ROMANS VIII [Citation from Ficino] pp. 29-33

As regards that love, on the other hand, from which St. Paul said that he could by no means be separated (Rom. 7:35)., there is  this to be next said : namely, that Charity and Love are one and the same ; and that the love of God within us is kindled from God’s love toward us, and is begotten in us by a loving God. Hence the saying of St. John in his Epistle: love is of God; and a little after he adds : Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he first loved us (1Jn 4:7). Hence it is by God’s loving us that we love him in return.

De charitate vero illa a qua nulla so racione dimoveri posse Paulus dixit, hoc est deinde quod dicamus ; quod scilicet viii. 35. charitas et amor idem est ; quodque amor Dei in nobis ex amore erga nos Dei excitatur, et ab amante nos Deo in nobis gignitur. Hinc illud Joannis in epistola : Charitas 1 loan. iv. ex Deo est : et paulo post addit, In hoc est charitas, non quod nos dileximus Deum, sed quod ipse prior dilesait nos.

    To what an extent this return of love and charity on our part towards God and his Christ is profitable for us, above all things else, plainly appears from the words of the Platonist Marsilius Ficinus touching the love of God. They are found in the 14^th Book of his Platonic Theology,[1] and are in the main to this effect : —

Itaque, Deo nos amante, ipsum redamamus. Quam autem haec redamacio nostra etcharitas.erga Deum ejusque Christum est nobis ante omnia salutaris, ex Marcilii Ficini platonici verbis de Dei amore, positis in suo quarto et decimo libro de platonica theologia, plane constat ; quaa sunt ferme ad hunc modum:

    “Man,” he says, “has two most excellent actions, regarding a most excellent object, of which the most excellent part of his soul, namely the intellect, is the instrument : and these are the knowledge and the love of God. But in this life the love of God far surpasses the knowledge of him, seeing that here no man truly knows God, nor indeed can do. But to love God is in his power ; and he who by the grace of God despises and makes light of all else, does love God, in whatever degree he may know him.

Homini, videlicet, per suam excellentissimam animae. partem, quae mens est, duos esse excellentissimos actus, circa objectum excellentissimum ; Dei cognicionem et amorem. Sed Dei amorem in hac vita longe cognicioni prestare ; quoniam Deum hie nemo vere cognoscit, nee potest quidem. Amare autem potest ; et amat Deum quoquomodo cognitum is qui Dei gracia omnia spernit et contemnit. Item, quanto deterius est odisse Deum quam nescire, tantum melius est certe Deum amare quam nosse.

[p.30] Moreover, in proportion as it is worse to hate God than not to know him, so is it assuredly better to love God than to know him. Add to this, that the searching out God is exceeding painful and hard, and after all brings but small profit with no small time; while on the other hand the love of God gains much fruit in a very short space, and causes us to approach God more quickly, and cleave to him more steadfastly. For while the force of knowledge consists rather in separation, that of love consists in union.

Adde perscrutacionem Dei admodum anxiam et difficilem, et denique cum modico lucro, et in longo tempore esse ; contra, amorem in perbrevi plurimum fructus adipisci, facereque ut appropinquemus Deo citius, et eidem firmius adhereamus. Est cnim amoris vis in unione magis, cognicionis in distrectione.

Hence of necessity love is the more impetuous and efficacious, and swifter in attaining what is good, than knowledge is in detecting what is true. Furthermore it is beyond doubt more pleasing to God himself to be loved by men than to be surveyed; and to be worshipped, than to be understood. For we bestow nothing upon God by contemplating him; but by loving him we give him all our being, powers, and possessions.

Undo necessario amor magis vehemens et efficax est, et ad assequendum bonum citacior, quam cognicio in [[p.156] vero deprehendendo ; plusque eciam necessario possidet bonum quam cognicio verum. Quineciam proculdubio ipsi Deo multo est gracius amari ab hominibus quam prospici, et coli quam intelligi. Nam intuendo Deum nichil ei tribuimus ; amando vero quicquid sumus aut possumus aut habemus, ei damus.

In searching into his nature, moreover, we appear to be seeking our own profit; but in loving him, the profit of God : whence arises the saying of the Apostle, Charity. seeks not her own. (1Cor. 13:5) — And that same Apostle himself, being all on fire with love, sought not his own but the things of Jesus Christ, whom he so much loved. — Well then, God bestows himself rather on those who love, than on those who search him out. And hence the saying of St. Paul :. All things work together for good to them that love God (Rom. 7:28); because to such God vouchsafes himself.

