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  WRITINGS OF COMMODIAN
  by Commodian
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Writings of Commodian (c. AD 250). Commodian was an early church father whose
writings have been preserved for the edification of the church.

  Chapters: 4

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. Writings of Commodian
    1. On Christian Discipline
    2. Song Of Two Peoples LATIN
    3. Song Of Two Peoples

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  CHAPTER 0: WRITINGS OF COMMODIAN
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  CHAPTER 1: ON CHRISTIAN DISCIPLINE
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The Instructions of Commodianus in Favour of Christian Discipline. Against the
Gods of the Heathens. (Expressed in Acrostics.) Latin Text from public domain
Migne, Patrologia Latina.

English translation from public domain Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. IV.

Table of Contents

• I. -Preface.

• II. -God's Indignation.

• III. -The Worship of Demons.

• IV. -Saturn.

• V. -Jupiter.

• VI. -Of the Same Jupiter's Thunderbolt.

• VII. -Of the Septizonium and the Stars.

• VIII. -Of the Sun and Moon.

• IX. -Mercury.

• X. -Neptune.

• XII. -Father Liber-Bacchus.

• XIII. -The Unconquered One.

• XIV. -Sylvanus.

• XV. -Hercules.

• XVI. -Of the Gods and Goddesses.

• XVII. -Of Their Images.

• XVIII. -Of Ammydates and the Great God.

• XIX. -Of the Vain Nemesiaci.

• XX. -The Titans.

• XXI. -The Montesiani.

• XXII. -The Dulness of the Age.

• XXIII.-Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready.

• XXIV. -Of Those Who Live Between the Two.

• XXV. -They Who Fear and Will Not Believe.

• XXVI. -To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God.

• XXVII. -O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God.

• XXVIII. -The Righteous Rise Again.

• XXIX. -To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man.

• XXX. -Rich Men, Be Humble.

• XXXI. -To Judges.

• XXXII. -To Self-Pleasers.

• XXXIII. -To the Gentiles.

• XXXIV. -Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles.

• XXXV. -Of the Tree of Life and Death.

• XXXVI. -Of the Foolishness of the Cross.

• XXXVII. -The Fanatics Who Judaize.

• XXXVIII. -To the Jews.

• XXXIX. -Also to the Jews.

• XL. -Again to the Same.

• XLI.--Of the Time of Antichrist.11 • XLII.--Of the Hidden and Holy People of
the Almighty Christ, the Living God.

• XLIII.--Of the End of This Age.

• XLIV. -Of the First Resurrection.

• XLV. -Of the Day of Judgment.

• XLVI. -To Catechumens.

• XLVII. -To the Faithful.

• XLVIII. -O Faithful, Beware of Evil.

• XLIX. -To Penitents.

• L.-Who Have Apostatized from God.

• LI. -Of Infants.

• LII. -Deserters.

• LIII. -To the Soldiers of Christ.

• LIV. -Of Fugitives.

• LV. -Of the Seed of the Tares.

• LVI. -To the Dissembler.

• LVII. -That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided.

• LVIII. -That the Christian Should Be Such.

• LIX. -To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God.

• LX. -To the Same Again.

• LXI. -In the Church to All the People of God.

• LXII. -To Him Who Wishes for • LXIII.- the Daily War.

• LXIV. -Of the Zeal of Concupiscence.

• LXV. -They Who Give from Evil.

• LXVI. -Of a Deceitful Peace.

• LXVIII. -To Ministers.

• LXIX. -To God's Shepherds.

• LXX. -I Speak to the Elder-Born.

• LXXI. -To Visit the Sick.

• LXXII. -To the Poor in Health.

• LXXIII.- that Sons are Not to Be Bewailed.

• LXXIV. -Of Funeral Pomp.

• LXXV. -To the Clerks.

• LXXVI. -Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence.

• LXXVII. -To the Drunkards.

• LXXVIII. -To the Pastors.

• LXXIX. -To the Petitioners.

• LXXX. -The Name of the Man of Gaza.

I. -Preface. My preface sets forth the way to the wanderer and a good visitation
when the goal of life shall have come, that he may become eternal-a thing which
ignorant hearts disbelieve. I in like manner have wandered for a long time, by
giving attendance upon "heathen" fanes, my parents themselves being ignorant.
Thence at length I withdrew myself by reading concerning the law. I bear witness
to the Lord; I grieve alas, the crowd of citizens! ignorant of what it loses in
going to seek vain gods. Thoroughly taught by these things, I instruct the
ignorant in the truth.

II. -God's Indignation. In the law, the Lord of heaven, and earth, and sea has
commanded, saying, Worship not vain gods made by your own hands out of wood or
gold, lest my wrath destroy you for such things. The people before Moses,
unskilled, abiding without law, and ignorant of God, prayed to gods that
perished, after the likenesses of which they fashioned vain idols. The Lord
having brought the Jews out of the land of Egypt, subsequently imposed on them a
law; and the Omnipotent enjoined these things, that they should serve Him alone,
and not those idols. Moreover, in that law is taught concerning the
resurrection, and the hope of living in happiness again in the world, if vain
idols be forsaken and not worshipped.

III. -The Worship of Demons. When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the
world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent
down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them
aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from
God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment
against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them
arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and
everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But
the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when
dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert
many bodies, and it is such as these especially that ye this day worship and
pray to as gods.

IV. -Saturn. And Saturn the old, if he is a god, how does he grow old? Or if he
was a god, why was he driven by his terrors to devour his children? But because
he was not a god, he consumed the bowels of his sons in a monstrous madness. He
was a king upon earth, born in the mount Olympus; and he was not divine, but
called himself a god. He fell into weakness of mind, and swallowed a stone for
his son. Thus he became a god; of late he is called Jupiter.

V. -Jupiter. This Jupiter was born to Saturn in the island of Breta; and when he
was grown up, he deprived his father of the kingdom. He then deluded the wives
and sisters of the nobles. Moreover, Pyracmon, a smith, had made for him a
sceptre. In the beginning God made the heaven, the earth, and the sea. But that
frightful creature, born in the midst of time, went forth as a youth from a
cave, and was nourished by stealth. Behold, that God is the author of all
things, not that Jupiter.

VI. -Of the Same Jupiter's Thunderbolt. Ye say, O fools, Jupiter thunders. It is
he that hurls thunderbolts; and if it was childishness that thought thus, why
for two hundred years have ye been babies? And will ye still be so always?
Infancy is passed into maturity, old age does not enjoy trifles, the age of
boyhood has departed; let the mind of youth in like manner depart. Your thoughts
ought to belong to the character of men. Thou art then a fool, to believe that
it is Jupiter that thunders. He, born on the earth, is nourished with goats'
milk. Therefore if Saturn had devoured him, who was it in those times that sent
rain when he was dead? Especially, if a god may be thought to be born of a
mortal father, Saturn grew old on the earth, and on the earth he died. There was
none that predicted his previous birth. Or if he thunders, the law would have
been given by him. The stories that the poets feign seduce you. He, however,
reigned in Crete, and there died. He who to you is the Almighty became Alcmena's
lover; he himself would in like manner be in love with living men now if he were
alive. Ye pray to unclean gods, and ye call them heavenly who are born of mortal
seed from those giants. Ye hear and ye read that he was born in the earth:
whence was it that that corrupter so well deserved to ascend into heaven? And
the Cyclopes are said to have forged him a thunderbolt; for though he was
immortal, he received arms from mortals. Ye have conveyed to heaven by your
authority one guilty of so many crimes, and, moreover, a parricide of his own
relations.

VII. -Of the Septizonium and the Stars. Your want of intelligence deceives you
concerning the circle of the zone, and perchance from that you find out that you
must pray to Jupiter. Saturn is told of there, but it is as a star, for he was
driven forth by Jupiter, or let Jupiter be believed to be in the star. He who
controlled the constellations of the pole, and the sower of the soil; he who
made war with the Trojans, he loved the beautiful Venus. Or among the stars
themselves Mars was caught with her by married jealousy: he is called the
youthful god. Oh excessively foolish, to think that those who are born of Maia
rule from the stars, or that they rule the entire nature of the world! Subjected
to wounds, and themselves living under the dominion of the fates, obscene,
inquisitive, warriors of an impious life; and they made sons, equally mortal
with themselves, and were all terrible, foolish, strong, in the sevenfold
girdle. If ye worship the stars, worship also the twelve signs "of the zodiac",
as well the ram, the bull, the twins, as the fierce lion; and finally, they go
on into fishes,-cook them and you will prove them. A law without law is your
refuge: what wishes to be, will prevail. A woman desires to be wanton; she seeks
to live without restraint. Ye yourselves will be what ye wish for, and pray to
as gods and goddesses. Thus I worshipped while I went astray, and now I condemn
it.

VIII. -Of the Sun and Moon. Concerning the Sun and Moon ye are in error,
although they are in our immediate presence; in that ye, as I formerly did,
think that you must pray to them. They, indeed, are among the stars; but they do
not run of their own accord. The Omnipotent, when He established all things at
first, placed them there with the stars, on the fourth day. And, indeed, He
commanded in the law that none should worship them. Ye worship so many gods who
promise nothing concerning life, whose law is not on the earth, nor are they
themselves foretold. But a few priests seduce you, who say that any deity
destined to die can be of service. Draw near now, read, and learn the truth.

IX. -Mercury. Let your Mercury be depicted with a Saraballum, and with wings on
his helmet or his cap, and in other respects naked. I see a marvellous thing, a
god flying with a little satchel. Run, poor creatures, with your lap spread open
when he flies, that he may empty his satchel: do ye from thence be prepared.
Look on the painted one, since he will thus cast you money from on high: then
dance ye securely. Vain man, art thou not mad, to worship painted gods in
heaven? If thou knowest not how to live, continue to dwell with the beasts.

X. -Neptune. Ye make Neptune a god descended from Saturn; and he wields a
trident that he may spear the fishes. It is plain by his being thus provided
that he is a sea-god. Did not he himself with Apollo raise up walls for the
Trojans? How did that poor stone-mason become a god? Did not he beget the
cyclops-monster? And was he himself when dead unable to live again, though his
structure admitted of this? Thus begotten, he begot who was already once dead.

Ye make Apollo a player on the cithara, and divine. Born at first of Main, in
the isle of Delos, subsequently, for offered wages, a builder, obeying the king
Laomedon, he reared the walls of the Trojans. And he established himself, and ye
are seduced into thinking him a god, in whose bones the love of Cassandra
burned, whom the virgin craftily sported with, and, though a divine being, he is
deceived. By his office of augur he was able to know the double-hearted one.
Moreover rejected, he, though divine, departed thence. Him the virgin burnt up
with her beauty, whom he ought to have burnt up; while she ought first of all to
have loved the god who thus lustfully began to love Daphne, and still follows
her up, wishing to violate the maid. The fool loves in vain. Nor can he obtain
her by running. Surely, if he were a god, he would come up with her through the
air. She first came under the roof, and the divine being remained outside. The
race of men deceive you, for they were of a sad way of life. Moreover, he is
said to have fed the cattle of Admetus. While in imposed sports. he threw the
quoit into the air, he could not restrain it as it fell, and it killed his
friend. That was the last day of his companion Hyacinthus. Had he been divine,
he would have fore-known the death of his friend.

XII. -Father Liber-Bacchus. Ye yourselves say that Father Liber was assuredly
twice begotten. First of all he was born in India of Proserpine and Jupiter, and
waging war against the Titans, when his blood was shed, he expired even as one
of mortal men. Again, restored from his death, in another womb Semele conceived
him again of Jupiter, a second Main, whose womb being divided, he is taken away
near to birth from his dead mother, and as a nursling is given to be nourished
to Nisus. From this being twice born he is called Dionysus; and his religion is
falsely observed in vanity; and they celebrate his orgies such that now they
themselves seem to be either foolhardy or burlesquers of Mimnermomerus. They
conspire in evil; they practise beforehand with pretended heat, that they may
deceive others into saying that a deity is present. Hence you manifestly see men
living a life like his, violently excited with the wine which he himself had
pressed out; they have given him divine honour in the midst of their drunken
excess.

XIII. -The Unconquered One. The unconquered one was born from a rock, if he is
regarded as a god. Now tell us, then, on the other hand, which is the first of
these two. The rock has overcome the god: then the creator of the rock has to be
sought after. Moreover, you still depict him also as a thief; although, if he
were a god, he certainly did not live by theft. Assuredly he was of earth, and
of a monstrous nature. And he turned other people's oxen into his caves; just as
did Cacus, that son of Vulcan.

XIV. -Sylvanus. Whence, again, has Sylvanus appeared to be a god? Perhaps it is
agreeable "so to call him" from this, that the pipe sings sweetly because he
bestows the wood; for, perhaps, it might not be so. Thou hast bought a venal
master, when thou shalt have bought from him. Behold the wood fails! What is due
to him? Art thou not ashamed, O fool, w adore such pictures? Seek one God who
will allow you to live after death. Depart from such as have become dead in
life.

XV. -Hercules. Hercules, because he destroyed the monster of the Aventine Mount,
who had been wont to steal the herds of Evander, "is a god": the rustic mind of
men, untaught also, when they wished to return thanks instead of praise to the
absent thunderer, senselessly vowed victims as to a god to be besought, they
made milky altars as a memorial to themselves. Thence it arises that he is
worshipped in the ancient manner. But he is no god, although he was strong in
arms.

XVI. -Of the Gods and Goddesses. Ye say that they are gods who are plainly
cruel, and ye say that genesis assigns the fates to you. Now, then, say to whom
first of all sacred rites are paid. Between the ways on either side immature
death is straying. If the fates give the generations, why do you pray to the
god? Thou art vainly deceived who art seeking to beseech the manes, and thou
namest them to be lords over thee who are fabricated. Or, moreover, I know not
what women you pray to as goddesses-Bellona and Nemesis the goddesses, together
with the celestial Fury, the Virgins and Venus, for whom your wives are weak in
the loins. Besides, there are in the lanes other demons which are not as yet
numbered, and are worn on the neck, so that they themselves cannot give to
themselves an account. Plagues ought rather to be exported to the ends of the
earth.

XVII. -Of Their Images. A few wicked and empty poets delude you; while they seek
with difficulty to procure their living, they adorn falsehood to be for others
under the guise of mystery. Thence reigning to be smitten by some deity, they
sing of his majesty, and weary themselves under his form. Ye have often seen the
Dindymarii, with what a din they enter upon luxuries while they seek to feign
the furies, or when they strike their backs with the filthy axe, although with
their teaching they keep what they heal by their blood. Behold in what name they
do not compel those who first of all unite themselves to them with a sound mind.
But that they may take away a gift, they seek such minds. Thence see how all
things are feigned. They cast a shadow over a simple people, lest they should
believe, while they perish, the thing once for all proceeded in vanity from
antiquity, that a prophet who uttered false things might be believed; but their
majesty has spoken nought.

XVIII. -Of Ammydates and the Great God. We have already said many things of an
abominable superstition, and yet we follow up the subject, lest we should be
said to have passed anything over. And the worshippers worshipped their
Ammydates after their manner. He was great to them when there was gold in the
temple. They placed their heads under his power, as if he were present. It came
to the highest point that Caesar took away the gold. The deity failed, or fled,
or passed away into fire. The author of this wickedness is manifest who formed
this same god, and falsely prophesying seduces so many and so great men, and
only was silent about Him who was accustomed to be divine. For voices broke
forth, as if with a changed mind, as if the wooden god were speaking into his
ear. Say now yourselves if they are not false deities? From that prodigy how
many has that prophet destroyed? He forgot to prophesy who before was accustomed
to prophesy; so those prodigies are reigned among those who are greedy of wine,
whose damnable audacity feigns deities, for they were carried about, and such an
image was dried up. For both he himself is silent, and no one prophesies
concerning him at all. But ye wish to ruin yourselves.

XIX. -Of the Vain Nemesiaci. Is it not ignominy, that a prudent man should be
seduced and worship such a one, or say that a log is Diana? You trust a man who
in the morning is drunk, costive, and ready to perish, who by art speaks falsely
what is seen by him. While he lives strictly, he feeds on his own bowels. A
detestable one defiles all the citizens; and he has attached to himself-a
similar gathering being made-those with whom he feigns the history, that he may
adorn a god. He is ignorant how to prophesy for himself; for others he dares it.
He places it on his shoulder when he pleases, and again he places it down.
Whirling round, he is turned by himself with the tree of the two-forked one, as
if you would think that he was inspired with the deity of the wood. Ye do not
worship the gods whom they themselves falsely announce; ye worship the priests
themselves, fearing them vainly. But if thou art strong in heart, flee at once
from the shrines of death.

XX. -The Titans. Ye say that the Titans are to you "Tutans". Ye ask that these
fierce ones should be silent under your roof, as so many Lares, shrines, images
made like to a Titan. For ye foolishly adore those who have died by an evil
death, not reading their own law. They themselves speak not, and ye dare to call
them gods who are melted out of a brazen vessel; ye should rather melt them into
little vessels for yourselves.

XXI. -The Montesiani. Ye call the mountains also gods. Let them rule in gold,
darkened by evil, and aiding with an averted mind. For if a pure spirit and a
serene mind remained to you, thou thyself ought to examine for thyself
concerning them. Thou art become senseless as a man, if thou thinkest that these
can save thee, whether they rule or whether they cease. If thou seekest anything
healthy, seek rather the righteousness of the law, that brings the help of
salvation, and says that you are becoming eternal. For what you shall follow in
vanity rejoices you for a time. Thou art glad for a brief space, and afterwards
bewailest in the depths. Withdraw thyself from these, if thou wilt rise again
with Christ.

XXII. -The Dulness of the Age. Alas, I grieve, citizens, that ye are thus
blinded by the world. One runs to the lot; another gazes on the birds; another,
having shed the blood of bleating animals, calls forth the manes, and
credulously desires to hear vain responses. When so many leaders and kings have
taken counsel concerning life, what benefit has it been to them to have known
even its portents? Learn, I beg you, citizens, what is good; beware of
idol-fanes. Seek, indeed, all of you, in the law of the Omnipotent. Thus it has
pleased the Lord of lords Himself in the heavens, that demons should wander in
the world for our discipline. And yet, on the other hand, He has sent out His
mandates, that they who forsake their altars shall become inhabitants of heaven.
Whence I am not careful to argue this in a small treatise. The law teaches; it
calls on you in your midst. Consider for yourselves. Ye have entered upon two
roads; decide upon the right one.

XXIII.-Of Those Who are Everywhere Ready. While thou obeyest the belly, thou
sayest that thou art innocent; and, as if courteously, makest thyself everywhere
ready. Woe to thee, foolish man! thou thyself lookest around upon death. Thou
seekest in a barbarous fashion to live without law. Thou thyself hymnest thyself
also to play upon a word, who feignest thyself simple. I live in simplicity with
such a one. Thou believest that thou livest, whilst thou desirest to fill thy
belly. To sit down disgracefully of no account in thy house, ready for feasting,
and to run away from precepts. Or because thou believest not that God will judge
the dead, thou foolishly makest thyself ruler of heaven instead of Him. Thou
regardest thy belly as if thou canst provide for it. Thou seemest at one time to
be profane, at another to be holy. Thou appearest as a suppliant of God, under
the aspect of a tyrant. Thou shalt feel in thy fates by whose law thou art
aided.

XXIV. -Of Those Who Live Between the Two. Thou who thinkest that, by living
doubtfully between the two, thou art on thy guard, goest on thy way stript of
law, broken down by luxury. Thou art looking forward vainly to so many things,
why seekest thou unjust things? And whatever thou hast done shall there remain
to thee when dead. Consider, thou foolish one, thou wast not, and lo, thou art
seen. Thou knowest not whence thou hast proceeded, nor whence thou art
nourished. Thou avoidest the excellent and benignant God of thy life, and thy
Governor, who would rather wish thee to live. Thou turnest thyself to thyself,
and givest thy back to God. Thou drownest thyself in darkness, whilst thou
thinkest thou art abiding in light. Why runnest thou in the synagogue to the
Pharisees, that He may become merciful to thee, whom thou of thy own accord
deniest? Thence thou goest abroad again; thou seekest healthful things. Thou
wishest to live between both ways, but thence thou shalt perish. And, moreover,
thou sayest, Who is He who has redeemed from death, that we may believe in Him,
since there punishments are awarded P Ah! not thus, O malignant man, shall it be
as thou thinkest. For to him who has lived well there is advantage after death.
Thou, however, when one day thou diest, shalt be taken away in an evil place.
But they who believe in Christ shah be led into a good place, and those to whom
that delight is given are caressed; but to you who are of a double mind, against
you is punishment without the body. The course of the tormentor stirs you up to
cry out against your brother.

XXV. -They Who Fear and Will Not Believe. How long, O foolish man, wilt thou not
acknowledge Christ? Thou avoidest the fertile field, and castest thy seeds on
the sterile one. Thou seekest to abide in the wood where the thief is delaying.
Thou sayest, I also am of God; and thou wanderest out of doors. Now at length,
after so many invitations, enter within the palace. Now is the harvest ripe, and
the time so many times prepared. Lo, now reap! What! dost thou not repent?
Thence now, if thou hast not, gather the seasonable wines. The time of believing
to life is present in the time of death. The first law of God is the foundation
of the subsequent law. Thee, indeed, it assigned to believe in the second law.
Nor are threats from Himself, but from it, powerful over thee. Now astounded,
swear that thou wilt believe in Christ; for the Old Testament proclaims
concerning Him. For it is needful only to believe in Him who was dead, to be
able to rise again to live for all time. Therefore, if thou art one who
disbelievest that these things shall be, at length he shall be overcome in his
guilt in the second death. I will declare things to come in few words in this
little treatise. In it can be known when hope must be preferred. Still I exhort
you as quickly as possible to believe in Christ.

