Institute for Colossians Studies

Argumentum

The Colossians—these, like the Laodiceans, are Asians, and they too had been preempted by false apostles. The Apostle did not visit them in person, but he corrects them as well by letter. For they had heard the word from Archippus, who also accepted a ministry to them. Therefore, the Apostle, already in chains, writes to them from Ephesus by Tychicus the deacon and Onesimus the acolyte.

Chapter 1

Col 1:1–12

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ Jesus who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ Jesus on your behalf, and has made known to us your love [folio CCLIVr] in the Spirit. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of God, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to God the Father, who has made us worthy to share the lot of the saints in light.”

That tunic of the Lord woven from the top down, which signifies the eternity of love, since it could not be divided by his persecutors, had lots cast for it (John 19:24). By those to whom it came, it signified those who are seen to belong to the lot of the saints. “By grace you have been saved through faith,” the Apostle says (Eph 2:8). “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, but it is the gift of God, not from works”—as though you had done good works so that you would be worthy to attain this. “Not from works, lest anyone boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:9–10). This is, in a way, a hidden lot. The will of God in the human race is a lot; the lot comes from the hidden will of God, in whom there is no injustice. For he shows no partiality, but his hidden justice is a lot for you.

Col 1:13

“He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”

Whoever you are who reads these things and, by reading the apostolic writings and searching the prophetic writings, comes to know the grace of God by which we are redeemed into eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, and sees the Old Testament revealed in the New and the New concealed in the Old: recall whom the apostle Paul called the “prince of the power of the air, who is at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph 2:2); and what he says about certain people, “that they may come to their senses and escape the snares of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim 2:26); and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, where, driving him out of the hearts of believers, he says, “Now the prince of this world has been cast out” (John 12:31); and the words of the same Apostle when he says, “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” Having reasoned through these and similar things, direct your mind to the writings of the Old Testament, and see what he sings in that psalm whose title is “When the house was being built after the captivity” (Ps 96:1), for there he says, “Sing to the Lord a new song.”

And do not think this pertains only to the Jewish people. “Sing to the Lord, all the earth,” he says. “Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Proclaim his salvation from day to day” (Ps 96:1–2). Indeed, I will translate the very word that is used in the Greek: euangelizate (“evangelize” or “preach the gospel of”) his salvation from day to day. For from this is named the “gospel,” in which is announced from day to day the Lord Christ, light from light, Son from the Father. For this is his salvation, because the salvation of God is Christ. Therefore, these enemies, along with their king the devil, held the people of God captive. But when we are redeemed from this captivity, and the prince of this world is cast out, the house is built after the captivity, whose cornerstone is Christ, who created the two in himself into one new man, making peace (Eph 2:15); because coming day after day, he evangelized those who were near and those who were far off, making the two one, and bringing in other sheep that are not of this fold, so that there might be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16).

These enemies, therefore, the devil and his angels, had taken captive those who were predestined for the kingdom and glory of God. But having been cast out by our Redeemer, they who used to rule over believers internally now attack believers externally. But they attack—they do not conquer—those who have taken hold of the tower of strength from the face of the enemy. But to attack, they sense in us the remnants of weakness, because of which we say, “Forgive us our debts,” and because of which we say, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt 6:12–13).

Moreover, he does not say, “My kingdom is not here,” but rather, “It is not from here” (John 18:36). For his kingdom is here until the end of the age, containing weeds mixed within it until the harvest. For the harvest is the end of the age, when the reapers, that is, the angels, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin (Matt 13:39–41). This certainly would not happen if his kingdom were not here. Nevertheless, it is not from here, because it journeys as a pilgrim in the world. Indeed, to his kingdom he says, “You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world” (John 15:19). They were therefore of the world when they were not his kingdom but belonged to the prince of the world. Thus, whatever of mankind was created by the true God but was generated from the corrupted and condemned stock of Adam is “of the world.” However, whatever has been regenerated in Christ has been made into a kingdom that is no longer of the world. For in this way God rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. Concerning this kingdom he says, “My kingdom is not of this world,” or “My kingdom is not from here.”

If the love by which the Father loves his Son, and the Son loves the Father, unutterably demonstrates the communion of both: what is more fitting than that he should properly be called “Love,” who is the common Spirit of both? Otherwise, if in that Trinity the Holy Spirit alone is Love, then surely the Son is found to be the son not only of the Father but also of the Holy Spirit. For in countless places he is called and read as the only-begotten Son of God the Father, yet so that what the Apostle [folio CCLIVv] says about God the Father also remains true: “He rescued us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.” He did not say “of his Son”—though if he had said it, he would have spoken most truly, just as he has frequently said it and spoken most truly—but he says “of the Son of his love.” Therefore, he is the son of the Holy Spirit, if the love of God in that Trinity is nothing other than the Holy Spirit. But since that is entirely absurd, it remains that the Holy Spirit is not alone the love there, but because of those things about which I have sufficiently argued, he is properly called thus. But as for what is said, “of the Son of his love,” it should be understood as nothing other than “of his beloved Son,” and finally “of the Son of his substance.” Indeed, the love of the Father, which exists in his unutterably simple nature, is nothing other than his very nature and substance, as we have often already said, and as we do not weary of frequently repeating. And therefore the Son of his love is none other than he who is begotten from his substance.

If we truly wish to defend free will, let us not attack the source of its freedom. For whoever attacks the grace by which our will is freed to turn away from evil still wishes his own will to remain captive. Answer, I beg you, what the Apostle says: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit to share the lot of the saints in light, who has rescued us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love”—if not he our will, but the will itself frees itself. Thus we falsely give thanks to the Father, as if he does what he does not actually do. And he was in error who said that he himself makes us fit to share the lot of the saints in light, he who rescued us from the power of darkness, and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. Answer how we had a free will to turn from evil and do good when it was under the power of darkness. If God rescued us from there (as the Apostle says), he certainly made that will free.

If he does this great good of ours only by preaching his doctrine, what shall we say of those whom he has not yet rescued from the power of darkness itself? Must divine doctrine only be preached to them, or must we also pray for them so that they might be divinely rescued from the power of darkness? If you say that it must only be preached, you contradict the Lord’s command and the prayers of the church. But if you confess that we must pray for them, you certainly confess that we must pray for this: that by their will having been freed from the power of darkness, they may consent to the same doctrine. Thus it happens that they do not become believers except by free will, and yet they become believers by the grace of him who freed their will from the power of darkness. Thus the grace of God is not denied, but is shown to be true without any preceding human merits, and it defends free will in such a way that it solidifies the will with humility rather than casting it down by pride; and let him who boasts, boast not in man or in anyone else, or in himself, but in the Lord.

What is the “power of darkness” except the power of the devil and his angels? Though they were angels of light, by not standing in the truth through their free will but rather falling, they became darkness. I do not teach you these things, but I remind you who already know them so that you may remember. Therefore, to this power of darkness through the ruin of him¹ to whom transgression was first persuaded by that power, and in whom we all fell, the human race was subjected. Because of this, infants are rescued from this power of darkness and regenerated in Christ. Nor does this appear in their freed will except when they reach the years of the age of reason, having a will that consents to the saving doctrine in which they were nourished, and ending this life in it, if they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and blameless in his sight, predestined in love for adoption as sons (Eph 1:4–5).

Col 1:14–15

“In whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God.”

It is not difficult to see the devil conquered when the one who was killed by him rose again. The greater thing, and the more profound to understand, is to see the devil conquered when he seemed to himself to have conquered, that is, when Christ was killed. For then that blood, since it belonged to him who had absolutely no sin, was poured out for the remission of our sins, so that, because the devil justly held those whom he had bound to the condition of death as guilty of sin, he might justly release them through him whom, being guilty of no sin, he unjustly afflicted with the penalty of death. Conquered by this justice, and bound by this chain, the strong man was bound, so that his vessels might be plundered (Matt 12:29)—vessels which, while with him along with him and his angels, had been vessels of wrath, but were turned into vessels of mercy. The apostle Paul recounts these very words of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken to him from heaven when he was first called. For among other things he heard, he speaks of what was said to him in this way:

“For to this end I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness of the things which you have seen from me, in which I will also appear to you, delivering you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness and from the power of Satan to God, and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a lot among the saints, and faith in me” (Acts 26:16–18). Using this, the same Apostle exhorts believers to give thanks to God the Father, who rescued them, he says, from the power of darkness, and transferred them into the kingdom of the Son of his love, “in whom we have redemption in his blood, the forgiveness of sins.” In this redemption, the blood of Christ was given as though it were sin for us; by receiving it, the devil was not enriched but destroyed, so that we might be loosed from his snares, and so that he might not drag anyone with him to the destruction of the second and eternal death [folio CCLVr] enveloped in the nets of sins—those whom Christ, free from all debt, had redeemed by his unjustly shed blood, but rather that they might die to this extent, belonging to the grace of Christ, foreknown and predestined and elected before the foundation of the world, inasmuch as for them Christ himself died only the death of the flesh, not of the spirit.

“Who is the image of the invisible God.”

In a certain way, man will be an imitator of God like an image, but not the kind of image the Son is. The son of a man bears the image of his father, and he is what his father is, because he is a man just like his father. In a mirror, however, your image is not what you are. For your image is one thing in a son, and another thing in a mirror. But in a creature, the image of God is not what it is in the Son, because he is what the Father is, that is, the Word of God through whom all things were made. Recover, therefore, the likeness of God which you lost through evil deeds. For just as the image of the emperor is present in one way on a coin and in another way in his son—for both are images, but it is stamped in one way on the coin and possessed in another way in the son—so too you are a coin of God, and better for this reason: because you are a coin of God with an intellect and with a certain life, so that you may know whose image you bear, and in whose image you were made. For a coin does not know it bears the image of the king. In the first three commandments of the Decalogue, which relate to God—for the remaining seven relate to one’s neighbor, that is, to man, because on these two commandments the whole law depends (Matt 22:40)—in the first commandment, any likeness of God in human fabrications is prohibited, not because God does not have an image, but because no image of him ought to be worshipped except that which is what he himself is, nor should it be worshipped in his place, but together with him.

Col 1:15–17

“The firstborn of all creation, for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and in him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

According to the form of God it was said: “Before all the hills he begot me” (Prov 8:25), that is, before all the heights of created things. And “Before the morning star I begot you” (Ps 110:3), that is, before all temporal things and times. But according to the form of a servant it was said: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his ways” (Prov 8:22). Because according to the form of God he said, “I am the truth,” and according to the form of a servant, “I am the way” (John 14:6). For because he himself is the firstborn from the dead, he makes a journey for his church to the kingdom of God, to eternal life, for which he is the head, and even to the immortality of the body. Therefore he was created at the beginning of the ways of God for his works. For according to the form of God, he is the beginning “that also speaks to you” (John 8:25); in this beginning God made heaven and earth (Gen 1:1). But according to the form of a servant, he is a bridegroom coming out of his bridal chamber (Ps 19:5). According to the form of God, he is the firstborn of all creation, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Sir 24:9).

According to the form of a servant, he is the head of the body of the church. The catholic faith, which distinguishes between Creator and creature, suffers no difficulty of understanding in these two names when you take “only-begotten” according to what is written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1); but take “firstborn of all creation” according to what the Apostle says: “That he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29), whom the Father begot for him into fraternal fellowship not by equality of substance, but by the adoption of grace. And after a little while: Although Christ Jesus is the only-begotten according to the fact that the Word of God is God with God, equally immutable and equally eternal, “he did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Phil 2:6); yet he is the “firstborn of all creation” according to the fact that “in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, for in him it pleased all the fullness to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself.”

Col 1:18

“And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might hold the primacy.”

It is one thing merely to become wise through the wisdom of God, and another thing to sustain the very person of the wisdom of God. For even though the head and the rest of the members belong to the same nature of the body of the church, who would not understand that there is a great distance between them! For if that man whose assumption caused the Word to become flesh and dwell among us is the head of the church, the rest of the members are all the saints by whom the church is led and completed. Therefore, just as the soul animates and gives life to our whole body, but perceives by seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching in the head, while in the rest of the members it perceives by touching alone; and for this reason all things are subjected to the head for working, while the head is placed above for deciding; because the head somehow sustains the person of the soul itself which decides for the body, for all perception appears there—so too the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is the head to the universal people of the saints as to one body.

And for this reason, the wisdom of God, and the Word in the beginning through whom all things were made, did not assume that man in the same way he does the rest, but much more excellently and much more sublimely. He alone had to be assumed in this way, so that wisdom might appear to men in him, just as it was fitting for it to be shown visibly. For this reason, all other wise men, whoever they are, have been, or could be, are wise in one way, and that one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is wise in another way; for he not only possesses the benefit of wisdom itself, through which all other human beings are wise, but he actually bears its person. For concerning the rest of the wise and spiritual souls it can rightly be said that they have in themselves the Word of God through whom all things were made; but of no one of them can it rightly be said that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” which is most rightly said of our Lord Jesus Christ alone. The “whole Christ” is proclaimed according to the church, that is, head and body.

Indeed, the head and the body are understood as one [folio CCLVv] Christ, not because he is incomplete without the body, but because he condescended to be complete together with us, he who is also always complete without us, not only in that he is the Word, the only-begotten Son equal to the Father, but also in the very man whom he assumed, and with whom he is simultaneously God and man. Nevertheless, brothers, are we his body if not also one Christ with him? Where do we find this? Because one Christ is the head and the body, that is, the body with its head. The bride with her bridegroom speaks, as it were, singularly in Isaiah. Certainly one and the same person speaks, and see what he says: “As a bridegroom he has bound a headdress on me, and as a bride he has clothed me with an ornament, like a bridegroom and a bride” (Isa 61:10). He calls the same person the bridegroom according to the head, and the bride according to the body. They seem to be two, and yet they are one. Otherwise, how are we members of Christ?

As the Apostle very fittingly says, “You are the body of Christ and his members” (1 Cor 12:27). We are all together the members of Christ and his body: not because we are so only in this place, but also throughout the whole earth; and not only at this time, but from righteous Abel himself until the end of the age, as long as human beings beget and are begotten, whoever among the righteous passes through this life: whatever is now—that is, not in this place, but in this life—and whatever is to come of those yet to be born, all of this is the one body of Christ, and individuals are members of Christ. If therefore all are the body, and individuals are members, there is certainly a head whose body this is. And he is, he says, “the head of the body of the church, the firstborn, so that in everything he might hold the primacy.” And because he also says of him that he is always the head of every principality and power, this church which is now on pilgrimage is joined to that heavenly church where we have the angels as citizens; because we would brazenly claim for ourselves that we will be equal to the angels after the resurrection of the bodies, unless Truth had permitted it by saying, “They will be equal to the angels of God” (Luke 20:36), so that there may be one church, the city of the great King.

Therefore it is no wonder if, for the sake of the example he sets forth for us so that we may be reformed into the image of God, the image equal to the Father—when scripture speaks of Wisdom, it speaks of the Son, whom we follow by living wisely. By the example of his image let us also not depart from God, because we too are the image of God, though not equal: for we are made by the Father through the Son, not born of the Father as that Image is. And we are light because we are illuminated; but that Image is light because it illuminates. And therefore, he who is without an example is an example for us. For he does not imitate any predecessor in approaching the Father, from whom he is never entirely separable, because he is the very same thing as he from whom he is. But we, striving, imitate him who remains; and we follow him who stands firm, and walking in him we return to him. Because he was made a temporal way for us through his humanity, because he is an eternal dwelling for us through his divinity. Because indeed to pure² intellectual spirits who³ did not fall through pride, he, being in the form of God and equal to God, is God and provides an example: so that he might provide the same example of returning even to fallen man—who because of the impurity of his sins and the penalty of mortality could not see God—he emptied himself, not by changing his divinity, but by assuming our mutability.

And taking the form of a servant he came to us into this world—he who was already in this world, because the world was made through him—so that he might be an example to those looking upward to God, an example to those imitating man downward, an example to the healthy for enduring, an example to the sick for recovering, an example to those about to die for not fearing, and an example to the dead for rising again; “so that in everything he might hold the primacy” (Phil 2:7, Col 1:18).

For since man ought not to follow anyone but God to reach blessedness, and he could not perceive God, by following God made man he would simultaneously follow both the one he could perceive and the one he ought to follow. Let us therefore love him, let us cling to him by the love poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Col 1:19–23

“For in him it pleased all the fullness to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace by the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And you, when you were once alienated and enemies in your minds in evil works, he has now reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided you remain founded and stable in the faith, and immovable from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached in all creation under heaven.”

Through that singular sacrifice in which the mediator was immolated, which the many victims in the law prefigured as one, heavenly things are reconciled with earthly things, and earthly things with heavenly things. For, as the same Apostle says, “in him it pleased all the fullness to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace by the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” This peace surpasses (as it is written) all understanding, nor can it be known by us unless we have come to it. For how are heavenly things made peaceful except with us, that is, by agreeing with us? For there is always peace there, both among all intellectual creatures among themselves, and with their Creator. This peace surpasses (as has been said) all understanding, but certainly our understanding, not the understanding of those who always see the face of the Father (Matt 18:10).

Col 1:23–25

“Of this I, Paul, was made a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body, which is the church, of which I was made a minister according to the dispensation of God which was given to me for you.”

[folio CCLVIr] We ought to understand our person as the person of the church, the person of the body of Christ. For Jesus Christ is one man with his head and his body, the Savior of the body and the members of the body: two in one flesh, and in one voice, and in one suffering, and when iniquity has passed away, in one rest. Therefore, the sufferings of Christ are not in Christ alone; rather, the sufferings of Christ are only in Christ. For if you understand Christ as the head and the body, the sufferings of Christ are only in Christ. But if you understand Christ as only the head, the sufferings of Christ are not in Christ alone. For if the sufferings of Christ were only in Christ, or rather only in the head, why does a certain member of his, the apostle Paul, say, “That I may complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh”? If therefore you are in the members of Christ, whatever you suffer from those who are not in the members of Christ was lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Therefore he added that it was lacking; you fill up the measure, you do not overflow it. You suffer only as much as was to be inserted from your sufferings into the universal suffering of Christ, who suffered in our head, and suffers in his members, that is, in ourselves. To this common public treasury of ours, as it were, each of us pays what we owe according to our measure, and according to the ability of our strength we contribute the treasury, the rule of sufferings as it were; the full preparation of all sufferings will not be completed until the age is finished.⁴

See what the Apostle said, because Christ was suffering for him.⁵ “That I may complete,” he says, “what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” “That I may complete,” he says, “what is lacking.” What is lacking? “The afflictions of Christ.” And where are they lacking? “In my flesh.” Was anything of the afflictions lacking in that man who was made the Word of God, born of the Virgin Mary? For he suffered whatever he ought to suffer, out of his own will, not out of the necessity of sin. And see, because all things were finished. For placed on the cross he received the sour wine as the final thing, and he said, “It is finished,” and bowing his head he gave up his spirit (John 19:30). What does “It is finished” mean? Now nothing of the measure of my sufferings is lacking to me. All the things that were predicted about me are completed. It is as if he was waiting for this reason, so that they might be completed. Therefore all the sufferings were completed, but in the head; the sufferings still remained in the body of Christ. “Now you are the body of Christ and his members” (1 Cor 12:27). Therefore, since the Apostle was among these members, he said, “That I may complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.”

“That I may complete,” he says, “what is lacking of the afflictions, not my own, but of Christ, in the flesh which is no longer Christ’s, but mine.” “Christ,” he says, “still suffers affliction not in his own flesh in which he ascended into heaven, but in my flesh, which still labors on earth.” Christ, he says, suffers affliction in my flesh. “For it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). For unless Christ himself suffered affliction in his members, that is, in his believers, Saul on earth would not be persecuting Christ sitting in heaven.

Col 1:25–29

“That I may fulfill the word of God, the mystery that was hidden for ages and generations but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

First, wishing to show me, O merciful Lord, how you resist the proud⁶ but give grace to the humble, and how great a path of your mercy has been demonstrated to all, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among men, you procured for me, through a certain man swollen with monstrous pride, some books of the Platonists translated from the Greek language into Latin. And there I read, not indeed in these words, but precisely this same thing entirely persuaded by many and manifold arguments: that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. What was made in him is life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And that although⁷ the soul of man might bear witness to the light, yet it is not itself the light; but the Word of God is the true light that enlightens every man coming into this world; and that he was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him (John 1:1–10).

But that he came to his own, and his own did not receive him; yet to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God: this I did not read there. I also read there that God the Word is born not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. But that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, I did not read. I investigated indeed in those writings, said in various and manifold ways, that the Son, being in the form of the Father, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, because by nature he is that very same thing. But that he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross; therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus (Phil 2:6–10) [folio CCLVIv] every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father: those books do not have this. For that before all times and above all times your only-begotten Son remains coeternal and unchangeable, and that souls receive from his fullness in order to be blessed, and that by participation in the wisdom remaining in itself they are renewed in order to be wise, is there. But that according to time he died for the ungodly, and that you did not spare your only Son but gave him up for us all, is not there. For you have hidden these things from the wise, and revealed them to little children, so that those who labor and are heavy laden might come to him, and he might give them rest (Matt 11:25, 28); for he is gentle and lowly in heart, and he guides the meek in judgment, and teaches the gentle his ways (Ps 25:9), seeing our humility and our labor, and forgiving all our sins.

But those who are lifted up on the buskin, as it were, of a more sublime doctrine, do not hear him saying, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11:29); and although they know God, they do not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they become futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Rom 1:21–22). For your Word, the eternal truth towering above the higher parts of your creation, lifts up to itself those who are subjected to it; but in the lower realms it built for itself a lowly house from our clay, by which it might detach from themselves those who are to be subdued and draw them over to itself, healing their swollen pride and nourishing their love, lest they wander further in their self-confidence, but rather become weak upon seeing at their feet the weak divinity sharing in our tunic of skin; and weary, they might cast themselves down upon it, and as it rises, it might lift them up. For what shall a miserable man do? Who will deliver him from this body of death (Rom 7:24), except your grace through Jesus Christ our Lord, whom you begot coeternal, and created in the beginning of your ways, in whom the prince of this world found nothing deserving of death, yet killed him, and the record of debt that stood against us was canceled (Col 2:14)? Those writings do not have this. Those pages do not have the face of this piety, the tears of confession, your sacrifice, a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart (Ps 51:17), the salvation of the people, the bride, the city, the earnest of the Holy Spirit, the cup of our redemption. No one there sings: “Shall not my soul be subject to God? For from him comes my salvation” (Ps 62:1). “For he alone is my God and my savior, my protector; I shall not be moved anymore.” No one there hears him calling, “Come to me, you who labor.” They disdain to learn from him because he is gentle and lowly in heart (Matt 11:28–29). For you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little children. And it is one thing to see the homeland of peace from a wooded peak, yet not find the way to it, and to strive in vain through impassable places, with fugitive deserters ambushing and blockading you around with their prince, the lion and the dragon; and it is another thing to keep to the way leading there, fortified by the care of the heavenly Emperor, where those who deserted the heavenly army do not commit highway robbery, for they avoid it as a punishment.

Chapter 2

Col 2:1–7

“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of the mystery of God the Father and of Christ Jesus, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

The cause of all human vices is pride. To convict and remove this, such a medicine came from heaven. God, in his humility, descended by mercy to man who was elevated by pride, commending a clear and manifest grace in that very man whom he assumed with such great love for those who share in him. For even he himself, so joined to the Word of God that by that very union one Son of God and the same one Son of Man should be made, did not do this by the preceding merits of his own will. For it was necessary that there be only that one; but there would be two, and three, and more, if this could happen not by the proper gift of God, but by the free will of man. Therefore he especially commends this. This, as far as I dare to estimate, is primarily taught and learned in the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ.

