To Quirinus: Three Books of Testimonies

Cyprian to his son Quirinus, greeting.

I had to comply, dearest son, with your spiritual desire, which asked with most earnest request for the divine teachings by which the Lord has deigned to instruct and train us through the holy Scriptures, so that, led away from the darkness of error and enlightened by his pure and shining light, we may keep to the way of life through the saving sacraments. And indeed, as you asked, I have composed this discourse and arranged a little book in a short compendium, so as not to pour out what I wrote at greater length, but, as far as a modest memory suggested, to gather everything necessary under headings drawn out with passages attached to them; so that we may seem not so much to have written a treatise as to have supplied material to those who write them. Brevity of this kind also profits readers very much, since a longer book scatters the understanding and attention of the reader, while a tenacious memory keeps what is read in a more concise compendium. I have included two little books of equal size. In one we have tried to show that the Jews, according to what had been foretold, departed from God and lost the Lord's favor, which had been both given to them long ago and promised for the future, while in their place have succeeded the Christians, who win the Lord's favor by faith and come from all nations and from the whole world. The other book contains the sacrament of Christ: that he has come who was announced according to the Scriptures, and has done and accomplished everything by which it was foretold that he could be understood and recognized. May these meanwhile help the reader to form the first outlines of faith. More strength will be given to you, and the understanding of the heart will work more and more, as you search the Scriptures old and new more fully and read through the whole volumes of the spiritual books. For we have now filled from the divine fountains only a little to send you for the present. You will be able to drink more abundantly and be filled more fully if you too come to the same fountains of divine fullness to drink with us. I wish you, dearest son, good health always.

That the Jews sinned gravely, to God's offense, in forsaking the Lord and following idols.

In Exodus the people say to Aaron: “Rise and make us gods to go before us; for as for this man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.” Likewise there Moses says to the Lord: “I pray you, Lord, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold and silver. And now, if you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” And the Lord said to Moses: “If anyone has sinned before me, I will blot him out of my book.” Likewise in Deuteronomy: “They sacrificed to demons and not to God.” Likewise in the book of Judges: “And the sons of Israel did evil before the Lord, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed the gods of the nations that were around them, and offended the Lord, and forsook God, and served Baal.” Likewise there: “And the sons of Israel again did evil before the Lord, and served Baal and the gods of foreigners, and forsook the Lord and did not serve him.”

That they did not believe the prophets and killed them.

In Jeremiah the Lord says: “I sent to you my servants the prophets; before dawn I sent them, and you did not listen to me nor incline your ears, when I said: Let each one turn from his evil way and from your most wicked desires, and you will dwell in this land which I gave to you and to your fathers from age to age. Do not walk after other gods to serve them, and do not worship them, and do not provoke me with the works of your hands to destroy you. And you did not listen to me.” Likewise in the third book of Kingdoms Elijah says to the Lord: “I have been very jealous for the Lord God almighty, because the sons of Israel have forsaken you; they have torn down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life from me.” Likewise in Ezra: “They fell away from you and cast your law behind their backs, and killed your prophets, who testified against them that they should return to you.”

That it was foretold that they would neither know nor understand nor receive the Lord.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten sons and raised them up, but they have despised me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel has not known me, and the people has not understood me. Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a most wicked seed, lawless sons! You have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger.” Likewise in the same the Lord says: “Go and say to this people: You will hear with the ear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown fat, and they have heard heavily with their ears and have shut their eyes, lest perhaps they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I heal them.” Likewise in Jeremiah the Lord says: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns, which cannot hold water.” Likewise in the same: “Behold, the word of the Lord has become a curse to them; they do not want it.” Likewise in the same the Lord says: “The turtledove and the swallow know their time; the sparrows of the field keep the times of their coming; but my people has not known the judgment of the Lord. How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The false measuring has been made in vain; the scribes are confounded, the wise have trembled and been caught, because they rejected the word of the Lord.” Likewise in Solomon: “The wicked will seek me and will not find me; for they hated wisdom and did not receive the word of the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 27: “Render them their recompense, because they did not understand the works of the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “They have not known nor understood; they walk in darkness.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. As many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God, who believe in his name.”

That the Jews would not understand the holy Scriptures, but that they would be understood in the last times, after Christ had come.

In Isaiah the prophet: “And all these words will be to you like the words of a book that is sealed; if you give it to a man who knows letters to read, he will say, I cannot read it, for it is sealed. But in that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and those who are in darkness and in cloud; the eyes of the blind will see.” Likewise in Jeremiah: “In the last of days you will know these things.” Likewise in Daniel: “Close up the words and seal the book until the time of the consummation, until many learn and knowledge is fulfilled; for when the dispersion takes place, they will know all these things.” Likewise in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud.” Likewise in the second to the Corinthians: “Their minds were dulled until this day, the same veil remaining in the reading of the old covenant, which is not lifted, because it is done away in Christ; and to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart. But as soon as one turns to the Lord, the veil will be taken away.” Likewise in the Gospel the Lord after the resurrection: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them: For it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.”

That the Jews can understand nothing of the Scriptures unless they first believe in Christ.

In Isaiah the prophet: “And if you do not believe, neither will you understand.” Likewise the Lord in the Gospel: “For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” And that righteousness stands by faith and that life is there was foretold in Habakkuk: “But the righteous lives by my faith.” Thus Abraham, the father of the nations, believed. In Genesis: “And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Likewise the apostle to the Galatians: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Know, then, that those who are of faith, these are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the nations by faith, announced beforehand to Abraham that in you all nations will be blessed. So those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”

That they would lose Jerusalem and leave the land they had received.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire; strangers will devour your country before your eyes; and the daughter of Zion will be left desolate and overthrown by foreign peoples, like a hut in a vineyard and like a watchman's shelter in a cucumber field, like a city that is besieged. And unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and made like Gomorrah.” Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I wished to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house will be left to you desolate.”

Likewise, that they would lose the light of the Lord.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord; for he has sent away his people, the house of Israel.” Likewise in his Gospel: “There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world. He was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.” Likewise there: “He who does not believe has already been judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.”

That the first, fleshly circumcision has been made void, and a second, spiritual circumcision promised instead.

In Jeremiah the prophet: “Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and those who dwell in Jerusalem: Renew newness among you, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to your God, and circumcise the foreskin of your heart, lest my anger go forth like fire and burn, and there be none to quench it.” Likewise Moses says: “In the last days God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed to love the Lord God.” Likewise in Joshua the son of Nun: “And the Lord said to Joshua: Make yourself knives of stone, very sharp, and sit down and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time.” Likewise Paul to the Colossians: “You have been circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the stripping off of the flesh, but in the circumcision of Christ.” Likewise, that Adam, the first made by God, was uncircumcised, as were righteous Abel, and Enoch, who pleased God and was taken up, and Noah, who alone was chosen, when all on earth were perishing for their sins, that in him the human race might be preserved, and Melchizedek the priest, after whose order Christ was promised. Then, that that seal does not profit women, whereas all are sealed with the sign of the Lord.

That the former law, which was given through Moses, was to cease.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Then those who seal up the law, so as not to learn it, will be made manifest. And you will say: I wait for God, who has turned away his face from the house of Jacob, and I will trust in him.” Likewise in the Gospel: “All the prophets and the law prophesied until John.”

That a new law was to be given.

In Micah the prophet: “For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge among many peoples, and will rebuke and lay bare strong nations.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “For from Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge among the nations.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: “And behold, a voice from the cloud saying: This is my most beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.”

That another dispensation and a new covenant was to be given.

In Jeremiah the prophet: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete for the house of Israel and the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt.”

