Sermons on the Song of Songs76 Sermon LXXVI. Of the glory of the Bridegroom, in which he sits at the right hand of his father, and is coequal with him. How careful, watchful, and discreet good pastors ought to be in feeding the souls given into their charge
Sermon LXXVI. Of the glory of the Bridegroom, in which he sits at the right hand of his father, and is coequal with him. How careful, watchful, and discreet good pastors ought to be in feeding the souls given into their charge
' In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him whom my soul fove/A.J—Cant. iii. 2.
He thinks still as a child. I believe that she has supposed that immediately He came forth from the tomb, He presented ' Himself in public to teach the people as He was wont, and heal the sick, and thus to show forth His glory in Israel, to see if they would receive Him rising from the dead, who promised that they would receive Him if He would come down from the Cross. But He had finished the work which the Father had given Him to do: which she ought to have understood, indeed, from the words which He had spoken when hanging on the Cross, and about to give up His spirit (John xix. 30): // is finished. It was not for Him to show Himself anew to the masses of the people, who would not perhaps even thus have believed in Him. And He hastened to His Father, who would say to Him: Sit Thou at My Right Hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool (Ps. ex. 1). For when He should have been lifted up from the earth, He would draw all things unto Him more powerfully as well as more Divinely. But she, in thinking that He was to be sought in the streets and open spaces, was influenced by an eager desire to enjoy His presence, and did not know that mystery; therefore, when having again failed, she repeats: I sought Him, but I found Him not (iii. 2), that the word might be fulfilled which He spake: Ye shall not see Me... because I go to the Father (John xvi. 16).
2. But perhaps the sense of her words is this: ' How shall they believe in Him whom they will not behold?' As if faith cometh from sight, and not rather by hearing! What marvel is it that you should believe that which you have seen? and what praise does it deserve not to disbelieve one's own eyes? But if we hope for that which we see not, we wait for it with patience; and patience is a merit. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed (John xx. 29). So, then, that He may not deprive her of the merit of faith, He withdraws Himself from sight, affording place for this virtue. Besides this, it is time now that He should betake Himself to His own place. You ask, What is His own place? It is the Right Hand of the Father. For as He is in the Form of God, He will think it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. ii. 6). The place, then, of the Only Begotten is one in which He is out of the reach of every kind of outrage. There, indeed, let Him sit, not below the Father, but beside Him, that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father. In this shall Google THE GLORY OF THE BRIDEGROOM appear His equality of dignity, if He is considered neither inferior nor posterior, to the Father. But the Bride has, in the meantime, regard to none of these things; she is, as it were, inebriated by her affection; She runs hither and thither, and seeks with her eyes for Him who is not now discernible by the eyes, but by faith. She does not think that Christ ought otherwise to enter into His glory than as having previously manifested the glory of His Resurrection openly to all the world, that impiety may be thereby confuted, the faithful made to rejoice, the disciples to glory, the peoples to be converted; so that after His Presence and His Resurrection shall have shown clearly the truth of His predictions, He shall at length be glorified by all. But you deceive yourself, O Bride. All these things must needs be fulfilled, indeed; but in their due time.
3. But now, in the meantime, see if it be not more in agreement with the supreme Righteousness, and more worthy of it, not to give that which is holy to dogs, nor to cast pearls before swine: if, according to the Scripture, the wicked should rather be taken away, and not behold the glory of God (Is. xxvi. 10); if faith should be not deprived of its merit, since that is assuredly more displayed and approved in believing that which is not seen; if thus that which is hidden from the unworthy is reserved for those who are worthy of it if those who are filthy are filthy still, and those who are righteous become still more so (Rev. xxii. n) if they do not sleep through weariness. Let the heavens and the heavens of heavens pass away and be confounded in their expectation rather than that the Almighty Father should be longer hindered from attaining the desire of His Heart, or the Only Begotten Son delayed longer (which would be a consummation in the highest degree unworthy) from entering into His glory. What is all the glory of mortals, thinkest thou, however great it may be, to be able to detain Him, for ever so small a time, from that glory which has been prepared by His Father from all eternity? Add to this that it is not fitting that the petition of the Son Himself should wait longer for its fulfilment. Do you ask, What was that petition? It was that in which He said: Father, glorify Thy Son (John xvii. 1). And yet I feel that He asked this, not as a suppliant, but as prescient of that which was to be. That is freely asked which it is in the power of Him who asks to receive. Therefore the request of the Son was the effect of providence, not of necessity, since He, with the Father, gives that which He from the Father receives.
