Speculum Peccatoris [Incertus]

MIRROR OF THE SINNER, ONE BOOK. CHAPTER ONE. What "If only they knew," etc., teaches the sinner. Since, dearest brother, we are on the path of this fleeting world, our days pass like a shadow. Therefore, it is necessary to recall with a solicitous heart, more often, that which our fragility, our mortal infirmity, so often compels us to forget. What is that? That our omnipotent Lord Himself, for our advancement by His grace, provided for us through blessed Moses, saying, "If only they knew and understood, and would provide for the last things" (Deut. 32:29). Come, my brother, behold, we will be able to escape the danger of death happily, if we diligently strive to follow the divine counsel which the Lord intimates to us, saying, "If only they knew," etc. O happy and useful counsel, remedy of death, antidote of salvation, mirror of the sinner: "If only they knew," etc. O life-giving sentence of our Redeemer, from which is given to us instruction in wisdom, admonition of continence, mirror of providence, exaltation of penance, acquisition of divine grace! Therefore He says, "If only they knew," etc. O admirable goodness of our Creator! O ineffable charity of our Redeemer! O praiseworthy kindness of our Savior!

We are worthless servants, negligent servants, useless servants, who by our own deserving merits have earned death rather than life; and behold—if it can be piously said—does the spirit within His womb exult in joy that the almighty God Himself, the King of the ages Himself, the Lord of the Angels Himself, the Creator of all creatures Himself, cares for us, weak and wretched and mortal? Therefore, the greatest care ought to be in us, that before all and above all we diligently obey His sacred precepts, and devoutly love them, and zealously fulfill them. Woe to us forever, since, as the Apostle testifies, we shall be more miserable than all men (1 Cor. 15:19), or worse, if we remain idle and empty, unless we first hate all things which we know displease the Lord Himself, and faithfully love those things which we believe please His tremendous majesty. Accordingly, day and night the merciful and compassionate God and Lord Himself is to be entreated, that He may grant us aid, who gives us His so salutary counsel, saying, "If only they knew," etc. That sentence is very remarkable and useful, to be repeated not once but often: "If only they knew," etc.

CHAPTER II. What the Consideration of This Saying Effects. It Is for the Few. Hence the Falls of Samson, David, and Solomon. Why Their Falls Are Read in the Church. Scripture Does Not Taste, Save to One Who Ardently Loves. My dearest brother, understand, I pray, what you read. For the consideration of this saying is the destruction of pride, the extinguishing of envy, the healing of malice, the banishment of lust, the evacuation of vanity and boasting, the construction of discipline, the perfection of holiness, the preparation of eternal salvation. Therefore He says, "If only they knew," etc. Alas, alas! how few possess this virtue! Few are those who taste this salutary saying of our Savior: few are those who have before their eyes the knowledge of their own frailty, the corruption of corruptible flesh, the remembrance of sins, the meditation on imminent death, the consideration of the stinking pit of Gehenna. Behold what a useful mirror for sinners. Truly, good brother, if you will often look at yourself in such a mirror, you will be without doubt stronger than Samson, more cautious than David, wiser than Solomon. But they neglected to consider themselves often in this mirror; therefore, blinded by the desires of their flesh, they fell. Therefore, if such great men fell so horribly into sin, men to whom such great strength and wisdom were present, with how much caution and how much diligence must we watch, in whom such great weakness and such great inexperience reside?

Moreover, these three strong men are read about in holy Church not so that the faithful may take them as an example of ruin, but as a mirror of caution: so that none of us may trust in his own strength, none may presume upon his own wisdom, but rather that we may always be timid, always aware of our own guilt, always anxious about our salvation, never forgetful of our corruption and our mortality. Those who heed such words carelessly do not taste them, do not understand them, do not foresee the last things: and thus they go to death and damnation. Therefore, so that our mind may awaken to the pursuit of prudence, the Lord’s saying exhorts us, saying, “Would that they tasted,” etc. Consider this healthful admonition, dearest one, with the eye of reason, in passing, but by turning it over very often with study and deliberation: because just as incense does not give off its fragrance unless it is placed on the fire, so no saying of sacred Scripture has savor unless it has been cooked in the heart.

