the Nativity, describes God thus: "He holds within Himself the universe, never having begun, never ceasing, as a certain infinite and boundless sea of essence." The same in his Poems: In You all things remain, to You all things hasten together, You are the end of all, You alone, and all things, and nothing of things. Namely, because God is not some created thing, but transcends all things immensely: Since You are neither mind, nor all, by what name shall I call You, You who alone are unnameable and all-named? And St. Dionysius, in the book On the Divine Names, chapter V: "God, he says, is not being in any way and anticipating," because before creatures existed in themselves, they already existed in God. And below: "In which (divine unity) all things are uniquely joined together, super-united and pre-existing super-essentially." And chapter IV: "In Him is every exemplary principle, final, efficient, formal, elemental, and simply every principle, every connection, every terminus." Whence the Apostle exclaims, Rom. XI, 33: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His ways! etc. For of Him, and by Him, and in Him are all things: to Him be glory for ever. Amen." Justly therefore Simeon, surnamed the Just, who flourished in the last time of the Synagogue, used to say: "This world is solidified by the aid and firmness of three things, the worship of God, the law and mercy." For God is the basis and center of the world, whom we reconcile to ourselves by piously worshipping Him. Thus it is related in Pirke Avoth, that is in the Chapters or Proverbs of the Hebrew Fathers, chapter 1.
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Secondly, Jansenius explains it thus, as if to say: By exultation and joy make the tithes which you pay to be holy and pleasing to God. For cheerfulness of mind adds much to virtue and holiness, equally as to the offering itself. For this makes the work more beautiful, more intense, better and more perfect, and as it were seasoned with the sugar of cheerfulness. Whence "God loveth a cheerful giver," Prov. XXII, 8, according to the Septuagint, which words Paul cites, II Cor. IX, 7, when exhorting the Corinthians to almsgiving: "Not with sadness, saith he, or necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." For, as St. Augustine saith in Psalm XLII: "Almsgiving is often done by the sad and murmuring, that they may be rid of the annoyance of the beggar, not that they may refresh the bowels of the needy. But God loveth a cheerful giver; but if thou givest bread with sadness, thou hast lost both the bread and the merit. Therefore do it from the heart, that he who seeth within, while thou art yet speaking, may say: Behold I am here." I have said more concerning this cheerfulness in giving at II Cor. IX, 7. For cheerfulness is the sign of a good and devout will, saith Lyra, and it is itself the beauty and flower of virtue; for far more becoming is a work of mercy, obedience, patience, humility, etc., which is done cheerfully, than that which is done with a sad and sorrowful mind, and therefore slow and sluggish. Whence the widow offering two mites cheerfully was judged by Christ to have offered more than others offering much, Luke XXI, 4. Mystically Rabanus: the firstfruits, that is the beginning of works; and the tithes, that is the end of the same are to be offered to God; for the number ten signifies perfection and end; because the number grows up to ten, and there as it were ending returns to the beginning; for ten and one make eleven, ten and two make twelve, and so consequently of the rest. And so, saith Rabanus, as in the firstfruits we are commanded to refer the beginnings of our wills to the Lord, so in the tithes the consumations of our works, from whom both the beginning of a good work and the effect of perfection are given. The Gentiles imitated the same thing, who as they celebrated their Floralia, Vinalia, Bacchanalia, Saturnalia, and also Hilaria with cheerfulness in victims and offerings. Hear Macrobius, lib. I Saturn. cap. XXVI: "The beginning of joy is celebrated on the eighth day before the Calends of April (that is on the 25th of March), at which time the sun first extends the day longer than the night. Formerly therefore the vernal equinox fell on the 25th of March; whence many think that on that same day the world was first created by God, as on the same day it was recreated and renewed, when the Angel announced to the Blessed Virgin that she conceived the Son of God, and the Word was made flesh, and on the same day after 34 years the world was redeemed by Christ. For the opinion of the learned is that Christ was crucified and died on the 25th of March. Deservedly therefore on that day with so many names do the Hilaria celebrate not only the Gentiles, but also the Christians. Furthermore, because our prayers and works are exile and vile, and not equal and worthy even in the least part to the divine majesty; hence God gave us Christ equal to himself, that we might offer him in the sacrifice of the Eucharist as a victim worthy and equal to God. Again he willed that through Christ we should offer all things to him. Hence