Letter 44: To our holy, venerable, and most dear brother and sister, Aper and Amanda — Paulinus and Therasia, sinners.

44. To the holy and deservedly venerable and most beloved brethren Aper and Amanda, Paulinus and Therasia, sinners. Who will grant me a fountain of letters like yours, that I might be able to answer your letters, woven together with the varied flower of spiritual graces, [...] eloquent now no more with scholastic than with divine speech, and flowing as if from the land of the divine promise with the milk of piety and the honey of wisdom, of which honey and oil you have sucked from the firm rock, that is, from Christ the Lord, who is the foundation of the eternal house, upon which, having begun to build the edifice of salvation with living works, you strive to build up not wood nor hay and stubble, but gold, silver, and precious stones; because, laying aside together with the old man the hardness, dryness, and fickleness of your former heart, you have become a moist tree, which, green from the neighboring streams of waters, will give its fruit in its season and will never be deprived of the honor of its leaves. Your understanding is gold tried in the fire, and your speech is silver purified sevenfold, which, shining with spiritual grace, brings forth the chaste utterances of the Lord from a pure heart and from a tongue that is the index of the heart. You keep a good and firm treasure in an earthen vessel by a faith that is not fragile, because the vessel of the grace entrusted to you is your mind, which, established within bodily fragility by the governing spirit, offers a solid guardianship for the divine gift. How shall I, poor and grieving, be equal to that wisdom which has bidden me put forth my hand to the table of the mighty one on this condition, that I should know myself made a debtor for a like provision? For behold, you have become to me the table of the mighty one; you have set before me rich foods, which easily seized me, hungering, into all the seasonings of your words, as into the varied dishes of choice viands by their taste and appearance, so that, mindful rather of my own gluttony than of my poverty, I might dare to take up things for which I cannot prepare an equal return. What then shall I do? From whom shall I ask that there be granted or lent to me even the furnishings by which I might rival with worthy display the dining-hall of the rich man, or the means by which I, a poor man, might feed the rich man in return? Who will come to my aid in the obligation of this debt except you, Lord Jesus, who ever bind yourself as debtor to every poor man of yours who lends, and promise that you will be the repayer for those who now have no means of repaying? Be present now to me, and in place of my poverty pay my debt to your Aper out of your own riches; make his streams drunk and multiply your generations in him, that he may stand in your house like a fruitful olive, may flourish like the palm, and be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon. But let me return to your letter, in which I rejoice like one who has found much spoil; and although I can offer back nothing of the like from my own words, yet, as the starving do, who, when the banquet of a rich feast has been digested, begin again to hunger out of their own want, console their hunger by the remembrance of their past fullness and feed their empty soul by the present thought of an absent banquet: so I will weave this letter together in the reconsidering of your discourse, and will report my own delight, bestowing nothing upon you, and will speak not so much my own prayer toward you as my experience drawn from you. For your letters have set forth to me the face of your heart, those letters of good hope, letters of unfeigned faith, letters of pure charity. What most holy love they breathe, how sweet and how great is the fragrance of Christ in them, what an abundance of a sincere heart boils up in them, how they pant to us your thirst and the longing and fainting of your soul for the courts of the Lord! What thanks they render to God, what they obtain from God, which to me, as I read, offer the spectacles of the graces of God flourishing in you and of the virtues already at work! There the little ones, or even the half-grown sons of Babylon, are dashed against the rock, that is, the vices of worldly confusion and pride, which faith, having more readily come to grips with them, will overcome, if at the very beginnings it takes precaution to dash them against Christ, anticipating the infirmity of their growth. There too the cedars of Lebanon, laid down