Liber De Numeris (Incertus)

Appendix XXI. The Book on Numbers, Concerning which in the Isidorian [writings], chapter 63, number and following. I. With our most high Lord aiding, and our most merciful Savior Jesus Christ granting, I wish to write briefly, yet usefully, a few things concerning number and its mystical mystery. What one, what two and three signify, what four, what five and six assert, what seven, what eight, what nine and [what they] relate, and up to twenty-four, if we are able to reach it, we wish to say what they reveal. One, therefore, pertains only to God, because in all things, and before all things, and above all things, in omnipotence, and magnificence, and incomprehensibility He is one, just as also in the head and beginning of sacred Scripture the divine voice spiritually affirms, saying: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord God is one." For who in heaven or on earth, or beneath the earth, in eternity, in power, in trinity, in unity, in divinity, in humanity, can be similar to God alone? Therefore, for this reason, the one same sole God is called, because neither before, nor after, nor then, nor now is another found or read to be like Him in heaven or on earth, since he who, by being proud, wished to be like Him in heaven, wearied and fallen perished, and deserved to be a demon, and Satan, and prince of demons in hell.

Many things therefore in God's creatures, and in the sacred Scriptures, which appear to exist in multiple ways, are nevertheless called by one name as one: as man, soul, faith, baptism, charity, hope, peace, bread, the Catholic Church, and many other things which for the sake of brevity I now pass over. In these things, however, which we have mentioned, that is, man, and soul, and the rest which follow, although not in order, yet in their proper places, as God shall grant, we will relate them. Whence was man made? We find that one man was made by God in the beginning. From whose rib we read one woman was made, one language was spoken, that is, Hebrew, which is testified to have existed up to the building of the tower of Nimrod. Which tower was built in the plain of Shinar. One Abraham is testified to have existed, who is said to be the head of faith, because from Adam up to the birth of Christ no man called Abraham is found; concerning which Abraham it is said: Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Did not Abel believe, and merit to be crowned the first in martyrdom? Did not Enoch believe, who still lives in the body? Did not righteous Noah believe, whom the Lord saved with the ark and all that were in it? And yet neither Abel, nor Enoch, nor Noah are called the head of faith. Why is this? That is, although in the time of these righteous ones faith appeared, yet it was rare and always lacking. But Abraham's faith, up to now and unto the end, neither has failed, nor fails, nor will fail.

Therefore, Abraham was called the head of the faith. There was one Noah, who built the ark, and if there was another, Scripture is silent about him. Indeed, the same Noah was the first after the flood to build an altar to the Lord in the mountains of Armenia, because there, among the mountains, the waters of the flood left the ark. One woman, that is, Lot's wife, tradition records was turned into a pillar of salt. That pillar stands to this day, so that everyone who sees it may fear God and believe Him to be almighty. One woman appeared in the world, to whom no other like her was ever born, who carried the sun and fire in her womb for nine months, and it harmed her in no way whatsoever. I have read of one virgin nursing a lion; I do not doubt it, and I do not cease to marvel. There is one greatest mediator between men and God, who on the part of men was truly made man. Therefore he can truly be called mediator, and it was fitting, because neither did divinity harm humanity, nor was humanity contrary to divinity. One city in heaven, which is the mother of all the saints, which is called Jerusalem, and is interpreted as "vision of peace." Into that city no one who is unworthy, proud, and impure has entered, nor enters, nor will enter. Thus far we have spoken of one; now we are about to speak of two.

Of how many substances does a human consist? A human consists of two substances, made in the image and likeness of God, that is, soul only and body, but in these two substances joined together into one, many species seem to appear. For in the human body there are nine measures composed without doubt: that is, the four principal ones, which are earth, water, air, fire, and the other five subsequent species, that is, salt, hay, flowers, stones, clouds. And that you may understand better from all these, read thus: earth in a human is the thickness and heaviness of flesh, but water is sweat and saliva. Air, however, is the moist, cold, and warm breath itself, breathing through the mouth and nostrils. Fire in a human is that which cooks food in the stomach, and in the heat of the blood. Salt is in the saltiness of blood, and of sweat, and of tears, and of urine, because all these in a human are salty. Hay, however, is in the hair and the hairs of the body. Flowers are in the variety of the eyes. Stones are in heaviness and hardness, because stones are called the bones of the earth. Clouds are the instability of mind and of thoughts. And from these nine measures the body is composed, and bound together by greater and lesser bones, constituted by principal joints numbering 365. As for the other smaller ones, the number is scarcely found. Similarly, the principal veins are 365; the smaller veins, however, are countless.