the practice of rendering our works, which in themselves are small and abject, most excellent and most acceptable to God, is to unite and insert them into the actions, merits and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and offer them united to God; wherefore on account of this union and conjunction he esteems them greater, and more willingly on account of that infinite love which he bears toward his Son, accepts them. Moreover our actions are not only more pleasing to God, but also more meritorious, on account of the infinite merits of our Lord which by virtue of this union and oblation made to him, are abundantly communicated to the same. For which reason St. Paul excites us to this practice, saying: "All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," Coloss. III, 17. Ludovicus Blosius, abbot of Laetius, a great master of spiritual things, in Instit. spirit. cap. IX, exhorts all those desirous of making spiritual gain to this practice, saying: "He who applies himself to piety and devotion, let him accustom himself to refer all his works through holy intention to the honour of God; let him accustom himself to unite and join both those things which he does and those which he suffers to the works and sufferings of Christ through prayer or desire." And in his Spiritual Mirror he speaks thus: "If you shall have joined your good works and exercises with the acts and exercises of Christ, and thus shall have offered them to God for eternal praise: truly this oblation will be most pleasing to the Lord himself, and your works will receive from the acts of Christ, with which they are united, an ineffable clarity and dignity; your lead, so to speak, will be changed into the finest gold, and your water into the most excellent wine." The reason is, because your works, vile, obscure and imperfect in themselves, will become most illustrious and acceptable to God by this union, in that they receive from the merits of Christ a singular and distinguished goodness, just as a drop of water cast into a vessel full of wine receives the finest taste and color of wine. In the preceding passages of the Spiritual Institution he adds this: "The good works of him who piously observes this excel incomparably the good works of him who does not observe it." And again at the end of this chapter: "All these things, he says, the Lord has deigned to reveal to his most intimate friends, that by this means we might render our works most noble, and relieve our poverty from the inexhaustible treasure of the merits of Christ, and adorn our souls with the same merits of Christ; that finally by this means we might most easily make satisfaction for our sins." By which words he plainly demonstrates to us the great benefits which are derived to us from this exercise. Cyril adorns this doctrine with a notable allegory of the eagle and the phoenix, and ornaments it with wise moral lessons, in book III of his Moral Allegories, chapter XXV: "The eagle, looking down from on high with watchful gaze and seeking prey, when it beheld the phoenix burning itself in self-generated fire, suddenly descended to it and said: Do you not grieve in this burning? But the phoenix answered: And do you not rejoice in hunting? Then the eagle said: Yes indeed. To which the phoenix replied: Surely just as you, eager, delight in the capture of prey, so the phoenix delights in the generous giving of substance. For the joy in the display of liberality is not less than in the plunder of greed. For every action of virtue is followed by an outpouring of delight. For this reason, dearest, I do not grieve in this fire, but I delight; because in the generation of another I pour out myself entirely as delightfully as liberally." Finally he demonstrates the same thing by the example of the viper, the marrow, the heart and the stomach: "Have you never considered with what an impulse of delight the viper liberally pours itself out in generation, so that it does not even feel the bitterness of the bite of death? Assuredly nature communicates all its benefits liberally, not without great delight. Thus it generously bestows the generative marrow with vivifying benefit and sweetness, and with joy the heart is poured out, and when the stomach has devoured the digested chyle, it delights. For every liberal gift is with gladness of heart. Since to pour out itself is to increase virtue."
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Whence Jansenius by diastole reads κατ' ωρήμα, that is, according to the invention, as if to say: Make according to, that is, according to what your hands find, or according to what you have acquired with your hands. The Zurich version translates forcefully: Give gifts to the Most High according to his munificence (as if to say: Be generous toward God who is so generous toward you, and as much as he is generous in you, be you generous in him), and with a benign eye what is at hand. The Syriac clearly: Give to God as he gave to you with a good eye (that is, cheerfully), and with a great hand (that is, widely and liberally): for he who gives to the poor lends to God; for who is the rewarder but he himself?