XXVI. -To Those Who Resist the Law of Christ the Living God. Thou rejectest,
unhappy one, the advantage of heavenly discipline, and rushest into death while
wishing to stray without a bridle. Luxury and the shortlived joys of the world
are raining thee, whence thou shalt be tormented in hell for all time. They are
vain joys with which thou art foolishly delighted. Do not these make thee to be
a man dead? Cannot thirty years at length make thee a wise man? Ignorant how
thou hast first strayed, look upon ancient time, thou thinkest now to enjoy here
a joyous life in the midst of wrongs. These are the rains of thy friends, wars,
or wicked frauds, thefts with bloodshed: the body is vexed with sores, and
groaning and wailing is indulged; whether a slight disease invade thee, or thou
art held down by long sickness, or thou art bereaved of thy children, or thou
mournest over a lost wife. All is a wilderness: alas, dignities are hurried down
from their height by vices and poverty; doubly so, assuredly, if thou
languishest long. And callest thou it life when this life of glass is mortal?
Consider now at length that this time is of no avail, but in the future you have
hope without the craft of living. Certainly the little children which have been
snatched away desired to live. Moreover, the young men who have been deprived of
life, perchance were preparing to grow old, and they themselves were making
ready to enjoy joyful days; and yet we unwillingly lay aside all things in the
world. I have delayed with a perverse mind, and I have thought that the life of
this world was a true one; and I judged that death would come in like manner as
ye did-that when once life had departed, the soul also was dead and perished.
These things, however, are not so; but the Founder and Author of the world has
certainly required the brother slain by a brother. Impious man, say, said He,
where is thy brother? and he denied. For the blood of thy brother has cried
aloud to Me to heaven. Thou art tormented, I see, when thou thoughtest to feel
nothing; but he lives and occupies the place on the right hand. He enjoys
delights which thou, O wicked one, hast lost; and when thou hast called back the
world, he also has gone before, and will be immortal: for thou shalt wail in
hell. Certainly God lives, who makes the dead to live, that He may give worthy
rewards to the innocent and to the good; but to the fierce and impious, cruel
hell. Commence, O thou who art led away, to perceive the judgments of God.

XXVII. -O Fool, Thou Dost Not Die to God. O fool, thou dost not absolutely die;
nor, when dead, dost thou escape the lofty One. Although thou shouldst arrange
that when dead thou perceivest nothing, thou shalt foolishly be overcome. God
the Creator of the world liveth, whose laws cry out that the dead are in
existence. But thou, whilst recklessly thou seekest to live without God, judgest
that in death is extinction, and thinkest that it is absolute. God has not
ordered it as thou thinkest, that the dead are forgetful of what they have
previously done. Now has the governor made for us receptacles of death, and
after our ashes we shall behold them. Thou art stripped, O foolish one, who
thinkest that by death thou art not, and hast made thy Ruler and Lord to be able
to do nothing. But death is not a mere vacuity, if thou reconsiderest in thine
heart. Thou mayest know that He is to be desired, for late thou shalt perceive
Him. Thou wast the ruler of the flesh; certainly flesh ruled not thee. Freed
from it, the former is buried; thou art here. Rightly is mortal man separated
from the flesh. Therefore mortal eyes will not be able to be equalled (to divine
things). Thus our depth keeps us from the secret of God. Give thou now, whilst
in weakness thou art dying, the honour to God, and believe that Christ will
bring thee back living from the dead. Thou oughtest to give praises in the
church to the omnipotent One.

XXVIII. -The Righteous Rise Again. Righteousness and goodness, peace and true
patience, and care concerning one's deeds, make to live after death. But a
crafty mind, mischievous, perfidious, evil, destroys itself by degrees, and
delays in a cruel death. O wicked man, hear now what thou gainest by thy evil
deeds. Look on the judges of earth, who now in the body torture with terrible
punishments; either chastisements are prepared for the deserving by the sword,
or to weep in a long imprisonment. Dost thou, last of all, hope to laugh at the
God of heaven and the Ruler of the sky, by whom all things were made? Thou
ragest, thou art mad, and now thou takest away the name of God, from whom,
moreover, thou shalt not escape; and He will award punishments according to your
deeds. Now I would have you be cautious that thou come not to the burning of
fire. Give thyself up at once to Christ, that goodness may attend thee.

XXIX. -To the Wicked and Unbelieving Rich Man. Thou wilt, O rich man, by
insatiably looking too much to all thy wealth, squander those things to which
thou art still seeking to cling. Thou sayest, I do not hope when dead to live
after such things as these. O ungrateful to the great God, who thus judgest
thyself to be a god; to Him who, when thou knewest nothing of it, brought thee
forth, and then nourished thee. He governs thy meadows; He, thy vineyards; He,
thy herd of cattle; and He, whatever thou possessest. Nor dost thou give heed to
these things; or thou, perchance, rulest all things. He who made the sky, and
the earth, and the salt seas, decreed to give us back again ourselves in a
golden age. And only if thou believest, thou livest in the secret of God. Learn
God, O foolish man, who wishes thee to be immortal, that thou mayest give Him
eternal thanks in thy struggle. His own law teaches thee; but since thou seekest
to wander, thou disbelievest all things, and thence thou shalt go into hell. By
and by thou givest up thy life; thou shalt be taken where it grieveth thee to
be: there the spiritual punishment, which is eternal, is undergone; there are
always wailings: nor dost thou absolutely die therein-there at length too late
proclaiming the omnipotent God.

XXX. -Rich Men, Be Humble. Learn, O thou who art about to die, to show thyself
good to all. Why, in the midst of the people, makest thou thyself to be another
"than thou art"? Thou goest where thou knowest not, and ignorantly thence thou
departest. Thou managest wickedly with thy very body; thou thirstest always
after riches. Thou exaltest thyself too much on high; and thou bearest pride,
and dost not willingly look on the poor. Now ye do not even feed your parents
themselves when placed under you. Ah, wretched men, let ordinary men flee far
from you. He lived, and I have destroyed him; the poor man cries out eu\ #rhka.
By and by thou shalt be driven with the furies of Charybdis, when thou thyself
dost perish. Thus ye rich men are undisciplined, ye give a law to those, ye
yourselves not being prepared. Strip thyself, O rich man turned away from God,
of such evils, if assuredly, perchance, what thou hast seen done may aid thee.
Be ye the attendant of God while ye have time. Even as the elm loves the vine,
so love ye people of no account. Observe now, O barren one, the law which is
terrible to the evil, and equally benignant to the good; be humble in
prosperity. Take away, O rich men, hearts of fraud, and take up hearts of peace.
And look upon your evil-doing. Do ye do good? I am here.

XXXI. -To Judges. Consider the sayings of Solomon, all ye judges; in what way,
with one word of his, he disparages you. How gifts and presents corrupt the
judges, thence, thence follows the law. Ye always love givers; and when there
shall be a cause, the unjust cause carries off the victory. Thus I am innocent;
nor do I, a man of no account, accuse you, because Solomon openly raises the
blasphemy. But your god is your belly, and rewards are your laws. Paul the
apostle suggests this, I am not deceitful.

XXXII. -To Self-Pleasers. If place or time is favourable, or the person has
advanced, let there be a new judge. Why now art thou lifted up thence? Untaught,
thou blasphemest Him of whose liberality thou livest. In such weakness thou dost
not ever regard Him. Throughout advances and profits thou greedily presumest oil
fortune. There is no law to thee, nor dost thou discern thyself in prosperity.
Although they may be counted of gold, let the strains of the pipe always be
raving. If thou hast not adored the crucifixion of the Lord, thou hast perished.
Both place and occasion and person are now given to thee, if, however, thou
believest; but if not, thou shalt fear before Him. Bring thyself into obedience
to Christ, and place thy neck under Him. To Him remains the honour and all the
confidence of things. When the time flatters thee, be more cautious. Not
foreseeing, as it behoves thee, the final awards of fate, thou art not able ever
to live again without Christ.

XXXIII. -To the Gentiles. O people, ferocious, without a shepherd, now at length
wander not. For I also who admonish you was the same, ignorant, wandering. Now,
therefore, take the likeness of your Lord. Raise upward your wild and roughened
hearts. Enter stedfastly into the fold of your sylvan Shepherd, remaining Safe
from robbers under the royal roof. In the wood are wolves; therefore take refuge
in the cave. Thou warrest, thou art mad; nor dost thou behold where thou
abidest. Believe in the one God, that when dead thou mayest live, and mayest
rise in His kingdom, when there shall be the resurrection to the just.

XXXIV. -Moreover, to Ignorant Gentiles. The unsubdued neck refuses to bear the
yoke of labour. Then it delights to be satisfied with herbs in the rich plains.
And still unwillingly is subdued the useful mare, and it is made to be less
fierce when it is first brought into subjection. O people, O man, thou brother,
do not be a brutal flock. Pluck thyself forth at length, and · thyself withdraw
thyself. Assuredly thou art not cattle, thou art not a beast, but thou art born
a man. Do thou thyself wisely subdue thyself, and enter under arms. Thou who
followest idols art nothing but the vanity of the age. Your trifling hearts
destroy you when almost set free. There gold, garments, silver is brought to the
elbows; there war is made; there love is sung of instead of psalms. Dost thou
think it to be life, when thou playest or lookest forward to such things as
these? Thou choosest, O ignorant one, things that are extinct; thou seekest
golden things. Thence thou shall not escape the plague, although thyself art
divine. Thou seekest not that grace which God sent to be read of in the earth,
but thus as a beast thou wanderest. The golden age before spoken of shall come
to thee if thou believest, and again thou shall begin to live always an immortal
life. That also is permitted to know what thou wast before. Give thyself as a
subject to God, who governs all things.

XXXV. -Of the Tree of Life and Death. Adam was the first who fell, and that he
might shun the precepts of God, Belial was his tempter by the lust of the palm
tree. And he conferred on us also what he did, whether of good or of evil, as
being the chief of all that was born from him; and thence we die by his means,
as he himself, receding from the divine, became an outcast from the Word. We
shall be immortal when six thousand years are accomplished. The tree of the
apple being tasted, death has entered into the world. By this tree of death we
are born to the life to come. On the tree depends the life that bean
fruits-precepts. Now, therefore, pluck believingly the fruits of life. A law was
given from the tree to be feared by the primitive man, whence comes death by the
neglect of the law of the beginning. Now stretch forth your hand, and take of
the tree of life. The excellent law of the Lord which follows has issued from
the tree. The first law is lost; man eats whence he can, who adores the
forbidden gods, the evil joys of life. Reject this partaking; it sill suffice
you to know what it should be. If you wish to live, surrender yourselves to the
second law. Avoid the worship of temples, the oracles of demons; turn yourselves
to Christ, and ye shall be associates with God. Holy is God's law, which teaches
the dead to live. God alone has commanded us to offer to Him the hymn of praise.
All of you shun absolutely the law of the devil.

XXXVI. -Of the Foolishness of the Cross. I have spoken of the twofold sign
whence death proceeded, and again I have said that thence life frequently
proceeds; but the cross has become foolishness to an adulterous people. The
awful King of eternity shadows forth these things by the cross, that they may
now believe on Him. O fools, that live in death! Cain slew his younger brother
by the invention of wickedness. Thence the sons of Enoch [Gen. 4:17-18] are said
to be the race of Cain. Then the evil people increased in the world, which never
transfers souls to God. To believe the cross came to be a dread, and they say
that they live righteously. The first law was in the tree; and thence, too, the
second. And thence the second law first of all overcame the terrible law with
peace. Lifted up, they have rushed into vain prevarications. They are unwilling
to acknowledge the Lord pierced with nails; but when His judgment shall come,
they will then discern Him. But the race of Abel already believes on a merciful
Christ.

XXXVII. -The Fanatics Who Judaize. What! art thou half a Jew? wilt thou be half
profane? Whence thou shalt not when dead escape the judgment of Christ. Thou
thyself blindly wanderest, and foolishly goest in among the blind. And thus the
blind leadeth the blind into the ditch. Thou goest whither thou knowest not, and
thence ignorantly withdrawest. Let them who are learning go to the learned, and
let the learned depart. But thou goest to those from whom thou canst learn
nothing. Thou goest forth before the doors, and thence also thou goest to the
idols. Ask first of all what is commanded in the law. Let them tell thee if it
be commanded to adore the gods; for they are ignored in respect of that which
they are especially able to do. But because they are guilty of that very crime,
they relate nothing concerning the commandments of God save what is marvellous.
Then, however, they blindly lead you with them into the ditch. There are deaths
too well known by them to relate, or because the heaping up of the plough closes
up the field. The Almighty would not have them understand their King. Why such a
wickedness? He Himself took refuge from those bloody men. He gave Himself to us
by a superadded law. Thence now they lie concealed with us, deserted by their
King. But if you think that in them there is hope, you are altogether in error
if you worship God and heathen temples.

XXXVIII. -To the Jews. Evil always, and recalcitrant, with a stiff neck ye wish
not that ye should be overcome; thus ye will be heirs. Isaiah said that ye were
of hardened heart. Ye look upon the law which Moses in wrath dashed to pieces;
and the same Lord gave to him a second law. In that he placed his hope; but ye,
half healed, reject it, and therefore ye shall not be worthy of the kingdom of
heaven.

XXXIX. -Also to the Jews. Look upon Leah, that was a type of the synagogue,
which Jacob received as a sign, with eyes so weak; and yet he served again for
the younger one beloved: a true mystery, and a type of our Church. Consider what
was abundantly said of Rebecca from heaven; whence, imitating the alien, ye may
believe in Christ. Thence come to Tamar and the offspring of twins. Look to
Cain, the first tiller of the earth, and Abel the shepherd, who was an unspotted
offerer in the ruin of his brother, and was slain by his brother. Thus therefore
perceive, that the younger are approved by Christ.

XL. -Again to the Same. There is not an unbelieving people such as yours. O evil
men! in so many places, and so often rebuked by the law of those who cry aloud.
And the lofty One despises your Sabbaths, and altogether rejects your universal
monthly feasts according to law, that ye should not make to Him the commanded
sacrifices; who told you to throw a stone for your offence. If any should not
believe that He had perished by an unjust death, and that those who were beloved
were saved by other laws, thence that life was suspended on the tree, and
believe not on Him. God Himself is the fife; He Himself was suspended for us.
But ye with indurated heart insult Him.

XLI.--Of the Time of Antichrist. Isaiah said: This is the man who moveth the
world anti so many kings, and under whom the land shall become desert. Hear ye
how the prophet foretold concerning him. I have said nothing elaborately, but
negligently. Then, doubtless, the world shall be finished when he shall appear.
He himself shall divide the globe into three ruling powers, when, moreover, Nero
shall be raised up from hell, Elias shall first come to seal the beloved ones;
at which things the region of Africa and the northern nation, the whole earth on
all sides, for seven years shall tremble. But Elias shall occupy the half of the
time, Nero shall occupy half. Then the whore Babylon, being reduced to ashes,
its embers shall thence advance to Jerusalem; and the Latin conqueror shall then
say, I am Christ, whom ye always pray to; and, indeed, the original ones who
were deceived combine to praise him. He does many wonders, since his is the
false prophet. Especially that they may believe him, his image shall speak. The
Almighty has given it power to appear such. The Jews, recapitulating Scriptures
from him, exclaim at the same time to the Highest that they have been deceived.

XLII.--Of the Hidden and Holy People of the Almighty Christ, the Living God. Let
the hidden, the final, the holy people be longed for; and, indeed, let it be
unknown by us where it abides, acting by nine of the tribes and a half ...; and
he has bidden to live by the former law. Now let us all live: the tradition of
the law is new, as the law itself teaches, I point out to you more plainly. Two
of the tribes and a half are left: wherefore is the half of the tribes
"separated" from them? That they might be martyrs, when He should bring war on
His elected ones into the world; or certainly the choir of the holy prophets
would rise together upon the people who should impose a check upon them whom the
obscene horses have slaughtered with kicking heel; nor would the band hurry
rashly at any time to "the gift of" peace. Those of the tribes are withdrawn,
and all the mysteries of Christ are fulfilled by them throughout the whole age.
Moreover, they have arisen from the crime of two brothers, by whose auspices
they have followed crime. Not undeservedly are these bloody ones thus scattered:
they shall again assemble on behalf of the mysteries of Christ. But then the
things told of in the law are hastening to their completion. The Almighty Christ
descends to His elect, who have been darkened from our view for so long a
time-they have become so many thousands-that is the true heavenly people. The
son does not die before his father, then; nor do they feel pains in their
bodies, nor polypus in their nostrils. They who cease depart in ripe years in
their bed, fulfilling all the things of the law, and therefore they are
protected. They are bidden to pass on the right side of their Lord; and when
they have passed over as before, He dries up the river. Nor less does the Lord
Himself also proceed with them. He has passed over to our side, they come with
the King of heaven; and in their journey, what shall I speak of which God will
bring to pass? Mountains subside before them, and fountains break forth. The
creation rejoices to see the heavenly people. Here, however, they hasten to
defend the captive matron. But the wicked king who possesses her, when he hears,
flies into the parts of the north, and collects all "his followers". Moreover,
when the tyrant shall dash himself against the army of God, his soldiery are
overthrown by the celestial terror; the false prophet himself is seized with the
wicked one, by the decree of the Lord; they are handed over alive to Gehenna.
From him chiefs and leaders are bidden to obey; then will the holy ones enter
into the breasts of their ancient mother, that, moreover, they also may be
refreshed whom he has evil persuaded. With various punishments he will torment
those who trust in him; they come to the end, whereby offences are taken away
from the world.The Lord will begin to give judgment by fire.

XLIII.--Of the End of This Age. The trumpet gives the sign in heaven, the lion
being taken away, and suddenly there is darkness with the din of heaven. The
Lord casts down His eyes, so that the earth trembles. He cries out, so that all
may hear throughout the world: Behold, long have I been silent while I bore your
doings in such a time. They cry out together, complaining and groaning too late.
They howl, they bewail; nor is there room found for the wicked. What shall the
mother do for i the sucking child, when she herself is burnt up? In the flame of
fire the Lord will judge the wicked. But the fire shall not touch the just, but
shall by all means lick them up. In one place they delay, but a part has wept at
the judgment. Such will be the heat, that the stones themselves shall melt. The
winds assemble into lightnings, the heavenly wrath rages; and wherever the
wicked man fleeth, he is seized upon by this fire. There will be no succour nor
ship of he sea. Amen [Rev. 3:14] flames on the nations, and the Medes and
Parthians burn for a thousand years, as the hidden words of John declare. For
then after a thousand years they are delivered over to Gehenna; and he whose
work they were, with them are burnt up.

XLIV. -Of the First Resurrection. From heaven will descend the city in the first
resurrection; this is what we may tell of such a celestial fabric. We shall
arise again to Him, who have been devoted to Him. And they shall be
incorruptible, even already living without death. And neither will there be any
grief nor any groaning in that city. They shall come also who overcame cruel
martydom under Antichrist, and they themselves live for the whole time, and
receive blessings because they have suffered evil things; and they themselves
marrying, beget for a thousand years. There are prepared all the revenues of the
earth, because the earth renewed without end pours forth abundantly. Therein are
no rains; no cold comes into the golden camp. No sieges as now, nor rapines, nor
does that city crave the light of a lamp. It shines from its Founder. Moreover,
Him it obeys; in breadth 12,000 furlongs and length and depth. It levels its
foundation in the earth, but it raises its head to heaven. In the city before
the doors, moreover, sun and moon shall shine; he who is evil is hedged up in
torment, for the sake of the nourishment of the righteous. But from the thousand
years God will destroy all those evils.

XLV. -Of the Day of Judgment. I add something, on account of unbelievers, of the
day of judgment. Again, the fire of the Lord sent forth shall be appointed. The
earth gives a true groan; then those who are making their journey in the last
end, and then all unbelievers, "groan". The whole of nature is converted in
flame, which yet avoids the camp of His saints. The earth is burned up from its
foundations, and the mountains melt. Of the sea nothing remains: it is overcome
by the powerful fire. This sky perishes, and the stars and these things are
changed. Another newness of sky and of everlasting earth is arranged. Thence
they who deserve it are sent away in a second death, but the righteous are
placed in inner dwelling-places.

XLVI. -To Catechumens. In few words, I admonish all believers in Christ, who
have forsaken idols, for your salvation. In the first times, if in any way thou
fallest into error, still, when entreated, do thou leave all things for Christ;
and since thou hast known God, be a recruit good and approved, and let virgin
modesty dwell with thee in purity. Let the mind be watchful for good things.
Beware that thou fall not into former sins. In baptism the coarse dress of thy
birth is washed. For if any sinful catechumen is marked with punishment, let him
live in the signs "of Christianity", although not without loss. The whole of the
matter for thee is this, Do thou ever shun great sins.

XLVII. -To the Faithful. I admonish the faithful not to hold their brethren in
hatred. Hatreds are accounted impious by martyrs for the flame. The martyr is
destroyed whose confession is of such kind; nor is it taught that the evil is
expiated by the shedding of blood. A law is given to the unjust man that he may
restrain himself. Thence he ought to be free from craft; so also oughtest thou.
Twice dost thou sin against God, if thou extendest strifes to thy brother;
whence thou shalt not avoid sin following thy former courses. Thou hast once
been washed: shalt thou be able to be immersed again?

