29. If you see a woman to lust after her, death enters through the window. If you see the possessions of a poor person or a widow and desire to steal them, death enters through the window. If you see another's jewelry, gold, silver, and desire to extort them, death enters through the window. Therefore, close this window when you see the beauty of another woman, so that death cannot enter. May your eyes not see another's beauty, lest your tongue speak perversely. Therefore, close your window, lest death enter. But also beware of another person's window. For through the window, the harlot enters her own house. Through her window, she enters, when her wanton eyes attempt lasciviousness. Therefore, exclude this window from the entrance of words, lest you be captured by the eyes of a prostitute: and carried away by her eyelids. But there is not only one window through which death is accustomed to enter. There is also the window of words, through which the speeches of the prostitute pass. And for this reason, guard yourself from the flattery of a foreign wife; for she enters through the window of her house. Death enters through kisses; therefore, be careful not to be bound by the snares of her lips. Death enters if a prostitute kisses you. Death enters if you quickly agree to her words. Death enters if you speak too much; for much talking brings sin. Death also enters if you remain silent, and fear to confess Christ. For confession is made with the mouth unto salvation (Rom. X, 10). Death also enters through the caves of the ears; and therefore the ears must be guarded with thorns, so that you may exclude the enticements of a debased conversation. These are moral lessons.
30. There are also mystical eyes which you should turn away from vanity. For vanity is also a delusion of the senses, which the eyes of your soul should not see; because those who see it are condemned by the Apostle. Therefore, let us learn from the very author himself what vanity is, and what eyes they are (Ephesians IV, 17 and 18). For it is evident that there are many who are blinded by the delusion of their senses and are alienated from the way of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; the Apostle speaks of those nations. Therefore, let that pagan remain ignorant of what he has not learned, let him remain ignorant of what he has not believed: but it is not permissible for you to remain ignorant of what you confess. Christ came not in vanity, but in power: He did not inflate the human senses, but He gave life: He did not blind the heart, but He illuminated the mind. He kindled your heart so that you may understand the heavenly principles of the commandments, the nature of the soul, the grace of the future life, and the state in which we will be after these things.
Therefore, lift up your mind, use your natural talent: you have been made in the image of God, in order to behold heavenly things and not to seek earthly things. Do not bend your neck under the weight of the world: do not covet gold and silver, lest you offer yourself to be bound by the chains of the world. That is why the Lord said: 'Do not possess gold and silver' (Matthew X, 9), lest the greedy desire for gold and silver possess us. Therefore, do not entangle your neck in the snares of the devil. Greed strangles the poor in this world, but the rich are suffocated by their own snares, whose thoughts are in vanity, who walk in darkness; because they labor in things that cannot benefit them. Vanity is the concern of this life. Therefore, we ought to find our delight not in gluttony and drunkenness, not in bodily pleasures, but in the knowledge of heavenly precepts. He runs in vanity who seems to abound in worldly successes, who passes away like a shadow. Therefore, avert your eyes, so they do not see vanity.
32. But it is not enough for you to turn away; lest perhaps you desire and are unable, the devil may pour out upon you the spectacles of vanities, and insert the incentives of pleasures; seek that the Lord may turn away your eyes. And this is the grace of God, and this is the gift of the Lord; that He may turn away the eyes of our soul from the affairs of this world. For all blessedness is from the Lord. But blessed is the man, whose hope is in the name of the Lord, and has not looked upon vanities and false insanities (Ps. 39:5). He who does not consider these things is blessed; but he who considers them is insane and furious. And therefore, let each person come to their senses and turn away from the madness of worldly desires, which disturb the mind and soul in such a way that one cannot be in control of themselves.