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Symbolically and mystically Rabanus: "He gives to the Most High according to his gift, he says, who, mindful of His benefits, first offers himself rightly to God by believing well and acting well; because from Him he has what he substantially is; since from Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things. Then that which he possesses outside himself of his own gift, let him spend entirely with good intention in praise of Him. This is indeed what he says: And in a good eye make the invention of the works of thy hands; because the Lord, he says, will repay sevenfold; that is, He will render perfect recompense. For the number seven, on account of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are demonstrated in it, is perfect." And below: Anagogically: "In the number seven the perfection of eternity is sought, when the seventh day sanctified in the rest of the Lord is called, when already evening is not said to be present, because the rest of eternal blessedness is confined by no limit. Hence also it is that by the law given the seventh day is commanded to be free, so that eternal rest might be designated through it; because through the number seven the whole of the present life is designated. Then it is shown more, when after it also thus the number eight is brought in. For the number seven, when another still follows it, is expressed from its very argument, because times to be ended are concluded by eternity. It is written: Give portions seven, and also eight. Through the number seven indeed that which is done in seven days, present time expressed; through the number eight truly it designated perpetual life, which however the Lord revealed to us through His resurrection, when namely He rose on the Lord's day, which, while it follows the seventh day, that is the Sabbath, is found to be the eighth from the beginning." Note here eight conditions which God requires for an oblation, sacrifice, vow and any gift, so that it may please Him. The first is verse 8, that it be offered in justice, namely by a just and holy man. For this man is God's friend, indeed His son, while the sinner is God's enemy; but the gifts of enemies are no gifts. The second is verse 10, that it be offered with a good mind, that is sincere, joyful, pious, devoted to glorifying Him. The third, in the same place, that the gift be whole, not cut off, not diminished. The fourth, verse 11, that it be offered with a cheerful mind, indeed exulting. The fifth, verse 12, that it be excellent and distinguished, because it is offered to the Most High. The sixth, in the same place, that it be large and liberal, namely as much as strength and means bear, according to that: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength," Deuteronomy VI, 5. Christ adds: "With all thy strength, and with all thy mind," Luke X, 27. The seventh, in the following verse, that the gift be not depraved, that is vitiated, maimed, distorted, corrupted; but uncorrupted and perfect. The eighth, that the gift be not iniquitous, but justly obtained, verse 15.
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The Syriac version truly translates: Do not delay; for it is not acceptable. He takes these therefore concerning the cutting off of time, as if he forbids that a gift, or victim commanded to be offered on the Sabbath, be offered on Tuesday or Wednesday. From what has been said it is clear that Our author translated δωροκόπει most excellently, especially because in II Maccabees I, it is taken thus, when it says, δεδωροκοπημένοι εἰς μηχανὴν τῆς ἐκφυγῆς, that is corrupted by gifts for the contrivance of escape. Whence the Greek Lexica, they say, δωροκοπεῖν is to offer depraved gifts. Thus κοπτοκέρμα are called grains and seeds, when they are vitiated, especially when hostile and harmful animals are born in them, as is evident from Theophrastus, book VIII of the History of Plants, chapter V, and On the Causes of Plants, book IV, final chapter.
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St. Gregory illustrates this matter with a notable example, in book III of the Dialogues, chapter XXVI: "In Samnium, he says, a venerable man named Menas led a solitary life. His zeal was to have nothing in this world, to seek nothing, and to kindle all who came to him for the sake of charity toward the desires of eternal life. But whenever he became aware of the faults of any, he never refrained from rebuke, but inflamed with the fire of love, he strove to rage against them vehemently with his tongue. Fearing this, Carrerius, who had abducted a consecrated virgin and joined her to himself in unlawful marriage, made his offerings, and placed them among the offerings of others. When the man of God learned of them through the spirit, he spurned and cast them aside, saying: Go and tell him: You have taken away his offering from almighty God, and you send me your offerings? I do not accept your offering, because you have taken away his offering to God."
