Quaestionum Septemdecim In Evangelium Secundum Matthaeum

SEVENTEEN QUESTIONS ON THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW Book One. QUESTION I. [Matt. ch. 2, v. 16.] That which was said, that infants from two years old and under were killed, signified that the humble, possessing a twofold charity, like two-year-old little ones, could die for Christ. II. [Ibid., v. 27.] "What I say to you in the darkness," that is, while you are still in carnal fear, because fear is in darkness; "say in the light," that is, in the confidence of truth, having received the Holy Spirit. And "what you hear in the ear," preach "upon the housetops," that is, what you hear in secret, preach after trampling upon the dwelling-place of the flesh. III. [Ibid. x, 34-36.] Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but the sword: for I have come to separate a man against his father. Because someone renounces the devil, who was his son. And a daughter against her mother: the people of God against the worldly city, that is, the pernicious society of the human race, which Scripture sometimes signifies as Babylon, sometimes as Egypt, sometimes as Sodom, and at other times by other names. A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: the Church against the Synagogue, which according to the flesh bore Christ, the spouse of the Church. But they are divided by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. vi, 17). And the enemies of a man are his own household: those with whom he was formerly entangled by custom.

IV. [Matt. 8:1-3.] That he, descending from the mountain, after he had given precepts there to the disciples and the multitude, immediately heals a leper, stretching forth his hand, signifies that those who doubted about fulfilling those precepts are cleansed by his help from that kind of variety. V. [Matt. 8:20.] That the Lord said to the scribe who wished to follow him, "Foxes have dens, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head," is understood to mean that the scribe, moved by the Lord's miracles, wished to follow him out of empty boastfulness, which the birds signify; but that he feigned the obedience of a disciple, which feigning is signified by the name of foxes. By the laying down of the head, he signified his own humility, which had no place in that pretender and proud man. VI. [Matt. 8:22.] "Let the dead bury their dead." He called those who do not believe "the dead"; and "their dead," those who, nonetheless, would depart from the body without faith.

VII. [Matt. 10:14.] Shake the dust from your feet: either to attest to the earthly toil which they had undertaken in vain for them, or to show that they sought nothing earthly from them to such an extent that they would not even allow the dust of their land to adhere to themselves. VIII. [Matt. 10:16.] Therefore be prudent as serpents: for the purpose of avoiding evil, by guarding the head, which is Christ. For the serpent offers its whole body to its pursuer in place of the head; or because, by constricting itself through narrow passages, it is renewed, having shed its old skin. This is imitated by those to whom it was said, "Enter through the narrow gate" (Matt. 7:13), when they are divested of the old man. For if it were so advising to avoid evil that one should violently resist evil men, it would not have said above, "I send you as sheep among wolves." But it wished them to be simple as doves, so as to harm no one. For this kind of bird kills no animal at all; not only the large ones, against which it has no strength, but also the very smallest, on which even very small sparrows feed. Now there is a certain fellowship among all irrational animals, just as there is also among rational ones, that is, among men, not only with each other but also with angels. Therefore they learn from the likeness of doves to harm no one at all who belongs to their fellowship by participation in reason.

IX. [Matt. 11:25.] I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. It should be noted that confession is used here in praise of God. For the Lord was not confessing sins, which he had none, especially since another evangelist records that he said this while rejoicing (Luke 10:21): although the words themselves that he speaks leave no doubt that they are uttered in praise of God. Therefore, Scripture generally calls confession whatever is clearly enunciated, as it is perceived. For also that saying, If anyone confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father (Matt. 10:32); or as it is elsewhere, before the Angels of God (Luke 12:8): certainly he who confesses Christ does not confess sins. But if some think it is called confession for this reason, because the name of Christ is thrown up as a charge in time of persecution; does Christ also confess the man who has confessed him before the Father or before the Angels in that way? There is also a passage in Ecclesiasticus placed thus, And you shall say these things in confession, All the works of the Lord, because they are very good (Ecclus. 39:20, 21). In which passage the praises of God are undoubtedly magnified. These things have been said on account of the inexperience of the brethren; who, when they hear this word from a reader reading, immediately beat their breasts, not attending to where it is said, as if it could not be anything other than a confession of sins.