That the old baptism was to cease and a new one to begin.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Do not remember the former things, and do not consider the things of old. Behold, I make new things, which will now spring forth, and you will know them; and I will make a way in the desert and rivers in a waterless place, to give drink to my chosen race, my people whom I have acquired, that they might declare my mighty works.” Likewise in the same: “If they thirst in the deserts, he will bring them water; he will bring it out of the rock for them; the rock will be split, and water will flow, and my people will drink.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew John says: “I indeed baptize you in water for repentance; but he who is coming is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” Likewise according to John: “Unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. For what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

That the old yoke was to be made void and a new yoke given.

In the second Psalm: “Why have the nations raged and the peoples meditated vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Let us break their bonds and cast away their yoke from us.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew the Lord says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is good and my burden is light.”

That the old shepherds were to cease and new ones to begin.

In Ezekiel: “Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hands and turn them away, so that they do not feed my sheep; and they shall no longer feed them, and I will draw my sheep out of their mouth and will feed them with judgment.” In Jeremiah the prophet the Lord says: “And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they will feed you, feeding you with discipline.”

That Christ was to be the house and temple of God, and that the old temple was to cease and a new one begin.

In the second book of Kingdoms: “And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to dwell in; but it shall be, when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will be from your womb, and I will prepare his kingdom. He will build me a house for my name, and I will establish his throne for ever; and I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son; and his house will obtain faithfulness, and his kingdom for ever in my sight.” Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says: “There will not be left in the temple one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And: “After three days another will be raised up without hands.”

That the old sacrifice was to be made void and a new one celebrated.

In Isaiah the prophet: “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord. I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. For who has required these things from your hands?” Likewise in Psalm 49: “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call on me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Likewise there: “The sacrifice of praise will honor me; there is the way by which I will show him my salvation.” Likewise in Psalm 4: “Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.” Likewise in Malachi: “I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name is glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord.”

That the old priesthood was to cease and a new priest to come, who would be for ever.

In Psalm 109: “Before the morning star I begot you. The Lord has sworn and will not repent: You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms God says to Eli the priest: “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do all that is in my heart; and I will build him a faithful house, and he will walk before my anointed ones all his days. And whoever is left in your house will come to bow down for a small coin of money and for one loaf.”

That another prophet like Moses was promised, namely one who would give a new covenant and who ought rather to be heard.

In Deuteronomy God to Moses: “And the Lord said to me: I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers like you, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he will speak to them what I command him. And whoever does not hear what that prophet speaks in my name, I will take vengeance.” Of whom Christ also speaks in the Gospel according to John: “Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life. These are what bear witness about me; and you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. Do not think that I accuse you before the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would believe me too; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

That two peoples were foretold, an elder and a younger, that is, the old people of the Jews and the new one that was to be made up of us.

In Genesis: “And the Lord said to Rebecca: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be divided from your belly; and one people will overcome the other, and the elder will serve the younger.” Likewise in Hosea the prophet: “I will call what is not my people my people, and her who was not beloved beloved. For it shall be that in the place where it is said, Not my people, in that place they will be called sons of the living God.”

That the church, which before had been barren, would have more sons from among the nations than the synagogue had had before.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband. For the Lord has said: Enlarge your tent and fix the pegs of your curtains. Do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. Stretch out further to your right and to your left, and your seed will possess the nations, and you will inhabit the cities that were desolate. Do not fear, for you will prevail, and do not be afraid because you were despised, for you will forget your everlasting shame.” So too with Abraham: when his first son had been born of the slave woman, Sarah remained barren a long time, and late, in old age, according to the promise, she bore a son, Isaac, who was a type of Christ. So too Jacob received two wives: the elder, Leah, with weaker eyes, a type of the synagogue; the younger, beautiful Rachel, a type of the church, who also remained barren a long time and afterwards bore Joseph, who himself was also a type of Christ. And in the first book of Kingdoms Elkanah has two wives, Peninnah with her sons and Hannah, who was barren; of her Samuel is born, not according to the order of generation but according to God's mercy and promise, after she had prayed in the temple; and Samuel, when born, was a type of Christ. Likewise in the first book of Kingdoms: “The barren has borne seven, and she who had very many has become weak.” Now the sons are the seven churches. Hence Paul too writes to seven churches, and the Apocalypse sets out seven churches, so that the number seven may be kept: as the seven days in which God made the world; and the seven angels who stand and go about before the face of God, as the angel Raphael says in Tobit; and the seven-branched lamp in the tabernacle of witness; and the seven eyes of the Lord, which watch over the world; and the stone with seven eyes, as Zechariah says; and the seven spirits and the seven lampstands in the Apocalypse; and the seven pillars on which Wisdom builds her house in Solomon.

That the nations would rather believe in Christ.

In Genesis: “And the Lord God said to Abraham: Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house, and go into the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation and bless you and magnify your name, and you will be blessed. And I will bless him who blesses you and curse him who curses you, and in you all the tribes of the earth will be blessed.” Likewise there: “And Isaac blessed Jacob: Behold, the smell of my son is like the smell of a full field which the Lord has blessed. And may God give you of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth abundance of grain and wine and oil. And nations will serve you, and rulers will bow down to you; and you will be lord of your brother, and the sons of your father will bow down to you. And whoever curses you will be cursed, and whoever blesses you will be blessed.” Likewise there: “But when Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it seemed grievous to him; and Joseph took hold of his father's hand to remove it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh. And Joseph said to his father: Not so, father; this is my firstborn; lay your right hand on his head. But he would not, and said: I know, son, I know. This one too will become a people, and this one will be exalted; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations.” Likewise in Genesis: “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hands will be on the back of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the shoot, my son, you have gone up; lying down you have slept like a lion and like a lion's whelp: who will rouse him? A ruler will not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things laid up for him come; and he is the hope of the nations. Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's foal to the haircloth, he will wash his robe in wine and his garment in the blood of the grape. His eyes are fearsome from wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.” Hence in Numbers it is said of our people: “Behold, a people will rise up like a lion's people.” Likewise in Deuteronomy: “You nations will be the head, but the unbelieving people the tail.” Likewise in Ezekiel: “Hear the sound of the trumpet. And they said: We will not hear. Therefore the nations will hear, and those who feed flocks among them.” Likewise in Psalm 17: “You will make me the head of the nations; a people whom I have not known will serve me.” Likewise in Jeremiah the prophet the Lord says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you and appointed you a prophet among the nations.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, I have shown him as a witness to the nations, a prince and a commander to the nations.” Likewise there: “Nations that did not know you will call on you, and peoples that were ignorant of you will flee to you.” Likewise there: “And in that day there will be the root of Jesse, who will rise to rule the nations; in him the nations will hope, and his rest will be honor.” Likewise there: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, and the rest of you who inhabit the seacoast, and beyond the Jordan, people of the nations walking in darkness, see a great light: you who dwell in the region of the shadow of death, a light will shine upon you.” Likewise there: “Thus says the Lord God to my Christ, the Lord, whose right hand I have held, that the nations may hearken to him: I will break the strength of kings; I will open gates before him, and cities will not be shut.” Likewise there: “I come to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory; and I will send a sign upon them, and I will send those of them who are saved to the nations that are far off, which have not heard my name nor seen my glory, and they will proclaim my glory among the nations.” Likewise there: “And in all these things they have not turned. Therefore he will lift up a sign to the nations that are far off and will draw them from the ends of the earth.” Likewise there: “Those to whom nothing was told of him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.” Likewise there: “I was made manifest to those who do not seek me; I was found by those who did not ask for me. I said, Here I am, to a nation that did not call on my name.” Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles Paul says: “It was necessary that the word of the Lord be declared to you first; but since you have thrust it away and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations. For so the Lord has said through the Scripture: Behold, I have set you as a light among the nations, that you may be for salvation to the ends of the earth.”

