Sermons on the Song of Songs20 Sermon XX
Sermon XX
it is; take wholly to Thyself, I entreat, the brief remainder of the years which pertain to my poor life; and for all the years which I have lost, because I have occupied them in losing myself, despise not, I entreat, an humble and contrite heart My days have declined as a shadow, they have perished without fruit. It is impossible for me to recall them; make me, in Thy goodness, at least to meditate upon them before Thee in the bitterness of my soul. Thou seest that wisdom is the whole desire and purpose of my heart: if there were any in me it is in Thy service would employ it. But, O God, Thou knowest my simpleness; unless it be perhaps a beginning of wisdom to recognise my ignorance; and, indeed, this is by Thy gift. Augment it in me, I pray; I shall not be ungrateful for the least of Thy gifts, but shall strive to supply that which is lacking in me. It is, then, for these Thy benefits that I love Thee with all my feeble powers.
2. But there is a fact which moves, and excites, and fires me much more than this. Above all things, it is the cup which Thou didst drink, O Jesu, merciful and kind, the great task of our redemption undertaken by Thee, which is a stronger motive than any other for love to Thee. It is this which easily draws to itself all the love I have to give,, which attracts my affection more sweetly, which requires it more justly, which retains it by closer ties and a more vehement force. To this end the Saviour endured many and great things, nor in the making of the whole world did its Creator take upon Himself a task so laborious. For in that earlier work He spake, and it was done: He commanded, and it stood fast (Ps. xxxiii. 9). But in the later one He had to bear with men who contradicted His words, met His actions with ill-natured criticism, insulted His sufferings and even revived His Death. Behold, then, how He loved us! Add to this that He loved us thus of His free gift, not to make return for any love which we had for im. For who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again (Rom. xi. 35)? And St. John Evangelist says expressly: Not that we loved God, but that He [previously loved us (2 John iv. 10). Indeed, He loved us while as yet we did not exist; He did even more, for He loved us when we were opposed to, and were resisting, Him, as St. Paul testifies: When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son (Rom. v. 10). In other words, if He had not loved us when enemies, He would not now have us for friends just as, if He had not loved those who did not as yet exist, they would not be existing now for Him to love.
3. In the next place, His love is tender, wise, and strong. I say that it is tender, since He has taken upon Him our flesh; wise, since He has held imself free of all sin; and strong, since it reached to the point of enduring death. For those whom He visited in the flesh yet He loved not in the flesh, but in the foreseeing wisdom of the Spirit. For the Lord Christ is a Spirit who hath made Himself visible to us (Lam. iv. 10), being moved towards us with a zeal of God, not 1 The reading of the Vulgate here is very remarkable: 1 Spiritus oris nostri Christus Dominus captus est/—Ed.
4. Learn, O Christian, from the example of Christ the manner in which you ought to love Christ. Learn to love Him tenderly, to love Him wisely, to love Him with a mighty love. Tenderly, that you be not enticed away from Him; wisely, that you be not deceived and so drawn away; and strongly, that you be not separated from Him by any force. Delight yourself in Christ, who is Wisdom, beyond all else, in order that worldly glory or fleshly pleasures may not withdraw you from Him; and let Christ, who is the Truth, enlighten you, so that you may not be led away by the spirit of falsehood and error. That you may not be overcome by adversities, let Christ, who is the Power of God, strengthen you. Let charity render your zeal ardent, wisdom rule and direct it; let constancy make it enduring. Let it be free from lukewarmness, not timid, nor wanting in discretion. Are not those the three things prescribed to thee in the Law, when God said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength (Deut. vi. 5)? It seems to me, if no other sense occurs to you better to give to that threefold distinction, that the love of the heart answers to the earnestness of affection;
5. And recognise in clear examples that what I say is true. When the disciples had heard with dismay their Master, shortly before His Ascension, speaking of His departure from them, they heard from Him: If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father (John xiv. 28). What then? Did they not love Him for whose departure they were grieving? In a certain sense they loved Him, and yet they did not really love Him. That is, they loved Him tenderly, but not wisely; they loved in a carnal way, not reasonably; finally, they loved with all their heart, but not with all their soul. Their love was against the interests of their salvation; wherefore He said to them also, It is expedient for you that I go away (John xvi. 7), blaming their deficiency in wisdom, not in affection. When, again, He was speaking of His coming death, Peter, as you remember, who loved Him, and desired to retain Him, replied, endeavouring to hinder Him; to whom He made answer, so reproving him as to show that it was his want of prudence only that He blamed. For what is the force of the words following, Thou savourest not the things which be of God (Mark viii. 33), but, Thou lovest not wisely, as following the impulse of human affection against the design of God? And He even called him Satan, inasmuch as in seeking to hinder the Saviour from dying he was an adversary of salvation, though unknowingly. And, therefore, having been thus corrected, he no longer opposed himself to the Saviour's death when the sad prophecy of it was again made by Him, but declared that he would die with Him. But that promise He did 1 Sedueibiiem; a word which does not appear to occur elsewhere, even in Low Latin: it is not to be found in Forcellini's Lexicon, or Du Cange's Glossary, I. q. seduetllis. See ' Confessions of St. Augustine,' Bk. ii., c. 3.—Ed.