Scrutando eciam videmur nostrum lucrum querere, amando lucrum Dei ; unde illud ab apostolo 1 Cor. xiii. est dictum, Charitas non querit quce sua sunt. Et idem 5~ ipse totus amor fragrans non sua sed quae Jesu Christi sunt, quem tantopere dilexit, conquisivit. Quapropter amantibus Deus seipsum tribuit pocius quam scrutantibus. Hinc viii. 28. est quod Paulus dicit : Diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur ad bonum. Quia talibus Deus se ipsum dat ;

And with him, through his unspeakable goodness, all things are good, even ills themselves, which are turned by him to something good. So that they who love God and possess him, must needs take in good part whatever befalls, and assign to a good end whatever is reckoned among evil things; so that, although the evil be an evil in itself, yet to those who love God, since they are good and divine, it may be able to prove a good. [p.31]

cui pro sua ineffabili bonitate omnia sunt bona, eciam ipsa mala, quae ab illo ad aliquid boni vertuntur ; ut, qui diligunt Deum Deumque possident, est necesse, quicquid accidat, ii in bonam partem accipiant, referantque quicquid in malis numeratur ad bonum finem ; ut, quanquam id malum ipsum in se sit malum, tamen ipsis diligentibus Deum, quia boni et divini sunt, bonum esse possit.

    “But let me add what remains concerning love ; the nature and power of which is marvellous, as may be perceived even from hence : namely, that the love of God cannot possibly be made a bad use of by us, though the knowledge of him undoubtedly may ; that is, for boastfulness and pride. This was testified by St. Paul in his First Epistle. to the Corinthians, when he said : knowledge puffs up, but charity edifies. (1Cor. 7:1)  

Sed addamus reliqua de amore, cujus natura et vis admirabilis est. Quam vel ex eo licet cernere quidem, quod amore Dei male uti nullo modo possimus : sciencia certe possumus ; videlicet ad arroganciam et superbiam. Quod testatus est Paulus in epistola ad Corinthios prima, quum 1 Cor. viii. dixit : Sciencia inflat, charitas autem edificat.

    “Furthermore the love of God is infinitely more pleasant than the search after him with a view to knowledge ; and they who love God feel far more enjoyment than they who search him out ; and men become at length far better men by loving, than by inquiring into, God. And again, as it is not he who sees good, that becomes good, but he who wishes for and seeks it ; so also the soul is rendered divine, not from studying, but from loving God : just as what is placed on a fire is shown to have been turned into fire, not because it is alight, but because it is hot and burning to its core.

Item amor Dei mirum in modum jucundior est quam scrutacio ut sciatur ; amantesque Deum longe plus voluptatis quam perscrutantes percipiunt; fhmtque tandem homines multo meliores amando Deum quam exquirendo. Et denique, ut non is qui videt bonum, sed qui id vult et appetit, evadit bonus ; ita animus quoque non ex eo quod considerat Deum, sed ex eo quod amat, divinus efficitur. Sicuti quod igni apponitur, non ex eo quod lucet, sed ex eo quod intime ardet et flagrat, ignis factus esse indicatur.

Moreover it is more honourable to man, and also, it must be allowed, more befitting the majesty divine, that God should be loved at once by feeble men, than that he should be known in some degree more minutely ; seeing that, in striving to know God, we are endeavouring in a measure to narrow, and, as it were, distort him, to the meanness and straitness of our own intellect ; but in loving him, we are raising ourselves to God, and enlarging ourselves to his unbounded goodness, so as now, great and lofty, to receive it according to our measure ; adapting ourselves to it, not it to ourselves.

Preterea est homini magis honorificum, et divinae majestati eciam sane magis congruum, ut statim ametur pocius ab homunculis, quam aliquatenus exquisicius cognoscatur ; quod contendentes ut [p.157] cognoscanms nms Deum, conamur eum ad nostrae mentis humilitatem et angustiam contrahere quodammodo, et quasi devertere ; at vero amantes, ad Deum ipsum nos attollimus, et ad immensam ^illius bonitatem nos ipsi amplificamus, ut magni et excelsi eam capiamus quoad possumus ; nos illi non illam nobis accommodantes

Whence it is far more becoming both to God and men, that God should be loved, than that he should be searched out by us and known.1 For weak men know but as much of God as they can contain ; which is little indeed : but they love, not only as much as they know and behold, but also as much of the divine goodness as they conjecture to remain over, which they cannot know.