That the Jews would lose the bread and cup of Christ and all his grace, while we would receive them; and that the new name of Christians would be blessed on the earth.

In Isaiah the Lord says thus: “Behold, those who serve me will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, those who serve me will drink, but you will thirst; behold, those who serve me will rejoice, but you will be confounded: the Lord will slay you. But to those who serve me a new name will be given, which will be blessed on the earth.” Likewise there: “Therefore he will lift up a sign among the nations that are far off and will draw them from the ends of the earth; and behold, they will come quickly and lightly; they will not hunger or thirst.” Likewise there: “Behold, therefore, the ruler, the Lord of hosts, will take away from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman, the strength of bread and the strength of water.” Likewise in Psalm 33: “Taste and see that the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man who hopes in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for nothing is lacking to those who fear him. The rich have become needy and hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John the Lord says: “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst.” Likewise there: “If anyone thirsts, let him come and drink, he who believes in me.” Likewise there: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.”

That the nations rather than the Jews come to the kingdom of heaven.

In the Gospel the Lord says: “Many will come from the east and the west and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will go out into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

That the Jews can receive pardon for their sins only in this way: if they wash away the blood of the slain Christ in his baptism and, passing over into the church, obey his precepts.

In Isaiah the prophet the Lord says: “I will no longer forgive your sins. When you stretch out your hands, I will turn my face from you; and if you multiply prayers, I will not hear you; for your hands are full of blood. Wash, be clean; take away the wickedness from your souls, from before my eyes; cease from your wickedness. Learn to do good, seek judgment, protect him who suffers wrong, judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, let us reason together, says the Lord: and if your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and if they are like crimson, I will make them like white wool. And if you are willing and hear me, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you are unwilling and do not hear me, the sword will devour you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.”

That Christ is the firstborn, and that he is the Wisdom of God, through whom all things were made.

In Solomon, in Proverbs: “The Lord created me the beginning of his ways for his works; before the age he founded me. In the beginning, before he made the earth and before he established the depths, before the springs of water came forth, before the mountains were set in place, before all the hills the Lord begot me. He made the lands and the uninhabited places and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When he prepared the heaven, I was with him, and when he set apart his throne; when he made the clouds above strong over the winds, and when he set the springs firm under heaven, when he made strong the foundations of the earth, I was beside him, setting things in order. I was the one in whom he rejoiced; and daily I delighted before his face at all times, when he rejoiced in the completed world.” Likewise in the same, in Ecclesiasticus: “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High before every creature. I made an unfailing light to rise in the heavens, and I covered all the earth with mist. I dwelt in the heights, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. I went round the circuit of heaven and penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and walked on the waves of the sea, and stood on all the earth, and in every people and in every nation I held the first place, and by my power I trod upon the hearts of all, the lofty and the lowly. In me is all hope of life and virtue. Come over to me, all you who desire me.” Likewise in Psalm 88: “And I will make him the firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. For ever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant will be faithful to him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments, if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not turn away from them.” Likewise according to John the Lord says: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now glorify me with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.” Likewise the apostle Paul to the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation.” Likewise there: “The firstborn from the dead, that he himself might hold the first place in all things.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give from the fountain of the water of life freely.”

That the same is both the Wisdom and the Power of God. The apostle Paul in the first to the Corinthians: “For Jews desire signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to the nations foolishness, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and on the sacrament of his incarnation and passion, and of the cup and the altar, and of the apostles who were sent and preached.

In Solomon, in Proverbs: “Wisdom has built herself a house and set under it seven pillars. She has slain her victim, mixed her wine in the bowl, and prepared her table; and she has sent her servants, calling with a lofty proclamation to the bowl, saying: Whoever is simple, let him turn aside to me. And to those who lack sense she said: Come, eat of my bread and drink the wine that I have mixed for you. Forsake folly, and seek prudence, and correct understanding with knowledge.”

That Christ is also the Word of God.

In Psalm 44: “My heart has poured forth a good word; I speak my works to the king.” Likewise in Psalm 32: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and all their power by the breath of his mouth.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “A word completing and cutting short in righteousness; for God will make a shortened word in the whole world.” Likewise in Psalm 106: “He sent his word and healed them.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “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 that 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.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True; he judges fairly and justly and makes war; and he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God.”

That Christ is also the hand and arm of God.

In Isaiah: “Is the hand of the Lord not strong to save, or will he make his ear heavy so as not to hear? But your sins separate between you and God, and because of your sins he has turned his face from you, so as not to have mercy. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with sins; your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks the truth, and there is no true judgment. They trust in vain things and speak empty things; they conceive sorrow and bring forth wickedness.” Likewise there: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of God been revealed?” Likewise there: “Thus says the Lord: Heaven is my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or what place for my rest? For my hand has made all these things.” Likewise there: “Lord God, your arm is lifted high, and they did not know it; but when they know it, they will be confounded.” Likewise there: “God will reveal his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the nations, the very ends of the earth, will see the salvation from God.” Likewise there: “Behold, I have made you like the new wheels of a threshing cart, turned like a saw; and you will thresh the mountains and grind the hills small and make them like dust, and you will winnow them, and the wind will seize them and the storm scatter them. But you will rejoice in the holy ones of Israel, and the poor and needy will exult. They will seek water, and there will be none, for their tongue will be parched with thirst. I, the Lord God, I, the God of Israel, will hear, and I will not forsake them, but I will open rivers among the mountains and springs in the midst of the plains; I will make the deserts into watered groves and the thirsty land into aqueducts. I will set in the waterless land the cedar and the box and the myrtle and the cypress and the elm and the poplar, that they may see and know and understand and believe together that the hand of the Lord has done these things and the Holy One of Israel has shown them.”

That the same is both Angel and God.

In Genesis to Abraham: “And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: Here I am. And he said: Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear your God and have not spared your most beloved son for my sake.” Likewise there to Jacob: “And the angel of the Lord said to me in a dream: I am the God whom you saw in the place of God, where you anointed for me a pillar of stone and vowed a vow to me.” Likewise in Exodus: “And God went before them, by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire.” Likewise there: “And the angel of God, who went before the army of the sons of Israel, moved.” Likewise there: “Behold, I send my angel before your face to guard you on the way, to bring you into the land that I have prepared for you. Heed him and obey him, and do not be disobedient to him; for he will not fail you; for my name is in him.” Hence he himself says in the Gospel: “I have come in my Father's name, and you have not received me; when another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” And again in Psalm 117: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Likewise in Malachi the prophet: “My covenant was with life and peace, and I gave him fear, to fear me, to go forth from the face of my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace, correcting, he walked with us and turned many away from injustice. For the lips of the priest will keep knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord almighty.”

That Christ is God.