[folio CCLVIIr] Now, all these things which the Word made flesh did and endured for us temporarily and locally belong to knowledge, not to wisdom, according to the distinction we have undertaken to demonstrate. But the fact that the Word is without time and without place, is coeternal with the Father, and is wholly everywhere: if anyone is able to bring forth as true a discourse about this as he can, that will be a discourse of wisdom. And therefore the Word made flesh, which is Christ Jesus, possesses the treasures of both wisdom and knowledge. For the Apostle writing to the Colossians says, “For I want you to know,” he says, “how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding for knowing the mystery of God, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” To what extent the Apostle knew those treasures, how much of them he had penetrated, and to what heights he had reached in them, who can know!

But I, according to what is written, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good; to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit” (1 Cor 12:7–8), if these two differ from one another in such a way that wisdom is attributed to divine things, and knowledge to human things: I acknowledge both in Christ, and all his faithful with me. And when I read, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), in the Word I understand the true Son of God, and in the flesh I acknowledge the true Son of Man, and both together as one person, God and man, joined by the bounty of ineffable grace. For this reason he continues and says, “And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” If we refer grace to knowledge, and truth to wisdom, I think we are not shrinking from that distinction between these two things which we commended.

For in things that originate through time, the highest grace is this: that man is joined to God in the unity of person. But in eternal things, the highest truth is rightly attributed to the Word of God. That Word is the same only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. This was done so that he might be the very one present in the things done temporarily for us, by whom through the same faith we are cleansed so that we may stably contemplate him in eternal things. Therefore our knowledge is Christ. Our wisdom is also the same Christ. He implants in us faith concerning temporal things; he exhibits truth concerning eternal things. Through him we proceed, to him we tend, through knowledge and wisdom. Yet we do not depart from the one and the same Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Nor should we take these two in such a way as if it is not permitted to say either “that wisdom which is in human things” or “that knowledge which is in divine things.”

For in the broader custom of speaking, both can be called wisdom, and both can be called knowledge. By no means, however, would it be written by the Apostle, “to one is given the utterance of wisdom, to another the utterance of knowledge” (1 Cor 12:8), unless these individual things were also properly called by these individual names.

Col 2:8

“See to it that no one deceives you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”

What is Juno? Juno (they say) is the air. For a long time it invited us to worship the sea in Neptune, to worship the earth in the image of Tellus, and now it invites us to worship the air. These are the elements by which this world is established. Therefore the apostle Paul, setting this forth in his epistle, says, “Beware lest anyone deceive you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the elements of this world.” For he was touching on those very people who explain idols as if they were doing so rather wisely. Therefore, when he said “philosophy,” he added in the same place “according to the elements of this world,” warning that we must beware not merely of any sort of worshippers of images, but of the more learned interpreters of their fabrications.

To the men who try to misrepresent the books of our salvation and instruction, we must respond in this way: whatever they can demonstrate about the nature of things with true proofs, we will show not to be contrary to our scriptures; but whatever they bring forth from any of their volumes that is contrary to our scriptures, that is, to the catholic faith, we will either show with whatever ability we have, or believe without any hesitation, to be utterly false. And thus let us hold fast to our mediator, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, so that we may not be seduced by the loquacity of false philosophy, nor terrified by the superstition of false religion. And when we read the divine books amid such a multitude of true understandings that are drawn out of a few words and are protected by the soundness of the catholic faith, let us choose above all that which appears certain to be what the author we are reading intended. But if this is hidden, let us choose at least that which the context of the scripture does not hinder, and which harmonizes with sound faith. But if the context of the scripture cannot be examined and discussed, let us choose at least that alone which sound faith prescribes. For it is one thing not to discern what the writer primarily intended, and another thing to wander from the rule of piety. If one avoids both, [folio CCLVIIv] the fruitfulness of the reader is perfect. But if both cannot be avoided, even if the will of the writer remains uncertain, it is not useless to have extracted a meaning that agrees with sound faith.

Col 2:9–10

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”

God, who is present everywhere, and wholly present everywhere, does not dwell everywhere, but in his temple, to which he is kind and propitious through grace. But he who dwells is contained more by some, and less by others. But concerning our head himself the Apostle says, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” It is not bodily because God is corporeal, but either he used a transferred word, as if he dwelt in a man-made temple not bodily but shadow-like, that is, by prefiguring signs. For he calls all those observances shadows of things to come, also using a transferred term. For the highest God (as it is written) does not dwell in man-made temples. Or certainly it is said “bodily,” because in Christ’s body which he assumed from the virgin, God dwells as if in a temple. For this is why, when he had said to the Jews asking for a sign, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), the evangelist consequently explaining what this meant said, “But he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21).

What difference, then, do we think there is between the head and the rest of the members? Even though divinity may dwell in any outstanding member, such as in some great prophet or apostle, it does not do so as in the head, which is Christ, where the whole fullness of deity dwells. For even in our own body, perception is present in the individual members, but not as great as in the head, where absolutely all five senses are found. For there is sight, and hearing, and smell, and taste, and touch. But in the rest of the members there is only touch. Is there also something else, besides the fact that the whole fullness of deity dwells in that body as in a temple, which distinguishes the excellence of the head and of any member? Clearly there is: the fact that by a certain unique assumption, one person was made with the Word. For concerning none of the saints could it be said, can it be said, or will it be able to be said, “The Word became flesh.” None of the saints received the only-begotten by any presence of grace in such a way that he could say that what the Word of God is before the ages, he is simultaneously with the assumed man.

That assumption is unique, and it cannot in any way be common with any holy men, however outstanding they may be in wisdom and holiness. Here the evidence of divine grace is sufficiently clear and bright. For who would be so sacrilegious as to dare to affirm that any soul, through the merit of free will, could bring it about that he becomes another Christ! Therefore, how could one single soul have merited this by a free will given commonly and naturally to all, so as to pertain to the person of the only-begotten Word, unless a unique grace had provided this? A grace which it is right to proclaim, but wrong to wish to judge.

It is sufficient, then, to know that something corporeal is either spoken of properly when dealing with bodies, or even in a transferred term: just as it is said, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” For neither is divinity a body. But because he calls the sacraments of the Old Testament shadows of what is to come, because of the comparison with shadows he said that the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ, because in him are fulfilled all the things that were prefigured by those shadows, as if he himself is somehow the body of those shadows, that is, he himself is the truth of those figures and signs. Just as those figures in their signification are not properly called shadows—using, of course, a transferred term—so also when he says that the fullness of deity dwells bodily, he used a transferred word.

The mountain in which it pleased God to dwell. Not because he does not dwell in the others, but because he dwells in them through him. For in him dwells the whole fullness of deity, not shadow-like as in the temple made by King Solomon, but bodily, that is, solidly and truly. For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Whether we take this as spoken about the Father—since he says, “But the Father who dwells in me does his works,” and “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me”—or whether it is understood this way: God was in Christ, the Word was in the man, just as the Word was certainly in the flesh, and “The Word became flesh” would properly be said of him alone, that is, the man was joined with the Word into the one person of Christ (John 14:10). Why then do you look with suspicion at the curdled mountains? This is the mountain in which it pleased God to dwell. Surely in a far different way than in those mountains, some of whom even look with suspicion at this one.

For although they too are sons of God by the grace of adoption, none of them is the only-begotten to whom he would say, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps 110:1). Therefore it pleased God to dwell in this mountain which is prepared on the top of the mountains, to whom he says, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt 3:17). Moreover, the mountain itself is the Lord, who will inhabit the other mountains to the end, on the top of which he is prepared. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the mountain of mountains, just as he is the holy of holies, from which he says, “I in them, and you in me” (John 17:23).

Col 2:11–12

[folio CCLVIIIr] > “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Unless that Sabbath also possessed a meaning among the prophecies written about Christ, Christ would not have borne witness to it in such a way that his flesh rested in the tomb on the Sabbath from all his works, so that by rising on the third day, which we call the Lord’s day, which is counted as the eighth day after the Sabbath, he would declare that the circumcision on the eighth day also pertained to the prophecy of the Lord. For what does the circumcision of the flesh signify but the stripping off of the mortality we bear from our carnal generation? This is our faith. And since, as the Apostle recalls the prophetic testimony, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17), this is our justification. Indeed, even pagans believe that Christ died; but that Christ rose again is the specific faith of Christians. For “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). Therefore, because we are justified by this faith in the resurrection, the Apostle’s statement about Christ is also true, that “he died for our trespasses and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25). And because that resurrection which is believed justifies us, it was prefigured by that circumcision on the eighth day. For this reason, the Apostle says about Abraham himself, to whom it was first handed down: “He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of faith” (Rom 4:11).

In putting off the body of the flesh.

He certainly did not want two things to be understood, as though the flesh were one thing and the body of the flesh another; but because “body” is the name of many things, none of which is flesh—for there are many heavenly bodies and earthly bodies apart from the flesh—he called the body which is flesh the “body of the flesh,” just as he calls that spirit which is the mind the “spirit of the mind.”

In the circumcision of Christ, etc.

The resurrection of Christ, which happened indeed on the third day after his passion, but on the eighth day in the days of the week, itself circumcises us. Hear this, you who have been circumcised by the true rock, as the Apostle warns: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col 3:1–2). He is speaking to the circumcised. Christ has risen; he has taken away your carnal desires, he has taken away your evil concupiscences, he has taken away the excess with which you were born, and the much worse things you had added by living badly. Having been circumcised by the rock, why do you still set your minds on the earth?

Col 2:13–15

“And you, when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.”

He called “uncircumcision” what is signified by uncircumcision, that is, the carnal trespasses from which we are to be stripped.

“Canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Our body, therefore, is dead because of sin, but Christ’s body alone died without sin, so that by shedding his blood without fault, the records of all faults might be canceled, by which debtors who believe in him were previously held by the devil. And for this reason he says, “This is my blood, which will be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28).

“You,” he says, “humbled the proud one like a wounded man” (Ps 89:10): you humbled yourself, and he was humbled. For the proud one held the proud through pride; the great one was humbled, and he who believes in him is made small. While the small one is nourished, by the example of the small one made great, the devil lost those he held, because the proud one held none but the proud. Given such a great example of humility, men learned to condemn their own pride and to imitate the humility of God. Thus, by losing those he held, he himself was humbled, not corrected, but laid low. “You humbled the proud one like a wounded man,” you were humbled and you humbled him, you were wounded and you wounded him. For your blood which was shed to cancel the record of sins had certainly wounded him, for what did he pride himself on except that he held a bond against us? This bond, this record of debt, you canceled with your blood. Therefore you wounded him from whom you took away so much, for you must understand the devil to be wounded not by flesh being pierced, since he does not have it, but by his heart being struck where he is proud.

The holy victim by which the record of debt that stood against us was canceled, by which the enemy was triumphed over as he calculated our trespasses and sought something to object to but found nothing in him by whom we conquer—who will repay him the innocent blood? Who will restore to him the price by which he bought us, so that he may take us from him! To the sacrament of this price of ours your handmaid has bound her soul with the bond of faith. Let no one tear her away from your protection; let neither the lion nor the dragon interpose himself by force or by snares.

“He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.”

[folio CCLVIIIv] From the very source from which the devil received outward power to kill the Lord’s flesh, the inner power by which he held us was killed. For it happened that the bonds of many sins in many deaths were loosed through the one death of the one man whom no sin had preceded. For the Lord paid an unowed debt for us, so that what was owed would not harm us. For he was not stripped of his flesh by the right of anyone else’s power, but he stripped himself. For he who could choose not to die if he did not wish it, undoubtedly died because he wished it. And therefore “he disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them confidently, triumphing over them in himself.” Indeed, by his own death, offered as the one truest sacrifice for us, he purged, abolished, and extinguished whatever faults there were by which the principalities and powers rightfully held us for the suffering of punishments, and by his resurrection he called us who were predestined to a new life, justified those whom he called, and glorified those whom he justified (Rom 8:30). Thus, by the very death of the flesh, the devil lost the man whom he possessed as if by unbroken right, having seduced him through consent; and the devil himself, hedged in by no corruption of flesh and blood, being all the more proud the richer and stronger he seemed against the frailty of this mortal body which is exceedingly needy and weak, ruled over him as if over someone in rags and misery.

For where he did not follow the sinner when pushing him down, he chased the Redeemer descending there but could not compel him. Thus, in the fellowship of death, the Son of God condescended to become our friend: but the enemy, not reaching that point, thought himself better and greater than us. For our Redeemer says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). For this reason, the devil believed himself to be superior even to the Lord, inasmuch as the Lord yielded to him in his sufferings, because even of him it is understood what is read in the Psalms: “You made him a little lower than the angels” (Ps 8:5). This happened so that, against the unjust one acting against us by a supposedly just right, he himself, slain as an innocent, might conquer him by the most just right, and might liberate us from a captivity that was just on account of sin, canceling the record of death by his just blood unjustly shed, and by justifying, redeeming sinners; while the nations acknowledge and with pious humility drink their price, and with confidence in it desert their enemy and run to their Redeemer.

For when he says that he stripped himself of the flesh, in that place we understand “flesh” as the mortality of the flesh, according to which this body is properly called flesh. This mortality, properly called flesh, is so called because it will not exist in the immortality of the resurrection. Therefore it is written, “Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor 15:50). For he says that this body, which because of its mortality is properly called flesh, will be changed in the resurrection, so that it is no longer corruptible and mortal. “For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor 15:53). Therefore, in order that it may be clothed with immortality, it is stripped of mortality. This is the mystery of circumcision, which was commanded to be done on the eighth day, and on the eighth day, that is, the Lord’s day after the Sabbath, has now been truly fulfilled by the Lord. Thus it is said, “Stripping himself of the flesh, he made a public example of the principalities and powers.” For through this mortality the envious diabolical powers used to rule over us, and he condescended to make an example of them, because in himself, our head, he provided an example of what will be completed in his entire body, that is, the church, when it is liberated from the devil’s power in the final resurrection.

He made an example of the principalities, that is, he gave an example concerning them, that just as he stripped himself of the flesh, so he might show his own people that they must strip themselves of carnal vices, through which those powers used to rule over them.

Many say, “How can we conquer the devil whom we do not see?” But we have a teacher who condescended to show us how invisible enemies are conquered. For the Apostle said of him, “Stripping himself of the flesh, he made a public example of the principalities and powers, triumphing over them confidently in himself.” Therefore, the invisible powers that are hostile to us are conquered precisely where invisible desires are conquered; and therefore, we who conquer the desires for temporal things within ourselves must necessarily also conquer within ourselves him who reigns in man through those very desires. Thus the Apostle also says that he fights within himself against external powers. For he says, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and powers of this world of these darknesses, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). For “heaven” is also what this air is called, where winds, and clouds, and storms, and whirlwinds occur, just as scripture says in many places, “And the Lord thundered from heaven” (Ps 18:13), and “the birds of heaven, and the flying creatures of heaven” (Ps 8:8), since it is obvious that birds fly in the air; and in our normal usage we call this air “heaven” or “sky.”

For when we inquire about clear or cloudy weather, sometimes we say, “How is the air?” and sometimes we say, “How is the sky?” I have said this lest anyone think that evil demons dwell where God ordained the sun and the stars. The Apostle calls these evil demons “spiritual” because even evil angels are called spirits in the scriptures. He calls them rulers of these darknesses because he calls the sinful men over whom they rule “darknesses.” For this reason he also says elsewhere, “For you were once darkness, [folio CCLIXr] but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph 5:8), because from being sinners they had been justified. For the Apostle himself elsewhere calls the devil the prince of the power of this air, which is the place where he says, “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This can also be understood in another way, so that he did not mean that the transgressing angels themselves are in the heavenly places, but rather us, of whom he says elsewhere, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20); so that we, established in the heavenly places, that is, walking in spiritual commandments, might fight against the spiritual forces of evil which try to drag us away from there.

Therefore we must inquire all the more into how we can fight against and conquer those whom we do not see, lest fools think we must battle the air. The Apostle himself therefore teaches, saying: “I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor 9:26–27). He also says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). Therefore we must understand that the Apostle himself triumphed over the powers of this world in himself, just as he had said of the Lord, whose imitator he professes to be. Let us therefore also imitate him, as he exhorts us, and let us discipline our body and keep it under control if we wish to conquer the world; because this world can rule over us through its illicit pleasures and pomp and destructive curiosity—that is, the things in this world that the lovers of temporal things gather with destructive pleasure, compelling them to serve the devil and his angels.

Col 2:16–17

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body belongs to Christ.”

Our fathers who pleased God maintained their proper order in obedience itself, so that whatever God commanded and distributed at appropriate times, they observed in the exact way he distributed it. Therefore, not only did they refrain from eating meats given for food—even though all were clean by nature—which were commanded not to be eaten at that time with a certain signifying meaning, so that the future manifestation of things might be prefigured by such signs; but they also observed unleavened bread and other things of this kind, in which the Apostle says there was a shadow of things to come. For this reason, those men of that time and that people would have been guilty if they had despised observing them, since it was necessary that those things be done in that way, and that the things which have now been revealed should be foretold in that way. Just as we would be foolish if, now that the New Testament has been manifested, we thought those pre-announcing observances were of any use to us. Therefore, not eating unleavened bread for the appointed seven days was a sin in the time of the Old Testament. But in the time of the New Testament it is not a sin; but in the hope of the future age which we have in Christ—by which he renews us entirely, both clothing our soul with righteousness and our body with immortality—it is always a sin to believe that we must suffer or perform anything out of the necessity and poverty of the old corruption, as long as these seven days by which time runs its course continue to roll on. But this, concealed in a figure during the times of the Old Testament, was understood by certain holy men, whereas in the time of the New Testament it is revealed in manifestation and preached to the peoples.

Hence the scripture itself was then a command; now it is a testimony. For that was the time for signifying; this is the time for manifesting. Therefore, that scripture which was then the exactor of signifying works is now the witness of the things signified. And what was then observed for foretelling is now recited for confirmation.

All the things spoken to the ancient people of Israel in the manifold scripture of the holy law—what they should do in sacrifices, or in priesthoods, on festival days, and altogether in whatever things they worshipped God, which were also commanded to them—were shadows of things to come. Of what things to come? Those which would be fulfilled in Christ. Hence the Apostle says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor 1:20), that is, they are fulfilled in him. Then he says in another place, “Now all these things happened to them as a type, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor 10:11). He also says elsewhere, “For Christ is the end of the law” (Rom 10:4). Likewise, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, which is a shadow of the things to come.” If therefore all those things were a shadow of things to come, then the Feast of Tabernacles was also a shadow of things to come. It was the celebration of tents, precisely because the people, freed from Egypt, heading through the desert to the land of promise, lived in tents.

Let us pay attention to what the festival of tabernacles is, and we will know: “we,” I say, who are members of Christ; but if we are, we are so because he condescended to make us so, not because we earned it. Therefore let us pay attention. We, brothers, have been led out of Egypt, where we served the devil as Pharaoh, where we did muddy work in earthly desires, and labored greatly in them. For Christ called out to us as if we were making bricks, “Come to me, all who labor” (Matt 11:28). Led out from here through baptism as if through the Red Sea (red precisely because it is consecrated by the blood of Christ), with all our enemies who pursued us having died, that is, with all our sins having been destroyed, we crossed over. Now, therefore, before we come to the homeland of promise, that is, the eternal kingdom, we are in the desert in [folio CCLIXv] tabernacles. Those who recognize these things are in the tabernacles. For he is in the tabernacles who understands himself to be a pilgrim in the world. He understands that he is on a pilgrimage who sees himself sighing for his homeland. And when the body of Christ is in the tabernacles, Christ is in the tabernacles. But then it was not evident, but hidden. For the shadow still obscured the light. When the light came, the shadow was removed. Christ was hidden; Christ was in the Feast of Tabernacles, but as a hidden Christ. But now, when these things have been manifested, we recognize that we are making a journey in the desert. For if we recognize it, we are in the desert. What does “in the desert” mean? In the wilderness. Why in the wilderness? Because we are in this world, where there is thirst on a waterless path. But let us thirst so that we may be satisfied. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt 5:6), for they shall be satisfied. And our thirst is quenched from the rock in the desert. “And the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). And the rock was struck with the staff (Num 20:11). But for it to flow, it was struck twice, because the cross has two pieces of wood. Therefore, all these things which were done in a figure are manifested in us. And it is not for nothing that it is said of the Lord, he went up to the feast “not publicly but in private” (John 7:10). For the figure meant precisely that he was in private, because on the feast day itself Christ was hidden, because the feast day itself signified the pilgrim members of Christ.

First, that error of the Jews must be refuted by which they think the books of the Old Testament do not apply to us because we no longer observe the old sacraments but the new ones. For they say to us: “What is the reading of the law and the prophets doing among you, whose commandments you do not want to keep?” They say this because we do not circumcise the male flesh of the foreskin, and we eat meats which the law calls unclean, nor do we carnally observe their Sabbaths and new moons and festival days, nor do we sacrifice to God with victims of cattle, nor do we celebrate the Passover with a sheep and unleavened bread in the same way, and whatever other old sacraments the Apostle calls by the general term “shadows of things to come.” For these things signified that what we receive revealed would be revealed in its own time, so that, with the shadow removed, we might enjoy their bare light. It is a long matter to discuss these one by one: how, by putting off the old man, we are circumcised in the stripping off of the body of the flesh (Col 2:11; Eph 4:22); and how the foods they avoid in cattle we avoid in morals; and how we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Rom 12:1), to whom we also intelligently pour out our souls as blood in holy desires.

And how we are cleansed from all iniquity by the blood of Christ as of an unblemished lamb, who, because of the likeness of sinful flesh, is also prefigured by the goat in the old sacrifices. Nor does he deny the bull on the horns of the cross, he who recognizes the greatest victim in him. In him we truly keep the Sabbath when we find rest. And the observation of the new moon is the sanctification of the new life. And our Passover is Christ, and our unleavened bread is the sincerity of truth, not having the leaven of the old life. And whatever other things there are, on which there is no need to delay now, which were foreshadowed in those old signs, have their end in him, of whose kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:33). For all things had to be fulfilled in him, who came not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17). Consequently, he did not empty those old signs of things by refuting them, but changed them by fulfilling them, so that there would be other things to announce that Christ has already come, just as there were those which announced that he was going to come.

But what does it mean that certain psalms are designated in this way—psalms which they themselves also read and hold in the authority of the holy scriptures—so that it is written in their titles, “for the things that will be changed,” while the text of those same psalms proclaims Christ? Is it not because their change through him was predicted as a future event, through whom it appears to have been fulfilled, so that the people of God, who are now the Christian people, are no longer forced to observe what was observed in prophetic times, not because they are condemned, but because they are changed? Not so that the things themselves which signified should perish, but so that the signs of the things would correspond to their proper times. Indeed, this aforementioned change is not only signified to the few who understand it by the title of the psalms, but is expressed by the manifest proclamation of the prophetic voice. The New Covenant is openly promised, not according to the covenant that was made with the people when they were led out of Egypt. Since, therefore, the things which we who belong to the new covenant are not forced to observe were commanded in that old covenant, why do the Jews not recognize that they have rather remained in a superfluous antiquity, instead of objecting to us, who hold to the new promises, that we do not observe the old ones?

Since, therefore, as it is written in the Song of Songs, “The day has breathed, let the shadows flee away” (Song 2:17), let the spiritual meaning now shine forth, let the carnal celebration now cease.

