Letter 1: Paulinus, servant of Christ Jesus, to Severus, dearest brother according to our common faith in God the Father and...

Paulinus, servant of Christ Jesus, to Severus, his most beloved brother according to the common faith in God the Father and in Christ Jesus our salvation, greeting. How sweet are your words to my throat, above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth! I felt plainly, as though my heart were anointed with the honey of your discourse, the faith of holy Scripture, by which it was said: good words make the bones fat - not at all those bones whose framework joins us together into the fitness of the body, but those by which the strength of the inner man is held together, namely hope and faith and love; which are both the bowels of mercy and the bones of patience and the limbs of every virtue. These bones and limbs and bowels you have enriched with holy words of hope and faith and love, by which you have taught that the hope of your faith remains fixed upon the Lord, and the faith of your hope steadfast in the Lord, and the fullness of love in Christ, even as God's own affection toward us abides; when to me, anxious and longing, and believing nothing otherwise of you - indeed, of God, who works and perfects his own power in the weak - you indicated an increase of patrimony in the heavens, which you wholesomely brought about by boiling down the burdens of present things, having purchased heaven and Christ at the price of fragile substance, truly understanding the case of the needy and the poor man, whom you believed to be in Christ, and in whom you believed Christ to be, as he himself taught, clothed, fed, and given on loan. Let this be the odor of death unto death to those who perish, to whom the flesh and cross of the living God is foolishness or a scandal, because to them their own flesh and blood, which they serve, does not reveal that Christ Jesus is the Son of God; but to us let the divine faith of the flesh and of death become the odor of life unto life. And let not our feet be moved, most beloved brother, from the ways of the Lord and from the path of the narrow road, if at times the profane or foolish words of certain worldly men bark around us; for we are sufficiently instructed by the sacred writings both about them and about ourselves. For concerning these men the blessed Apostle says to us that in this we labor and are reviled, because we hope in the living God, who is the salvation of all men, especially of the faithful. He who is yet to render an account - which you wish to give - also foretold of these men, by his own mouth in the Gospels, both their venoms in their conversation and their deserts in punishments: Woe to those who shall have scandalized one of these little ones who believe in me! It is expedient for that man that a millstone be hung about his neck and that he be plunged into the depth of the sea. But to us he says: Blessed are you, when men shall revile you and shall say all manner of evil against you and shall reproach my name as evil; rejoice and exult, because your reward is plentiful in heaven. Holding fast these words of the Lord, my brother, let us both be strengthened in our faith and disregard the reproaches or hatreds of the unbelieving: for they walk in darkness, because the sun of justice has not risen upon them. The venom of asps is under their lips, which infects the mind and slays the soul, if, received by the ears, it shall have made its way into the heart. Their heart, says the divine Scripture, is vain, and their throat is an open sepulcher. Let us beware of their leaven, lest it corrupt the whole mass. For it is written: the malicious man shall not dwell beside you; and again: with the holy you shall be holy, and with the perverse you shall be perverted; and: let him depart from iniquity who names the name of the Lord. Block up, brother, and hedge your ears with thorns against their words, which are the thorns and arrows of the devil, who, lurking in their hearts, lies in ambush in secret, that he may seize the poor man of Christ and hunt down the soul of the Christian. But, as it is written, their iniquity shall be turned upon their own head, and they shall fall into the pit which they make. But you, man of God, flee from these men, and do not labor to render an account to them as to wiser