4. It is proper here to remark that not only does the Father glorify the Son, but also the Son glorifies the Father: so that no one should say that the Son is less than the Father as receiving glory from the Father, inasmuch as He also glorifies the Father. For He Himself says: Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. But perhaps you still think that the Son should be considered inferior to the Father, because He seems, as if less glorious, to receive the glory of the Father, which He renders to the Father again. But hear that it is not so, for He says: O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the uwrld was (John xvii. 5). If, then, the glory of the Son is not later than that of the Father, since it exists from eternity, it is plain that the Father and the Son are equally glorified. This being so, where is the Primacy of the Father? There is evidently Equality where there is Coeternity. And the Equality is to such a degree that the glory of Both is but one glory, as They Themselves are One. On that account, as it seems to me, it was that He says again: Father, glorify Thy Name; and in so doing requests, in fact, nothing else than to be glorified Himself, since it is, beyond doubt, in Him, and through Him, that the Name of the Father would be glorified; and He received a reply from the Father: I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again (John xii. 28). And this reply of the Father is in itself no small glorifying of the Son. But He was glorified more highly and more amply still at the stream of Jordan, both by the testimony of John the Baptist, the pointing Him out by the Dove, and by the Voice of the Father, who said: This is My Beloved Son (Matt. iii. 14, 16, 17). And, most of all, He was glorified and exalted on Mount Tabor before the three disciples, both by that same Voice which was heard from Heaven, and also by the wonderful and unexampled transfiguration of His Body, and the witness that was borne to Him by the two Prophets who appeared in the same place talking with Him (Matt. xvii. 2-5).
5. It remains, then, that, according to the promise of the Father, He should be glorified yet once again, and that with the fulness of glory to which nothing more can be added. But where shall that glory be bestowed? It will not be, as the Bride supposed, in the streets and open places, unless, perhaps, in those of whom it is said: The streets [of Jerusalem shall be paved with white and clean stones: and Alleluia shall be sung in its streets (Tobit xiii. 22, Douay). For it is in those that the Son has received from the Father a glory so great that its equal cannot be found, even among the dwellers in heaven. For to which of the Angels said He at any time, Sit on My Right Hand? (Heb. i. 13). Not only among the Angels, but also in the loftiest orders of the Blessed, none is found fit to receive this glory which superexcels all things. To not one of them has that announcement of singular and exceptional glory been made, to not one of them has it been given to see it realized in himself. The Thrones, the Dominations, the Principalities, the Powers, desire, without doubt, to contemplate it in Him; but to compare themselves with Him they do not presume. It is, then, to my Lord only that it has been spoken, and upon Him only that it has been conferred by the Lord, that He should sit upon the Right Hand of His Glory as being coequal with Him in glory, Consubstantial in Essence, Like unto Him by Generation, not unequal in Majesty or in Eternity. It is there, it is there that he who seeks Him shall find, and shall behold His Glory: not glory as of one among others, but assuredly the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father (John i. 14).
6. What doest thou, then, O Bride? Dost thou think that thou THE GLORY OF THE BRIDEGROOM art able to follow Him thither? Hast thou the ability or the boldness to introduce thyself into a secret so sacred, into a sanctuary so secret, as to contemplate the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son? Assuredly not. Where He is thou canst not follow Him now, but thou shalt follow Him hereafter. Yet do not cease to strive; seek Him, follow Him; let not that supreme glory, that unapproachable elevation, deter thee from seeking, nor make thee despair of finding Him. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (Mack ix. 22). The word is nigh thee, it is said, in thy mouth, and in thy heart (Rom. x. 8). Believe, and thou hast found [Him]. Those who are faithful know that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith (Eph. iii. 17), and what is nearer than this? Seek, then, with confidence, seek with zeal. The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh Him (Lam. iii. 25). Seek Him by your prayers, seek Him by your actions, find Him by your faith. What is there that faith does not find? It attains that which was not reached, it discovers what is hidden, it comprehends what is unlimited, it apprehends the farthest depths; it even contains, after a certain manner, in its comprehensive bosom, eternity itself. I say with confidence that the blessed and eternal Trinity, which I do not understand, I believe in, and thus hold by faith that which I do not grasp with the understanding.