33. If you find yourself on a rocking ship, turn your eyes away from the bilge: lest it stirs up vomit in you. If you are walking in a city and come across something of foul odor, you distance yourself and turn away. If anything should appear that your eyes dread, they are closed or averted. In the sea of this world, you fluctuate, and the bilge of vices flows in. In this ship of your body, the waves of desires move, and you do not avert the eyes of your soul; lest they see the bilge of lusts, lest they behold the filth of this world, lest the foul stench fills the nostrils of your mind, in which the Holy Spirit is accustomed to be, so that you may say: The divine Spirit who is in my nostrils (Job. XXVII, 3). May therefore the nostrils of your soul be turned away from the stench of various sins; for in these there is, as it were, a certain sign of judgement. Hence it is said to the Bride: 'Your nostrils are like the tower of Lebanon, looking towards the face of Damascus' (Song of Solomon 7:4); because the ointment of the true Priest, which descends from the head to the beard, that is, that divine fragrance, the perfume of spiritual grace, which was from the Father in Christ, and by the mystery of the incarnation came down to earth, so that all things might be filled with the poured-out ointment, may shine forth with the lofty power of judgement, and fill the nostrils of the soul, so that it may discern what is pleasant and what is foul; the sweet smells of the saints, who can say: 'For we are the pleasing fragrance of Christ to God' (2 Corinthians 2:15); and the foul smells of sins.
34. These are the nostrils, like the lofty tower of Lebanon, towering above the world; and therefore it overlooks the face of Damascus, the noble people, smelling its faith, by which it would cleanse the stench of its sins. Therefore, the face of Damascus is the faith of the nations, not overshadowed by any covering, not covered by any clothing, naked and free, more inclined to heaven than to earth. The nostrils of the Church gaze upon and overlook this, collecting the sweet fragrance and grace of the breath. And his nose is like the tower of Lebanon; for in sacrifices the scent of the Church is sweet, in which is the offering of good odor, remission of sins.
Therefore, take these nostrils, o man; so that you may discern fragrant things from foul-smelling ones; and then the Lord will give you life. For when He sees that you seek Him, in order to turn the eyes of your mind away from vanity, He cooperates with your soul; so that if it is captivated by any appearance, it is not swayed by hardness or weakness, but rather let it be directed by the yoke of His word, and guided by its reins: so that it may be led away from worldly desires by the will of God and receive the fragrance of eternal life. For this life is not perfect: but this life is in shadow. Therefore, in order for Christ Jesus to be born from the Virgin, the power of the Most High overshadowed the future mother; because he descended into shadow, beginning to work the salvation of man, and intending to complete it with the charity of the eternal sun. Therefore, this life is a shadow: hasten to the sun, so that it may protect you from the cold of this shadow, and pour out upon you its summer warmth. And therefore, it urges us to pray, lest our flight be in winter or on the Sabbath (Matthew 24:20), not signifying a specific time or day, but prohibiting us from growing cold in merits, and being fasting in good deeds.
36. (Verse 38.) Learn now how the Lord turns His eyes away from vanity, whom He pities. From those things which follow, we can understand this; for He added: 'Appoint Your speech to Your servant in Your fear' (Ps. CX, 10). The Prophet says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. But what is the beginning of wisdom, if not to renounce the world? For to be wise in worldly matters is foolishness. Finally, the Apostle says that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God (I Cor. I, 20). But even the fear of the Lord, if it is not according to knowledge, is not beneficial; rather, it is harmful. For the Jews have a zeal for God, but because they do not have it according to knowledge, in their very zeal and fear, they contract a greater offense against divinity. They circumcise their infants, they keep the Sabbath, they have the fear of God; but because they do not know that the Law is spiritual, they circumcise the body, not their heart. They fear to kindle a fire on the Sabbath, when the Law of sanctification prohibits the kindling of the fire of lust on that day.
37. And what shall I say about the Jews? There are also among us those who have a fear of God, but not according to knowledge, imposing harsh precepts that human condition cannot sustain. There is fear in it, because they appear to be consulting their discipline, demanding the work of virtue: but there is ignorance in it, because they do not sympathize with nature, they do not consider possibility. Therefore, let fear not be irrational. Indeed, true wisdom begins with fear of God, and there is no spiritual wisdom without fear of God; thus, fear should not be without wisdom. There is a certain foundation of the word, which is holy fear. For just as a statue is placed on a foundation, and it receives greater grace when it is placed on a foundation and stands firm, so the word of God, or the rational word of God, is better placed in holy fear, it is more firmly rooted, that is, in the heart of those who fear the Lord; lest the word slip from the heart of the man, lest the birds come and take it away from the indifferent and negligent affection. But indeed, the fear of God itself seems to be adapted to usefulness and stability by the word, so that it is not alien to knowledge, just as a statue with an accepted base is not alien to grace. Therefore, the fear of the word is a place, just as its place is in peace. The fear of the word is a certain station: the word of fear is discipline; for true fear of discipline does not falter towards a fall.