men, since you know that the beginning of wisdom rests with you, who fear the Lord. If they think that what we do is foolish, rejoice, conscious to yourself that you carry out the work of God and the command of Christ, and remember that God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might confound wisdom, and that what is foolish of God is wiser than men. But to wish to be cleared in the eyes of such men is the same as being able to deny Christ himself, who will be ashamed in turn to confess his own before the Father, of those who, ashamed of his name before this world, blush at it. You therefore, who labor, as you write, to render an account for my deed and your own, what will you do if you do not persuade those men who dispute with you about the work of God not for their own edification but for your destruction? Then you will blush, and then you will grow pale, like the advocate of a worse cause, and, shaken from your footing, you will totter on the way of the Lord and slide back from heaven to earth, if you destroy what you have built. It makes a great difference who these men are to whom the account is to be rendered. If one comes with a zeal for learning and confesses his ignorance, scatter into him the seed of faith and unfold the divine precept. If he takes in the word, you have gained a brother for the Church and a sheep for Christ. But if it shall not be a pure sprout of good seed, and a harmful blade and unlucky crop sown among the wheat by the nocturnal enemy of the heavenly householder who interweaves the tares - to be separated from the good fruits at harvest time, owed not to the barns but to the furnaces, material destined to burn as fodder for the eternal fire, meanwhile growing by its own conflagrations - then flee and repel him from your conversation and your sight, so that, if he cannot be healed by your faith, he may not wound you by his unbelief. Though he be a brother and a friend more closely joined to you than your right hand and dearer than your eye, if he is a stranger and an enemy in Christ, let him be to you as an outsider and as a publican. Let him be cut off as a useless right hand from your body, who does not cohere with you in the body of Christ; and let him be plucked out as a harmful eye, who darkens your whole body with his stain or blindness. For it is better that one member perish for the salvation of the whole body than that, through love of one vicious member, the whole body go, as the Lord says, into hell. Nor is the offense of such men to be feared - indeed it is even to be desired by us, since from their reproaches and curses is born that reward which God promised to be plentiful in heaven. The disciple, he says, is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord; and, if they have called the householder Beelzebub, how much more his household? If they loved the Lord and God whom we follow, they will love us also; if they persecuted him, they will persecute us also. What is the favor of the world to us, which is hatred of Christ? If you were of the world, he says, the world would love what was its own. You therefore, who seek to render an account to men and to these unbelievers, see what you desire: without doubt the favor of men, that is, of the world, which you cannot please unless you prefer to displease Christ. For if, he says, I were pleasing men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Let us therefore displease these men, and let us rejoice that we displease the same men whom God also displeases. For it is not our work, as you know, but that of the Lord Jesus Christ - that is, of the omnipotent God - that they assail in us; whom they spurn in his own acts, they hate in our works, to say at last: Lord, when did we see you naked and did not clothe you? hungry, and did not feed you? sick, and did not visit you? And then they will hear: Go into the eternal fire, which God prepared for your father and his angels, since what they do not do for the needy they deny to Christ, who, although he was rich, became poor, that he might enrich us by his poverty. Let them meanwhile enjoy their pleasures, dignities, and riches, if at any rate these are theirs, which they prefer to have here, where we cease to be, rather than there, where we continue to be. Let them have wisdom for themselves, happiness for themselves; let