Also with nerves and blood, flesh and skin, marrow, cartilages, head and three brains: the first is called memory, the second sense, the third is called motion. With five senses, that is, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. And with six ages, that is, infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age: infancy, which ends in seven years; childhood, which ends in fourteen years; adolescence, which extends to twenty-eight years; youth, which ends in fifty years; maturity, which concludes in the seventieth year; and old age, which is not completed by any number of years or times, but by toil, and pain, and death. In a human, therefore, there are crafted windows. In the first window, he utters words, takes in and breathes air, takes and tastes food. In two windows, he sees far and near; in two others, he smells and breathes. In two other lower ones, he expels the body's necessities. In the tenth window, called the navel, he adorns the belly. A human indeed has in the heart understanding and thought, counsel and fear; in the spleen, laughter; in the gall, anger; in the liver, love, and breath, and liveliness in running and swimming. Naturally, by all these things, and many others which for the sake of brevity I pass over, the human body consists. The nature of this same body carries within itself four diversities: that is, it hungers, thirsts, desires, sleeps. The use of this nature, therefore, is fulfilled by four things: that is, by eating, drinking, generating, sleeping.

This account of the body has been briefly stated; now, however, let the origin of the soul be told. What is the soul? And is it some thing, whence are souls made? What is it itself, what is its name, what use does it have among created things? Does it live, or not? If it lives, what does it contribute to the affections of the universe? Does it lead a blessed life, or a wretched one? What, therefore, is the soul? It is not heaven, nor earth, nor air, nor fire, not water, not God, not the stars; it does not come from the soul of the father nor of the mother, as many think. It is not sight, not hearing, not smell, not taste, nor the other things which it is long to recall, which are in heaven or on earth, which the soul is not. Whence, therefore, is the soul? It is given from God, made from nothing, and created by God, as the Lord Himself says through Isaiah: "I have made every breath," that is, every soul; and in the Psalm He similarly says: "Who has fashioned one by one their hearts," that is, their souls, because the hearts of men are the candelabra of souls. What, therefore, the soul is must be briefly stated, which God has hidden in His Scriptures. The soul, indeed, is a rational and sentient life, spiritually, invisibly, and wonderfully vivifying all the viscera and members of the whole body within and without, by the command of its Creator, and in a wondrous way ministering to the five bodily senses, because through the eyes it sees, through the ears it hears, through the nostrils it smells, through taste it discerns flavors, through touch it governs all the members; which subsists spiritually in a fourfold manner, that is, as being, wisdom, thought, will.

Sensation pertains to life, wisdom to understanding, thought to deliberation, will to defense. For the soul, while it is one thing, holds within itself many species and adornments. When it breathes, it is spirit; when it senses, it is sensation; when it knows, it is mind; when it understands, it is intellect; when it discerns rightly, it is reason; when it consents, it is will; when it remembers, it is memory; when it animates the limbs, it is soul; when it lives well, it bears the image of God; when it is well adorned, it is pleasing to God and the angels; when it is full of good virtues, it is the throne of the Trinity. Now the adornments of the soul are these: through hearing it believes, through desire it seeks, through wisdom it finds, through prayer it asks, through grace it receives, through humility it guards, through mercy it hastens, through kindness it forgives, through teaching it acquires, through penance it composes, through example it is beautiful, through knowledge it is bright, through good zeal it is free, through gentleness it is smooth, through prudence it is cautious and clear, through simplicity it is sincere, through steadfastness it is sober, through justice it is upright, through patience it is long-suffering, through obedience it is ready, through action it is pure, through hope it is raised, through abstinence it is temperate, through chastity it is holy, through spiritual joy it is joyful, through confession it is open, through martyrdom it is adorned, through unity it is catholic, through concord it is peaceful, through love of neighbor it is generous, through charity of God it is perfect. These are the adornments of the soul.