6. And notice, that that love of the heart is in a manner carnal, with which the heart of man is affected towards Christ according to the flesh, and towards the actions which He did or commanded while in the flesh, A person who is filled with that love is easily touched with any discourse which dwells on that subject. There is nothing he listens to more willingly, reads more attentively, recalls oftener to memory, meditates upon with greater enjoyment. His sacrifices of prayer receive from it a new perfection, and resemble, as it were, victims as fat as they are beautiful. As often as he prays, the image of the God Man arises before him, either in His Birth or His Infancy, either in His teaching or His Death, His Resurrection, or His Ascension; and all these, or similar images, necessarily animate the soul to the love of holiness, drive away fleshly vices, put to flight temptations, and calm desires. I consider that a principal cause why God, who is invisible, willed to render Himself visible in the Flesh, and to dwell as a Man among men, was to draw, in the first place, to the salutary love of His sacred Flesh all the affections of carnal men who were unable to love otherwise than in a carnal manner, and so by degrees to draw them to a pure and spiritual affection. Were not those, for instance, who said to Jesus, Behold, we have left all and followed Thee (Matt. xix. 27), still in this [first degree of love? They had left all things for the sole love of the bodily Presence of Jesus, so that they were not able even to listen with equanimity to the announcement of His salutary Passion and Death as near at hand, and even afterwards it touched them with a profound sadness to look up to the glory of His Ascension. For this reason it was that He said to them: Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart (John xvi. 6). Thus in 1 Suspiccre* Another reading is suscipere* U the meantime He had drawn them away, and kept them, from every carnal affection by the grace of His personal Presence in the Flesh.
7. But He afterwards pointed out to them a higher degree of love, when He said: // is the Spirit that quickene/h, the flesh profiteth nothing (John vi. 64). I think that he who said, Though we have known Christ after the Fleshy yet now henceforth know we Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16), and perhaps the Prophet also, notwithstanding [that he lived before Christ], when he said, The Spirit before our face was Christ the Zord, stood upon this higher ground; for that which he adds, Under Thy shadmv shall we live among the Gentiles it seems that he speaks in the name of those who are beginning to rest at least in the shadow, since they do not feel themselves to be capable of sustaining the heat of the sun; and being nourished with the sweetness of the flesh, are not as yet capable of perceiving the things which are of the Spirit of God. By the shadow of Christ I suppose to be meant His Flesh, with which Mary was overshadowed- (Luke i. 35), so that it was to her as a veil to temper the heat and light of the Spirit. Let him be consoled then, with the devotion of the flesh who has not as yet the life-giving Spirit, or, at least, who has Him not in the manner of those who say: The Spirit before our face was Christ the Lord and, Though we have known Christ after the Fleshy yet now henceforth know we Him no more. For it is assuredly not without the Spirit that Christ is loved, even in the Flesh, though He be not loved in His fulness [thus]. And of this devotion the measure is this, that the sweetness of it occupies the whole heart; draws it entirely to itself from all love of the flesh or of carnal things, and frees it from their temptations; this it is to love with all the heart. Otherwise, if I prefer to the Flesh of my Lord any ties of relationship, or any pleasure that I may receive—I mean in such a way as to be able to perform fewer of those good works which He has taught me by word and by example while He abode in the Flesh—does it not plainly appear that I do not love Him with all my heart, since it is divided, and I seem to have given a part to the love of Him, and a part to the love of myself? For He Himself says: He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matt. x. 37). Therefore, to express it briefly, to love Jesus with the whole heart is to prefer the love of His most sacred Flesh to all things which engage our affections or our vanity, either in our own self, or that of another; in which I equally comprehend the glory of the world also, because it is essentially carnal; and those who delight in it are, without doubt, carnally minded.