them leave to us our poverty, as they think, and our foolishness. From the words of him whom, though they confess him in name, yet in deed they deny, having a show of piety but denying his power - from the words, I say, of this our God, let them, if it please them, arrogate prudence to themselves and reproach us with foolishness. For the Lord says: the children of this age are wiser than the children of light; but he added: in this generation. Let them be more prudent, so long as they are not children of light. Let them be wise for one generation, so long as in that regeneration of ours they be found witless. Let them now be blessed, or rather fortunate, flowing along amid all prosperity with a flattering age; let them be clothed in soft garments, let them be in the houses of kings, so long as they be not in the labors of men and be not scourged with men. Let them be rich in the world, because they are needy of God, concerning whom it is written: the rich have lacked and gone hungry; just as concerning us it is at once subjoined: but those who seek the Lord shall not be wanting in any good thing. Would, my brother, that we might be held worthy to be cursed and marked out and crushed and even slain in the name of Jesus Christ, provided that Christ himself be not slain in us. Then at last we would walk upon the asp and the basilisk and would trample down the head of the ancient dragon. But as yet we are being loosed by the world - which is worse, by a friendly world - and we take delight in Christ only insofar as we love to be praised in his name, refusing to be saddened and afflicted, which is more profitable. Remember the grain of mustard, of which seed we are: if it is crushed, it is the more kindled and only then roused into its own force. Wherefore we ought, as it were, to answer to our own nature in this respect, that, crushed by adverse words, we may blaze up toward faith and may burn up those very men who try to break us as the least of men - that is, like a grain of mustard, which is the least of seeds. But if these who are outside seek from you an account of the holy work and dart venomed tongues from a viper's heart against your heart, do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not cast your pearls before swine. For what part has the faithful with the unbeliever? what fellowship has light with darkness? what agreement has Christ with Belial? But you, soldier of Christ, armed by the Apostle with the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of justice and the shield of faith and the sword of truth and the power of the Holy Spirit, stand firm in the heavenly arms and extinguish the burning darts of the enemy with the fountain of wisdom and the river of water living within you. Guard the deposit, keep the faith, pursue justice, hold fast the love of Christ, emulate patience, exercise yourself unto piety, which is profitable for all things, be sober, labor in all things, fight the good fight, finish the course, that you may lay hold of that in which you have been laid hold of; for the rest there is laid up for you the crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render on that day to those who love his coming. But those who do not endure sound doctrine, lovers of pleasures more than of God, ever advancing for the worse, seducing and seduced, men corrupt in mind and estranged from the truth and for this very reason handed over to the lusts of their own heart, into a snare and many desires, which, as shipwrecks from the faith, plunge them into ruin and perdition - because they have preferred the creature to the Creator, that is, the idols of the nations, holding gold and silver dearer than God, saving their souls in this world, losing them in Christ - withdraw from men of this kind, and shun the profane novelties of words, lest you begin to sicken over old wives' questions and vain or impious contentions of words, and be endangered by false brethren or by lost and reprobate wise men, and lest all who shall see, with the devil insulting, say: this man began to build and could not finish. Far be this from us, who have dared the work of perfection relying not on our own works or strength but on the divine power and mercy. He himself is able, who is omnipotent, to perfect in us the work of his own perfection, and to build by his own