In Genesis: “And God said to Jacob: Arise and go up to the place Bethel and dwell there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.” Likewise in Isaiah the prophet: “Thus says the Lord God of hosts: Egypt is wearied, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be your servants, and they will walk after you bound in fetters, and will worship you and pray in you; for God is in you, and there is no other God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it, the God of Israel, the Savior. All who oppose you will be confounded and ashamed and will fall in confusion.” Likewise there: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and all crooked things will become straight, and rough places level ways; and the glory of the Lord will be seen, and all flesh will see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken.” Likewise in Jeremiah the prophet: “This is our God, and no other will be reckoned beside him, who found out every way of understanding and gave it to Jacob his servant and to Israel his beloved. Afterwards he was seen on earth and lived among men.” Likewise in Zechariah the prophet God says: “And they will pass through the narrow sea and strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the rivers will be dried up, and all the insolence of the Assyrians will be confounded, and the scepter of Egypt will be taken away; and I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in his name they will glory, says the Lord.” Likewise in Hosea the prophet God says: “I will not act according to the anger of my indignation; I will not allow Ephraim to be destroyed; for I am God, and not a man, the Holy One in you, and I will not enter the city; I will go after the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 44: “Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a straight scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” Likewise in Psalm 45: “Be still and see that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted in the earth.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “They have not known nor understood; they walk in darkness.” Likewise in Psalm 67: “Sing to God, sing praise to his name, make a way for him who ascends toward the west; the Lord is his name.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Likewise there the Lord says to Thomas: “Put your finger here and see my hands, and do not be unbelieving but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him: My Lord and my God. Jesus says to him: Because you have seen, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” Likewise Paul to the Romans: “I myself wished to be accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers, who are my kin according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and the service and the promises; whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give from the fountain of the water of life freely. He who overcomes will possess these things and their inheritance, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “God has stood in the assembly of gods, and in the midst he judges gods.” Likewise there: “I said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High; but you will die like men.” But if those who have been righteous and have obeyed the divine precepts can be called gods, how much more is Christ, the Son of God, God! As he himself says in the Gospel according to John: “Is it not written in the law, I said, You are gods? If he called them gods, and it cannot be undone, do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, He blasphemes, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me; but if I do them and you will not believe me, believe the works, and know that the Father is in me and I in him.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: “And you will call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us.”

That Christ as God was to come as the enlightener and Savior of the human race.

In Isaiah the prophet: “Be strong, you weak hands and feeble knees; take courage. You who are faint-hearted, do not fear. Our God will render judgment; he himself will come and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear; then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will be clear; for water has broken out in the desert and a stream in the thirsty land.” Likewise there: “Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord himself will deliver them, because he will love them and spare them; he himself will redeem them.” Likewise there: “I, the Lord God, have called you in righteousness, that I may hold your hand; and I will strengthen you, and I have given you as a covenant of my race, as a light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring the bound out of their chains, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house. I am the Lord God; this is my name. My glory I will not give to another, nor my powers to carved images.” Likewise in Psalm 24: “Make your ways known to me, Lord, and teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior.” Hence in the Gospel according to John the Lord says: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Likewise according to Matthew the angel Gabriel says to Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife; for what is born of her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus; for he will save the people from their sins.” Likewise according to Luke: “And Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: Blessed be the God of Israel, who has brought about redemption for his people and has raised up for us a horn of salvation in the house of David his servant.” Likewise there the angel to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I announce to you that there is born to you today a Savior, who is Christ Jesus, in the city of David.”

That although he had been the Son of God from the beginning, he was to be born anew according to the flesh.

In the second Psalm: “The Lord said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession.” Likewise in the Gospel: “And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb; and she was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Likewise Paul to the Thessalonians, second letter: “But when the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman.” Likewise in the letter of John: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; but he who denies that he has come in the flesh is not of God, but is of the spirit of antichrist.”

That this would be the sign of his birth, that he should be born of a virgin, man and God, Son of man and of God.

In Isaiah the prophet: “And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the height above or in the depth below. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord my God. And he said: Hear then, O house of David. It is no small contest for you with men, since God is putting on the contest. Therefore God himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel. He will eat butter and honey; before he knows or brings forth evil, he will exchange it for good.” This is the seed that God had foretold would come forth from the woman, to trample the devil's head. In Genesis: “Then God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle and every kind of beast of the earth. On your breast and belly you will crawl, and earth will be your food all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will trample your head, and you will watch for his heel.”

That Christ is both man and God, formed of both natures, so that he might be a mediator between us and the Father.

In Jeremiah the prophet: “And he is man, and who will know him?” Likewise in Numbers: “A star will rise from Jacob, and a man will rise up from Israel.” Likewise there: “A man will come forth from his seed and will rule over many nations, and his kingdom will be exalted above Gog, and his kingdom will be increased. And God brought him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of the unicorn, and he will devour the nations of his enemies and suck out the marrow of their fatness and pierce the enemy with his darts. Lying down he rested like a lion and like a lion's whelp: who will rouse him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.” Likewise in Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to captives and sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense.” Hence in the Gospel Gabriel to Mary: “And the angel answered and said to her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one who is born will be called the Son of God.” Likewise in the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “The first man is from the clay of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the one from clay, so are those from clay; and as is the heavenly one, so are the heavenly. As we have borne the image of him who is from clay, let us also bear the image of him who is from heaven.”

That he was to be born of the seed of David according to the flesh.

In the second book of Kingdoms: “And the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord: You shall not build me a house to dwell in; but it shall be, when your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, who will be from your womb, and I will prepare his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish his throne for ever; and I will be to him a father, and he will be to me a son; and his house will obtain faithfulness, and his kingdom for ever in my sight.” Likewise in Isaiah: “And a rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will rise up from the root; and the Spirit of God will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness; the spirit of the fear of God will fill him.” Likewise in Psalm 131: “The Lord swore truth to David himself, and he will not disappoint him: Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon my throne.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Luke: “And the angel said to her: Do not fear, Mary, for you have found favor before God. Behold, you will conceive in the womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw a book in the right hand of God, who sat upon the throne, written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to receive the book and open its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the book or even look at it. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book or to see it. And one of the elders said to me: Do not weep; behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, to open the book and its seven seals.”

That he would be born in Bethlehem.

In Micah: “And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are you too small to be set among the thousands of Judah? From you will come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of the age.” Likewise in the Gospel: “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the east to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

That he would come in humility at his first coming.

In Isaiah: “Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of God been revealed? We announced before him like children, like a root in thirsty ground. He has no form nor glory; and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his form was without honor and failing beyond other men. A man set in affliction and knowing how to bear weakness; because his face was turned away, he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our sins and grieves for us, and we thought him to be in sorrow and in affliction and in torment; but he was wounded for our misdeeds and weakened for our sins. The discipline of our peace was upon him; by his bruise we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray; man has strayed in his own way. And God delivered him up for our sins, and because he was tormented he did not open his mouth.” Likewise in the same: “I am not stubborn, nor do I speak against it. I gave my back to the scourges and my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn my face from the foulness of spitting; and the Lord was my helper.” Likewise there: “He will not cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, but he will bring forth judgment in truth. He will shine and will not be shaken until he establishes judgment on the earth, and in his name the nations will believe.” Likewise in Psalm 21: “But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and the outcast of the people. All who saw me mocked me; they spoke with their lips and shook the head: He hoped in the Lord; let him rescue him, let him save him, since he delights in him.” Likewise there: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue has stuck to my throat.” Likewise in Zechariah: “And the Lord showed me Joshua, the great priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him. And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood before the face of the angel; and he answered and said to those who stood before his face: Take the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities. And clothe him with a long robe, and set a clean turban on his head.” Likewise the apostle Paul to the Philippians: “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also exalted him and gave him a name, that it might be above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 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.”

That he is the Righteous One whom the Jews would kill.

In the Wisdom of Solomon: “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, for he is useless to us and opposed to our works, and he reproaches us with our sins against the law. He professes to have knowledge of God and names himself a son of God. He has become to us a reproof of our thoughts; he is burdensome to us even to look upon, for his life is unlike others', and his ways are different. We are reckoned by him as triflers; he keeps himself from our ways as from uncleanness, and he extols the end of the righteous and boasts of God as his father. Let us see, then, whether his words are true, and let us test what will happen to him. Let us examine him with insult and torment, that we may learn his reverence and prove his patience. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death. These things they thought, and they went astray; for their own malice blinded them, and they did not know the mysteries of God.” Likewise in Isaiah: “See how the righteous man perishes, and no one understands; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers it. For the righteous is taken away from the face of injustice; his burial will be in peace.” Of this very thing it was foretold in Exodus: “You shall not kill the innocent and righteous.” Likewise in the Gospel: “Judas, led by remorse, said to the priests and elders: I have sinned in betraying righteous blood.”