to the ground and raised up into the framework of the ark by the joining of charity, cut through the waves of this world with their unrottable strength. In that same place Christ, aroused, seems to calm the winds and seas for you, that he may guide the course of your steering to his own stability; he for whom there is now both a passage in the ship of your body and a pillow in your heart, because the sparrow has there found a house for itself, and has in you where to lay its head. There too is your wife, no guide for her husband to softness or avarice, but a guide back to continence and fortitude, returned into the bones of her husband; marvelous in that great emulation of the divine marriage with the Church, she whom, restored and given back to you in spiritual bonds the firmer in proportion as they are the chaster, the charity of Christ joins to you as your own unity, into whose body you have passed from your own. Blessed are you of the Lord, who has made both one, joining the two in himself, who alone does wondrous things, who has converted not only souls but also affections, temporal things into eternal. Behold, you remain the same spouses as you were, yet not spouses as you were; you are the same and not the same; and just as you no longer know Christ, so neither do you any longer know your own selves according to the flesh. This is the change of the right hand of the Most High, which, remaining within itself, renews all things and turns the sea into dry land, binding the floods of the vices to the dryness of continence. Blessed is she among women and faithful and most acceptable to the Lord in this devotion also, by which she has set herself against the necessities of the world for your sake, like a certain tower established immovable upon a rock against the storms. Truly, founded with the firm footing of a vigorous mind upon that rock itself, upon which the house once built will not fall, she has been made for you a tower of protection from the face of the enemy, breaking the waves and whirlwinds of the world by the interposition of her pious service, so that you, shut off from the open sea, may safe in the harbor of the Church ply the boat of your unshaken mind in continual meditation of heavenly studies and works, as by a certain oarage of salvation. For bodily exercise, it is said, profits for a little; but piety is profitable for all things, which has subjected you to Christ, you who prefer even to lie in the house of the Lord rather than to be eminent in the tents of sinners; and it has pledged your fellow-servant to bodily labors out of spiritual affection for your soul, that it might make her servitude the price of your liberty, she serving not the world in worldly affairs but Christ, for whose sake she suffers the world, that you may not suffer. Truly, according to the divine work and word, made into a helper for you and having her own conversion toward you, she depends upon your nod and stands fast in your station, walks in your footsteps, is animated in your soul, fails for your life, that she may be restored in your life. She tends the cares of the world, that you may not be careful; she takes care that you may be careful for the things of heaven. She seems to possess, that you may not be possessed by the world, and that you may be possessed by Christ. No discordant will disjoins her from your purpose, but, what is more wondrous, concordant faith divides in work her who is joined in will. For, without captivity of the soul, administering the matter of captivity in liberty of spirit, she has strengthened her hands to the works of virtue; she has stretched out her arms to useful things, having strongly girt her loins, and, not eating the bread of idleness, she has been made for you like a ship that trades from afar, by a necessary division rendering through herself to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, that the things which are God's she may minister through you to God. For when she has paid tribute, as it is written, to whom tribute is due, then, both opening her hands to the poor and reaching out the fruit of her work to the needy, she pays a spiritual impost and supplies the return of her possession as the stipend of your warfare, being more greedy of saving loss than of deadly gain. Such as she is, the heart of her husband trusts in her. For she works, as it is written, good for her husband all her life, and not evil; and therefore you are not anxiously occupied with the earthly things that are done in your house; what is done in the heavenly house you carry out strenuously and free. Nor are you put to