XLVIII. -O Faithful, Beware of Evil. The birds are deceived, and the beasts of
the woods in the woods, by those very charms by which their ruin is ever
accomplished, and caves as well as food deceive them as they follow; and they
know not how to shun evil, nor are they restrained by law. Law is given to man,
and a doctrine of life to be chosen, from which he remembers that he may be able
to live carefully, and recalls his own place, and takes away those things which
belong to death. He severely condemns himself who forsakes rule; either bound
with iron, or cast down from his degree; or deprived of life, he loses what he
ought to enjoy. Warned by example, do not sin gravely; translated by the layer,
rather have charity; flee far from the bait of the mouse-trap, where there is
death. Many are the martyrdoms which are made without shedding of blood. Not to
desire other men's goods; to wish to have the benefit of martyrdom; to bridle
the tongue, thou oughtest to make thyself humble; not willingly to use force,
nor to return force used against thee, thou wilt be a patient mind, understand
that thou art a martyr.

XLIX. -To Penitents. Thou art become a penitent; pray night and day; yet from
thy Mother "the Church" do not far depart, and the Highest will be able to be
merciful to thee. The confession of thy fault shall not be in vain. Equally in
thy state of accusation learn to weep manifestly. Then, if thou hast a wound,
seek herbs and a physician; and yet in thy punishments thou shalt be able to
mitigate thy sufferings. For I will even confess that I alone of you am here,
and that terror must be foregone. I have myself felt the destruction; and
therefore I warn those who are wounded to walk more cautiously, to put thy hair
and thy beard in the dust of the earth, and to be clothed in sackcloth, and to
current from the highest King will aid thee, that thou perish not perchance from
among the people.

L.-Who Have Apostatized from God. Moreover, when war is waged, or an enemy
attacks, if one be able either to conquer or to be hidden, they are great
trophies; but unhappy will he be who shall be taken by them. He Noses country
and king who has been unwilling to fight worthily for the truth, for his
country, or for life. He ought to die rather than go under a barbarian king; and
let him seek slavery who is willing to transfer himself to enemies without law.
Then, if in warring thou shouldst die for thy king, thou hast conquered, or if
thou hast given thy hands, thou hast perished uninjured by law. The enemy
crosses the river; do thou hide under thy lurking-place; or, if he can enter or
not, do not linger. Everywhere make thyself safe, and thy friends also; thou
hast conquered. And take watchful care lest any one enter in that lurking-place.
It will be an infamous thing if any one declares himself to the enemy. He who
knows not how to conquer, and runs to deliver himself up, has weakly foregone
praise for neither his own nor his country's good. Then he was unwilling to
live, since life itself will perish. If any one is without God, or profane from
the enemy, they are become as sounding brass, or deaf as adders: such men ought
abundantly to pray or to hide themselves.

LI. -Of Infants. The enemy has suddenly come flooding us over with war; and
before they could flee, he has seized upon the helpless children. They cannot be
reproached, although they are seen to be taken captive; nor, indeed, do I excuse
them. Perhaps they have deserved it on account of the faults of their parents;
therefore God has given them up. However, I exhort the adults that they run to
arms, and that they should be born again, as it were, to their Mother from the
womb. Let them avoid a law that is terrible, and always bloody, impious,
intractable, living with the life of the beasts; for when another war by chance
should be to be waged, he who should be able to conquer or even rightly to know
how to beware.

LII. -Deserters. For deserters are not called so as all of one kind. One is
wicked, another partially withdraws; but yet true judgments are decreed for
both. So Christ is fought against, even as Caesar is obeyed. Seek the refuge of
the king, if thou hast been a delinquent. Do thou implore of Him; do thou
prostrate confess to Him: He will grant all things whose also are all our
things. The camp being replaced, beware of sinning further; do not wander long
as a soldier through caves of the wild beasts. Let it be sin to thee to cease
from unmeasured doing.

LIII. -To the Soldiers of Christ. When thou hast given thy name to the warfare,
thou art held by a bridle. Therefore begin thou to put away thy former doings.
Shun luxuries, since labour is threatening arms. With all thy virtue thou must
obey the king's command, if thou wishest to attain the last times in-gladness.
He is a good soldier, always wait for things to be enjoyed. Be unwilling to
flatter thyself; absolutely put away sloth, that thou mayest daily be ready for
what is set before thee, Be careful beforehand; in the morning revisit the
standards, When thou seest the war, take the nearest contest. This is the king's
glory, to see the soldiery prepared. The king is present; desire that ye may
fight beyond his hope. He makes ready gifts. He gladly looks for the victory,
and assigns you to be a fit follower. Do thou be unwilling to spare thyself
besides for Belial; be thou rather diligent, that he may give fame for your
death.

LIV. -Of Fugitives. The souls of those that are lost deservedly of themselves
separate themselves. Begotten of him, they again recur to those things which are
his. The root of Cain, the accursed seed, breaks forth and takes refuge in the
servile nation under a barbarian king; and there the eternal flame will torment
on the day decreed. The fugitive will wander vaguely without discipline, loosed
from law to go about through the defiles of the ways. These, therefore, are such
whom no penalty has restrained. If they will not live, they ought to be seen by
the idols.

LV. -Of the Seed of the Tares. Of the seed of the tares, who stand mingled in
the Church. When the times of the harvest are filled up, the tares that have
sprung up are separated from the fruit, because God had not sent them. The
husbandman separates all those collected tares. The law is our field; whoever
does good in it, assuredly the Ruler Himself will afford a true repose, for the
tares are burned with fire. If, therefore, you think that under one they are
delaying, you are wrong. I designate you as barren Christians; cursed was the
fig-tree without hit in the word of the Lord, and immediately it withered away.
Ye do not works; ye prepare no gift for the treasury, and yet re thus vainly
think to deserve well of the Lord.

LVI. -To the Dissembler. Dost thou dissemble with the law that was given with
such public announcement, crying out in the heavenly word of so many prophets?
If a prophet had only cried out to the clouds, the word of the Lord uttered by
him would surely suffice. The law of the Lord proclaims itself into so many
volumes of prophets; none of them excuses wickedness; thus even thou wishest
from the heart to see good things; thou art also seeking to live by deceits.
Why, then, has the law itself gone forth with so much pains? Thou abusest the
commands of the Lord, and yet thou callest thyself His son. Thou art seen, if
thou wilt be such without reason. I say, the Almighty seeks the meek to be His
sons, those who are upright with a good heart, those who are devoted to the
divine law; but ye know already where He has plunged the wicked.

LVII. -That Worldly Things are Absolutely to Be Avoided. If certain teachers,
while looking for your gifts or fearing your persons, relax individual things to
you, not only do I not grieve, but I am compelled to speak the truth. Thou art
going to vain shows with the crowd of the evil one, where Satan is at work in
the circus with din. Thou persuadest thyself that everything that shall please
thee is lawful. Thou art the offspring of the Highest, mingled with the sons of
the devil. Dost thou wish to see the former things which thou hast renounced?
Art thou again conversant with them? What shall the Anointed One profit thee? Or
if it is permitted, on account of weakness, that thou foolishly profane ... Love
not the world, nor its contents. Such is God's word, and it seems good to thee.
Thou observest man's command, and shunnest God's. Thou trustedst to the gift
whereby the teachers shut up their mouths, that they may be silent, and not tell
thee the divine commands; while I speak the truth, as thou art bound look to the
Highest. Assign thyself as a follower to Him whose son thou wast. If thou
seekest to live, being a believing man, as do the Gentiles, the joys of the
world remove thee from the grace of Christ. With an undisciplined mind thou
seekest what thou presumest to be easily lawful, both thy dear actors and their
musical strains; nor carest thou that the offspring of such an one should babble
follies. While thou thinkest that thou art enjoying life, thou art improvidently
erring. The Highest commands, and thou shunnest His righteous precepts.

LVIII. -That the Christian Should Be Such. When the Lord says that man should
eat bread with groaning, here what art thou now doing, who desirest to live with
joy? Thou seekest to rescind the judgment uttered by the highest God when He
first formed man; thou wishest to abandon the curb of the law. If the Almighty
God have bidden thee live with sweat, thou who art living in pleasure wilt
already be a stranger to Him. The Scripture saith that the Lord was angry with
the Jews. Their sons, refreshed with food, rose up to play. Now, therefore, why
do we follow these circumcised men? In what respect they perished, we ought to
beware; the greatest part of you, surrendered to luxuries, obey them. Thou
transgressest the law in staining thyself with dyes: against thee the apostle
cries out; yea, God cries out by him. Your dissoluteness, says he, in itself
ruins you. Be, then, such as Christ wishes you to be, gentle, and in Him joyful,
for in the world you are sad. Run, labour, sweat, fight with sadness. Hope comes
with labour, and the palm is given to victory. If thou wishest to be refreshed,
give help and encouragement to the martyr. Wait for the repose to come in the
passage of death.

LIX. -To the Matrons of the Church of the Living God. Thou wishest, O Christian
woman, that the matrons should be as the ladies of the world. Thou surroundest
thyself with gold, or with the modest silken garment. Thou givest the terror of
the law from thy ears to the wind. Thou affectest vanity with all the pomp of
the devil. Thou art adorned at the looking-glass with thy curled hair turned
back from thy brow. And moreover, with evil purposes, thou puttest on false
medicaments, on thy pure eyes the stibium, with painted beauty, or thou dyest
thy hair that it may be always black. God is the overlooker, who dives into each
heart. But these things are not necessary for modest women. Pierce thy breast
with chaste and modest feeling. The law of God bears witness that such laws fail
from the heart which believes; to a wife approved of her husband, let it suffice
that she is so, not by her dress, but by her good disposition. To put on clothes
which the cold and the heat or too much sun demands, only that thou mayest be
approved modest, and show forth the gifts of thy capacity among the people of
God. Thou who wast formerly most illustrious, givest to thyself the guise of one
who is contemptible. She who lay without life, was raised by the prayers of the
widows. She deserved this, that she should be raised from death, not by her
costly dress, but by her gifts. Do ye, O good matrons, flee from the adornment
of vanity; such attire is fitting for women who haunt the brothels. Overcome the
evil one, O modest women of Christ. Show forth all your wealth in giving.

LX. -To the Same Again. Hear my voice, thou who wishest to remain a Christian
woman, in what way the blessed Paul commands you to be adorned. Isaiah,
moreover, the teacher and author that spoke from heaven, for he detests those
who follow the wickedness of the world, says: The daughters of Zion that are
lifted up shall be brought low. It is not right in God that a faithful Christian
woman should be adorned. Dost thou seek to go forth after the fashion of the
Gentiles, O thou who art consecrated to God? God's heralds, crying aloud in the
law, condemn such to be unrighteous women, who in such wise adorn themselves. Ye
stain your hair; ye paint the opening of your eyes with black; ye lift up your
pretty hair one by one on your painted brow; ye anoint your cheeks with some
sort of ruddy colour laid on; and, moreover, earrings hang down with very heavy
weight. Ye bury your neck with necklaces; with gems and gold ye bind hands
worthy of God with an evil presage. Why should I tell of your dresses, or of the
whole pomp of the devil? Ye are rejecting the law when ye wish to please the
world. Ye dance in your houses; instead of psalms, ye sing love songs. Thou,
although thou mayest be chaste, dost not prove thyself so by following evil
things. Christ therefore makes you, such as you are, equal with the Gentiles. Be
pleasing to the hymned chorus, and to an appeased Christ with ardent love
fervently offer your savour to Christ.

LXI. -In the Church to All the People of God. I, brethren, am not righteous who
am lifted up out of the filth, nor do I exalt myself; but I grieve for you, as
seeing that out of so great a people, none is crowned in the contest; certainly,
even if he does not himself fight, yet let him suggest encouragement to others.
Ye rebuke calamity; O belly, stuff yourself out with luxury. The brother labours
in arms with a world opposed to him; and dost thou, stuffed with wealth, neither
fight, nor place thyself by his side when he is fighting? O fool, dost not thou
perceive that one is warring on behalf of many? The whole Church is suspended on
such a one if he conquers. Thou seest that thy brother is withheld, and that he
fights with the enemy. Thou desirest peace in the camp, he outside rejects it.
Be pitiful, that thou mayest be before all things saved. Neither dost thou fear
the Lord, who cries aloud with such an utterance; even He who commands us to
give food even to our enemies. Look forward to thy meals from that Tobias who
always on every day shared them entirely with the poor man. Thou seekest to feed
him, O fool, who feedeth thee again. Dost thou wish that he should prepare for
me, who is setting before him his burial? The brother oppressed with want,
nearly languishing away, cries out at the splendidly fed, and with distended
belly. What sayest thou of the Lord's day? If he have not placed himself before,
call forth a poor man from the crowd whom thou mayest take to thy dinner. In the
tablets is your hope from a Christ refreshed.

LXII. -To Him Who Wishes for Since, O son, thou desirest martyrdom, hear. Be
thou such as Abel was, or such as Isaac himself, or Stephen, who chose for
himself on the way the righteous life. Thou indeed desirest that which is a
matter suited for the blessed. First of all, overcome the evil one with thy good
acts by living well; and when He thy King shall see thee, be thou secure. It is
His own time, and we are living for both; so that if war fails, the martyrs
shall go in peace. Many indeed err who say, With our blood we have overcome the
wicked one; and if he remains, they are unwilling to overcome. He perishes by
lying in wait, and the wicked thus feels it; but he that is lawful does not feel
the punishments applied. With exclamation and with eagerness beat thy breast
with thy fists. Even now, if thou hast conquered by good deeds, thou art a
martyr in Him. Thou, therefore, who seekest to extol martyrdom with thy word, in
peace clothe thyself with good deeds, and be secure.

LXIII.- the Daily War. Thou seekest to wage war, O fool, as if wars were at
peace. From the first formed day in the end you fight. Lust precipitates you,
there is war; fight with it. Luxury persuades, neglect it; thou hast overcome
the war. Be sparing of abundance of wine, lest by means of it thou shouldest go
wrong. Restrain thy tongue from cursing, because with it thou adorest the Lord.
Repress rage. Make thyself peaceable to all. Beware of trampling on thy
inferiors when weighed down with miseries. Lend thyself as a protector only, and
do no hurt. Lead yourselves in a righteous path, unstained by jealousy. In thy
riches make thyself gentle to those that are of little account. Give of thy
labour, clothe the naked. Thus shalt thou conquer. Lay snares for no man, since
thou servest God. Look to the beginning, whence the envious enemy has perished.
I am not a teacher, but the law itself teaches by its proclamation. Thou wearest
such great words vainly, who in one moment seekest without labour to raise a
martyrdom to Christ.

LXIV. -Of the Zeal of Concupiscence. In desiring, thence thou perishest, whilst
thou art burning with envy of thy neighbour. Thou extinguishest thyself, when
thou inflamest thyself within. Thou art jealous, O envious man, of another who
is struggling with evil, and desirest that thou mayest become equally the
possessor of so much wealth. The law does not thus behold him when thou seekest
to fall upon him. Depending on all things, thou livest in the lust of gain; and
although thou art guilty to thyself, thou condemnest thyself by thy own
judgment. The greedy survey of the eyes is never satisfied. Now, therefore, if
thou mayest return and consider, lust is vain ... whence God cries out, Thou
fool, this night thou art summoned. Death rushes after thee. Whose, then, shall
be those talents? By hiding the unrighteous gains in the concealed treasury,
when the Lord shall supply to every one his daily life. Let another accumulate;
do thou seek to live well. And when thy heart is conscious of God, thou shalt be
victor over all things; yet I do not say that thou shouldest boast thyself in
public, when thou art watching for thy day by living without fraud. The bird
perishes in the midst of food, or carelessly sticks fast in the bird-lime. Think
that in thy simplicity thou hast much to beware of. Let others trangress these
bounds. Do thou always look forward.

LXV. -They Who Give from Evil. Why dost thou senselessly feign thyself good by
the wound of another? Whence thou bestowest, another is daily weeping. Dost not
thou believe that the Lord sees those things from heaven? The Highest says, He.
does not prove of the gifts of the wicked. Thou shalt break forth upon the
wretched when thou shalt have gained a place. One gives gifts that he may make
another of no account; or if thou hast lent on usury, taking twenty-four per
cent, thou wishest to bestow charity that thou mayest purge thyself, as being
evil, with that which is evil. The Almighty absolutely rejects such works as
these. Thou hast given "that which has been" wrung from tears; that candidate,
oppressed with ungrateful usuries, and become needy, deplores it. Besides having
obtained an opportunity for the exactors, thy enemy for the present is the
people; thou consecrated, hast become, wicked for reward. Also thou wishest to
atone for thyself by the gain of wages. O wicked one, thou deceivest thyself,
but none else.

LXVI. -Of a Deceitful Peace. The arranged time comes to our people; there is
peace in the world; and, at the same time, ruin is weighing us down from the
enticement of the world, (the destruction) of the reckless people whom ye have
rent into schism. Either obey the law of the city, or depart from it. Ye behold
the mote sticking in our eyes, and will not see the beam in your own. A
treacherous peace is coming to you; persecution is rife; the wounds do not
appear; and thus, without slaughter, ye are destroyed. War is waged in secret,
because, in the midst of peace itself, scarcely one of you has behaved himself
with caution. O badly fortified, and foretold for slaughter, ye praise a
treacherous peace, a peace that is mischievous to you. Having become the
soldiers of another than Christ, ye have perished.

I warn certain readers only to consider, and to give material to others by an
example of life, to avoid strife, and to shun so many quarrels; to repress
terror, and never to be proud; moreover, denounce the righteous obedience of
wicked men. Make yourselves like to Christ your Master, O little ones. Be among
the lilies of the field by your benefits; ye have become blessed when ye bear
the edicts; ye are flowers in the congregation; ye are Christ's lanterns. Keep
what ye are, and ye shall be able to tell it.

LXVIII. -To Ministers. Exercise the mystery of Christ, O deacons, with purity;
therefore, O ministers, do the commands of your Master; do not play the person
of a righteous judge; strengthen your office by all things, as learned men,
looking upwards, always devoted to the Supreme God. Render the faithful sacred
ministries of the altar to God, prepared in divine matters to set an example;
yourselves incline your head to the pastors, so shall it come to pass that ye
may be approved of Christ.

LXIX. -To God's Shepherds. A shepherd, if he shall have confessed, has doubled
his conflict. Moreover, the apostle bids that such should be teachers. Let him
be a patient ruler; let him know when he may relax the reins; let him terrify at
first, and then anoint with honey; and let him first observe to do himself what
he says. The shepherd who minds worldly things is esteemed in fault, against
whose countenance thou mightest dare to say anything. Gehenna itself bubbles up
in hell with rumours. Woe to the wretched people which wavers with doubtful
brow! if such a shepherd shall be present to it, it is almost mined. But a
devout man restrains it, governing rightly. The swarms are rejoiced under
suitable kings; in such there is hope, and the entire Church lives.

LXX. -I Speak to the Elder-Born. The time demands that I alone should speak to
you truth.

He is often admonished by one word which many refuse. I wish you to turn your
hatred against me alone, that the hearts of all may tremble at the tempter. Look
to the saying that truly begets hatred, (and consider) how many things I have
lately indeed foretold concerning a delusive peace, while, alas, the enticing
seducer has come upon you unawares, and because ye have not known how that his
wiles were imminent, ye have perished; ye work absolutely bitter things, but
that is itself the characteristic of the world; not any one for whom ye
intercede acts for nothing. He who takes refuge from your fire, plunges in the
whirlpool. Then the wretch, stripped naked, seeks assistance from you. The
judges themselves shudder at your frauds ... of a shorter title, I should not
labour at so many lines. Ye who teach, look upon those to whom ye willingly
tend, when for yourselves ye both receive banquets and feed upon them. For those
things are ye already almost entering the foundations of the earth.

LXXI. -To Visit the Sick. If thy brother should be weak-I speak of the poor
man-do not empty-handed visit such an one as he lies ill. Do good under God; pay
your obedience by your money. Thence he shall be restored; or if he should
perish, let a poor man be refreshed, who has nothing wherewith to pay you, but
the Founder and Author of the world on his behalf. Or if it should displease
thee to go to the poor man, always hateful, send money, and something whence he
may recover himself. And, similarly, if thy poor sister lies upon a sick-bed,
let your matrons begin to bear her victuals. God Himself cries out, Break thy
bread to the needy. There is no need to visit with words, but with benefits. It
is wicked that thy brother should be sick through want of food. Satisfy him not
with words. He needs meat and drink. Look upon such assuredly weakened, who are
not able to act for themselves. Give to them at once. I pledge my word that
fourfold shall be given you by God.

LXXII. -To the Poor in Health. What can healthful poverty do, unless wealth be
present? Assuredly, if thou hast the means, at once communicate also to thy
brother. Be responsible to thyself for one, lest thou shouldst be said to be
proud. I promise that thou shalt live more secure than the rich man. Receive
into thy ears the teaching of the great Solomon: God hates the poor man to be a
pleader on high. [Prov. 23:11] Therefore submit thyself, and give honour to Him
that is powerful; for the soft speech-thou knowest the proverb-melts. [Prov.
15:1] One is conquered by service, even although there be an ancient anger. If
the tongue be silent, thou hast found nothing better. If there should not
wholesomely be an art whereby life may be governed, either give aid or direction
by the command of Him that is mighty. Let it not shame or grieve you that a
healthy man should have faith. In the treasury, besides, thou oughtest to give
of thy labour, even as that widow whom the Anointed One preferred. [Mark 12:42;
Luke 21:2]

LXXIII.- that Sons are Not to Be Bewailed. Although the death of sons leaves
grief for the heart, yet it is not right either to go forth in black garments,
or to bewail them. The Lord prudently says that ye must grieve with the mind,
not with outward show, which is finished in the week. In the book of Solomon the
promises of the Lord concerning the resurrection are forgotten if thou wouldest
make thy sons martyrs, and thus with thy voice will bewail them. Art thou not
ashamed without restraint to lament thy sons, like the Gentiles? Thou tearest
thy face, thou beatest thy breast, thou takest off thy garments; and dost thou
not fear the Lord, whose kingdom thou desirest to behold? Mourn as it is right,
but do not do wrong on their behalf. Ye therefore are such. What less than
Gentiles are ye? Ye do as the crowds that are descended from the diabolical
stock. Ye cry that they are extinct. With what advantage, O false one, thou hast
perished! The father has not led his son with grief to be slain at the altar,
nor has the prophet mourned over a deceased son with grief, nor even has a
weeping parent. But one devoted to God was hastily dying.