The necessities of the body are these: in hunger, food; in thirst, drink; in labor, rest; in weariness, sleep; in displeasure and tedium, song; in pain, health; in weakness, strength; in fear, refuge; in darkness, light; in war, peace; and many other things which, for the sake of brevity, it is long to recount. Just as, therefore, the human flesh cannot live happily without these necessities, so the soul cannot stand perfectly in the body without its own necessary things. For the food of the soul is divine precept; its drink, pure prayer; its bath, lawful fasting; its garment, almsgiving from one’s own substance; its instrument, assiduous praise of God; its rest, perfect poverty; its health, infirmity of the body; its refuge, pure penance; its peace, full charity.

O man, whoever you are, constituted of these two substances, as we have said, that is, body and soul, imitate Christ and the holy Fathers who have preceded you; learn humility from Christ, devotion from Peter, charity from John, obedience from Abraham, hospitality from Lot, long-suffering from Isaac, tolerance from Jacob, patience from Job, chastity from Joseph, meekness from Moses, constancy from Joshua, kindness from Samuel, mercy from David, abstinence from Daniel, almsgiving from Tobit, the contemplative life from Elijah, the active life from Paul, tearful penance from Mary Magdalene, pure confession from the thief, martyrdom from Stephen, generosity from Lawrence. Concerning pride and envy. That there are two pestilential and deadly roots for all living things is not in doubt. From them all iniquity, all impiety, all calamity, all cruelty, all tempest, all sorrow, all plague, all fullness, all disease, all mortality, all tribulation, and every evil, whatsoever can be found and perceived in heaven, on earth, and in hell, have arisen. One root is called pride, the other is called envy. For who among the wise and those understanding the Scriptures does not know that pride is the root and queen of all evils, with Scripture attesting and saying: "The beginning of every sin is pride"?

For through it first the prince of the angels, through God, who was then called Lucifer, and seemed like the seal of the living God, fell from the throne of the Most High, and from the height of heaven, and from that great and holy city which is called Vision of Peace, in which there are nine orders of angels, he himself with a tenth part of the angels went down into the Tartarus of hell. O so cruel and so evil, unbelievable! That very harsh dragon, deceiver of himself and inventor of death, in his own fall found the second root of death for all, which is called envy. For sacred Scripture says: Through the envy of the devil, death entered the world. In this way, therefore, through envy sin first entered, and through sin death took its origin, that is, it arose from the wicked suggestion of the most cruel enemy. From the wicked suggestion, a depraved thought burst forth within; that thought gave birth to delight, delight to consent, consent to action, action to habit, habit to necessity, necessity to evil death, evil death to perdition. Thus, through the suggestion of the devil, Eve was seduced by the serpent, and so the first man Adam, seduced through Eve, transgressed the commandment of his Creator, and in that transgression found labor and death, and left these behind after him to his seed. As to which labor and death, God said to Adam: In the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread; and again he said: You are earth, and to earth you will go.

And Scripture affirms this, saying: Just as death was given in Adam, so it will hold sway over all his sons. Therefore, with labor, death, misery, corruption, and curse discovered, and other innumerable things left to his progeny, he himself, along with his seed, was held in darkness and torments from the day of his death in the first age of the world until the resurrection of Christ. That there are two ways of life and death in this world is beyond doubt: one by which the saints proceed happily, the other by which sinners destroy themselves. Concerning these ways, the Holy Spirit says thus in the first Psalm: The Lord knows the way of the just, and the path of the impious will perish. The way of the saints is the Lord Himself, as He said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life; but the way of sinners is the darkness of death, as is read in the Psalm: Let their way be, that is, of sinners, darkness and slipperiness.