And because we have said the foundation of the word is fear, lest anyone should think that we have added anything foreign to the Scriptures, let him take this passage from the word of God in the Song of Songs: 'His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold' (Song of Songs 5:15), signifying that the pillars are the apostles of the Church, who are founded in the fear of the saints. For just as Peter, James, John, and Barnabas seemed to be pillars of the Church, so whoever conquers this world becomes a pillar of God, which is confirmed by the one who says: 'I have confirmed its pillars' (Psalm 74:4). And so the golden base is filled with the fear which is full of discipline, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, in the fear of the wise, the apostolic preaching is established as a golden column, like a foundation. Therefore, the fear of the just is the tribunal of Christ's speech and the golden foundation of full prudence. But the good image, like the likeness of truth, is the word of the saints. And see how the fear of the saints is like a golden foundation. Read Isaiah: see how much fear he has subjected, in order to make it blameless and good fear: the spirit, he says, of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and power, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of holy fear (Isaiah 11:2). By how much fear did he subject, so that he might have something to follow? He is informed through wisdom, instructed through understanding, guided by counsel, strengthened by virtue, governed by knowledge, adorned by piety. Take away from fear of the Lord those things, and it is an irrational and foolish fear, one of those: “Outside are battles, inside are fears” (2 Corinthians 7:5), by which even Paul would have been afflicted if he did not have the Lord as his comforter.
39. It is not in vain in Proverbs: Then you will understand the fear of the Lord (Prov. II, 5). What is "Then"? That is, when you invoke wisdom and give voice to prudence; and if you seek her like money, and search for her like treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord (Ibid., 3 and 4). And therefore, as if on a solid foundation, it says: Set your speech in fear. It is a prayer full of discipline, by which we are taught how we ought to pray: each word is a teaching on how to pray. And because he taught us to pray, the seventh verse shows the effects of this prayer.
40. (Verse 39.) Take away from me my reproach, which I have suspected. It seems to be spoken in a somewhat obscure manner: but the Apostle explained what seemed to be obscure here, when he said: Indeed, I am not aware of anything against myself, but that doesn't justify me (I Cor. 4:4). For he knew himself to be human, and thus he was careful, as much as he could, not to sin after receiving the sacraments of baptism; therefore, he was not conscious of any wrongdoing. But because he was human, he confessed himself to be a sinner, knowing that Jesus alone is the true light, who did not sin and no deceit was found in Him; He alone was justified, who truly was without fault. Similarly, therefore, even the Prophet, although he desired to avoid sin, still desired that sin be a repeller of himself as God. He wanted to remove the reproach that he had suspected, either because he had thought in his heart and had not done it: and although penance had abolished it, he was still suspected that perhaps its reproach remained; and therefore he prays to God to remove it, who alone knows what he himself who made it can also not know. Finally, elsewhere the Prophet himself said: 'You know my reproach' (Ps. 68:20). Although this reproach is Christ's, which is not a true reproach but the glory of God; for the cross of Christ is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks.
41. Therefore, to them it is disgrace, to me it is virtue; I repel the adversary vehemently, I conquer the age. To me is wisdom, through which I evade the snares of foolishness. This disgrace Moses preferred to the treasures of Egypt. Greater, he says, esteeming the disgrace of Christ than the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26). If your disgrace is glory, Lord Jesus, how great is your glory? Therefore, by participating in your glory, what shall we be, whose disgrace we are declaring glorious? I have laid my back on the lashes, my cheeks on the palms, but I have not turned my face away from the humiliation of spitting. Behold, your disgrace, O Lord, in which the salvation of all is found, in which the redemption of the world: through which disgrace we have begun not to be ashamed, who were ashamed, not to be confounded, who were confounded. Finally, it is written: Come to him, and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed (Ps. 33:6). We do not want this disgrace, the disgrace of the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which our disgraces are taken away, to be taken away from us. For just as a curse became, to erase our curses, a man became, to alleviate human weaknesses: so disgrace became, to take away the disgrace of all.