LXXIV. -Of Funeral Pomp. Thou who seekest to be careful of the pomp of death art
in error. As a servant of God, thou oughtest even in death to please Him. Alas
that the lifeless body should be adorned in death! O true vanity, to desire
honour for the dead! A mind enchained to the world; not even in death devoted to
Christ. Thou knowest the proverbs. He wished to be carried through the forum.
Thus ye, who are like to him, and living with untrained mind, wish to have a
happy and blessed day at your death, that the people may come together, and that
you may see praise with mourning. Thou dost not foresee whither thou mayest
deserve to go when dead. Lo, they are following thee; and thou, perchance, art
already burning, being driven to punishment. What will the pomp benefit the dead
man? Thou shalt be accused, who seekest them on account of those gatherings.
Thou desirest to live under idols. Thou deceivest thyself.

LXXV. -To the Clerks. They will assemble together at Easter, that day of ours
most blessed; and let them rejoice, who ask for divine entertainments. Let what
is sufficient be expended upon them, wine and food. Look back at the source
whence these things may be told on your behalf. Ye are wanting in a gift to
Christ, in moderate expenditure. Since ye yourselves do it not, in what manner
can ye persuade the righteousness of the law to such people, even once in the
year? Thus often blasphemy suggests to many concerning you.

LXXVI. -Of Those Who Gossip, and of Silence. When a thing appears to anybody of
no consequence, and is not shunned, and it rushes forth, as if easy, whilst thou
abusest it. Fables assist it when thou comest to pour out prayers, or to beat
thy breast for thy daily sin. The trumpet of the heralds sounds forth, while the
reader is reading, that the ears may be open, and thou rather impedest them.
Thou art luxurious with thy lips, with which thou oughtest to groan. Shut up thy
breast to evils, or loose them in thy breast. But since the possession of money
gives barefacedness to the wealthy, thence every one perishes when they are most
trusting to themselves. Thus, moreover, the women assemble, as if they would
enter the bath. They press closely, and make of God's house as if it were a
fair. Certainly the Lord frightened the house of prayer. The Lord's priest
commanded with "sursum corda," when prayer was to be made, that your silence
should be made. Thou answerest fluently, and moreover abstainest not from
promises. He entreats the Highest on behalf of a devoted people, lest any one
should perish, and thou turnest thyself to fables. Thou mockest at him, or
detractest from thy neighbour's reputation. Thou speakest in an undisciplined
manner, as if God were absent-as if He who made all things neither hears nor
sees.

LXXVII. -To the Drunkards. I place no limit to a drunkard; but I prefer a beast.
From those who are proud in drinking thou withdrawest in thine inner mind,
holding the power of the ruler, O fool, among Cyclopes, Thence in the histories
thou criest, While I am dead I drink not. Be it mine to drink the best things,
and to be wise in heart. Rather give assistance (what more seekest thou to
abuse?) to the lowest pauper, and ye shall both be refreshed. If thou doest such
things, thou extinguishest Gehenna for thyself.

LXXVIII. -To the Pastors. Thou who seekest to feed others, and hast prepared
what thou couldest by assiduously feeding, hast done rightly. But still look
after the poor man, who cannot feed thee again: then will thy table be approved
by the one God. The Almighty has bidden such even especially to be fed.
Consider, when thou feedest the sick, thou art also lending to the High One. In
that thing the Lord has wished that you should stand before Him approved.

LXXIX. -To the Petitioners. If thou desirest, when praying, to be heard from
heaven, break the chains from the lurking-places of wickedness; or if, pitying
the poor, thou prayest by thy benefits, doubt not but what thou shalt have asked
may be given to the petitioner. Then truly, if void of benefits, thou adorest
God, do not thus at all make thy prayers vainly.

LXXX. -The Name of the Man of Gaza. Ye who are to be inhabitants of the heavens
with God-Christ, hold fast the beginning, look at all things from heaven. Let
simplicity, let meekness dwell in your body. Be not angry with thy devout
brother without a cause, for ye shall receive whatever ye may have done from
him. This has pleased Christ, that the dead should rise again, yea, with their
bodies; and those, too, whom in this world the fire has burned, when six
thousand years are completed, and the world has come to an end. The heaven in
the meantime is changed with an altered course, for then the wicked are burnt up
with divine fire. The creature with groaning burns with the anger of the highest
God. Those who are more worthy, and who are begotten of an illustrious stem, and
the men of nobility under the conquered Antichrist, according to God's command
living again in the world for a thousand years, indeed, that they may serve the
saints, and the High One, under a servile yoke, that they may bear victuals on
their neck. Moreover, that they may be judged again when the reign is finished.
They who make God of no account when the thousandth year is finished shall
perish by fire, when they themselves shall speak to the mountains. All flesh in
the monuments and tombs is restored according to its deed: they are plunged in
hell; they bear their punishments in the world; they are shown to them, and they
read the things transacted from heaven; the reward according to one's deeds in a
perpetual tyranny. I cannot comprehend all things in a little treatise; the
curiosity of the learned men shall find my name in this.


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  CHAPTER 2: SONG OF TWO PEOPLES LATIN
========================================================================

Song Of Two Peoples (Carmen De Duobus Populis) Alternative titles: Apologetic
Song, Apologetic Poem, Against Jews and Gentiles Primary sources: 1, 2, 3

Wherever corruption was encountered in the above sources, the text was updated
to follow this text: Ernestvs Lvdwig, 1878