confusion when you speak with your enemies in the gate, because a woman of wisdom, such as has been given to you, more precious than precious stones, makes you circumspect in the doorways of the Church. And double cloaks, it is said, she has made for her husband. Does it not seem to you that she too weaves these double cloaks for you, and for herself garments of purple or fine linen, since both her faith doubles your grace, because a good woman is a crown to her husband, and in turn your honor is purple to her, because, the grace of the Lord tempering it, clothed simply in the unity of faith, you put on one another by the working of spiritual virtues? You are to her a head in Christ, and she a foundation to you, by whose work your foot stands in the way of the Lord, and whom the joining of faith, made a fellow-member in the body of the Lord, will make a partaker of your head; because, even in the diversity of solicitude, the assent of a consonant mind nevertheless preserved, joined to the resolution of your purpose, while you exercise, a faithful and skilled multiplier of your master's talents, the dispensation entrusted to you, she too does not lay up on earth what she works out from earthly fruits, but rather puts it out at interest in your works rather than in the harmful gains of avarice. And therefore the fruit of her hands shall be given to her, and her husband shall be praised in the gates of the daughter of Zion in the Lord, who from the labor of the same work, diverse but with equal zeal, prepares for you a crop sown together into a common harvest, that on that day you may come together in exultation, bringing your sheaves, she the minister of the seed and you the sower of the ministry. For she shall not be defrauded of fellowship in your reward through the merit of this her contribution, by which, obeying not her own will but your salvation, she proves by the very evidence of this work the judgment of her faith, sufficiently showing how much she too judges contempt of the world preferable to its use, she who has preferred spiritual things for you, preferring not this world to Christ but you to herself. May the Lord add over you and your sons; for the mercy of the Lord, won by the merits of the parents, will raise up, as it is written, their sons, and they shall be enriched in the goods of the Lord. And I hope that, just as your wife in the sides of your house is like an abundant vine, exuberant with the fruits of piety for you, so that there fall at your side a thousand and ten thousand at your right hand, so also your sons shall deserve to stand round the table of the Lord with you like young olive shoots; whom I now suppose to be fed, like eaglets, on the foods of divine wisdom and of your good manner of life, so that even now they may learn to eat, as their parents' prey, the depopulated flesh, that is, the carnal enmities which are opposed to the spirit, and to consume them with spiritual voracity, and, with the oarage of their wings strengthened, to fly away into the heights of the virtues. May they be brought up like the sons of the prophets, who, turning aside from the tumultuous dwelling of the city to compose their soul in the peace of silence, measured out for themselves secret habitations beside the channel of the Jordan. May they be consecrated like the sons of Aaron, not however those who, kindling a strange fire to the Lord, were burnt up by the divine fire which they themselves lacked, but like Eleazar and Ithamar, deservedly perpetual successors of their father's dignity, because they were not degenerate heirs of holiness. But it seems to me that whoever, kindling in the sanctuary of his heart the fire of any bodily or worldly desire, dares to approach the altars of the Lord, kindles a strange fire; for those altars do not receive anything except the kindling of that fire of which he says: I have come to send fire upon the earth, and what do I will, if it is already kindled? With this fire, Lord Jesus, kindle us always, that we may be illumined in our senses and may burn away in our vices; for this fire alone, which is from you, will resist the eternal fire. Having a burning heart in the way of the Lord, we kindle for the Lord no strange but our own fire, and, fortified by this fire among the fires of the world, we shall, like those children in the furnace, be bedewed amid the whistling rush of the flames, and shall sing a hymn to the Lord amid the conflagrations made cool, the Son of God joining in the song. For he himself said that he would always be present also in the concord of two or three. Whence we trust that