. Unde multo conveniences est et Deo et hominibus ut diligatur Deus, quam perscrutetur a nobis ut cognoscatur. Noscunt enim homunciones quantum Dei capere possunt, quod est admodum exiguum. Amant vero non modo quantum noscunt et intuentur, sed eciam quantum vaticinantur divinae bonitatis superesse, quod cognoscere non possunt.

For love is not confined within the limits of knowledge, but [p.32] advances farther, in keeping with its transcendent power, and takes a wider sweep, not satisfied till it has attained that first boundless and infinite good, wherein alone it can repose. This exalted, expansive, God embracing love, holding fast by him, and linking man closely to him, is the true worship and religion, whereby the minds of men may be

Non est enim amor sciencias finibus contentus, sed pro sua excellent! vi longius progreditur, et lacius vagatur, nec ei satisfactum est, donee est nactus primum illud immensum et infinitum bonum in quo solo conquiescat. Hie amor sublimis, amplus et amplectcns Deum, atque strictim ei adherens, et arete hominem Deo copulans, verus Dei est cultus et religio, qua hominum mentes

‘Bound with gold chains about the feet of God.’”

cum Deo colligantur.

Thus much have I related, after Marsilius, touching the excellency of love ; using, however, my own words for the most’ part as I pleased, and my own manner of writing ; not that I dream of being able to express it more fittingly or clearly than Marsilius (than whose language there can be nothing finer in philosophy) , but because, in the use of our freedom of speech, I have taken the liberty of inserting what I would in the course of writing, and of giving such a turn to the passage as might best suit my purpose.

Haec tradidimus de amoris excellencia, Marcilium secuti, sed nostris verbis nostroque scribendi modo maxime pro nostro arbitrio nsi ; non quod putamus nos aut aptius aut lucidius quam Marcilium (quo nihil in philosophia potest esse eloquencius) ea exprimere posse ; sed quod, libertate loquendi usi, habuimus facultatem inter scribendum inserendi quae voluimus, et dirigendi sermonis eo quo nostro proposito maxime conveniret ;

The drift of it all is this : that we ought by no means to wonder at St. Paul, possessed as he was with so great a love for God, asserting, with such fervour of spirit and fulness and grandeur of language, that nothing in the world could be conceived of as able to divert him from the love of God and Christ. Nor can we at all marvel that one, all on fire and burning with divine love, and who had experienced in himself the wonderful power of Charity, should assign so much to love;— as he especially does in the Epistles to the Corinthians. For without it he affirms that nothing can avail: no matter how high its estimation may be as a thing good and powerful, yet nothing, I say, can avail without charity. But let me return at length to the point whence I digressed, and proceed in my exposition of the subject of this Epistle to the Romans, as I at first set out.

quod totum hue tendet ; ut minime miremur si Paulus tanto Dei amore captus, tam ardenti spiritu et oracione tam ampla et grandi asseruit, nihil prorsus esse potuisse, quod eum ab amore Dei et Christi avocaret. Minime eciam miremur, si homo totus divino amore flagrans et flammeus, atque in so expertus charitatis mirificam vim, tantum in eis epistolis maxime ad Chorinthios scriptis, tribuit Charitati; sine qua affirmat nihil, quantumcunque habetur in bonis et potentibus, tamen, inquam, nihil prorsus sine charitate valere posse. Sed unde sumus digressi aliquando revertamur, pcrgamusque in enarrando argumento hujus epistolae ad Romanos sicuti a principio instituimus.

ROMANS XII [theosis and henosis] pp. 58-64

CHAPTER XII. THE Apostle has been writing all that he could to the Romans, — to those, that is, who professed amendment of life and the worship of God and Christ. And the end of it all was, to take away arrogance and pride, the root of all dissension among men ; and persuade them that they must trust in God alone, from whom proceeds to mankind everything that is counted good.