CHAPTER III. Where knowledge, understanding, and prudence are lacking. Consideration of the brevity of life begets contempt for the world. — "They would be wise together," etc. Behold here, my brother, three things are set forth in this verse: namely, knowledge, understanding, and foresight. Therefore the Lord wishes you to know, and to understand, and moreover to foresee. He wishes you to know the present life as fleeting, perilous, brief, wasting away with miseries, subject to all vanity, polluted by the filth of sins, corrupted by cupidity, soon to perish; so that the more unhappy this world is seen to be, the more easily it may be despised for the love of the heavenly fatherland. Thus the Lord wishes you to understand your fragile condition, meditating namely that you came forth naked from your mother's womb, and naked you will return there (Job 1:21); that you are earth, and to earth you will go; you entered naked into the misery of this life, you passed through your days weeping in sorrow and distress, and you will depart from here with lamentation and toil. Therefore understand how lamentable is your exit and your entrance, how feeble your progress, and how horrible your departure. Therefore understand how much you are an exile and a sick man in this valley of misery, poor and slight in virtues, slipping and infirm, and about to die soon. Brother, you will be blessed if you understand this admonition, and write it in your heart as in a book, and strive to keep this one rule which I hand on to you.

Live grateful to God, buried to the whole world. O how blessed is the man whose soul keeps watch over this kind of study! How prudently he tastes and understands, and provides for the last things! Dearest one, do likewise. You have already read in this Mirror of the Sinner what you should rightly taste, what you should understand: it remains that you provide for the last things. Therefore pray, and say with the Prophet, “Make known to me, Lord, my end, and what the number of my days is, that I may know what is lacking to me” (Psalm 38:5). O useful prayer, O happy contemplation, O necessary petition! Do not demand to know beforehand the times or moments which the Father has placed in His own power; but understand and recognize what you know as a stranger and a pilgrim in this wretched exile of a pilgrimage, a weak man of brief time upon the earth. Therefore, “Would that they were wise,” namely, that past sins are how bitter. Whence Jeremiah: “See how bitter and evil it is to have abandoned your God” (Jeremiah 2:19). It is evil in the fault, and bitter in the punishment. “And would that they understood,” namely, that present things are how vain. Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). “And would that they provided for the last things,” namely, the eternity of glory as regards the good, and the eternity of death as regards the evil; so that they might provide for themselves against future sterility, like Joseph (Genesis 41:33). Whence Solomon: “In all your works remember your last things, and you will never sin” (Sirach 7:40).

Indeed, dearest brother, if you would attend to the brevity of your present life, and consider what you lack in performing a penance worthy of God, in observing the discipline of His commandments, in perfecting holiness before Him, you would know and understand, and would look upon death before your eyes; without doubt, soon and without delay, spurning pomps, setting aside worldly cares, despising the allurements of the flesh, casting away pleasures, scorning delights, you would keep watch over your own custody, and prudently provide for the last things. For it is the mark of a wise man not so much to foresee the beginning of anything, as to provide for its end and outcome. Finally, he is proven happy who thinks about punishment before punishment, so that afterwards he may escape the danger of punishment. CHAPTER IV: The consideration of death tames the flesh. Meditation is, as it were, the enrichment of the mind. You say to me, then, I am ready to acquiesce in all things to divine counsel, that I may know and understand, and provide for the last things. But what are my last things? Those, indeed, of which the Holy Spirit speaks to you through Solomon, saying: "Son, in all things remember your last things, and you will never sin." The luxurious flesh cannot be better tamed than by premeditating what it will be like when dead: and if you have an assiduous meditation of this kind, all generations will call you happy. For meditation is nothing other than the enrichment of the mind. Your mind is therefore most excellently enriched when it is illuminated by the knowledge of providence against all adversities.

It is read in the poet that Argus had a head encircled with a hundred eyes (Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book 1, verse 625). This can be understood to mean that he possessed circumspection and prudence in every part of his mind. Therefore, if a pagan poet was so strong in the pursuit of such caution, much more strongly ought a Christian cleric to possess a purer eye of providence. Be therefore another Argus, indeed more cautious than he, more diligent, more prudent: so that you may know and understand, and prudently foresee the last things. Chapter V. What the last things are. With what fruit they are foreseen. But what are your last things, which you must foresee? The first of these is the terrible hour in which your wretched soul is to depart from this corruptible little body. Brother, believe me, for the fearful consideration of this matter you ought rather to have possessed providence than the dominion of the whole world. If only, therefore, you knew what pertains to God, and understood what pertains to the world, and foresaw what pertains to hell: assuredly you would fear God, not seek pride, despise the world, and shrink from hell. In that exceedingly dreadful final hour of yours, what friend, what relative of yours, coming with swords and arms, will be able to bring aid? For there will be no one then to console you from among all your dear ones (Lamentations 1:2): you will look for help and assistance from men, but your refuge is only with God.