he abides also in the midst of your house, where both in you and in your sons one assembly of numerous souls is conducted. In which we too, absent only in body, beseech that you may join us together by your spiritual presence, that you may water the little thirsting garden of our soul not only with word but also with prayer; which we can cultivate neither with our own hands, as being infirm, nor with hired hands, as being poor, and by what way we may seek your way we do not find, because we are not able to dig and are ashamed to beg. Whence the more earnestly we stand in need of the aid of your prayers, because who will hire useless workmen, or grant to those who do not ask? Yet sometimes those who have poor and uncultivated fields, despairing of fruits from their own resource or hand, turn all their hopes to divine aids; and often, with the outcome granted according to faith making up for diligence, those whom skilled cultivation forsook a pious mark has aided by religion. Pray therefore that the almighty Lord, who has set rivers in the desert, may turn our dry land into outlets of waters, may strike and break through the hardness of our heart, that he may turn this rock also into a pool of water. And would that he might besprinkle it with that dew with which he steeped that mystic fleece on the threshing-floor; for the dew which is from him is health to us. Pray, I say, that, having deigned to enter our little garden, he may bid the north wind arise and the south wind come, by whose breathing the vital breezes our seedlings may grow alive. But also, if, having entered his vineyard, he should find our tree without fruit, let him spare to cut it down, and, with mercy deferring, let him give credence to the husbandman who intervenes, who promises that by his diligence the fruit is to be wrung from the barren fig tree. For the Lord himself is able, who intercedes for our sins and who calls the things that are not as though they were, to make even out of us, needy and dry, a fruitful tree, and to enrich an empty soul with the fatness of his word as with a basket of dung, because it is written: From his grace the bounds of the desert shall grow fat. Now this basket of dung, which makes a fertile tree out of a barren one, seems to me especially to be spiritual humility, by which, afflicting our heart with repentance of our past vanity, we empty out vain things and receive the sap of virtue, by which we who were barren of the works of righteousness are rendered fruitful. It is good for us therefore to enter into our recesses and to humble in fasting -- by which there is fasting from the works of darkness -- our soul, that from the dung of this humility, which is base to the world but dear to God, it may be raised up through him who raises up the needy from the earth and lifts the poor man from the dung. The grace of God be with you.

XXXXIIII. SANCTIS ET MERITO VENERANDIS AC DILECTISSIMIS FRATRIBVS APRO ET AMANDAE PAVLINVS ET THERASIA PECCATORES. Quis daret mihi fontem litterarum tuarum, ut respondere possem litteris tuis uario gratiarum spiritalium flore consertis 4] Ps. 43,22. 4 hominum om. M 5 oculis hominum FPU erat oculis M cordis erat 0 non om. 0 8 uere] uiri 0 10 et morum-l. 12 conformationis bis exh. U sua consilia Ov, consilia sua cet . 11 irrationalibus U rationabili F\'jPU, rationali FiLDiv, rationabilis 0 15 petiisse FPU 16 fructum ferre M cognosoat debere U 17 inmortalitate P, immortale FU reparat FPU 20 tempore] oro te ualere add. FP\'U. — finit ad desiderium 0. FLMOPU . — item ad quem supra XXXI. L, ad eundem . XXXVim • Af, incipit . Ill. 0, epistola sancti paulini episcopi ao (sic) aprum et XXYIIII. Paalini Nol. epistalae. 24 nec iam scolastico magis quam diuino sermone facundis et afluentibus quasi de terra repromissionis diuinae lacte pietatis et melle sapientiae, cuius et mel et oleum suxisti de firma petra id est Christo domino, qui est fundamentum aeternae domus, super quod uiuis operibus struere aedificium salutis exorsus non ligna nec fenum et stipulam, sed aurum argentum et lapides pretiosos superaedificare moliris, quia praeteriti cordis duritiam ariditatem atque leuitatem cum ueteri homine deponens effectus es lignum humidum, quod uicinis aquarum decursibus uirens fructum suum dabit in tempore suo neque umquam priuabitur honore foliorum. sensus tuus aurum est igne examinatum et sermo tuus argentum est purgatum septuplum, qui gratia spiritali renidens eloquia domini casta de corde puro et lingua indice cordis expromit. bonum tu firmumque thesaurum in uase fictili non fragili fide seruas, quia commissae tibi gratiae uas mens tua est, quae intra corpoream fragilitatem confirmata spiritu principali solidam diuino muneri custodiam praebet. pauper ego et dolens quomodo parebo sapientiae, quae me ad mensam potentis hac conditione praecepit mittere manum, ut me sciam similis apparatus fieri debitorem? ecce enim tu mihi mensa potentis factus es; adposuisti mihi diuites escas, quae me esurientem facile in omnia uerborum tuorum quasi in uaria electarum gustu et aspectu dapum scitamenta rapuerunt, ut 7] (Deut. 32,18; I Cor. 10,4. 