That he was called a sheep and a lamb, who was to be slain; and on the sacrament of the passion.

In Isaiah: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before its shearer, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away; but who will declare his generation? For his life will be taken away from the earth; by the misdeeds of my people he was led away to death. And I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death, because he did no misdeed nor deceit with his mouth. Therefore he will obtain many and divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was delivered up to death and he was reckoned among the wicked; and he bore the sins of many and was delivered up for their misdeeds.” Likewise in Jeremiah the prophet: “Lord, show me, and I shall know; then I saw their plans. I, like an innocent lamb, was led to the slaughter. Against me they devised a plan, saying: Come, let us put wood into his bread and root out his life from the earth, and his name will be remembered no more.” Likewise in Exodus the Lord God said to Moses: “Let each man take a sheep for himself, by the houses of the tribes, a sheep without blemish, perfect, male, a year old it shall be for you; you shall take it from the lambs and the kids. And the whole multitude of the assembly of the sons of Israel shall kill it toward evening, and they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it; and they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs. You shall not eat of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted with fire, the head with the feet and the inner parts. You shall leave nothing of it until morning, and you shall not break a bone of it. Whatever is left of it until morning shall be burned with fire. And you shall eat it thus: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staffs in your hands; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he came and took the book from the right hand of God, who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having golden harps and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the book and open its seals, for you were slain and have bought us with your blood from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Likewise in the Gospel: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.”

That he was also called a stone.

In Isaiah the prophet the Lord says thus: “Behold, I lay in the foundations of Zion a precious stone, chosen, chief, a cornerstone, honored; and whoever believes in it will not be put to shame.” Likewise in Psalm 117: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This was done by the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it. O Lord, save me; O Lord, give good success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Likewise in Zechariah: “Behold, I bring my servant; the Dawn is his name. For the stone which I have set before the face of Joshua, upon that one stone are seven eyes.” Likewise in Deuteronomy: “And you shall write upon the stone all this law very plainly.” Likewise in Joshua the son of Nun: “And he took a great stone and set it up there before the Lord, and Joshua said to the people: Behold, this stone shall be a witness, for it has heard all the things that were spoken by the Lord, all that he has spoken to you today; and it shall be a witness to you in the last of days, when you depart from your God.” Likewise in the Acts of the Apostles Peter says: “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, behold, we are being examined by you today concerning a good deed done to a sick man, by what means he has been made well. Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him this man stands before you whole, and in no other. This is the stone which was despised by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

This is the stone in Genesis which Jacob placed at his head, for the head of man is Christ; and sleeping he sees a ladder reaching to heaven, on which the Lord was set, and angels were ascending and descending; this stone he consecrated and anointed with the sacrament of anointing, signifying Christ. This is the stone in Exodus on which Moses sat on the top of the hill when Joshua the son of Nun was fighting against Amalek; and by the sacrament of the stone and the steadiness of his sitting Amalek was overcome by Joshua, that is, the devil was conquered by Christ. This is the great stone on which the ark of the covenant was set when the oxen brought it back on a cart, sent away and returned by the Philistines. This is the stone with which David struck Goliath's forehead and killed him, signifying that the devil and his servants are laid low by it, conquered, that is, in that part of the head which they do not have sealed; by which sign we too are always safe and live. This is the stone which Samuel set up when Israel had conquered the foreigners, and called its name Ebenezer, that is, stone of help.

That afterwards the same stone would become a mountain and fill the whole earth.

In Daniel: “And behold, an exceedingly great image, and the sight of that image was fearful, and it stood lofty before you. Its head was of good gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay, until a stone was cut out of the mountain without the hands of cutters and struck the image upon its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces; and the iron and the clay and the bronze and the silver and the gold became together like chaff or dust on the threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away, so that nothing of them remained; and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”

That in the last times the same mountain would be made manifest, to which the nations would come and up which every righteous person would ascend.

In Isaiah: “In the last times the mountain of the Lord will be made manifest, and the house of God on the tops of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and all nations will come to it, and many will go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it. For from Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem; and he will judge among the nations and rebuke many people, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, and they will no longer learn to fight.” Likewise in Psalm 23: “Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who will stand in his holy place? He who is innocent in hands and pure in heart, who has not taken his soul in vain nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor. He will receive a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his Savior. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.”

That he is the Bridegroom, having the church as his bride, from whom spiritual sons would be born.

In Joel: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, and proclaim a healing; gather the people, sanctify the assembly, bring in the elders, gather the little ones at the breast; let the bridegroom come out of his chamber, and the bride out of her bridal room.” Likewise in Jeremiah: “And I will take away from the cities of Judah and from the crossroads of Jerusalem the voice of those who rejoice and the voice of those who are glad, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.” Likewise in Psalm 18: “And he, like a bridegroom, comes forth from his bridal chamber; he has exulted like a giant to run his course. His going forth is from the height of heaven, and his circuit to its height, and there is none who can hide himself from his heat.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “Come, I will show you the new bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me in the Spirit to a great mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “You are my witnesses that I said to those who were sent to me from Jerusalem that I am not the Christ, but that I have been sent before him. For he who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom is he who stands and hears him and rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.”

The mystery of this was shown in Joshua the son of Nun, when he was commanded to take off his shoes, namely because he himself was not the bridegroom; for it was in the law that whoever refused a marriage should take off his shoe, but he who was to be the bridegroom should be shod. “And it came to pass, when Joshua was at Jericho, he looked around with his eyes and saw a man standing before his face with a sword fixed in his hand, and he said: Are you ours or our adversaries'? And he said: I am the captain of the host of the Lord; now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the ground and said to him: Lord, what do you command your servant? And the captain of the host of the Lord said: Loose the shoe from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.” Likewise in Exodus Moses is commanded to take off his shoe, because he too was not the bridegroom: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the bush; and he saw that the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said: I will go across and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed. And when the Lord God saw that he was coming near to see, he called him from the bush, saying: Moses, Moses. And he said: What is it? And he said: Do not come near here unless you loose the shoe from your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy ground. And he said to him: I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And this is made plain in the Gospel according to John: “And John answered them: I indeed baptize in water; but in your midst stands one whom you do not know; for he is the one of whom I said, A man coming after me has been made before me, the strap of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.” Likewise according to Luke: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and you like men waiting for their master, when he comes from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him. Blessed are the servants whom the master finds watching when he comes.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “The Lord God almighty has reigned; let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself.”

That the Jews would fix him to the cross.

In Isaiah: “I have stretched out my hands all the day to a stubborn people who speak against me, who walk in ways that are not good but after their sins.” Likewise in Jeremiah: “Come, let us put wood into his bread and root out his life from the earth.” Likewise in Deuteronomy: “And your life will hang before your eyes, and you will fear day and night and will not believe in your life.” Likewise in Psalm 21: “They have dug my hands and feet; they have numbered all my bones. And they considered and looked upon me; they divided my garments among them, and upon my clothing they cast lots. But you, Lord, do not remove your help far from me; look to my defense. Rescue my soul from the sword, and my only one from the hand of the dog. Deliver me from the mouth of the lion, and my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the midst of the church I will praise you.” Likewise in Psalm 118: “Pierce my flesh with nails from fear of you.” Likewise in Psalm 140: “The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice.” Of this sacrifice Zephaniah said: “Fear before the face of the Lord God, for his day is near; for the Lord has prepared his sacrifice, he has sanctified his called ones.” Likewise in Zechariah: “And they will look on me, whom they pierced.” Likewise in Psalm 87: “And I have cried to you, Lord my God, all the day; I have stretched out my hands to you.” Likewise in Numbers: “God is not hung up like a man, nor does he suffer threats like a son of man.” Hence in the Gospel the Lord says: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

That in the passion and sign of the cross is all strength and power.