The way of the saints is the Catholic faith, the way of sinners is depraved unfaithfulness; the way of the saints is right hope, the way of sinners is barren despair; the way of the saints is perfect charity, the way of sinners is hateful iniquity; the way of the saints is diligent use, the way of sinners is negligence of heart; the way of the saints is fear of God, the way of sinners is transgression of the commandment; the way of the saints is good will, the way of sinners is evil cupidity; the way of the saints is assiduous prayer, the way of sinners is evil verbosity; the way of the saints is confession of frailty, the way of sinners is excuse of iniquity; the way of the saints is pure simplicity, the way of sinners is shadowy obscurity; the way of the saints is stable patience, the way of sinners is temporal instability; the way of the saints is true humility, the way of sinners is polluted pride; the way of the saints is temperate abstinence, the way of sinners is dissolute excess; the way of the saints is holy chastity, the way of sinners is unclean lust; the way of the saints is seemly sobriety, the way of sinners is crapulous drunkenness; the way of the saints is generosity in giving, the way of sinners is avarice in keeping; the way of the saints is silence in keeping quiet, the way of sinners is loquacity in being beaten; the way of the saints is remembrance of good, the way of sinners is forgetfulness of God; the way of the saints is holy reading, the way of sinners is presumptuous murmuring; the way of the saints is justice and truth, the way of sinners is falsehood and depravity; the way of the saints is concord of peace, the way of sinners is discord of dissension; the way of the saints is to give thanks in all things, the way

The way of sinners is always to despise; the way of the saints is good zeal in the love of God, the way of sinners is evil zeal and love of the world; the way of the saints is good showing forth, the way of sinners is evil display; the way of the saints is to store up treasure in heaven, the way of sinners is to hide it in the depths; the way of the saints is the humility of Christ, the way of sinners is the pride of the Devil; the way of the saints is love of the future life, the way of sinners is love of the perishing life; in one, what is loved here is taken away, in the other, what is loved is always possessed. We also read of two hells in the Scriptures: one on earth, in which the saints are tested, the other under the earth, in which demons and the wicked are condemned: although they are called by one name, they differ greatly from each other; in one, indeed, there is labor and rest, in the other, always misery, which has no end.

In the hell of the saints, a salutary compunction; in the hell of sinners, a penal torture. In the hell of the saints, true penance; in the hell of sinners, belated penance. In the hell of the saints, a pious remission; in the hell of sinners, a just damnation. In the hell of the saints, a trial with consolation; in the hell of sinners, punishment without intermission. In the hell of the saints, affliction and refreshment; in the hell of sinners, always torment. In the hell of the saints, hope of receiving a reward; in the hell of sinners, despair of ending the punishment. In the hell of the saints, constant sweetness; in the hell of sinners, the burden of enduring. In the hell of the saints, fear of offense; in the hell of sinners, vengeance for transgression. In the hell of the saints, labor and rest; in the hell of sinners, always penal injury. In the hell of the saints, visitation of the sick; in the hell of sinners, oblivion of visitation. In the hell of the saints, weeping of the penitent; in the hell of sinners, tears and gnashing of teeth. In the holy hell.

in the hell of the saints, night and day; in the hell of sinners, outer darkness; in the hell of saints, the good are tested; in the hell of sinners, the wicked are punished; in the hell of saints, fire is seen and serves; in the hell of sinners, it is held and tortures; in the hell of saints, angels guard; in the hell of sinners, adversaries torment; in the hell of saints, grace, kindness, and mercy; in the hell of sinners, bitterness, wrath, and indignation; in the hell of saints, the saints are aided; in the hell of sinners, demons and the impious are condemned; in the hell of saints, both good and evil (exist); in the hell of sinners, nothing good is held; in the hell of the wicked, there is no end of evils; in the hell of saints, there is hope of the kingdom of heaven. On drunkenness.