The Lord was breaking the Sabbath, but he was not guilty for that reason. What does it mean that I said he was breaking the Sabbath? He himself, the light, had come; he was removing the shadows. For the Sabbath was commanded by the Lord God; commanded by Christ himself, who was with the Father when that law was given. It was commanded by him, but in the shadow of the future. “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come.” That which those things announced was to come had come; the shadows delight. Because the observance of the Sabbath was prefigured by the rest of one day, the Christian observes a perpetual Sabbath, and removed from the hope of future rest he is focused on his works, nor does he boast in his good deeds themselves as if they were his own or came from things he had not received, [folio CCLXr] but recognizing that he works in him who simultaneously works and is at rest. The Christian observes the true Sabbath by abstaining from servile work, that is, from sin (John 8:34): because “everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”

Col 2:18–23

“Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—”

And after a little,

“‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’ (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

In these words a certain expression must be applied in the countenance and in the tone of voice. For he set down with mockery the words of those who say “Do not touch, do not taste,” since to the pure all things are pure. But he saw that this care for vain observances, which under the name of knowledge was being practiced by those who were called philosophers, also had to be guarded against in Judaism, where the shadows of the future were to be removed because their light, Christ, had already come. “Puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.”

Col 2:18–20

But you must beware not only of empty talkers and seducers of the mind who chatter about fabulous and false things, and who promise a supposedly deep knowledge in those vanities against the rule of faith which you have received as Catholic; rather, as an even more insidious plague, flee from those very people who discourse truthfully about the immutability of the divine nature or about the incorporeal creature or the Creator, and who prove what they say by absolutely certain proofs and reasons, and yet attempt to turn you away from the one mediator between God and men. For such are those of whom the Apostle says, “Because, knowing God, they did not glorify him as God” (Rom 1:21). For what does it profit a man to have true understanding about the immutable goodness of God, if he does not hold to the one through whom he may be delivered from evil? “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations!”

Whatever he suffered, we also suffered in him: because what we suffer, he also suffers in us. Just as if the head suffers something, can the hand say that it is not suffering? Or if the hand suffers something, can the head say that it is not suffering? When one of our members suffers, all the members run to help the member that suffers. We prove this, because we suffered in him when the Apostle says, “If with Christ you died, why, as if you were still alive in this world, do you submit to regulations!” He also says, “Because our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing” (Rom 6:6). If therefore we died in him, we also rose again in him. For the Apostle himself said, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1). If therefore we died in him and rose again in him, both he dies in us and he rises in us: this is the unity of the head and the body.

Where you find something being one thing and then becoming another, a kind of death has taken place there, for death is ceasing to be what one was. The soul is said to be immortal. It is indeed, because the soul lives forever; and there is in it a certain permanent life, but a mutable life according to the mutability of this life; and it can be called mortal, because if it was living wisely and becomes foolish, it has died for the worse; if it was living foolishly and becomes wise, it has died for the better. For the scripture teaches us that there is a death for the worse, and a death for the better. Certainly they were dead for the worse of whom he says, “Let the dead bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). And “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:14). And when the dead hear, and those who hear will live, they were dead for the worse: therefore they come back to life. By coming back to life they die for the better: because even in coming back to life they cease to be what they were. But ceasing to be what one was is a death. But perhaps if it is for the better, it should not be called death. Yet the Apostle did call it death: “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in this world, do you submit to regulations!” And again, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). He wants us to die so that we may live, because we lived in order that we might die.

Chapter 3

Col 3:1–2

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

[folio CCLXv] We have certainly not yet risen as Christ did, but nevertheless, according to the hope which we have in him, he testifies that we have already risen with him. Hence he also says, “According to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), as if that same salvation had already been given. For in another place he says most clearly, “For in this hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24). The change which will not have corruption will belong to those saints who now have the resurrection of the spirit: concerning which resurrection the Apostle says, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Just as we die according to the spirit and rise according to the spirit, so afterwards we die according to the flesh. What is the first death? Not doing the things you used to do; not believing what you used to believe. He used to serve idols; he came to know the one God. He died in idolatry; he rose again in faith. He was a drunkard; he is sober. Drunkenness died; sobriety rose again. Therefore all the evil deeds we cease doing is like a death in us.

If you wish to be heaven, purge the earth from your heart. If you do not have earthly desires, you will not answer in vain that you have your heart lifted up. “If you have been raised with Christ” (the Apostle speaks to the faithful), “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.” You have begun to set your mind on things that are above, and not on things that are on the earth—have you not become heaven? You carry flesh, and yet in the flesh you are already heaven. “For your citizenship is in heaven” (Phil 3:20).

“With the sound of the horn trumpet” (Ps 98:6). The horn exceeds the flesh: it must be firm by overcoming the flesh. It must be firm for enduring, and capable of the voice. But from where does this come? Because it has overcome the flesh. Let him who wishes to be a horn trumpet overcome the flesh. What does it mean to overcome the flesh? Transcend carnal affections, conquer carnal lusts. Hear the horn trumpets. “If then you have been raised with Christ,” the Apostle says, “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.” What is “seek the things that are above”? That is, exceed the flesh. Do not think carnal things. For those to whom he still spoke were not yet horn trumpets: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ (1 Cor 3:1). I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. For you were not yet ready for it, but even now you are not ready. For you are still of the flesh” (1 Cor 3:2–3). Therefore they were not horn trumpets, because they had not exceeded the flesh. A horn both clings to the flesh and exceeds the flesh, and although it originates from the flesh, it is above the flesh. You will therefore become spiritual instead of carnal; you still tread the earth in the flesh, but in spirit you burst forth into heaven. “For though we walk in the flesh,” he says, “we are not waging war according to the flesh” (2 Cor 10:3).

According to this faith and hope and love by which we began to be under grace, we have already died together with Christ and have been buried together with him through baptism; as the Apostle says, “Because our old man was crucified with him” (Rom 6:6), and we have risen together with him, because he raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places. Hence also that exhortation: “Seek the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth.” But because he continues and says, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God; when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:3–4), he sufficiently indicates what he wants to be understood: that now our transition from death to life, which happens through faith, is accomplished by hope concerning the future resurrection and glory at the end, when this corruptible thing, that is, this flesh in which we groan now, puts on incorruption, and this mortal thing puts on immortality (1 Cor 15:53). For now we indeed already have the firstfruits of the Spirit through faith, but we ourselves still groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Rom 8:23). Therefore the entire church, which is found in the pilgrimage of mortality, awaits this at the end of the age, which was prefigured in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the firstborn from the dead, because his body, for which he is the head, is none other than the church.

“Set your minds on things that are above.” Behold, we are commanded to set our minds on things that are above, namely spiritual things, which must be understood not as being physically upward in places and parts of this world, but by the merit of their excellence, lest we fix our minds on a part of this world: from the entirety of which we ought to remove ourselves.

Col 3:2–4

If God formed both man from the earth and beasts from the earth, what does man have more excellent in this matter, except that he himself was created in the image of God (Gen 1:27)! And yet, this is not according to the body, but according to the intellect of the mind, although even in the body itself he has a certain property which indicates this, as he was made with an upright posture: so that by this very thing he might be warned not to pursue earthly things like cattle, whose entire pleasure is from the earth. Hence all things in their belly are prone and prostrated. Therefore, even his body corresponds to his rational soul: not according to the outlines and shapes of the members, but rather according to the fact that it is erected toward heaven for looking at those things which are above the body of the world itself. Thus the rational soul ought to be erected in that which excels most in the nature of spiritual things: so that they may set their minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. “For you have died, and [folio CCLXIr] your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

It is manifest and easily known to anyone paying attention that the moon does not increase to our eyes except by receding from the sun, nor does it decrease except by approaching the sun from another side. Pay attention now to what is read in Ecclesiasticus: “The wise man remains like the sun: but a fool changes like the moon” (Sir 27:11). And who is the wise man who remains, except that Sun of Righteousness, of whom it is said, “The Sun of Righteousness has risen for me”? And mourning that he had not risen for them on the last day, the wicked will say, “And the light of righteousness has not shone on us, and the sun has not risen upon us” (Wis 5:6). For God makes this sun, visible to the eyes of the flesh, rise on the good and the evil, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt 5:45). Suitable comparisons are always drawn from visible things for invisible things. Who then is that fool who changes like the moon, except Adam, in whom all sinned (Rom 5:12)?

Indeed, the human soul receding from the Sun of Righteousness—that is, from that internal contemplation of immutable truth—turns all its powers toward earthly things, and is increasingly darkened in its inner parts. But when it begins to return to that immutable wisdom, the more it approaches it with the affection of piety, the more the outer man decays, but the inner man is renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16). All that light of the intellect which was turning toward lower things is turned toward higher things, and is somehow taken away from earthly things, so that it may increasingly die to this age, and its life may be hidden with Christ in God. Therefore it changes for the worse as it proceeds to exterior things and casts out its innermost things in its life, and to the earth (that is, to those who set their minds on earthly things) this seems better, when “the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul, and the one who does unjust things is blessed” (Ps 10:3). But it changes for the better when it gradually turns its intention and glory away from earthly things, which appear in this age, and turns to higher and more inward things, and to the earth (that is, to those who set their minds on earthly things) this seems worse.

Hence those wicked people, performing a fruitless repentance at the very end, will say this among many things: “These are the ones whom we once held in derision and as a proverb of reproach: we fools considered their lives madness” (Wis 5:3–4).

For then nothing will be lacking to our desire, when God will be all in all. †Talis sipis non haber sinem.†¹ No one dies there, because no one arrives there unless he dies to this age—not with the death of everyone, by which the body is deserted by the soul, but with the death of the elect, by which even while still dwelling in mortal flesh, one sets his heart above. Of that mortality the Apostle said, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Perhaps from this it is said, “Love is strong as death” (Song 8:6). For by this love it happens that, while still established in this corruptible flesh, we die to the age, and our life is hidden with Christ in God; indeed, love itself is our death to the age, and our life with God. For if it is death when our love departs from the world, then love is indeed as strong as death. What is stronger than that by which the world is conquered?

“For they will soon wither like the grass, and fall quickly like the green herbs of the meadow” (Ps 37:2). The green herbs of the meadow are certain cheap things holding onto the surface of the earth, they do not have a deep root; therefore they are green through the winter, but when the summer sun begins to burn, they wither. Now, therefore, is the time of winter. Your glory does not yet appear, but if the root of your love is deep, like that of many trees, the cold of winter passes, and the summer comes, that is, the day of judgment. Then the greenness of the grass will wither, then the glory of the trees will appear. “For you have died,” says the Apostle. How do the trees appear during the winter? As if they were dry, as if they were dead. What hope is there then? If we have died, the root is inside. There is our root, there is our life, there is our love. “And your life,” he says, “is hidden with Christ in God.” When will that which has its root in this way wither? When, however, is our spring? When is our summer? When, moreover, does the dignity of leaves clothe it around, and the abundance of fruit, and it is enriched? When will this be? Hear what follows: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Therefore, all the good and faithful are rich, but not rich in this world. Finally, they themselves do not even perceive their own riches; they will perceive them later. The root lives, but in the time of winter even a green tree is like a dry one. For during the time of winter, both the tree that is dry and the tree that thrives are bare of the honor of leaves, both are empty of the honor of fruit. The summer comes and distinguishes the trees; the living root produces leaves and is filled with fruit; the dry, empty tree will remain in summer as it was in winter. And so the barn is prepared for the one; the axe is applied to the other, so that, cut down, it may be thrown into the fire. Thus our summer is the coming of Christ: our winter is the hiddenness of Christ: our summer is the revelation of Christ. Finally, the Apostle offers this encouragement to the good and faithful trees: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Dead indeed in appearance, but alive in the root. But pay attention to how the coming time of summer follows and says, “But when Christ [folio CCLXIv] who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Therefore let us be upright in heart. The time of our glory has not yet come. Let him say to the lovers of this world what the Lord said to his brothers, “Your time is always ready, but my time has not yet come” (John 7:6). For let us also dare to say this, since we are the body of our Lord, since we are his members, since we gratefully acknowledge our head; let us say it straightforwardly, since for our sake he himself also condescended to say it. When the lovers of the world insult us, let us say to them, “Your time is always ready, but our time has not yet come.” For the Apostle said to us, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” When will our time come? “When Christ,” he says, “who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Col 3:5–9

“Put to death therefore your members that are on the earth.”

Let us be put to death and we will rise again. By having these members put to death, therefore, we rise again first in faith. But just as death according to the spirit precedes, and the resurrection which is according to the spirit, so the death according to the flesh will precede the resurrection which will be according to the flesh.

Hear the scripture: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10). Therefore he began to fear the day of judgment; by fearing, he corrects himself, he keeps watch against his enemies, that is, against his sins. He begins to come back to life inwardly, and to put to death his members that are on the earth; as the Apostle Paul says, “Put to death your members that are on the earth.” He calls the spiritual forces of evil “members on the earth.” For he continues and explains: “Covetousness, impurity,” and the rest which he recounts there. But as much as he who has begun to fear the day of judgment puts to death his members on the earth, so much do the heavenly members rise up and grow strong. Now the heavenly members are all good works. With the heavenly members rising up, he begins to desire what he feared. For he feared that Christ would come and find someone to condemn; now he desires him to come, because he will find someone to crown. Evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry.

“Fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another,”

Neither the covetous nor the robbers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:10). Indeed, covetousness is compared to idolatry. “And covetousness,” he says, “which is idolatry.” The blessed Cyprian exaggerated this meaning so much in his letter to Antonianus that he did not hesitate to compare the covetous to those sinners who, during the time of persecution, had professed by certificates that they had offered incense.

Col 3:9–10

“Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new.”

The Apostle calls the “old man” nothing other than the old life, which is in sin, in which one lives according to Adam. Concerning this he says, “Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death; and so it spread to all men, in whom all sinned” (Rom 5:12). Therefore, that whole man, that is, in both his inner and outer part, grew old on account of sin, and was addicted to the penalty of mortality. But now he is renewed according to the inner man, where he is reformed according to the image of his Creator, stripping himself of unrighteousness, which is the old man, and putting on righteousness, which is the new man. But then, when the spiritual body which is sown as a natural body rises, even the outer man will receive the dignity of a heavenly condition, so that he who created may recreate all that was created, and he who made may remake all that was made (Eph 3:9, 1 Cor 15:44), with him recreating who created, and him remaking who made. For who, instructed by Catholic truth, is ignorant that there are other human beings—males and females—according to the body, but not according to the spirit of the mind in which we are renewed according to the image of God?

“The blood of his Son,” he says, “cleanses us from all sin.” What is “from all sin”? Pay attention. Behold, now in the name of Christ, through the blood of the cross of the Lord, whom these who are called infants have now confessed, all their sins have been cleansed. The old went in, the new came out (1 John 1:7). What does it mean, the old went in, the new came out? Old men went in, infants came out. For old age is sluggish, an old life. But the infancy of regeneration is a new life. But what do we do? Past sins have been forgiven, not only to them, but also to us. And after the forgiveness and abolition of all sins, by living in this world amid temptations, certain sins have perhaps been contracted; what should one do about this? Let him confess what he is, so that he may be cured by him who always is what he is. Therefore, if you confess yourself a sinner, the truth is in you. For the truth itself is light. Your life has not yet perfectly shone, because sins are present. But nevertheless you have already begun to be illuminated, because the confession of sins is present. For see what follows: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Not only past sins, but also whatever we have perhaps contracted from this life, because [folio CCLXIIr] man, as long as he carries the flesh, cannot but have at least light sins. But do not despise these light sins which we speak of. If you despise them when you weigh them, be terrified when you count them. Many light things make one heavy thing; many drops fill a river; many grains make a lump. And what hope is there? Above all, confession, lest anyone think himself righteous; and let man, who was not and is, raise his neck before the eyes of God who sees what he is. Above all, therefore, confession; then love, because what is said of love? “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).

Col 3:10–12

“Which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not male and female, Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”

He sufficiently shows where man was created in the image of God: because it is not in the lineaments of the body, but in a certain intelligible form of the illuminated mind. For just as after the fall of sin man is renewed in the knowledge of God according to the image of him who created him, so in that very knowledge he was created before he grew old in transgression; hence he is again renewed in the same knowledge.

If therefore we are renewed in the spirit of the mind, and the new man himself who is being renewed in the knowledge of God according to the image of him who created him, there is no doubt that man was made in the image of him who created him not according to the body, nor according to any part of the soul whatsoever, but according to the rational mind, where the knowledge of God can be. Moreover, according to this renewal we are also made sons of God through the baptism of Christ, and by putting on the new man, we certainly put on Christ through faith.

That renewal and reformation of the mind is according to God, or according to the image of God. But he says “according to God” so that it is not thought to be done according to another creature. And he says “according to the image of God” so that the renewal is understood to take place in that thing where the image of God is, that is, in the mind. Therefore let us not understand “according to the image of him who created him” as if the image according to which he is renewed is one thing, and the image that is renewed is another.

Col 3:13

“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

By washing the feet of his disciples who were already good and clean, the Lord signified that because of the human affections with which we live on earth, no matter how much we have progressed in apprehending righteousness, we are not without sin. He constantly washes this away by interceding for us, when we pray to our Father who is in heaven: so that he may forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors (Matt 6:12). How then could what he himself taught afterwards pertain to this understanding: “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done to you, you also should do” (John 13:14–15)? Can we say that even a brother will be able to cleanse a brother from the contagion of sin? On the contrary, let us recognize that we have also been instructed by the depth of this work of the Lord: that by confessing our sins to one another, we should pray for ourselves, just as Christ intercedes for us.

Let us hear the apostle James most evidently commanding this and saying, “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another”; because the Lord gave us an example for this (James 5:16). For if he who had no sin and will have no sin prays for our sins, how much more ought we to pray for one another for our own! And if he to whom we have nothing to forgive forgives us, how much more ought we to forgive one another, since we cannot live here without sin! For what does the Lord seem to signify in this depth of the sacrament when he says, “For I have given you an example, that just as I have done to you, you also should do,” except what the Apostle very fittingly says, “Forgiving each other, if one has a complaint against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also”? Let us therefore mutually forgive our sins to one another, and let us pray for one another for our sins, and thus let us somehow wash one another’s feet.

It is our ministry, by his gift, to show love and humility; it is his to hear us, and to cleanse us from all contamination of sins through Christ and in Christ: so that what we forgive others—that is, loose on earth—is loosed in heaven.

Col 3:14–16

“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom.”

That tunic for which lots were cast signifies the unity of all the parts, which is contained by the bond of love. And the Apostle, when about to speak of love, says, “I will show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31), and in another place he says, “And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:19). And likewise elsewhere, “And above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col 3:14). If therefore love both has a more excellent way, and surpasses knowledge, and is above all [folio CCLXIIv] commandments, the garment by which it is signified is rightly presented as being woven from the top down (John 19:23). And it is seamless, lest it ever be torn apart; and it goes to one person, because it gathers all into one.

Col 3:16–17

“Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

For not everyone who sounds with his lips sings a new song, but he who sings in such a way as the Apostle admonishes, saying: “Singing and making melody to the Lord with your hearts.” For this joy is within, where there is the voice of praise and singing.² With this voice he praises, he who loves him who is to be loved with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind, and kindles his lover in himself by the grace of his Holy Spirit (Deut 6:5).

Col 3:18–22

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they become discouraged. Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing God.”

There is also a natural order among human beings, that women should serve their husbands, and children their parents: because even there this justice exists, that the weaker reason serves the stronger. This therefore in dominions and servitudes is clear justice: that those who excel in reason should excel in dominion. Though this is disturbed in this age by the iniquity of men or by the nature of carnal differences, the righteous endure temporal difference, knowing they will hold a most orderly and eternal felicity at the end.

Since many in our communion truly fulfill these more sublime evangelical commandments—how many men and women are pure and chaste from all sexual intercourse; how many have experienced it and subsequently remain continent; how many distribute and abandon their wealth; how many subject their body to servitude by fasts that are frequent or daily or even incredibly continuous; how many fraternal communities having nothing of their own, but all things in common, and these only what is necessary for food and clothing, forging one soul and one heart for God by the fire of love; how many humbly and faithfully guard their holy purpose and persevere to the end and are saved! In their society, those appear to be almost unequal, yet they are joined by the same love, who, because of some necessity, according to the Apostle’s exhortation, have wives as though they had none, and buy as though they had no possessions, and use this world as not using it (1 Cor 7:29–31).

To these, according to the abundant riches of God’s mercy, are also joined those to whom it is said, “Do not deprive one another, except by agreement for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Cor 7:5). “But I say this as a concession, not as a command” (1 Cor 7:6). To such people the same Apostle says, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.” And bearing their weakness, he says a little later, “If you have ordinary cases, appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church” (1 Cor 6:7, 4). For not only those who, in order to be perfect, sell or abandon all their possessions and follow the Lord, belong to the kingdom of heaven; but also to this Christian military service, because of a certain sort of commerce of love, is joined a certain stipendiary multitude, to whom he will say at the end, “I was hungry, and you gave me food,” etc. (Matt 25:35). Otherwise, those whose households the Apostle arranges so carefully and attentively would be condemned: warning wives to be subject to their husbands, husbands to love their wives, children to obey their parents, parents to raise their children in the discipline and correction of the Lord, slaves to obey their earthly masters with fear, and masters to provide what is just and fair to their slaves.

But far be it that he should judge them alien to the evangelical commandments and separated from eternal life. Because where the Lord says, “Whoever does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27), exhorting the stronger to perfection, he immediately consoles these others as well, saying, “Whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward; and whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward” (Matt 10:41). Hence, not only he who gave a little wine to Timothy for the sake of his stomach and his frequent ailments (1 Tim 5:23), but even he who offers a cup of cold water to a healthier and stronger one only in the name of a disciple, as follows there, will not lose his reward (Matt 10:42).

This rule is set before you. Is it not clear that the one who is greater than the rest should be offended the least? Now examine your superiors. Your mother and father are the first for you; if they raise you rightly, if they nourish you in Christ, they must be listened to in all things, and they must be obeyed in every command, provided they command nothing against a greater authority, and one should serve them. Who is greater, you say, than the one who begot me? Is it not he who created you? For a human being begets; God creates. The human being does not know whence he begets, nor what is being begotten; he who saw you in order to make you before the one who made you existed, is certainly greater than your father. The homeland is greater than your father and your parents themselves: so that whatever your parents command against your homeland should not be listened to; and whatever your homeland commands against God should not be listened to [folio CCLXIIIr]. For if you wish to be healed, if after the flow of blood, if after twelve years in that disease, if after spending everything on physicians and not receiving your health, you finally wish to be made healthy, O woman whom I address as a type of the church, your father commands one thing, and your people command that thing.

But your Lord says to you, “Forget your people and your father’s house” (Ps 45:10). For what good? For what fruit? For what reward? “Since the King,” he says, “has desired your beauty” (Ps 45:11). He desired what he made: since, in order to make you beautiful, he loved you when you were foul. He shed his blood for the unfaithful and the foul, and rendered you faithful and beautiful; he loved his own gifts in you. What did you contribute to your Bridegroom? What did you receive as a dowry from your former father and your former people? Was it not the luxuries and rags of sins? He threw away your rags, he tore off your sackcloth; he had mercy to adorn you, he adorned you to love you.

Domestic peace is the ordered harmony of those dwelling together in commanding and obeying. For those who give counsel command, such as the husband to the wife, parents to children, masters to slaves. But those to whom counsel is given obey, such as women to their husbands, children to parents, slaves to masters. But in the house of the righteous man living by faith and still journeying away from that city, even those who command serve those whom they appear to command: because they command not by the desire to dominate, but by the duty of giving counsel; not by the pride of ruling, but by the beneficence of providing.

