Chapter VI.
What the Lord meant when he said: If you offer correctly, but divide incorrectly, you have sinned, so be still; and of the four types in which sacrifices were commended, if anything is lacking, the sacrifice is not approved, with the most beautiful moral interpretation of these things.
18. Now let us consider what the Lord says: If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned, cease. This is an indication that God is not pleased with the offering of gifts, but with the disposition of the offerer. In the end, Cain, the condemned offerer of the gift, understood that his sacrifice was not approved by God because of his insincere conscience in the offering, and he became sad. For when a person's conscience is aware of their righteousness, they rejoice and their spirit is filled with a certain spiritual infusion of joy when their thoughts or works are approved by God. Therefore, sadness is a testimony of Cain's conscience and an indication of rejection. And although he offered a gift, because he did not divide it rightly and justly, he incurred guilt.
19. There are indeed four types of sacrifices that were commended. Whether they were new of new things, or roasted, or divided, or continuous. The new of new things were in the first time of the year, which were valued for their appearance in the firstfruits: but now it has been revealed that they signify those who are renewed through the sacraments of baptism. For this is truly the primitive sacrifice, when each person offers themselves as a victim, and begins with themselves, so that they may later be able to offer their own gift (Rom. XII, 1). Therefore, the new faith of the renewers, strong, youthful, acquiring the growth of virtue, not lax, not weary, not with a certain withering old age, and lazy with vigor, is fit for sacrifice, which sprouts with a green seedling of wisdom, and matures with the fervor of divine knowledge in youth; yet it should have the nourishment of old teachings. For just as the teachings of the new and old Testaments should come together, as it is written: Consume the old things of the ancients, and remove the old things from the face of the new ones (Leviticus 26:10). Let the knowledge of the patriarchs be food for us, let the soul feast on the oracles of the prophets: let the inner being be nourished by such sustenance. But now let it not be the appearance of a lamb, but rather the reality of the body of Christ. Let it not be the shadow of the law that blinds the eyes, but rather let the grace of the Lord's passion openly reveal, and let the splendor of the resurrection illuminate the mind's sight.
20. But if you offer a sacrifice of the first-born sheep, roasted on the fire, roasted fat, you shall offer the sacrifice of the first-born, as it is written (Lev. VII, 2): which signifies that your faith may be tried by fire and may burn with a holy spirit. Finally, Jacob cooked lentils and stole the first-born blessing from his brother, so that his faith might obtain solid rewards. Thus, he grew strong and powerful; while the other, who did not know how to cook his food, grew tired and weak. Therefore, let your soul be ignited by the word of the Lord as by fire. See Joseph burning, as it is written: The word of the Lord burned him (Ps. 104:19). Let your faith be burned like the sheaves of the harvest. For they bring forth the ripeness of fruits when they have been scorched by the heat of the summer sun. Therefore, the abundant words of the Scriptures strengthen the soul and imbue it with a certain spiritual grace; they also support rational truths and dissolve all the power of irrational passions. Therefore, Esau, having his strong bonds of virtue loosened, was dissipated. But those who girded up their loins, were not given raw or boiled in water, but roasted in fire, the head of a lamb to eat, as you have in Exodus, they crossed the seas with a strong and faithful mind, on foot (Exodus 12:9). In the Gospel also, the Lord Jesus ate roasted fish, as it is written (Luke 24:43), in which the fullness of the Holy Spirit overflowed. And perhaps for this reason Esau was lacking, because he desired food cooked in water, which Jacob gave to him as if it were useless for the sick.