42. Not once in time, not once it took away the disgrace: it takes it away every day. We fall into sin, not just one but many: we are covered in shame and confusion. We come to baptism, all sin is erased, and with sin the disgrace. The Lord Jesus took away my disgrace with his disgrace, because he was crucified for me; because whoever is baptized in Christ, is baptized in his death (Rom. VI, 3). I have nothing to ask to be taken away. But after baptism I fall into shame, I must do penance, so that I may say: Take away my shame from me. If I do not do penance, how can I say: Take away my shame from me; when this very shame of sin is because I do not do penance? But if I do penance, as I ought, I rightly say: Take away my shame from me, which I have suspected; for your judgments are sweet.
43. Why am I afraid to confess, why am I afraid to speak of my sins? What do I fear in making mention of my shame before him, whose judgments are sweet? What is severe in others is sweet in Christ, is pleasant in Christ; for he himself is sweet. Finally, Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. XXXIII, 9). Sweet are the judgments for the one who confesses; for he himself has said: I am, I am the one who blots out your iniquities ... and I will not remember: but you remember, and let us be judged: speak of your iniquities, that you may be justified (Esai. XLIII. 25 et 26). To those who are carrying out penance, pleasant judgments are given; for he himself said: There will be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent (Luke 15:7). Therefore, if the judgments of the Lord are pleasant, let us strive to receive the fruit of sweetness.
Do you want to know how sweet are the judgments of the Lord? The wicked do not rise in judgment (Ps. 1:5). But those who rise in judgment have hope of pardon, because they have believed. The wicked are not, they can be sinners: they have faith, and if they have not avoided sin, they believe through faith. But whoever believes in Him is not judged (John 3:18). Therefore, the judgments are sweet to those who believe. But those who do not believe are not condemned by the judgment of Christ, who came not to judge the world, but to save and redeem it. But the judgment of their own impiety has come upon those who refused to believe in the forgiveness of sins. For those who have rejected Him cannot benefit from Him. Therefore, those who do not believe in Him seem unworthy of His judgment. Understand what His judgment is, as He Himself says: 'This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world' (John, 19). Therefore, it is sweet that there is light; it is sweet that there is judgment, which precedes mercy. For it is written: 'I will sing to you, Lord, of mercy and judgment' (Psalm 101, 1).
45. (Verse 40.) And because he knew the sweet judgments, he says: Behold, I have longed for your commandments; revive me in your righteousness. He speaks of good judgments with authority. Behold, he loves the freedom of faith, he who has given freedom. He delights in being loved, who came into this world because he loved this world. He demands to be loved, who loves all, for love is his nature. He longs for God's commandments, like a good servant, like a diligent worker. He longs not for the love of a prostitute, not for money like a greedy person, not for lust like a sensualist. For the Law says of them: You shall not covet. But it commands us to love the Lord our God, and to hold Him in a tender and inward affection of desire. And because he is a friend who loves, he is a servant who fears; as if he were a friend who does all that the Lord commanded: You, He says, are my friends, if you do what I command you (John 15:14).
46. In your righteousness, revive me: he dares and says; because that is the true life, which lives according to the righteousness of God, which the apostles lived; indeed, which they live. For there are those who, while living, are dead: and there are those who, while dead, are alive. In fact, some descend into hell while still alive: others, though dead in body, live by their merits. For there are those who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man returning on the day of judgment, when the holy ones will rise with glory.
Sermon 6. Vau.
The sixth letter Vau, whose interpretation is: He is, and no other. Or whose interpretation: And he is.
2. (Verse 41.) And let thy mercy come upon me, O Lord, even thy salvation, according to thy word. The meaning of the letter, since it is somewhat obscure, I thought should be gathered from the series of the psalm. For when the Prophet asks: Let thy mercy come upon me, O Lord: let thy salvation come upon me; there is no doubt whom he requests to see, that is, in whom the fruit of mercy and salvation may come. Finally, in the preceding verses, he asks for the same thing in the eighty-fourth psalm, in which he more clearly prophesied the coming of the Lord Jesus. Indeed, it is well known that the earth which was in need of blessing is the one which had contracted sin in Adam, of which it is said: 'You are dust and to dust you shall return' (Gen. III, 19). However, God had cursed not the element of the nature of the flesh, but the flesh of the transgressors. Therefore, the flesh is blessed in Christ, so that the cursed flesh may be redeemed. The flesh is blessed, which the blessed Son of God, assuming human condition, took upon himself.