Col 3:23–25

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality with God.”

God approves of that innocence by which a person is innocent not out of fear of punishment, but out of love for righteousness. For whoever does not sin out of fear, although he does not harm the one he wishes to harm, nevertheless harms himself greatly: and while abstaining from the unjust deed, he is guilty by his will alone. Feigned innocence is not innocence; feigned fairness is not fairness, but a doubled sin, in which there is both injustice and pretense. “You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done. And there is no partiality with God.”

Fault, not nature, produced the name and condition of slavery. And the primary cause of this subjection is sin: because the heavenly Lord says, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). And therefore many religious people serve unjust masters, but not free masters. For one is bound as a slave to whoever has conquered him. And certainly it is happier to serve a man than lust: since the lust for dominating men (to omit others) devastates the hearts of mortals with its most cruel dominion. It is better to have the sorrow of one suffering unjustly than the joy of one acting unjustly. From the malice of the wicked the good man is scourged, and from the slave the son is corrected.

Chapter 4

Col 4:1

“Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”

Even if our holy fathers had slaves,¹ they administered domestic peace in such a way that, according to these temporal goods, they distinguished the lot of their children from the condition of their slaves. But regarding the worship of the Lord, in whom eternal goods are to be hoped for, they cared for all the members of their household with equal love. The natural order prescribes this in such a way that the name “fathers of the household” (paterfamilias) arose from here, and became so widely circulated that even those who dominate unjustly rejoice to be called this. But those who are true fathers of the household care for everyone in their household as if they were sons regarding the worship and pleasing of God, desiring and longing to come to the heavenly house, where the duty of commanding mortals will not be necessary, because the duty of giving counsel will no longer be necessary for those who are happy in that immortality. Until they arrive there, the fathers who rule ought to tolerate more than the slaves who serve.

Just as in the powers of human society a greater power is set over a lesser one for obedience, so God is over all.

Let those who say that the doctrine of Christ is adverse to the republic give us such an army, such soldiers as the doctrine of Christ commanded them to be. Let them give us such provincials, such husbands, such wives, such parents, such children, such masters, such slaves, such kings, such judges, and finally such taxpayers and tax collectors for the treasury itself, as the Christian doctrine commands them to be, and let them dare to say it is adverse to the republic: nay rather, let them not hesitate to confess that, if it is obeyed, it is a great salvation to the republic.

Col 4:2–11

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

[folio CCLXIIIv] Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.”

John says, “And if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). But someone says, “Does he therefore not pray for us?” But pay attention to the scriptures, and see that the leaders commend themselves to the people. For the Apostle says to the people, “Praying at the same time also for us.” The Apostle prays for the people; the people pray for the Apostle. We pray for you, brothers; but you also pray for us mutually. Let all the members pray for one another; the head intercedes for all.

Col 4:12–18

“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, ‘See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.’ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.”

If we were to say that this perseverance, so praiseworthy and so happy, belongs to man in such a way that he does not have it from God, we would first empty of meaning what the Lord said to Peter: “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). For what did he pray for except perseverance to the end? If this were surely from man to man, it would not have to be asked from God. Then, when the Apostle says, “We pray to the Lord that you may not do wrong” (2 Cor 13:7), without a doubt he is praying to God for their perseverance. For one who deserts the good and inclines to evil from which he ought to turn away, not persevering in the good, is not doing “nothing wrong.” Furthermore, when he says elsewhere, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:3–6), what else is he promising them by the mercy of God than perseverance in the good until the end! And likewise when he says, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God,” what does “that you may stand” mean, except that you may persevere?

Hence it is said of the devil, “He did not stand in the truth” (John 8:44), because he was there, but he did not remain. For they certainly were already standing in the faith; nor do we pray for anything else when we pray that the one who stands may stand, except that he may persevere. Likewise the apostle Jude, when he says, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 24): does he not most aptly show that to persevere in the good until the end is God’s gift? For what else does he give who keeps one from stumbling in order to present one blameless before the presence of his glory with joy, except good perseverance! What is it also that we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48)! Who could be appointed to eternal life without the gift of perseverance! For “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 10:22, 24:13).

With what salvation, if not eternal? But when in the Lord’s Prayer we say to God the Father, “Hallowed be your name” (Matt 6:9): what else are we saying except that his name may be hallowed in us? And since this has already been accomplished through the washing of regeneration, why is it asked for daily by the faithful, if not so that he may persevere in us in that which has been done in us?

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In Epistolam ad Colossenses

Augustinian compilation transmitted under Bede’s and Florus’s names — provisional Latin reading text.

A continuous Latin text based on the corrected 1534 transcript and the previously adopted Migne readings. Only the principal unresolved passages are footnoted; †…† marks unreconstructed corruption. Historical abbreviations and references are retained. The inherited folio labels remain unverified.

Argumentum

Colossenses, & hi sicut & Laodicenses sunt Asiani, & ipsi præventi erant a pseudoapostolis. Nec ad hos accessit ipse Apostolus, sed & hos per epistolam corrigit. Audierant enim verbum ab Archippo, qui & ministerium in eos accepit. Ergo Apostolus iam ligatus scribit eis ab Epheso per Tichycum diaconum, & Onesimum Acolytum.

Caput I

Col 1:1–12

Paulus apostolus Iesu Christi per voluntatem dei, & Timotheus frater his qui sunt Colossis sanctis, & fidelibus fratribus in Christo Iesu, Gratia vobis & pax a deo patre nostro. Gratias agimus deo, & patri domini nostri Iesu Christi semper pro vobis orantes, audientes fidem vestram in Christo Iesu, & dilectionem quam habetis in sanctos omnes, propter spem quæ reposita est vobis in cęlis, quam audīstis in verbo veritatis euangelij quod peruenit ad vos: sicut & in vniuerso mundo est, & fructificat, & crescit sicut in vobis ex ea die qua audīstis, & cognouistis gratiam dei in veritate, sicut didicistis ab Epaphra charissimo cōseruo nostro, qui est fidelis pro nobis minister Christi Iesu: qui etiam manifestauit nobis dilectionem vestram [folio CCLIVr] in spiritu. Ideo & nos ex qua die audiuimus, non cessamus pro vobis orantes, & postulantes vt impleamini agnitione voluntatis eius in omni sapientia & intellectu spiritali: vt ambuletis digne Deo, per omnia placētes, in omni opere bono fructificātes, & crescētes in sciētia Dei, in omni virtute cōfortati, secundum potētiā charitatis eius, in omni patiētia & lōganimitate: cum gaudio gratias agētes deo patri, qui dignos nos fecit in partem sortis sanctorum in lumine.

Tunica illa domini desuper texta, quæ significat charitatis ęternitatem, cum diuidi a persecutoribus non posset, sors super eam missa est (Ioa. xix.). Ad quos peruenit, eos significauit qui videtur ad sortem pertinere sanctorum. Gratia salui facti estis per fidem, ait Apostolus (Ephe. ii.). Gratia salui facti estis per fidem, & hoc non ex vobis, sed donum dei est, non ex operibus, quasi vos benefeceritis, vt ad hoc accedere digni essetis. Non ex operibus, ne forte quis extollatur. Ipsius enim sumus figmentum creati in Christo Iesu in operibus bonis. Hęc quodammodo fors occulta est. Voluntas dei in humano genere fors est, Sors veniens de occulta dei voluntate, apud quem non est iniquitas. Non enim ille personas accipit, sed occulta illius iustitia tibi sors est.

Col 1:13

Qui eripuit nos de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij dilectionis suæ.

Qvisquis hęc legis, & gratiam dei, qua in ęternam vitam per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum redimimur, legendo in apostolicis literis, in propheticis scrutando cognoscis, & vetus testamentum in nouo reuelatum, in veteri nouum velatum vides: recole quem dixerit Apostolus Paulus principem potestatis aeris, qui operatur in filijs diffidentiæ (Ephe. ii.). & illud, vbi ait de quibusdam, Vt resipiscant de diaboli laqueis captiuigati ab ipso secundum ipsius voluntatem (ii. Tim. ii.). & verba domini nostri Iesu Christi, vbi eum expellens de fidelium cordibus ait, Nunc princeps huius mundi missus est foras (Ioan. xii.). & ipsius itidem Apostoli dicentis, Qui eruit nos de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suę. Hęc atque huiusmodi ratiocinatus intende animum in literas veteris testamenti, & vide quid cantet in eo psalmo, cuius est titulus, Quando domus ędificabatur post captiuitatem, vbi enim dicit, Cantate domino canticum nouum (Psal. xcv.).

Et ne existimes ad Iudęorum populum tantummodo pertinere. Cantate, inquit, domino omnis terra. Cantate domino, benedicite nomini eius. Annunciate de die in diem salutare eius. Imo & ipsum verbum quod in gręco positum est transferam, euangelizate diem ex die salutare eius. Hinc enim euangelium nuncupatum est, in quo annunciatur dies ex die dominus Christus, lumen ex lumine, filius ex patre. dic. Hoc est enim salutare eius, quia salutare Dei Christus est. Isti ergo inimici cum rege suo diabolo captiuum tenebant populum dei. De qua captiuitate cum redimimur, & princeps huius mundi mittit foras, ędificatur domus post captiuitatem, cuius lapis angularis est Christus, qui duos condidit in se vnum nouum hominem, faciens pacem (Ephe. ii.): quia dies ex die veniens euangelizauit eis qui erant prope, & eis qui erant longe, faciens vtraque vnum, & adducens alias oues, quæ non sunt ex hoc ouili, vt sit vnus grex & vnus pastor (Ioa. x.).

Hi ergo inimici diabolus & angeli eius captiuauerant prędestinatos in dei regnum & gloriam. A redemptore autem nostro foras missi, dominari in fidelibus solebant intrinsecus, fideles oppugnant extrinsecus. Sed oppugnant non expugnant eos qui apprehenderunt turrem fortitudinis a facie inimici. Vt autem oppugnent, sentiunt in nobis esse infirmitatis reliquias, propter quas dicimus, Dimitte nobis debita nostra, propter quas dicimus, Ne nos inferas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo (Matth. vi.).

Non autem ait, meum regnum non est hic, sed non est hinc. Hic est enim regnum eius vsque in finem seculi, habens inter se commixta zizania vsque ad messem. Messis est enim finis seculi, quum messores venient, id est angeli, & colligent de regno eius omnia scandala. Quod vtique non fieret si regnum eius non esset hic. Sed tamen non est hinc, quia peregrinatur in mundo. Regno suo quippe dicit, De mundo non estis, sed ego vos elegi de mundo (Ioan. xviii.). Erant ergo de mundo quum regnum eius non erant, sed ad mundi principem pertinebant. De mundo est ergo quicquid hominum a vero quidem deo creatum, sed ex Adam vitiata atque damnata stirpe generatum est. Factum est autem regnum non iam de mundo, quicquid inde in Christo regeneratum est. Sic enim nos deus eruit de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suæ. De quo regno dicit, Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo. vel regnum meum non est hinc.

Si charitas qua pater diligit filium suum, & patrem diligit filius, ineffabiliter communionem demonstrat amborum: quid conuenientius quam vt ille proprie dicatur charitas, qui spiritus est communis amborum! Alioquin si in illa trinitate solus spiritus sanctus est charitas, profecto & filius non solum patris, uerum etiam spiritus sancti filius inuenitur. Ita enim locis innumerabilibus dicit & legit filius vnigenitus dei patris: vt tamen & illud verum sit, quod Apostolus

[folio CCLIVv] ait de Deo patre, Qui eruit nos de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suæ. Non dixit filij sui: quod si diceret, verissime diceret, quemadmodum iam sæpe dixit, verissime dixit, sed ait filij charitatis suæ. Filius ergo est spiritus sancti, si non est in illa trinitate charitas dei nisi spiritus sanctus. Quod si absurdissimum est, restat vt non solus ibi sit charitas spiritus sanctus, sed propter illa de quibus satis disserui, proprie sic vocetur. Quod autem dictum est filij charitatis suæ, nihil aliud intelligatur, quam filij sui dilecti, quam filij postremo substantiæ suæ. Charitas quippe patris quæ in natura eius est ineffabiliter simplici, nihil est aliud quam eius ipsa natura atque substantia vt sæpe iam diximus, & sæpe iterare non piget. Ac per hoc filius charitatis eius nullus est alius, quam qui de substantia est genitus.

Si vere volumus defendere liberum arbitrium, non oppugnemus vnde sit liberum. Nam qui oppugnat gratiam qua nostrum ad declinandum a malo liberatur arbitrium, ipse arbitrium suum adhuc vult captiuum esse. Responde obsecro, quod dicit Apostolus, Gratias agentes patri idoneos facienti nos in parte sortis sanctorum in lumine, qui eruit nos de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suæ, si non ipse arbitrium nostrum, sed ipsum arbitrium se liberat. Mendaciter ergo agimus gratias patri tanquam ipse faciat quod ipse non facit. Et errauit qui dixit quod ipse nos faciat idoneos in parte sortis sanctorum in lumine, qui ipse nos eruit de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suę. Responde quo ad declinandum a malo, & faciendum bonum, liberum habebamus arbitrium quum erat sub potestate tenebrarum. Vnde nos si (quemadmodum dicit Apostolus) deus eruit, ipse vtique illud liberum fecit.

Quod tam magnum nostrum bonum, si pro suę doctrinę prędicationem tantummodo facit, quid de ijs dicemus quos de ipso tenebrarum potestate nondum eruit. Prędicanda tantum illis est doctrina diuina, an etiam orandum pro eis vt de tenebrarum potestate diuinitus eruantur? Si tantummodo prędicandum esse dicis, iussioni domini, & orationibus ecclesię contradicis. Si autem pro eis fateris orandum, id vtique orandum fateris, vt iidem doctrinæ, arbitrio liberato a tenebrarum potestate consentiant. Ita fit vt neque fideles fiant, nisi libero arbitrio, & tamen illius gratia fideles fiant, qui eorum a potestate tenebrarum liberauit arbitrium. Sic & dei gratia non negatur, sed sine vllis humanis præcedentibus meritis vera monstratur, & liberum ita defendit, vt humilitate solidet, non elatione pręcipitet arbitrium: & qui gloriatur, non in homine vel quolibet alio, vel seipso, sed in domino glorietur.

Potestas est tenebrarum quid est, nisi potestas diaboli & angelorum eius! Qui cum fuissent angeli lucis in veritate per liberum arbitrium non stantes, sed cadentes, facti sunt tenebrę. Non te ista doceo, sed qui nosti vt recorderis admoneo. Huic igitur potestati tenebrarum †paullus ruinā†¹, cui primo homini ab ea potestate pręuaricatio persuasa est. & in quo omnes cecidimus, subiectum est genus humanum. Propter quod de hac potestate tenebrarum eruuntur paruuli, & regenerantur in Christo. Neque hoc apparet in eorum arbitrio liberato, nisi cum ad annos peruenerint ratione vtentis ętatis habentes consentientem doctrinę salutari in qua nutriti sunt voluntatem, & in ea finientes istam vitam, si electi sunt in Christo ante constitutionem mundi, vt essent sancti & immaculati in conspectu eius, in charitate prędestinati in adoptionem filiorum (Ephe. i.).

Col 1:14–15

In quo habemus redemptionem, & remissionem peccatorum, qui est imago dei inuisibilis.

Non est difficile videre diabolum victum, quando qui ab illo occisus est, resurrexit. Illud est maius, & ad intelligendum profundius, videre diabolum victum, quando vicisse sibi uidebatur. i. quando Christus occisus est. Tunc enim sanguis ille, quoniam eius erat qui nullum omnino habuit peccatum, ad remissionem nostrorum fusus est peccatorum, vt quia eos diabolus merito tenebat quos peccati reos conditione mortis obstrinxit, hos per eum merito dimitteret, quem nullius peccati reum immerito pœna mortis affecit. Hac iustitia uictus, & hoc vinculo vinctus est fortis, vt vasa eius eriperentur (Matth. xii.), qui apud eum cum ipso & angelis eius fuerant vasa irę, & in vasa misericordię verterentur. Hęc verba quippe ipsius domini nostri Iesu Christi de cęlo ad se facta cum primum vocatus est, narrat Apostolus Paulus. Nam inter cętera quæ audiuit, etiam hoc sibi dictum sic loquitur.

Ad hoc enim tibi apparui, vt constituam te ministrum & testem eorum quæ a me vides. quibus etiam appareo tibi, liberans te de populo, & de gentibus, in quos ego mittam te aperire oculos eorum, vt auertantur a tenebris, & potestate Satanę ad deum, & vt accipiant remissionem peccatorum, & sortem quæ in sanctis, & fidem quæ in me est (Actu. xxvi.). Vti & exhortans idem Apostolus credentes ad gratiarum actionem deo patri, qui eruit eos, inquit de potestate tenebrarum, & transtulit in regnum filij charitatis suę, in quo habemus redemptionem in sanguine eius remissionem peccatorum in hac redemptione tanquam peccatum pro nobis datus est sanguis Christi, quo accepto diabolus non ditatus est, sed necatus, vt nos ab eius nexibus solueremur, nec quenquam secum eorum, quos Christus ab omni debito liber, indebite fuso suo sanguine redemisset peccatorum retibus obuolutum traheret ad secundę, ac sempiternę mortis exitium [folio CCLVr], sed hactenus morerentur ad Christi gratiam pertinentes pręcogniti & prędestinati & electi ante constitutionem mundi. quatenus pro ipsis ipse mortuus est Christus carnis tantum morte non spiritus.

Qui est imago dei inuisibilis.

Ad quendam modum erit homo imitator dei velut imago, sed non qualis imago est filius. Filius hominis habet imaginem patris sui, & hoc est quod pater eius, quia homo est sicut pater eius. In speculo autem imago tua non est quod tu. Aliter enim est imago tua in filio, aliter in speculo. Sed in creatura non hoc est imago dei quod est in filio, quia hoc est quod pater .i. id est verbum dei, per quod facta sunt omnia. Recipe ergo similitudinem dei quam per mala facta amisisti. Sicut enim in nummo imago imperatoris aliter est, & aliter in filio, nam imago & imago est: sed aliter impressa est in nummo, aliter habet in filio: Sic & tu nummus es dei, & hoc melior, quia cum intellectu, & cum quadam vita nummus es dei, vt scias etiam cuius imaginem geras, & ad cuius imaginem factus sis. Nam nummus nescit se habere imaginem regis. In tribus primis pręceptis decalogi, quę ad deum pertinent, cętera enim septem ad proximum pertinent .i. ad hominem, quia in duobus pręceptis tota lex pendet. In primo pręcepto prohibetur aliqua in figmentis hominum dei similitudo (Matth. xxii.), non quia non habet imaginem deus, sed quia nulla imago eius coli debet, nisi illa quę hoc est quod ipse, nec ipsa pro illo, sed cum illo.

Col 1:15–17

Primogenitus omnis creaturę, quoniam in ipso condita sunt vniuersa in cęlis, & in terra, visibilia & inuisibilia. Siue throni, siue dominationes, siue principatus, siue potestates, omnia per ipsum, & in ipso creata sunt. Et ipse est ante omnes, & omnia in ipso constant.

Secundum formam dei dictum est. Ante omnes colles genuit me .i. ante omnes altitudines creaturarum. & Ante luciferum genui te .i. ante omnia temporalia & tempora. Secundum autem formam serui dictum est, Dominus creauit me in principio uiarum suarum (Prouer. viii). quia secundum formam dei dixit, Ego sum veritas, & secundum formam serui, Ego sum via (Ioan. xiiii.). Quia enim ipse est primogenitus a mortuis, iter facit ecclesię suę ad regnum dei, ad uitam ęternam, cui caput est, ad immortalitatem etiam corporis. Ideo creatus est in principio viarum dei in opera eius. Secundum formam enim dei, principium quod & loquor vobis: quo principio fecit deus cęlum & terram (Gene. i.). Secundum autem formam serui sponsus procedens de thalamo suo (Psal. xviii.). Secundum formam dei, primogenitus omnis creaturę, & ipse est ante omnes, & omnia in ipso constant (Eccl’. xxiiii.).

Secundum formam serui, ipse est caput corporis ecclesię. Fides catholica quæ inter creatorem creaturamque distinguit, nullam patitur in his duobus nominibus intelligendi difficultatem, vnigenitum cum accipies secundum id quod scriptum est, In principio erat verbum, & verbum erat apud deum, & deus erat verbum. Primogenitum autem vniuersę creaturę, secundum id quod Apostolus ait, Vt sit ipse primogenitus in multis fratribus. quos ei pater ad fraternam societatem non ęqualitate substantię, sed adoptione gratię generauit. Et post aliquid. Cum Christus Iesus & vnigenitus sit secundum id quod verbum dei est deus apud deum, pariter incommutabilis, & pariter ęternus, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se ęqualem deo (Phili. ii.): & primogenitus omnis creaturę, secundum id quod in ipso condita sunt omnia in cęlis & in terra visibilia & inuisibilia, quoniam in ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem inhabitare, & per eum omnia reconciliari in ipsum.

Col 1:18

Et ipse est caput corporis ecclesię, qui est principium, primogenitus ex mortuis, vt sit in omnibus ipse primatum tenens.

Aliud est sapientem tantum fieri per sapientiam dei, & aliud est ipsam personam sustinere sapientię dei. Quia enim eadem natura sit corporis ecclesię, multum tamen distare inter caput & membra cętera, quis non intelligat! Si enim ecclesię caput est homo ille, cuius susceptione verbum caro factum est, & habitauit in nobis: membra cętera sunt omnes sancti quibus principatur & completur ecclesia. Quo ergo anima totum corpus nostrum animat & viuificat, sed in capite & videndo sentit, & audiendo, & odorando, & gustando, & tangendo, in cęteris autem membris tangendo tantum: & ideo capiti cuncta subiecta sunt ad operandum: illud autem supra collocatum est ad consulendum. quia ipsius animę quę consulit corpori, quodammodo personam sustinet caput, ibi enim omnis sensus apparet, sic vniuerso populo sanctorum tanquam vni corpori caput est mediator dei & hominum, homo Christus Iesus.

Et propterea sapientia dei, & verbum in principio per quod facta sunt omnia, non sic assumpsit illum hominem vt cęteros: sed multo excellentius, multoque sublimius, quo ipsum solum assumi oportuit, in quo sapientia hominibus appareret, sicut visibiliter eam decebat ostendi. Qua propter aliter sunt sapientes cęteri homines quicunque sunt, vel esse potuerunt, vel poterunt, & aliter ille vnus mediator dei & hominum, homo Christus Iesus, qui sapientię ipsius per quam sunt sapientes quicunque homines, non solum beneficium habet, sed etiam personam gerit. De cęteris enim sapientibus & spiritalibus animis recte dici potest quia habeant in se verbum dei, per quod facta sunt omnia: sed in nullo eorum recte dici potest, quod verbum caro factum est, & habitauit in nobis, quod in solo domino nostro Iesu Christo rectissime dicitur. Totus Christus secundum ecclesiam .i. caput & corpus prędicatur.

Etenim caput & corpus vnus intelligitur,

[folio CCLVv] Christus, non quia sine corpore non est integer, sed quia & nobiscum integer esse dignatus est. qui & sine nobis semper est integer, non solum in eo quod verbum est vnigenitus filius ęqualis patri, sed & in ipso homine quem suscepit, & cum quo simul deus & homo est. Veruntamen fratres quod corpus eius nos, si non & nobiscum vnus Christus? Vbi inuenimus hoc? quia vnus Christus est caput & corpus. i. corpus cum capite suo? Sponsa cum sponso suo, quasi singularius loquitur apud Esaiam, Certe vnus idēque loquitur, Et videre quid ait, Velut spōso alligauit mihi mitram, & veluti sponsam induit me ornamento, vt spōsus & spōsa (Esa. lxi.). Eūdem dicit sponsum secundum caput: sponsam secundum corpus. Duo videntur, & vnus est. Alioquin quomodo membra Christi sumus?