7. But someone says: 'How shall she believe, without someone to instruct, since faith cometh by hearing, and hearing through the word of exhortation (Rom. x. 14, 17)?' For this God will provide. And see how they are already at hand who present themselves to instruct that new Bride, that soul who is to be united to a heavenly Bridegroom, in the truths that she needs to know; to deliver to her the faith, to teach her the form of piety and of true religion. For listen to what she goes on to say: The watchmen that go about the city found me. Who are these watchmen? They are those whom the Saviour pronounces blessed if He, when He shall come, shall find them watching (Luke xii. 37). How good are the sentinels who watch while we sleep, as if to give an account of our souls! How good the guardians who are wakeful in spirit, and pass the night in prayer; who seek out wisely the devices of the enemies, forestall the designs of the evil-disposed, lay bare their snares, escape their entanglements, shatter their nets, frustrate their plots! These are lovers of the brethren and of the people of Christ, who pray much for the people and for all the Holy City. These are they who, being careful and anxious for the sheep entrusted to them by the Lord, bear them on their heart at their waking, when the day breaks, to the Lord who made them, and offer intercession for them in the presence of the Most High. And though they thus watch and thus intercede, they do it, as knowing their own insufficiency to keep the city safe, and being conscious that unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (Ps. cxxvii. 1).
8. In fact, when the Lord thus instructs us, Watch ye and pray% 9. Wherefore be ye watchful, whosoever of you have been chosen and called to the work of this ministry; take watchful heed, I say, to yourselves, and to the precious deposit which has been entrusted to you. It is a city; watch, then, to maintain it in safety and concord. It is a Bride; study to present her to the Lord decked with the precious jewels of abundant virtues. It is a flock; study diligently to give it needful pasture. And perhaps we may not unfitly explain by these three elements of pastoral duty the threefold question which the Lord addressed to St Peter. Now, that the watch and ward over the city may be effective, it must be of three kinds: against the violence of tyrants, against the deception from heretics, and against the temptations of evil spirits. Again, the ornaments of the Bride ought to be of three kinds: of good works, of a saintly character, of high and noble principles. And the needful nourishment of the sheep is ordinarily indeed in the good pastures of the Holy Scriptures as being the heritage of the Lord; but there is a distinction in these.
The GLORY OF THE BRIDEGROOM For there are commandments which are imposed upon hard and carnal hearts, as a discipline and for the law of life; and there are miscellaneous masses of dispensations, which are appointed on account of pity to those that are weak and of little courage; and there are counsels strong and solid, which are proposed from the inmost recesses of wisdom to those who have health and strength, and senses trained to discern good from evil. For to those who are as children, or, so to speak, as little lambs, is given the milk of exhortation and encouragement, not strong meat To this end, good and careful pastors do not cease to feed their flock to fatness with salutary and encouraging examples, and preferably with their own rather than with those of others. For if they offer only those of other people, and not their own, this is to their shame, and, also, their flock do not profit. For if, to give an instance, I, who appear to bear the charge of pastor among you, should set before you the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the mercy of Samuel, the holiness of David, and other similar examples of various virtues, and be myself impatient and severe, unmerciful, and in no way holy, my discourse would, I fear, be void of all force and unction, nor would you care to listen to it But this I leave to the Divine goodness, that it may supply what is wanting and correct what is amiss in my conduct towards you. The good pastor will also take care to have in himself that salt of which the Gospel speaks (Mark ix. 49), knowing that a discourse seasoned with salt is agreeable and also salutary. This is what-1 have for the present to say regarding the safe keeping of the city, the adorning of the Bride, and the nourishment of the flock.