CAP. XII. SCRIPTIS ab apostolo quam plurimis ad Romanos illos quidem, qui emendationem vitae, et Dei ac Christi cultum professi sunt, quas omnia eo contenderint ut arrogantiam et superbiam tollant, unde in hominibus omnis discordia nascitur, utque persuadeant soli Deo confidendum esse, unde ad homines quicquid in bonis est proficiscitur ;

    Accordingly he now goes on to beseech and adjure them all, to draw together and collect themselves ; that is, to withdraw themselves wholly from the defilements of this world, and rein in the body to be obedient to the soul and ,son, and submit themselves, as matter fit and cleansed, the divine reformation ; that every one, being seized by grace, and inspired by the divine Spirit, may become wholly new and divine ; and that there may be reared, and stand forth visibly on earth, formed of all thus renewed, [p.59] a new and heavenly City of God.

ideo deinde nunc obsecrat, obtestaturque omnes, ut contrahant se et componant ; hoc est, abducant se omnino a sordibus hujus mundi, et corpus astringantin obsequium animae et [p.176] et quasi aptam et expurgatam materiam se divinae reformacioni subjiciant; ut quisque, divina gracia apprehensus, divinoque spiritu afflatus, totus novus et divinus fiat ; utquo ex omnibus innovatis nova Dei civitas et celestis construatur in terris et extet ; racionis. ut, sicut in celo,

Thus at length, as we ask in the Lord’s Prayer, God would reign on earth, as in heaven, and exercise dominion among men themselves ; so as for nothing to be either desired or done by any, that should not seem done according to the will of God himself.

quod in dominica oracione petimus, sic eciamin terra aliquando Deus regnet, et inipsis hominibus imperium habeat; ut nihil nec appetitum nec actum sit a quoquam, quod non ex Dei ipsius voluntate actum esse videatur.

    This is what St. Paul here enjoins; namely, that the Romans should be transformed to a new sense and judgment of things (12:2); that they should prove and make manifest by their deeds what the will of God is, and what is good, and perfect, and well-pleasing to God instead of to themselves ; that they should henceforth show that they have now not their own will, but the will of God in them, and that God reigns in them, who is goodness and perfectness itself; making them do all things well and perfectly, and causing the whole society of the church to be in a good and perfect state. This in truth will be done passing well, if men, now turned away from God, return to him, and if all things belonging to man have, so far as they can, an upward aim and direction; the body towards reason, the reason towards God ; that the former, by obeying the soul and reason, may become in a measure rational; and the reason and soul of man, by being subject and surrendered to God, may itself become divine ; through the presence, that is, of the divine Spirit, from whom it receives a new enlightenment, and one of far higher excellency than its own.

Id est quod hic Paulus jubet, videlicet ut Romani reformentur in novum sensum rerum et judicium, ut probent et ostendant factis quid Deus velit, quidque bonum et perfectum et Deo est placens, non quid sibi ; ut non deinceps nunc propriam, sed divinam in se voluntatem habere ostendant, Deumque in ipsis regnare, quae ipsa est bonitas ipsa et perfectio, quae facit ut omnia bene et perfecte agant, utque tota societas et ecclesia bona et perfecta existat. Hoc quidem fiet pulchre, si aversi a Deo homines ad Deum revertantur, omniaque quaesunthominis sursum spectent, sursumque, quoad possint, contendant ; corpus ad racionem, racio ad Deum ; ut illud animae et racioni inserviens quodammodo racionale, racio autem ipsa et anima humana, Deo subjecta et dedita, divina evadat, presencia quidem certe divini spiritus, a quo novum et longe supra se excellencius illustramen capit.

    So long as he retains this enlightenment, man, as though now fashioned in a new form more distinctly after the image of God, appears to be not so much man as God. And he does retain it (or rather, is retained by it; since it is the part of the higher to embrace and retain) so long as his own soul keeps his body in check, and upbears it in subservience to itself. But if the soul has neglected this, and suffered the body to run to waste in lusts, then will it be itself also neglected and forsaken at once by the sustaining Spirit, and the whole man will fall downwards, in wretched[p.60] plight, prone and headlong to earth and destruction.

Quod quamdiu tenet, quasi nova tum forma effigiatus ad imaginem Dei expressius, non tam homo quam Deus videtur esse. Tenet autem, vel tenetur potius (nam superioris amplecti et tenere est) quamdiu sua ipsius anima corpus cohibet, et sursum in obsiquela sibi sustentat. Quod si neglexerit, sique corpus effluere in libidines siverit, e vestigio tune simul a sustinente spiritu negligetur ipsa et deseretur, totusque homo deorsum pronus et preceps ad terram et mortem miserrime corruet

For in what direction one part of man is borne, whether body or soul, thither is the whole man instantly drawn ; so that he must needs tend wholly either upwards or downwards. If he tend in that upward direction, humbly and with trust in God, he will be laid hold of by the Spirit and drawn still higher, and his soul will be sustained by the Divine Spirit in a divine state beyond itself; his body being the constant servant of the soul. But if in a downward course the soul follows the lead of the body, and of the blind and wanton senses, — few words will tell the tale. The hapless soul, forsaken by its preserving Spirit, will sink along with the body to everlasting destruction.