X. [Matt. 12:1-8.] It should be noted that, regarding what seemed to the Jews an unlawful act—that the disciples had plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath—one example was given of royal authority, from David, and another of priestly authority, from those who violate the Sabbath through the ministry of the temple: so that the charge of plucking ears of grain on the Sabbath applies much less to him who is the true king and true priest, and therefore the Lord of the Sabbath. XI. [Matt. 12:25-30, 36-43.] 1. But while the men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed tares in the midst of the wheat, and went away. When the stewards of the Church were acting too negligently, or when the Apostles were receiving the sleep of death, the devil came and oversowed those whom the Lord interprets as evil sons. But it is rightly asked whether these are heretics, or evil-living Catholics. For even heretics can be called evil sons, because, born from the same seed of the Gospel and the name of Christ, they are turned by perverse opinions to false doctrines. But the fact that it says they were sown in the midst of the wheat seems to signify those who are of one communion; nevertheless, since the Lord interpreted the field itself not as the Church but as this world, heretics are well understood, because they are mingled with the good not by the fellowship of one Church or one faith, but by the fellowship of the Christian name alone in this world: so that those who are evil within the same faith are to be considered chaff rather than tares; because chaff also has the same foundation as the grain, and a common root.

In that net, clearly, in which both bad and good fish are enclosed (Matt. 13:47-48), bad Catholics are not absurdly understood. For the sea is one thing, which more signifies this world; the net is another, which seems to show the communion of one faith or one Church. Between heretics and bad Catholics there is this difference: that heretics believe false things, while the latter, believing true things, do not live as they believe. Moreover, it is also often asked what distinguishes schismatics from heretics, and it is found that it is not a different faith that makes schismatics, but a broken fellowship of communion. But whether they are to be counted among the tares can be doubted. They seem, however, more similar to corrupted ears of grain, as it is written, "But the son of iniquity will be corrupted by the wind" (Wis. 4:4): or to the chaff of broken awns, or to ears split and torn from the crop. For the higher, that is, the prouder, they are, the more fragile and lighter they are. Yet it does not follow that every heretic or schismatic is bodily separated from the Church. For if someone believes falsely about God, or about some part of doctrine which pertains to the edification of faith, in such a way that it is not tempered by the hesitation of an inquirer, but by the unshaken belief of one who believes and is not at all knowing, and is discordant by opinion and error, he is a heretic, and is outside in mind, even if he seems bodily within.

For the Church bears many such, because they do not defend the falsehood of their opinion in such a way as to create a hostile multitude: if they do that, then they are expelled. Likewise, whoever envy the good, so that they seek occasions for excluding or degrading them; or are prepared to defend their own crimes in such a way, if they are objected to or betrayed, that they think to stir up segregations of conventicles or disturbances of the Church; they are already schismatics, and are cut off from unity in heart, even if, through not finding occasions or through their deeds being concealed, they are associated with the Sacrament of the Church by bodily intercourse. Therefore, only those bad Catholics are rightly considered, who, although they truly believe what pertains to the doctrine of the faith, and if they happen not to know something, they think it should be sought, and discuss it with piety preserved without any prejudice to the truth itself, and love and honor the good, or those whom they think good, as much as they can; yet they live wickedly and criminally, contrary to how they believe they ought to live. For such, even if they are betrayed or accused, when corrected for the sake of the discipline of the Church and their own salvation, or suspended from communion, in no way do they think that they should withdraw from Catholic communion, wherever they are permitted to seek a place of satisfaction: and sometimes through penance they are changed into grain, whether corrected, or removed, or even terrified by the word of God with no one accusing or rebuking them by name.

Sometimes, however, even under the name of penitents, they live as they are accustomed, or not much less, and some even more; yet in no way do they depart from Catholic unity. If death overtakes those living in this way, they are counted as chaff until the end. They themselves also believe this: for if they believe otherwise, and hold it unshakably, they are already to be numbered among heretics, thinking that God grants forgiveness to all, even to those persisting in great iniquity until the end of life, merely because they held to the unity of the Church, not out of sincere love (for then they would live well), but rather from fear of punishments. Therefore, these do not believe this, or do not firmly hold it, even if they still perhaps seek it: but rather the hope of delay deceives them, while they think they will live longer and will at some point change their corrupt ways for the better. Against these it is said: Do not delay turning to God, nor put it off from day to day; for His wrath will come suddenly, and at the time of vengeance it will destroy you (Ecclus. 5:8-9). For those who begin to live rightly are converted; this is to return to God: but those who persistently follow their own lusts have their back, as it were, turned to God, although placed in unity they often try to look at Him with twisted neck. Therefore these also, as the Prophet says, are flesh, and a spirit walking and not returning (Ps. 77:39).