Apostolo aptissime dicēte, Vos estis corpus Christi & membra (i. Cor. xii.). Membra Christi & corpus omnes simul sumus: non quia hoc loco tantum sumus, sed & per vniuersam terram: neque tantum hoc tempore, sed quod ab ipso Abel iusto vsque in finem seculi, quādium generant & generantur homines, quicunque iustorum per hanc vitam transeunt: quicquid nunc. i. non in hoc loco, sed in hac vita, quicquid post nascentium futurum est, totum hoc vnum corpus Christi, singuli autē membra Christi. Si ergo omnes corpus, singuli membra, est vtique caput cuius hoc sit corpus. Et ipse est, inquit, caput corporis ecclesię, primogenitus, vt in omnibus ipse primatum tenens. Et quia de illo ait etiam quod semper caput omnis principatus, & potestatis sit, adiungitur ista ecclesia quæ nunc peregrina est, illi cęlesti ecclesię vbi angelos ciues habemus. quia ęquales nos futuros post resurrectionem corporum impudenter nobis arrogaremus, nisi veritas permisisset dicēts, Erunt ęquales angelis dei, & sit vna ecclesia ciuitas regis magni (Lucę. xx.).

Nō igitur mirum si propter exēplum quod nobis vt reformemur ad imaginē dei prędicet imago ęqualis patri, cum de sapientia scriptura loquitur, de filio loquitur, quem sequimur viuēdo sapienter. Cuius imaginis exēplo & nos nō discedamus a deo, quia & nos imago dei sumus, nō quidē ęqualis: facta quippe a patre per filium, nō nata de patre sicut illa. Et nos quia illuminamur, lumē: illa vero quia lumē, illuminās. Et ideo illa sine exēplo nobis exēplum est, Neque enim imitatur præcedentē aliquē ad patrē, a quo nunquam est oīno separabilis, quia id ipsum est quod ille de quo est. Nos autē nitētes imitamur manētē, & sequimur stantē, & in ipso ambulātes redimus ad ipsum. quia factus est nobis via tpalis per humanitatē, quod māsio nobis ęterna est per diuinitatē. Quoniam quippe spiritibus †in mēdis†² intellectualibus quod³ superbia nō lapsi sunt, in forma dei, & deo ęqualis, & deus prębet exēplū: vt se idē exēplū redeūdi etiā lapso pręberet hoī, qui propter immunditiam peccatorum, pœnāque mortalitatis Deum videre nō poterat, semet ipsum exinaniuit nō mutādo diuinitatē suā, sed nostrā mutabilitatē assumendo.

Et formā serui accipiēs venit ad nos in hūc mūdum, qui in hoc mūdo erat, quia mundus per eum factus est: vt exēplū sursum videntibus deū, exēplū deorsum imitatibus hoīem, exēplū sanis ad permanēdū, exēplū infirmis ad cōualescēndū, exēplū morituris ad nō timēdū, exēplū mortuis ad resurgēdū esset. in oībus ipse primatū tenēs (Philip. ii.).

Quia em hō ad beatitudinē sequi nō debebat nisi deum, & sentire nō poterat deū, sequēdo deū hominem factū sequeretur simul & quē sentire poterat, & quē sequi debebat. Amemus ergo eū, inhereamus illi charitate diffusa in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanctū qui datus est nobis.

Col 1:19–23

Quia in ipso cōplacuit oēm plenitudinē inhabitare, & per eū recōciliari oīa in ipso pacificās per sanguinē crucis eius, siue quæ in terris, siue quæ in cęlis sūt. Et vos cum essetis aliquando alienati, & inimici sensibus in operibus malis: nūc autē recōciliauit in corpore carnis eius per mortē exhibere vos sanctōs & imaculatos, & irreprehēsibiles corā ipso, si tm permanetis in fide fundati, & stabiles, & imobiles a spe euāgelii quod audīstis, quod pręditatū est in vniuersa creatura quæ sub cęlo est.

Per illud singulare sacrificiū in quo mediator est immolatus, quod vnū multę in lege victimę figurabāt, pacificāt cęlestia cum terrestribus, & terrestria cum cęlestibus. Quoniam, sicut idē Apostolus dicit, in ipso cōplacuit oēm plenitudinē inhabitare, & per eū recōciliari oīa in ipsū, pacificās per sanguinē crucis eius, siue quæ in terris sunt, siue quæ in cęlis (Philip. iii.). Pax ista pręcellit (sicut scriptū est) oēm intellectū, neque sciri a nobis, nisi cum ad eam venerimus potest. Quō em paci ficātur cęlestia nisi nobis. i. cōcordando nobiscum? Nā ibi semp est pax, & inter se vniuersis intellectualibus creaturis, & cum suo creatore. Quæ pax pręcellir (vt dictū est) omnem intellectū, sed vtiqe nostrū, non eorū qui semper vident faciem patris (Matt. xviii.).

Col 1:23–25

Cuius factus sum ego Paulus minister, qui nūc gaudeo in passionibus pro vobis, & adimpleo ea quæ desunt passionū Christi in carne mea pro corpore eius quod est ecclesia. Cuius factus sū ego minister secūdū dispēsationē dei quę data est mihi in vobis.

[folio CCLVIr] Debemus intelligere personā nostrā personā ecclesię, psonā corporis Christi. Vnus enim homo cū capite & corpore suo Iesus Christus, saluator corporis & membra corporis: duo in carne vna, & in voce vna, & in passione vna, & cū trāsierit iniquitas in requie vna. Passiones itaq Christi non in solo Christo: imo passiones Christi nō nisi in Christo. Si enim Christū intelligas caput & corpus, passiones Christi nō nisi in Christo. Si autē Christū intelligas solū caput, passiones Christi nō in solo Christo. Si em passiones Christi in solo Christo, imo in solo capite: vnde dicit quoddā mēbrū eius Paulus Apostolus, Vt suppleā quæ desunt pressurarū Christi, in carne mea? Si ergo in mēbris Christi es, quicquid pateris ab eis qui nō sunt in mēbris Christi, deerat passionibus Christi. Ideo addidit quia deerat, mēsurā implēs nō superfundēs. Tātū pateris quantū ex passionibus tuis inserēdū erat vniuersę passioni Christi, qui passus est in capite nostro, patitur in mēbris suis .i. nobisipsis. Ad cōmunē hāc quasi rempublicā nostrā quisque pro modulo nostro exoluimus quod debemus, & pro posse viriū thesaurariū quasi canonē passionū inferimus †praratoria plenaria† passionū omniū, nō erit is⁴, nisi cum seculū finitū erit.

Videte quid dixit Apostolus, quia pro ipso Christus patiebatur.⁵ Vt adimpleā (inquid) que desunt pressurarum Christi in carne mea. Vt adimpleā (inquit) quæ desunt. Quid desunt? Pressurarū Christi. Et vbi desunt? In carne mea. Nūquid aliquid pressurarū deerat in illo homine quod factum est verbū dei, nato de Maria virgine? Passus est em quicquid pati deberet. ex sua volūtate nō ex peccati necessitate. Et vide. quia omnia. In cruce em positus accepit acetū, vltimū: & ait perfectū est, & inclinato capite emisit spiritū (Ioā. xix.). Quid est perfectum est? Iam de mensura passionū nihil mihi deest. Omnia quę de me prędici a sunt, cōpleta sunt. tāqum ideo expectaret vt cōplerētur. Ergo impletę erāt oēs passiones, sed in capite, restabāt adhuc in corpore Christi passiones, vos autem estis corpus Christi & mēbra (i. Cor. xii.). In his ergo mēbris cū esset Apostolus dixit, Vt adimpleam quæ desunt pressurarū Christi i carne mea.

Vt suppleā (inquit) quæ desunt pressurarū nō mearū, sed Christi in carne non iam Christi, sed mea. patitur, inquit, Christus adhuc pressurā nō in carne sua in qua ascendit in cęlū, sed in carne mea, quæ adhuc laborat in terra. Christus, inquit, pressurā patitur in carne mea. Viuo eī iam nō ego, viuit vero in me Christus (Gala. ij.). Nisi enim Christus in mēbris suis, hoc est fidelibus suis, pressurā ipse pateretur, Saulus in terra Christū in cęlo sedentē nō persequeretur.

Col 1:25–29

Vt impleā verbū dei, mysterium quod abscōditū fuit a seculis & generationibus: nunc autē manifestatū est sanctis eius, quibus voluit Deus notas facere diuitias glorię sacramēti huius in gētibus, quod est Christus in vobis spes gloriæ, quem nos annūciamus, corripiētes omnē hominē, & docētes in omni sapiētia, vt exhibeamus oēm hominem perfectū in Christo Iesu, in quo & laboro certando secundum operationem eius quam operatur in me in virtute.

Primo volēs ostēdere mihi domine clemens qui resistas supbis⁶, humilibus autē des gratiam: & quantā misericordiæ tuæ demōstrata sit omnibus via humilitatis, quia verbū caro factū est & habitauit inter hoīes. procurāsti mihi per quēdā homīnem immanissimo typho turgidum quosdam Platonicorum libros ex gręca lingua i latinā versos, Et ibi legi nō quidē his verbis, sed hoc idē oīno multis & multiplicibus suaderi rationibus, qui i pricipio erat verbū, & verbū erat apud deū, & deus erat verbū (Iacobi. iiij.). Hoc erat in pricipio apd deū, oīa per ipsum facta sunt, & sine iplo factū est nihil. Quod factū est in eo vita est, & vita erat lux hominū, & lux in tenebris lucet, & tenebræ eā nō cōprehēderūt. Et quia hominis anima quis testimoniū p̄hibeat⁷ de lumine, non est tamē ipsa lumē: sed verbū deus lumē verū, quod illuminat oēm hominē veniētē in hunc mūdū: & quia i hoc mūdo erat, & mūd9 p ipm factus est. & mūdus eū nō cognoūit (Ioā. i.).

Quia vero in sua ppria venit, & sui eū nō receperūt: quorquot aūt eū receperūt, dedit eis potestatē filios dei fieri credētibus in noīe ei9: nō ibi legi. Itē ibi legi quia de9 verbū nō ex carne, nō ex sāguine, nō ex volūtate viri, neq ex volūtate carnis: sed ex deo nat9 est. Sed quia verbū caro factū est, & habitauit in nobis, non legi. Indagaui quippe in literis varie dictū & multimodē, quia sit filius in forma patris nō rapinā arbitratus esse ęqualis deo, quia naturaliter id ipsm est. Sed quia semetipm exinaniuit formā serui accipiēs in similitudinē hoīm factus, & habitu iuēt9 vt homo humiliauit se fact9 obedies vsq ad mortē, mortē autē crucis, propter quod deus exaltauit eū, & donauit ei nomē quod est super oē nomē, vt in noīe Iesu (Philip. ij.)

[folio CCLVIv] omne genu flectatur celestiū terrestriū & insernorū, & omnis lingua confiteatur quia dñs Iesus in gloria est dei patris: nō habēt illi libri. Quia enim ante omnia tēpora, & supra oīa tēpora incommutabiliter manet vnigenit9 fili9 tuus, coętern9, & quia de plenitudine eius accipiūt animę vt beatæ sint, & quia participatione manentis in se sapientiæ renouantur vt sapiētes sint, est ibi. Quia autem scḋm tempus pro impiis mortuus est, & filio tuo vnico nō pepercīsti, sed pro nobis omnibus tradidīsti eū, nō est ibi. Abscōdīsti em hęc a sapiētibus, & reuelasti ea paruulis, vt venirēt ad eū laborātes & onerati, & reficeret eos (Matth. xi.). qui mitis est & humilis corde, & dirigit mites in iudicio, & docet māsuetos vias suas (Ibidem. p̄s. xxxiii. p̄s. xxii.), vidēs humilitatē nostrā, & laborē nostrū, & dimittēs oīa pctā nostra.

Qui aūt cothurno tāq̄ doctrinæ sublimioris elati, nō audiūt dicētē, Discite a me quia mitis sum & humilis corde, & inuenietis requiē aīabus vestris (Matth. xi.), & si cognoscūt deū, nō sicut deū glorificāt, aut gratias agunt, sed euanuerūt in cogitationibus suis, & obscurat insipiēs cor eorū. Dicētes eī se esse sapiētes, stulti facti sunt (Rom. i.). Verbū enim tuū æternā veritas superioris creaturę tuę partibus supeminēs subditos erigit ad seipsam, in inferioribus autē ædificauit sibi humilē domū de limo nostro, per quā subdēdos deprimeret a seipsis, & ad se traiiceret sanās tumore & nutriēs amorē, ne fiducia sua pgrederētur lōgi9: sed potius insirmarētur videntes ante pedes suos infirmam diuinitatē ex participatione tunicę pelliceę nostrę, & lassi prostererentur in ea, illa autē surgens leuaret eos. Quid eī faciet miser homo! quis eum liberabit de corpore mortis huius (Rom. vii.), nisi gratia tua per lesum Christum dominū nostrum, quē genuīsti cōæternum, & creasti in principio viarum tuarum, in quo princeps huius mūdī nō inuenit quicq̄ morte dignum, & occidit eum, & euacuatum est chirographū quod erat cōtrariū nobis (Tol. xij.

Colos. ii.)? Hoc ille literæ non habent, non habent paginæ vultū pietatis huius, lachrymas confessionis, sacrificiū tuū spiritū contribulatū, cor contritum & humiliatū (Psal. l.), populi salutē, sponsam, ciuitatē, arram spiritus sancti, poculū precii nostri. Nemo ibi cantat. Nonne deo subiectaerit anima mea? ab ipso enim salutare meū! (p̄s. lxi.) Etenim ipse est deus meus, & salutaris meus, susceptor meus, nō mouebor ampli9. Nemo ibi audit vocantē, Venite ad me qui laboratis. Dedignātur ab eo discere quoniā mitis est & humilis corde (Matt. xi.). Abscondīsti em hęc a sapiētibus & prudētibus, & reuelasti ea paruulis, Et aliud est de syluestri cacumine videre patriā pacis, & iter ad eā nō inuenire, & frustra conari per inuia, circūobsidētibus & insidiātib9 fugitiuis desertoribus cū principe suo leone & dracone, Et aliud tenere viā illuc ducentē curacęlestis imperatoris munitā, vbi nō latro cinantur qui cęlestem militiam deseruerunt, vitant enim eam sicut supplicium.

Caput II

Col 2:1–7

Volo enim vos scire qualem sollicitūdinē habeā pro vobis, & pro his quī sunt Laodiciæ, & quicūque non viderunt faciem meam in carne, vt cōsolentur corda ipsorū instructi in charitate, & in omnes diuitias plenitudinis intellect9 in agnitione mysterii Dei patris & Christi Iesu, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientię & scientię absconditi. Hoc autem dico, vt nemo vos decipiat in sublimitate sermonum. Nam etsi corpore absens sum, sed spiritu vobiscum sum gaudens & videns ordinem vestrū, & firmamentum eius quę in Christo est fidei vestræ. Sicut ergo accepīstis Iesum Christum dominū nostrum, in ipso ambulate, radicati & superædificati in ipso, & confirmati in fide, sicut & didicīstis, abūdantes in illo in gratiarum actione.

Vitiorum omniū humanorum causa, est superbia. Ad hanc conuincendam atque auferendam talis medicina cęlitus venit. ad elatum hominem per superbiā, Deus humilis descendit per misericordiam, gratiam claram manifestamque commendans in ipso homine, quem tanta præ participibus suis charitate suscepit. Neque em & ipse ita verbo dei coniūctus, vt ipa coniunctione vnus filius dei, & idem ipse vnus filius homīnis fieret, nō pręcedentibus suæ voluntatis meritis fecit. vnum quippe illū esse oportebat: Essent autē & duo & tres & plures si hoc fieri posset nō pdei ppriū donū, sed per hoīs liberū arbitriū. Hoc ergo pręcipue cōmendat. hoc in sapiētię atq sciētię thesauris in Christo abscōditis quātū existimare audeo, p̄cipue docetur & discitur.

[folio CCLVIIr]

Hęc autē omnia quę pro nobis verbū caro factū tēporaliter & localiter fecit & pertulit, scḋm distinctionē quā demonstrare suscepimus, ad sciētiā pertinēt, nō ad sapiētiā. Quod autē verbum est sine tempore, & sine loco, est patri coęternū, & vbiq totū. De quo si quisq potest quātū potest veracē proferre sermonē sermo erit ille sapientiæ. Ac per hoc verbum caro factū, quod est Christus Iesus, & sapientiæ thesauros habet, & scientiæ. Nā scribēs Apostolus ad Colossenses, Volo eī vos scire, inquit, quātū certamen habeā pro vobis, & p his qui Laodīcię sunt, & quicūq nō viderūt faciē meā in carne, vt cōsolentur corda eorū copulati in charitate, & in omnibus diuitiis plenitudinis intellectus ad cognoscēdū mysteriū dei, quod est Christus, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientię & sciētię absconditi. Quatenus nouerat Apostolus thesauros istos, quātū eorū penetrauerat, & in eis ad quanta peruenerat. quis potest nosse!

Ego autē, scḋm id quod scriptū est, Vnicuiquē autē nostrū datur manifestatio spiritus ad vtilitatē, alii quidē datur per spiritū sermo sapiētiæ, alii sermo sciētię scḋm eūdem spiritū (i. Cor. xii.), si ita inter se distāt hęc duo vt sapientia diuinis, sciētia humanis at tributa sit rebus: vtrūq agnosco in Christo, & mecū omnes eius fideles. Et cū lego, Verbum carō factum est, & habitauit in nobis (Ioā. i): in verbo intelligo verū dei filiū: in carne agnosco, verū hominis filium, & vtrūq simul vnā personam deū & hominē ineffabilis gratiæ largitate coniūctū. Propter quod sequitur & dicit, Et vidimus gloriam eius gloriam quasi vnigeniti a patre, plenū gratiæ & veritatis. Sī gratiam referamus ad scientiam, veritatē ad sapientiam, puto nos ab illa duarum istarum rerum distinctione quam commendauimus, non abhorrere.

In rebus enim per tempus ortis illa summa gratiā est, quod homo in vnitate personæ coniunctus est deo. In rebus vero æternis summa veritas recte tribuitur dei verbo. Quod verbum īdem ipse est vnigenitus a patre, plenus gratię & veritatis. Id actum est, vt idēmipse sit in rebus pro nobis temporaliter gestis, cui per eandem fidē mundamur vt eam stabiliter contemplemur in rebus æternis. Sciētia ergo nostra Christus est. Sapiētia quoque nostra idem Christus est. Ipse nobis fidē de rebus tēporalibus inserit: ipse de sempiternis exhibet veritatem. Per ipsum pergimus, ad ipsum tendimus per scientiā & sapientiā. Ab vno tamen eodēq̄ Christo nō recedimus, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiæ & scientiæ absconditi. Nec ista duo sic accipiamus quasi non līceat dīcere vel istā sapientiam quę in rebus humanis est, vel illā scientiā quæ in diuinis.

Loquendi enim latiore consuetudine vtrūq̄ sapientia, vtrūq̄ sciētia potest dīci. Nullo modo ramen scriptum esset apud Apostolū, alii datur sermo sapientiæ, alii sermo sciētiæ (i. Cor. xii.), nisi & proprie singulis nominibus hæc singula vocarentur.

Col 2:8

Videte ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam & inanem fallaciam, secundum traditionem hominum, secundum elementa mundi, & non secūdū Christum.

Qvid est Iuno? Iuno (inqūiūt) est aer. Iādudū inuitabat vt mare coleremus in Neptuno, terram coleremus in simulacro Telluris, nūc inuitat vt aerem colamus. Elementa sunt ista quibus mūdus iste constitit. Hoc ergo Apostolus Paulus in epistola sua proponens, Cauete, inquit, ne quis vos decipiat per philosophiam & inanem fallaciam secḋm elementa mūdī huius. Ipsos enim tangebat qui quasi prudentius idola exponunt. Ideo cum diceret philosophiā, in eodē loco ait scḋm elementa huius mundī, non quasi qualescūq̄ adoratores simulacrorū, sed quasi doctiores interpretatores figmentorum cauendos esse admonens.

Respondendū est hominibus qui calumniari libris nostrę salutis & eruditionis affectant, vt quicquid ipsi de natura rerū veracibus documentis demonstrare potuerint, ostēdamus nostris literis nō esse cōtrarium, quicquid autem de quibuslibet suis voluminibus nostris literis, id est catholicæ fidei, contrariū protulerūt, aut aliqua etiā facultate ostendamus, aut nulla dubitatione credendum esse falsissimū. Atq ita teneamus mediatorem nostrū in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientię atq sciētię abscōditi, vt neq falsę philosophię loquacitate seducamur, neq falsę religionis supstitione terreamur. Et cū diuinos libros legimus in tāta multitudine verorum intellectuū qui de paucis verbis eruūtur, & sanitate catholicæ fidei muniūtur, id potissimū deligamus quod certum apparuerit eūm sensisse quem legimus. Si autem hoc latet, id certe quod circūstantia scriptutę nō impedit, & cum sana fide concordat. Si autē & scripturę circūstantia pertractari ac discuti nō potest, saltem id solū quod fides sana pręscribit. Aliud est enim quod potissimū scriptor senserit non dīnoscere: aliud autem a regula pietatis errare. Si vtrūq̄ vītet, pfecte se habet [folio CCLVIIv] fructus legentis. Si vero vtrūq vitari nō potest, etiam si volūtas scriptoris incerta sit sanę fidei congruam non inutile est eruisse sententiam

Col 2:9–10

Quia in ipso inhabitat oīns plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter, & estis in illo repleti qui est caput omnis principatus & potestatis.

Deus qui vbiq pręsens est, & vbiq totus pręsens, nec vbiq habitās, sed in templo suo, cui per gratiam benignus est & propitius. Capitur autē habitās ab aliis amplius, ab aliis minus. De ipso vero capite nostro Apostolus ait, Quia in ipso habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter. Nō ideo corporaliter quia corporeus est deus, sed aut verbo trāslato vsus est tāq in templo manufacto nō corporaliter sed vmbraliter habitauerit, id est præfigurantibus signis. Nam illas oēs obseruationes vmbras futurorū vocat etiā ipso translato vocabulo. Summus enim deus (sicut scriptū est) nō in manufactis templis habitat. Aut certe corporaliter dictū est, quia in Christi corpore quod assumpsit ex virgine, tāq in tēplo habitat deus. Hinc est em quod cū Iudeis signum petentibus dixisset, Soluite tēplū hoc, & in triduo resuscitabo illud (Actu. xxvii Ioan. ii.): euangelista quid hoc esset cōsequēter exponēs ait, Hoc autē dicebat de tēplo corporis sui.

Quid ergo interesse arbitramur inter caput & mēbra cętera? Quamuis in quolibet pręcipuo mēbro velut in aliquo magno propheta aut apostolo diuinitas habitet, nō tamē sicut in capite quod est Christus, omnis plenitudo diuinitatis. Nā & in nostro corpore inēst sensus singulis mēbris: sed non tantus quātus in capite, vbi prorsus oīs est quinque partitus. Ibi enim & visus est, & auditus, & olfactus, & gustus, & tactus. In cęteris autē solus est tactus. An etiā pręter quod tanq templo in illo corpore habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis, est aliud quo intersit iter illud caput & cuiuslibet mēbri excellētiā! Est plane, quod singulari quadam susceptione hominis vna facta est psona cū verbo. De nullo em sanctorū dīci potuit aut potest aut poterit, Verbū caro factū est. Null9 sanctorū qualibet psentia gratiæ vnigenitus accepit, vt quod est ipsum dei verbū ante secula, hoc simul cū assumptohomine diceret.