. Nam quo fertur una hominis pars, vel corpus vel anima, illuc statim totus homo trahitur; sic ut totus aut sursum aut deorsum tendat necesse est. Illuc si sursum tendat humilis et confidens Deo, apprehensus a spiritu trahetur altius, et supra se quadam in divina condicione sustinebitur, anima divino spiritu, corpore animae jugiter [p.177] serviente. Sin vero deorsum corporis sensuumqne et cecorum et petulan.ciu.m tractum sequatur, quid multis ? (brevis dico) una cum corpore anima infelix destituta a sui conservatore spiritu, ad sempiternum interitum delabetur. 

On which account St. Paul beseeches the Romans by the mercies of God, to render their bodies obedient to reason, that they themselves may then be easily made spiritual and divine (Rom 12:1). For when the body is transformed by the soul, and made, so to speak, soul-like (that is, so far as its grossness allows, like to the nature of the soul) , then at once the soul itself, if it trust in God, and love God, is transformed by the divine grace and Spirit, and becomes spiritual and like to the nature of God ; and the whole man is again brought upwards, in fair guise, to a divine state; the soul leaning towards God, the body towards the soul; and there exists upon earth a being that is plainly a god ; since he that  is joined unto the Lord, as it is in the Epistle to the Colossians, (sic 1Cor 6:17) is one spirit. Hence David said that it was good for him to draw near to God, (Ps 73:28) and with reason; since there is nothing else that works, or can work, the good of men. For God alone is good; and whatsoever is good is so through his goodness.

Quapropter Paulus per misericordiam Dei rogat Romanos, Rom.xii. ut sua corpora rationi obsequentia reddant ; ut deinde ipsi facile spiri tales et divini effingantur. Nam corpore reformato anima, factoque (ut ita dicam) animali, id est, quatenus ejus crassitas patitur, simili naturae animse, statim ipsa deinde anima, si confidat Deo, Deumque amet, divina gracia et spiritu reformatur, fitque spiritalis et naturae Dei similis, totusque homo pulchre redigitur sursum in statum divinum, quum anima in Deum, corpus in animam incumbat, extatque in terris plane quidam Dens, quandoquidem qui adhcret i Cor. vi. Domino, ut est in Epistola ad Colocenses, unus est spiritus. 17Hinc Da.vid sibi adherere Deo diantbonum fuisse, et quidem ps jxxii juste, quum nihil preterea est quod hominum bonum facit, 28aut facere possit, quum solus Deus est bonus ; et quicquid bonum est, id est bonum illius bonitate.

In St. Paul’s exhortation to them in this passage, to present their bodies a living sacrifice, he is covertly reproving the sacrifices of all those who slew and offered cattle ; especially the Jews, who (as Aristeas writes) were accustomed [p.61] to make oblations of victims on festival days by slaughtering thousands of sheep, and to glut the whole temple with blood ; thinking that by this act they gave great pleasure to God.

Quod autem hortatur Paulus hoc loco, Exhibeant corpora sua hostiam viventem, latenter carpit sacrificia eorum omnium qui peccora mactarunt et immolarunt ; maxime Judeorum, qui, ut Aristeas scribit, septingentis ministrantibus soliti sunt festis diebus cesis pecudum millibus facere victimas et offerre, ac totum templum opplere sanguine ; existimantes eo facto se valde Deo placuisse.

Whence Isaiah, speaking in the name of the Lord, exclaims: To what purpose is the multi. t’dde of your sacrifices unto me ? I am full of the burnt offering of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Incense is an abomination unto me; your hands are full of blood. Who hath required this at your hand? (Is. 1:11-16)Wherefore the prophet adds: Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. For this is the sacrifice that is pleasing to God, a victim fat and without blemish; namely, a man cleansed from evil. To this the sacrifices of the Jews point, as signs and tokens ; and that slaughtering of beasts is a sign that the beastlike appetites in the body ought to be destroyed ; that the body, cleansed and holy, may live in obedience to reason, and may please God.