measures and to crown with a summit what he has already deigned to found and to raise up with the first engines; for he himself deigned to say even to his own apostles, troubled at the mass of this work, that among men this is impossible, but not with God, with whom for those who believe nothing is impossible. But, that we may console one another in turn in the words of the Lord and make progress in works, go forth from your land and from your kindred, that, having imitated the faithful Abraham, you may by a blessed departure be worthy of the bosom of Abraham. Hasten to come to us, to receive and to give the supplements of faith for our common profit. For this is acceptable in the sight of God, that a brother also, aiding his brother, shall be exalted. We are now, as I had written before, staying in the city of Barcelona. After those letters to which you replied, on the Lord's day, on which he deigned to be born in the flesh, by the sudden force of the multitude - as he himself is witness - but, I believe, seized by his own ordination, I was initiated into the presbyterate, unwilling, I confess - not out of disdain for the place (for I call him to witness that I desired to begin sacred service even under the name and office of a keeper of the temple), but because, destined for another place, settled and fixed in mind elsewhere, as you know, I dreaded the new and unhoped-for decree of the divine will. Having therefore given my neck to the yoke of Christ, I see that I handle works greater than my merits and understanding, and that, now received and inserted into the secret and inmost places of the most high God, I share in heavenly things and, brought nearer to God, dwell in the very spirit and body and splendor of Christ. Hardly yet do I grasp the understanding of the sacred burden, with the narrowness of my mind, and, conscious of my weakness, I shudder at the weight of my office; but he who gave wisdom to little ones and out of the mouth of infants and sucklings perfects praise for himself, is able to perfect his own work in me also and to adorn the gift, that he may make worthy of himself the one whom he called, unworthy. Know, however, that the account of our common vow is safe, the same Lord granting it; for on this condition I was brought to be consecrated in the church of Barcelona, that I should not be bound to that church itself, dedicated to the priesthood of the Lord only, not also to the place of the church. Come therefore, if it please you, before Easter - which is more to be wished by us - that you may celebrate the sacred festivals with me as priest; but if you wish, with God favoring, to set out upon the journey now, set out after Easter in the name of Christ. But we trust in our Lord that he will breathe into you a more burning desire for us, so that you may not bear to put off your coming to us beyond the season of Easter. How great the journey is, the servant of your unanimity will also report, who came to us from Eauze, as he asserted, on the eighth day's light; for the road is so short and easy that it is not even steep at the Pyrenees, where the embankment from Narbonne toward the Spains - a name rather than a ridge - lies dreadfully between. But what shall I do about the distance? If you long for us, the road is short; long, if you neglect it.

I. PAVLINVS SERVVS CHRISTI IESV SEVERO CARISSIMO FRATRI SECVNDVM COMMVNEM FIDEM IN DEO PATRE ET CHRISTO IESV SALVTARI NOSTRO SALVTEM. Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua super mel et fauum ori meo. sensi plane quasi delibutis melle sermonis tui praecordiis sanctae scripturae fidem, qua dictum est: inpinguant ossa sermones boni, non utique haec ossa, quorum structura nos in corporis habilitate conpaginat, sed quibus interioris hominis firmitas continetur, spem scilicet et fidem et caritatem; quae sunt et uiscera misericordiae et ossa patientiae et totius membra uirtutis. haec tu ossa et membra et uiscera sanctis et spei et fidei et caritatis alloquiis opimasti, quibus 4] Ps. 118,103. 6] Prou. 15, 30. FLMOPU . — Ad sulpicium seuerum XII- M, item eiusdem ad euudem - IIII * L, incipit ad eundem VI 0, incipit quinta F, epistola sancti Pauli episcopi ad Seuerum monacum de uitaudis hereticis: et de perseuerando in professione catholice fidei, ubi etiam introducit quomodo in barchinonensi eclesia fuerit consecratus U 1 patri FPU 5 quasi ex quia F m. 2 6 tui M s. I. m. 2 fidem om. FPU impiugant LM 9 silicet PU ut solent et (ante fidem) om. FOPU 12 opinasti F IXVnil. Paalini Nol. epiatulae. 