Singularis est illa susceptio, nec cum hominibus aligbus sanctis quātalibet sapiētia & sanctitate pstantibus vllo modo potest esse cōmunis. Vbi diuinę gratiæ satis perspicuum clarūq documentū est. Quis enim tam sit sacrilegus vt audeat affirmare aliquā posse animā per meritū liberi arbitrii vt alter sit Christus efficere! Vt ergo ad personā verbi vnigeniti pertineret, quo pacto per liberū arbitrium cōmuniter omnibus & naturaliter datum vna sola anima meruisser, nisi hoc singularis gratia pręstitisset? quā fas est prędicare, de qua nefas est velle iudicare.

Satis est ergo scire corporale aliquid vel proprie dīci cum de corporibus agitur, vel etiā translato vocabulo: sicut dictum est, quia in ipso inhabitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis corporaliter. Neq em diuinitas corpus est. Sed quia sacramenta veteris testamenti appellat vmbras futuri, propter vmbrarum comparationē corporaliter dixit habitare in Christo plenitudinē diuinitatis, quō in illo impleant oīa quæ illis vmbris figurata sunt, ac si quodammodo vmbrarum illarum ipse sit corpus hoc est figurarum & significationū illarum ipse sit veritas. Sicut ergo ipsę figurę significatione translato vtiq vocabulo non proprie dictę sunt vmbrę, ita & quod ait plenitudinem diuinitatis corporaliter habitare, translato verbo vsus est.

Montē in quo placuit deo habitare in eo. Non quia in aliis nō inhabitat, sed quia in ipsis per ipsum. In ipso quippe habitat omnis plenitudo diuinitatis non vmbraliter tāq in tēplo a rege Salomone facto, sed corporaliter, id est solide atq veraciter. Quoniā Deus erat in Christo mūdū recōcilians sibi. Quod siue de patre dictū accipiamus, quoniā ipse ait, Pater autē in me manens facit opera, & ego in patre, & pater in me: siue ita intelligat, Deus erat in Christo, verbum etat in homine, sicut erat vtiq verbū in carne, & verbū etiā caro factū solius proprie diceretur, id est homo verbo in vnā Christi personam copularetur (Ioan. xiii.). Vt quid ergo suspicamini montes incaseatos? est mons in quo placuit Deo habitare in eo. Longe vtiq aliter quam in illis montibus, quorū aliqui etiā hūc suspicani.

Non enim quia & illi per adoptionis gratiā filii dei sunt, ideo quisq illorū est vnigenitus cui diceret, Sede ad dexterā meā, donec ponam inimicos tuos sub pedibus tuis (p̄s. cix.). Deo itaq placuit habitare in isto monte qui paratus est in cacumine montium, cui dicit, Tu es filius meus dilectus in quo bene cōplacui (Esaię. ii. Matt. i.). Ipse autē mons dominus est. qui alios montes inhabitabit in finē, in quorum cacumine paratus est. Vnus em deus, & vnus mediator dei & hominum homo Christus Iesus mons montiū sicut sanctus sanctorum, vnde dicit, Ego in eis, & tu in me (i. Tim. ii. Ioā. xvii.).

[folio CCLVIIIr]

Col 2:11–12

In quo & circūcisi estis circūcisione nō manufacta in expoliatione corporis carnis: sed in circūcisione Christi, cōsepulti eī in baptismo, in quo & resurrexīstis per fidē operationis dei quī suscitauit illum a mortuis.

Illud sabbatū nisi & ipsum inter prophetias quę de Christo scriptę sunt, haberet intellectū, non ei Christus sic attestaretur vt caro eius in sepulcura sabbato requiesceret ab omnibus operibus suis, vt tertio die resurgēs quē dominicū dīcimus, qui post sabbatum numeratur octauus, etiā circūcisionem octaui diei ad prophetiā dñi pertinere declararet. Quid enim significat circūcisio carnis, nisi expoliationē mortalitatis quā de carnali generatione portamus? Hæc est fides nostra. Et quoniā sicut testimoniū propheticum Paulus cōmemorat, Iustus ex fide viuit (Rom. i.), hęc est iustificatio nostra. Mortuū quippe Christum & Pagani credunt: resurrexisse autē Christum propria fides est Christianorū. Si enim cōfitearis(ait Apostolus) in ore tuo quia domin9 est Iesus, & credideris in corde quia deus illū suscitauit a mortuis, salu9 eris. Quia ergo ex ista resurrectionis fide iustificamur, ideo & illud de Christo apostolicum est, quia mortuus est propter delicta nostra, & resurrexit propter iustificationē nostrā (Rom. iiii.). Et quia resurrectio ista quæ credita nos iustificat, illa octaui diei circūcisione figurata est, propterea de ipso Abrahā cui primū tradita est, dicit Apostolus, Et signū accepit circūcisionis signaculu iustitię fidei (Ibidem.).

in expoliatione corporis carnis.

Non duas vtiq res intelligi voluit, quasi aliud sit caro, aliud corpus carnis: sed quia corpus multarum rerū nomē est, quarū nulla caro est: nā multa sunt excepta carne corpora cęlestia & corpora terrestria, corpus carnis dixit corpus quod caro est, sicut spiritū mētis, eū spiritū qui mens est. IN circūcisione Christi &c.

Resurrectio Christi quæ facta est tertio quidem die passionis, sed octauo in diebus hebdomadis, ipsa nos circūcidit. Audi circuncisos vera petra, Apostolo admonēte. Si ergo resurrexistis cū Christo, quę sursum sunt sapite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedēs, quæ sursum sunt quærite, nō quę super terrā (Colos. iii.). Circūcisis loquitur. Resurrexit Christus, abstulit vobis desideria carnalia, abstulit cōcupiscētias malas, abstulit superfluum, cū quo nati eratis, & multo peius quod male viuēdo addideratis, Circūcisi per petram quare adhuc sapitis super terram!

Col 2:13–15

Et vos cū mortui essetis in delictis & pputio carnis vestrę, cōuiuificauit: cū illo donās vobis omnia delicta.

Pręputiū vocauit quod significat pputio, hoc est delicta carnalia quibus expoliādi sumus. Delens quod aduersus nos erat chirographum decreti quod erat cōtrarium nobis, & ipsum tulit de medio affigens illud cruci.

Nostrum ergo corpus mortuum est propter peccatum, Christi autem corpus solum mortuum est sine peccato, vt fuso sanguine sine culpa, omniū culparum chirographa delerentur, quibus debitores qui in eum credunt, a diabolo antea tenebātur. Et ideo, hic est (ait) sanguis meus qui pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorū.

Tu (inquit) humiliasti sicut vulneratū superbū : humiliasti te, & humiliatus est, Superbus enim per superbiam superbos tenebat: humiliatus est magnus, credēs autem in eum, factus est paruus. Dum nutritur paru9, exēplo magnificati parui perdidit diabolus quos tenebat, quia superb9 non nisi superbos tenebat. Dato tāto humilitatis exēplo, didicerunt homines damnare superbiā suā, imitari dei humilitarē. Ita ergo ille perdēdo quos tenebat, etiam ipse humiliatus est nō correctus, sed prostratus. Tu humiliasti sicut vulneratū superbum, humiliat9 es & humiliasti, vulneratus es & vulnerasti. Neque enim eum non vulnerauerat sanguis tuus qui fusus est, vt deleret chirographum peccatorum, vnde enim superbiebat nisi quia cautionem cōtra nos tenebat. Hanc tu cautionē, hoc chirographum tuo sanguine deleuisti. Illū ergo vulnerasti, cui tot abstulisti, vulneratū enī intelligas diabolū, nō penetrata carne quā non habet, sed percusso corde vbi superbus est.

Victimā sanctam qua deletū est chirographum quod erat contrarium nobis, qua triumphatus est hostis, computans delicta nostra, & querens quod obiiciat, & nihil inueniens in illo in quo vincimus, quis ei refundit innocentem sanguinem? quis ei restituit pretiū quo nos emit, vt nos auferat ei! Ad cuius precii nostri sacramentum ligauit ancilla tua animā suā vinculo fidei. Nemo a protectione tua dirumpat eā, nō se interponat nec vi nec insidiis leo & draco. Expoliās prīncipatus & potestates traduxit confidenter, palā tiūphans illos in semetipso.

[folio CCLVIIIv] Vnde accepit diabolus exterius potestatem dominicæ carnis occidendę, inde interior qua nos tenebat potestas eius occisa est. Factum est enim vt vīcula peccatorum multorū in multis mortibus per vnius vnam mortem qua nullum peccatum pręcesserat, soluerētur. Quā propterea dominus pro nobis indebitā reddidit, vt nobis debita non noceret. Neq enim cuiusq iure potestatis exutus est carne, sed ipse se exuit. Nā qui posset nō mori si nollet, proculdubio quia voluit mortuus est. Et ideo principatus & potestates exēplauit fiducialiter triumphans illas in semetipso. Morte sua quippe vno verissimo sacrificio pro nobis oblato, quicquid culparū erat vnde nos principatus & potestates ad luenda supplicia iure detinebant, purgauit, aboleuit, extinxit, & sua resurrectione in nouam vitā nos prędestinatos vocauit, vocatos iustificauit, iustificatos glorificauit (Rom. viij.). Ita diabol9 hominem quem per consensionem seductum tāq iure integro possidebat: & ipse nulla corruptione carnis & sanguinis septus, per istā corporis mortalis fragilitatem nimis egeno & infirmo, tanto superbior quanto velut ditior & fortior, quasi pānoso & ęrumnoso dominabat, ipsa morte carnis amisit.

Quo em cadentem non secutus impulit peccatorem, illuc descendentem persecutus non compulit redemptorē. Sic in mortis cōsortio filius Dei nobis fieri dignatus est amicus: quo non perueniendo, meliorē se nobis, atq maiorem putabat inimicus. Dicit eī redemptor noster, Maiorem dilectionem nemo habet quam vt animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis (Ioan. xv.). Quo circa etiā ipso domino se credebat diabolus superiorem, quantum illi dominus in passionibus cessit, quia & de ipso intellectum est quod in psalmis legitur, Minuisti eum paulo min9 ab angelis (Psal. viij.), vt ab iniquo velut ęquo iure aduersus nos agente, ipse occisus innocens eum iure ęquissimo superaret, nosqm liberaret a captiuitate propter peccatū iusta, suo iusto sanguine iniuste effuso mortis chirographū delens: & iustificādo redimēs peccatores, agnoscētibus gētibus & pia humilitate bibentibus pretiū suū, eiusq̄ fīducia deserētibus hostem suū & concurrentibus ad redemptorem suū.

Quod enim dicit exuisse se carnē, eo loco carnem mortalitatem carnis intelligimus, scḋm quā pprie corpus hoc caro nominatur. Quæ mortalitas proprie caro appellata, quia in illa resurrectionis immortalitate nō erit. propterea scriptum est, Caro & sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt (i. Cor. xv.). Hoc enim corpus quod ppter mortalitatem proprie caro nominatur, mutari dicit in resurrectione, vt iam non sit corruptibile atq mortale. Oportet enim corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem, & mortale hoc induere immortalitatē (Ibidem.). Vt ergo induatur immortalitate, exuitur mortalitate. Hoc est circuncisionis mysterium, quæ octauo die fieri iussa est, & octauo die, id est dominico post sabbatum, iam in veritate a domino impleta. Vnde dicitur, Exuens se carnem prīcipatus & potestates exēplauit. Per hanc enim mortalitatem nobis inuide diabolicæ potestates dominabant, quas exēplasse dignatus est, quia in seipso capite nostro prębuit exemplum, quod in toto eius corpore .i. ecclesia ex diaboli potestate liberāda, in vltima resurrectione complebitur.

Principatus exēplauit. i. exemplū dedit de illis, vt quemadmodū se exuit carne, sic suos ostēderet exuēdos carnalibus vitiis, per quæ eis illi dominabātur.

Multi dicunt, quomodo possumus vincere diabolum quem non videmus! Sed habemus magistrum qui nobis demonstrare dignatus est, quomodo inuisibiles hostes vincantur. De illo enim dixit Apostolus, Exuēs se carne principatus & potestates exemplauit fiducialiter triumphans eos in semetipso. Ibi ergo vincuntur inimicę nobis inuisibiles potestates, vbi vincuntur inuisibiles cupiditates: & ideo qui in nobisipsis vincimus temporaliū rerum cupiditates, necesse est vt in nobisipīs vincamus & illum, qui per ipsas cupiditates regnat in homine. Sic & Apostolus dicit quod in semetipso pugnet aduersus potestates exteriores. Ait enim, Non est nobis colluctatio aduersus carnem & sanguinem, sed aduersus prīcipes & potestates huius mundī harum tenebrarum, aduersus spiritalia nequitiæ in cęlestibus (Ephe. vi.). Cęlum enim dicitur, & iste aer, vbi venti, & nubes, & procellæ, & turbines fiunt, sicut etiam scriptura dicit multis locis, Et intonuit de cęlo domin9, & aues cęli, & volatilia cęli (Psal. xvii.). cum manifestum sit aues in aere volare: & nos in consuetudine hunc aerem cęlum appellamus.

Nam cum de sereno vel nubilo quærimus, aliquando dicimus, qualisest aer! aliquando dīcimus, quale est cęlum. Hoc dixi ne quis existimet ibi habitare mala dæmonia, vbi solem & stellas deus ordinauit. Quæ mala dæmonia ideo Apostolus appellat spiritalia, quia etiam mali angeli in scripturis spiritus appellātur. Ideo autem rectores harū tenebrarum eos dicit, quia pctōres hoīes tenebras appellat, quibus isti dominātur. Ideo & alio loco dicit, Fuistis eī aliquādo tenebrę [folio CCLIXr], nūc aūt lux in domino (Ephe. v.). quia ex peccatoribus iustificati erāt. Nam ipse Aplus alio loco diaboli principē potestatis aeris huius appellat, qui est ille locus vbi ait, Spiritalia nequitię in celestibus. possit & aliter intelligi, vt nō ipsos puaricatores angelos in cęlestibus esse dixerit, sed nos potius, de quibus alio loco dicit, Cōuersatio nostra in cęlis est (Philip. iii.), vt nos in cęlestibus cōstituti. i. in spiritalibus p̄ceptis ambulātes, dimicemus aduersus spiritalia nequitiæ quæ nos inde conant abstrahere.

Magis ergo illud q̄rēdū est, quomodo aduersus eos, quos non videmus pugnare possimus & vincere, ne putēt stulti aduertū aerē nos debere certare. Docet itaq ipse Aplus dicēs: Nō sic pugno quasi aerē cędēs, sed castigo corpus meū, & in seruitutē redigo, ne forte aliis p̄dicās ipse reprobus inueniar (i. Cor. ix.). Itē dicit, Imitatores mei estoteficut & ego Christi (ii. Cor. xi.). Quāobrē intelligēdū est etiā ipsum Apostolū in semetipso triumphasse de potestatibus hui9 mūdi, sicut de dño dixerat, cuius se imitatotē esse profitetur: Imitemur ergo & nos illum, sicut hortatur: & castigemus corpus nostrū & in seruitutē redigamus si mūdū volumus vincere. quia p illicitas delectationes suas & pōpas & perniciosam curiositatem nobis dominari potest hic mūdus. i. ea quę in hoc mūdo & pniciosa delectatione colligūt amatores rerū tēporaliū, & diabolo, & angelis eius seruire cogunt.

Nemo ergo vos iudicet in cibo, aut in potu, aut in parte diei festi, aut neomeniæ, aut sabbatorū, quæ sunt vmbra futurorum, corpus autem Christi.

Col 2:16–17

Patres nostri quī deo placuerūt, tenuerūt ordinē suū in ipsa obediētia, vt quicquid deus tēporibus congruis iubēdo distribuit, sic obseruarēt quēadmodo ille distribuit. Itaq nō solū carnes ad cibos datās, cū oēs natura mūde essent, quasdā tamē nōnulla significatiōe immūdas illo tēpore nō ederūt, quo eas p̄ceptū nō edi erat, vt talibus significationibus futura rerū manifestatio prfiguraretur, sed & azyma panē & cętera huiusmodi, in quibus fuisse vmbrā futurorū dicit Aplus. propter quod tā rei essent illius tēporis & illius populi homines, si obseruare contemnerent, quādo illa sic fieri, & ista quī nūc reuelata sunt, sic prūciare oportebat: quod nos desipiētes essemus, si hūc iam manifestato nouo testamēto illas pręnūciatiuas obseruationes aliquid nobis prodesse putaremus. Quapropter nō māducare azymū per statutos septem dies, tempore veteris testamenti peccatū fuit. Tēpore autem noui tastamēti nō est peccatum, sed in spe futuri seculi quā habemus in Christo, quo & animam nostram induens iustiria, & corpus nostrū induēs immortalitate totos nos innouat, credere aliqd ex veteris corruptiōis necessitate atq indigētia nos passuros vel acturos, semper peccatum est quādiu voluuntur isti septem dies quibus peragītur tēpus, Sed hoc veteris testamenti tēporibus in figura occultatū a quibusdā sanctis intelligebatur, tempore autē noui testamenti in manifestatione reuelatum populis p̄rædicatur.

Vnde scriptura ipsa tunc erat præceptum: nunc testimonium. Illud enim erat tempus significandi, hoc manifestādi. Ergo ipsa scriptura quæ tūc fuit exactrix operum significantiūm, nūc testis est rerum significatarū. Et quæ tūc obseruabatur ad prænūciationē, nunc recitatur ad confirmationem.

Omnia quę dicta sunt antīquo populo Israel in mulriplici scriptura sanctę legis, quę agerēt in sacrificiis, siue in sacerdotiis, in diebus festis, & omnino in quibuslibet rebus qbus deū colebant, quæ cum illis & præcepta sunt, vmbrę fuerunt futurorum. Quorum futurorum? Quæ implerentur in Christo, vnde dicit Apostolus, Quotquot em̄ promissiones Dei, in illo est, id est in illo impletæ sunt. Deinde dicit alio loco, Omnia in figura cōtingebāt illis. Scripta sunt autē propter nos in quos finis seculorū obuenit (i. Cor. x.). Dicit & alibi, Finis em legis Christus (Rom. x.). Itē, Nemo vos iudicet in cibo, aut in potu, aut in parte dīei festi, aut neomenię, aut sabbatorū, quod est vmbra futurorū. Si ergo illa omnia vmbra fuerūt futurorū: ergo & scenophegię vmbra erat futurorum. Celebratio erat tabernaculorū, propterea quia populus de Aegypto liberatus, per desertum tendens ad terram pmissionis, in tabernaculis habitauit.

Quid sit dies festi tabernaculorū aduertamus, & noserimus: nos inquam quī membra Christi sumus: si autem sumus, illo dignāte sumus, nō nobis promerētibus. Attendamus ergo, nos fratres educti sumus & Aegypto, vbi diabolo tāqu Pharaoni seruiēbamus, vbi lutea op̄a in terrenis desideriis agebam9, & in eis multū laborabamus. Etem̄ nobis Christus quasi lateres faciētibus clamauit, Venite ad me oēs qui laboratis (Matt. xi.). Hinc educti per baptismū tanquū p̄ mare rubrū (Ideo rubrum quia Christi sanguine consecratum) mortuis omnibus inimicis nostris quī nos insectabant. i. deletis oībus peccatis nostris, traiecti sum9. Modo ergo antequ ad patriā pmissionis. i. regnū ęternū, veniamus, in deserto in

[folio CCLIXv] tabernaculis sumus. Qui ista cognoscunt in tabernaculis sunt. Futurū enim erat vt qdā hoc agnoscerēt. Ille enim est in tabernaculis qui se esse in mūdo intelligit peregrinū. Ille se intelligit peregrinantē, qui se videt patrię suspirantē. Cum autem corpus Christi est in tabernaculis, Christus est i tabernaculis. Sed tunc non euidenter, sed latenter. Adhuc em vmbra lucē obscurabat. Veniēte luce vmbra remota est. Christus erat in occulto, in scenophegia Christus erat, sed latēs Christus. Mo do iū cū manifestata sunt ista, agnoscim9 nos iter agere in eremo. Si em agnoscamus, in eremo sumus. Quid est in eremo! in deserto. Quare in deserto? Quia i isto mūdo, vbi sitis in via inaquosa. Sed sitiamus vt saturemur. Beati eī qui esuriūt & sitiūt iusticiā (Matth. v.). quoniam ipsi saturabūtur. Et sitis nostra de petra impletur in eremo. Petra em erat Christus (i. Cor. xi.). Et virga percussa est (Nume. xx.). Vt aūt manaret, bis pcussa est, quia duo ligna sunt crucis. Omnia ergo hęc quę fiebāt in figura, manifestantur in nobis. Et nō vacat qū de dño dictū est, ascendit ad diē festū nō manifeste, sed tāqu in occulto (Ioā. vii.). figura eī erat ipsum in occulto. quia in ipso die festo Christus latebat, quia ipse dies festus Christi membra peregrinātia significabat.

Primo Iudęorū ille redarguēdus est error, quo putāt nos ideo non pertinere restamēti veteris libros, quia iā nō vetera sed noua sacramenta seruamus. Dicunt eī nobis, Quid apud vos facit lectio legis & prophetarū, cuius pręcepta seruare nō vultis? Eo qu carnem pręputii nō circūcidimus masculinum, & vescimur carnibus quas lex dicit immūdas, nec sabbata & neomenias & dies festos eorū carnaliter obseruamus: nec victimis pecorū sacrificamus deo, nec pascha in oue & azymis similiter celebramus, & si qua alia vetera sacramēta generali vocabulo vmbras futurorū appellat Aplus. qa ea significabāt suo tēpore reuelanda, quæ nos reuelata percipimus, vt remota vmbra, nuda eorū luce fruetemur. De qubus sigillatim lōgū est disputare, quēadmodū exuendo veterē hominē circūcidimur in expoliatione corporis carnis (Ephe. iiii.), & quos cibos vitant in pecoribus, vītamus in moribus, & exhibem9corpora nostra hostiā viuā, sanctā, dgo placentem (Rom. xii.), cui & animas nostras in desideriis sanctis p sanguīne intellīgēter effundimus.

Et Christi velut agni immaculati sanguine ab omni iniquate mūdamur, qui ppter similitdīnē carnis pecca ti, etiā caprino pecore in veteribus sacrificiis figuratur. Nec em negat in crucis cornibus taurum, qui in illo cognoscit maximā victi-mam. in illo requiem cū inuenimus, vere sabbatizamus. Et lune nouę obseruatio, vitę nouę est sanctificario. Et pascha nostrū Christ9 est, & azymū nostrū synceritas veritatis, fermentum non habens vetustatis. Et siqua alia sunt, in qbus nūc immorari nō opus est, quæ in illis veteribus adumbrata sūt signis, in isto habent finē, cuius regni non erit finis (Lucę. i.). In illo quippe omnia oportebat impleri, qui venit legem & prophetas nō soluere sed implere (Matt. v.). Proinde illa vetera signa retū nō euacuauit arguēdo, sed implēdo mutauit, vt alia essent quę nūciarēt venisse iā Christū, q̄ fuerūt illa quę pnūciabāt esse venturū.