Content Quis poterit unum proprie Deum nosse caelorum, Quis nisi quem sustulerit
ab errore nefando? Errabam ignarus spatians spe captus inani, Dum furor aetatis
primae me portabat in auras. Plus eram quam palea levior; quasi centum adessent
In humeris capita, sic praeceps quocumque ferebar. Non satis his rebus,
criminose denique mersus Paene fui factus herbas incantando malignas. Sed
gratias Domino - nec sufficit vox mea tantum Reddere - qui misero vacillanti
tandem adluxit! Adgressusque fui tradita in codice legis, Quid ibi rescirem.
Statim mihi lampada fulsit; Tunc vere cognovi Deum unum summum in altis, Et ideo
tales hortor ab errore recedant. Quis melior medicus nisi passus vulnera victor?
Multi quidem bruti et ignoti, corde sopiti, Nil sibi proponunt cognoscere; more
ferino Quaerunt, quod rapiant aut quorum sanguinem bibant, Dummodo laetentur
saginati vivere porci. Ingemunt ad tumulum sepulcri, tum diviti plaudent
Mutabuntque pauperes vestes et fastidientur. Sufficeret illis utique, quod
promptius edunt; Si quis est opibus sibi visus Caesare dignus, Quid sua
praeponit fragilis nec respicit ullum? Commumicet immo talis bonitatem in omnes,
Cui Summus divitias, honores addidit altos. Nec enim vitupero divitias datas a
Summo, Sed culpandus erit, qui superextollitur illis. Suadeo nunc ego altos sic
et humiles omnes, Ut legant assidue vel ista vel cetera legis. Aspicite, quoniam
brevis est nobis credita vita, Discite, quapropter moriamur. Nati prudentes, Qui
hebetes morimur, quid profuit lucem vidisse? Si nihil inquiras, hoc est
belluarum adesse. Certe Deus summus hominem praeposuit orbi, Non feram nec
pecudem. Cur nos similemus ad illas? Omnipotens voluit hominem sibi praebere
laudes; Idcirco futura docuit nos ipse divinos. Quem ut crederemus, non tantum
verba tonavit, Sed et demonstravit fortia Pharaone decepto. Non solum hoc fecit:
et Noe sub tempora quoque Ostendit, quae poterat, quoniam Deum nemo quaerebat.
Mitior exinde paulatim coepit adesse Diluvio facto, quo posset terra repleri.
Iam paene medietas annorum sex milibus ibat, Et nemo sciebat Dominum, passimque
vivebant. Sed Deus, ut pectora vidit hominum nimis clausa, Adloquitur Abraham.
Quem Moyses enuntiat ipsum, Ipse dedit legem populo Pharaone necato; Et quis
esset Dominus, ipse se praedixit ab illo. Nec una contentus prophetica voce
promittit, Sed multos adhibuit testes qui illud declamant. Hunc ergo, cum
legitis multorum praeconia vatum, Invenietis eum carnem venisse pro nobis. Unde
nunc erratur? Ordinasse talia Summum Quare subsannant? merunt, quod ab ipso
ridentur! Interdum subicio, qualiter praelegi prophetas, Et rudes edoceo, ubi
sit spes vitae ponenda. Quid Deus in primis vel qualiter singula fecit, Iam
Moyses docuit; nos autem de Christo docemus. Non sum ego vates nec doctor iussus
ut essem, Sed canto praedicta vatum oberrantibus austris. Ergo mei similes, quos
raptim aura deportat, Quaerite iam portum, ubi sunt pericula nulla. Agricola
doctus tempestiva longe dinoscit Et, priusquam veniant, recolligit sese sub
antrum. Estote prudentes, quod imminet ante videte Et, priusquam veniant clades,
providete saluti. Ignavia pueris opus est, non certe robustis: Si licet hoc
rudibus, non convenit aevo maturis. Quae quidem pars hominum non sit moderata,
vetusta Sic erit ut perna nimis salfacta: petrascit. Nemo petram subicit, nisi
solus ignis adescat: Saxei sic homines mollescunt sero gehenna. Clamamus in
vacuum surdis referenda procellis Et lumen offerimus caecis sine causa
praebentes. Stat miles ad missam: unus audit, et excutit alter Nec accepit
easdem monitas, sed perditus errat. Quis modo delinquet (iudices estote de
istis!), Qui monetur aut ille, qui non vult dicto parere? Spero, reus non est,
qui Caesaris dictos obaudit, Contrarios autem perdit sua vita superbos. Interdum
quod meum est, qui prius rescivi, demonstro Rectum iter vobis, qui adhuc erratis
inanes. Vos tamen eligite, arbitrio vestro placentes, Quis velit venenum aut
suavia pocula vitae! Bonum et malum est in ista natura creatum, Ut homo post
factum approbetur quis Deo dignus. Adgredere iam nunc, quisquis es, perennia
nosse: Disce, Deus quis sit vel cuius nomine adsit! Est Deus omnipotens, unus, a
semetipso creatus, Quem infra reperies magnum et humilem ipsum. Is erat in verbo
positus, sibi solo notatus, Qui pater et filius dicitur et spiritus sanctus. -
Sed ex quo decrevit mundum componere, signis Ignem interposuit metuendum angelis
ipsis. Quos tamen distribuit minoris potentiae ipso, Ut regerent caelos et
terram et subdita terrae. Hunc ergo nec ipsi nuntii dinoscere possunt, Qualis
sit aut quantus, nisi quod praecepta sequuntur. Est honor absconsus nobis et
angelis ipsis, Quod Dei maiestas, quid sit, sibi conscia sola est. Relucet
immensa super caelos et sine fine Aureaque totum, quod est quasi flammea virtus.
Illic Dei vita est, tantum sine cognita forma, Illa sunt secreta solo Deo nota
caelorum: Haec gloria Dei est unica super angelos omnes, Hic Deus est lucis
aeternae, hic spiritus aevi. In primitiva sua qualis sit, a nullo videtur, Sed
transfiguratus, sicut vult ostendere sese. Praebet se visibilem angelis iuxta
formam eorum Et homini fit homo, ceterum Deus verbo probatur. Idcirco nec
poterit tanti Dei forma dinosci; Quidquid est, unus est in immenso lumine; solet
Inde pugillo suo concludere circulum orbis. Attamen cum voluit sciri de se ipso
quid esset, Numine de tanto fecit se videri capacem: Facies aut oculi aut os aut
membra notantur. Sunt quibus in ignem apparuit voce locutus; Sumptus est in
carnem, quem regio nulla capebat. Sic Deus omnipotens, Dominus suae conditionis,
Cum sit invisibilis, fecit se videri quibusdam. Qui formatus modo sese diffundit
in auras, Cuius nec initium nec finem quaerere fas est, Hic sine initio semper
est Deus et sine fine. Qui, prius quam faceret caelum, ferebatur in aevum,
Quique tenet caelum, prospicit ubique de caelo Et penetrat totum oculis et
auribus audit. Huic ergo placuit carnalem mundo teneri, Ut exaltaretur sola
sempiterna maiestas. Iam, quod erat ante, referre nunc ardua res est, Sit licet
descriptum: non sit nobis cura de illis. Cum haec, quae videmus, non possumus
tangere tota, Quis poterit scire, quid sit trans Oceani finem? Et caelum
videmus, sed illic quid intus agatur, Nulli datur scire, donec fiat exitus aevi.
Sufficiat tantum de futuro nosse promissa; Ad illa tendamus cupidi, tota mente
devoti. Sicut avis Phoenix meditatur a morte renasci, Dat nobis exemplum, post
funera surgere posse; Hoc Deus omnipotens vel maxime credere suadet, Quod veniet
tempus defunctorum vivere rursum, Sint licet nunc pulvis, iaceant licet ossa
nudata. Integratur homo, fuerat qui mortuus olim, Et gratia maior huic aderit
istius aevi. Non dolor aut lacrimae tunc erunt in corpore nostro, Non caro
recipiet ferrum, non pustula surget. Hoc Deus instituet, ut sit illi gloria
maior. Hic fecerat primum hominem, ut esset aeternus, Sed ruit in mortem
neglectis ille praeceptis. Propter quae quaestorias tantas Deus esse paravit, Ut
inventiones diaboli detegeret omnes. Rectorem in terra dederat Deus angelum
istum: Qui, dum invidetur homini, perit ipse priorque. Interea iustos per ipsum
cernit abactos, Et facinerosum Cain in gehenna reservat. In scelere coepit
versari gens omnis humana, Nec respicientes, quis esset creator eorum. Quod Deus
excelsus indigne pertulit; illam Icere proposuit universam paene creatam.
Dicitur et legitur Noe liberatus ab aqua, Ceteri diluvio perierunt ira caelesti.
Hinc, sicut initio, paulatim terra repletur. Cessit prius facinus, sed altera
clades accessit. Adgressi sunt stulti turrim fabricare sub astris, Ut quasi per
illam possent ascendere caelos. Quod Deus ut vidit fieri sub una loquela,
Descendit et fecit loquerentur lingua diversa. Quos inde dispersit per insulas
terrae semotos, Ut fierent gentes vario sermone loquentes. Tum, genus indocile,
vitam feritatis agebat; Nemo Deum sciebat, disputabat nemo de vita. Irrepserat
quoniam rudibus temerarius ille Per latices animae, depravavit mentes acerbas
Persuasitque dolos illis infandos amare, Vivere rapinis in gaudio sanguine fuso.
Hane gloriam stulti prosequuntur tempore parvo, Quos nulla venia liberat, se
dicendo seductos. Si suadet adulter, culpa est tua prosequi talem; Non ille te
damnat, sed tu tua sponte te damnas. Errabant inducti veteris fallacia hostis,
Obliti Dominum, opera maligna sequentes. Quod, diu ne fieret grassatio tanta
latronis, Tempore partito, miseratus est tandem, ablato, Complacuit illi
conloqui cum uno de multis, Ut faceret populum ad se transeundo dilectum. Ex eo
coeperunt unum in Deum esse profani Et fieri populus secundum Dei decreta. Duos
enim populos distinxerat ex se Rebecca: Hic prior est factus; alter, ut
succederet illi. In Aegypto primum in Israel concrevit alumnus. Inde Deus illos
eiecit duce Moyse, Per quem dedit illis legem in monte Sinai, Ut nostra
posteritas Dominum cognosceret unum. Deinde prophetas ex ipsis dicere iussit,
Quod Deus in hominem depretiatur ab illis. Induxerat eos Dominus in terra
promissa, Ut ibi sub lege viverent, donec ipse veniret. Gens ingrata bonis
noluit iugum ferre praeceptis, Sed magis in scelere prisco revoluta florebat;
Nec unquam desinuit: hodie quoque talis habetur. Praetermisso Deo luxurias
saeculi mavult. Quod maxime Dominus cogit evitare dilectos; Abscisos in totum a
saeculo praemonet esse. Si filios dixit, in illius sancta moremur; Quid foris
egredimur adulteri pompam sequentes? Seductor antiquus per talia decipit omnes:
Immittit luxurias, per quas perdat filios Alti Agonia immittit, spectaculis ire
cruentis Aut nimis obscenis, impudica nosse pudicis. Si fuerat castus, incestus
proficit inde Et placens adridens, quem tunc mala gaudia temptant. In istis
luxuriis populus primitiuus agebat Et a lege Dei semper recedebat inermis. Ad
quos emundandos saepe Deus misit alumnos Ut illos corrigerent depravatos. Denuo
Summi Excipere nunquam noluerunt dicta divina, Sed voluntate sua servierunt
semper ineptis. Mactabant iustos redarguentes illos inique Dum nollent accipere
frenum disciplinae caelestis. Esaiam serrant, lapidant Hieremiam erecti,
Iohannem decollant, iugulant Zachariam ad aras. Et uenit et ipse, fuerat qui
praedictus ab illis, Et patitur, quomodo uoluit, sub imagine nostra. Cuius in
exitio omnis prophetia repleta est. Dixerat hunc Daniel nouissimum esse
prophetis. Is erat, quem propter uates de tuba canebant, In sua uenturum
propria, quem sui negarent. Improuidi semper et dura ceruice recalces, Dum
respuunt formam, sacramenta legis amittunt. Non illos iustitia, humilis non caro
nata refregit, Nec bonitas tanta aut aegrorum cura de uerbo. O pia religio, o
tam ueneranda maiestas, Cuius medicina taliter in terra profecit! Non ullum de
ferro secuit, non emplastro curauit, Sed sine tormento statim suo dicto sanauit.
Talia videntes turbabantur mente Iudaei, Qui magis inuidia ducti sunt in zelo
liuoris, Non respicientes prophetarum dicta sepulti, Quod ueniret homo talis,
qui dispergeret illos. Quousque veniret Dominus, prophetae canebant: Ex eo, quo
uenit, tacuit prophetia Iudaeis. Post quem in exilium deuenerunt corde durato
Nec modo dinoscunt, quapropter sint talia passi. Praedictum fuerat illis ab
Esaia propheta Et Danihelo similiter perdere terram; Quam non ante tamen, nisi
dux ciuitatis in ipsa Penderet in ligno, fieret deserta deinde. Desubito qualis
obfulsit gloria genti, Ut fieret populus, populus qui non erat ante! Non fuit
attonitus Esau, dilectus a patre, Iunior quod frater primitiva tolleret ille.
Sic nec sinagoga potuit cognoscere tempus, Quando et quo duce caderet de suo
priuato; Sicut erat scriptum, quod auis sua tempora norunt, Nam populus iste non
me intellexit adesse. Uentum est, ut ipse dominator caeli ueniret: Secundum
scripturas non est computatus ab ipsis. Praescius hoc fuerat Dominus, quasi
cuncta qui nouit; Idcirco per ora prophetarum ista praedixit. Gens ceruicosa
nimis semperque rebellans Dum sibi primatum uindicaret, causa resecta est. In
quorum stadia gentiles esse praefecit; Dixerat hoc ante: Gentes sperabunt in
ipsum. Nam lapis immissus ipse est in fundamenta Sion Crederet in quo quis,
haberet uitam aeternam. Hunc sanctum sanctorum Daniel perungii designat Et
exterminari post illum chrisma regale. Dauid illud dixit, clauis configi
silentem: Effoderunt, inquit, manus meas et pedes ipsi. Salomon quoque tam
aperte de illo prophetat, Occidamus iustum! dicturos esse Iudaeos. Hieremias
totidem crucem figurate demonstrat: Uenite, mittamus lignum in pane! dicentes.
Dux autem ipsorum Moyses praeconiat illis: Ante tuos oculos pendebit uita
necata. Hic pater in filio uenit, Deus unus ubique: Nec pater est dictus, nisi
factus filius esset. Nec enim reliquit caelum, ut in terra pareret, Sed, sicut
disposuit, visa est in terra maiestas: Iam caro descenderat, in qua Dei virtus
agebat, - Quid quod prophetae canunt, invisibilem esse videndum? - Ut caritas
tanta fieret homo quoque pro nobis. Nec populus noster prosilisset in nova lege,
Si non Omnipotens ordinasset ante de nobis. Hic erat Omnipotens, cuius in nomine
gentes Credere omnino, quod propheta dixit Esaias: Exurget in Israel homo de
radice Iesse In illum sperabunt gentes, cuius signo tuentur. Et alter dixit
testem illum esse per orbem Manifestari eum principem nationibus ipsum. In
psalmis canitur: Dominus regnauit a ligno; Exultet terra, iocundentur insulae
multae. Sic et patriarcha Iacob: benedictio uera Paruit in gentes; hic erit spes
gentium, inquit. Sub caelo non aliud nomen est nisi Christi praelatum, In cuius
nomine crediderunt gentes ubique. Non ita suademur credere pro tempore passo Sed
propter futurum tempus in aeterno uiuentes. Haec speranda nobis spes est
sempiterno frunisci Non ista, quae fragilis cito mutat gaudia nostra. Sint licet
diuitiae prae oculis laute fruendae Excluderis illis substituta morte caducus;
Si perseveraveris, horrescis ipse vivendo, Aut si valetudo fuerit mala, quo tibi
vita? Tormentum est totum, quo uiuimus isto sub aeuo; Hinc adeo nobis est spes
in futuro quaerenda: Hoc Deus hortatur, hoc lex, hoc passio Christi, Ut
resurrecturos nos credamus in novo saeclo. Sic Dei lex clamat: fieret cum
humilis Altus, Cederet infernus; ut Adam levaretur a morte, Descendit in tumulum
Dominus suae plasmae misertus Et sic per occulta inanivit fortia mortis.
Obrepsit Dominus veteri latroni celatus Et pati se voluit, quo magis
prosterneret ipsum. Ille quidem audax et semper saeuus ut hostis, Dum sperat in
hominem saeuire, uictus a Summo est. Per quod prius hominem prostrauerat morti
malignus, Ex ipso deuictus; unde nobis uita prouenit. Adam degustato pomo mori
iussus abiit; Cuius de peccato morimur sic et omnis idemque. Sed iterum dixit
Dominus: De ligno uitali Si sumpserit ille, in aeternum uiuat honestus. Mors in
ligno fuit et ligno uita latebat, Quo Deus pependit Dominus, uitae nostrae
repertor. Hoc lignum uitae Dominus praedixerat esse, Ut, qui credet ei, sic sit
quasi sumat abinde. Et sumit et gustat suauiter Dei summi praecepta Et discedit,
quoniam potior resurgit, a morte. Qui credit in Christo, de ligno uitae
degustat, Quo fuit suspensus Dominus Moysi praedicto. Hunc ipsum Esaias humilem
denuntiat esse Et nimis deiectum, fuerit quasi serui figura: Et uidimus illum,
nec erat praeclarae figurae, In plaga depositus homo, sciens omnia ferre. Hic
dolet pro nobis et peccata nostra reportat, Et pro facinore nostro Deus tradidit
illum. Qui, cum uexaretur, tacuit sicut agnus ad aras. Hic homo iam non erat,
sed erat Deus caro pro nobis; Quod palam apparet, hoc erat Dei nomen oriri, Quod
modo praeclarum nomen apud gentes habetur. Hoc Malachiel canit propheta, qui et
angelus ipse, Cum et Iudaeorum reprobet sacrificia dicens: Non erit acceptum
mihi sacrificium uestrum, Sed in omni loco offerunt meo nomini gentes, Apud quos
eximium nomen meum magnificatur, Qui sine cruore offerunt meo nomini munde. Nam
fuit is ipse humilis latens nomine magno, Qui de semet ipso per ora prophetica
clamat: Contumax non sum, ait, neque contradico nocenti, Dorsum quoque meum
posui ad flagella caedendum Maxillasque meas palmis feriendas iniquis Praebui
nec faciem auerti sputis eorum. Stultitia subiit multis, Deum talia passum, Ut
enuntietur crucifixus conditor orbis. Sic illi complacuit: Consilium neminis
usus, - Nec alius poterat taliter venire - pro nobis Mortem adinvenit, cum esset
invidus hostis, Quam ebibit Dominus passus, ex inferno resurgens. Idcirco nec
voluit se manifestare, quid esset, Sed filium dixit se missum fuisse a patre.
Sic ipse tradiderat semet ipsum dici prophetis, Ut Deus in terris Altissimi
filius esset. Hoc et ipse fremit, humilis in carne cum esset, Testaturque
patrem, ut ora prophetica firmet. Ex Israel legimus hominem resurgere talem Et
homo est, inquit, et quis eum nouit in ipsis? Hieremias ait. Hic Deus est noster
aequalis Post haec et in terris uisus est conuersatus humanis. Esaias autem: Tu
es Deus, et nesciebamus: Et Deus in te est, et praeter te non alter habetur. Et
quis in occansum prophetarum lege ueniret? Cantate Domino, nomen est Deus illi,
qui uenit! Et psalmus de ipso quartus quadragesimus inquit: Exaltabor ego in
gentibus nomine magno. Et alibi legimus: Hodie te genui, fili; Pete, et dabo
tibi, et habebis gentes heredes. Certe iam apparet, qui sit Deus et quis in
ipso, Et cuius in nomine crederemus gentes ubique: Dictum est Christo meo, teneo
cuius dexteram, illud: Exaudiant gentes, et imperet gentibus ipse. Quid pluribis
opus est, cum res tam aperte probatur, Cum is, qui taxatur, populus iam in illo
laetatur? Illi autem miseri, qui fabulas vanas adornant Et magum infamant,
canentibus rostra clusissent. Quales eos dicam? antequam dispersi fuissent, Quos
nec exsulatus fregit nec ipsa senectus. Si magus adfuerat, cur ergo prophetae
canebant? Si false de ipsis pronuntiant perdere terram, Quod provenit de eis,
sic erit et falsum de illo. Sed quia sunt spreti semper, quod cruenti fuerunt,
Contra suum Dominum rebellant magum dicentes, Nec volunt audire, quae dixerunt
vates in illos, Quod non intellegerent in totum fine sub ipsa. Ipse Deus illos
descripsit: Pectore clauso Nec uideant oculis nec intellegant corde durato;
Incrassauit enim cor populi huius iniqui, Ut nihil agnoscant, donec meo uerbo
sanescant. Praedictus est Deus carnaliter nasci pro nobis, Ut fieret illis
merito cruciatio maior: Ecce dabit Deus ipse uobis signum ab alto: Concipiet
uirgo et pariet terra caelestem; Emmanuel autem uocetur, iusserat illos; Quod
lingua Latina 'Deus nobiscum' euoluit. Audite, quod ipse nutriretur melle,
butyro, Et Samariam caperet, verbum priusquam loqueretur. Sed haec est historia
clausa, de qua docti revolvunt, Ut parvulus lactans sine pugna praedas iniret;
Passio cuius praedicta est taliter ante, Ut Deus passibilis fieret profuso
cruore. Esaias ait: Tamquam ouis ductus ad aram, Nec uoce clamauit, patienter
omnia gessit. Suffigitur clauis, quod Dauid praedixerat olim; Quem et potauerunt
secundum scripturas acetum. Et: in uestimentis meis, dixit, sortemque miserunt,
Quod factum, et legimus in illo omnia gesta. Fuerunt et tenebrae factae tribus
horis a sexta Festinauitque dies inducere sidera noctis. Praedictum hoc fuerat
fieri per prophetam Amos, Ut tegeret subito sese per sollemnia sancta. O mala
progenies! O subdola fronte Generavi suboles, dixit Deus, qui me negarent. Et
dixit: Audite uocem tubae. Nolumus, aiunt. Hoc dicit Ezechiel: Audient ergo
gentes a longe. Uno volo titulo tangere librum Deuteronomii: In caput eritis,
gentes, nam increduli retro Respiciunt. Certe omnia supra dicta rebelles. Scite
quid opponunt, cum res tam aperte dicatur? Uidete iam ergo, dubii qui nunc usque
natati Quod gentes in Domino fuerint scriptura priores. Nunc ergo fas est
credere, quem libri designant, Non idolis uanis, qui frustra pro uita coluntur
Nec istis adiungi uoluptuosis et sine freno, Qui magis luxurias diligunt quam
Summi praecepta. Non est culpa satis una, qui credere nolunt, Sed magis
infamant: In puteum misimus illum. Quapropter et Dominus indignatus iurgiat
illos: Propter uos nomen meum blasphematur in gentibus, inquit. Si missum in
puteum, sed resurgere quare clamatur? Ab inferis, Domine, animam meam
imposuisti: Ego dormiui, ait, et somnum cepi securus Auxilio Domini surrexi,
nihil mali passus. Et iterum dicit: In infernum non derelinques Nec dabis
sanctum tuum interitum quoque videre. Hic personans ait: Fili prophetae,
ascendo. Ut Dominum dicam passum pro miseris summum, Et in libro psalmorum de
Domini morte clamatur. Non id illi putant David de se ipso referre, Aut si
putant illud, congruunt universa, quae dixit? Non est flagellatus Dauid nec
cruce leuatus. Quid? Vaticinantur Iudaei more Saturni? In fabulas coeunt, cum
iam declinetur in illos? Non quasi maleficium alapantur cruce levatum? Insciis,
indoctis, ignorantibus talia fingunt: Quis Deus est ille, quem nos cruci
fiximus? aiunt Nolentes respicere scripturas, corde caecati. Ecce canit alius
repetens iterumque propheta, Cuius voce tamen titulatur talis edictus: Nunc
exsurgam, ait Dominus, nunc clarificabor, Nunc exaltabor, humilem quem ante
vidistis; Nunc intellegetis, nunc erit confusio vestra: Vana cogitatis, ideo vos
ignis habebit. Haec Esaias ait. Tunc sic et ipsa maiestas, Cum esset in carne,
profitetur ipse quis esset: Nemo meam animam potuit auferre conatus, Sed ego
sponte eam pono a me meo decreto. Et sumendi iterum habeo potestatem in illam.
Apertius autem de iusti morte clamatur, Ut pareat maius induratos esse Iudaeos:
Ecce perit iustus, nec quidem intellegit ullus; Sed erit in pacem huius
sepultura dilecti. Quid illi infamant in puteum esse dimissum, Cum legimus illum
sepulturae traditum esse? Ignominiosi, crudeles, caeci, superbi! Qui magis de
facto deberent gemere, plaudunt! Inspiratus enim Salomon de ipso prophetat Et
magis insequitur plenius ostendere: Iustum Circumveniamus, si qui nobis gravis
videtur, Qui nostris operibus contrarius valde resistit. Exprobrat in totum
nihil nostra lege teneri, Adhuc et adfirmat filium Altissimi esse. Omnimodo
reprobat et nugaces aestimat esse Abstinet et sese a nobis et in altera uadit;
Nos immundos ait et innouat altera iusta Et sibi laetatur Dominum patrem esse
caelorum. Ergo, si sermones illius sunt ueri, probemus; Temptemus hunc Deum
uidentes, quid sit in illum Interrogemus eum omni cum tormento quietum,
Condemnemus eum turpissima morte' dicentes Haec cum fecissent, capita suspensa
mouebant: Saluum illum faciat pater, aut discendat abinde! Ut eos caecos Salomon
ostendat aperte, Sic, quasi nunc referat, et fecisse talia culpat: Dum ista
cogitant, ducti sunt in errore nefando Excaecauit illos malitia sua saeuire.
Ecce quia caeci ipsi sunt et alteros aiunt Dixit illis Salomon: Nescierunt Dei
secreta. Quaecumque dixerunt testes uniuersi priores In Christo fuerunt facta.
Aut in altero dicant? Quod ipsum si cupiunt facere frustrantes in ore, Ipsi se
subsannent, uideant cum plebem in illo. Quis fuit is iustus, de quo prophetae
canebant, Cum nemo sit iustus in terris, nisi e caelo uenisset Dauid enim
princeps peccauit amando puellam, Peccauit et Salomon; et tamen paenituit illos.
Cum isti tam clari et insigni reges eorum Non fuerunt iusti, sed ipsi de iusto
canebant, Nec quidem Esaias uates de se talia dixit, Qui fuit ab rege Manasse de
serra secatus. Alter lapidatus, alter est mactatus ad aras, Alterum Herodes
iussit decollari reclusum. Omnes iusti uates alia sunt morte perempti, Quod
Dominus ligno pependit, voce Moyses: 'Non quasi homo Deus suspenditur', intimat
ante; 'Aut non ceu filius hominis minas patitur', inquit. Sic Dominus ipse cum
uenisset, ista secutus: Oportet me, inquit, reprobari uoce Moysi. At ego non
tota, sed summa fastigia carpo, Quo possint facilius ignorantes discere uera. Hi
autem iniqui, qui subdole vivere quaerunt, Iam semel cruenti perseverant fingere
vana; Infatuant stultos magis evanescere dictis. Cum crucifixus enim sic