I have found two things, and I have known them to be very contrary to each other in the miserable human life: one is called drunkenness, the other is called sobriety. Concerning their contrariety, I shall briefly say a few things. Drunkenness is quite useless, an unworthy thing in men, immodest in women, insulting in servants, blameworthy in priests, it destroys dignity in kings, forgets truth in judges, destroys mercy in the rich, grinds down bad habits, disturbs the whole man, recalls enmities, stirs up slaughters and disasters, prepares parricides among parents, supports brawls, makes the sane mad, makes the wise foolish, renders the sober senseless, washes away memory, cuts off sense, neglects the mind, confuses the intellect, stirs up lust, entangles speech, corrupts the blood, violates sight, hardens the ears, makes laughter noisy, disturbs the bowels, shouts dishonestly, does not speak rightly, moistens the brain, demands sleep, unhinges the limbs, hinders mysteries, dries the throat, dissipates the marrow, promises in the evening and lies in the morning, inflates the body and the soul, and destroys all health.

Concerning Sobriety. Sobriety is useful in all things; it is good in heaven and on earth, it is good both on the journey and in the homeland, it restrains the youth, honors the old man, lengthens life, enlarges the inheritance, makes offspring fruitful, increases honor, it is dignity in men, modesty in women, grace in servants, seemliness and praise in priests, glory and victory in kings; it shows truth in a judge, patience in a pauper, generosity in a rich man, it promotes good morals, preserves the whole man, renews friendships, mitigates quarrels, reconciles those in discord, calms the healthy, adorns the wise, instructs the foolish, guards the sober man, retains memory, illuminates hearts, purifies the mind, sharpens the intellect, cheers the face, controls the countenance, despises lust, overcomes vice, opens the ears, unburdens the brain, is silent at the right time, speaks rightly, heals the veins, strengthens the blood, moistens the bones, nourishes the marrow, strengthens the limbs, enjoys sleep, opens the sight, restrains laughter, reveals mysteries through few words, is sparing in speech, faithful in deed; it cleanses the body together with the soul, and guards all health.

On Peace and Discord. I have truly seen two others, which are very far apart from one another, of which if one alone had reigned, and the other had not come at the opportune time, no man would have lived happily; about these I wish to say a few things, because I am now hastening to other matters. One is called Discord, and the other is called Peace. Discord is greatly to be feared and very much to be fled by every Christian, and it does these things: from sons of God it makes sons of the devil, from friends enemies, from brothers adversaries; from it come whispering, complaint, fury and anger, controversy, and falsehood, oath and perjury, injury and scandal, deceit and envy, spite and homicide. Discord is nothing other than the separation of peace and the rupture of unity, the discipline of the devil, the way of death, the ruin of life, the breaking of commandments, the change of mind, the scattering of understanding, the house of the devil, the path of hell, the expectation of punishment, the expulsion of indulgence, the subversion of discipline, the contempt of charity, the suppression of humility, the disturbance of the spirit, the turmoil of the limbs, a lethal evil, the venom of the serpent, the bite of the viper, the breath of the basilisk, the vomit of the regule, the closing of the kingdom, the opening of hell, the enemy of God, the friend of the devil.

Peace, however, does not act in this way, because it makes God close to man and man close to God; therefore true peace is to be held and preserved by all Christians in heart and body. For sweet and exceedingly to be loved is such a mistress, who works many miracles, and it is wondrous that she makes from sons of the devil sons of God, and from enemies friends, from adversaries brothers, from strangers relatives, from foreigners household members; from her come sincerity and simplicity, mitigation and gentleness, meekness and indulgence, plainness and truth, tranquility and justice, stability and patience, love and protection, increase and healing. Peace is nothing other than the house of God; for God himself said to his disciples: I give you my peace, I leave you my peace. What else is peace but the nearness of God, the grace of God, and the union with God, health of the senses, sharpness of the intellect, the house of God, the path of the kingdom, the expectation of rewards, the gathering of diligence, the rigor of discipline, the perfection of charity, the circle of humility, the shield of tranquility, the continence of rule, the serenity of the members? If it had been permitted me to proclaim peace fully and plainly, I should have written many lines with my fingers; for it surpasses every sense. Its vital sweetness, flowing with honey, is the opening of the kingdom, the closing of hell, the friend of God, the enemy of the devil, happiness in the present life, joy and gladness in the eternal life.