Quid sibi autē vult qu sic pnotantur quidam psalmi, quos & ipsi legunt, & habent in literarū auctoritate sanctarū, vt in eorū titulis seriptū sir, p his quæ immutabūtur. textus vero eorūdē psalmorum prædicat Christum, nisi quia illorū mutatio per illum furura p̄dicta est, per quē apparet implera, vt populus dei qui nūc est po pulus Christianus, iā nō cogat obseruare quę propheticis tēporibus obseruabant, nō quia damnata, sed quia mutata sunt? Nō vt res ipsæ quæ significabant perirent, sed vt rerū signa suis propriis tēporibus cōuenirēt. Ista certē dicta mutatio, nō solū psalmorū titulo itelligētibus paucis significat, sed manifestō preconio p̄phe ticæ vocis exprimitur. Aperte promissum est restamentū nouū, non secūdū testamentū quod factū est ad populū quādo eductus est de Aegypto. Cū ergo in illo veteri testamēro precepta sunt ista quæ nos ad nouū pertinentes obseruare nō cogimur, cur non Iudæi se potius in vetustate superuacaneam temāsisse cognoscunt, qu nobis noua promissa tenentibus q̄ vetera non obseruemus obiiciūt?

Quoniā ergo, sicut scriptū est in Cantico canticorū, aspirauit dies, remoueantur vmbrę (Cantic. ij.), spiritalis significatio iam lucescat. carnalis celebratio iam quiescat.

Dominus sabbatū soluebat, sed nō ideo reus. Quid est quod dixi sabbatū soluebar! Lux ipse venerat, vmbras remouebat. Sabbatū em a domino deo pręceptum est. ab ipso Christo præceptū, qui cum patre erat, quādo lex illa dabat. Ab ipso pręceptū est, sed in vmbra futuri. Nemo ergo vos iudicet in cibo aut potu, aut in parte diei festi aut neomeniæ aut sabbatorū, quę sunt vmbra fututorū. Venerat quod venturū ista nūciabant, delectant vmbræ. Obseruatione sabbati quæ vacarione vnius diei figurabatur, ablata perpetuū sabbatū obseruat q̄ spe fururæ quietis est operibus intētus, nec in ipsis bonis actibus suis, quasi de ppriīs, & de his q̄ non acceperit

[folio CCLXr] gloriatur illum in se operari cognoscēs, qui simul operatur & quietus est. Verū sabbatum christianus obseruat abstinens ab opere seruilī.i. i.d est a peccato (Ioan. viii.): quoniam qui facit peccatū seruus est peccari.

Col 2:18–23

Nemo vos seducat volens in hūilitate & religione angelorū, quæ non vidit, ambulās frustra īflat9 sensu carnis suę & nō tenēs caput ex quo totū corpus p nexus & cōiūctiōes subministratū & cōstructū crescit in augmentū dei. Si mortui estis cum Christo ab elemētis huius mūdi: quid adhuc tanqu viuentes in mundo discernitis?

Et post pauca,

Ne tetigeritis, neq gustaueritis, neq cōtrectaueritis, quę oīa in interitu ipo vsu secundū præcepta & doctrias hominū: quę sunt rati onē quidē habētia sapientię in superstitione & humilitate, & nō ad parcendū corpori, non in honore aliquo ad saturitatem carnis.

IN his verbis adhibenda est quędā pronunciatio in vultu, & in modo vocis. Per irrisionē quippe verba posuit eorum qui dicunt ne tetigeris, neq gustaueris, cū sint oīia mūda mundis. Hanc aut sub noīe sciētię curā vanarū obseruationū ab his qui philosophi noīati sūt, etiā in iudaismo cauendā esse cernebat. vbi erant vmbrę fururorū remouēdę, quia iā lumē earū Christ9 aduenerat. Ambulās frustra islatus sensu carnis suę, & nō tenēs capur, ex quo torū corpus p nexus & cōiūctiōes subministratū & cōstructū crescit in augmentū dei.

Col 2:18–20

Non aūt solū vaniloquos & mētis seductores, fabulosa & falsa garriētes, & i eis vanitatibus velut altam scientiā pmittentes cōtra regulā fidei quā catholica suscepistis, cauere debetis: verū etiā ipsos qui de diuinę ipsa immutabilitate naturę vel incorporca creatura siue creatore veracirer dispurāt, & qd dicūt oīno documēris atq rationibus certissimis probāt, & tñ ab vno dei & hoīm mediatore conātur auertere, tāq pestē insidiosiorē cęteris fugite. Tales em sunt de quib9 dicit apostolus. Quia cognoscētes deū, nō sicut deū glorificauerūt (Roma. i.). Quid em prodest habere intelligētiā verā de immurabili dei bono, ei qui nō tenet per quē liberet a malo! Si autē mortui estis cū Christo ab elementis huius mūdi quid adhuc tāq viuentes in mūdo decernitis!

Quicquid passus est, in illo & nos passi sumus: quia & nos quod patimur, in nobis & ipse patit. Quomodo si aliquid patias caput, nunquid potest dicere manus, quia nō patit? Aut si aliquid patias manus, nunquid potest caput dicere, quia nō patiatur! Quādo aliquid patit membrū nostrū: oīa membra currūt vt subuenīāt membro qd patitur. Probamus. quia nos in illo passi sum9 dicente apostolo, Si autē mortui estis cū Christo. quid adhuc viuentes de hoc mūdo decernitis! Item dicit. Quia vetus homo noster simul crucifix9 est cū illo, vt euacuet corpus pccacati (Roma. v.). Si ergo in illo mortui sumus, in illo etiā resurreximus. Dixit enim ipse Apostolus, Si autē resurrexistis cum Christo, qu sursum sunt sapite, quę sursum sunt quærite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedēs. Si ergo illo mortui sumus, & in illo resurrexim9, & ipse in nobis morit, & inobis resurgit: ipsa est vnitas capitis & corporis.

Vbi iuenis aliter & aliter, facta est ibi quędā mors, mors em est non esse quod fuit. Immortalis dicit anima. Est quidē. qquia viuit semper aīa: & in illa quædā vita petmanens, sed mutabilis vita secundū mutabilitatem vitę huius:& mortalis dīci potelt, quia si viuebat sapiēter & desipit, mortua est in deterius? si vīuebat insipienter & sapit, mortua est in meli9. Nā esse mortē i deīeri9, & esse morten in meli9, scriptura nos docet. Vtiq in deterius mortui erant, de quib9 dicil, Sine mortuos sepelīre mortuos suos (Lucæ. ix.). Et surge qui dormis, & exurge a mortuis, & illūinabit te Christus (Ephe. v.). Et quādo mortui audiunt, & qui audierunt viuent, in deterius mortui erant: ideo reuiuiscunt. Reuiuiscendo moriunt in melius: quia & in reuiuiscēdo non erant quod erāt. Nō esse autē quod erat, mors est. Sed forte si in melius est, nō appellet mors. Appellauit illā mortem apostolus. Si aūt mortui estis cum Christo ab elementis huius mundi, quid adhuc velut viuētes de hoc mūdo decernitis! Et iterū, Mortui em estis, & vita vestra abscondita est cū Christo in deo. Mori nos vult vt viuam9, quia viximus vt moreremur.

Caput III

Col 3:1–2

Igitur si consurrexistis cum Christo, quæ sursum sunt quærite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedens: quæ sursum sunt sapite, non quæ super terram.

[folio CCLXv] Nondum vtiq resurreximus sicut Christus, sed ramen secundū spem quæ nobis in illo est, iam nos cum illo resurrexisse testatut est. Vnde etiam dicit, Secundum suam misericordiam saluos nos fecit per lauacrum regenerationis (Ad Titum iii.), tanq̄ iā data esset eadē salus. Alio qo=pe loco dilucidīssime dicit, Spe enim salui facti sumus (Roma. viii.). Cōmutatio quę corruptionē non habebit, sanctorū erit illorum qui modo habēt resurrectionem spiritus: de qua resurrectione dicit apostolus. Si aūt resurrexistis cū Christo, quæ sursum sunt quærite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedens, quæ sursum sunt sapite, non quæ super terram.

Mortui enim estis, & vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in deo.

Quomodo mortui secūdū spiritū, & resurgimus secundū spiritū: sic postea morimur secūndū carnem. Quæ est prima mors? Non facere quæ faciebas: non credere quod credebas. Idolis seruiebat, vnū deū cognoūit. Mortuus est in idololattīa, resurrexit in fide, Ebriosus erat, sobri9 est. Mortua est ebrietas, resurrexit sobrietas. Oīa ergo facta mala quod desinim9 facere, quasi mors est in nobis.

Si vis eē cęlū, purga de corde tuo terrā. Si terrenas cōcupiscētias non habueris:& nō frustra sursū te cor habere respōderis. Si resurrexistis cū Christo (fidelib9 apostolus loquitur) quæ sursum sunt quærite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedens. quæ sursum sunt sapīte, non quæ super terram. Cœpisti sapere quę sursum sunt, & non que superrerrā, nōne fact9 es cęlū? Carnē portas, & carne iū cęlū es. Cōuersatio em tua in cęlis est (Phili iii.).

In voce tubę corneę (p̄s. xcvii.). Cornu excēdit carnē: necesse est vt carnē superādo sit firmū. Firmū ad perdurādū, & capax vocis. Sed vnde hoc? Quia carnē superauit. Qui vult esse tuba cornea, superet carnē. Quid est, superet carnē? Transcēdat carnales affectus, vincat carnales libidines. Audi tubas corneas. Si aūt resurrexistis cū Christo (apostolus dicit) quæ sursum sunt quærite, vbi Christus est in dextera dei sedens. quæ sursum sunt sapite, non quæ super terrā. Quid est, quę sursum sunt quærite! Idest carnē excedite. Nolite carnalia cogitare. Nōdū erant tubę corneę, qubus adhuc loquebatur. Fratres non potui vobis loqui quasi spiritalibus, sed quasi carnalibus, tāq paruulis in Christo (i. Cor. iiij.), lac vobis potū dedi, nō eseā. Neq eī poteratis, sed nec adhuc qdem potestis. Estis em adhuc carnales. Ergo nō erant tubę corneæ, quia nō excesserant carnē. Cornu & carni hętet & carnē excedit, & qunque de carne otiat, sup carnem est. Fies ergo ex carnali spiritalis, ad huc carne calcas terrā: & spiritu erumpis in cęlū. In catne em ambulantes, inquit, nō secūdū carnem militamus (ii. Cor. x.).

Secūdū hanc sidem & spem & dilectionē qua cœpimus eē sub gratia, iam cōmortui sumus cū Christo: & cōsepulti illi per baptismū: sicut dicit apostolus, Quia vetus homo noster simul crucifixus est cū illo (Roma. vi.), & resurreximus cū illo: qa simul nos excitauit: & simul sedere fecit in cælestibus. Vnde est & illa exhortatio: Quæ sursum sunt quærite, non quæ sup terrā. Sed quia sequit & dicit, Mortui enim estis: & vita vestra abscondita est cū Christo in deo: cū Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc & vos appatebitis cū ipo in gloria, satis indicat quid velit intelligi, quia nūc transitus nostet de morte ad vitā, qui fit per fidē, spe peragitur futura in fine resurrectionis & glorię, cū corruptibile hoc, id est caro ista in qua gemim9 modo, induet incorruptionem, & mortale hoc induet immortalitatem (i. Cor. xv.). Nunc enim iam quidem habemus per sidem primitias spiritus, sed adhuc in nobismetipsis ingemiseimus adoptionem expectātes redēptionem corporis nostri (Roma. viii.). Hoc igitur vniuersa ecclesia, quæ in peregrīnatione mortalitatis inuenta est, expectat in fine seculi, quod in domini nostri Iesu Christi corpore pręmonstratum est, qui est primogenitus a mortuis, quia & corpus eius cui caput est, nonnisi ecclesia est.

Quæ sursum sunt sapite. Ecce quæ sursum sunt sapere iubemut, spiritalia scilicet, quæ non locis & partibus huius mundi sursum esse intelligenda sunt, sed merito excellentiæ suæ, ne in huius mundi parte figamus animum nostrum : quo vniuerso nos debemus eximere.

Col 3:2–4

Si deus & hominem de terra & bestias de terra formauit, quid habet homo excellentius in hac re, nisi quod ipse ad imaginem dei creatus est! (Gene. i.) Nec tamen hoc secundum corpus, sed secundum intellectum mentis, qq in ipso corpore habeat quandam proprietatem quæ hoc indicet, per erectam staturam factus est: vt hoc ipso admoneretur non sibi terrena esse sectanda, velut pecora, quorūvoluptas omnis ex tetra est. Vnde in aluum cuncta prona atqu prostrata sunt. Congruit ergo & corpus eius animę rationali : non secundum lineamenta figurāqu membrorum: sed potius secundum id qu in cęlum erectum est ad intuenda quæ iūcorpore ipsius mundi superna sunt. Sic anima rationalis in ea debet erigi, quæ in spiritalibus natura maxime excellūt: vt que sursum sunt sapiāt, non quæsuper terram. Mortui enim estis, & vita

[folio CCLXIr] vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo. Cum autem Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tunc & vos apparebitis cum ipso in gloria.

Manifestum est, & cuiuis aduertenti facile cognitu: quia luna non augeatur ad oculos nostros, nisi a Sole recedendo, nequi minuatur nisi ad Solem exparte alia propinquādo. Attende nunc quod in Ecclesiastico legitur. Sapiens sicut Sol permanet: stultus autem sicut Luna mutatur (Eccle. xxvii.). Et quis est sapiens qui permanet, nisi Sol ille iustitię: de quo dicitur, Ortus est mihi iustitię Sol! Et quem sibi nō fuisse ortum in die nouissima plangentes impīidicturi sunt, Et iustitię lumen non luxit nobis, & Sol non ortus est nobis. Nam istum carnis oculis visibilem Solem orīri facit sup bonos & malos Deus, qui etiam pluit super iustos & iniustos (Math. v.). Ducūtur semp ex rebus visibilibus inuisibilium congruę similitudines. Quis ergo est ille stultus, qui tanqu Luna mutatur: nisi Adam in quo omnes peccauerunt (Roma. v.)!

Anima quippe humana recedens a Sole iustitiæ, ab illa scilicet interna contemplatione incomurabilis veritatis, omnes vires suas in tertena conuertit, & eo magis, magisqu obscuratur in interioribus suis. Sed cū redire cœperit ad illā incōmurabilem sapientiam: quantomagis ei propinquat affectu pietatis, tātomagis exterior homo corrumpitur : sed interior renouatur de die in diem (i. Cor. iii.), omnisq lux illa ingenii quæ ad inferiora vergebat, ad superioraconuertitur: & a terrenis quodāmodo ausertur, vt magis magisqu huic seculo moriatur, & vita eius abscōdatur cum Christo in deo. Mutatur ergo in deterius ad exteriora pgrediens, & in vīta sua proiiciens intima sua, & hoc terrę, idest eis qui terrena sapiūt, melius videtur, cū laudatur peccator in desideriis animę suę, & quī inīqua gerit, benedicītur (Psal. ix.). Mutatur autem in melius: cum intenfionem & gloriam suam a tertenis. quę in hoc seculo apparent, paulatim auertir, & ad superiora, atquinteriora conuertit, & hoc terrę, idest eis quitterrena sapiūt, deterius videtur.

Vnde illi inpii postremū infructuosam agentes pœnitentiam, etiam hoc inter multā dicturi sunt, Hi sunt quos aliquando habuimus in derisum, & in similitudinem improperīi: nos insensati vītam illorum existimabamus insaniam (Sapi. iiii.).

Tunc em aliquid desiderio nostro nō deerit, quando omnia in omnibus erit De9. †Talis sipis non haber sinem.†⁸ Nemo ibi moritur, quia nemo peruenit nisi huic seculo moriatur, non morte oīm, qua corpus ab anīma deseritur, sed morte electorum, qua etiām cū in carne mortali adhuc moraretur, cor sursum ponit. De illa mortalitate dicebat Apostolus, Mortui eīestis, & vīta vestra abscōdīta est cum Christo in Deo. Hinc fortasse dictum est, Valida est sicut mors dilectio (Cant. viij.). Hac enim dilectione sit, vtin ista adhuc corruptibili carne cōstituri moriamur in seculo, & vita nostra cum Christoabscondat in Deo, imo iōa dilectio est mors nostrā seculo, vita nostra cū Deo. Si enim mors est quādo de mundo amor noster exit, valida est ergo vt mors dilectio. Quid ea validius pquā vincitur mūdus!

Quoniā tanqu fœnum cito arescēt, & sicut oleta prati cito cadent (Psal. xxxvi). Oleta prati vīlia quędā sunt & superficiē tertę tenētia , altā radīcē nō habēt. proinde per hyemē vīrēt: at vbi Sol estatis feruescere cœpit, arescūt. Modo ergo tēpus est hyemis. Gloria tua nōdū apparet, sed si alta tadix est charitatis tuę, sicut muītarū arborū , per hyemē transit frīgus, venit estas. i. iudiciī dies. Tunc atescet vīror fœni, tunc apparebit arborū gloria. Mortui eī estis, ait Apostolus. Quomō vidētur atbores per hyemē? Quasi aridę, quasi mortuę. Etgo quę spes! Si moriui sumus, intus est radix. Ibi radix nostra, ibi vīta nostra, ibi ē charitas nostra. Et vīta vestra, inquit, abscōdita est cū Christo in deo. Quādo arescet quod sīc habet radicē! Quādo aurē ver nostrum! quando estas nostra? quando autem circūuestit dignitas foliorum, & vbertas fructuum, & locupletatur! Quando hoc erit! Audi quod sequitur, Cum Christus apparuerit vita vestra, tūc & vos apparebītis cum ipso in glotia.

Omnes ergo diuītes boni fideles, sed nō diuires huius mūdī. Denīqu diuiīias suas nec ipsi sentiunt, senrīenī postea, Viuīt radix, sed hyemis rempore eriam viridis arbor aride similis est. Tēpore quippe hyemīs, & arbor quæ aret, & arbor quæ vīget, vtraque nuda est honore foliorum, vtraque vacua honore frugū. Venit estas, & discernet arbores, viua radix folia producit, impletur fructibus: arida inanis estate sicut hyeme remanebit. Itaque illi horreum præparatur: huic securis adhibetur, vt amputata in ignem mittatur. Sic estas nostra Christi est aduentus: hyems nostra Christi occultatio: estas nostra Christi reuelatio. Denique arboribus bonis & fidelibus hanc allocutionem prębet Apostolus, Mortui em estis, & vīta vestra abscōndita est cum Christo in deo. Certe mortui, sed mortui specie, viui in radice. Attendite autem venturum tempus estatis quomodo sequatur, & dicat. Cum autē Christus

[folio CCLXIv] apparuerit vita vestra, tunc & vos apparebitis cū ipo in gloria.

Sim9 ergo recti corde. Tēpus glorię nostrę nondū venit. Dicat amatoribus seculi huius q̄les erāt fratres dñi. Tēpus vestrū semper est paratū: temp9 nostrū nondū venit (Ioan. vii.). Audeamus em hoc dicere & nos: qū corpus dñi nostri sumus: qū mēbra eius sumus: qū caput nostrū gratāter agnoscim9: dicam9 prorsus, qm propter nos & ipse hoc dignatus est dicere. Quādo nobis insultāt amatores seculi, dicamus eis. Tēp9 vestrū semper est paratū: temp9 nostrū nondū venit. Nobis enim dixit apostolus, Mortui .n. estis, & vita vestra abscondita est cū Christo in deo. Quādoveniet tēpus nostrum! Cū Christus, inquit, apparuerit vita vestra, tunc & vos cum ipso apparebitis in gloria.

Col 3:5–9

Mortificate ergo membra vestra quę sunt super terram.

Mortificemur & resurgimus. Mortificatis ergo istis mēbris resurgimus in fide prius. Quomodo aūt pręcedit mors secundū spiritum, resurrectioqu quæ est secundum spiritum: sic pcessura est mors secundū carnē, resurrectionem quæ futura est secūdū carnem.

Audi scripturā. Initiū sapientię timor dñi. Cœpit ergo timere diē iudicii, timēdo corrigit se, vigilat aduersus hostes suos .i. aduersus peccata sua. Incipit reuiuiscere interi9, & mortificate mēbra sua quę sunt super terrā : sicut Paulus apostolus dicit. Mortificate mēbra vestra quę sunt sup terrā. Spiritalia nequitīæ dicit mēbra super terrā. Nā sequit & exponit. Auaritiā, immunditiā, & cætera quæ illic exequitur. Quantū aūt mortificat iste qui timere cœpit diē iudicii mēbra sua super terrā, tātū surgūt & corroborantur mēbra celestia. Mēbra aūt cęlestia, oīa opera bona. Surgentibus celestib9 mēbris cœpit desiderate quod timebat. Timebat .n. ne veniret Christ9, & inueniret ipiū quē dānaret: desiderat vt veniat. quia inuēturus est quē coronet. Cōcupiscentiā malam & auaritiam, quę est simulacrorum seruitus.

Fornicationem, immūditiam, libidinē, cōcupiscētiā malā, & auaritīam, quæ est simulacrorū seruit9, propter quæ venit ira dei super filios incredulitatis : in quib9 & vos ambulastis aliquādo cū viueretis in illis. Nūc autē deponite & vos oia, irā, indignatīonem, malitiā, blasphemiā, turpē sermonem de ore vr̄o. Nolite mēntiri inuicem,

Neq auari, neq rapaces regnū dei possidebunt. Auaritia quippe idolorū seruituti comparatur. Et auaritiam, inquit, quę est idolorū seruitus. Quē sensum beatus Cyprian9 sic exaggerauit in epistola ad Antonianū, vt eorū pctōrum qui tempore persecutionis per libellos se thurificatos professi erant, auaros comparare nō dubitaret.

Col 3:9–10

Expoliantes vos veterē hominē cum actibus suis, & induentes nouum.

Veterem hominem nihil aliud apostolus qu vitā veterē dicit, quę in peccato est, in quo secundū Adam viuitur. De quo dicit, Per vnū hominē peccatū intrauit in mūdum, & per peccatum mors: & ita in oēs homīnes pertransiuit, in quo oēs peccauerūt (Roma. v.). Ergo totus homo ille .i. interiore & exteriore sui parte inueterauit propter peccatū, & pœnę mortalitatis addictus est. Renouat aūt nūc secundū interiorem hoīem, vbi secundū sui creatoris imaginē reformat exuens se iniustitiā, hoc est veterē hoīem, & induēs iustitiā, hoc est nouū hominē. Tūc aūt cū resurget corp9 spiritale qd seminat aīale, etiā exterior pcipiet cęlestis habitudinis dignitatē, vt totū qd creatum est recreet, & totū quod factū est reficiat (Ephe. iij. i. Cor. xv.): illo recreante qui creauit, & reficiēte qui fecit. Nam quis catholica veritate instructus ignorat secūdū corp9 esse alios hoīes masculos, alios fœmīas: nō secūdū spiritū mētis in quo renouamur secūdūm imaginē dei?