oporteret, - eundem Sic enim disposuit propter primitivi ruinam - Non solum pro
illis, sed pro nobis venit e caelo; Constituit populum novum suo nomine firmum,
Iuxta prophetias complevit omnia Christus. Ecce noua facio, Esaias clamat in
ipso, Et nemo priora reputet nec antiqua sequatur. Haec nova sunt hodie sub
nostra lege profecta, Quod gentes in Christo credimus ex dicto Moysis. Ille duos
populos praedixerat esse futuros, Et quidem minorem populum praecellere dixit.
Sed isti nequitiae pleni iam desperato furore: Haec nobis est data lex, dicunt,
vos unde venistis? Si nobis obsistunt, patet et resistere istos Summo, qui
voluit nobis bonus esse. Nec illud Respiciunt servi cervicosi, setis erectis;
Qui semper innocuos cruciarunt, lege vetati, Sic Deo fecerunt, quod erant
consueti, crudeles, Et filios sese audent adhuc dicere Summi. Iam qualiter
iterum resurrexit, supra notavi, Non de voce mea, sed dicta prophetica dixi.
Praedixerat autem discipulis cuncta de sese, Qualiter a populo pateretur Petro
negante; Et quia de tumulis resurgeret tertio die, Dixerat et ipsud, et
compleuit omnia dicta. At ubi surrexit, uenit ad apostolos ipse Et stetit illis
in medio: Pax uobis, inquit. Inter quos discipulos non adfuit unus orantes; Cui
cum referrent, discredere coepit et addit: Si prius non digitum misero, ubi
claui fuerunt Aut ubi percussus de lancea, non ego credo. Tunc die Dominica
rursus remeauit ad illos Et stetit illis in medio: Pax uobis, inquit. Et statim
adgreditur Thomam incredulum illum: Accede propius et contange corpus ut ante.
Non ego sum umbra, mortuorum qualis habetur: Uestigium umbra non facit;
considera vulnus. Extendit palmas et ille tangere coepit Et manum in latere,
fuerat quod lancea fixum, Misit et exinde prostravit sese precando. Haec quia
vidisti, credidisti; sed illi felices Posteri, qui credunt audito nomine tantum.
Quadraginta dies cum illis ex ordine fecit, Edocuit illis multa, quae saeculo
uenirent. Post cuius ascensum miracula multa fecerunt, De uerbo curabant
infirmos in nomine Christi. Qui si talis erat, qualem isti perfidi dicunt,
Fortia non fierent testium de uerbo per illum. Ascendit in caelos, sicut et
scriptura canebat: Excipite regem, principes, caelorum in altis! Quid amplius
opus est recitare cuncta de lege? Sufficiunt ista rudibus, bono corde tuenda.
Quod si nec ipsi uolunt scire Deum ista legendo, Ipsi sibi reputent, quo
uenerint, illo quo nolunt. Nil nisi cor faciunt, ceterum de uita siletur. Quid
iuuat in uano saecularia prosequi terris, Et scire diuitiis regum, de bellis
eorum? Insanumque forum cognoscere iure peritum, Quod iura uacillant, praemio ne
forte regantur? Sit licet defensor, sit licet diuinus orator, Nil morte
proficiet, si uiuus in Christo negauit. Immo prius quaerat, ubi sit sua uita
redacta, Si fuerit sapiens; si ceterum, uituperatur. Illi legunt iura et discunt
proloquia mira, Sed superant miseros, pro quibus loquuntur, agendo. Infelix est
ille, qui venerit illis in ore. Illi ferunt laudes et ille victoriam damnis:
Stat miser in medio mutus, qui plus dolet intus. Illi tonant ore et ille
silentio nummis. Obstrepit interea uox adornata diurnum Et saepe fit causa
melior mala pluscula dando. Hinc pretium quaerit sapiens, hinc vincere gaudet,
Etsi praue gerat, dum sit modo victor; aegrotat, Nil sua de causa tractat, cum
lucra conatur; Spem subit alterius et sua posterga remittit. Multi de successu
rapiuntur saeculi silua; Dum gaudent in breuia, remanent a gratia Christi; Dum
cupiunt multa oculo, dum augere quaerunt, Nec Deus est illis aliquid nisi
saeculi uita. Pro uentre satagit, agon est pro ipso diurnum, Et uerum agonem
spernit pro aeterna salute. Quisque quasi uigilat sacculo, laudatur acutus; Nam
qui Deum sequitur, copria iudicatur ab ipsis. O nimium felix, saecularia si quis
euitet! Sit stultus aliis, sapiens dum sit Deo summo. Ipsa spes est tota, Deo
credere, qui ligno pependit; Foeda licet res est, sed utilis uitae futurae. Nam
populus ille primitiuus illo deceptus Quod filium dixit, cum sit Deus, pristinus
ipse. Hic praeibat eos in columna nubis et ignis, Quando de Aegypto liberauit
illos ad unum. Hic crudele nefas imperat de unico nato, Ut probaret Abraham, cui
dixit 'Parce!' e caelo Angelus. Et Deus est, hominem totidemque se fecit, Et
quidquid ualuerit, faciet, ut muta loquantur. Balaam caedenti asinam suam
colloqui fecit Et canem, ut Simoni diceret: Clamaris a Petro! Paulo praedicanti
discerent ut multi de illo Leonem populo fecit loqui uoce diuina. Deinde, quod
ipsa non patitur nostra natura, Infantem fecit quinto mense proloqui uulgo. Hic
erat uenturus commixto sanguine nostro, Ut uideretur homo, sed Deus in carne
latebat. Non senior ueniet nec angelus, dixit Esaias, Sed Dominus ipse ueniet se
ostendere nobis. Hunc mare pertimuit, hunc uenti, hunc tartarus ipse; Agnouit
Dominum omnis creatura latentem. Solus nequam populus centriam erexit ad illum:
'Absit, ut sic Dominus venerit in tali figura!' Hic, sicut in terra, super
fluctus maris inibat Et ventis imperat, placidum ut redderet aequor; Hic legem
tartaream derupit verbo praesenti Et levat de tumulis Lazarum die quarta
foetentem. Nam qui ferebatur, cum fuisset obvius illi: Surge, inquit, iuvenis!
Et surrexit ille feretro. Archisynagogi filiam deprecatus a patre Iam exanimatam
plangentibus suscitat illam. Mutum loqui fecit et surdum audire, praesertim Et
caecum ex utero natum, ut videret in auras. Post triginta octo annis paralyticum
surgere iussit, Quem admirarentur grabatum in collo ferentem. Cuius vestimento
tacta profluvio sanata est; Quinque panes fregit hominum in milia quinque Et
quattuor milia iterum de septem refecit. Plenius ut sese Dominus demonstraret
adesse, In nuptias fuerat inuitatus matre cum ipsa; Quod fuit rogatus,
subueniret uino defecto, Tunc iussit implere ydrias uelocius aqua, Quod prius
gustauit et sic ministrari praecepit. Nec sic potuerunt Dominum cognoscere
factis Sed insanierunt, quasi nequam perdere morti. Quod ipsum concedit, quoniam
sic pati decreuit Si tamen crediderint, ueniam tunc demum habebunt. Hic est
primogenitus per prophetas ante praedictus, Ut uocitaretur in terris Altissimi
proles. Felices, hominum spem suam in isto qui ponunt Nam insipientes tamquam
maledictum euitant. Aeternitas illi praeparatur, Christo qui credit, Ut socius
Dei sit homo post funera uiuens. Lex et prophetae docent, qui sunt Dei digni
caelorum Et quibus absconsa revelantur aurea saecla. Per tot vates numero de
filio Dei clamatur, Et cluserunt oculos filii Dei primi vocati; Qui scelere
facto non sunt recordati legendo, Sed perseverant: En nos sumus electi!
dicentes. Adhuc infatuant profanos balneis ire, Quos faciunt mundos ipsi Deo
summo placere. Aqua lauat sordes, non intima cordis iniqua, Nec sacra sacrilega
poterunt lauare curata. Non ita praecepit Dominus sacra ferre malignis; Et locus
iterum, ab idolis mundos haberi: Nemo sibi faciat simulacrum daemonis, inquit;
Nam dixit et illis: Idolis seruire nolite. Si Deus praecepit ab idolis ualde
caueri, Quid illi decipiunt gentes puros esse lauacris? Immo cum recipiunt
tales, docere deberent Seruire non aliis, nisi tantum Summo placere. Dum facinus
quaerunt obumbrare Christi de morte, Aperiunt ualuas passim, ut intretur ad
illos Hinc ergo depereunt, qui se putant puros ab aqua Posse Dei fieri,
conscientes ante latroni. Nunc colit in uano quodlibet, nunc sancta requirit,
Nescit ubi primum occurrat inscius ille, Ac idolis seruit, iterum tricesima
quaerit; Nunc azima sequitur, qui castum sederat ante. Hoc Deo non placuit
participes daemonum esse, Qui legem instituit, fieret quo transitus inde. Sunt
tibi praepositas duas uias: elige, quam uis, Nec enim te findes, ut possis ire
per ambas; Sed tamen ex ipsis opportunam quaerere debes; Nec cadas in fauces
latronum, cautior esto. Unum quaere Deum, qui quaerit hostiam nullam, Ut possis
abolitus resurgere saeclo novato. Quid malos attendis et iudicas sanctos
iniquos, Qui tibi nullum verbum de lege demonstrant? De virtute Dei refertur,
quam fecit in illos, Nam de suo facta scelerata dicere nolunt Semper homicidae
manibusque semper cruentis, Quos Dominus numquam potuit domare monendo.
Sufficeret illis per ignauiam tanta fecisse Et dicere: Scriptum sic erat, modo
credere fas est. Sed Dominus ipse obscurauit sensus eorum, Indurauit eos sicut
Pharaonem in ipsis; Nec preces eorum dixit exaudire se uelle Et de terra sua
proiecit illos iratus. Cum filios illos utique iam dixerat ante Necesse uoluerat
bono corde uiuere natos; Quando pater gaudet, cum sit bonus filius illi; Quod si
malus fuerit, execretur odio natum. Contrarium nullus patitur sibi filium esse,
Excluditur omnis caritas crudele de nato, Nec facit heredem illum ex asse
suorum, Quae si prius poterit consumere, gaudet in illum. Impium et saeuum
subolem, rei suae tyrannum, Nec obuium patitur genitor commotus ab illo. Quid
isti praesumunt, cum sint adhortati, dicentes: Ex omni populo nos sumus
carissimi Summo? Parricida patris semper et superbus in illo Carus esse potest
aut heres iure uocari? Quanto magis Dominus, superant cui fili legendi!
Mansuetis, humilibus, obsequio plenis alumnis Diuidunturque bona, non impiis
neque tyrannis. Adoptati fuerant manifeste fili Iudaei, Sed in testamento
consecuti sunt impii nomen. Ipsi sibi reputent: Scelere commisso cruenti Qui
poterant utique participes esse bonorum? Quid nobis strident, quid nos
aemulantur heredes? Fecissentque bonum, et erant in parte legati. Nec hodie
tacent et Christo credere nolunt, Qui fuerat illis salutaris lege praedictus; De
quo iam audistis qualiter prophetae canebant: Uenturum in terras Dominum, quem
gentes adorabunt Hunc certe nos ipsum admonent cognoscere Summum, Qui renouat
hominem, peccata pristina donat. Nam et comminatur deorum cultoribus ipse:
Sacrificans periet idolis in morte secunda. Quisque deos ergo sequitur
fabricatos in auro, Argento vel lapide, ligno vel aeramine fusos, Cum ipsis
infelix mittetur in igne proiectus, Nec ibi permoritur, sed dat cruciatus
ignitos. Sunt homines pecorum similes in ista natura, Qui nolunt accipere frenum
Dei summi uagantes; Cum ipsi non durant seruorum talia ferre, In quorum saepe
discendunt sanguine diri. Dicentes adiciunt: 'Nihil est post funera nostra; Dum
uiuimus. hoc est'. et incumbunt more suillo; 'Nulla sit luxuria, quae nos
pertranseat aeuo; Dum tempus est uitae, perfruamur omnia saecli.' Indisciplinati
clementiam Dei refugant Strenui sectantes, quasi sola vita sit, istam. Sic
redeunt a Deo, qui promittit vivere semper: Contra bonum pugnant, cum sit
repugnandum iniquo. Errauimus omnes manifesto, saeculo suasi, Sed gratia Domini
prouocamur credere legi. Propterea uenit et fecit trophaea latenter Et fuit homo
Deus, ut nos in futuro haberet. Sed plurimi pereunt, qui putant utrisque
placere, Idolis atque Deo, placeat cum nemo duobus. Unus est in caelo Deus
caeli, terrae marisque, Quem Moyses docuit ligno pependisse pro nobis. Unde
quidem errant ignaui talia passum, Non satis intenti mysterio Dei secretum.
Invidia diaboli mors introivit in orbem, Quam Deus occulte destruxit uirgine
natus. Qua nativitate excordantur caeci Iudaei, Stultos infatuant scelere
commisso cruenti. Nemo potest ullum excusamen dicere postquam, Cum modo sit
nobis facultas data credendi. Non uenit in uano Deus in terris e caelo, Sed
uenit, ut faceret populum suo nomine dictum. Quem si quis confessus non erit in
ista natura, Perit et, quod vixit, in poena sero se damnat, Aut certe, dum
sperat exspectans crescere canos, Excluditur diutius ab aeterna vita defunctus.
Ergo iam ad illum citius recordari debemus, Qui nobis post obitum pollicetur
reddere uitam. Insuper hoc addit, immortales esse futuros Et frui, quod oculus
non uiderat ante, uidendo. Sex milibus annis prouenient ista repletis, Quo
tempore nos ipsos spero iam in litore portus. Tunc homo resurget solis in agone
reductus Et gaudet in Deo reminiscens, quid fuit ante; Qui, sicut audiuit
fragilis in pristina carne, Cum sit incorruptus, recognoscit ante promissa. Quam
gloriam mirans homini provenisse sic inquit: Qualiter audivi prius, sic singula
cerno. Haec pariter omnes clamant ab inferno levati: Quemadmodum ante audivimus,
ecce videmus! Cedet dolor omnis a corpore, cedet et ulcus, Nec erit anxietas
ulla nisi gaudia semper. Quisque tribus credit et sentit unum adesse, Hic erit
perpetuus in aeterna saecla renatus. Sed quidam hoc aiunt: Quando haec uentura
putamus? Accipite paucis, quibus actis illa sequantur. Multa quidem signa fient
tantae termini pestis, Et erit initium septima persecutio nostra: Ecce iam
ianuam pulsat et cogitur esse, Quae cito traiciet Gothis inrumpentibus amnem.
Rex Apollion erit cum ipsis, nomine dirus, Qui persecutionem dissipet sanctorum
in armis. Pergit ad Romam cum multa milia gentis Decretoque Dei captiuat ex
parte subactos. Multi senatorum tunc enim captiui deflebunt Et Deum caelorum
blasphemant a barbaro uicti. Hi tamen gentiles pascunt Christianos ubique, Quos
magis ut fratres requirunt gaudio pleni. Nam luxuriosos et idola uana colentes
Persecuntur enim et senatum sub iugo mittunt. Haec mala percipiunt, qui sunt
persecuti dilectos: Mensibus in quinque trucidantur isto sub hoste. Exsurgit
interea sub ipso tempore Syrus, Qui terreat hostes et liberet inde senatum. Ex
infero redit, qui fuerat regno praeceptus Et diu seruatus cum pristino corpore
notus. Dicimus hunc autem Neronem esse vetustum, Qui Petrum et Paulum prius
punivit in urbem: Ipse redit iterum sub ipso saeculi fine Ex locis apocryphis,
qui fuit reservatus in ista. Hunc ipse senatus invisum esse mirantur; Qui cum
adparuerit, quasi deum esse putabunt. Sed priusquam ille veniat, prophetabit
Helias Tempore partito, medio hebdomadis axe. Completo spatio succedit ille
nefandus, Quem et Iudaei simul tunc cum Romanis adorant. Quamquam erit alius,
quem expectent ab oriente, In nostra caede tamen saeuient cum rege Nerone. Ergo
cum Helias in Iudaea terra prophetat, Et signat proprium populum in nomine
Christi; De quibus quam multi quoniam illi credere nolunt, Supplicat iratus
Altissimum, ne pluat; inde Clausum erit caelum, ex eo nec rore madescet: Et
flumina quoque iratus in sanguine vertit. Fit sterilis terra nec sudant fontibus
aquae, Ut famis invadat: erit tune et lues in orbe. Ista quia faciat, cruciati
nempe Iudaei Multa aduersus eum conflant in crimina falsa, Incenduntque prius
senatum consurgere in ira Et dicunt Heliam inimicum esse Romanis. Tunc inde
confertim motus senatus ab illis Exorant Neronem precibus et donis iniquis:
Tolle inimicos populi de rebus humanis Per quos et dii nostri conculcantur neque
coluntur. At ille suppletus furia precibusque senatus Uehiculo publico rapit ab
oriente prophetas. Qui satis ut faciat illis uel certe Iudaeis, Immolat hos
primum et sic ad ecclesias exit. Sub quorum martyrio decima pars corruit urbis
Et pereunt ibi homines septem milia plena. Illos autem Dominus quarto die tollit
in auras, Quos illi vetuerant sepultura condi iacentes, Suscitatque solo
immortales facti de morte, Quos inimici sui suspiciunt ire per auras. Territi
nec sic sunt, sed magis intra crudescunt Ad populum Christi execrantes odio
toto. Indurauit enim Altissimus corda nefanda, Sicut Pharaoni prius indurauerat
aures. Hic ergo rex durus et iniquus Nero fugatus, Pelli iubet populum
Christianum ipsa de urbe, Participes autem duo sibi Caesares addit, Cum quibus
hunc populum persequatur diro furore. Mittunt et edicta per iudices omnes
ubique, Ut genus hoc hominum faciant sine nomine Christi. Praecipiunt quoque
simulacris tura ponenda Et, ne quis lateat, omnes coronati procedant. In ista
historia si fidelis ire negauit, Feliciter exit: sin uero, de turba fit unus.
Nulla dies pacis tunc erit nec oblatio Christo, Sed cruor ubique manat, quem
describere uincor; Uincunt enim lacrimae, deficit manus, corda tremescunt,
Quamquam sit martyribus aptum tot funera ferre; Per mare, per terras, per
insolas atque latebras Scrutaturque diu, exsecratos uictima ducunt. Haec Nero
tunc faciet, triennii tempore toto Et anno dimidio statuta tempora complet. Pro
cuius facinore ueniet uindicta letalis, Ut urbis et populus ille cum ipso
tradatur, Tollatur imperium, quod fuit inique repletum, Quod per tributa mala
diu macerabat omnes. Exsurget iterum ista in clade Neronis Rex ab orientem cum
quattuor gentibus inde Invitatque sibi quam multas gentes ad urbem, Qui ferant
auxilium, licet sit fortissimus ipse, Implebitque mare nauibus cum milia multa,
Et si quis occurrerit illi, mactabitur ense; Captiuatque prius Tyrum et Sidona
subactas, Nam inde finitimas gentes terrore fatiscunt. Hinc lues, hinc bella,
hinc fames, hinc nuntia dura Miscenturque simul, quo fiat turbatio mentis.
Interea fremitum dat tuba de caelo repente, Cuius omni loco sonitus praecordia
turbat. Uidebitur et tunc igne quadriga per astra Et facula currens, nuntiet ut
gentibus ignem. Siccatur fluuius Euphrates denique totus, Ut uia paretur regi
cum gentibus illis. Persae, Medi, simul Chaldaei, Babylonii venibunt, Immites et
agiles, qui nesciant ullum dolorem. Hic ergo exoriens cum coeperit inde venire,
Turbaturque Nero et senatus proximo visu. Et ibunt illi tres Caesares resistere
contra; Quos ille mactatos uolucribus donat in escam. Exercitus quorum necesse
est uictorem adorent Cumque redeuntes in urbe mente mutata Spoliant templa et
quidquid est intus in urbe, Diripiunt mactantque uiros ingenti cruore; Novissime
nudam adigunt incendio factam, Ut neque vestigium eius adpareat ultra. Cuius in
exitio tabescunt corda potentium Nec se adinveniunt, in quo sint tempore ruti.
Haec quidem gaudebat, sed tota terra gemebat; Uix tamen adinuenit illi
retributio digna. Luget in aeternum, quae se iactabat aeterna, Cuius et tyranni
iam tunc iudicantur a Summo. Stat tempus in finem fumante Roma maturum, Et
merces aduenient meritis partita locorum. Inde tamen pergit victor in terra
Iudaea, Quem ipsi Iudaei spectarant vincere Romam. Multa signa facit, ut illi
credere possint, Ad seducendos eos quoniam est missus iniquus; Quem tamen e
caelo increpat uox reddita Summi. De Persida homo immortalem esse se dicit.
Nobis Nero factus Antichristus, ille Iudaeis; Isti duo semper prophetae sunt in
ultima fine. Urbis perditio Nero est, hic terrae totius; De quo pauca tamen
suggero, quae legi secreta. Displicet interea iam sero Iudaeis et ipsis,
Susurrantque simul, quoniam sint fraude decepti. Exclamant pariter ad caelum
uoce deflentes, Tunc Deus omnipotens, terminet ut cuncta, quae dixi, Producet
populum celatum tempore multo. Sunt autem Iudaei trans Persida flumine clausi,
Quos usque in finem uoluit Deus ibi morari. Captiuitas illos ibidem redegit ut
essent; Ex duodena tribu nove semis ibi morantur. Mendacium ibi non est, sed nec
est odium ullum; Idcirco nec moritur filius suus ante parentes; Nec mortuos
plangunt nec lugunt more de nostro, Expectant quoniam resurrectionemque futuram,
Non animam ullam uescuntur additis escis, Sed olera tantum, quod sit sine
sanguine fuso. Iustitia pleni illibato corpore uiuunt, In illis nec genesis
exercit impia uires. Non febres accedunt in illis, non frigora saeua,
Obtemperant quoniam uniuersa candide legis; Quae nos et ipsi sequemur pure
uiuentes; Mors tantum aderat et labor, nam cetera surda. Hic erat populus, qui
nunc est extra repositus. Siccato fluuio repetet in terra Iudaea; Cum ipsis et
Deus ueniet implere promissa; Qui per totum iter exultat Deo praesente. Omnia
uirescunt ante illos, omnia gaudent, Excipere sanctos ipsa creatura laetatur:
Omni loco fontes exurgunt esse parati, Qua graditur populus Summi cum terrore
caelesti. Umbraculum illis faciunt nubes, ne uexentur a sole, Et ne fatigentur,
substernunt se montes et ipsi; Praemittetur enim ante illos angelus Alti, Qui
ducatum eis pacificum praestet eundo. Hi sine labore leuiter gradiuntur euntes
Et quasi leones, qua transeunt, omnia uastant. Nec legio ulla quidem poterit
resistere contra, Si bellum intulerit, cum sit Deus ipse cum illis. Expugnant
gentes, ciuitates quoque deponunt, Permissione Dei uiduant colonias omnes, Auro
uel argento locupletanturque praedando Et sic honestati hymnos per iter Deo
cantant. Mox autem adproperant sanctae civitati paternae, Expavescit enim
terribilis ille tyrannus Et fugit ad reges Boreae cum concitu magno. Unde rapit
populum, ut stet quasi contra pugnans Cum properant autem exercitus Dei rebelles
Sternunt ubique solo ab angelis proelio facto. Rex autem iniquus et
pseudopropheta mittuntur, Comprehensi simul, in gehennae poena viventes, Quorum
primores praepositi sive legati In loco servorum statim rediguntur iniqui.
Interea sancti intrant in colonia sancta Qui Dei promissa capiant sine fine
laetantes. Exorant Deum pro mortuis uti resurgant, Quod ipse promisit olim de
anastasi prima. Incipiet Deus iam tunc inimicis irasci, Statutusque dies quondam
advenit iniquis. Cum coeperit autem mundum iudicare per ignem, Deuitatque pios
et cadit super impios ignis. Uix remanent pauci, qui referant talia facta, Et
qui reseruantur, ut seruiant iustis, euadunt. Post persecutionem sanctorum et
funera tanta Imminet ut ueniat dies detestabilis, ardens. Ecce canit caelo
rauca, sed ubique resultans, Quae pavidat totum orbem in ruina cadentem. Sol
fugit incaute, subito fit noctis imago, Et Deus exclamat: Quamdiu me ferre
putasti? Cuius signo dato pestis ruit aethere toto, Cum strepitu tonitrui
discendit impetus ignis. Tunc aliud atque aliud fulmen iactatur ab astris, Ignea
tempesta fugit reseruata tot annis, Rugit pestifera clades, tremit excita
tellus, Nec, quo se auertat, prouidet gens omnis humana. Stellae cadunt caeli,
iudicantur astra nobiscum: Turbantur caelicolae, agitur dum saecli ruina.
Suppetium nullum tunc erit et clamor inanis; Non nauis accipiet hominem, non
ulla latebra; Nec illi subueniunt, quos ante pro magno colebant: Quisque sibi
satagit, sed nihil proficit illi; His tantum proficiet, qui fuerint Christo
notati; Ros ad illos erit, nam ceteris poena letalis. Pars incredulorum seruatur
molliter usta, Ut genus ipsorum iterum se in ultimo plangat. Quocumque se
uertunt homines, uis ignea feruit; Aer ipse mundi, qui placebat ante, crematur.
Quod strepitus caeli ingruentes fulmine dicam, Cum ira tot annis collecta
funditur omnis? Hinc ignis, hinc tonitrus, hinc turbinis tot mala fervunt,
Rapieturque polus subitaneae mortis in umbra. Partim terra tremens laxat
funebria claustra, Partim tonitrua disrumpunt moenia ima Et fundamenta mundi
ituri sicut pulvis in auras. Saxa volant scissis rupibus et tecta domorum
Vastantur, patriae prosternitur civitas omnis, Ut vix, ubi feurit, plusculum
vestigio tradat. Tot crepitus, tantos fragores tantasque ruinas Quis poterit
ferre aut naufragia tanta tueri? Quid misera mater faciet tunc paruolo dulci? At
si pater natum piet, quid proficit illi? Vae refugis Domini! Vates sine Christo
discordes, Quorum et laeta sors iudicantur, nune pro se flentes Plangunt ex
mugitibus seseque prosternunt in terra, Dum illucescet fratribus aula laeta
caelestis. Tunc lux vitae virum mundabit aeterna supernae, Et qui fuit humilis
ueniens de caelo videtur: Cum illo descendunt angeli claritatis aeternae,
Rumpentur et tumuli, exsurgent corpora luto, Quae maculat tabes, et portant in
tartara saevi Inferni custodes. Hic erunt Iudaei viventes: Suscitabit illos, ut
videant gloriam eius, Quem cruce fixerunt. Sed denuo surgit ab imis, Ut exstet
miseris illis testis, necatus ab illis. Quot pendetis nummos, qui stulto providi
dolo Promisistis custodibus lucra silentibus? De te, Invidia, canimus; de te,
Iudaea, vincemus, Cum iusti laetantur, et in inferno cremantur Damnati; illis
Deus dicet: Recedite illue! Et si non crediderint, in umbra mortis abibunt;
Sicuti qui poterant plus velle, et mortalia tantum Elegerunt, proni descendent
illi deorsum Ceteri, qui fuerint in adversis Christi. De sanctis, De duobus
populis erit una plebs afia semper. Heic maior finis; nemutetur enim, ipse
iuravit.