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Rabanus speaks excellently: "Before the supreme judge, he says, neither the quantity of the gift nor the person of the powerful is weighed, but the quantity of devotion and the humility of the heart. Therefore he exhorts us to offer gifts to God not from unjust gain, but from just labor. Since the Lord is a just judge, and accepts not the person of the rich, nor despises the person of the poor." God therefore hears the prayers and curses of the poor, because he is the protector of the oppressed poor, and the avenger of the rich who oppress. And although the poor sometimes utter these curses from anger and impatience, nevertheless because they seek a just cause, God hears them on this account, and sends curses upon those who oppress them. A rare example, but proclaimed throughout all Holland, is that of Margaret, Countess of Holland, which Godfrey of Viterbo the monk recounts, in his letter to St. Ida, Meyerus in the Annals of Flanders, Adrian Junius in Batavia, chapter XX, toward the end. For a poor woman, having given birth to twins and nursing them, asked for alms from the Countess, and was rejected with reproach by her. For she said that the woman had conceived uncertain offspring from adultery: for it could not happen that two offspring would be born from one husband. She, invoking God as witness of her chastity: "If, she said, I am chaste, not an adulteress (as I am), I pray that I may bear as many sons as there are days in a year." God heard her prayer, and in fact fulfilled it. There exists at Losdunum, near The Hague, a tablet of the Count with this inscription of the deed: "Margaret, daughter of Florence, Count of Holland, in the year of salvation 1276, in the 42nd year of her age, on the very day of Good Friday, at the ninth hour before noon, gave birth to living infants of both sexes numbering 364, who after they had received the sacrament of baptism in a certain basin through the venerable Bishop Guido the Suffragan, in the presence of certain nobles and magnates, and the males were named John, the females indeed the name Elizabeth
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For he, on account of his witty fables by which he bit at the vices of men, was seized for unjust death, and told the fable of the scarab: which having suffered injury from an eagle, inserting itself into its wings flew away with it to the nest, and there broke its eggs: then when the eagle placed the eggs in the bosom of Jupiter as in a sanctuary, and supplicated God to guard them, the scarab made a ball from dung and ascended, and placed it in the bosom of Jupiter. Jupiter rising up to shake out the dung, ejected and forgot the eggs, which he also broke when they fell: "And you therefore, says Aesop, men of Delphi, do not despise this god to whom he has fled; for neither will he neglect the impious." But the Delphians, caring little for this, led him straight to death: wherefore he himself, narrating other similar fables: "I curse, he said, your country, and I call the gods to witness, that I perish beyond all justice, and those who avenge me will be heard." They therefore cast him headlong from a cliff, and he died. Not long after, however, laboring under a plague, they received an oracle that the death of Aesop must be expiated. To which, because they were also conscious to themselves that they had unjustly killed him, they even erected a monument. But the leading men of Greece, and all the most learned, when they too had understood what had been done to Aesop, went to Delphi, and having held an inquiry with them, they themselves also became avengers of Aesop's death. Thus Planudes in the Life of Aesop, toward the end.
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The Zurich version: The supplication of the orphan he will by no means neglect, nor the prayers of the widow pouring forth: does not the widow's tears flowing down to his cheek invoke aid against him who causes them? The Syriac: He does not abandon the groaning of orphans, and he hears the prayer of widows, he himself hears the bitterness of the soul of the poor. Hence God is called "the father of orphans and the judge of widows," Psalm LXVII, 6. Finally, this is the just law of retaliation which God established, Exodus XXII, 22: "You shall not harm widows and orphans. If you harm them, they will cry out to me, and I will hear their cry: and my wrath will be kindled, and I will strike you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons shall be orphans."
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Again our Pineda, in chapter IV of Ecclesiastes, verse 1, expounds thus: "From the jaw they ascend into heaven;" where, like vapors which are raised up from the earth, they are seen to condense into clouds and rain: "And the Lord, the hearkener, will not be delighted in them," that is, when the oppression and calumny of the widow shall have greatly displeased Him, from her tears and cry, He creates a thick rain with punishments, thunders, lightnings, hail, which He hurls forth indignantly against the impious and oppressors. There exists on this matter among Alciatus a remarkable emblem of the struggle between the scarab and the eagle, teaching that the poor and small are not harmed with impunity by the great, nor are to be despised, and that they are able to avenge their injury. Hear it: "The scarab wages war and provokes the enemy of his own accord, / Inferior in strength, he overcomes by counsel. / For in the feathers of the eagle he hides himself secretly and unrecognized, / That he may seek the nest of the enemy through the highest stars. / And piercing the eggs he prevents the hope of offspring growing: / And in this way, having avenged the affront inflicted, he departs."