8. But yet such devotion towards the Flesh of Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and a great gift; yet I must call such love carnal, at least in comparison with that other affection, which has regard, not so much to the Word as Flesh, as to the Word as Wisdom, as 1 Lam. iv. 20, but apparently quoted from memory and inexactly.—Ei».
2 See Sermon XXXI., «. 9.
The THREE WAYS IN WHICH WE LOVE GOD Righteousness, as Truth, as Holiness, Goodness, Virtue, and all other Perfections of whatever kind. For Christ is all these, inasmuch as by God He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. i. 30). Does it appear to you that two persons have equal and similar love towards Christ, of whom the one sympathizes indeed piously with His sufferings, is moved to a lively sorrow by them, and easily softened by the memory of all that He endured: who feeds upon the sweetness of that devotion, and is strengthened thereby to all salutary, honourable, and pious actions; while the other, being always fired by a zeal for righteousness, having everywhere an ardent passion for truth, and earnestly desiring wisdom, prefers above all things sanctity of life, and a perfectly disciplined character; who is ashamed of ostentation, abhors detraction, knows not what it is to be envious, detests pride, and not only avoids, but dislikes and despises every kind of worldly glory; who vehemently hates and perseveres in destroying in himself every impurity of the heart and of the flesh; and lastly, who rejects, as if it were naturally, all that is evil, and embraces all that is good? If you compare these two types of affection, does it not appear to you that the second is plainly the superior? and that in comparison with it the former is in a manner carnal?
9. Yet that love, by which a carnal life is shut out, and the world is contemned and overcome, is good, though it be carnal. In that type of affection it becomes rational as it makes progress, and it is perfected when it becomes spiritual. It is called rational when in all the sentiments cherished regarding Christ the proportion of the faith (ratio fidei) is so carefully observed that no deviation is made from the pure doctrine of the Church by any apparent similarity to truth, nor by any snare of heretical or diabolical deception. As also in our personal conduct this caution must be observed, that the bounds of discretion be not exceeded through the influence of superstition, or of levity, or of the zeal of an unregulated disposition. And this it is to love God with all the soul, as I have already said. If to this be added force so great, and an assistance so powerful, as that of the Holy Spirit, so that neither troubles nor sufferings, however violent, nor even the fear of death, can ever cause the desertion of righteousness, then God is loved with all the strength, and that is spiritual love. And I think this name peculiarly suitable to such love, because of the fulness of the Spirit which so particularly distinguishes it. But I think that these observations may suffice with regard to that saying of the Bride: Therefore have the virgins loved Thee beyond measure. May our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Guardian, deign to open to us the treasures of His mercy, that we may be able to expound the words which follow/ Who liveth and reigneth with the Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