1 et fidei tuae spem domino intentam et spei fidem in domino constantem et plenitudinem caritatis in Christo sicut ipsius erga nos dei dilectionem manere docuisti, cum sollicito et optanti mihi neque aliter de te, immo de deo credenti, qui et in infirmis uirtutem suam operatur ac perficit, indicasti augmentum patrimonii in caelestibus, quod salubriter praesentium onerum decoctione fecisti, fragilis substantiae pretio caelum Christumque mercatus, uere intellegens super egenum et pauperem, quem in Christo esse et in quo Christum, ut ipse docuit, tegi pasci fenerari credidisti. Sit hic odor mortis in mortem his qui pereunt, quibus caro et crux dei uiui stultitia uel scandalum est, quia ipsis caro et sanguis, cui seruiunt, Christum Iesum dei esse filium non reuelat, nobis autem carnis et mortis diuinae fides odor uitae efficiatur ad uitam. nec moueantur, frater dilectissime, pedes nostri a uiis domini et tramite itineris angusti, si nos interdum profana uel stulta quorundam saecularium uerba circumlatrent; instructi enim satis per sacras litteras et de ipsis et de nobis sumus. de his enim beatus apostolus nobis ait, quia in hoc laboramus et maledicimur, quoniam speramus in deum uiuum, qui est salus omnium hominum, maxime fidelium, qui istorum, quibus rationem uis reddere, etiam sui in euangeliis ore et uenena in conloquiis et merita praedixit in poenis: uae his qui scandalizauerint unum ex modicis istis in me credentibus! expedit homini illi, ut suspendatur mola asinaria collo eius et praecipitetur in profundum maris. nobis uero ait: beati 8] Ps. 40, 2; Matth. 25, 40. 11] II Cor. 2,16. 12] (I Cor. 1,25). 13] (Matth. 16, 17). 16] (Ps. 16, 5). (Matth. 7, 14). 20] I Tim. 4,10. 24] Matth. 18, 6; Luc. 17, 2. 27] Matth. 5, 11. 1 in om . in ras. M 4 in om. M 5 augumentum FU 6 pmtium M 7 deoctione U, depositione M xpm celumq; M, coelum christum U 11 iis v 13 ipsius U et seruiunt L legum om. U esse dei filium M 14 fines U 18 satis om. F, sacris U litteras om. L1 21 hominum om. LM 22 et maxime LM iustorum F 23 sui 0, suo cet . 24 ue his FLO, uehe his U, uhe his P, ue his inquit M 25 qui in me credunt M estis, cum uobis maledicent homines et dicent omne malum aduersum uos et exprobrabunt nomen meum tamquam malum; gaudete et exultate, quoniam merces uestra copiosa in caelis. haec, mi frater, domini uerba retinentes et in nostram fidem confirmemur et obprobria uel odia infidelium neglegamus: in tenebris enim ambulant, quia sol iustitiae non ortus est eis. uenenum aspidum est sub labiis eorum, quod inficit mentem et animam interficit, si receptum auribus in corda peruaserit. cor eorum, inquit scriptura diuina, uanum est, et sepulchrum patens est guttur eorum. caueamus a fermento eorum, ne totam massam corrumpat. scriptum est enim: non habitabit iuxta te malignus, et iterum: cum sancto sanctus eris et cum peruerso subuerteris, et: discedat ab iniquitate qui nominat nomen domini. obstrue, frater, et saepi aures tuas spinis ad uerba eorum, quae sunt spinae et sagittae zabuli, qui in eorum praecordiis latens insidiatur in occulto, ut rapiat pauperem Christi et uenetur animam christiani. sed in caput eorum, sicut scriptum est, iniquitas ipsorum conuertetur, et incident in foueam quam operantur. Tu autem, homo dei, fuge abistis, neque ut sapientioribus rationem reddere labores, cum scias penes te principium esse sapientiae, qui times dominum. si stultum putant esse quod gerimus, gratulare conscius tibi, quia opus dei et praeceptum Christi geris, et reminiscere, quoniam stulta mundi elegit deus, ut confundat sapientia, et quoniam quod stultum est dei, sapientius est hominibus. talibus autem uelle purgari idem est quod posse Christum ipsum 6] Ps. 81, 5. 7] Sap. 5, 6; Mal. 4, 2. 8] Ps. 13, 3. 139, 4. 10] Ps.5, 10 et 13,3. 11] (Gal. 5,9; I Cor. 5, 6). 12] Ps. 5, 6. 13] Ps. 17,26. 14] n Tim. 2, 19. 15] Eccli. 28, 28. 17] Ps. 9, 9 sec. LXX. iuxta Hebr. 10,9. 19] Ps. 7, 16 et 17. 21] I Tim. 6, 11. 23] (Ps. 110, 10; Prou. 1,7 et 9. 10). 25] I Cor. 1, 27. 27] ib. 25. 1 malediierint FPU 2 eiprobabunt U 4 copiosa] est add. FLMU 7 iustiae 0 9 in om. M eorum] enim F 14] peruerteris M discedit M 16 sagipae U 17 zaboli 0, diaboli cet . 