Chapter X.
In the first offering, Cain passes by due to a defect and goes to another, namely that he did not offer from the first fruits. The first fruits of the soul are especially to be offered, and what they are. Abel is said to have offered the same, and to have commanded the law to be offered. Similarly, the Canaanites are mentioned there: also why God is said to have sworn that the inward movements of the soul cannot be pacified without His help. Finally, it is said that these offerings should be made for which sexual distinction contributes nothing.
But now it is time to move on to another topic, since we have fully discussed what Cain offered after days. It has become an indication of a backward approach, when the very request of a vow should be mature; so that we do not seem to have relied more on human arts, that is, the skill of healing and the juices of herbs, than on seeking help from God. For it is to Him that we must first turn, who is able to heal the passions of our soul. However, some people seek help from others before seeking it from themselves in a misplaced order: but when human resources fail, then they believe that divine favor, grace, should be sought.
Now that this matter has been resolved and Cain has been convicted of the crime, let us discuss another fault in his offering. He offered, he said, fruits of the earth, not the first fruits as an offering to God. This is to claim the first fruits for oneself: but the following fruits should be offered to God. Therefore, since the soul is truly to be preferred to the body as its master, the first fruits of the soul, that is, of discipline, should be offered before the body. The first fruits of the soul are the preeminence of good disciplines. Although the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and voice (which are the food, growth, sight, hearing, and touch of the body, while the mind and senses are part of the soul) are later in time than the first-fruits of the body, they are yet prior to the disciplines. The first of which is the thanksgiving offered to God with a pure heart and simple speech.
42. Abel offered these gifts, and for this reason God looked favorably upon his gifts, because he offered from the firstfruits. Furthermore, he approached with the firstfruits of the sheep and their fat. Consider that he did not offer from inanimate things, but from living creatures. For an animal is greater than the earth; indeed, an animal is closest to the spiritual. For that which is spiritual is not prior to that which is animal, but rather that which is animal, and then that which is spiritual. That which is animal breathes, it possesses the vital spirit; it is not so with the fruits of the earth. Then he offered not the second, but the first; not small, but fat: for such the law approved, and commanded to be offered, as it is written: And it shall be, he said, when God shall lead thee into the land of the Chanaanites, as he swore to thy fathers, and shall give it thee; thou shalt offer whatsoever openeth the womb, of the males to the Lord. All that openeth the womb of thy cattle, and of thy sheep, the males shall be the Lord's; all the firstborn of a donkey shalt thou redeem with a sheep: and if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain (Exodus 13:11 and following). What depth of mystery, what heights of secret wisdom, that you may grasp and draw from the rich abundance of spiritual grace, in certain veins of simple words? For the Canaanites are fickle and restless. Therefore, when you have entered their land, be aware of their levity, restlessness, and instability of character; hold on to constancy in the face of their possession. Let not cheap reasoning, nor trivial speech disturb you; for this is the way of the Canaanite - fickle speech, unstable emotions, and restless contention. Rather, maintain tranquility of heart, and peacefulness of mind; as if a safe haven for ships in the sea, establish a harbor for your thoughts.
43. The Lord promises you this possession, and confirms your constancy with the bond of a certain sacrament. For God does not swear because he needs the faith of a believer, nor does he require the support of testimonies or the suffrage of a sacrament, as we humans do when we bind someone to ourselves by a sacrament, and therefore we swear in order to be believed to have spoken the truth. But God, even when he speaks, is faithful, whose word is a sacrament. For it is not the faithful omnipotent God because of the sacrament, but also because of God the sacrament is faithful. Therefore, in what way does Moses bring about an oath from God? Because we are enclosed by a certain usage of mortals, and, like urchins, we are enveloped by a certain shell of common opinion, or like snails, which cannot breathe or sustain free air unless they are within the covering of a shell: so we are only engaged in certain earthly hiding places of human custom. Therefore, because we are more inclined to believe that which is confirmed by an oath, so that our faith may not falter, God is described as one who does not swear, but rather as the judge and avenger of those who swear falsely. In fact, it is written: 'The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: You are a priest forever' (Ps. 110:4). He has surely kept what he has sworn, giving us an eternal high priest. Therefore, you must also understand that what you have sworn must be upheld; and because you swear by the one who does not lie, you should know that he will be your avenger if you lie.
Therefore, once the restless and unstable thoughts are expelled, God will give you an empty possession of the heart and mind, so that you may exercise it with the cultivation of tranquility and reap the fruit from it, and not tolerate the Canaanites, that is, the turbulent senses, from recurring in it; you will uproot every conception of the vices of the gentiles; you will destroy their groves with which the truth is overshadowed, and a certain heavenly book of the sight of thought is hidden by the horror of dark debate.
45. But unless you are given this by a divine gift, you cannot accomplish it. Therefore, it is said: God will give you (Exod. XIII, 11), that is, the best thoughts, calm plans, peaceful discoveries. When He has given these, you will take away everything that opens the male womb, and you will sanctify it to the Lord. God does not demand everything from you, who has given everything. For He bestows many things for the use of human substance, and this cannot be a divine sacrifice where the use of nature is present. To eat, to drink, to sleep, and other bodily services are gifts given to you, not things brought by you to God as offerings. But whatever holy thoughts you may have, these are gifts from God, inspirations from God, graces from God; just as, on the other hand, those things which pertain to the use of human nature do not defile man: but what comes out of the mouth, thefts, false testimonies, sacrileges, these are the things that defile man.
Therefore, let us purify our innermost selves, so that our offering may not displease. There, let us seek everything that opens the male vulva, that is, what is just and essential, which we ought to sanctify to the Lord. For it is not these bodily unions, conceptions, and births that sanctify us, through which the female vulva is opened with the deflowering of the modesty of virginity. For although a woman sanctifies a man, and a man sanctifies a woman; nevertheless, it often happens that the vulva of a virgin is opened even without the sanctity of marriage. Nor is masculine grace solely for men, but woman is also foreign to sanctification, or confused by the nature of both sexes, so that both are founded in bodily reproduction. Men have their duties, women have their distinct roles. This generation of human succession befits woman, but is impossible for man.
Therefore, if this sense does not agree with the use of the flesh, let us discuss the functions of the soul. I find, indeed, that it is not differentiated by any sex: and since it has no sex, it represents the functions of both sexes, it marries, conceives, and gives birth. And just as nature has given females a womb in which the generation of every living being is formed through menstrual periods, so there is a certain power of the soul which, like a secret womb, receives the seeds of our thoughts, nurtures the concept, and is accustomed to give birth. For Isaiah would not have said otherwise: In the womb we received and gave birth to the spirit of salvation (Isaiah XXVI 18); unless he knew the womb of the soul. Some of these generations are feminine, such as wickedness, wantonness, luxury, intemperance, impurity, and other such vices, by which the strength of our souls is weakened. The masculine virtues are chastity, patience, prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice, by which our mind and body are strengthened, and are vigorously raised to carry out the duties of virtue. This prophetic womb gave birth to these offspring. And this is why he said: In the womb we received and gave birth to the spirit of salvation. Therefore, he both gave birth and bore a male who poured out the spirit of salvation.
Book Two