10. Yet I wish to set forth the same truths somewhat more in detail, and with respect to those who, while they thirst for' honours with excessive desire, and engage rashly to bear the burden of duties to which they are unequal, expose themselves thereby to very great peril, so that they may know what they are entering upon, according to the question that is asked in the Scripture: Friend, wherefore art thou cornel (Matt. xxvi. 50). If I do not mistake, for the safe keeping of the city only, it is absolutely necessary that a man should be strong, faithful, and spiritually minded. He must be strong to repulse the assaults of its enemies, spiritually minded that he may discover their crafty devices, and faithful that he may not seek to advance his own interests. In the next place, for the elevation and training of souls (for this is what is signified and referred to in the adorning of the Bride), who does not at once perceive that a firm bond of discipline, as well as a sedulous diligence, is required? On that account everyone who is engaged in this ministry needs to burn with fervent zeal. It was with this that Apostle was fired who was so jealous for the glory of the Bride of the Lord, for he said: I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. xi. 2). And, lastly, [a pastor must not be ignorant], for how can one who is so conduct 1 Olera, The word implies a certain disdain and disapproval.—Ed.
1. Per vicos et plateas quaeram quem diligit anima mea. Adhuc ut parvula sapit. Puto, arbitrata est egressum de tumulo publicum mox petiisse, ut solito doceret populos, ac sanaret infirmos, et ut manifestaret gloriam suam in Israel, si forte reciperent resurgentem de morte, qui se recepturos promittebant descendentem de cruce. Verum ille perfecerat opus, quod sibi dederat Pater ut faceret: quod sane ista intellexisse debuerat vel ex voce pendentis, illa scilicet, qua illico exspiraturus ait: Consummatum est. Non erat jam quod se denuo crederet turbis, quae nec sic forsitan erant in eum crediturae. Et festinabat ad Patrem, qui sibi diceret: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum. Fortius nempe atque divinius, cum exaltatus fuerit a terra, omnia trahet ad se ipsum. Haec autem per vicos et plateas quaerendum putavit, fruendi avida, sed ignara mysterii. Iterum ergo frustrata repetit dicens: Quaesivi illum, et non inveni; ut sermo impleretur quem dixit: Quia vado ad Patrem, et jam non videbitis me.
2. Dicat forsitan ista: Quomodo ergo credent in eum, quem non videbunt? Quasi fides ex visu sit, et non potius ex auditu. Quid magni est credere quod videris? et tuis non negare oculis fidem quid laudis meretur? Sed si quod non videmus speramus, per patientiam exspectamus; et patientia meritum est. Beati denique qui non viderunt, et crediderunt. Proinde ut non evacuetur meritum fidei, subducat se visui, dans virtuti locum. Etiam et tempus est ut jam in suum sese recipiat. Quaeris, in quem suum? In dexteram Patris. Neque enim rapinam arbitrabitur esse se aequalem Deo, cum sit in forma Dei. Ergo is sit Unigeniti locus; in quo omnis ejus injuria propulsata videatur. Sedeat sane juxta, non infra, ut omnes honorificent Filium, sicut honorificant Patrem. In hoc apparebit majestatis aequalitas, si nec inferiorem Patre, nec posteriorem suspexeris. At ista interim nihil horum advertit: sed quasi ebria prae amore hac illacque discurrens, quaerit oculis, quem jam oculus non contingit, sed fides. Non enim existimat Christum aliter oportere intrare in gloriam suam, nisi prius resurrectionis gloria palam mundo innotescente confutetur impietas, exsultent fideles, glorientur discipuli, populi convertantur, demumque ab universis glorificetur ipse, cum ex praesentia resurgentis cunctis claruerit veritas praedicentis. Falleris, o sponsa. Oportet quidem haec fieri, sed in tempore.