18 cristiani 0 19 sicut] ut FPU conuertatur FPU 20 incidant FPU 22 reddere rationem FPLC panes 0 esse principium I/U 28 uelle] uel 0 ipsum om. FPIJ Iii negare, qui erubescentes nomen suum coram hoc mundo erubescet inuicem coram patre confiteri suos. Tu igitur qui laboras, ut scribis, rationem pro meo ac tuo facto reddere, quid facies, si non persuaseris hominibus non ad aedificationem suam, sed ad destructionem tuam tecum de opere dei disputantibus? iam erubesces iamque pallebis, ut causae peioris adsertor, et motus gradu titubabis in uia domini et caelo in terram relaberis, si quae aedificasti destruis. multum interest, quinam isti sint quibus ratio reddenda sit. si discendi studio uenit et ignorantiam confitetur, sparge in eum semen fidei et praeceptum pande diuinum. si capit uerbum, lucratus es ecclesiae fratrem et ouem Christo. si uero non erit purum boni seminis germen et a nocturno patris familias caelestis inimico zizania interserente frumentis nocens gramen et infelix seges a frugibus bonis messis tempore segreganda nec horreis debita sed caminis, pabulo ignis aeterni arsura materies, suis interim crescit incendiis, refuge et repelle conloquio tuo atque conspectu, ut si tua fide sanari non potest, te sua infidelitate non uulneret. Sit licet frater et amicus iunctior tibi dextera tua et carior lumine, si alienus est et inimicus in Christo, sit tibi ut extraneus et ut. publicanus. abscidatur ut inutilis dextera a corpore tuo, qui tibi in Christi corpore non cohaeret, et ut nocens oculus eruatur qui corpus tuum totum sua macula uel caecitate contenebrat. melius est enim unum membrum perire pro totius corporis salute quam unius membri uitiosi amore totum corpus, ut ait dominus, ire in gehennam. nec metuenda est offensio talium, quae quidem et optanda nobis 1] (Matth. 10, 83; Luc. 9, 26; Marc. 8, 38). 12] Matth. 18,15. 14] (Matth. 13, 25). 21] Matth. 18, 17. 22] (ib. 18, 8). 25] Matth. 5, 29. 30. 1 coram] in U erubescent FOU 5 distructionem U 6 erubescis O1 ut] et FU 7 motus c, motu 0, moto cet . 8 e celo FPU, a celo M, de coelo v 9 sunt U 13 germem F 15 greges U 16 aetterni ausura U 20 silicet PU, scilicet F uinctior FPl 21 tibi ut] tibi FLPU * 23 choeret P\' 24 totum om. F 25 enim est F 27 gehennem 0 est, quoniam de eorum obprobriis atque maledictis nascitur illa merces, quam copiosam deus promisit in caelis. non est, inquit, discipulus super magistrum nec seruus super dominum suum, et, si patrem familias Beelzebub uocauerunt, quanto magis domesticos eius? si dominum et deum quem sequimur amauerunt, et nos amabunt; si illum persecuti sunt, et nos persequentur. quo nobis gratia mundi, quae est odium Christi? si de mundo, inquit, essetis, amaret mundus quod esset suum. Tu ergo, qui rationem quaeris reddere hominibus et his infidelibus, uide quid desideres; gratiam sine dubio hominum id est mundi, cui placere non potes, nisi Christo malueris displicere. si enim, inquit, hominibus placerem, Christi seruus non essem. displiceamus ergo his et gratulemur isdem nos displicere, quibus et deus displicet. non enim nostrum, ut scis, sed domini Iesu Christi id est omnipotentis dei opus in nobis lacessunt; quem in suis actibus spernunt, in nostris operibus oderunt, sero dicturi: domine, quando te uidimus nudum, et non uestiuimus? esurientem, et non cibauimus? infirmum, et non uisitauimus? et tunc audituri: ite in ignem aeternum, quem praeparauit deus patri uestro et angelis eius, quoniam quae indigentibus non faciunt Christo negant, qui cum diues esset, pauper factus est, ut nos sua paupertate ditaret. Fruantur interim uoluptatibus dignitatibus opibus suis, si tamen eorum sunt, quas istic habere malunt ubi esse desinimus, quam illic ubi esse persistimus. sibi habeant sapientiam, sibi felicitatem suam, nobis inopiam nostram, ut putant, et 2] (Matth. 5,12; Luc. 6,23). Matth. 10, 24; Ioh. 13,16. 4] Matth. 10,25. 6] Ioh. 15,20. 8] ib. 19. 13] Gal. 1,10. 18] Matth. 25, 44 et « v. 37 et 38. 20] ib. 41. 23] II Cor. 8,9. 25] (Sap. 2,6). 