Undo Bsaias in persona Domini exclamat : Quo mihi multitudinem victimaES. i. 11. rum vestrarum ?Plenus sum holocausta arietum, et adipem 16. pinguium, sanguinem vitulorum agnorum et hirconim nolui. Incensum abhomminatio est mihi. Manus vestrce sanguine plence sunt. Quis quesivit hcec de manibus vestris ? Quocirca addit propheta : Lavamini et mundi estate. Aufcrte malum cogitacionum vestrarum ab oculis meis. Hoc enim est sacrificium quod placet Deo, et hostia pinguis ac immaculata; homo videlicet a malis purgatus. Quo Judeorum sacrificia spectant, ut signa et monumenta ; et mactacio*illa pecoris significat pecuinas appeticiones in corpore enecari oportere, ut corpus purgatum et sanctum vivat et obsequatur racioni et placeat Deo.

For in truth God is not gratified by dead, but by living offerings ; nor is it anything in cattle that he requires, but in men themselves ; in whom he would have all brutal appetites slaughtered, as it were, and consumed by the fire of the divine Spirit; that the body, cleansed from all vices, holy and without spot, may live to the soul and to God.

Nam revera Deus non mortuis sed vivis hostiis delectatur, nee quicquam in pecudibus exposcit, sed in ipsis hominibus. In quibus velit quasi mactari oranes beluinas appeticiones, et easdem igne divini spiritus incendi, ut ab omnibus viciis purgatum corpus sanctum et sine labo vivat animae et Deo.

    On this account St. Paul besought the Romans, to present their bodies a holy sacrifice, living, obedient to reason. By which he meant, that each should recall and draw in his own body to obey the soul and reason ; in order that the soul, now unfettered, might have power to withdraw itself from this world, and deliver itself in subjection to God ; that, being transformed by him, and strengthened with divine energy, it might both be more firmly concentrated, and restrain more resolutely the intemperate and truant body. And this power, whereby each soul becomes more vigorous, when placed in subjection to God, is a spiritual life, consisting of spiritual light and heat. For, as the body lives by light and heat, and grows through [p.62] the combination of light and heat infused into it by the soul, which is called the life of the body, whereby it has all power of sense, appetite and action ; so, in well nigh the same manner, the soul itself also has life, growth and strength, by means of a certain life, consisting of spiritual light and heat, streaming down upon it from the Soul of all souls, even God.

Quapropter obsecravit Paulus Komanos, ut corpora sua exhibeant hostiam sanctam, viventem, obsequentem racioni ; hoc est, revocet quisque et contrahat suum corpus in obsequium animse et racionis, ut libera abduci ab hoc mundo et subjici ac tradi Deo possit ; ut ab illo reformata, et divino vigore roborata, et firmius secum constet, et forcius immodestum et excurrens corpus coarceat. Haec autem vis impertita animae cuique, quae est substrata Deo, qua fit vigorosior, est quaedam spiritualis vita, luce constans et calore spirituali. Nam, ut corpus luce et calore vivit, vigetumque est lucido calore et calida luce, quae ab anima in ipsum diffusa est, quae ipsacorporis vitadicitur, quasentit, appetit, et agit omnia ; ita ferrne eodem modo ipsa quoque anima vivit, viget et valet quadam vita, quae spirituali luce et calore constat, quae in eam defusa est ab omnium animarum anima, Deo.

Cujus radio est unus, qui et lucens et calens mirifice unita, illustrata et calefacta anima, sollide secum constat, et vere sentit, et bene agit omnia. Ab unitate enim solliditas et potencia ; a luce veritas et rectitude ; a calore bonitas et proba actio. Ex unione in Deum, ab uniente gracia et radio, regignitur anima et est denuo. Esse enim nihil est aliud quam unitas. Ex illuminacione confidit Deo creditque, ac credens cernit clarissime, et cernens credit. Ex calore denique amat et desiderat Deum, divinaque omnia propter Deum. Ita voluntas sua, qui est divino spiritu regenitus in Deum, amor est Dei et divinorum : intellectus, visio Dei divinarumque rerum fide : esse, unitas et constantia est in statu, in quem contraxit et rapuit illud mirificum et prepotens, quod vel divinum spiritum, vel radium, vel vim, vel influxum, vel graciam possumus appellare. Hasc constancia et esse, ut mihi videtur, spes est, qua sumus et stamus. Nam spe vivimus, sumus et stamus ; sicuti contra desperacione solvimur, defluimus ct cadimus.