3, 12). 9] (Ps. 1, 3). 12] Ps. 11,7. 17] (Ps. 50,14). 18] Ps. 68, 30. \' amandam coniugem eius. ubi in laudem eius et uxoris: quod matrimonio et seculi rebus pro xpo renumptiantes diuino seruitio se manciparunt pulcre et apte multa proloquitur U 22 et om. F uenerabilibus F 23 amando Fl, amande P peccatores om. LMPUv 24 tuarum om. U ut] et F 25 spiritalium om. F confertis FMU 2 afluentibus 0, affluentibus cet . latte U 3 oleum et mel FPU succisti F, subsisti U 4 de christo U 6 exosus F 7 et om. M molis U 10 decursis U 11 filiorum U 12 exinanitum P1 13 quis ex PU renitens F 14 de] et FPU cordis om. U promit F 15 thesarum F 16 seruans FOPU commisset ibi 0 17 sprincipali U 20 condicione L gulae potius meae quam inopiae memor auderem sumere quibus paria praeparare non possum. quid igitur agam, a quo mihi tribui uel commodari petam uel supellectilem, qua possim digno ambitu triclinium diuitis aemulari, uel inpendia, quibus possim diuitem pauper repascere? quis mihi in huius debiti obligatione subueniet nisi tu, domine Iesu, qui te omni pauperi tuo semper obligas commodanti et pro his retributorem fore spondes, qui nunc non habeant retribuendi facultatem. adesto nunc mihi et pro inopia mea Apro tuo de tuis meum debitum solue diuitiis; riuos eius inebria et multiplica in illo generationes tuas, ut existat in domo tua sicut oliua fructifera, florescat ut palma et multiplicetur ut cedrus Libani. Sed reuertar ad litteras tuas, in quibus laetor sicut qui inuenit spolia multa, et licet de meis uerbis nihil simile possim referre, tamen ut famelici faciunt, cum epulis opimi conuiuii digestis iterum de sua inopia esurire coeperint, famem suam praeteritae saturitatis recordatione solantur et animam inanem praesenti cogitatione absentis conuiuii pascunt: ita ego hanc epistulam in tui sermonis retractatione contexam et uoluptatem meam referam, nihil tibi largiens, nec uotum erga te meum potius quam de te experimentum loquar. expresserunt enim mihi faciem cordis tui litterae tuae, illae litterae spei bonae, litterae fidei non fictae, litterae purae caritatis. quid amoris sanctissimi spirant, quam suauis in his et quantus Christi odor fragrat, quanta opulentia sinceri cordis 6] (Prou. 19, 17). 8] (Luc. 14, 14). 10] Ps. 64, 11. 11] Ps. 51,10. 14] Ps. 118, 162. 23 sqq.] (August. ep. 27, c. 3 et 2). 2 praeparari U possum FIO, possim cet . 3 subellectilem L1, suppellectilem MP possem 0 6 te om. FPU 7 pauperi M v, paupere cet . 8 spondis 0 habeant Ov, habent cet . 9 apro w ac pro corr . at m. rec. F 12 in palma 0 15 inueniet U possim simile FPU qai 16 cum M 17 coeperunt FPU 19 presentis FPU absentis om. FPU conuii L pascant 0 20 tuis 0 retractationem FLPU contexam Ov, contextam cet . 21 uoluptatem Ov, uoluntatem cet . nec] sed M 22 expręserunt 0 26 odor x M flagrat LMO 24* exaestuat, quomodo nobis anhelant sitim tuam et desiderium defectumque animae tuae in atria domini, quas agunt gratias deo, quas inpetrant a deo, quae legenti mihi florescentium in te gratiarum dei iamque operantium uirtutum praebent spectacula! Ibi paruuli siue etiam adultuli Babylonis filii eliduntur ad petram, uitia scilicet confusionis superbiaeque saecularis, quae procliuius fides congressa superabit, si in primordiis ad Christum inlidere anticipata crescentium infirmitate praecauerit. ibi et cedri Libani ad terram depositae et in arcae fabricam conpagine caritatis erectae mundi huius fluctus inputribili robore secant. ibidem excitatus Christus, ut directionis tuae cursum ad stabilitatem suam ducat, uentos et maria tibi placans uidetur, cui iam in corporis tui naue uectatio et in tuo corde ceruical est, quia inuenit illic passer domum sibi, et habens in te, ubi reclinet caput suum. illic et coniunx, non dux ad mollitudinem uel auaritiam uiro suo, sed ad continentiam et fortitudinem redux in ossa uiri sui, magna illa diuini cum ecclesia coniugii aemulatione mirabilis est, quam tuam unitatem reductam ac redditam spiritalibus tibi tanto firmioribus quanto castioribus nexibus caritas Christi copulat, in cuius corpus transistis a uestro. Benedicti uos domino, qui fecit utrumque unum, condens in semet ipsum duo, faciens mirabilia solus, qui conuertit non solum animas sed et affectus, temporalia 6] (Ps. 136, 9). 