True penance is recognized in two ways: the first way is to bewail and repent of one's sins most devoutly and with the most abundant tears. The second way is not to admit again those things which must be bewailed and repented of. Penance is so called as if it were "punishment" [punitentia], because a man punishes in himself what he has wrongly committed. A servant of God ought to have such a remembrance of sin that he always bewails with tears what he has done. But nothing is worse than to acknowledge a fault and not to bewail it; for every sinner ought to have a twofold weeping in penance, both because through negligence he did not do good, and because through audacity he perpetrated evil. For he did not do what he ought to have done, and he did what he ought not to have done. He who laments his guilt with legitimate satisfaction, condemning and bewailing what he has done, all the more deeply as he was more prone to sinning, performs penance worthily. For great is the power of tears, which, without the sound of voice and words, obtain the pardon they seek for sins. For Peter burst into tears, and prayed with no words. For I find that he wept, I do not find what he said; I read of Peter's tears, I do not read of his satisfaction. Rightly did Peter weep, because what is customarily owed can be excused; what cannot be defended can be washed away. For tears wash away the offense which it is shameful to confess with the voice; tears, therefore, consult both modesty and salvation in weeping, they are not ashamed in obtaining, and they obtain what they rightly ask for in entreating.

Tears, I say, proceed in a certain silent manner; they seek and merit pardon; they do not state the cause, and they obtain mercy: indeed, the prayers of tears are more useful than those of words, because speech in praying may perhaps deceive, but tears do not deceive at all. For speech sometimes does not set forth the whole matter, but tears always reveal the feeling. O tears, how sweet, how strong, how precious, how gentle you are in the breasts of mother Penitence! For just as a pious mother supplies milk from her breast to the infant, so pious Penitence offers tears from the compunction of the heart to the penitent. The mother suckles the infant so that he may grow; Penitence bedews the penitent with tears so that he may live again; the mother desires for the infant that his life may grow old; Penitence desires for the penitent that he may grow old in no evil. The mother does not desire life for all; Penitence desires salvation for all. O Penitence, great are your breasts, full of the wine of compunction, with which you refresh the guilty, lift up the fallen, recall the fugitives, strengthen the broken, cleanse the diseased, wash the leprous, fortify the weak, gladden the sad, comfort the despairing, heal the wounded, bind up the lacerated, restore the lost, and raise the dead in sins. Penitence! What shall I say of you? For I am not able to praise you as I wish, because you are more precious than refined gold.

Through you, death is destroyed and the devil is put to flight; through you, life is found and God is discovered; through you, hell is closed and the kingdom is found. Therefore, he performs worthy penance who so laments past sins that he does not admit future ones again; for a repeated wound heals more slowly. The repetition of sin is a grave evil, as if disease comes upon disease, as if rain falls upon rain; for he who laments a sin and yet again commits a sin is like one who washes an unbaked brick: the more they wash it, the more mud they make. Let no one, therefore, doubt the goodness of God; let no one despair of the mercy of God; let him seek pardon in his heart, and he will receive it. Let him do penance in body and mind, and provoke God to mercy. David, after his fault, sang a psalm, and did not lose his kingdom, and found pardon. Manasses, the impious king, wept before the Lord, and obtained peace for himself and his people. Zacchaeus climbed a tree and found salvation. Mary wept and merited pardon. Peter wept bitterly and did not lose grace, and obtained pardon. The thief, in one word with Christ, entered paradise. Longinus opened the side of the Savior with a lance, and not only found pardon, but merited to have the honor of the episcopate and the glory and crown of martyrdom.

The entire law and the prophets depend on two commandments, namely, the love of God with all the strength of body and soul, and the love of neighbor as oneself. In two ways is belief held, that is, with perfect faith and with perfect works. In two ways is the cross borne, that is, when the body is afflicted through abstinence or the mind is distressed through compassion for one's neighbor. In two ways is divine speech distinguished, that is, either the Lord speaks through himself, or words are formed through an angelic creature. In this life there are two kinds of the just: one, namely, of those living well but teaching nothing; the other, of those living rightly and also teaching that same rightness. In two ways is divine striking understood, that is, in a good sense, by which we are struck in the flesh so that we may be corrected in soul and mind; the other, by which we are wounded in conscience out of charity, so that we may love God more ardently. In two ways does God look upon men, that is, either for pardon or for punishment: for pardon, as he looked upon Peter; for punishment, as upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