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Moreover in "in well-pleasedness," the Roman codices distinguish it together from "shall be accepted," and connect it with "he that adoreth God," as if to say "He that adoreth God in well-pleasedness," in Greek ἐν εὐδοκίᾳ, that is in good will, with a willing, cheerful and joyful mind; he shall be accepted by Him. Others, however, connect it with "shall be accepted." Whence the Zurich version translates: "The religious man shall be accepted with benevolence, and his prayer shall reach unto the clouds;" others: "The worshipper of God shall be benevolently received, and his prayer shall reach even unto the clouds." Morally learn how efficacious are the prayers of the Religious, and how easily and willingly they are heard by God, so that from the earth they ascend above the clouds, open heaven and reach unto the throne of God, and bend God Himself. St. James teaches this by the example of Elias, now closing heaven by his prayer, now opening it, epistle, chapter V, verse 17, and St. Chrysostom, homily 41 on Genesis and homily 1 on 1 Thessalonians. Thus Moses by his prayer resisted the wrath of God, and as it were compelled Him to spare the whole people, Exodus XXXII, 32 and following. Thus Samuel by praying protected all Israel from the Philistines, 1 Kings VII, 10, and Lot the city of Segor, Genesis XIX, 22. Thus Job obtained pardon for his friends, chapter XLII, verse 8. Thus Daniel praying, chapter IX, obtained the liberation of the Jews from Babylon. Thus David protected Jerusalem against the Assyrians, 4 Kings XIX, 34. Finally, "who would doubt that the world stands by the prayers of the Saints?" says Rufinus, Preface to the Lives of the Fathers. Thus today the Religious men and women by their prayers preserve cities, which otherwise on account of crimes would be overthrown by God like Sodom. They therefore are the bases and columns of the commonwealth, whom therefore it behooves the laity to venerate, seek out and support. See Father Platus, book I On the Good of the Religious State, chapter XXXV.
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For humble in Greek is ταπεινός which corresponds to the Hebrew עני ani, and signifies both the poor and afflicted as well as the humble and meek. Whence the Zurich version translates: The prayer of the afflicted penetrates the clouds, does not rest, nor cease, until it shall have reached the Most High, who may care for it, judge it justly, and exercise judgment; the Syriac: The prayer of the poor ascends above the clouds, or bends the clouds; and enters before the Lord of majesty. It does not pass by until it inquires concerning it, and judges true judgment. St. Bernard, sermon 4 On Lent, for humble reads just: "The prayer of the just, says Scripture, penetrates the heavens. But what is justice, except that which renders to each what is his own? Do not therefore attend to God alone as it were, for you are a debtor also to your Prelates, also to your brethren; nor does God wish you to hold cheap those whom He Himself holds not cheap." The same, sermon 3 On Epiphany: "The prayer of the just penetrates the heavens. For he who turns away his ear lest he hear the law, his prayer shall be abominable. Moreover, if you wish to be just, and not turn away your ear from the commandments of the Lord, lest He also turn away His ear from your prayers, it is necessary that you not only despise the present world, but also mortify your own flesh, and subject it to servitude. For He who said: Unless a man renounce all things that he possesseth, he cannot be my disciple, Luke XIV, 33: the same He Himself in another place says, chapter IX, verse 23: Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Moreover, Sirach hinted at various reasons for his saying. The first is, that humility is so pleasing to God, that it deserves to be heard. Again, the affliction of the humble, abandoned by all, and therefore placing all his hopes in God, so strikes the eyes of God, that it extorts what he asks, according to that: "I have loved, because He hath inclined His ear to me," Psalm CXIV. To which verse St. Ambrose, in his oration On the Death of Theodosius, thus says: "He inclines Himself to us, that our prayer may ascend to God." And St. Jerome: "Because, he says, we are small and humble, and cannot extend and exalt ourselves: therefore the Lord hath inclined His ear to us, and deigns to hear us." And St. Augustine: "Because hope is wont to kindle love, he says he hath loved, because he hoped that God would hear the voice of his supplication. An incomparable prerogative indeed of prayer, that God almighty on His throne of glory with myriads of Angels crowding round about, suddenly departs from His throne, and inclines His ear to receive the prayer ascending from the earth." And St. Chrysostom on that of Psalm II, 13: He hath not forgotten the cry of the poor: "Humility, he says, is the vehicle of prayer." Second, that the humble and afflicted are wont to persevere in prayer, and not cease from it, until they obtain the remedy of their affliction: but perseverance is the nerve of prayer, and obtains whatever it so assiduously requests. Third, because humble prayer is thin and subtle, whence by the subtlety of its heart it penetrates all things. Thus St. Paulinus, epistle 19 to Severus, where he subtly and piously explains this saying of Sirach, and applies it to the Publican of the Gospel, and alluding to that of Christ, Matthew XIX, 