Consider therefore with yourself, dearest, with what fear He is to be feared, with what love He is to be loved, with what honor He is to be venerated, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, our God, who alone will be able to provide the safeguard of salvation after death. Bring back therefore, dearest, more often into memory that final day of your departure: and before your wretched soul goes out from the prison of the flesh, let it provide whither it goes. A recollection of this kind conceives contrition; contrition begets compunction; compunction begets contemplation, that is, a pious and humble affection toward God: pious, namely, from trust in the help of divine goodness and clemency; humble, from consideration of one's own frailty and misery. Here, reader, attend. For what is the guarding of oneself, and the expulsion of all injustice, the perfecting of holiness in the fear of God, if not the consideration of one's own corruption, the certain knowledge of one's own mortality, and finally the recollection of one's own dread death? For when a man becomes not a man, that is, when he falls ill, by falling ill the sickness grows, the sinner takes fright, the heart trembles, the head grows numb, the senses vanish, strength withers, the face grows pale, the countenance wastes away with decay: then the beauty of the flesh becomes stench and putrefaction, then man is dissolved into ashes, and is turned into a worm.

After the man, the worm; after the worm, stench and horror. Thus every man is turned into a non-man. Behold, my dearest brother, behold a sufficiently horrible spectacle, but it is an exceedingly useful mirror: because no art of medicine, nor any doctrine, so overcomes lust, nor so tramples the vanity of the world, as the recollection of this kind of horrible death. Would that they might understand, then. And what in this world becomes so vile as man, whose body, when it is lifeless, is not permitted to remain inside the house for three days on account of the stench: but is cast out like vile dung, hidden in the depth of the earth, given over to putrefaction, given as food for worms, becomes a cadaver? CHAPTER VI. On vain pursuits. On the discipline to be undergone here. Let the proud and unhappy sinner therefore blush, and let him fear, blinded by pride, inflamed by anger, defiled by the vice of impatience, puffed up by knowledge: him who is pleased by the art of Aristotle more than by the knowledge from the Apostles, by the codex of Plato more than by the divine book; whom no reading delights, no knowledge edifies, to whom no speech is pleasing unless it has been conceived grammatically, imagined dialectically, adorned rhetorically.

You are a fool who is ignorant of these things, and you err: because those who do such things and spend their days in such pursuits generate sin for themselves and prepare death; for from a similar pursuit they conceive a similar knowledge, that is, they gather leaves, not fruit—that is, words, not virtues; for words are uttered into the wind and beat the air with words, they sound forth verbosity, their wisdom has been devoured (Ps. 106:27). For just as a drunken man does not know what he does or where he goes, because he is ignorant of himself, so foolish secular clerics, in drinking up this kind of knowledge, disturb themselves, devour books, multiply opinions, but are utterly ignorant of what they do, because they do not notice toward what wretched end they, wretched ones, are heading. O if only such men were wise! For if they had weighed the brevity of their fleeting life, if they had foreseen how strictly they must answer at the terrible judgment not only for their dead works but even for every idle word, then, struck with terror, then smitten by divine love, they would have abandoned the vain pursuits of this life and would have come from the study of vanity to the study of truth, and from the study of folly to the study of wisdom—that is, from the study of curiosity to the study of holy humility, from the school of luxury and depravity to the school of purity and sanctity or chastity, from a life of iniquity to a life of holiness—that is, from a life of fornication to a life of blessed religion, that is, from a house of worldly association to a house of holy discipline.

Whence the blessed Holy Spirit Himself commands sinners through the Prophet, saying, "Seize discipline, lest the Lord grow angry and you perish from the just way" (Ps. 11:12). O how terrible is this sentence and too much to be feared by those who do not seize discipline! From this sentence of the Holy Spirit it is clear that they will perish. Hence it is that the Lord says through Moses, "Every soul which has not been afflicted on this day shall perish from my people" (Lev. 23:29). These words are to be noted more attentively. "The soul," he says, "will perish which has not been afflicted," understand, through discipline, through correction of morals, through satisfaction of penance, through contrition of heart, through purification of conscience. And he said "on this day," that is, in the present time of grace, that is, of this life: because he who does not now take up the time of penance finds no place of indulgence after death. Wherefore fear, you sinner, you proud flesh, you corpse of life, whom worms, generated from your corruptible little body, daily gnaw while you still live; tremble at pride, cast away vanity, flee lust, seize discipline, lest you perish. See in this mirror what you are, and what you will be: whose conception is menstrual rot, origin putrid decay, end. Would that they knew, etc. Behold, wretch, you have a thousand causes of sorrows, and still you are proud. Again I admonish you, brother, that whatever others may do, you yourself be mindful of yourself: let the world become vile to you more than you are vile to the world.