Nevertheless, as has been said, on account of the same faith and unity of the Church, they are numbered neither among the tares, since those are rooted out, nor among the chaff of the awns, which dares to impose itself upon the grains with harsh dissension and fragile pride, but, although subject to the grains, they are counted among the chaff which is to be separated at the final winnowing. The good Catholics, however, are those who both follow the faith wholeheartedly and maintain good morals: and as pertains to the teaching of the faith, they inquire, if they have anything to inquire, in such a way that dangerous contention is absent, whether for the one inquiring, or for the one with whom the inquiry is made, or for those who listen to the disputants. And they teach, if they have anything to teach, in such a way that they instill what is customary and confirmed most securely, most confidently, and most gently, as they are able; but what is unusual, even if they have perceived it with the clearest manifestation of truth, they present in a manner of inquiring rather than of commanding or affirming, on account of the weakness of the hearer. For if some truth has so much weight that it exceeds the strength of the learner, it should be suspended so that it may stretch the growing one, not imposed so that it may crush the little one. Hence that saying of the Lord: "But when the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8). Sometimes, moreover, it must even be concealed, but with encouraging hope, so that despair does not make men colder, but desire makes them more capable. Hence that saying of the same Lord: "I have many things to say to you; but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12).

As for what pertains to morals, this is well and briefly said: either one must struggle with the love of temporal goods, so that it does not conquer; or it must be subdued and kept subject, so that when it begins to arise, it is easily repressed; or it is so extinguished that it stirs itself in no part at all. From this it comes about that even death itself for the sake of truth is met by some bravely, by others with equanimity, by others willingly. These three kinds are the fruit of fertile land: thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold (Matt. 13:8, 23). In some one of these kinds must be found, at the time of his death, whoever rightly intends to depart from this life. But not only the tares are to be tolerated until the harvest, which, when the devil had oversown them with base errors and false opinions—that is, had cast heresies over the preceding name of Christ—he himself more lay hidden and became most secret; for this is what "He went away" means—but also the chaff is to be tolerated until the winnowing. Nor is the strength of the grains more strongly proven except by the disturbances of the chaff, which, if one could not suppress by defending the truth, he yielded by preserving unity. Although in this parable the Lord, as he concluded in its exposition, is understood to have signified by the name of tares not some, but all scandals and those who commit iniquity.

XII. [Ibid. XIII, 26-50.] i. But when the herb had grown and had produced fruit, then the tares appeared to him. For when a man begins to be a spiritual man, discerning all things (1 Cor. II, 15), then errors begin to appear to him. But the servants said to him: Do you wish that we go and gather them? Are these the same servants whom he shortly after calls reapers? Or because in the exposition of the parable he said that the reapers were Angels, and no one would easily dare to say that the Angels did not know who had oversown the tares, and that they appeared to the Angels only when the herb had produced fruit; it is more fitting to understand that the faithful men themselves are signified in this place by the name of servants, whom he also calls the good seed? Nor is it strange if they are called both the good seed and the servants of the householder: just as he says of himself, that he himself is the door, he himself is the shepherd (John x, 7, 11). For from different significations, one thing can receive several and diverse similitudes. Especially because, when speaking to the servants, he does not say, At the time of the harvest I will tell you, Gather the tares first; but he says, I will tell, he says, to the reapers. Whence it is understood that the gathering of the tares for burning pertains to other ministries, and that no son of the Church ought to think that this office belongs to him,

i. Therefore, when anyone begins to be a spiritual man, he recognizes the errors of heretics, and altogether judges and discerns whatever he has heard or read to be abhorrent from the rule of truth. But until he is perfected among these same spiritual men, and in a way matures into the fruit which the herb has given, it can move him why so many falsehoods of heretics have arisen under the Christian name. Hence it is that the servants say, "Did you not sow good seed in your field? Whence then have you tares?" Then, when he has learned that the devil devised this fraud, when he felt that he could do nothing against the authority of so great a name, so as to cover his own deceits with the same name, there can arise in him a desire to remove such men from human affairs, if he has some opportunity of time; but whether he ought to do so, he consults the justice of God, whether this is commanded or permitted to him, and whether God wishes this to be the office of men. Hence it is that the servants say, "Do you wish, shall we go and gather them?" To whom, because Truth itself responds, that man is not so constituted in this life that he can be certain what sort anyone will be afterwards, whose error he discerns in the present, or what even his error contributes to the advancement of the good; that such men are not to be removed from this life, lest with...