3. Nunc vero interim vide, ne forte id dignum magis et supernae consentaneum justitiae sit; si non detur sanctum canibus, et margaritae porcis: si potius, secundum Scripturam, tollatur impius, ne videat gloriam Dei; si non fraudetur fides merito, quae tunc sane probatior esse dignoscitur, cum creditur quod non videtur; si penes ipsam servetur dignis, quod occultatur indignis, ut qui in sordibus sunt sordescant adhuc, et justi justificentur magis, si non dormitent prae taedio. Coeli et coeli coelorum tabescant et confundantur ab exspectatione sua, si non ipse Pater omnipotens diutius jam frustretur a desiderio cordis sui; si non demum Unigenitus ultra ab introitu gloriae suae, quod vel solum indignissimum est, aliquatenus retardetur. Quanti putas aestimanda sit gloria quantacunque mortalium, ut ab ea, quae a Patre suo ab aeterno parata est, debeat eum vel ad modicum retinere? Adde quod nulla ratione in longius protrahi decet ipsius Filii petitionem. Quam dicam petitionem quaeris? Nempe illam, qua dicit: Pater, clarifica Filium tuum. Quod tamen eum petiisse senserim, non ut supplicem, sed ut praescium. Libere petitur, quod in potestate petentis accipere est. Ergo dispensatoria est Filii petitio, non necessaria, quippe donantis cum Patre, quidquid a Patre acceperit.
4. Ubi et hoc dicendum, quia non solum Pater clarificat Filium, sed et Filius clarificat Patrem: ne quis dicat Filium minorem Patre, quasi qui a Patre clarificetur, cum et ipse clarificet Patrem, dicente Filio: Pater, clarifica Filium tuum, ut Filius tuus clarificet te. Sed forte adhuc submittendum putes Filium, quod quasi inglorius videatur a Patre recipere claritatem, quam demum Patri refundat. Audi quia non est ita: Clarifica me, inquit, Pater, claritate quam habui, priusquam mundus fieret, apud te. Si ergo claritas Filii posterior non est, utpote quae ab aeterno est, ex aequo se clarificant Pater et Filius. Et si ita est, ubi Patris primatus? Aequalitas profecto est, ubi coaeternitas est. Et usque adeo aequalitas, ut una sit claritas amborum, sicut ipsi unum sunt. Unde mihi videtur dicendo rursum: Pater, clarifica nomen tuum, non sane aliud petere, quam se clarificari, in quo, et per quem nomen Patris procul dubio clarificaretur: et responsum accepit a Patre: Et clarificavi, et iterum clarificabo. Quae quidem ipsa Patris responsio non parva Filii glorificatio fuit. Caeterum abundantius ad fluenta Jordanis, augustiusque clarificatus dignoscitur, et Joannis testimonio, et columbae designatione, et voce Patris dicentis: Hic est Filius meus dilectus. Sed et in monte coram tribus discipulis nihilominus magnificentissime clarificatus est, tum voce eadem denuo ad se caelitus delapsa, tum mira illa eximiaque transfiguratione corporis sui, tum etiam prophetarum attestatione duorum, qui ibidem apparuerunt cum eo loquentes.
5. Superest ergo ut juxta promissum Patris semel adhuc clarificetur, eaque erit plenitudo gloriae, cui non queat amplius addi. Sed ubi illa dabitur benedictio? Non enim, ut ista suspicata est, in plateis, vel vicis, nisi forte in illis, de quibus dicitur: Plateae tuae, Jerusalem, sternentur auro mundo, et per omnes vicos tuos alleluia cantabitur. In his revera illam recepit a Patre Filius claritatem, cui non poterit similis inveniri, ne in coelestibus quidem. Cui enim aliquando angelorum dictum est: Sede a dextris meis? Non modo antem de numero angelorum, sed nec de superioribus quidem reliquis beatorum ordinibus omnino quis repertus idoneus est ad capessendam superexcellentem hanc gloriam. Ad neminem prorsus illorum facta est vox illa gloriae singularis, nemini vocis in se efficientiam experiri datum. Sive throni, sive dominationes, sive principatus, sive potestates, profecto desiderant in eum prospicere, non se illi comparare praesumunt. Igitur Domino meo singulariter a Domino et dictum, et datum est, sedere a dextris gloriae ipsius, utpote in gloria coaequali, in essentia consubstantiali, pro generatione consimili, majestate non dispari, aeternitate non posteriori. Ibi, ibi illum qui quaeret inveniet, et videbit gloriam ejus: non gloriam quasi unius caeterorum, sed plane gloriam quasi Unigeniti a Patre.