In Habakkuk: “His power has covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise; and his brightness will be like the light; horns will be in his hands. And there the power of his glory has been established, and he will establish a strong love. Before his face the Word will go and will go forth into the plain according to his steps.” Likewise in Isaiah: “Behold, to you a child is born, to us a son is given, whose government is upon his shoulders; and his name has been called Messenger of great counsel.” By this sign of the cross Amalek too was conquered by Joshua through Moses. Likewise in Exodus Moses said to Joshua: “Choose for yourself men and go out and join battle with Amalek tomorrow. And behold, I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. And it came to pass, when Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he had let his hands down, Amalek grew strong. But the hands of Moses were heavy; and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur held up his hands on this side and that; and the hands of Moses became steady until the setting of the sun. And Joshua put Amalek and all his people to flight. And the Lord said to Moses: Write this, that it may be a memorial in a book, and speak it into the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

That in this sign of the cross is salvation for all who are marked on their foreheads.

In Ezekiel God says: “Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the men who groan and grieve over the iniquities that are done in their midst.” Likewise there: “Go and strike, and let your eyes not spare. Have no pity on old men or young; kill virgins and little ones and women, that they may be utterly destroyed. But do not touch anyone on whom the sign is written; and begin with my own holy ones.” Likewise in Exodus God says to Moses: “And the blood shall be for a sign to you upon the houses in which you are; and I will see the blood and protect you, and the plague of destruction will not be upon you when I strike the land of Egypt.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I looked, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.” Likewise there: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Happy are those who do his commandments, that they may have power over the tree of life.”

That at midday in his passion there would be darkness.

In Amos: “And it will be on that day, says the Lord, the sun will set at noon and the day of light will be darkened; and I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.” Likewise in Jeremiah: “She who bears is terrified and her soul is weary; the sun has gone down for her while it was still midday; she is confounded and cursed. The rest of them I will give to the sword in the sight of their enemies.” Likewise in the Gospel: “And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.”

That he would not be conquered by death nor remain in the underworld.

In Psalm 15: “For you will not abandon my soul to the underworld, nor let your holy one see corruption.” Likewise in Psalm 29: “Lord, you have brought my soul up from the underworld.” Likewise in Psalm 3: “I slept and rested and rose up, for the Lord will sustain me.” Likewise in the Gospel according to John: “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again; for this command I received from my Father.”

That he would rise from the underworld on the third day.

In Hosea: “He will make us alive after two days, on the third day.” Likewise in Exodus: “And the Lord said to Moses: Go down and testify to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the day after tomorrow. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai.” Likewise in the Gospel: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

That when he had risen he would receive all power from the Father, and that his power is eternal.

In Daniel: “I saw in a vision by night, and behold, on the clouds of heaven one like a son of man came, coming up to the Ancient of Days, and he stood in his sight, and those who stood by him brought him near. And royal power was given to him, and all the kings of the earth by their kind, and all glory serving him; and his power is eternal, which will not be taken away, and his kingdom will not be destroyed.” Likewise in Isaiah: “Now I will arise, says the Lord; now I will be glorified; now I will be exalted. Now you will see, now you will understand, now you will be confounded; the strength of your spirit will be vain; fire will consume you.” Likewise in Psalm 109: “The Lord says to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. The Lord will send forth the rod of your power from Zion, and you will rule in the midst of your enemies.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me; and I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a long robe and girded above the breasts with a golden belt. His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like brass as from a fiery furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face shone like the sun in its strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead; and he laid his right hand on me, saying: Do not fear; I am the first and the last and the living one; I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of the underworld.” Likewise in the Gospel the Lord says after the resurrection: “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

That one cannot come to God the Father except through his Son Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Likewise there: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved.” Likewise there: “Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.” Likewise there: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who is not obedient to the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain upon him.” Likewise the apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “And when he came, he proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” Likewise to the Romans: “For all have sinned and lack the glory of God, but they are justified by his gift and grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Likewise in his letter the apostle Peter: “Christ died once for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” Likewise there: “For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that they might be raised.” Likewise in his letter the apostle John: “He who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has both the Son and the Father.”

That he himself will come as Judge.

In Malachi: “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, burning like an oven; and all the foreigners and all the wicked will be stubble, and the coming day will set them on fire, says the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 49: “The God of gods, the Lord, has spoken and has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting; from Zion is the beauty of his comeliness. God will come openly, our God, and will not keep silent. Fire will burn before him, and round about him a mighty tempest. He called the heaven above and the earth, to judge his people. Gather to him his righteous ones, who set his covenant above sacrifices; and the heavens will declare his righteousness, for God is judge.” Likewise in Isaiah: “The Lord God of hosts will go forth and will crush war; he will stir up the contest and will shout against his enemies with strength. I have kept silent; shall I always keep silent?” Likewise in Psalm 67: “Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered, and let those who hate him flee from his face. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish before the face of God; and let the righteous feast and exult in the sight of God and delight in gladness. Sing to the Lord, sing a psalm to his name, make a way for him who ascends toward the west; the Lord is his name. They will be troubled before the face of him who is the father of orphans and judge of widows. God is in his holy place, God who makes those of one mind dwell in a house, who leads out the bound in strength, likewise those who provoke him to anger, who dwell in tombs. O God, when you went forth before your people, when you passed through the desert.” Likewise in Psalm 81: “Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you will destroy among all the nations.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: “What have we to do with you, Son of God? Why have you come here before the time to destroy us?” Likewise according to John: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Likewise the apostle Paul in the second to the Corinthians: “We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what belongs to his body according to what he has done, whether good or evil.”

That he is the King who will reign for ever.

In Zechariah: “Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you, righteous and saving, gentle, sitting on an unbroken donkey.” Likewise in Isaiah: “Who will announce to you that eternal place? He who walks in righteousness and keeps his hands from bribes, who stops his ears so as not to hear the judgment of blood and shuts his eyes so as not to see injustice: he will dwell in a high cave of strong rock; bread will be given him, and his water will be sure. You will see the king with glory.” Likewise in Malachi: “I am a great king, says the Lord, and my name is illustrious among the nations.” Likewise in the second Psalm: “But I have been set as king by him upon Zion, his holy mountain, proclaiming the decree of the Lord.” Likewise in Psalm 21: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before him; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he will rule over the nations.” Likewise in Psalm 23: “Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.” Likewise in Psalm 44: “My heart has poured forth a good word; I speak my works to the king. My tongue is the pen of a swift scribe. You are fairer in form than the sons of men; grace is poured on your lips; therefore God has blessed you for ever. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty, in your comeliness and beauty; and set forth and proceed prosperously and reign, for the sake of truth and gentleness and righteousness.” Likewise in Psalm 5: “My King and my God, for to you I will pray, Lord; in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I will stand before you and will see.” Likewise in Psalm 96: “The Lord has reigned; let the earth exult; let the many islands be glad.” Likewise in Psalm 44: “The queen stood at your right hand in gilded clothing, arrayed in many colors. Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house; for the king has desired your beauty, for he is the Lord your God.” Likewise in Psalm 73: “But God is our King before the ages; he has worked salvation in the midst of the earth.” Likewise in the Gospel according to Matthew: “And when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi came from the east to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Likewise according to John Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate said: So you are a king? Jesus answered: You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

That he is both Judge and King.