He tries to kill the bad, but he might kill the good, who perhaps are yet to become good; or he might harm the good, to whom even unwillingly the bad are sometimes useful. But that is done opportunely when at the end there no longer remains time for changing one's life, or for advancing to the truth from the occasion and comparison of another's error; and then this is done not by men, but by Angels. Hence it is that the paterfamilias answers, "No; lest in gathering the tares, you also uproot the wheat; but at harvest time I will tell the reapers," and so on. And in this way he renders them most patient and tranquil. It may be asked, however, why he said, "Bind them into bundles for burning," and did not say "one bundle" or "one heap of tares"? Unless perhaps because of the variety of heretics, who disagree not only with the wheat but also among themselves, he designated by the name of "bundles" the individual conventicles of each heresy, in which they are separately bound by their own communion: so that they begin to be bound for burning already when, separated from Catholic communion, they have begun to have their own quasi-churches; and their burning is at the end of the age, now by the binding of the bundles. But if it were so, many would not already come to their senses and, returning to the Catholic Church, abandon their error. Therefore, the binding of the bundles is to be in the future, so that the obstinacy of each error is punished not indiscriminately, but according to the measure of its own perversity.

Lest while gathering the tares, you uproot the wheat as well. Whether because even the good, when they are still weak, have need of the mixture of some evil persons, either so that they may be exercised through them, or so that by comparison with them a great exhortation may be made to them, that they may strive for the better, and when these are removed, the height of charity, as if torn out, withers, which is to be uprooted? For the Apostle says thus: "So that, rooted and grounded in charity, you may be able to comprehend" (Ephesians 3:17, 18). Or perhaps the wheat is uprooted at the same time when the tares are removed, because many are first tares, and afterwards become wheat? Who, unless they are patiently tolerated when they are evil, do not arrive at a praiseworthy change: and so if they have been plucked out, the wheat is uprooted at the same time, which they would have been, if they had been spared. XIII. [Book XIII, 45, 46.] The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls. But having found one precious pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it. The question is why it passes from the plural number to the singular, so that when the man seeks good pearls, he finds one precious one, which, having sold everything he has, he buys. Either, therefore, this man, seeking good men with whom to live usefully, finds one without sin for all, the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim.

II, 5): or seeking precepts by which, when observed, he may conduct himself rightly among men, he finds the love of neighbor, in which one precept the Apostle says all are contained; so that, "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness," and whatever other commandment there may be, are individual pearls which are recapitulated in this saying: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Rom. 13:8-9). Or a man seeks good understandings, and finds that one by which all are contained: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1), lucid with the whiteness of truth, and solid with the firmness of eternity, and everywhere like itself with the beauty of divinity, which God, having penetrated the shell of the flesh, is to be understood. For that man had already arrived at the pearl itself, which in the coverings of mortality, as if by the obstacle of a shell, in the depth of this world, and among the stony hardnesses of the Jews, had at some time lain hidden: therefore that man had already arrived at the pearl itself who said, "And if we knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him no longer" (2 Cor. 5:16). And no understanding at all is worthy of the name of pearl, except that which is reached by having shaken off all fleshly coverings, by which it is covered either through human words or through similitudes placed around it, so that it may be perceived, pure and solid and nowhere dissonant from itself, by certain reason.

Yet all these true, firm, and perfect understandings are contained in that one through which all things were made, which is the Word of God (John 1:3). Whichever of these three it may be, or if something else could occur that is well signified by the name of a single and precious pearl, its price is ourselves: who are not free to possess it unless we despise, for our liberation, all things that are temporally possessed. For when our goods are sold, we receive no greater price for them than ourselves; because entangled in such things, we were not our own: so that we may again give ourselves for that pearl, not because we are worth that much, but because we cannot give more. XIV. [lb. XIII, 15.]. "And they closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes": that is, they themselves were the cause that God closed their eyes. For another evangelist says, "He blinded their eyes." But is it so that they may never see? Or that they may even then see in some way, displeased with their own blindness, and grieving over it, and through this humbled and moved to confess their sins, and to piously seek the Lord? For Mark says this: "Lest they should turn back, and their sins be forgiven them" (Mark 4:12). Where it is understood that they deserved by their sins not to understand, and yet this was mercifully done to them, so that they might recognize their sins, and having turned, might deserve forgiveness. But what John says of this passage is as follows.