10] (Ps. 28, 5). 13] (Matth. 8, 26; Luc. 8, 24). 15] Ps. 83, 4. 16] (Matth. 8, 20). 17] (Gen. 2, 23). 18] (Eph. 5, 32). 23] Eph. 2,14.15. 24] Ps. 71,18. 25] (Ps. 22, 3). 1 quantam opulentiam s. c. ezaestuant Augustinus ep . 27, c. 3 quodmodo FPU anhelat 0, hanelant U, hanellant P 2 quas-deo om. M 4 iamquae 0 6 adulti LM filiae FPU liduntur FPU 9 firmitate M precauerit] studuerit M 10 arce F, arcis U 11 in mundi FPU 12 robure 0 13 currum U 15 sibi] suam FPU 16 habens] habet LMv in te om. LM coniui M 17 non dui om. FPU, dux om. LMOv: non dux add. ex Augwtini epist. c . 2 Sacch . auaritiamJ lasciuiam M 18 reduxit FPU ora Ul 20 redactam v et ad Augustini epist. c . 2 Lebrun et spiritalibus Lebrun 22 nostro U 23 a domino F 24 facies F in aeterna. manetis ecce idem coniuges ut fuistis, sed non ita coniuges ut fuistis; estis ipsi nec ipsi; et sicut Christum, ita et uosmet ipsos iam secundum carnem non nostis. haec mutatio dexterae excelsi, quae in se manens omnia innouat et conuertit mare in aridam, ad continentiae siccitatem stringens fluenta uitiorum. benedicta haec inter mulieres et hac quoque deuotione fidelis et acceptissima domino, qua se necessitatibus saeculi pro te uelut quaedam procellis in immobili scopulo stabilita turris opposuit. uere in ipsa petra illa, super quam aedificata domus non cadet, solido strenuae mentis fundata uestigio facta est tibi turris protectionis a facie inimici, undas et turbines saeculi frangens piae seruitutis obiectu, ut tu seclusus a pelago tutam in ecclesiae portu mentis inconcussae ratem in meditatione continua studiorum operumque caelestium quasi quodam remigio salutis exerceas. corporalis enim, inquit, exercitatio ad modicum; nam pietas ad omnia utilis est, quae te subdidit Christo praeferentem uel iacere in domo domini quam in peccatorum tabernaculis eminere, et conseruam tuam in labores corporeos ex affectu spiritali pro tua anima pignorauit, ut pretium libertatis tuae faceret seruitutem suam, non illa in saecularibus negotiis mundo sed Christo seruiens, propter quem mundum patitur, ne tu patiaris. uere iuxta diuinum opus et uerbum facta in adiutorium tibi et ad te habens 2] (II Cor. 5,16). 3] Ps. 76,11. 5] Ps. 65,6. 9] (Matth. 7,24). 11] Ps. 60, 4. 16] I Tim. 4, 8. 18] Ps. 83,11. 21] (II Tim. 2,4). 23] (Gen. 2,18). 1 aeterna mutans. Ecce v iidem F 2 coniugis 0 ut 0, quod U, qui cet . et] sed FPU 4 dextrae F innouat omnia M 9 in Ov, om. cet . turres 0 uere illa in ipsa M 11 facta-inimici om. M 14 ecclesiam 0 inconcussam P1 in Ov, om. cet . 15 remigio quodam U 17 modicum] utilis est add. U quae te] qua et F, Quam et U, que et P 19 tabernaculis peccatorum F 20 labores corporeos Ov, labore corporeo cet . ez Rosw., et Ov, sed cet . 21 libertatem suam precium faceret libertatis tuae M libertatem L 22 in Ov, om. cet . mundo negotiis U 28 opus om. U conuersionem suam de nutu tuo pendet et in tuo statu sistit, in uestigiis tuis ambulat, in anima tua animatur, pro uita tua deficit, ut in tua uita reficiatur. curat illa saeculi curas, ne tu cures; curat ut (caeli) cures. possidere uidetur, ne tu possidearis a mundo et ut possidearis a Christo. non illam a proposito tuo discors abiungit uoluntas, sed quod magis mirum est, concors fides opere diuidit uoluntate coniunctam. nam sine animi captiuitate rem captiuitatis in libertate spiritus administrans firmauit manus suas in opera uirtutis; brachia sua extendit ad utilia accincta fortiter lumbos suos et escas pigritiae non edens facta est tibi tamquam nauis, quae mercatur a longinquo, necessaria diuisione reddens per se Caesari quae sunt Caesaris, ut quae dei sunt per te ministret deo. nam cum tributum, sicut scriptum est, dederit cui debet tributum, tunc et manus suas adaperiens pauperi et fructum operae suae porrigens inopi spiritale uectigal pensitat et reditum possessionis in tuae militiae stipendium suggerit, salutaris damni auarior quam letalis lucri. quae talis est, fidit in ea cor mariti eius. operatur enim, ut scriptum est, uiro suo bona tota uita sua et non mala, et ideo non sollicitus agis quae in domo tua terrena aguntur; quod in domo caelesti agitur strenue liber exequeris. nec confunderis, cum loqueris inimicis tuis in porta, quia sapientiae mulier, qualis tibi donata est, pretiosior lapidibus pretiosis circumspectum te facit in foribus ecclesiae. et duplicia 2] (Gen. 3,16). 8] Prou. 31, 19. 9] Prou. 31, 14.17. 12] (Matth. 22, 21; Marc. 12,17; Luc. 20, 25). 13] (Rom. 13,7). 15] Prou. 31, 20. 18] Prou. 31,12. 13. 22] Ps. 126, 5. 25] Prou. 31, 22. 