Considering this great calamity's misery more attentively, and groaning with the prophet, say: "I will declare my iniquity, and I will think about my sin. For I am prepared for the scourges, and my pain is always before my eyes" (Ps. 37:18). And again say with the Apostle, who laments the tearful state of the human condition, saying, "Unhappy man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death" (Rom. 7:24)? This salutary saying of the Apostle requires a prudent reader. The Apostle still lived in the body when he nevertheless called the body dead; because he who is wise already considers death before his eyes, already considers himself dead, since he knows for certain that he will die. CHAPTER VII. On the Horrendous Departure of the Damned Soul. How Horrendous Then Is the Presence of the Devil. Attend, therefore, in that terrible hour of which we speak, miserable soul of the sinner, when you are about to depart from the world, and where you are about to go.

Soon the malignant ministers will be present, those accursed ones, those hellish devils, those horrible and most evil spirits, roaring lions to seize their prey, namely your sinful and wretched soul: then suddenly the horrible places of punishment will be revealed, chaos and the gloom of darkness, the horror of misery and tribulation, the terror and trembling of anguish and confusion, the terror of a dreadful vision, the trembling of a fearsome dwelling; where there is the place of weeping, where there is the gnashing of teeth, where there is the biting of worms, where there is the clamor of the grieving, where there is the lamentation of the groaning, where there is the voice of sinners crying out, and saying: Woe, woe, woe to us, sons of Eve! And when the wretched soul, indeed the most wretched soul about to depart from the body, has heard, seen, and perceived these and similar things, indeed a thousand times worse than can be said: what kind, how great, and how immense will be the terror and fear and trembling in it, which tongue can tell, which book can set forth? What then will the boasting of knowledge, the pomp of the world, the vanity of the world, the desire for earthly dignity avail? Will the appetite for luxury, exquisite food, delicate drink, curiosity of dress, elegance of footwear, softness of the flesh, gluttony of the belly, superfluity of foods, drunkenness of carousing, construction of houses, acquisition of benefices, accumulation of riches avail: will all these things be able to snatch the wretched soul of man from the mouth of the dreadful and horrible lion, and from the accursed throat of the dragon?

Would that someone read this reading, and understand it, and grasp it soundly, and retain it in his heart—one entangled in sins, drunk and blinded by love of the world and the flesh, to whom the poisonous pleasure of a luxurious corpse pleases more than the health of his own soul, who busies himself more with Martha than with Mary, who cares more for the world than for Christ, who cares more for bovine law than for divine law. Let that foolish one who is of such a kind read this reading, then, and behold in this mirror of the sinner his own appearance. Let him consider diligently whence he comes, what he is, and whither he goes; let him weigh from what has been set forth along what dreadfully fearsome path, through what dark journey, through what horrible hands his wretched soul is to pass. O foolish sinner, that you know not how to consider these things, or are unwilling to premeditate them! Because you neglect to foresee these things, therefore pride often invades you, anger agitates you, malice torments you, envy wounds you, lust inflames you, sloth drives you, avarice binds you; because you do not prudently look ahead, you therefore become contumacious, injurious, obstinate; you approach divine work sluggish and listless; you do it negligently and slothfully. Why? Because you are unwilling to foresee whither you go.

Would that you might know and understand, etc. Terrible is his countenance, as Pope Leo says, to whom every solid thing is permeable, every secret open; to whom dark things are clear, mute things answer, silence confesses. Mealus and Satan dared with fury to make an attack upon the most holy soul of blessed Martin, who is called the jewel of priests, and strove to hinder that blessed soul, going to heaven in the presence of angels. How much more must you, a sinner, fear and tremble to premeditate how horribly that crafty deceiver, that son of iniquity, that bitterest enemy of souls will confront your wretched soul? Come, dearest brother, premeditate, and never let it depart from your heart, how much that most blessed perpetual virgin, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, provided for her own soul, who, as we read, begged her Son that evil spirits might not be present at her passing. O if so great and so holy a one, dear and indeed most dear to God, feared the vision of unspeakable spirits, what will a sinful soul do? How will it be able to withstand the horrible countenance of his terrible face, the intolerable stench of his mouth, the sulphurous flames of his eyes? Be certain that the fear of this horrible beast surpasses every kind of torment, more than can be thought of in this world. The fearful prophet, terrified, fled to prayer, saying, "Hear, O God, my prayer when I beseech; from fear of the enemy, snatch my soul" (Psalm 63:2).