Two thieves were crucified with Christ, that is, Dismas on the right, Gestas on the left. Other names of the thieves are Chacham and Chamna. Lot, the brother of Abraham's son, had two daughters, one of whom was called Adach, who bore her father a son named Moab, from whom the Moabites originated. The other, who was called Moach, likewise bore her father a son named Ammon, from whom the Ammonites descended. These two sons were not born without guilt, because the father had his daughters as wives, and this was not by will but by drunkenness; and thus the guilt was wrought in a strange way, so that the father had his daughters as wives, and sisters became mothers to brothers, and sons were brothers to mothers, because from the father's seed daughters were born, and from the father's seed again sons were procreated in the daughters; and therefore this progeny merited a great curse, so that they did not enter the Church of God until the tenth generation. And yet the Moabitess Ruth was a good woman, who merited to have a part in the generation of Christ. For she herself was the mother of David's grandfather; for David was the son of Jesse, Jesse the son of Obed, Obed the son of Boaz, and his mother was Ruth. For the grandfather is the father of the father.

Isaac had two sons: one was rejected by God, and the other was chosen. For Scripture says thus: “I loved Jacob, and I held Esau in hatred”; and this not without cause, for both were sons of a good father, and twins in the womb of a good mother, and yet the chosen one supplanted the rejected one in the mother’s womb, and seized from him the birthright and the father’s blessing. But God willed it so because all the elect have arisen from Jacob and from his seed; and yet God did not abandon the rejected one, because Job, a servant of God and a king, arose from his lineage. And I have recalled this briefly because the wicked arise from the good, and the good from the wicked. The wicked from the good: demons from angels. The good from the wicked: saints from the Gentiles. The wicked from the good: Ishmael from Abraham, Moab and Ammon from Lot. The good from the wicked: Abraham from the Chaldeans. The wicked from the good: Dathan and Abiram from Levi, Ophni and Phinehas from Eli. The good from the wicked: Ruth from Moab, and Rahab from Canaan. The wicked from the good—which I ought to have said before—Cain from Adam, and Ham from Noah. The good from the wicked: Jonathan from Saul. The wicked from the good: Absalom from David. Why should I say more? For it will be so until the end: from the good, the wicked, and from the wicked, the good. But when He who alone is good comes, He will separate the good from the wicked. We read of two men still living; but where they are, alive and hidden, we do not know. One is the seventh from Adam, named Enoch; the other is Elijah, who was snatched up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Of these two we have spoken briefly, yet sufficiently, because we hasten to the three.

21. The three persons of the Trinity, in one power and majesty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which three persons among the Hebrews are called thus: Abba, Ben, Ruba. Among the Greeks, however, Father, Bar; but how the Spirit is said in Greek, I have not yet found. They, nevertheless, say *ageos*, which in Latin sounds *sanctus*. Abba is father, Ben is son, Ruba is Holy Spirit. Father, however, is Greek, and in Latin sounds *genitor*. Bar is Greek, *filius* in Latin. The Trinity is so called on account of the diversity of persons, but unity on account of the inseparable substance of the divinity. The Father is so called because he has a Son, and all paternity, which is in heaven and on earth, is named in him and from him. The Son is so called because he has a Father; the Holy Spirit, however, because he proceeds from the Father and the Son. God is so called on account of power and love; Lord is so called on account of dominion; Almighty is so called because he can do all things, for whom nothing is impossible. And if God is almighty, what is it that he cannot do? That is, he cannot be deceived, he cannot die, he cannot sin. Through the Father we live, move, and exist; through the Son we have reason, knowledge, and understanding; through the Holy Spirit we are illuminated with all good gifts. God is spoken of in three ways, that is, essentially, as Paul says: Who is blessed forever. Nominally, as the Lord says to Moses: I have set you as a god to Pharaoh. Falsely, as it is said: Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish.

Three things God created in the beginning, namely, angels, and... and formless matter. (The rest is missing.)