24: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven: "The Publican, he says, in a contrite heart accusing himself to God, and beating his afflicted breast with frequent hand, and not daring to lift his eyes, depressed by shame of conscience, to heaven, by that iniquity of vices, rivaling the back of a camel, so straitened himself into due humility, and by the flattening of a repentant soul directed himself, that he inserted himself as the eye of a needle, that is the way of the word or of the cross, which leads by a narrow path to life, a penetrator of divine ears. For prayer, he says, of him who humbles himself penetrates the clouds, whereas on the other hand that rich Pharisee, by the spirit of his boasting, who by the imputation of works owed, because he was a debtor by the law of working; yet as if he had done voluntarily beyond what was owed, a proclaimer of himself, an accuser of another, who would convict rather than beseech God, could not enter, because the swollen do not fit into narrow spaces. Nor could broad boasting be received there, where humility had gathered itself into narrowness, and the narrowness narrower still of a contrite heart penetrated by exility." Who then through the needle receives the cross of Christ: "By which our death is pierced, and we ourselves are assumed to God, through which more easily into the heart enters humbled iniquity, than proud justice." Humility therefore gives wings to prayer, and prayer without the wings of humility cannot be borne aloft. The fourth is that humble prayer is as it were an arrow, which, sent forth from a bow bent down with strong tension, strikes the target more sharply. For the more the one praying humbles himself, and as it were draws back the string of his bow downward, the more powerfully does he send the arrow of his prayer not merely to the clouds, but even to God himself: which therefore, as the arrow of a mighty man, as Jeremiah says in chapter 50, verse 6, shall not return empty: of which type was the arrow of Jonathan, concerning which it is said in II Kings 1, 22: "The arrow of Jonathan never returned backward." Thus Christ, because in the bow of the cross he was stretched down and humbled in the highest degree; hence with eyes directed toward heaven, supplicating for us, he sent forth the most powerful missile of supplication, by which he most certainly moved God, according to that in Hebrews 5, 7: "Who in the days of his flesh, offering up prayers and supplications to him that was able to save him from death, with a strong cry and tears, was heard for his reverence." Thus also Tobias praying with tears was heard, Tobias 12, 12. Truly therefore St. Chrysostom said, homily 41 to the People: "Prayer is great armor:" because it not only disarms heaven, but even God himself, however angry and armed, and overcomes divine justice. It is a prosopopoeia. For humble prayer and that of the afflicted is introduced here as it were as a person, which having suffered violence on earth, and wounded by sorrow, flees, and climbs the clouds, and passes through them, nor ceases until it penetrates to the throne of God the judge, and there sets forth its just complaints, and obtains vengeance for its injuries, just as that widow penetrated through all the officers to the emperor Trajan, asking for just vengeance, and saying to him: "Either do justice, or lay down the purple." On the other hand, the prayer of a man exalting himself, joyful and abounding, is said to approach the clouds, but not to pass through them, as if it awaited some Angel, who might carry it upward and present it to God, as something which might suffer delay, and which it might not greatly matter to dispatch immediately: not that it is not heard by God, but that it does not immediately obtain its effect. But the prayer of the humble man, who in tribulation pours out his soul before God, immediately flies past the clouds, immediately is admitted before God; because God is a lover and protector of the afflicted; and as it greatly matters to bring them help immediately, so without delay he hears them, frees them, protects them and vindicates them. Thus Palacius. This is what Judith protests before God in chapter 9, verse 16: "The prayer of the humble and meek hath always pleased thee." And the Psalmist in Psalm 101, 18: "He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition." Whence St. Bernard, homily on Missus est: "Without humility, I dare say," he says, "not even the virginity of Mary would have pleased God." Hence she herself sang: "He hath regarded the humility of his handmaid," Luke 1, 48. Similar passages are Genesis 29, 32; Deuteronomy 26, 7; Psalm 9, 14, and 30, 8, and 135, 23, and 137, 6; Isaiah 57, 15. Hence St. John, Apocalypse 5, 8, saw an Angel offering to God "golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of the Saints." Well odours, first, because they ascend upward to God: for they are odours of God, in which the sense of smell of God delights; second, because like aromatics, the more they burn with the fire of tribulation or love, the sweeter odour they spread; third, because they do not smell of one virtue alone, but of all those for which the just man prays and groans. Hence they are incense mixed and composed from various aromatics, as was shown in Exodus, chapter 30, 34. To prayer therefore you may symbolically adapt that from the Song of Songs 3, 6: "Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatic spices of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?"