And as the latter finds no place wherein to stand, [p.63] so hope has whereon to plant itself and rest ; so that the establishment of the soul in God appears to be hope, its light and clearness, faith ; its heat and power, love. We may conclude therefore, that by hope we have existence ; by faith, knowledge ; and by love, goodness ; and that in these three consist the life and growth of the soul, whereby it lives, and has being, knowledge, and love of God ; whereby it stands, and preserves and sustains itself; whereby also it reinsin the body and binds it in obedience to itself ; whereby, in a word, the whole man is good, beautiful, and happy.

This life and happiness the soul has not from itself, but from another source on high, even down from the Father of. lights, from whom, as St. James writes, is every perfect gift (Jas 1:17); who framed the world and the race of men ; who in righteousness suffered the sins of the many; who in compassion recalled the few ; who bound some (namely, the Hebrews) by a law ; who also warned them ofttimes by his prophets ; who lastly, in a boundless mercy and loving-kindness, chose to have pity on the whole human race, at fitting time, and in a wonderful way and method. For he — the mighty and loving Father — willed that his own Son, coeternal and coequal with himself, and of substance and essence entirely the same, should become man, that through him men might be recalled to God, and rendered gods.

Et ut hrec non reperit in quio [p.179] consistat, ita spes habet in quo se figat et conquiescat ; ut animae ipsa stabilitas in. Deo videatur esse spes ; luculencia et claritas, fides ; ardor et efficacia, charitas. Et concludamus ergo, spe nos esse, fide sapere, charitate bonos esse ; hiisque tribus animae vitam constare et vigorem, qua vivit, et est, et sapit, et amat Deum ; qua stat,et se conservat et sustinet ; qua etiam astringit corpus, et in obsequium sibi devincit ; qua denique totus homo bonus, pulcher et felix fit. Quam quidem vitam felicitatemque non a se ipsa anima, sed aliunde ex alto habet, et desuper ab illo patre luminum; [Iac 1:17]. a quo, ut scribit Jacobus, omne donum perfectum est ; qui condidit mundum et humanum genus ; qui passus est scelera juste multorum ; qui misericorditer revocavit paucos ; qui lege astrinxit aliquos, hebreos videlicet ; qui crebro eosdem per prophetas monuit ; qui postremo immensa quadam clemencia et benignitate voluit totius humani generis misereri tempore opportuno, ac modo et racione mirabili ; quandoquidem suum ipsius proprium filium ei coeternum et coequalem, ac substancia essenciaque penitus idem, tantus ille et tam indulgens pater voluit horuinem fieri ; ut per eum homines revocati ad Deum dii efficerentur.

This Son of God and man, himself God and man (which in Greek is called Theanthropos) is Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, uniting in himself each extreme in a wonderful manner, so as for those extremes to be fitly and graciously connected together by this unutterable mean. The Word was made flesh, and God was made the Son of man, that flesh might have access to the Word, and man become the son of God. God put on our human nature, that man might put on the divine. God humbled himself that man might be exalted. In Christ there was a uniting of [p.64] humanity and divinity, that men might be united with God.

Hic filius Dei et hominis, Deus et homo, qui grece theonthropon dicitur, Jesus est Christus, mediator Dei et hominum, in se ipso utrumque extremum mire copulans ; ut hoc ineffabili medio commode et gratiose extrema inter se illa copularentur. Verbum caro factum est, et Deus filius hominis, ut caro ad verbum habeat accessum, et homo filius Dei fieret. Deus induit humanitatem, ut homo divinitatem indueret. Deus se humiliavit, ut homo exaltaretur. In Christo humanitatis et divinitatis unitio, ut homines cum Deo counirentur.

0 extremorum medium mirabile et mirificum, omni cultu colendum et adorandum ! Nec est aliud nomen quam hoc sacrosanctum Jesu sub celo (ut recte scripsit Joannes) in Act. iv. 12. quo oporteat homines salvos fieri. Hic, ut verissime de se ipse testatur, via est et hostium; et, ut scribit Paulus, Dei Rom. i. 16. virtus in salutem omni credenti, Judeo primum et Greco. Hie consilio dispensacioneque inestimabili venit apparuitque in terris in carne in hominibus, ob hanc quidem maxime causam,