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  CHAPTER 3: SONG OF TWO PEOPLES
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Song Of Two Peoples (Carmen De Duobus Populis) Alternative titles: Apologetic
Song, Apologetic Poem, Against Jews and Gentiles Translated from this Latin text
into English using ChatGPT.

Beware of these translation issues: - Sometimes the AI will add additional
details (especially if the additional details are frequently used in other texts
the AI was trained on). For example, if the original text quoted a fragment of
Ephesians 2:7 in Latin, in the translation the AI will sometimes then include
the English version of the entirety of Ephesians 2:7-8 (even though there was
only a fragment of 2:7 in the original text). - When a verse from the Bible is
quoted, the AI often won't translate the underlying text at all, but will just
insert the corresponding verse from a modern English translation of the Bible.

Content Who will be able to know the one true God of heaven? Who except for the
one who has been lifted from heinous error? I wandered unknowing, walking with
empty hope, while the fury of youth carried me into the heights. I was lighter
than a straw; As though a hundred heads Were present on my shoulders, So
headlong wheresoever I was carried. Not enough of these things, finally drowned
by crime, I was almost made by enchanting evil herbs. But thanks be to the Lord
- nor is it enough to only offer my voice - who finally shed light on the
miserable waverer! And having approached, I was given over to the code of the
law, to know what I should understand there. Suddenly a lamp shone for me; then
I truly knew the one and only supreme God in the heights, and therefore I
encourage such ones to depart from error. What better doctor than a victorious
one who has suffered wounds? Many indeed are brutes and unknown, asleep in their
hearts, Who propose to themselves nothing to know; in a savage manner They seek
what they may seize, or whose blood they may drink, Provided they may rejoice to
live fat as swine. They groan at the tomb of the sepulcher, then the rich will
applaud and the poor will change their clothes and feel disgust. It would
certainly suffice for them, who eat more readily; If anyone has seemed worthy of
Caesar's wealth, why does he prefer his own fragile things and not look back at
anyone? Rather, let one such as have received from the highest riches and high
honors, communicate goodness to everyone. For I do not blame the riches given by
the Highest, but he will be deserving of blame, who is overly elevated by them.
I now advise all, high and low, to read diligently either these things or the
other things of the law. Behold, since life given us is short, Learn, therefore,
how we may die. Wise by birth, we die as fools; what good did it do to see the
light? If you don't investigate, this is to be among beasts. Indeed, the highest
God placed man over the world, not wild animals or livestock. Why do we make
ourselves like them? The Almighty wanted man to offer praise to Him; Therefore
He Himself taught us the future divine. He not only thundered words so we may
believe, but also showed strength when Pharaoh was deceived. He did not only do
this: and Noah also showed, during that time, what he could because no one was
seeking God. Then gradually a milder one began to come after the flood was made,
so that the earth could be replenished. Almost half of six thousand years had
already passed, and nobody knew the Lord, and they lived everywhere. But God, as
He saw the hearts of men too closed, Speaks to Abraham. He whom Moses declares,
he himself gave the law to the people, Pharaoh being slain; And he predicted who
the Lord would be, by him. Not satisfied with one prophetic voice, He has used
many witnesses who declare it. Therefore, when you read the praises of many
prophets, You will find that he came in flesh for us. Where is the mistake now?
Why do they mock that the Supreme has ordained such things? They deserve to be
laughed at because of it! Sometimes I present, how I have read the prophets, and
teach the ignorant where the hope of life is to be placed. What God did first
and how He did each thing, Moses has already taught; but we teach about Christ.
I am not a prophet nor am I ordered to be a teacher, But I sing the things
foretold by wandering bards. Therefore, my like, whom the swift breeze carries
away, now seek a harbor where there are no dangers. A skilled farmer knows far
in advance about impending weather And, before it arrives, he gathers himself in
a cave. Be prudent, see what is coming, and provide for safety before disasters
arrive. Cowardice is needed for boys, not certainly for the robust: If this is
allowed for the inexperienced, it is not suitable for mature age. And any part
of humanity that is not moderate will become like an excessively salted ham:
hardened. No one places a stone unless the fire is burning alone: Thus people
soften like rocks in the late hellfire. We shout into the empty space, to be
carried by storm to the deaf, and we offer light to the blind without reason.
The soldier stands at the mass: one listens, and the other shakes himself off,
nor does he accept the same warnings, but wanders lost. Who will commit an
offense now (be judges about these!), He who is warned or he who does not wish
to obey the command? I hope that he who obeys Caesar's orders is not guilty, but
he who destroys his proud enemies with his own life. Sometimes I show the right
way to you who still wander aimlessly, what is mine having been known first. But
you choose, pleasing at your own discretion, whoever wants poison or the sweet
cups of life! Good and evil have been created in this nature, so that after the
fact, one may be approved as worthy of God. Begin now, whoever you are, to have
knowledge of the eternal: Learn who God is and by what name He is called. God is
omnipotent, one, created by himself, whom you will find below great and humble
himself. He was placed in the word, noted only for himself, who is called Father
and Son and Holy Spirit. But since he has decided to compose the world, he has
placed fire to be feared among the very angels by signs. However, he distributed
them with less power himself, so that they might rule the heavens and the earth
and the subjugated land. Therefore, even the messengers themselves cannot
distinguish what kind of person he is or how great he is, except that they
follow the instructions. The honor is hidden from us and even from the angels
themselves, What the majesty of God really is, only He alone knows. Immense
shining above the heavens and without end, and all of it is like a fiery power.
There life of the Gods is, only without known form, Those secrets are known to
God alone of the heavens: This glory of God is unique above all angels, Here is
the God of eternal light, here the spirit of age. What it is in its original
state, no one can see, but transfigured, it is as it wants to show itself. He
presents himself visible to the angels according to their form. And he became
man for man, but God is proved by his word. Therefore, the form of such a great
God cannot be known; Whatever it is, it is one in immense light; Thence it is
accustomed to enclose the circle of the world in its fist. However, when he
wanted to be known about himself what he was, he made himself appear capable of
such a great divinity: His face or eyes or mouth or limbs are noted. Some have
seen him in the fire speaking with a voice; he was taken on in the flesh, which
no region could hold. Thus the almighty God, lord of his own nature, though he
be invisible, made himself visible to some. He who with his own form now
diffuses himself into the air, of whom it is not permitted to seek a beginning
or an end, here God is always without beginning and without end. He who, before
creating the sky, was carried on into eternity, and who holds the sky, sees
everything everywhere from the sky and penetrates all with his eyes and ears.
Therefore, it pleased him to be held in the carnal world, so that his eternal
majesty alone might be exalted. Now, what was before, it is difficult to say,
although it has been written down: we should not care about that. When we cannot
fully grasp what we see, who can know what lies beyond the ocean's limit? And we
see the sky, but what happens inside it, no one can know until the end of the
age. Let it suffice to know only the promised things of the future; let us
eagerly strive for them, wholly devoted in mind. As the Phoenix bird
contemplates being reborn from death, It gives us an example that we can rise
after funerals; God almighty urges us to believe that a time will come when the
dead will live again, although now they are dust, although their naked bones
lie. The person is restored, who once had been dead, and a greater grace will
come to him of this age. There will be no pain or tears in our body, the flesh
will not receive iron, and no sore will arise. God wills that this be done, so
that greater glory may be given to Him. Here he had made the first man, so that
he might be eternal, but he fell into death by neglecting those precepts. God
prepared to be so many inquiries, so that he might uncover all the devil's
inventions. God had given this angel the position on Earth: Who, while envying
man, perishes himself, and first. Meanwhile, He sees the just subdued by Him,
and He reserves for Hell the criminal Cain. In crime began to move about all
human race, Nor looking back, who their creator was. What the exalted God
endured indignantly; Icere proposed to destroy almost the whole creation. It is
said and read that Noah was saved from the water, the others perished by the
heavenly anger of the flood. From here, just as at the beginning, the earth is
gradually filled. The prior crime ceased, but another disaster approached. They
foolishly began to build a tower that touched the stars and thought they might
be able to climb the skies with it. But God, seeing that their work proceeded
because they spoke the same language, intervened and caused them to speak
different languages. Then he scattered them by isolating them in the islands of
the earth, so that nations speaking different tongues arose. Then, an
unteachable race was leading a life of savagery; No one knew God, no one argued
about life. Since that rash one had eaten through the springs of life, he
corrupted bitter minds, and persuaded them to love infamous deceits, to live by
pillage with the joy of bloodshed. The foolish pursue this glory in a short
time, whom no pardon frees, by saying they were misled. If an adulterer
persuades you, the fault is yours for pursuing such a person; he does not
condemn you, but you condemn yourself of your own accord. They wandered, induced
by the deceit of an old enemy, forgetting the Lord, following evil works.
Because for a long time there was so much raiding by bandits, when the time was
divided he finally took pity and, having removed [them], he pleased to confer
with one of many, in order to win the people over to himself by passing over [to
his side]. From that moment they began to be profane to the One God And to
become a people according to the decrees of God. For Rebecca had separated two
peoples from herself: He became the first, and the other was to succeed him. In
Egypt, the foster child initially grew up into Israel. Then God cast them out,
led by Moses, through whom He gave them the law on Mount Sinai, so that our
posterity might know the Lord as one. Then he ordered the prophets to say
themselves, what God said about man. The Lord had led them into the promised
land so that they might live there under the law until he himself came. The
ungrateful people did not want to bear the yoke of good precepts, but rather
flourished in ancient wickedness; nor ever ceased: even today they are held as
such. Having left God behind, he prefers the pleasures of the world. What the
Lord most intends to avoid for his beloved; he warns that they should be
altogether cut off from the world. If he spoke of children, let us linger in
their holy ways; Why do we go out, adulterers following a show? The ancient
seducer deceives everyone with such things: He sends in indulgences through
which sons are lost, He incites agony through excessively obscene or violent
spectacles, He causes the chaste to know the unchaste. If he had been pure,
incest would have profited him, and pleasingly smiling, then the tempting evil
pleasures. In those luxuries the primitive people used to live and always went
unarmed from God's law. God often sent pupils to cleanse those who had gone
astray, so that they might correct them. They never refused to accept the divine
words again, But always served their own will to the inept. They would slay the
just reproaching them iniquitously, while unwilling to accept the reins of
heavenly discipline. They will imprison Isaiah, stone Jeremiah standing upright,
decapitate John, and slaughter Zachariah at the altar. And he himself came, who
had been foretold by them, and he suffers, how he wanted, in our likeness. Into
whose destruction all prophecy is fulfilled. Daniel had said that he was the
newest prophet. He was the one whom the prophets sang of through the trumpet,
and yet his own people denied him as their own. You have always been
unproductive and stubborn, while rejecting form and losing the sacraments of the
law. Not righteousness, nor a humble birth, broke them, Nor such great goodness
or care for the sick word. Oh pious religion, oh so venerable majesty, whose
medicine so greatly profited the earth! He did not cut with iron, nor heal with
a plaster, but immediately healed with his word alone Seeing these things, the
Jews were troubled in mind, who were led more by envy in the zeal of rivalry,
not looking to the sayings of the buried prophets, that such a man should come
who would scatter them. The prophets sang until the Lord should come; after his
arrival, the prophecy was silent to the Jews. After this they were exiled with a
hardened heart. Nor do they recognize now, for which reason they have suffered
such things. It had been predicted to them by the prophet Isaiah and similarly
by Daniel, that the land would be devastated; but not before, unless the leader
of the city himself were to hang on a tree, then it would be deserted. Suddenly
such glory shone upon the nation, That the people became a people who had not
been before! Esau, the beloved of his father, was not astonished that his
younger brother would take the first-born. Thus the synagogue could not
recognize the time when and where its leader would fall from power; just as it
had been written, "birds know their times"; for this people did not understand
that I was present among them. It was time for the ruler of heaven himself to
come: According to the scriptures, he was not counted among them. The Lord was
aware of this, as one who knows all things; For this reason, he foretold these
things through the mouths of prophets. The neck-bearing people, always
rebellious, when they claimed first place for themselves, their cause was cut
off. Among whom he established the Gentiles to be; He had said this earlier: The
Gentiles will hope in him. For the stone that was set in place is the very
foundation of Zion, whoever believes in it will have eternal life. This holy of
holies designates Daniel and after him, the royal anointing shall be
exterminated. David said this: "They nailed the silent one with nails - 'They
dug my hands and feet,' he said." Solomon also prophesied so openly about him,
'Let us kill the righteous man,' the Jews will say. Jeremiah depicts the cross
as many: Come, let us put wood in bread! saying. But their leader Moses
proclaims to them: Life killed will hang before your eyes. This father came in
the son, one God everywhere: And he is not called father, unless he had become
son. For He did not leave heaven, that He might be born on earth, but as He had
planned, His greatness appeared on earth: Now the Word had descended, wherein
the power of God acted, - What of the fact that the prophets sing, that the
invisible is to be seen? - So that such great love was to be made even for us.
And our people would not have leaped to a new law, if the Almighty had not
ordained it before us. Here was the Almighty, in whose name all nations believe,
what the prophet Isaiah said: A man shall arise in Israel from the root of
Jesse, In Him shall the Gentiles hope, in whose sign they shall be protected.
And another said that he was to be revealed as a witness throughout the world,
as the prince of the nations himself. It is sung in the psalms: The Lord has
reigned from the wood; Let the earth be joyful, let many islands be glad. Thus
also Jacob the patriarch: a true blessing came upon the nations; he will be the
hope of the nations, he says. Under heaven there is no other name given except
that of Christ, in whose name the nations have believed everywhere. We do not
urge to believe in the time that has passed, but in living for the eternal
future. This hope is to be hoped for by us: to enjoy everlasting things. Not
such, which quickly changes our joys. Although riches are before your eyes to be
enjoyed, you are excluded from them by the frailty of substituted death; if you
persevere, you yourself shrink in living, or if your health is bad, why should
your life be spared? Torture is everything in which we live in this age; hence
our hope must be sought in the future: God urges us to this, the law urges us to
this, the passion of Christ urges us to this, that we may believe that we will
rise again in the new world. Thus the law of God proclaims: when the Highest
became lowly, Hell gave way, so that Adam might be lifted from Death; the Lord,
having mercy on his own creation, descended into the tomb, and thus through
hidden power, he nullified the power of Death. The Lord crept up, concealed from
the old robber, and He allowed Himself to suffer, in order to cast him down more
completely. That one, indeed, bold and always cruel like an enemy, while he
hoped to rage against a man, was conquered by the Highest. By that thing through
which the evil one had previously brought man down to death, he himself was
overcome; from there comes forth life for us. After sampling the apple, Adam was
ordered to depart and die; And from his sin, we all die likewise and the same.
But again the Lord said: If he shall take of the tree of life, he shall live for
ever, being honest. Death was on the tree and life was hidden in the tree, on
which God hung the Lord, the discoverer of our life. The Lord had foretold that
this wood of life was to be, so that whoever believes in Him may be as if he had
taken from there. And he takes and tastes sweetly the highest commandments of
God, and departs, because what is better rises from death. Whoever believes in
Christ tastes of the tree of life, upon which the Lord was hung, as Moses
predicted. Isaiah declared that this very one was humble and too rejected,
almost like the figure of a servant; and we saw him, and he was not of
distinguished appearance, placed in a wound as a man, knowing all how to suffer.
He suffers for us and carries our sins, and God delivered him up for our
wrongdoings. He, when he was being vexed, was silent like a lamb before the
altar. This man was no longer, but was God in flesh for us; What was clear now
was the name of God to arise, Which is now cherished among the nations. This is
what the prophet Malachiel sings, who is also an angel, When he condemns Jewish
sacrifices, saying: Your sacrifice will not be accepted by me, But in every
place the nations offer to my name, Among whom my name is magnified greatly, Who
offer to my name without bloodshed. For he himself was humble, hiding behind a
great name, he who spoke through prophetic mouths saying: "I am not stubborn nor
do I argue with wrongdoers, I have even offered my back for scourging and my
cheeks for striking with fists, I have not turned my face away from their
spitting." Folly has seized many, for God to suffer such things, So that the
creator of the world may be declared crucified. Thus they pleased: No one's
counsel was used,- Nor could anyone else have come in such a way - he invented
death for us, when he was an envious enemy, which the Lord, suffering, drank,
rising from hell. Therefore, he did not want to reveal what he was, but he said
that he had been sent as a son by his father. Thus He Himself had given the
testimony, that He was called the Son of God by the prophets, that God was to
come in the form of a Son on earth. And he himself groans, although he was
humble in flesh, And he testifies to the Father, so that he might affirm the
prophetic prayers. From Israel we read that such a man rises again, and he is a
man, said [the disciples], and who knows him among us? Jeremiah said, "This is
our God, equal to him. After these things, he was seen on earth, conversing with
humans." But Isaiah said: You are God, and we did not know it; and God is in
you, and no one else is held beside you. And who would come according to the law
of the prophets into the west? Sing to the Lord, his name is God, who has come!
And the fourth Psalm of forty says of Him: I will be exalted among the nations,
with a great name. And elsewhere we read: Today I have begotten you, my son;
Ask, and I will give you, and you will have nations as your inheritance.
Certainly now it appears who God is and who is in him, And in whose name we
should believe everywhere: My Christ said, I hold whose right hand, that: Let
the nations hear, and let him rule the nations themselves. What need is there of
more, when the matter is so clearly proved, When the populace rejoices in him
who is accused? But those wretched ones, who embellish empty tales And defame
the magician; they would have closed the beaks of singing thralls. What shall I
say of them? Before they were scattered, whom neither banishment broke nor old
age itself. If a wizard was present, then why were the prophets singing? If they
falsely declare about them to lose the land, what proceeds from them, so will it
also be false about him. But always being despised because they were bloody,
they rebel against their own Lord saying that they are magicians, and they do
not want to hear what the prophets said about them, who did not understand the
ultimate end. God himself described them: With closed heart, they neither see
with their eyes nor understand with their hardened hearts; For the heart of this
wicked people has become dull, so that they cannot discern, until they are
healed by my words. God was foretold to be born in the flesh for us, so that a
greater suffering would be deservedly achieved; behold God himself will give you
a sign from on high: a virgin will conceive and bear a heavenly offspring; it
shall be called "Immanuel," a name which in Latin means "God is with us."
Listen, he himself was nourished with honey and butter, and took Samaria before
he spoke his word. But this is a closed history, about which the learned
revolve, that a tiny infant when nursing could seize prey without fighting; of
whose passion it was thus predicted beforehand, that God would become suffering
with blood shed. Isaiah says: "Like a sheep led to the slaughterhouse, he did
not cry out, He endured everything patiently." The nail is pierced, as David
once foretold; Whom they also gave vinegar to drink according to the scriptures.
And in my clothes," he said, "they cast the lot, which thing was done, and we
read in him all things accomplished. And there were made darknesses for three
hours from the sixth And he hastened to bring on the night stars of the day.
This had been predicted to happen by the prophet Amos, that he would conceal
himself suddenly during the holy solemnities. O evil offspring! Oh treacherous
brood, said God, who would deny me. "And he said: Hearken to the voice of the
trumpet. We do not wish," they say. Thus speaks Ezekiel: So the nations from
afar shall hear. I want to touch upon the title of the book of Deuteronomy: You
will be at the top, nations, for the unbelievers look back. Certainly all the
things said above are rebellious. Do you know what they are objecting, when the
matter is so clearly stated? See now, you who have swum uncertainly until now,
how the nations were in the Lord's scripture before. Now it is right to believe
those whom books designate, not vain idols, which are uselessly worshipped for
life, nor to be attached to those who are pleasure-loving and unrestrained, who
love excesses more than the commands of the highest. Not one fault is enough for
those who refuse to believe, but they rather make accusations: We have thrown
him into a well. Therefore, the Lord, being angry, rebukes them: "Because of you
my name is blasphemed among the gentiles," he says. If thrown down into the
well, why is one shouted at to rise back up? You have brought up my soul from
the underworld, Lord, I have slept and taken my rest; I have risen up, for the
Lord has protected me, and I have not been harmed. And again he saith: Thou
shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt thou suffer thy Holy One to see
corruption. This person says: Son of the prophets, I am ascending. That the
Lord's suffering for the wretched may be told, And in the book of Psalms the
Lord's death is proclaimed. They do not think that David refers to himself in
that, or if they do think that, does everything he said agree? David was not
whipped nor lifted up on the cross. What? Do the Jews prophesy like Saturn? Do
they turn to stories, when it already declines against them? Do they not applaud
the cross lifted up as if it were wickedness? They imagine such things for the
unwise, uneducated, and ignorant: Who is that God whom we have nailed to the
cross? They say "Blind in heart are those who are unwilling to look back at the
scriptures." Behold, another prophet singing again, by whose voice nevertheless
such an edict is titled: Now I will rise, says the Lord, now I will be
glorified, Now I will be exalted, the humble one whom you saw before; Now you
will understand, now there will be your confusion: You are thinking in vain,
therefore you will have fire. Isaiah said this. Then even the same majesty, when
it was in the flesh, declared who he was: No one could take away my life, but I
lay it down of my own accord. And I have the power to take her again. However,
loudly is it proclaimed concerning the death of the just, so that it may be
clear that the Jews are more hardened: behold, the just man perishes and not one
even understands; but there will be peace for the beloved in his tomb. Why do
they claim that he was thrown into a well, when we read that he was handed over
to burial? Shameful, cruel, blind, and proud! Those who ought to lament more
about the deed, are applauding! For indeed inspired by him, Solomon prophesies
and seeks to show more fully: Let us surround the just one, for he is
displeasing to us, and opposes our works very much. He completely denies being
bound by our law, yet he still asserts that he is the son of the Most High. He
thoroughly disapproves and considers us frivolous; He abstains and goes to the
other side; He says we are unclean and judges the other side as just; and He
rejoices in being the Lord, the father of heaven. Therefore, if his words are
true, let us test; Let us try seeing this God, what is in him Let us question
him calmly with all the torment, Let us condemn him to the most shameful death
and after doing this, they moved their suspended heads: Let the father save him,
or else come down! So that Solomon may plainly show them to be blind, he reports
as though they had done wrong: while they are thinking on such things, they are
led into wicked error, and their cruelty blinds them. Behold, for they
themselves are blind and they say that others are, Solomon said to them: They
did not know the secrets of God. Whatever the previous witnesses said were done
in Christ. Or should they say it was done in another? If they desire to do it,
frustrate them in their mouth, they themselves mock, let them see the crowd in
that. Who was that just one whom the prophets sang about, when no one is just on
earth, except he who came from heaven? For even David, the prince, sinned,
loving a girl. And also Solomon sinned, and yet they repented. Although those
kings of theirs were so famous and distinguished, they were not righteous, but
they themselves sang of the righteous; nor did even the prophet Isaiah say such
things about himself, who was sawn asunder by King Manasseh. One was stoned, the
other was sacrificed at the altars, Herod ordered the other to be beheaded in
prison. All just watchmen have been killed by another death, because the Lord
hung on the wood, Moses said with a voice: 'God is not hanged like a man', he
declares beforehand; 'Nor does he suffer threats like the son of man', he says.
Thus, when the Lord himself had come, he said this: "It is necessary for me to
be criticized by the voice of Moses." But I do not pluck the whole, but only the
highest peaks, so that the ignorant may more easily learn the truth. But you,
wicked ones, who seek to live deceptively, persist once stained in devising vain
things; they more foolishly infatuate themselves with their words. For when he
was crucified, thus it behooved him, - For thus he planned it, because of primal