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the just, and their injuries and cries, "patience," so that He may suffer Himself to be long entreated; in Greek μὴ μακροθυμήσῃ, that is, He will not be long-suffering, He will not wait or defer long-sufferingly; but immediately He will put on wrath, and will pour it out upon their oppressors. Zurich: Moreover the Lord will not remain in delay, nor will the Almighty show patience upon them; Syriac: He does not pass by until He inquires concerning it (the prayer of the poor), and judges true judgment: and also the Lord does not reject (in long and late time), and will not forsake, nor make it vain. To this Christ alluded in the parable of the unjust judge, at the importunate cries of the widow, judging and avenging her. For comparing and preferring God to him, He subjoins: "But God will not do vengeance for His elect crying to Him day and night, and will He have patience in them? I say to you, that He will quickly do vengeance for them," Luke XVIII, 7. That (Jansenius and the Greek: until) He may break their back: 23. and will render vengeance to the nations, until He take away the multitude of the proud, and break the sceptres of the wicked. — For break, in both places the Greek is συντρίψῃ, that is, He will crush. Thus therefore the Greek texts have: Until He shall have crushed the loins of the unmerciful, and rendered vengeance to the nations, until He shall have taken away the multitude everywhere (that is, of the injurious), and crushed the sceptres of the wicked; Zurich: Until He shall have shattered the loins of the unmerciful, and punished the nations; until He shall have taken away the multitude of the injurious, and broken the sceptres of the unjust; Syriac: Until He shall avenge the works of the wicked, and render retribution to the peoples; until He shall destroy the strength of sinners, and cut off the wicked princes by cutting them off. These and the following depend upon "and the Almighty will not have patience in them," which preceded, as if to say: God the Almighty judge and avenger will not long suffer and tolerate injuries inflicted upon the just by the impious and violent, but immediately He will crush their loins and backs (for these are the seat and symbol of strength): "and to the nations" unjust "will render vengeance, until He take away the multitude," that is, the multitude, "of the proud" ruling others proudly and unjustly: "and the sceptres," that is, kingdoms, "of the wicked" He will crush and overthrow. By the back is signified the strength, violence and tyranny of the wicked, by which, as by a hard and bony back, they have lain upon the back of the just, and have crushed it; which therefore shall be subdued and crushed by the harder back of God. God is therefore said to break the back of the wicked, that is, to bring the harrow of afflictions upon them, prone upon the earth, just as David "made upon them (the Ammonites) harrows, and drags, and iron-wheeled chariots to pass over, so that they were cut in pieces and crushed," I Paralipomenon XX, 3. Furthermore the multitude of the proud signifies both their number, and rather the abundance of their riches, honours and delights, by which they are most full. Silently Sirach here notes the afflictions of the Jews of his time, which they suffered from Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt, and predicts that it will soon come to pass that God will bring the harrow of affliction upon the back of the Egyptians, and will diminish their riches and strength. Concerning which more in the following chapters. This came to pass thus: for, to pass over other things, the Ptolemies themselves destroyed Egypt and the Egyptians. For to Ptolemy Euergetes, under whom Sirach the Younger wrote this, succeeded Ptolemy called by antiphrasis Philopator, because he had killed his father, mother, sister and wife. To Philopator succeeded Epiphanes, to Epiphanes Philometor, by antiphrasis as if a lover of his mother, when he had killed her. To Philometor succeeded Euergetes the second, who, having killed his sons and the citizens of Alexandria, filled all things with mourning, says Genebrardus, in the Chronicle, in the year of the world 3964. To Euergetes succeeded Physcon, who, taking Cleopatra his sister as wife, on the very day of her nuptials killed his son "in the embrace of his mother; and thus he ascended the bed of his sister stained with the blood of his son. After which he was not milder toward his subjects, who had called him to the kingdom. For indeed to foreign soldiers license of slaughter was given, and all things flowed with blood daily," says Justin, book XXXIII.