1. Ut a Magistri verbis sermo exordium sumat: Qui non amat Dominum Jesum, anathemata sit. Valde omnino mihi amandus est, per quem sum, vivo et sapio. Si ingratus sum; et indignus. Dignus plane est morte, qui tibi, Domine Jesu, recusat vivere, et mortuus est; et qui tibi non sapit, desipit; et qui curat esse nisi propter te, pro nihilo est, et nihil est. Denique quid est homo, nisi quia tu innotuisti ei? Propter temetipsum, Deus, fecisti omnia; et qui esse vult sibi et non tibi, nihil esse incipit inter omnia: Deum time, et mandata ejus observa; hoc est, inquit, omnis homo. Ergo si hoc est omnis homo, absque hoc nihil omnis homo. Inclina tibi, Deus, modicum id quod me dignatus est esse; atque de mea misera vita suscipe, obsecro, residuum annorum meorum; pro his vero, quos vivendo perdidi, quia perdite vixi, cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicias. Dies mei sicut umbra declinaverunt, et praeterierunt sine fructu. Impossibile est ut revocem; placeat ut recogitem tibi eos in amaritudine animae meae. Jam de sapientia, ante te est omne desiderium meum, et propositum cordis mei; si qua esset in me, servarem ad te. Sed, Deus, tu scis insipientiam meam; nisi quod hoc ipsum fortasse sapere est, quod et ego agnosco eam, et quidem ex munere tuo. Auge illud mihi, minime quidem ingrato pro munusculo; sed sollicito pro eo quod deest. Pro his ergo ita sum amans te, quantum possum.
2. Sed est quod me plus movet, plus urget, plus accendit. Super omnia, inquam, reddit amabilem te mihi, Jesu bone, calix quem bibisti, opus nostrae redemptionis. Hoc omnino amorem nostrum facile vindicat totum sibi. Hoc, inquam, est quod nostram devotionem et blandius allicit, et justius exigit, et arctius stringit, et afficit vehementius. Multum quippe laboravit in eo Salvator, nec in omni mundi fabrica tantum fatigationis auctor assumpsit. Illa denique dixit, et facta sunt; mandavit, et creata sunt. At vero hic et in dictis suis sustinuit contradictores, et in factis observatores, et in tormentis illusores, et in morte exprobratores. Ecce quomodo dilexit. Adde quod hanc ipsam dilectionem non reddidit, sed addidit. Nam quis prior dedit ei, et retribuetur ei? Sed ut sanctus Joannes evangelista ait: Non quia nos dilexerimus Deum, sed quia ipse prior dilexit nos. Denique dilexit etiam non existentes; sed adjicit et resistentes diligere, juxta Pauli testimonium dicentis: Quoniam cum adhuc inimici essemus, reconciliati sumus Deo per sanguinem Filii ejus (Rom. V, 10). Alioquin si non dilexisset inimicos, nondum possedisset amicos, sicut necdum quos sic diligeret essent, si non dilexisset qui nondum essent.
3. Dilexit autem dulciter, sapienter, fortiter. Dulce nempe dixerim, quod carnem induit; cautum, quod culpam cavit; forte, quod mortem sustinuit. Nam quos sane in carne visitavit, carnaliter tamen nequaquam amavit, sed in prudentia spiritus. Spiritus quippe ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus, aemulans nos Dei aemulatione, non hominis, et certe saniori, quam primus Adam Evam suam. Itaque quos in carne quaesivit, dilexit in spiritu, redemit in virtute. Plenum prorsus omni suavitatis dulcedine, videre hominem hominis Conditorem. At dum naturam prudenter selegit a culpa, etiam potenter mortem propulit a natura. In carnis assumptione condescendit mihi, in culpae vitatione consuluit sibi, in mortis susceptione satisfecit patri; amicus dulcis, consiliarius prudens, adjutor fortis. Huic securus me credo, qui salvare me velit, noverit, possit. Quem quaesivit, hunc et vocavit per gratiam suam; nunquid venientem ejiciet foras? Sed nec vim, nec fraudem metuo profecto ullam, quod me videlicet de manu ejus possit eruere; qui et vincentem omnia vicit mortem, et seductorem universitatis serpentem, arte utique sanctiore delusit; isto prudentior, illa potentior. Carnis quidem assumit veritatem, sed peccati similitudinem; dulcem prorsus in illa exhibens consolationem infirmo, et in hac prudenter abscondens laqueum deceptionis diabolo. Porro ut Patri nos reconciliet, mortem fortiter subit et subigit, fundens pretium nostrae redemptionis sanguinem suum. Ergo nisi amasset dulciter, non me in carcere requisisset illa majestas; sed junxit affectioni sapientiam, qua tyrannum deciperet; junxit et patientiam, qua placaret offensum Deum Patrem. Hi sunt modi, quos vobis promiseram; sed praemisi eos in Christo, ut commendabiliores haberetis.