Therefore they were unable to believe, because Isaiah said again, "He blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they do not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, nor be converted, and I heal them" (John 12:39, 40); this seems to contradict this sentence, and altogether compels that what is said here, "Lest they ever see with their eyes," is not to be taken as "Lest they ever at some time see with their eyes," but absolutely, "So that they do not see": since he clearly says that, "So that they do not see with their eyes." And what he says, "Therefore they were unable to believe," sufficiently shows that that blinding was not done so that, moved and grieving that they do not understand, they might at some time be converted through penance; for they could not do this unless they first believed, so that by believing they would be converted, by conversion healed, by health understand: but rather they were blinded so that they would not believe. For he says most openly, "Therefore they were unable to believe.

If this is so, who would not rise to the defense of the Jews, proclaiming them to have been without fault because they did not believe? For this reason they were unable to believe, because He blinded their eyes. But since God must rather be understood to be without fault, we are compelled to confess that they deserved to be blinded in this way by certain other sins; yet by that blinding they were unable to believe. For these are the words of John: "Therefore they were unable to believe, because Isaiah said again, 'He blinded their eyes.'" In vain, therefore, do we try to understand that they were blinded in order that they might be converted, since they could not be converted because they did not believe, and they could not believe because they were blinded. Or perhaps we do not absurdly say that certain of the Jews were curable, but were endangered by such a swelling of pride that it was expedient for them first not to believe, and for this purpose they were blinded so that they would not understand the Lord speaking through parables, and by not understanding these, they would not believe in Him; and not believing, they would crucify Him along with the other hopeless ones; and thus after His resurrection they would be converted, when, already more humiliated by the guilt of the Lord's death, they would more vehemently love Him from whom they rejoiced that such a great crime had been forgiven them—since their pride was so great that it had to be cast down by such humiliation? Let anyone who thinks this was said incongruously consider whether it did not happen thus, as he reads most clearly in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:37).

Therefore, what John says—"For this reason they were unable to believe, because He blinded their eyes so that they would not see"—is not inconsistent with the understanding that they were blinded in order that they might be converted; that is, they were blinded by the hidden meanings of the Lord's parables so that after His resurrection they might come to their senses through a more salutary repentance. For, blinded by the obscurity of the speech, they did not understand the Lord's sayings, and by not understanding them, they did not believe in Him, and by not believing, they crucified Him; and thus, after His resurrection, terrified by the miracles that were performed in His name, they were stung by a greater sense of guilt and prostrated themselves in repentance, and then, having received forgiveness, they turned to obedience with the most ardent love. For as for those for whom that blindness, which occurred through the language of parables, did not lead to conversion, the prophet says of them in another place—and the Apostle also recalled this when he was dealing with the obscurity of languages: "In other languages and with other lips I will speak to this people, and even then they will not hear me," says the Lord (1 Cor. 14; Isa. 28:14). For it would not be said, "And even then they will not hear me," unless this were done so that they might hear in this way; that is, so that it might avail them for humble confession, diligent inquiry, obedient conversion, and fervent love. And indeed, this is also a principle of bodily medicine.

For many medicines first afflict in order to heal, and the very eye-salves that pertain to the eyes, if it is necessary to infuse them internally, cannot be beneficial unless they first close and disturb the sense of sight. Nor should it disturb us that the same prophet says, "Unless you believe, you will not understand" (Isaiah 7:9, according to the LXX); as if it were contrary to what John says, "For this reason they were unable to believe, because He blinded their eyes"; that is, because those parables were spoken in such a way that they could not be understood by them. For someone says: If they had to believe in order to understand, how is it that for this reason they were unable to believe, because they did not understand, that is, because He blinded their eyes? But what Isaiah says, "Unless you believe, you will not understand," is said about that understanding in which one will always abide, of ineffable things: whereas when it is said that something is believed, unless what is said is understood, it cannot be believed. Therefore, the things that are said must be understood, so that those things which could be said may be believed; but those things which could be said must be believed, so that those things which cannot be said may be understood.