And therefore he added: God, you will turn and give us life, and your people will rejoice in you. Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation. Let me hear what the Lord God will speak in me, for he will speak peace to his people, to his holy ones, and to those who turn to him with their heart. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. (Psalm 85:7 et seq.) This whole place resounds with the name of Jesus the Lord, who raised the dead: Lazarus before his passion, many during the time of his own passion. He is mercy, as the forgiveness of sins. Therefore he says: Show, whom he may see in the body. For he could not see God in his majesty; for he saw God ever (John 1:18). The eager Prophet desires to see, whom he hopes to hold: whom if he sees, he desires to grasp with his own hands. Therefore, he says: And give us your salvation. The power of God is the salvation, the Christ of God is the salvation; and therefore those who fear it are near. Christ was far from us, far from the nations: he descended to earth, he became near, we began not to fear. For the one who fears Christ is not subjected to fear, but to devotion. This fear is of piety, not of weakness. Finally, nothing is lacking for those who fear him. But how he became near, listen: So that he may dwell, he says, in glory on our earth. Who is glory, except the Lord Jesus? Therefore, the apostle Paul says: The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory (2 Cor. 1:3). It is rightly pleasing to the Father; for the glory is of the Father. He who separates himself from the Father commits a greater offense against the Father, for he wishes to be without glory. Whoever does not consider him equal to the Father judges him to be inferior to the Father; for no other word can praise the Father more, whose highest praise and glory is Christ.
4. Therefore, it is asked that He come to greet God. He is the one who is asked, that is, the Lord Jesus, and there is no other; as the letter interpretation has it. And not only the Father is asked: He is also the one who is asked, that is, the Son, and He comes and gives salvation to the world. Therefore, He is the savior; therefore, Jesus, as the angel said: He will save His people (Matthew 1:21) . So, when the prophet called upon Him, He was present; to prove that, He says to us even now: Here I am (Isaiah 58:9) .
5. He is here, because awakened by the daughters of Judaea, as if resurrected by the daughters of Jerusalem. The Church hears the sound of his voice, and says: The voice of my cousin. Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills (Song of Songs 2:8). He is a liberator, having many noble persons, like a triumphant crowd, and signifying many actions, which we can understand more than we can express in words. For as if she has heard the coming Bridegroom conversing with some others who are also traveling, the Bride says: The voice of my cousin. While he is talking with the daughters of Jerusalem, and he asks them to wake up and revive the Bridegroom, suddenly, as if hearing the sound of a voice sent from afar, he says: The voice of my cousin, announcing what he was seeking to be announced to him before, whom he desired to be revived by others: believing that through his prayer he was now coming back revived by the Father, he joyfully says: You are my cousins. He wisely added, my cousins, so that not others, but only the cousin herself would claim his coming.
Behold, he says, that man is coming. Yet I still seek him, and he has already come: yet I am still gaining votes for him to come, and he is already next. I desire to arouse charity for myself, I consider myself wounded by charity; and charity itself hastens to me even more. I said: Come: he jumps and leaps. I ask him to come with grace: he works increases of gratitude: and while he comes, he carries with him increases of grace, and by coming he acquires; because he also desires to please his beloved. He leaps onto high things, so that he may ascend to the Bride; for the chamber of the Bride is the tribunal of Christ. He leaps over Adam, he leaps over the Synagogue. He leaps over the Gentiles, he leaps over the Jews. Let us see him leaping. He leaps from heaven into the Virgin, from the womb into the manger, from the manger into the Jordan, from the Jordan onto the cross, from the cross into the tomb, from the tomb into heaven. Testify to me, O David, of the One leaping, testify to me of the One running; for you have said: He rejoiced as a giant to run his course: His going forth is from the end of heaven, and His circuit unto the ends thereof; and there is no one who can hide from His heat (Psalm 19:6-7). And now he leaps and now he runs from the heart of the Father over his holy ones, from the East over the West, from the North over the South. He is the one who ascends over the setting sun, he himself over the heavens of heavens towards the East. He ascends over the mountains, he himself over the hills.