4. Disce, o Christiane, a Christo, quemadmodum diligas Christum. Disce amare dulciter, amare prudenter, amare fortiter. Dulciter, ne illecti; prudenter, ne decepti; fortiter, ne oppressi ab amore Domini avertamur. Ne mundi gloria seu carnis voluptatibus abducaris, dulcescat tibi prae his sapientia Christus; ne seducaris spiritu mendacii et erroris, lucescat tibi veritas Christus; ne adversitatibus fatigeris, confortet te virtus Dei Christus. Zelum tuum inflammet charitas, informet scientia, firmet constantia. Sit fervidus, sit circumspectus, sit invictus. Nec teporem habeat, nec careat discretione, nec timidus sit. Et vide ne forte tria ista tibi et in lege tradita fuerint, dicente Deo: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota virtute tua. Mihi videtur (si alius competentior sensus in hac trina distinctione non occurrit) amor quidem cordis ad zelum quemdam pertinere affectionis; animae vero amor ad industriam seu judicium rationis; virtutis autem dilectio ad animi posse referri constantiam vel vigorem. Dilige ergo Dominum Deum tuum toto et pleno cordis affectu; dilige tota rationis vigilantia et circumspectione; dilige et tota virtute, ut nec mori pro ejus amore pertimescas, sicut scriptum est in consequentibus: Quoniam fortis est ut mors dilectio, dura sicut infernus aemulatio. Sit suavis et dulcis affectui tuo Dominus Jesus, contra male utique dulces vitae carnalis illecebras; et vincat dulcedo dulcedinem, quemadmodum clavum clavus expellit. Sed sit nihilominus intellectui praevia lux et dux rationi, non solum ob cavendas haereticae fraudis decipulas, et fidei puritatem ab eorum versutiis custodiendam, verum et cautus quoque sis nimiam et indiscretam vehementiam in tua conversatione [ alias, conversione] vitare. Sit etiam fortis et constans amor tuus, nec cedens terroribus, nec succumbens laboribus. Ergo amemus affectuose, circumspecte et valide, scientes amorem cordis, quem affectuosum dicimus, absque eo qui dicitur animae, dulcem quidem, sed seducibilem; istum vero absque illo qui virtutis est, rationabilem esse, sed fragilem.