1 eorum fII, horum v oppropriis U 2 promittit LM 3 suprab ropra t 4 belzebu O, belzebuc PU uocauere U 7 gratiam (h, 10 quaeris] nis M 13 inquit] apostolus add. LM 14 bisdem M nobis L, non F 16 domini] nostri add. v 20 Ute (n eras.) L 22 quae quoniam LM 24 pauperaret F dictaret U 26 isti FPU stultitiam nostram relinquant. de ipsius etiam, quem etsi nomine confitentur, tamen actu negant, habentes speciem pietatis, uirtutem eius abnegantes, de ipsius, inquam, dei nostri uerbis prudentiam sibi, si placet, adrogent et stultitiam nobis exprobrent. ait enim dominus: filii huius saeculi sapientiores sunt filiis lucis, sed adiecit: in hac generatione. sint prudentiores, dum non sint filii lucis. sint una generatione sapientes, dum in illa regeneratione nostra inueniantur excordes. sint nunc beati uel magis fortunati, per omnia prospera blandiente saeculo defluentes, mollibus uestiantur, in domibus regum sint, dum in laboribus hominum non sint et cum hominibus non flagellentur. sint diuites saeculo, quia sunt egentes dei, de quibus scriptum est: diuites eguerunt et esurierunt, sicut de nobis ilico subiectum: inquirentes autem dominum non deficientur omni bono. Vtinam, mi frater, digni habeamur qui maledicamur et notemur et conteramur atque etiam interficiamur in nomine Iesu Christi, dum non ipse occidatur Christus in nobis. tum demum super aspidem et basiliscum ambularemus et conculcaremus caput draconis antiqui. sed adhuc amico, quod peius est, saeculo soluimur et in Christo deliciamur, laudari tantum in nomine ipsius amantes, contristari et tribulari, quod est utilius, recusantes. memento granum sinapis, de quo semine sumus, si conteratur, accendi magis et tum demum in uim suam excitari. quamobrem debemus quasi naturae nostrae in hoc respondere, ut aduersis sermonibus contriti inardescamus ad fidem 1] Tit. 1, 16; n Tim. 3, 5. 5] Luc. 16, 8. 10] (Matth. 11, 8; Luc. 7, 25). 11] Ps. 72, 5. 13] Ps. 33,11. 16] (Act. 5, 41). 19] Ps. 90, 13. 1 nostram nobis FPU 4 sibi si 0, si sibi LM, sibi FPU abrogent FOP, abrogens U 5 exprobem U, exprobent P saeculi om. L 6 generatione hac M 7 post,. . sint] sin U una FOPU, in hac LM, sua v, in ea fort . 9 sint nunc — 1.13 scriptum est add. 0 tlJ. 2 in mg . 10 blandiente Rosw., blandientis L\'M, blandientes cet . 11 dum-non sint om. FPU 12 post . sin U 18 qui M 14 exnrierunt U ut nolet 15 deficient L*M 17 nomino] dui add. M 18 Christi om. M 19 supra FPU badaliscum U 21 post . in] et in U 24 excitari in uim suam M 26 ut] in U contrititi 0 et eos ipsos, qui nos ut minimos hominum scilicet. quasi granum sinapis, quod minimum est seminum, frangere conantur, uramus. si uero hi qui deforis sunt rationem a te sancti operis adquirunt et uenenatas de corde uiperino linguas in cor tuum uibrant, noli dare sanctum canibus et margaritas tuas non proicias ante porcos. quae enim pars . fideli cum infidele? quae societas luci ad tenebras? quae conuentio Christi ad Belial? Tu uero miles Christi armatus ab apostolo galea salutis et lorica iustitiae et scuto fidei et gladio ueritatis et uirtute spiritus sancti, sta in armis caelestibus constans et tela inimici candentia fonte sapientiae et flumine aquae in te uiuentis extingue. depositum custodi, fidem serua, iustitiam sectare, caritatem Christi tene, patientiam aemulare, exerce te ipsum ad pietatem quae ad omnia utilis est, sobrius esto, in omnibus labora, certamen bonum certare, cursum consumma, ut adprehendas in quo adprehensus es; de cetero reponetur tibi corona iustitiae, quam reddet dominus in illa die iustus iudex his qui diligunt aduentum eius. eos autem qui sanam doctrinam non sustinent, uoluptatium amatores magis quam dei, in peius semper proficientes, seducentes et seductos, homines mente corruptos et a ueritate alienos et ob hoc ipsum traditos in concupiscentias cordis sui, in laqueum et desideria multa, quae a fide naufragos mergunt in interitum et perditionem, quia creaturam praetulerunt creatori id est 1] Matth. 13, 31; Marc 4, 81; Luc. 13,19. 5] Matth. 7, 6. 6] n Cor. 6,14. 9] Eph. 6, 14; I Thes. 5, 8; Rom. 15, 13. 12 et sqq.] I Tim. 6, 20; II Tim. 1,14; ib. 2, 22; I Tim. 4, 8; II Tim. 4, 5; ib. 8; ib. 3,4. 24] (I Tim. 6, 9). 26] (Rom. 1, 25). 1 quasi om. F 2 minimQs 0 3 conantur O\'f), conamur Ol, curemus cet . hii LO, om. M, ii v 4 adquirunt 0, inquirunt cet . 7 infideli Lv 10 gladio LMO, galea FPU 11 spiritu U 12 fronte FPU 15 patientia U 17 certa LM consuma FPU ut solent 18 est 0 20 iis v autem] deuita add. Sacch . 21 uoluptatium O, uoluntatum U, uolaptatum cet . 