1 tuo nutu FM1 pendet sistit U tuo statu tuo M sistet 0 2 uita tua OMf), tua uita FPU, uita L 4 curat ut (ne U, ne tu F) FLOPU, om. Mv caeli add., om. 01 cures om. Mv 5 ut] tu U possidearis a christo (sidearis a mundo et ut pos add. in mg. m. 1) L 7 uidit diuidit U coniuntam U, coniectam 0 9 opere v 12 nec cessana L cesaris F 13 ut] et FPU 15 tunc (t in ras.) L fructu Of), de fructu coni. Sacch . opere suo 0 16 inopia 0 redditum LM, debitum FPU 17 in salutaris dampnia arior 0 19 maritis 01 eius] sui FPU 21 sed quod M 25 circumspetuum 0 faciat L dupplicia MO pallia, inquit, fecit uiro suo. nonne tibi uidetur et haec duplicia tibi pallia ac purpurea uel byssina sibi uestimenta contexere, cum et illius fides gratiam tuam duplicet, quia mulier bona corona est uiro suo, et uicissim illi honor tuus purpura est, quia temperante domini gratia simpliciter fidei unitate uestiti superinduitis uos inuicem spiritalium operatione uirtutum? tu illi in Christo caput, et illa fundamentum tibi, cuius opere pes tuus stat in uia domini et quam capitis tui participem faciet commembrata in domini corpore fidei conpago, quia et in sollicitudinis diuersitate, saluo tamen consonae mentis adsensu, ad propositi tui iuncta sententiam, dum tu creditam tibi dispensationem fidelis et sollers talentorum herilium multiplicator exerces, nec illa quod de terrenis elaborat fructibus thesaurizat in terra, sed tuis potius operibus quam damnosis auaritiae quaestibus feneratur. et ideo dabitur illi fructus a manibus suis, et laudabitur in portis filiae Sion maritus eius in domino, qui uobis ab operis eiusdem labore diuerso sed pari studio consitam segetem in communem praeparat messem, ut in illa die pariter in exultatione ueniatis adferentes manipulos uestros, ministra illa seminis et tu ministerii seminator. non enim defraudabitur consortio mercedis tuae per meritum conpensationis istius, qua non uoluntati suae obtemperans sed saluti tuae, huius ipsius operis documento probat iudicium fidei suae satis indicans, quanto et ipsa potiorem saeculi contemptum quam usum iudicet, quae 3] Prou. 12, 4. 7] (I Cor. 11, 3). 11] (I Cor. 9, 17). 12] (Matth. 25, 15). 13] (Matth. 6,19). 15] Prou. 31,31. 19] (Ps. 125,6). 1 inquit pallia M fecit om. U 2 bissina FLMPU sibi] tibi Ov 3 dupplicet 0, duplicat Rosw . 5 domini gratia Ov, domino gratiam cet . 6 uestitis L1 superinduetis 0 8 stat MI0V, stet cet . quam om. F 9 faciet Of], faciat cet . 10 in om. FPU 11 assensu in ras. M ad OJ, ac v iuncta om. M sententia Ov 12 tu] te F creditum 0 sollers MO, solers cet . 18 laborat 0 14 operibus in opibus corr. L 15 feneratur Ov, fęnerat FM, fenerat LPU 16 animabus suis 0 17 ab] ad FPU 18 consitum 0 21 consortiorum L 1 22 istius qua] tuae quia M 23 ipsius om. FPU 24 docimento 0, documenta FPU 25 comptentum U iudicet] uidelicet U spiritalia tibi maluit, non hoc saeculum Christo sed te sibi praeferens. Adiciat dominus super uos et filios uestros. misericordia enim domini promerita parentibus suscitabit, ut scriptum est, filios eorum, et locupletabuntur in bonis domini. spero autem, quod sicut uxor tua in lateribus domus tuae sicut uitis abundans est fructibus tibi pietatis exuberans, ut cadant a latere tuo mille et decem milia a dextris tuis, ita et filii tui mensam domini tecum sicut nouellae oliuarum circumsistere merebuntur, quos nunc arbitror diuinae sapientiae, bonae conuersationis uestrae escis ut pullos aquilarum cibari, ut depopulatas praeda parentum carnes id est carnales inimicitias, quae aduersantur spiritui, iam nunc edere discant et spiritali uoracitate consumere et in superna uirtutum confirmatis alarum remigiis euolare. educentur sicut filii prophetarum, qui tumultuosam ciuitatis habitationem ad conponendam pace silentii animam declinantes iuxta Iordanis alueum sibi habitacula secreta metati sunt. consecrentur sicut filii Aaron, non tamen illi qui ignem alienum domino accendentes exusti sunt igne diuino, quo ipsi carebant, sed ut Eleazar et Ithamar merito perpetui successores dignitatis paternae, quia non degeneres sanctitatis heredes. Ignem autem mihi alienum uidetur accendere, quisquis corporeae uel saecularis alicuius cupiditatis ignem in sacrario sui cordis accendens audeat adpropinquare altaribus domini, quae non recipiunt nisi illius ignis accensionem, de quo ait: ignem ueni mittere in terram, et quid uolo, si iam accensus est? hoc igne nos, domine Iesu, semper accende, 3] Ps. 113,14. 4] Eccli. 3,11. 6] Ps. 127, 3. 8] Ps. 90,7. 18] (IllI Reg. 6, 2). (Leu. 10,1). 27] Luc. 12,49. 2 proferens U 3 et super filios U 4 suscitauit FOPU 8 ut— tuis om. M 9 et] ut F tecum om. FPU 10 nouella LMOP1 11 estis F 13 inimititias 0 17 pace M*, pacem cet . animam] aniati (ati in ras., ni in m corr.) L, amari cod. Vien . 