6. Quid facies, o sponsa? Putas, potes sequi eum illuc? aut te ingerere audes vel vales huic tam sancto arcano, tamque arcano sanctuario, ut Filium in Patre, et Patrem intuearis in Filio? Non utique. Ubi est ille, tu non potes venire modo, venies autem postea. Age tamen, sequere, quaere; nec te inaccessibilis illa claritas vel sublimitas a quaerendo deterreat, ab inveniendo desperare faciat. Si potes credere, omnia possibilia sunt credenti. Prope est, inquit, verbum in ore tuo, et in corde tuo. Crede, et invenisti. Nam credere invenisse est. Norunt fideles inhabitare Christum per fidem in cordibus suis. Quid propius est? Quaere ergo secura, quaere devota. Bonus est Dominus animae quaerenti se. Quaere votis, sequere actibus, fide inveni. Quid non inveniat fides? Attingit inaccessa, deprehendit ignota, comprehendit immensa, apprehendit novissima; ipsam denique aeternitatem suo illo vastissimo sinu quodam modo circumcludit. Fidenter dixerim, aeternam beatamque Trinitatem, quam non intelligo, credo; et fide teneo, quam non capio mente.
7. Sed dicit aliquis: Quomodo credet sine praedicante, cum fides ex auditu sit, auditus per verbum praedicationis? Deus hoc providebit. Et ecce jam praesto sunt qui novam sponsam, coelesti nupturam sponso, de quibus oportet, instruant et informent, fidem doceant, formam pietatis ac religionis tradant. Audi namque quid adjiciat: Invenerunt me vigiles, qui custodiunt civitatem. Qui enim vigiles hi? Nempe illi quos Salvator in Evangelio beatos pronuntiat, si, cum venerit, invenerit vigilantes. Quam boni vigiles, qui nobis dormientibus ipsi pervigilant, quasi rationem reddituri pro animabus nostris! Quam boni custodes, qui vigilantes animo, atque in orationibus pernoctantes, hostium insidias sagaciter explorant, anticipant consilia malignantium, deprehendunt laqueos, eludunt tendiculas, retiacula dissipant, machinamenta frustrantur? Hi sunt fratrum amatores et populi Christiani, qui multum orant pro populo et universa sancta civitate. Hi sunt, qui multum solliciti pro sibi commissis Dominicis ovibus, cor suum tradunt ad vigilandum diluculo ad Dominum qui fecit illos, et in conspectu Altissimi deprecantur. Et vigilant, et deprecantur, scientes suam insufficientiam in custodienda civitate, et quia nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam.
8. Porro cum Dominus ita praecipiat: Vigilate, et orate, ne intretis in tentationem; liquet quod absque duplici hoc exercitio fidelium, studioque custodum, non potest esse secura civitas, non sponsa, non oves. Horum differentiam quaeris? Unum sunt. Civitas propter collectionem, sponsa propter dilectionem, oves propter mansuetudinem. Vis scire hoc sponsam, quod civitatem esse? Vidi, inquit, civitatem sanctam Jerusalem novam descendentem de coelo a Deo, paratam tanquam sponsam ornatam viro suo. Identidem tibi hoc et de ovibus liquido apparebit, si recorderis, primus ille custos (Petrum loquor), cum sibi primo oves committerentur, quam attente simul de amore commonitus sit. Quod utique tanta cura sapiens creditor non fecisset, nisi se sentiret sponsum, id sibi utique ex intimo respondente conscientia. Audite haec, amici sponsi, si tamen amici. At parum dixi, amici: amicissimi sint oportet, qui privilegio tantae familiaritatis donantur. Non otiose toties repetitum est: Petre, amas me?. in commissione ovium. Et ego quidem id significatum perinde puto, ac si illi dixisset Jesus: Nisi testimonium tibi perhibente conscientia quod me ames, et valde perfecteque ames, hoc est, plus quam tua, plus quam tuos, plus quam etiam te, ut hujus repetitionis meae numerus impleatur, nequaquam suscipias curam hanc, nec te intromittas de ovibus meis, pro quibus sanguis utique meus effusus est. Terribilis sermo, et qui possit etiam impavida quorumvis tyrannorum corda concutere.