V. [Ibid. XIII, 34.] And he was not speaking in parables. Not because he said nothing literally, but because he never unfolded any speech in which he did not signify something through a parable, although in it he also said some things literally: so that often his entire discourse is found to be set forth in parables, but an entire discourse spoken literally is found nowhere. Now I call discourses "unfolded" when, from some occasion of events, he begins to speak until he finishes whatever pertains to that matter and passes on to another. Sometimes, of course, one evangelist connects what another indicates was said at different times. For not everyone arranged the narrative he undertook according to the order of events, but according to the capacity of his own recollection. XVI. [Ibid. XIII, 51, 52, 44.] "Have you understood all these things?" They say to him: "Yes." He says to them: "Therefore every scribe learned in the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings forth new and old things from his treasury." Whether by this conclusion he wished to explain what he meant by the treasure hidden in the field: because the Holy Scriptures are understood, which are comprised under the name of the two Testaments, the New and the Old; just as in another evangelist, he seems to explain the two-edged sword by such a conclusion (Apoc.

Or is it because he spoke these things in parables; and when he asked them whether they had understood, they replied that they had understood; perhaps by that last similitude of the householder bringing forth new and old from his treasury, he wished to show that one is to be considered learned in the Church who has also understood the old Scriptures explained through parables, receiving the rules from these new ones? Because the Lord also uttered these things through parables, although he himself was the fulfillment of those old things; that is, so that in him those old things would be completed: so that if he in whom those things are completed and made manifest still speaks through parables, until his passion tears the veil, so that nothing hidden remains unrevealed; much more must we know that those things which were written so far in advance for the commendation of such great salvation are covered by parables: which, when the Jews took literally, they refused to be learned in the kingdom of heaven, nor to cross over to Christ, so that the veil placed over their hearts might be removed.

XVII. [Ibid. XIII, and 56.] i. His brothers, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all among us? Whence, then, does he have all these things? And they were scandalized in him. That relatives are commonly called brothers among the Jews is proved to such an extent that not only are those from a close degree of generation, such as the sons of brothers and sisters, who even among us are very commonly called brothers, but also an uncle and a sister's son, as Jacob and Laban were to each other, are found to have been called brothers (Gen. XXIX). It is not, therefore, surprising that whatever relatives of the Lord from the maternal line were called his brothers; since they could also have been called his brothers by those who thought Joseph to be the father of the Lord, on account of his kinship with Joseph. No one violates general justice unless he has transgressed through lust or the compact of human society, such as theft, robbery, adultery, incest, and the like; or nature, such as insult, assault, murder, intercourse with males or beasts; or the measure in permitted things, such as proudly beating more than is fitting, or eating or drinking more than is fitting, or having intercourse with one's own wife more than is fitting, and similar things.

It is well understood that the Holy Spirit first gave the gift of tongues to men, because languages are established by human compact and agreement, and are learned externally through the senses of the body by the habit of hearing, so that He might show them how easily He could make them wise through the wisdom of God, which is internal in them. Likewise, the will of the eternal Word is always stable, because it possesses all things simultaneously; but our will does not stand still, because it does not possess all things simultaneously; therefore we will now this, now that. Likewise, all things that were made were in that Word, and the assumption of man Himself was thus foreknown by Him, just as if a painter wishes to paint an entire house, and thinks of or knows the place where he must also paint himself: he has the whole in his art, and in his preparation, and in his will, although he unfolds each thing at its own proper times. Thus every creature, and man himself who was to bear the person of that same Wisdom by a mystical and ineffable assumption, was always in that Wisdom as in the eternal art of God, although each thing brings itself forth at its own proper times, which extends from end to end mightily, yet arranges all things gently, and while remaining in itself renews all things (Wisdom 8:1, and 7:27).

Likewise, how can anyone wish to be willing to die, if such a willingness to die had already been attained by one who already has sound faith and sees whither he must go? For he already makes progress to the point that he gladly departs from this life. For seeing whither one must go is not the same as also loving that place and already desiring to be there; when this has been effected in someone’s soul, it is necessary that he die willingly. Therefore, some who already hold sound faith speak in vain when they say that they are unwilling to die in order to make progress, since their very progress consists in this progress: that they be willing to die. If, therefore, they wish to speak truly, let them not say, “I am unwilling to die in order to make progress,” but rather, “I am unwilling to die because I have made too little progress.” Thus, for the faithful, unwillingness to die is not a counsel to make progress, but an indication that they have made too little progress. Consequently, what they are unwilling to do in order to be perfect, let them be willing, and they are perfect.