However, the offering and prayer should not be confused but distinguished by appropriate division. For in all things, distinction is better than confusion, especially in prayer and offering, which, if it does not have certain divisions, becomes obscure. Therefore, the law often commands the parts of the sacrifice to be divided and the burnt offerings to be offered (Leviticus 1:6), so that the sacrifice may be naked without any mixture or covering, because our faith should fervently burn naked and stripped of all wrappings; so that it may not be influenced by wandering and deceptive opinions, but pure and sincere simplicity of mind may appear. Then let it be divided into suitable parts. For virtue is a kind which is divided into many species: but the principal ones are four, prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice. Therefore, let your speech resound with prudence towards the knowledge of God and the truth of faith. Let it resound with temperance, which the Apostle also deemed necessary to be demanded of spouses, saying: Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer (I Cor. VII, 5). And the law commands the purified ones to approach the day before yesterday and the day before the day before yesterday for sacrifice (Exod., XIX, 10). Let prayer hold on to strength, so that it is not interrupted by fear, does not fail due to weariness. For then the intention to pray should be stronger when we are pressed by adversities. Let prayer guard righteousness, which if Judas had held onto, his prayer would not have turned into sin. For when should we abstain more from unjust deeds and wicked pursuits than when we pray for the justice of God? And therefore, the Lord, in order that justice might be dear to us, said: Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10). This was lacking in Judas; for if it had been present, he would not have handed over the Lord, nor would he have betrayed his Master. Likewise, it was lacking in the sacrifice of Cain, who, if he had maintained justice, should have offered the first fruits to the Lord, not the later ones. Therefore, he lacked division, and for this reason it is said to him: If you offer well, but do not divide well, you have sinned, cease. You see how great a vice it is. Where there is no division, there the whole sacrifice is rejected.
22. It remains for us to speak about continuous and constant prayer, because it is necessary for us to spend time and be vacant for prayer. The Lord spent the night in prayer, not for his own benefit, but to teach us. For frequent prayer produces a discipline of praying; because the very practice makes us teachable by God, while negligence makes us unteachable. Therefore, it is good exercise. Finally, the strength of the body is increased by frequent exercise: but without exercise, it diminishes and weakens. For many exercises also dissolve natural virtue from disuse. Similarly, the strength of the soul is strengthened by the assiduity of exercise; so that the very labor itself will not be a burden, but a benefit. Let us give this food to our mind, which, worn and polished by much meditation, may strengthen the heart of man like heavenly manna. We receive this not in vain, worn and polished; because we should long wear and polish the words of heavenly scripture, turning them over in our entire mind and heart; so that the sap of that spiritual food may spread throughout all the veins of the soul. Therefore, if faith, like a growing adolescent, increases and drives away the deficiency of aging devotion, and burns with spirit, and is maintained by a suitable distinction of legitimate division, and constant practice commends grace; then prayer becomes rich, like a fatty and adipose substance, of which the Prophet says: 'You have anointed my head with oil' (Psalm 23:5). For just as lambs fatten with much milk, and well-fed sheep shine with fat, so does the prayer of the faithful flourish with the nourishment of apostolic juice.
23. If any of these things we have said above are lacking, the sacrifice is not approved. Therefore it was said to Cain: If you offer rightly, but do not rightly divide, you have sinned. For the world itself is read to have been made distinct, when it was an unarranged part; for the Earth was invisible and unarranged (Gen. I, 2). Truly light was made first, and God called the light, and God separated the light from the darkness, and the darkness was called night. And in order we read the things that were done, heaven, earth, fruitful trees, diverse animals. And indeed they are distributed lighter to the higher, such as air and fire: heavier to the lower, that is, earth and water. Certainly all things could have been created at once by God: but He chose to maintain distinction, which we should imitate in all our affairs, and especially in the alternations of gratitude, in which it is not enough to repay what you have received, but to commend what you give back. For if someone pays his debt and in returning does harm to the creditor, it is surely more intolerable than not having paid back what he owed. Therefore, it is not the amount of payment, but the intention of the one making the payment, and the quality and emotion, that are considered. Therefore, Cain offered correctly; because offering is a remarkable display of devotion and an indication of thanks: but he did not divide correctly; because he should have first offered the first fruits to God, so that he would begin with grace from the author. For here the order of division is such that the second things come before the first, not the first before the second; and heavenly things are preferred to earthly things, not earthly things to heavenly things.