ruin - He came not only for them, but also for us from heaven; He established a
new people, firm in his name, Christ who fulfilled all things according to the
prophecies. Behold, I am making new, Isaiah cries out in Him, And let no one
consider former things nor follow old ones. These things are new today that have
come about under our law, because we believe in Christ from the words of Moses.
He had predicted that there would be two future peoples, and he said that the
smaller people would excel. But these are full of depravity now in desperate
fury: This is the law that has been given to us," they say, "where do you come
from? If they oppose us, then it is clear to resist them with the Highest, who
wanted us to be good. Nor do the proud servants with bristling hair look back;
Who have always tortured the innocent, forbidden by law, They did to God what
they were accustomed to, cruel, And still dare to call themselves the sons of
the Highest. Now, just as He rose up again, I noted above, I spoke not from my
own voice, but I said what the prophetic words said. But he had foretold all
things to his disciples, How he would suffer from the people, and how Peter
would deny him; And that he would rise again on the third day from the tombs, He
had himself said it, and he had fulfilled all his words. But when He had risen,
He came to the apostles Himself and stood among them saying: "Peace be with
you." Among whom the disciples were present, but one was missing; When they
reported this, he began to discredit (doubt) and added: "Unless I see the nail
marks in his hands, put my finger into the place where the nails were, and put
my hand into his side, I will not believe." Then on Sunday, He returned to them
and stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be with you." And immediately he
approaches that incredulous Thomas: come closer and touch the body as before. I
am not a shadow, as is believed of the dead. I do not make a trace as a shadow;
consider the wound. He extended his hands and began to touch and, having a hand
at his side, which had been fixed with a spear, he sent forth and then threw
himself down by praying. Because you have seen these things, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Forty days he made
with them in order, he taught them much that would come to pass in the world.
After his ascent, they performed many miracles, healing the sick with the word
in the name of Christ. If he was such as these treacherous ones declare, the
bravest witnesses would not be sufficient for his defense. He ascended into
heaven, as it was sung according to scripture: Receive the king, princes, in the
highest of heavens! What more need be said about the law? Those are sufficient
for the inexperienced, to be guarded with a good heart. But if they themselves
do not want to know God by reading these things, let them consider to what place
they have come, where they do not want to be. They make nothing but heart,
otherwise silence of life. What benefits does it bring to pursue secular things
in vain on earth, and to know about the riches of kings and their wars? And a
skilled lawyer to discern the crazy forum, Lest weak laws be guided by a bribe?
Though one may be a defender, though one may be a divine orator, he will gain
nothing by death, if while alive he has denied Christ. On the contrary, let him
first inquire where his life has been led, if he has been wise; if otherwise, he
is blamed. They read laws and learn amazing speeches, But they exceed the
wretched ones for whom they speak, by doing. Unfortunate is he who comes into
their mouth. They bring praise and he victory at the cost of losses: The
wretched one stands mute in the midst, who grieves more within. They thunder
with their mouth and he is silent with coins. In the meantime, the adorned voice
roars during the day And often a little evil becomes a better cause by giving
more. Hence the wise man seeks the prize, hence he rejoices to win, although he
may behave wrongly, as long as he is victorious; he is sick, He does not
consider anything for his own sake, while he seeks gain; he quickly takes up
someone else's hope and sets aside his own. Many are dragged away by the forest
of worldly success; while they rejoice in fleeting things, they remain from the
grace of Christ; while they desire many things with their eyes, while they seek
to increase, God is nothing to them but the life of the world. It strives for
the belly, there is a daily struggle for it, and it despises the true struggle
for eternal salvation. Everyone is like one who keeps watch with a bag, praised
for being sharp; for he who follows God, is judged by the very things he
possesses. Oh excessively fortunate, if someone avoids the centuries! Let him be
foolish to others, as long as he is wise with the highest God. The whole of hope
is to believe in God, who hung on the wood; Though it is an unpleasant thing, it
is useful for the life to come. For that primeval people, deceived by that fact,
who called him son, although he himself is God, (he was) the ancient one
himself. Here he went before them in a column of cloud and fire, when he
delivered them from Egypt. Here is the cruel command regarding his only son, so
Abraham would be tested, to whom the Angel said from the sky, "Spare him!" And
he is God, who made man and made himself just as powerful as He wanted, so that
even the mute would speak. Balaam made his donkey speak while he was killing
her; and [he made] the dog speak, so that it might say to Simon: 'You are
shouted at by Peter!' While Paul was preaching, many learned that he made the
Lion speak to the people with the divine voice. Then, what nature itself does
not allow, she made the infant speak commonly in the fifth month. Here He was
about to come with our mixed blood, So that He might appear as man, but God was
hidden in the flesh. Not an elder shall come, nor an angel," said Isaiah, "but
the Lord himself shall come to show himself to us. This sea feared him, this
wind, this very underworld; all creatures recognized the Lord hidden. The wicked
people alone raised a tumult against him: 'God forbid that the Lord should come
in such a form!' Here, as on earth, he entered upon the waves of the sea, and
commanded the winds, so as to restore the tranquil deep; here he tore up the law
of Tartarus by his word present, and raised from the grave Lazarus, stinking on
the fourth day. For he who was being carried, when he had met him, said: "Rise,
young man!" And he arose from the coffin. Having begged the daughter of the
chief of the synagogue from her father, [Jesus] raises her up lifeless while
mourners lamented. He made the mute speak and the deaf hear, especially the one
born blind, so that he could see into the sky. After thirty-eight years, he
ordered the paralyzed man to rise, who was admired carrying his mat on his neck.
Whose clothing was touched, and she was healed of her flow of blood; He broke
five loaves among five thousand men, and fed them, and four thousand men again
from seven. More fully to show that the Lord was present, he had been invited to
a wedding with his mother herself; He was asked to help when the wine was
lacking, Then he ordered water to be quickly filled into the jars, What he had
tasted before and he commanded to be served thus. And so they were not able to
recognize the Lord by their deeds but went mad, as if to destroy worthless
death. What he himself allows, since he has decided to suffer thus; however, if
they believe, then they will finally have forgiveness. This is the firstborn son
foretold by the prophets, so that he might be called the offspring of the Most
High on earth. Happy are those who place their hope in that (God), for fools
avoid it like a curse. Eternity is prepared for him, who believes in Christ, so
that a man may be a companion of God after death while still alive. The law and
the prophets teach, they who are worthy of God and to whom the hidden golden
ages are revealed. Throughout the prophets, the son of God is called by many
names, and the first-called sons of God closed their eyes; having committed a
crime, they did not recall the law by reading it, but they persisted, saying,
"Behold, we are the chosen ones!" Even now they are foolish to go to the baths,
because they think that by cleaning their bodies they can please the highest God
themselves. Water washes away dirt, not unjust things in the depths of the
heart, Nor can sacred things cleanse those that have been made impure by
sacrilege. The Lord did not command to carry holy things to the wicked; And the
place to be held again, clean from idols: No one should make an image of a demon
for himself, he says; For he said to them: Do not serve idols. If God has
instructed us to avoid idols, why do the people deceive themselves by being
cleansed? Indeed, when they receive such [men], they ought to teach [them] to
serve no others but only to please the highest [being]. While they seek to
overshadow the death of Christ with a crime, they open gates everywhere, so that
one may enter among them. Therefore from this, those who think they can become
pure from water die, being conscience struck like the thief. Now he cultivates
anything in vain, now he seeks holy things, ignorant of where he may first
encounter them, and he serves idols, again he looks for the thirtieth (day); now
he follows (the use of) unleavened bread, he who formerly sat chaste. God was
not pleased that they were participants of devils, who established the law, by
which the passage there would be made. There are two paths set before you:
choose whichever you want. For you will not be able to travel both at once.
However, you ought to seek out the one that is more opportune for you. And be
careful not to fall into the jaws of robbers. Seek one God, who seeks no
sacrifice, so that you may rise anew in a renewed world. Why do you look at the
wicked and judge the holy as unjust, when they show you no proof from the law?
It is about the power of God, which he exerted in them, for they do not want to
speak of their own wicked deeds; always murderers with hands forever bloody,
whom the Lord could never subdue by advising. It would suffice for them to have
done so through cowardice and to say: "It was written thus, now it is right to
believe". But the Lord himself has obscured their senses, He hardened them like
Pharaoh in their midst; Nor did he say he wanted to hear their prayers, And with
anger he rejected them from his land. Since he had certainly already spoken of
his sons before, he had wanted to live with his children with a good heart; When
a father rejoices, when his son is good; And if he is evil, he curses his son
with hatred. No one can bear having a son as their opposite, All love for the
offspring is excluded as cruel, Nor does he make him the heir of his
possessions, which if he could consume first, he rejoices in consuming. The
father, disturbed by his impious and savage offspring, does not allow himself to
be opposed by the tyrant of his own affairs. What do these people presume, since
they have been exhorted, saying: We are the dearest to the Highest of all
people? Can a father-killer who is always proud of it be dear to him or be
called an heir by right? How much more the Lord, exceeds those who must be
chosen as his sons! The gentle, humble, and obedient students share the goods,
not with the impious nor the tyrants. They had clearly been adopted as sons by
the Jews, but in the will they obtained the name of the ungodly. Let them
consider for themselves: After committing a bloody crime, could they still be
considered good people? What is hissing at us, what are the heirs emulating us?
And they had done good, and were in part ambassadors. They do not remain silent
today nor do they want to believe in Christ, who had been predicted to them as a
saving law; of whom you have already heard how the prophets sang: "The Lord will
come to the earth, whom the nations will worship." Surely they remind us to know
the highest God himself, who renews man and forgives past sins. For he himself
also threatens the worshippers of the gods, sacrificing to idols he will perish
in the second death. Therefore, everyone who worships gods made of gold, silver,
stone, wood or bronze is thrown into the fire with them, and although this ends
up being a bitter torture, death does not come. There are men like cattle in
this nature, who wander unwilling to receive the reins of the highest God; while
they themselves cannot endure such things from slaves, in whose harsh blood they
often descend. They say furthermore: 'There is nothing after our funerals; while
we live, this is it.' And they indulge in the manner of pigs: 'Let there be no
luxury, which may carry us away in time; while there is time of life, let us
enjoy all the things of the age.' Undisciplined people reject the mercy of God,
while those who are diligent follow it as if it were their only life. Thus
return those to God, who promise to live forever: Against the good, they fight,
since fighting against the unfair. We have all strayed knowingly, in our own
age, but by the grace of the Lord we are encouraged to believe in the law.
Therefore, he came and made trophies secretly, and he was a man God, so that he
might have us in the future. But the majority perish, who think to please both
idols and God, when pleasing neither two. One God is in heaven of heaven, earth
and the sea, Whom Moses taught hanging on a tree for us. Lazy people who suffer
such things wander from where they are not sufficiently focused on the mystery
of God's secret. Envy of the devil entered into the world, which God secretly
destroyed by being born of a maiden. Blinded Jews start at birth, Infatuated
fools commit bloodshed. No one can say any excuse after, as long as the
opportunity to believe has been given to us. God did not come in vain upon the
earth and from heaven, but He came to make a people known by His name. Whoever
will not have confessed in this nature, perishes, and what he has lived, he
condemns himself late in punishment, or at least, while he hopes by waiting to
grow old, he is excluded for longer from eternal life, having died. Therefore,
we must now remember him more quickly, who promises us life after death.
Moreover, it adds this, that they will be immortal and will enjoy what the eye
had not seen before by seeing. These will spring forth after six thousand years
filled, by which time I hope we ourselves will already be in port on the shore.
Then the man, brought back to the contest, will rise with the sun and rejoice in
God, recalling what came before. Hearing, now incorruptible though once in frail
flesh, he recognizes the promises of old. Admiring the glory which came to man,
he said: As I have heard before, so I see each particular. All of them lifted up
from the underworld shout together like this: "Just as we heard before, here we
see!" All pain will pass from the body, and the wound will pass too, and there
will be no anxiety but only joy forever. Everyone believes and feels there is
one present in three, he will be reborn forever in eternal ages. But some people
say this: When do we think these things will come? Take (these words) in few, to
be followed by those (things) (already) done. Indeed, many signs of such a great
plague will occur, And there will be the beginning of our seventh persecution:
Behold, now the door is knocking and forced to be, Which will soon cross the
river for the Goths to break in. King Apollyon will be with them, a dire name,
who will scatter the persecution of the saints with weapons. He proceeds to Rome
with many thousands of people, and by the decree of God he captures those
subdued on one side. Many of the captive senators will then weep and, conquered
by the barbarians, blaspheme the God of heaven. Yet the pagans everywhere feed
the Christians, who seek them more as joyful brothers. For they pursue the
extravagant and those who worship vain idols, for they subjugate even the
senate. They perceive these evils, who have persecuted the beloved: For five
months they are slaughtered under that enemy. In the meantime, Syrus arises at
that very moment, Who may terrify the enemies and deliver the senate from there.
From below he returns, who was entrusted with the kingdom and, having been long
preserved, is recognized with his former body. We say, however, that Nero is
ancient, who first punished Peter and Paul in the city: He himself returns again
at the very end of the age from apocryphal places, who was reserved in these
things. They themselves wonder that this man is hated by the senate; But when he
appears, they will think he is a god. But before he comes, Elijah will prophesy,
at a time divided, in the middle of the week. The infamous one succeeds upon the
completion of the appointed time, whom both the Jews and Romans worshiped
together at that time. Although there will be another whom they await from the
east, nonetheless they will rage against us with King Nero in our slaughter.
Therefore when Elijah prophesies in the land of Judah, and marks his own people
in the name of Christ; Of these, how many because they do not want to believe,
He supplicates God in anger not to rain down; from then on, the sky will be
closed, nor will it be moistened by dew: And even the rivers, in anger, will
turn into blood. The land becomes sterile and water does not flow from springs,
so that famine will come upon the world: and then there will be a plague in the
world. Because of this, indeed, the tormented Jews contrive many false
accusations against him and they first kindle the senate to rise up in anger and
they say that Elijah is an enemy to the Romans. Then the senate was quickly
moved by them, and they beseeched Nero with unjust prayers and gifts, "Remove
the enemies of the people from human affairs, through whom even our gods are
trampled upon and not worshipped." But, fueled by anger and the prayers of the
senate, he seizes the prophets on a public carriage from the east. He who is
satisfied to do this for them or at least for the Jews, first sacrifices these
and then leaves for the churches. Under the martyrdom of whom, a tenth part of
the city fell, and there seven thousand full men perished. But the Lord takes
them on the fourth day into the air, who had been forbidden to be buried lying
down, and having been made immortal from death, He raises them up from the
ground, which their enemies watch them enter into the heavens. They are not
afraid, but rather rage within the people of Christ, hating with total hatred.
For the Almighty hardened wicked hearts, just as he had previously hardened the
ears of Pharaoh. Therefore, the harsh and unjust king Nero, having been driven
away, orders the Christian people themselves to be driven out of the city,
however, he adds two Caesars as his partners, with whom he may persecute this
people with dire fury. They send edicts also to all judges everywhere, that they
might make this kind of men without the name of Christ. They also command that
incense be placed before the images and that all crowned persons proceed, so
that none are concealed. If one refuses to go faithfully in this story, he exits
luckily; But if on the other hand, he becomes one of the crowd. There will be no
day of peace nor an offering for Christ, but blood flows everywhere, which I am
overcome trying to describe; tears prevail, hands fail, hearts tremble, though
it be fitting for martyrs to bear so many deaths; through the sea, through
lands, through islands and retreats they search for a long time, and lead the
cursed victims. Nero will do these things then, in the entire span of three
years, and in a year and a half he will complete the appointed time. Because of
this outrage, deadly punishment will come so that the city and that people will
be handed over with him, so that the unjustly filled empire that for a long time
had tortured everyone through bad tributes will be removed. Again this will rise
up in the defeat of Nero, a king from the east with four nations from there. And
he will invite as many nations as he can to the city, who may bring aid,
although he himself is strongest. And he will fill the sea with ships and many
thousands, and if anyone opposes him, he will be killed with the sword. And
first he will capture conquered Tyre and Sidon, for neighboring nations are
weakened by fear from there. From here comes disease, from here comes war, from
here comes famine, from here comes harsh tidings, and together they cause
disturbance of the mind. Meanwhile, the trumpet gives a sudden sound from the
sky, the sound of which disturbs the hearts of everyone in the place. And then,
the chariot will be seen glowing with fire among the stars, and the torch,
running ahead, will send word of the coming of the flame to far-off peoples. The
river Euphrates dries up completely, so that a way may be made for the king with
those nations. The Persians, Medes, and Chaldeans, Babylonians will come, fierce
and swift, who know not any pain. So when he (the sun) begins to rise from
there, Nero and the Senate are disturbed by the close sight. And those three
Caesars will go to resist; Whom he, having slaughtered, invites as food for
birds. An army whose necessity is to adore the conqueror. And when returning to
the city with their minds changed, they plunder the temples and whatever is
inside the city. They tear apart and slaughter men with great bloodshed.
Finally, they burn the city made naked, so that no trace of it appears anymore.
Of whose downfall the hearts of the powerful waste away, and they cannot find
themselves, at what time they fell. She did indeed rejoice, but the whole earth
was groaning; And yet she barely found a worthy reward. She mourns forever, who
boasted she was eternal, whose tyrants are already judged by the Almighty. The
time is ripe for Rome to be smoking towards its end, And the reward will come
divided according to the merits of the places. Nevertheless, he proceeds
victorious in the land of Judaea, whom the Jews themselves had hoped would
conquer Rome. He performs many signs so that they may believe in him, to deceive
them because he was sent wicked; Whom however from heaven the voice of the
Highest rebukes. Persida says that he is an immortal being. Nero became the
Antichrist for us, the Jews; Those two are always prophets in the final end. The
ruin of the city is Nero's, as it is of the whole earth; Of whom, however, I
suggest a few things which I have read secretly. Meanwhile, it displeases both
the Jews themselves, and they whisper at the same time that they have been
deceived by fraud. They cry out together with weeping voices to heaven, then
Almighty God, may He bring to an end all that which I have said, will bring
forth a people hidden for a long time. But the Jews across the River Persia were
closed off, whom God desired to stay there until the end. Captivity forced them
to stay there; Of the twelve tribes, half of them live there. There is no lie
there, nor is there any hatred; Therefore neither does his son die before his
parents; Nor do they mourn or lament for their dead, as is our custom, For they
await the coming resurrection, And do not feed their soul with added food, But
only with vegetables that are without the shedding of blood. Justice lives with
a body unspoiled, In these neither does wicked power exercise its strength. No
fevers approach them, nor fierce colds, since they obediently follow all the
righteous laws; which we ourselves will also follow, living purely; only death
and toil are inevitable, for the rest is mute. Here was a people, who now are
passed away. With the dried river he will return to the land of Judaea; with
them God will come to fulfill his promises; he who exults throughout the entire
journey with God present. All things grow before them, everything rejoices, the
created thing itself is delighted to receive the saints: In every place
fountains are ready to spring up, wherever the people of the Most High go with
heavenly awe. They make a shade with clouds, so that they are not vexed with the
sun, and the mountains themselves are laid down that they may not be wearied;
for before them shall go an Angel of the Most High, who by his winged spirit,
for their protection, will direct them on their way. They walk lightly without
work, and like lions, they destroy everything in their path. Indeed, no legion
will be able to resist, if it wages war, since God himself is with them. Nations
are conquered, cities also surrender, by God's permission they empty all
colonies, and become rich by looting gold or silver, and thus they sing hymns of
honor to God along the way. But soon they hasten to the holy city of their
fathers, for that terrible tyrant trembles and flees to the Northern kings with
great noise. From where he seizes the people, as if standing against a fighting,
But when the rebel armies of God hasten, They are thrown to the ground
everywhere, having fought with the angels. But the unfair king and false prophet
are sent, both captured, living in the punishment of hell, whose major leaders,
governors or envoys, are immediately reduced to the place of servants, the
wicked ones. Meanwhile, the saints enter the holy colony, taking God's promises
with endless happiness. They pray to God for the dead to arise, which he
promised long ago concerning the first resurrection. Then God will begin to be
angry with the enemies, and the day appointed arriving for the unrighteous. But
when he begins to judge the world by fire, and devours the pious and the impious
fall under fire. Few remain who will report such deeds, and those who are
reserved to serve the just, survive. After the persecution of the saints and
such great funerals, a detestable, burning day is imminent. Behold she sings
hoarsely in the sky, but echoing everywhere, which makes the whole world tremble
at its falling ruin. The sun escapes unknowingly, suddenly becomes the image of
night, and God exclaims: How long did you think I could carry on this way? With
its sign having been given, a plague rushes down from the entire ether, with the
roar of thunder the attack of fire descends. Then one thunderbolt after another
is hurled from the stars, the fiery tempest kept back for so many years rushes
forth, the deadly calamity roars, the aroused earth trembles, and every human
race is unable to foresee in what direction it should turn. Stars fall from the
sky, the stars are judged with us: The inhabitants of heaven are disturbed,
while the ruin of the world is taking its course. There will be no relief then
and empty crying out; No ship will take a person, no hiding place; Nor will
those help, whom they worshiped as great ones before: Each strives for himself,
but nothing profits him; Only those who have been marked for Christ will
benefit; There will be dew for them, for the rest a deadly punishment. A part of
the unbelievers is kept gently burned, so that their race may again bewail
itself at the end. Wherever men turn, fiery force rages; The very air of the
world, which was pleasing before, is burned. What noise shall I say comes with
the thunderstorm, as all the anger accumulated through so many years is poured
out? From here (comes) fire, from here thunder, from here so many evils of
whirlwinds boil and (the) sky will be snatched beneath the shadow of sudden
death. Partly the trembling earth loosens funeral barriers, partly the thunder
breaks through the lowest walls and the foundations of the world, just as dust
rising into the air. Rocks fly from shattered cliffs and the roofs of houses are
laid waste, the entire city of our fathers is laid low, so that scarcely, where
once it flourished, does a tiny trace endure. Who could bear so many crackling
sounds, such great crashes and such ruins or see such great shipwrecks? What
will a wretched mother do then with her sweet little one? But if a father pities
his son, what does it profit him? Alas, you flee from the Lord! Prophets
disunited without Christ, whose happy fate is judged, now weeping for themselves
they lament with groans and prostrate themselves on the ground, while a joyful
heavenly hall shines for their brothers. Then the light of eternal life will
purify the man from heaven, who was once humble and now appears coming: with him
descend the angels of eternal brightness, the tombs will be broken and bodies
will rise from the mud, which the decay stains, and they will be carried to the
savage guardians of hell. Here will be living Jews: He will raise them up, that
they may see His glory, whom they crucified. But He arises again from the
depths, to be for those miserable ones a witness, killed by them. How many coins
do you hang, who, with foolish and deceitful forethought, promised profits to
silent guards? We sing about you, Envy; we will conquer you, Judea, when the
righteous rejoice and the damned burn in hell; to them God will say: Depart from
there! And if they do not believe, they will go into the shadow of death; as
those who were able to desire more, and only chose mortal things, they will go
down headlong. The rest, who were in the adversity of Christ. About the saints,
there will always be one people. Here is the final goal; for it shall not be
changed, he himself swore.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-commodian/
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