Likewise in Psalm 71: “O God, give your judgment to the king and your righteousness to the king's son, to judge your people in your righteousness.” Likewise in the Apocalypse: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True; he judges fairly and justly and makes war. And his eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and he bore a name written that no one knew but himself; and he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in pure white linen; and from his mouth came a sharp sword, that with it he might strike the nations, whom he will shepherd with a rod of iron; and he will tread the winepress of the wine of the wrath of God almighty. He has also on his garment and on his thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.” Likewise in the Gospel: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all nations will be gathered before him; and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will set the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand: Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them: Truly I say to you, as long as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those at his left: Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty and you did not give me drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison and you did not come to me. Then they too will answer, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not serve you? And he will answer them: Truly I say to you, as long as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. And these will go into eternal fire, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Cyprian to his son Quirinus, greeting. In keeping with the faith and devotion that you show toward the Lord God, dearest son, you asked me to excerpt for your instruction from the holy Scriptures certain headings bearing on the religious discipline of our school. You were looking for a concise course of divine reading, so that a mind devoted to God might not be wearied by long or numerous volumes of books, but, instructed by a summary of heavenly precepts, might have a wholesome and ample compendium to support its memory. And because I owe you a service full of love, I have done what you asked, laboring once so that you would not have to labor always. So, as far as our modest ability could take in, I have collected certain commands of the Lord and divine teachings that may be both easy and useful to readers, since a few things arranged in a summary are both read through quickly and repeated often. I pray, dearest son, that you may always fare well.

On the good of works and of mercy. In Isaiah: “Cry out with strength and do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their sins, and to the house of Jacob their crimes. They seek me day by day and long to know my ways, like a people that had done righteousness and had not forsaken the judgment of God. They now ask of me a just judgment and long to draw near to God, saying: ‘Why is it that we fasted and you did not see, that we humbled our souls and you did not take notice?’ For in the days of your fasting your own wills are found. For either you goad those who are subject to you, or you fast for lawsuits and quarrels, or you strike your neighbors with your fists. Why do you fast to me, so that today your voice may be heard in clamor? This is not the fast that I have chosen, nor a day for a man to humble his soul. Even if you twist your neck like a hoop and spread sackcloth and ashes beneath you, not even so will you call it an acceptable fast. Not such a fast have I chosen, says the Lord; but loose every knot of injustice, undo the strangling bonds of oppressive dealings, send the broken away into rest, and tear up every unjust contract. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see someone naked, clothe him, and you shall not despise those of your own seed. Then your early light shall break forth, and your garments shall quickly spring up; and righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you. Then you shall cry out, and God shall hear you; while you are still speaking, he will say: ‘Here I am.’” Also in Job: “I kept the needy from the hand of the mighty, and I helped the orphan who had no helper. The mouth of the widow blessed me, since I was eye to the blind; I was also foot to the lame, and father of the weak.” Also in Tobit: “And I said to Tobias my son: ‘Go and bring whatever poor man you find among our brothers, provided he keeps God in mind with his whole heart. Bring him, and he shall share this meal of mine with me. See, I am waiting for you, son, until you come.’” Also there: “All the days of your life, son, keep God in mind, and do not transgress his commandments. Do righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk in the way of iniquity; for if you act in truth, there will be regard for your works. Give alms from your substance, and do not turn your face away from any poor man; so it will come about that the face of God is not turned away from you. As you have, son, so do: if your substance is abundant, give more alms from it; if you have little, share out of that very little. And do not be afraid when you give alms: you are laying up a good reward for yourself against the day of need, for almsgiving delivers from death and does not allow one to go into darkness. Almsgiving is a good gift for all who practise it in the sight of the most high God.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “He who has mercy on the poor lends to God.” Also there: “He who gives to the poor will not be in want; but he who turns away his eye will be in great poverty.” Also there: “By almsgiving and faith sins are purged.” Also there: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by doing this you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Also there: “As water quenches fire, so almsgiving quenches sin.” Also in Proverbs: “[Do not say:] ‘Go and come back; tomorrow I will give,’ when you could do good at once. For you do not know what will happen the next day.” Also there: “He who stops his ear so as not to hear the weak will himself call upon God, and there will be no one to hear him.” Also there: “He who lives blamelessly in righteousness will leave blessed children.” Also in Ecclesiasticus: “Son, if you have, do good with it, and you will offer offerings worthy of God; remember that death does not delay.” Also there: “Shut up alms in the heart of the poor, and it will plead for you against every evil.” Also in Psalm 36 [37], that mercy benefits even one's descendants: “I have been young and have grown old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All day long he is merciful and lends, and his seed will be in blessing.” Also in Psalm 40 [41]: “Blessed is he who considers the needy and the poor; in the evil day the Lord will deliver him.” Also in Psalm 111 [112]: “He has scattered, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever and ever.” Also in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Also there: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Also there: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not dig through. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Also there: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; when he has found a precious pearl, he goes and sells all that he had and buys it.” That even a small work is of benefit. Also there: “And whoever gives one of these least a cup of cold water to drink only in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, his reward will not perish.” That alms are to be refused to no one. Also there: “Give to everyone who asks you, and do not turn away from him who wishes to borrow from you.” Also there: “‘If you wish to come into life, keep the commandments.’ He says: ‘Which?’ Jesus said to him: ‘You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not bear false witness; honor father and mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man says to him: ‘All these I have kept; what do I still lack?’ Jesus says to him: ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your goods and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’” Also there: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory, and all the nations will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand: ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom that has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you covered me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ And the King will answer and say to them: ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of these least of my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those on the left: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you did not give me to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not come to me.’ Then they too will answer, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ And he will answer them: ‘Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.’ And these will go into eternal burning, but the righteous into eternal life.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “Sell what you possess and give alms.” Also there: “He who made what is inside also made what is outside. But give alms, and see, all things are clean for you.” Also there: “‘See, I give half of my substance to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ And Jesus said: ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he too is a son of Abraham.’” Also the apostle Paul in Second Corinthians: “Let your abundance supply their want, so that their abundance may also be a supply for your want, and there may be equality, as it is written: He who had much did not have too much, and he who had little did not lack.” Also there: “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows in blessing will also reap of blessing. But let each give as he has purposed in his heart, not as from sorrow or from necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Also there: “As it is written: He has scattered, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever.” Also there: “He who supplies seed to the sower will both supply bread for eating and multiply your sowing and increase the growth of the fruits of your righteousness, so that you may be enriched in all things.” Also there: “The ministration of this service will not only supply what the saints lack but will overflow through much thanksgiving to God.” Also in the Epistle of John: “Whoever has this world's substance and sees his brother in need and shuts up his compassion from him, how does the love of God remain in him?” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “When you give a lunch or a supper, do not invite your friends or brothers or neighbors or the rich, lest they too invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a lunch or a supper, invite beggars, the crippled, the blind, the lame, and you will be blessed, because they have nothing with which to repay you; but you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

That in works and almsgiving, even if less is done because of slender means, the will itself is enough. In Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “If the will is ready, it is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what one does not have; nor is it meant that others should have relief and you distress.”

That love and brotherly affection are to be practised devoutly and steadfastly. In Malachi: “Did not one God create us? Is there not one Father of us all? Why then has each of you forsaken his brother?” Also in the Gospel according to John: “My peace I give you, my peace I leave you.” Also there: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love than this no one has, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Also there: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Also there: “I say to you that if two of you agree on earth, whatever you ask concerning anything will be done for you by my Father who is in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them.” Also in First Corinthians: “And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to fleshly people, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able, and even now you are not able, for you are still fleshly. For where there is jealousy and strife and dissension among you, are you not fleshly and walking according to man?” Also there: “And if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And if I distribute all I have in food, and if I hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is great-souled, love is kind, love is not jealous, love does not act wrongly, is not puffed up, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice over injustice, but rejoices with the truth. It loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, bears all things. Love never fails.” Also to the Galatians: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and accuse one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” Also in the Epistle of John: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: everyone who is not righteous is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” Also there: “He who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has life abiding in him.” Also there: “If anyone says that he loves God and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he does not see.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “And the multitude of those who had believed acted with one soul and mind, and there was no distinction among them, nor did they regard anything of the goods they had as their own, but all things were common to them.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “If you offer your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift at the altar.” Also the apostle John: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Also there: “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now.”