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For presumption in Greek is βουλήματα, that is, thoughts, which each one presumes for himself and chooses. Presumption therefore here denotes not arrogance and pride, but a presumed and chosen thought, as if to say: God will render to each one not only according to his deeds, but also according to his thoughts and choices; because He will reward or punish each one, not only according to what he has done, but according to what he has freely thought, willed, chosen. For to presume in Latin is the same as to take beforehand; but a thing to be done is presumed beforehand in the mind, that is, it is thought, chosen, determined, before it is perpetrated in deed. He alludes to the presumption and choice of Adam, who, presuming and pre-choosing rather the forbidden tree than to obey God, brought upon himself and all his posterity the deserved punishments of this presumption. Whence in Greek it is: Until He shall render to man according to the thoughts of them. By which it is signified that acts are informed and made good or evil, better or worse, through thought, that is, the intention, which the will prefixes to its works. For the external act is often in itself indifferent, such as eating, reading, writing, speaking, etc.; but it becomes good if it proceeds from a good intention, evil however if from an evil one, worse if from a worse one, better if from a better one. Whence that common saying: Whatever men do, intention judges all. For this gives the character to the moral act, as the Ethicists and Theologians teach. Whence the Zurich version: Until He shall repay to each one worthy of his deeds, and the works of men, such as their thoughts deserve; the Syriac: Until He shall render to the wicked the recompense of them, and to those working wickedness the counsels of them.
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The Complutensians, however, the Romans and others translate it as "beautiful," because the beauty, appearance and comeliness of mercy, that is of almsgiving and beneficence, appears most of all when it is bestowed upon a man afflicted and in need, and therefore longing for it: just as food is beautiful in the mouth of the hungry, drink in the mouth of the thirsty, clothing on a naked body. Thus form informing matter deprived of it makes it beautiful; whence also its form is called by physicists. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: "Mercy is excellent in a time of calamity, and like a cloud of rain in a time of drought"; the Complutensians read ὡς ὡραῖον, that is "how beautiful is mercy in a time of tribulation, etc."; the Syriac: "The enemy shall be confounded in a time of tribulation, like a cloud of rain in a time of necessity." And for this reason God permits the just to be afflicted, so that then God's mercy may taste so much better to them, the greater their misery is, and the greater their hunger and expectation of mercy, according to that: "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, thy comforts have rejoiced my soul," Psalm 93:19. And that: "The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwell in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen," Isaiah 9:2. A clear example is in him who from a long and dark prison, already expecting the gallows, is suddenly snatched away, and raised up to a kingdom, and becomes from a servant and criminal a king, as Joseph was raised from prison to the principality of Egypt, Genesis chapter 41:41. How great is his joy? Again in the souls of the just, when they are freed from the prison of purgatory, from fire and darkness, and climb into heaven to eternal happiness and glory. How beautiful does this mercy of God befall them, how savory! And it is so great that it makes the most miserable the most blessed! Therefore beautiful is God's justice, beautiful His power, beautiful His wisdom, etc., but to us wretched ones nothing is more beautiful than divine mercy. Beautiful is Christ on the cross, because merciful is Christ on the cross, says Palacius. Note: Mercy formally and properly is in God, yet not in the manner in which it is in us. For in us it is misery of heart (from this indeed the name mercy was formed) and affliction, by which we sympathize with and grieve for others. In God truly it is nothing other than the will to succor our misery; for the pain of heart does not fall upon God. In a similar way anger is to be established in God, not as a turbid motion of the mind, which by the stirring of humors clouds reason, but as denoting a simple affection of the will kindled to vengeance. Because, however, anger properly signifies a motion of the mind stirring up bile, mercy truly a simple affection of succor, although it has taken its name from misery of heart; for this reason anger is placed in God metaphorically, mercy properly, says St. Isidore, book X of the Origins, letter M. "Hence called," he says, "mercy (some read wrongly misery), because it makes a miserable heart of one grieving over another's misery; but in God mercy is without any misery of heart." Furthermore the general mercy of God, and that immense, is discerned in His threefold work: first, it is the work of creation; second, of justification; third, of the incarnation of the Word. Great and admirable is the first mercy, by which all things drawn from the deep of nothingness are raised to the height of essence and nature; for the essence of each thing is infinitely better than what they received than the nothingness from which they emerged. Truly infinitely more excellent is the second mercy, by which all things are elevated to the supernatural order; for grace is infinitely more excellent than nature, and that divine state than the natural condition, and the communication of divine goods than all natural gifts. But also infinitely more excellent than this mercy is the third, by which the divine nature is joined to the human in one person, through which redemption, remission of sins, justification and all good have been bestowed upon us. But the particular mercy, which God bestows upon each one daily, is innumerable. Let each one reflect upon what has been bestowed upon him by Him, and with thanksgiving confess to God, as St. Augustine does in the books of the Confessions.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.