5. Et vide in manifestis exemplis hoc ita esse ut dicimus. Cum aegre ferrent discipuli quod de ascensuri Magistri discessu ab eodem ipso audierant, audierunt: Si diligeritis me, gauderetis utique quia vado ad Patrem. Quid ergo? non diligebant de cujus discessione dolebant? Sed diligebant quodam modo, et non diligebant. Diligebant dulciter, sed minus prudenter; diligebant carnaliter, sed non rationabiliter; denique diligebant toto corde, non autem tota anima. Dilectio eorum contra salutem eorum; unde et aiebat: Expedit vobis ut ego vadam, culpans consilium, non affectum. Loquenti item de morte sua futura, obviare sibi conantem Petrum, qui eum tenere diligebat, cum ita, ut meministis, increpando repressit, quid in eo aliud quam imprudentiam reprehendit? Postremo quid est: Non sapis quae Dei sunt, nisi: Non sapienter diligis, humanum sequens affectum, contra divinum consilium? Et vocavit Satanam, eo quod saluti, etsi nesciens, adversaretur, qui Salvatorem mori prohiberet. Unde et correctus, repetentem postmodum triste verbum minime jam mori vetuit, sed se commoriturum esse promisit. Non autem implevit, quia necdum ad tertium pervenerat gradum, in quo virtute tota diligitur. Erat tota anima doctus diligere, sed adhuc infirmus; bene instructus, sed parum adjutus; non ignarus mysterii, sed martyrii pavidus. Non plane illa fortis ut mors dilectio tunc fuit, quae morti succubuit; fuit autem postea, cum ex promissione Jesu Christi indutus virtute ex alto, tanta tandem coepit virtute diligere, ut in concilio prohibitus praedicare nomen sanctum, constanter prohibentibus responderet: Obedire oportet Deo magis quam hominibus. Tunc demum tota virtute dilexit, cum nec vitae suae pepercit pro dilectione. Majorem siquidem charitatem nemo habet, quam si animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis: quam etsi minime tunc posuit, jam tamen exposuit. Ergo non abduci blanditiis, nec seduci fallaciis, nec injuriis frangi, toto corde, tota anima, tota virtute diligere est.
6. Et nota amorem cordis quodam modo esse carnalem, quod magis erga carnem Christi, et quae in carne Christus gessit vel jussit, cor humanum afficiat. Hoc repletus amore, facile ad omnem de hujusmodi sermonem compungitur. Nihil audit libentius, nihil legit studiosius, nihil frequentius recolit, nihil suavius meditatur. Inde holocausta orationum, tanquam ex adipe vituli saginati impinguat. Astat oranti Hominis Dei sacra imago, aut nascentis, aut lactentis, aut docentis, aut morientis, aut resurgentis, aut ascendentis; et quidquid tale occurrerit, vel stringat necesse est animum in amorem virtutum vel carnis exturbet vitia, fuget illecebras, desideria sedet. Ego hanc arbitror praecipuam invisibili Deo fuisse causam, quod voluit in carne videri, et cum hominibus homo conversari, ut carnalium videlicet, qui nisi carnaliter amari non poterant, cunctas primo ad suae carnis salutarem amorem affectiones retraheret, atque ita gradatim ad amorem perduceret spiritualem. Nonne denique in hoc gradu adhuc stabant qui aiebant: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te? Solo profecto corporalis praesentiae amore reliquerant omnia, adeo ut salutaris futurae passionis et mortis ne audire quidem verbum aequanimiter sustinerent, sed nec gloriam ascendentis postmodum nisi cum gravi moerore suspicere [ alias, suscipere]. Hoc enim est quod eis dicebat: Quia haec locutus sum vobis, tristitia implevit cor vestrum. Itaque in sola interim gratia praesentis suae carnis eos ab amore omnis carnis suspenderat.
7. Monstrabat autem postea eis altiorem amoris gradum, cum diceret: Spiritus est qui vivificat, caro non prodest quidquam. Puto, hunc ascenderat jam qui dicebat: Etsi cognovimus Christum secundum carnem, sed nunc jam non novimus. Fortassis et nihilominus propheta in hoc ipso stabat, cum diceret: Spiritus ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus. Nam quod subjungit: Sub umbra ejus vivemus inter gentes, mihi videtur ex persona incipientium addidisse, ut quiescant saltem in umbra, qui solis ferre ardorem minus validos se sentiunt; et carnis dulcedine nutriantur, dum necdum valent ea percipere quae sunt Spiritus Dei. Umbram siquidem Christi, carnem reor esse ipsius, de qua obumbratum est et Mariae, ut ejus objectu fervor splendorque Spiritus illi temperaretur. In carnis ergo devotione interim consoletur, qui vivificantem Spiritum necdum habet, eo duntaxat modo, quo habent illi qui aiunt: Spiritus ante faciem nostram Christus Dominus; et item: Etsi cognovimus Christum secundum carnem, sed nunc jam non novimus. Nam alias quidem nequaquam sine Spiritu sancto vel in carne diligitur Christus, etsi non in illa plenitudine. Cujus tamen mensura devotionis haec est, ut totum cor illa suavitas occupet, totum sibi ab amore universae carnis ac carnalis illecebrae vindicet. Hoc quippe toto corde diligere est. Alioquin si carnis meae quamlibet consanguinitatem vel voluptatem forte praefero carni Domini mei, per quod me videlicet minus ea implere contingat, quae in carne manens verbo et exemplo me docuit; nonne liquido constat, quod toto nequaquam diligo corde, cum id divisum habens, partem impendere videar carni ejus, partem intorquere ad propriam? Denique ait: Qui amat patrem aut matrem plus quam me, non est me dignus; et qui amat filium aut filiam plus quam me, non est me dignus. Ergo, ut breviter dicam, toto corde diligere, est omne quod blanditur de carne propria vel aliena, sacrosanctae carnis ejus amori postponere. In quo et mundi aeque gloriam comprehendo, quia gloria mundi gloria est carnis, et qui ea delectantur, carnales esse non dubium est.