He does not say "from power" but "from fear." Why? To suggest how great the punishment is, how horrible, how intolerable is the terror of the enemy himself. Alas! alas! my brother, if such and so great a trembling afflicts the sinful soul from the mere sight of Satan, how great will be the confusion, how great the horror, how great the affliction, how great the lamentation at his touch? CHAPTER VIII. How God will laugh and mock at the destruction of the wicked. The origin of the various vices. The difference between the foolish and the stupid. O foolish sons of men! Vain sons of men, why do you love vanity and seek falsehood (Ps. 4:3)? For he who loves vanity hates his own soul. And the impious are hateful to God, and those who hate you, Lord, do I hate? etc. "With a perfect hatred I hated them" (Ps. 138:9). Likewise, "The Most High hates sinners and has mercy on the penitent" (Ecclus. 12:3). Why do you not look around at such a dreadful and horrible misery? Why do you not cast aside pride? Why do you not extinguish avarice? Why do you not despise lust? Why do you not correct your ways? Why do you negligently hear the commandment of God and his salutary counsel? Why do you not taste and understand, and foresee the last things? Hence it is that the speaker addresses you sinners with terrible weeping: "I," he says to you, "will laugh and mock at your destruction, when what you feared has come to pass" (Prov. 1:26). O how fearful is that dominical sentence!

If only the reader would taste in the palate of the heart how much bitterness, how much terror it contains: for truly, if he knew, he would guard his life more carefully at every hour of the day. But perhaps you will say that mockery and derision do not befit almighty God Himself, nor does His reverend and most holy simple nature admit of such passions or ironies: why then is it said to sinners by almighty God, "I will laugh at your destruction"? Attend, you who ask, how this saying ought to be expounded to you: "I," He says, "will laugh at your destruction." That is, when your end has come, I will proclaim you worthy of mockery; and when that sudden calamity has rushed upon you, I will deride you—that is, when bitter death has bitten you, I will condemn you as worthy of eternal derision. Hear, you sinner, this terrible sentence, which, if you understood it, you would without doubt be terrified.

But you read the sacred Scriptures carelessly, you do not wisely consider the whole of your life, the evils you do, the sins you commit, your evil deeds, words, and works; swift to the table, slow to church; mighty at drinking, but feeble at psalmody; wide awake for gossip, drowsy at vigils; forward in speaking, but slow and mute in singing; quick to anger and detraction, but sluggish in prayer; a lover of envy, a persecutor of Christ's poor; noticing a speck in another's eye, but not seeing the beam in your own; condemning the deeds of others, but not considering nor abandoning your own. You reproach others, you do not correct yourself; you disparage others, and you praise yourself: an inventor of malice, a destroyer of discipline; a friend of vices, and an enemy of virtues. These are the things that blind a man and separate him from God; these are the things that make a monk a demoniac, a convert a pervert, a cleric a heretic, a Christian an antichrist. For he who is not a Christian is an antichrist. He is not a Christian who in life and morals is contrary to Christ.

Alas, alas! The unwise man does not know, and the fool does not understand this (Psalm 91:7): and therefore, as the same prophet says, Both the unwise and the fool shall perish (Psalm 48:11). But what difference is there between the unwise man and the fool? Every fool is unwise. For the unwise man is so called as one not wise. For many remain who are not wise, and yet are not fools. Many are just, and many are not just, and yet are not wicked. Do you wish to know who is the unwise man, and who the fool? The unwise man is he who does not consider himself a pilgrim from the joys of paradise, who does not attend to himself as an exile in this exile. The fool is he who, although he has known these things, does not intend to be freed from the misery of the world through the merit of his life. Likewise, the unwise man is he who does not believe that the future punishments of the reprobate are perpetual, and the joys of the just eternal: but the fool is he who, although he believes, does not intend to escape eternal death and acquire eternal glory by living chastely and conversing piously. Therefore, by the just judgment of God, both the unwise and the fool shall perish. Which, however, would not happen if they were wise and understood, and foresaw the last things.

Behold, my brother, you have now read, you have now seen in this mirror of the sinner, what you should know, what you should understand, how you ought to provide for the last things. It remains, therefore, that you diligently learn and fix in your heart, so that you may know soundly and understand rightly how you may prudently provide for your last things, that through these you may escape eternal damnation and, with our Lord Jesus Christ, possess eternal life. Amen.