24 traditi 0 post . in om. FMPU et L s. I tla. 1 26 pertulerant 0 simulacra gentium aurum et argentum deo carius habentes, seruantes animas suas in hoc mundo, perdentes in Christo, discede ab huiusmodi et profanas uocum nouitates deuita, ne circa quaestiones aniles et uanas aut inpias uerborum contentiones incipias aegrotare et pericliteris a falsis fratribus aut a perditis reprobatisque sapientibus, et omnes qui uidebunt insultante zabulo dicant: hic homo coepit aedificare et non potuit consummare. quod absit a nobis, qui non nostris operibus aut uiribus sed diuina uirtute et misericordia freti opus perfectionis ausi sumus. potens est ipse, qui est omnipotens, perficere in nobis opus perfectionis suae et quod fundare iam ac primis machinis erigere dignatus est suis struere mensuris et consummare fastigio, quia ipse turbatis ad operis istius molem etiam apostolis suis dignatus est dicere apud homines inpossibile hoc esse, sed non apud deum, in quo credentibus nihil inpossibile est. Verum, ut inuicem in uerbis domini consolemur et operibus proficiamus, exi de terra tua et de cognatione tua, ut Abraham fideli imitatus excessu beato Abrahae sinu dignus sis. festina uenire ad nos, in commune conpendium accepturus et daturus fidei supplementa. hoc enim acceptum coram deo, quia et frater fratrem adiuuans exaltabitur. nos modo in Barcinonensi, ut ante scripseram, ciuitate consistimus. post illas litteras quibus rescripsisti die domini, quo nasci carne dignatus est, repentina, ut ipse testis est, ui multitudinis, sed credo ipsius ordinatione correptus et presbyteratu initiatus sum, fateor, inuitus, non fastidio loci (nam testor ipsum, quia et ab 1] Ps. 113, 4. 2] (Ioh. 12, 25). 8] (I Tim. 6,11). 4] (II Tim. 2, 23. I Tim. 1,4 et 4, 7; Tit. 3, 9). 7] Luc. 14,30. 15] (Matth. 19,26). 18] Gen. 12, 1; Act. 7, 3. 19] (Luc. 16, 22). 22] Prou. 18, 19. 1 argentum et aurum FPU 3 Christo] deuita add. L m. 1(?) 4 ne] nec FU aniles et uanas] et aniles fabulas LM 6 et] sed 0 7 zabulo 0, diabolo cet . 10 ausi Ov, arripere ausi cet . 11 suae om. F u, 13 ab operibus 0 15 oc 0 18 exi et de M, et de (exi om.) L pr. tua om. FPU 19 ut Ov, om. cet . abram F fidef LM excessum LM beati M 20 ut sis FPU 21 acceptum est M 22 et om. LM 23 barcinonensis L1 ciuitatem U 24 illas] enim add. M 26 presbiterata 0 aeditui nomine et officio optaui sacram incipere seruitutem), sed ut alio destinatus, alibi, ut scis, mente conpositus et fixus, nouum insperatumque placitum diuinae uoluntatis expaui. data igitur ceruice in iugum Christi uideo maiora me meritis et sensibus opera tractare iamque arcanis et penetralibus dei summi receptum et insertum communicare caelestia et deo propius admotum in spiritu ipso Christi et corpore et splendore uersari. uix adhuc intellectum sacrae molis capio mentis angustiis et onus muneris mei conscius infirmitatis horresco, sed is, qui sapientiam paruulis dedit et ex ore infantium atque lactantium perficit laudem sibi, potens est in me etiam opus suum perficere et munus ornare, ut se dignum faciat quem ab indigno uocauit. scito tamen uoti communis eodem domino praestante saluam esse rationem; nam ea conditione in Barcinonensi ecclesia consecrari adductus sum, ut ipsi ecclesiae non adligarer, in sacerdotium tantum domini, non etiam in locum ecclesiae dedicatus. Veni igitur, si placet, ante pascha, quod nobis optatius est, ut sacras ferias me sacerdote concelebres; quod si iam ad itineris ingressum propitio deo uis occurrere, post pascha in nomine Christi proficiscere. sed credimus in domino nostro, quia tibi desiderium nostri flagrantius inspirabit, ne ultra pascha tempora ad nos tua proferre sustineas. iter quantum sit et puer unanimitatis tuae renuntiabit, qui ad nos de Elusone octava, ut adseruit, luce peruenit; tam breuis enim et facilis uia est, ut nec in Pyrenaeo ardua sit, qui Narbonensi ad Hispanias agger, nomen magis quam iugum, horrendus interiacet. 10] Ps. 18,8. 8,4. 3 imsperatumque L, speratumque FPU 4 maiorem 0, me maiora M 5 archanis FLM ut solent penetrabilibus M 7 cPpritius 0 9 humerM meis FU, numeris mei P1 10 *is (h eras.) L, his 0 11 atque] et M lactantium 0, lattentium U, lactentium cet . perfecit U 18 notis F 14 deo FU 15 barchinonensi FOPU 21 profiscere P 22 pascli§ M 24 elusone Ov, elusione PU, clusione FLM, Elusa coni. Abr. Ortelius 25 ut] ut ipse FPU 26 pireneo FLMU, pyrineo 0 27 agger v, ager FU, aggeri LM, aggere 0, ager est (est exp. m. 2) P nomine M horridus FPU uerum quid de spatio agam? si nos desideras, uia breuis est; longa, si neglegis.