8. Licet vero donum, et magnum donum Spiritus sit istiusmodi erga carnem Christi devotio; carnalem tamen dixerim hunc amorem, illius utique amoris respectu, quo non tam Verbum caro jam sapit, quam Verbum sapientia, Verbum justitia, Verbum veritas, Verbum sanctitas, pietas, virtus; et si quid aliud quod sit, hujusmodi dici potest. Et haec nempe omnia Christus, qui factus est nobis sapientia a Deo, et justitia, et sanctificatio, et redemptio. An tibi aeque et uno modo affecti videntur, is quidem qui Christo passo pie compatitur, compungitur, et movetur facile ad memoriam honorum quae pertulit, atque istius devotionis suavitate pascitur, et confortatur ad quaeque salubria, honesta, pia: itemque ille, qui justitiae zelo semper est accensus, qui veritatem ubique zelat, qui sapientiae fervet studiis; cui amica sanctitas vitae, et morum disciplina; cujus mores erubescunt jactantiam, abhorrent detractionem, invidiam nesciunt, superbiam detestantur, omnem humanam gloriam non solum fugiunt, sed et fastidiunt et contemnunt; omnem in se carnis et cordis impuritatem vehementissime abominantur et persequuntur; omne denique tanquam naturaliter et malum respuunt, et quod bonum est amplectuntur? Nonne si compares utriusque affectiones, constat quodam modo illum superiorem, respectu quidem hujus, amare quasi carnaliter?
9. Bonus tamen amor iste carnalis, per quem vita carnalis excluditur, contemnitur et vincitur mundus. Proficitur autem in eo, cum fit et rationalis; perficitur, cum efficitur etiam spiritualis. Porro rationalis tunc est, cum in omnibus quae oportet de Christo sentiri, fidei ratio ita firma tenetur, ut ab ecclesiastici sensus puritate nulla veri similitudinem, nulla haeretica seu diabolica circumventione aliquatenus devietur. Itemque cum in propria conversatione illa cautela servatur, ut discretionis meta nulla superstitione vel levitate, vel spiritus quasi ferventioris vehementia excedatur. Et hoc esse tota anima Deum diligere jam supra diximus. Quod si etiam adjuvantis Spiritus vigor tantus accedat, ut nulla vilaborum vel tormentorum, sed nec mortis metu justitia unquam deseratur; in hoc etiam tota virtute diligitur, et est amor spiritualis. Quod nimirum nomen huic specialiter amori congruere puto, ob praerogativam utique plenitudinis spiritus, qua praecellit. Et haec sufficiant pro eo quod sponsa dicit: Propterea adolescentulae dilexerunt te nimis (Cantic. I, 2). In his quae sequuntur, dignetur nobis aperire thesauros misericordiae suae ipse custos eorum Jesus Christus Dominus noster, qui vivit et regnat cum Patre in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.