19 ut illi M 20 adusti F 21 et itamar Ov, et ythamar M, et thamar FP, om. U 23 alienum mihi U 24 corpore F 26 accensione 0 ut inluminemur in sensibus, deflagremus in uitiis; hic enim solus qui a te est ignis igni resistet aeterno. habentes autem cor ardens in uia domini non alienum sed suum ignem domino accendimus et inter ignes saeculi hoc igne muniti sicut illi in camino pueri intersibilante impetu flammis rorabimur et hymnum domino inter incendia refrigerantia dei filio concinente cantabimus. ipse enim dixit in duorum quoque uel trium concordia se semper interfuturum. unde confidimus, quia et in medio domus tuae diuersatur, ubi et in uobis et in filiis unus numerosarum agitur coetus animarum. in quo nos quoque solo absentes corpore spiritali praesentia conseratis precamur, ut animae nostrae hortulum sitientem non solum uerbo sed et precatu rigetis, quem neque nostris manibus ut infirmi neque conductis ut inopes excolere possumus et qua uia tuam uiam quaeramus non inuenimus, quia non fodere ualemus et mendicare erubescimus. unde inpensius adiutorio orationum uestrarum indigemus, quia quis aut inutiles conducet operarios aut tribuet non petentibus? nonnumquam tamen qui agros inopes et incultos habent desperatis ab ope uel manu sua fructibus spes omnes suas ad auxilia diuina conuertunt, et saepe euentu iuxta fidem praestito conpensante diligentiam religione quos sollers cultura deseruit pia nota iuuerunt. Orate ergo, ut dominus omnipotens, qui posuit flumina in desertum, conuertat aridam nostram in exitus 2] (Luc. 24,32). 6] (Dan. 3,24). 7] (Matth. 18,20). 15] (Luc. 16, 3). 23] Ps. 106,33. 35. 1 in om. Osv et Sacch . deflagremur FU1 in om. Sacch . 2 igni] igne FPU resistit LM 5 inter sibilantes Lv impetus L flammas v rorabuntur M 6 himmum F, ymnum M intercendia 0 7 quoque om. FPU 9 alt . et om. U nobis FOPU 11 conserti LM 12 ut animae] unime U ortulum FLMPU 14 inopere 0 possimus FPU u uia Lv, uita cet . tui uia M qua uiaticum uia quaeramus coni. Baech . 15 quia OPv, qui cet . fodere non v 17 quia-I. 22 iuuerunt om. M quis v, aliquis FLOP, om. U inutilis LOv aut inutiles conducet aliquis U 18 tribuat FP 19 disperatis 0 ope] omni FPU O 21 saepe] spe F 22 solers FPU cura F 23 orate g in ras. M aquarum, percutiat et interrumpat duritiam cordis nostri, ut hanc quoque petram conuertat in stagnum aquae. atque utinam illo rore respergat, quo illud mysticum in area uellus infecit. ros enim, qui ab illo est, sanitas est nobis. orate, inquam, ut hortulum nostrum introire dignatus exurgere aquilonem iubeat et austrum uenire, quibus auras uitales adflantibus germina nostra uiuescant. sed et si uineam suam ingressus arborem nostram sine fructu inuenerit, parcat excidere et misericordia differente credat agricolae interuenienti, qui extorquendum diligentia sua fructum de sterili ficulnea pollicetur. potens est enim ipse dominus, qui interpellat pro peccatis nostris et qui uocat ea quae non sunt tamquam quae sint, facere et de nobis egenis et aridis arborem fructuosam et animam inanem adipe uerbi sui tamquam cophino stercoris opimare, quia scriptum est: de ipsius gratia pinguescent fines deserti. cophinus autem hic stercoris, qui de sterili fertilem arborem facit, specialiter mihi uidetur humilitas spiritalis, qua contribulantes cor nostrum paenitudine praeteritae uanitatis euacuamus inania et sucum uirtutis accipimus, qua qui operibus iustitiae steriles eramus reddimur fructuosi. bonum ergo nobis intrare in recessus nostros et humiliare in ieiunio, quo ieiunatur ab operibus tenebrarum, animam nostram, ut ab huius humilitatis stercore, quae saeculo uilis, deo cara est, erigatur per eum, qui suscitat de terra inopem et de stercore erigit pauperem. gratia dei uobiscum. 1] (Exod. 17, 6). 2] (ludic. 6, 37). 5] (Cant. 4, 16). 9] (Luc. 18, 8). 11] Rom. 4, 17. 12] Rom. 4,17. 15] Ps. 64, 13. 24] Ps. 112, 7. 1 ut] et FPU 2 illo Ov, illo nos cet . 3 aspergat U misticum illud F in om. FLM area 0, aeree U, areae FM, araeae L, area P 5 ortulum FMPU 7 et om. FOU 8 nostrum FU fructum 0 9 differente Fv, diferente 0, deferente cet . 10 stereli 0 ficulnee 0 12 tanquam ea quae U sunt LIMU 14 uerbi sui tanquam ex uerbis nt uitam quam P m. 2 cofino 0 15 scriptum (nt m. 2) M pinguescunt FPU 16 cofinus 0 hic om. M stereli 0 17 arbore LM 18 plenitudine U 19 qua] et LM 20 qui LM, om. cet . reddimur] erimus M 21 est ergo LM uestros FPU humiliari Ml in ieiunio] inienio 0 22 ieiunetur FLPU 24 erigatur 0 v, erigamur cet . terra ex Dextera P m. 2 . — finit ad aprum • ill. 0 .