Sāguis, inquit, filii eius purgabit nos ab omni delicto. Quid est ab omni delicto? Attēdite. Ecce iā in noīe Christi p saguinem crucis dñi, quē nūc cōfessi sunt isti qui appellant infantes, mūdata sunt oīa peccata ipsorum. Veteres intrauerūt, noui exierunt (i. Ioan. i.). Quid ē, veteres intrauerūt, noui exierūt! Senes intrauerūt, infantes exierūt. Senect9 em veternosa, vetusta vita. Infantia aūt regeneratiōis noua vita. Sed quid facim9? Preterita pctā donata sunt, nō tm ipsis, sed & nobis. Et post donationē & abolitionē oīm peccatorū? viuēdo in hoc seculo inter tētationes quędā forte cōtracta sunt, ideo quid propter hoc faciat? Ipse confiteat quod est, vt ab illo curet qui semp est quod ē. Ergo te si confessus fueris peccatorē, est in te veritas. Nā ipsa veritas lux est, Nondū pfecte splēduit vita tua, quia insunt peccata. Sed tm iam illuminari cœpisti, quia inest cōfessio peccatorū. Vide em quid sequat, Quia si cōfessi fuerimus delicta nostra, fidelis & iustus est, vt dimittat nobis delicta nostra, & purget nos ex omni iniquitate. Nō tm p̄terita, sed & siqua forte cōtraximus ex hāc vita, quia nō potest

[folio CCLXIIr] hō qdiū carnē portat nisi habere vel leuia peccata. Sed ista leuia quę dicimus, nolite contemnere. Si contemnis quādo appendis, expauesce qū numeras. Leuia multa faciunt vnum grande multę guttę implent flumē: multa grana faciūt massam. Et quę spes est! Ante oīa confessio, ne qsq se iustū putet: & ante oculos dei qui videt quod est, erigat ceruicē homo qui non erat, & est. Ante omnia ergo confessio, deinde dilectio, quia de charitate qd dictum est? Charitas operit multitudinem peccatorum (i. Petii. iiij.).

Col 3:10–12

Eum quī renouatur in agnitionē dei secundū imaginem eius qui creauit eū: vbi non est masculus & fœmina: gētilis & Iudęus: circūcisio & preputiū: Barbarus & Scytha: seruus & liber : sed omnia & in omnib9 Christus. Induite vos ergo sicut electi dei sancti & dilecti viscera miæ, benignitatem, humilitatem, modestiam, patientiam.

Satis ostēdit vbi sit homo creatus ad imaginem dei: quia nō corporis lineamentis, sed forma quadā intelligibili mentis illuminatę. Sicut enim post lapsum peccati hō in agnitionem dei renouatur secūdū imaginē eius qui creauit eū, ita in ipsa agnitione creatus est anteq delicto veterasceret : vnde rursus in eadē agnitione renouatur.

Si ergo spiritu mētis renouamur, & ipse nouus homo qui renouatur in agnitionē dei secūdū imaginē eius qui creauit eū, nullū dubiū est, nō secūdū corpus, nequ secūdū qualibet partem animę, sed secūdū rationalē mentē, vbi potest esse agnitio dei, hominē factū ad imaginē eius qui creauit eū. Secūdū hāc aūt renouationem efficimur etiā filii dei per baptismū Christi. & induētes nouum hominem, Christū vtiq induimus per fidem.

Ista renouatio reformatioq mentis secūdū deū, vel secūdū imaginē dei. Sed ideo dicit secūdū deū, ne secūdū aliā creaturā fieri putet. Ideo aūt secūdū imaginē dei: vt in ea re intelligatur fieri renouatio, vbi est imago dei, idest i mente. Non itaq sic intelligamus, secundum imaginē eius qui creauit eū, quasi alia sit imago secūdū quam renouatur, non ipsa quę renouatur.

Col 3:13

Supportātes inuicem, & donātes vobismetipsis, si qs aduersus aliquē habet querelam : sicut & dominus donauit vobis, ita & vos.

Lauādo pedes iā bonorū atq mūdorū discipulorū significauit dñs ppter humanos qbus in terra versamur affectus, quantūlibet profecerim9 in apphēsione iustitię, nos sine peccato nō esse: Quod subinde abluit interpellādo pro nobis, cū oram9 patrē qui in cęlis est: vt debita nostra dimittat nobis, sicut & nos dimittim9 debitorib9 nostris (Matt. vi.). Quo ergo ad hūc intellectū poterit pertinere hoc quod ipse postea docuit, Si ego laui pedes vros dñs & magister, debetis & vos alter alterius lauare pedes. Exemplū enim dedi vobis, vt quēadmodum ego feci, ita & vos faciatis (Ioan. xiii.). Nūquid dicere possumus quod etiām frater fratrē a delicto poterit cōtagiōe mūdare? Immo vero id etiā nos eē admonitos huius dñici operis altitudine nouerim9: vt confessi inuicē delicta nostra oremus pro nobis, sicut Christus interpellat pro nobis.

Audiam9 apostolū Iacobū hoc ipsum euidentissime p̄cipiētē ac dicētē, Cōfitemini inuicē delicta vestra: & orate p vobis. qa ad hoc dñs nobis dedit exemplū (Iacobi. v.). Si em ille qui nullū peccatū nec habuit, nec habebit, orat pro peccatis nostris, quāto magis nos inuicē p nostris orare debem9! Et si dimittit nobis ille cui non habemus quod dimittamus, quāto magis dimittere debem9 inuicē nobis, qui sine peccato hīc viuere nō valemus! Quid em videtur in hac altitudine sacramenti dñs significare, cū dicit, Exēplū eī dedi vobis: vt quēadmodum ego feci vobis, ita & vos faciatis: nisi quod aptissime dicit apostolus, Donātes vobismetipsis, si qs aduersus aliquē habet querelā, sicut & dñs donauit vobis, ita & vos! inuicē itaq nobis delicta donemus. & pro nostris delictis inuicem oremus, atq ita quodāmodo iuicē pedes nostros lauem9.

Nostrū ē donāte ipo ministeriū charitatis & humilitatis exhibere, illi9 est exaudire, ac nos ab omni peccatorū contaminatione mūdare p Christū, & i Christo: vt quod etiā aliis dimittim9, hoc est in terra soluimus, soluatur in cęlo.

Col 3:14–16

Super omnia autē hæc charitatē habentes, quod est vinculū pfectiōis: & pax Christi exultet in cordib9 vestris in quā & vocati estis in vno corpore: & grati estote. Verbū Christi habitet in vobis abundanter, in omni sapientia.

Tunica illa sortita, oīm ptiū significat vnitatē, quę charitatis vinculo cōtinet. De charitate aūt locuturus apls, Superminētiorem, inquit, viā vobis demōstro, & alio loco ait, Cognoscere etiā supereminētē sciētię charitatē Christi (i. Cori. xii.). Itēq alibi, Sup oīa aūt hęc charitatē quę est vinculū pfectiōis (Ephe. iii.). Si ergo & charitas superminētiorē habet viā, & superminet sciētię, & sup oīa

[folio CCLXIIv] pręcepta est, merito vestis qua significatur, desup cōtexta phibetur (Ioā. xix.). Incōsutilis aūt, ne aliqū dissuatur: & ad vnū puenit, quia in vnū oēs colligit.

Col 3:16–17

Docētes & cōmonētes vosmetipsos in psalmis, hymnis, & cāticis spiritalib9 in gratia cātātes in cordibus vestris Deo. Om̄e quodcūque facitis in verbo, aut in opere, omnia in nomine domini nostri Iesu Christi, gratias agētes deo & patri per ipsum.

Neq em oisq labiis psonat cātat cāticū nouū, sed qui eo mō cātat, vt Aplus admonet dicēs: Cātātes & psallētes in cordib9 vestris domino. Intus .n. est hoc gaudiū, vbi vox laudis & canti. & audiī.⁹ Qua voce laudat, qui gratias amādus est toto corde, tota aīa, tota mēte, amatoremq suū accēdit in se gratia sancti spūs sui. (Deut. vi.).

Col 3:18–22

Mulieres subditę estote viris sicut oportet in dño. Viri dilígite vxores vr̄as & nolite amari esse ad illas. Filii obedite pentibus p om̄ia: hoc em̄ placitū est in dño. Patres nolite ad indignatīonē puocare filios vestros, vt nō pusillo animo fiāt. Serui obedite p oia dominis carnalib9, nō ad oculū seruīentes, quasi hoībus placētes, sed in simplicitate cordis tímentes Deum.

Est etiā ordo naturalis in hoībus, vt seruiant fœminę viris, & filii pentibus: qa & illic hęc iustitia est, vt infirmior ratio seruiat fortiori. Hęc igit in dñationibus, & seruitutibus clara iustitia est: vt qui excellunt ratione, excellant dñatione. Quod cum in hoc seculo p iniquitatē hoīm pturbat, vel p naturā carnaliū diuersitatū, ferūt iusti tēpalē diuersitatē, in fine habiturī ordinatissimā, & sempiternā felicitatē.

Cū multi in nostra cōmunione veraciter faciūt ista sublimiora præcepta euāgelica : quā multi hoīes vtriusque sex9 ab omi cōcubitu puri atqu integri: quā multi experti & postea cōtinētes: quā multi rerū suarū distributores & relictores : quā multi ieiuniis, vel crebris vel quotidianis, vel etiā icredibiliter cōtinuatis corpus seruituti subjicientes: qu multæ fraternę cōgregationes nihil habētes pprīū, sed oīa cōia: & hęc nō nisi ad victū, & tegumentū necessaria: vnā aīam, & cor vnū in deū charitatis igne cōflātes: qu multi humiliter & fideliter sanctū custodiētes ppositū vsque in finē pseuerāt, & salui fiūt : in quorū societate quasi dispares apparēt, sed tn̄ eadē charitate copulant. qu pper aliquā necessitudinē scḋm apli exhortationē habēt vxores tāq nō habētes, & emūt tanq nō possidētes, & vtunt hoc mūdo tanq nō vtētes.

His subiūgunt secūdū abūdantes diuitias mīę dei etiā illi qbus dicitur. Nolite fraudare inuicem, nisi ex consensu ad tēpus, vt vacetis orationi, & iterū ad id ipm estote: ne vos tentet satanas ppter intēperātiā vestrā (i. Cor. vii.). Hoc autē dico secūdū veniā, nō secūdū imperiū (Ibidem.). Qualibus idē Aplus dicit, Iam qudē oīno delictū est, quia iudicia habetis vobiscū. Et eos portās infirmitatē paulopost dicit, Secularia igit iudicia si habueritis, eos qu cōtēptibiles sunt in ecclīa hos collocate (i. Cor. vi.). Neq em illi soli, qui vt sint pfecti vendūt vel dimittunt oīa sua & sequunt dñm, pertinēt ad regnum cęlorū, sed huic militię christianę ppter quod=dā quasi cōmerciū charitatis subiungit etiā quędā stipēdiaria multitudo: cui dicet in fine, Esuriui, & dedistis mihi manducare &c (Matth. xxv). Alioquin damnādi erūt illi, quorū domos tam diligēter & sollicite cōponit Aplus: monēs mulieres subditas esse viris suis, viros diligere vxores suas: filios obtēperare parētib9, parētes filios nutrire in disciplina, & correptiōe dñi: seruos obedire cū metu dñis carnalibus, dños qd iustū est & ęquū, seruis pręstare.

Sed absit vt istos a mādatis euāgelicis alienos, & a vita ęterna separādos iudicet. qa vbi ait dñs, Si quis nō tulerit crucē suam, & secutus me fuerit, nō potest meus esse discipulus (Lucæ. xiiii.), exhortans fir=miores ad pfectionē, ibi statim & ipsos consolatus est dicēs, Qui recipit iustū in noīe iusti, mercedē iusti accipiet: & qui recipit pphetā in noīe pphetę, mercedē prophetæ accipiet (Matth. x.). Vnde nō tātū qui modicū vini Timotheo dedit ppter stomachū. & frequētes infirmitates eius (i. Timo. v.), sed etiā qui saniori atqu fortiori calicem aquæ frigidę porrexerit tantū in noīe discipuli, sicut ibi sequit, nō pder mercedē suā.

Hęc tibi regula proponitur. Nōne manifestum est eum minime offendendū qui maior est cęteris! discute nūc maiores tuos. Primi tibi sunt mater & pater, sirecte educantes, si in Christo nutrientes, audiendi in omibus, obtemperandū eis in omni iussione, cōtra maiorem si nihil iubeant, & seruiat illis. Quis est, inquit, maior eo qui me generauit! nōne ille qui teipm creauit! Generat enim homo, creat deus. Vnde generat homo nescit: quid generatur nescit, ille qui te vidit vt faceret anteq eēt quē fecit, certe maior est patre tuo. Maior sit patria patre & ipsis parētibus tuis: vt quicquid iusserit patētes cōtra patriam, nō audiatur, & quicquid iusserit patria contra deum non audiatur [folio CCLXIIIr]. Si em sanari vis, si post fluxum sanguinis, si post duodecim annos in illo morbo, si post consumpta omnia in medīcis & non recepta sanitate, aliquando vis sana fieri o mulier quā alloquor in typo ecclesię, iubet illud pater tuus, & illud iubet populus tuus.

Sed dicit tibi domin9 tu9, Obliuiscere populum tuū, & domum patris tui. Quo bono! Quo fructu! Qua mercede! Quoniam concupiuit, inquit, rex decorem tuum. Concupiuit quod fecit: quoniam vt faceret pulchram, fœdam amauit: pro infideli & fœda sanguinem fudit, fidelem & pulchram reddidit, dona sua in te amauit. Quid eī sponso tuo contulisti! Quid in dotē a priore patre & priore populo accepisti! nonne luxurias & pannos peccatorum! Abiecit pannos tuos, discidit cilicium tuum, misertus est vt ornaret, ornauit vt amaret.

Pax domestica est ordinata cohabitantium imperandi obediendiq concordia. Imperant em qui consulunt, sicut vir vxori, parentes filiis, domini seruis. Obediunt autē quibus consulitur, sicut mulieres maritis, filii parentibus, serui dominis. Sed in domo iusti viuentis ex fide, & adhuc ab illa ciuitate peregrinātis, etiā qui imperant seruiunt eis quibus videntur imperare: quia non dominandi cupiditate imperant, sed officio consulendi, nec principādi superbia, sed prouidendi beneficentia.

Col 3:23–25

Quodcūque facitis ex animo operamini, sicut domino & nō hominib9: sciētes quod a dño accipietis retributionem hęreditatis. Domino Christo seruite. Qui eī iīuriā facít recipiet id quod inique gessít, & non est psonarum acceptio apud deum.

Eam deus innocēntiam probat, qua homō non metu pœnæ sit innocens, sed amore iustitiæ. Nā qui timore non peccat, quuis non noceat cui vult nocere, sibi tamen plurimum nocet: & abstinēs ab iniquo opere: sola tamen reus est voluntate. Simulara innocentia non est innocēntia : simulata ęquitas non est equitas, sed duplicatum peccatum, in quo est & iniquitas & simulatio. Dño Christo seruite. Qui em iniuriā facit, recipiet idē quod inique gessit. Et non est personarum acceptio apud deum.

Nomen & conditionē seruitutis culpa genuit nō natura. Et prima huius subiectionis causa peccatum est : quia supernus dñs dicit, Qui facit peccatum, seruus est peccati (Ioan. viii.). Ac per hoc multi quidē religiosi dominis iniquis, nō tamē liberis seruiunt. A quo em quis deuictus est, huius seruus addictus est. Et vtiq felicius seruitur homini quam libidini: cum sęuissimo dominatu vastet corda mortalium (vt alia omittam) libido ipsa dominandi hominibus. Melior est tristitia iniqua patientis, quam lętitia iniqua faciētis. De malitia mali flagellatur bonus, & de seruo emendatur filius.

Caput IV

Col 4:1

Domini quod iustū est & æquum seruis præstate: scīentes quod & vos dñm habetis in cęlo.

Certiā si habuerint seruos scī patres nostri¹⁰, sic administrabant domesticā pacem, vt secundum hæc temporalia bona filiorū sortem a seruorum conditione di=stinguerent. ad dominum autem colendum, in quo æterna bona speranda sunt, omnibus domus suę membris pari dilectione consulerent. Quod naturalis ordo ita prescribit, vt nomen patrum familias hinc exortum sit, & tam late vulgatum, vt etiā inique dominantes hoc se gaudeant appellari: Qui autem veri patresfamilias sunt, oībus in familia sua tāquam filiis ad colēdum, & promerendū deum cōsulunt, desiderantes atq optantes venire ad cęlestem domum, vbi necessarium non sit officium imperandi mortalibus, quia necessariū non erit officium consulendi iam in illa immortalitate felicib9. Quo donec veniatur, magis debent patres qui dominantur, quā serui tolerare qui seruiunt.

Sicut in potestatibus societatis humanę maior potestas minori ad obediendum pręponitur, ita deus omnibus.

Qui doctrinā Christi aduersam dicunt esse reipublicæ, dent exercitum talem, quales doctrina Christi milites esse iussit. Dēt tales prouinciales, tales maritos, tales cōiuges, tales parētes, tales filios, tales dominos, tales seruos, tales reges, tales iudices, tales deniq debitorū ipsius fisci redditores & exactores, quales esse præcipit doctrina Christiana, & audeant eam dicere aduersam esse reipublicæ : immo vero non dubitent confiteri, magnam si ei obtemperetur salutem esse reipublicæ.

Col 4:2–11

Orationi instate vigilātes in ea, in gratiarū actīōe orātes simul & p nobis, vt deus aperíat nobis ostium sermonis ad loquendum mysterium Christi: ppter quod etiā vinctus sū, vt manifestē illud íta vt oportet me loquī.

[folio CCLXIIIv] In sapientía āmulate ad eos qui foris sunt tempus redimétes. Sermo vester semper in gr̄a sale sit cōditus: vt sciatis quō oporteat vos vnicuique respondere. Quę círca me sunt oīa vobis nota faciet Tychicus charissimus frater, & fidelis minister, & cōseru9 in domino: quē misi ad vos ad hoc ip̄m, vt cognoscat que circa vōs sunt : & consolet corda vestra cū Onesimo charissimo & fidelī fratre, qui ex vobis est: qui oīa quę hic aguntur nota facient vobis. Salutat vos Aristarch9 cōcaptiu9 me9: & Marc9 cōsobrin9 Barnabę, de quo accepístis madata. Si venerit ad vos, suscipite illū. Et Iesus qui dícit iustus, qui sunt ex circuncisíone. Hi soli sunt adiutores mei ín regno dei, qui mihi fuerunt solatio.

Ioānes dicit, Et si qs peccauerit, aduocatū habem9 apud patrē Iesum Christū iustū (i. Ioan. i.). Sed dicit aliquis, Ergo nō petit p nobis! Sed attēdite scripturas, & videte quia prępositi cōmendāt se populo. Nā aplus dicit plebi, Orantes simul & pro nobis. Orat aplus pro plebe: orat plebs pro aplo. Oramus p vobis fratres: sed & vos orate pro nobis inuicem: pro se omnia membra orent: caput pro omnibus interpellat.

Col 4:12–18

Salutat vos Epaphras, qui ex vobis est seruus Iesu Christí, semper sollicitus pro vobis in oratíoníbus : vt stetís perfectí & plení in omni voluntate dei. Testimonium enim illí perhibeo quod habet multū laborē p vobīs, & pro hís quí sunt Laodíceæ, & qui Híerapoli. Salutat vos Lucas medic9 charíssímus, & Demas. Salutate fratres quí sunt Laodíceę & Nympham, & quæ in domo eius est ecclesíam. Et cū lecta fuerít apud vos epistola hęc: facite vt & ín Laodícēsiū ecclesia legat: & ea quę Laodícēsíū est, vobis legat. Et dícíte Archíppo, Víde ministeríū quod accepístí ín dño: vt illud impleas. Salutatīo mea manu Paulí. Memores estote vínculorū meorū. Gr̄a dñi nostrī Iesu Christí vobiscū. Amen.

si dixerim9 istā pseuerātiā tā laudabilē, tāqu felicē sic eē hois vt ei nō sit ex deo, illud primit9 euacuam9 quod ait dñs Petro, Rogaui p te, ne deficiat fides tua. Quid .n. rogauit nisi pseuerātiā vsque in finē? Quę pfecto si ab homine hoī eēt: a deo poscēda nō eēt. Deīde cū dicat apls: oram9 ad dñm ne quid faciatis mali: pculdubio pseuerātiā eis orat ad deū. Neque eī nihil mali facit qui bonū deserit: & a quo declinare debet, inclinat in malū nō pseuerās in bono. alio ēt loco vbi dicit, Gr̄as ago deo ī oī memoria vr̄a sēp, ī om̄i p̄ce mea, p oīb9 vobis cū gaudio depcationē faciēs sup oī cōicatiōe vr̄a i euāgelio a prima die vsque nunc, cōfidēs hoc ip̄m: qm qu cœpit i vobis opus bonū, ip̄e perficiet vsque in diē Christi Iesu (Phili. i.), quid aliud eis qu pseuerantiā in bono vsque in finemdei miseratiōe pmittit! itēque vbi dicit, Salutat vos Epaphras qui ex vobis est seru9 Christi Iesu semp certās p vobis in orationib9, vtstetis pfecti & pleni in oī volūtate dei. quid ēvt stetis, nisi vt perseueretis!

Vnde dictū estde diabolo, In veritate nō stetit: quia fuit ibi, sed non permansit (Ioan. viii.). Nam vtiq isti in fide iamstabāt, Nec aliud oram9, cū oram9 vt qui statstet, nisi vt pseueret. Itē Iudas apls cū dicit, Eiaūt qui potēs est cōseruare eos sine offentiōe, &cōstituere ante cōspectū glorię suę immaculatos in lęticia (Iudæ. i.): nōne aptissime ostēdit dei donūesse in bono pseuerare vsque in finē? Quid eīaliud donat qu cōseruat sine offensione, vt cōstituat ante cōspectū glorię suę īmaculatos in lęticia, nisi pseuerātiā bonā! Quid est etiā quodin aplorum actib9 legim9, Audiētes aūt gētes gauisę sūt, & exceperūt verbū dñi, & crediderūtquotquot erāt ordinati in vitā ęternā (Actuū. xiij.)! Quisin ęternā vitā potuit ordinari sine pseuerātiędono! Quīqu eī pseuerauerit vsque in finē, hicsalu9 erit (Matth. x. & xxiiii.).

Qua salute, nisi ęterna? Cū vero in oīone dñica deo prī dicim9, Sāctificet nomētuū (Matt. vi.): quid aliud dicim9 quod vt nomē ei9 sctificetur i nobis! Quod cū iā p lauacrū regeneratiōiseffectū sit, qure quotidie a fidelib9 poscit, nisivt in eo quod factū est i nobis, pseueret a nobis!

Change log — October 3, 2026: Expanded reading edition prepared for review; the existing published article has not yet been replaced.

• Expanded source base: Replaced the earlier Migne-based presentation of abbreviated excerpt notices with the supplied continuous Latin reading text based on the corrected 1534 transcript, while retaining the previously adopted Migne readings.
• Expanded English translation: Substituted the supplied full English translation for the earlier abbreviated presentation, making the longer Augustinian excerpts available in context across Colossians 1–4.
• Attribution clarified: Distinguished Florus’s compilation, printed under Bede’s name in the early edition, from Bede’s genuine Collectio. Added the BnF’s 1534 edition record and a link to its digitization.
• Textual status retained: Preserved the supplied critical notes and †…† signs rather than silently repairing unresolved readings. The inherited folio labels remain unverified. This is a provisional reading edition, not a newly established critical text.
• Navigation revised: Organized the English text into chapter accordions, with the argument included alongside chapter 1, followed by one accordion containing the full Latin reading text and its notes.
• Editorial labeling corrected: Replaced the English file’s inherited description “provisional Latin reading text” with an accurate explanation of the English translation’s relationship to that text.
• Supersession plan: This review draft is intended to replace the content of the existing Florus article (post 225) after review, retaining that article’s public URL and featured image.