9. Propterea attendite vobis quicunque opus ministerii hujus sortiti estis; attendite, inquam, vobis, et pretioso deposito quod vobis creditum est. Civitas est: vigilate ad custodiam, concordiamque. Sponsa est: studete ornatui. Oves sunt: intendite pastui. Et haec tria ad illam Domini trinam sciscitationem forte non incongrue pertinere dicentur. Porro custodia civitatis ut sit sufficiens, trifaria erit; a vi tyrannorum, a fraude haereticorum, a tentationibus daemonum. Sponsae vero ornatus in bonis operibus, et moribus, et ordinibus. At pastus ovium communiter quidem in pascuis Scripturarum, tanquam in haereditate Domini; sed est distinctio in illis. Nam sunt mandata, quae duris atque carnalibus animis imponuntur ex lege vitae et disciplinae: et sunt olera dispensationum, quae infirmis et pusillis corde de respectu misericordiae apponuntur: et sunt consiliorum solida fortiaque, quae ex intimis sapientiae proponuntur sanis, et qui exercitatos habent sensus ad discretionem boni et mali. Parvulis namque, tanquam agniculis, adhortationis lac potus datur, non esca. Ad haec boni sollicitique pastores impinguare pecus non cessant bonis laetisque exemplis, et suis magis quam alienis. Nam si alienis et non suis; ignominia est illis, et pecus ita non proficit. Si enim, verbi causa, ego qui videor inter vos pastoris gerere curam, vobis apposuero Moysi mansuetudinem, patientiam Job, misericordiam Samuelis, David sanctitatem, et si qua sunt ejusmodi exempla bonorum, immitis ipse et impatiens, atque immisericors et minime sanctus: sermo, ut vereor, minus sapide eveniet, et vos minus avide capietis. Verum hoc supernae pietati relinquo, ut quod minus vobis ex nobis est, ipsa suppleat; et quod perperam, ipsa corrigat. Nunc vero bonus pastor hoc quoque curabit, ut secundum Evangelium inveniatur habere sal in semetipso; sciens quia sermo sale conditus quantum placuerit ad gratiam, tantum proderit ad salutem. Haec interim de custodia civitatis, atque ornatu sponsae, nec non et pastu ovium dicta sint.
10. Volo tamen adhuc eadem paulo expressius designare propter eos, qui dum avide nimis honoribus inhiant, minus provide gravibus se supponunt oneribus, exponunt periculis: ut sciant ad quid venerint, sicut scriptum est: Amice, ad fuit venisti? Ni fallor, ad solam civitatis custodiam, ut quantum satis est procuretur, opus est viro forti, spirituali, fideli: forti ad propulsandas injurias, spirituali ad deprebendendas insidias, fideli qui non quae sua sunt quaerat. Porro autem ad mores honestandos vel corrigendos, quod utique ad decorem pertinet sponsae, quis non liquido agnoscat pernecessariam fore cum multa quidem diligentia disciplinae censuram? Ea propter omnis, cui hoc opus incumbit, oportet ferveat zelo illo, quo accensus praecipuus ille aemulator sponsae Domini aiebat: Aemulor vos Dei aemulatione; despondi enim vos uni viro virginem castam exhibere Christo. Jam quomodo in pascua divinorum educet eloquiorom greges Dominicos pastor idiota? Sed et si doctus quidem fuerit, non sit autem bonus, verendum ne non tam nutriat doctrina uberi, quam sterili vita noceat. Tenere itaque et in hac parte hoc onus subitur absque scientia pariter, vitaque laudabili. Sed ecce, quod non laudamus, finis indicitur, ubi non erat finis. Evocantur in materiam alteram, et cui hanc cedere indignum. Angor undique, et quod aegrius feram ignore, avelli ab ista, an distendi in illa: nisi quod utrolibet simul utrumque molestius. O servitutem! o necessitatem! non quod volo hoc ago, sed quod odi illud facio. Notate tamen ubi desinimus, ut quam cito in id redire liberum erit, inde mox ordiamur, in nomine sponsi. Ecclesiae Jesu Christi Domini nostri, qui super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula, Amen.