That we are to boast in nothing, since nothing is our own. In the Gospel according to John: “No one can receive anything unless it has been given him from heaven.” Also in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: “For what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Also in the first book of Kingdoms: “Do not boast or speak lofty things, and let no arrogant talk come out of your mouth, for God is the Lord of knowledge.” Also there: “The bow of the mighty has been made weak, and the feeble have been girded with strength.” Also in Maccabees: “It is right to be subject to God, and for a mortal not to think himself equal to God.” Also there: “And do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his glory will become dung and worms. Today he will be exalted, and tomorrow he will not be found, because he has returned to his earth, and his thought will perish.”

That humility and quietness are to be kept in all things. In Isaiah the Lord God says thus: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet. What house will you build for me, or what is the place of my rest? For my hand made all these things, and all these things are mine. And upon whom shall I look, but upon the humble and quiet man who trembles at my words?” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Also according to Luke: “He who is least among you all, he will be great.” Also there: “He who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Also to the Romans: “Do not be high-minded, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you either.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “And he will save the humble in spirit.” Also to the Romans: “Render to all what is due: tribute to whom tribute, tax to whom tax, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “They love the first place at dinners and the first seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplace, and to be called Rabbi by men. But you, do not be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “A servant is not greater than his master, nor an apostle greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed will you be if you do them.” Also in Psalm 81 [82]: “Do justice to the humble and the poor.”

That all the good and righteous labor more, but must endure, because they are being tested. In Solomon: “The furnace tests the potter's vessels, and the trial of tribulation tests righteous men.” Also in Psalm 50 [51]: “A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not despise.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “The Lord is near to all who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit.” Also there: “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them from them all.” Also in Job: “Naked I came out of my mother's womb, naked also I shall go into the earth. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all these things that befell him Job did not sin with his lips in the sight of the Lord. Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Also according to John: “These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace; but in the world you will have distress. But take courage, for I have overcome the world.” Also the apostle in Second Corinthians: “There was given me a goad in my flesh, an angel of Satan to buffet me, so that I might not be exalted. For this reason I asked the Lord three times that it might depart from me, and he said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is made perfect in weakness.” Also to the Romans: “We boast in the hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we also boast in distresses, knowing that distress produces endurance, and endurance proof, and proof hope; and hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “How wide and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who go in by it! How narrow and strait is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it!” Also in Tobit: “Where are your righteous deeds? See what you are suffering.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “In the places of the ungodly the righteous groan, but at their destruction the righteous will abound.”

That the Holy Spirit whom we have received is not to be grieved. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamor and blasphemy be taken away from you.”

That anger must be overcome, lest it drive us to sin. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “A patient man is better than a strong one; for he who restrains his anger is better than he who takes a city.” Also there: “The foolish man shows his anger the same day, but the shrewd man hides the insult done to him.” Also the apostle to the Ephesians: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun set upon your anger.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “You have heard that it was said to those of old: You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be liable to judgment.”

That brothers ought to bear with one another. The apostle Paul to the Galatians: “Considering yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

That we are to trust in God alone and boast in him. In Jeremiah: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man boast in his strength, nor the rich man boast in his riches; but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows that I am the Lord, who practise mercy and judgment and righteousness on the earth; for in these things is my will, says the Lord.” Also in Psalm 55 [56]: “In the Lord I will hope; I will not fear what man may do to me.” Also in Psalm 61 [62]: “My soul is subject to none but God alone.” Also in Psalm 117 [118]: “I will not fear what man may do to me; the Lord is my helper.” Also there: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in man; it is better to hope in the Lord than to hope in princes.” Also in Daniel: “And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to King Nebuchadnezzar: O king, we have no need to answer you in this matter. For there is a God whom we serve, able to rescue us from the furnace of burning fire, and he will deliver us from your hands, O king. And if not, let it be known to you that we do not serve your gods, and we do not worship the golden image that you have set up.” Also in Jeremiah: “Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man; and blessed is the man who trusts in God, and the Lord will be his hope.” Also in Deuteronomy: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Also the apostle to the Romans: “And they worshipped and served the creature, forsaking the Creator. Therefore God also handed them over to shameful passions.” Also in John: “Greater is he who is in you than he who is in this world.”

That he who has attained faith, having put off the former man, ought to think only of heavenly and spiritual things and pay no heed to the world, which he has already renounced. In Isaiah: “Seek the Lord, and you will soon find him; call upon him. And when he has drawn near to you, let the ungodly man forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn to the Lord, and he will obtain mercy, for he will forgive your sins abundantly.” Also in Solomon: “I saw all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity.” Also in Exodus: “And thus you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's passover.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Do not be anxious, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the nations seek these things. For your Father knows that you need all these things. Seek first the kingdom and righteousness of God, and all these things will be added to you.” Also there: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Also there: “No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Also there: “Look at the birds of the sky: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they?” Also according to Luke: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning, and be like men waiting for their master, when he comes from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks you may open to him. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds watching when he comes.” Also according to Matthew: “Foxes have dens and the birds of the sky have lodgings, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Also there: “He who does not renounce all that is his cannot be my disciple.” Also the apostle in First Corinthians: “You are not your own, for you were bought with a great price. Glorify God and carry him in your body.” Also there: “The time is short. It remains, then, that those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who weep as though not weeping, and those who rejoice as though not rejoicing, and those who buy as though not possessing, and those who use this world as though not using it; for the form of this world is passing away.” Also there: “The first man was from the slime of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the one from the slime, so are those who are from the slime; and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly. As we have borne the image of him who is from the slime, let us also bear the image of him who is from heaven.” Also to the Philippians: “All seek their own, and not the things of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness, conformed to the body of his glory.” Also to the Galatians: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me and I to the world.” Also to Timothy: “No one serving as a soldier to God entangles himself in worldly business, so that he may please him who approved him. And if anyone competes, he will not be crowned unless he has fought lawfully.” Also to the Colossians: “If you have died with Christ from the elements of this world, why, as if living in this world, do you pursue vain things?” Also on this very point: “If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear in glory.” Also to the Ephesians: “Put off, as regards your former way of life, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who has been created according to God in righteousness and holiness and truth.” On this very point, in the Epistle of Peter: “As strangers and sojourners, abstain from fleshly desires, which war against the soul, keeping your conduct good among the gentiles, so that, while they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and magnify the Lord.” Also in the Epistle of John: “He who says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk as he walked.” Also there: “Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world is the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the ambition of the world, which is not from the Father but from the desire of the world. And the world will pass away, and its desire; but he who does the will of God abides for ever, even as he abides for ever.” Also the apostle in First Corinthians: “Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened. For Christ our passover has also been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

That we are not to swear. In Solomon: “A man who swears much will be filled with iniquity, and the scourge will not depart from his house; and if he swears in vain, he will not be justified.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “I say to you, do not swear at all. But let your word be: yes, yes; no, no.” Also in Exodus: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

That we are not to curse. In Exodus: “You shall not curse, nor shall you speak ill of the ruler of your people.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “Who is the man who desires life and longs to see good days? Restrain your tongue from evil, and let your lips not speak deceit.” Also in Leviticus: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Bring out the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation of the children of Israel stone him.” Also the apostle to the Ephesians: “Let no evil word proceed from your mouth, but whatever is good, for the building up of faith, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Also to the Romans: “Bless, and do not curse.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool,’ will be liable to the gehenna of fire.” Also according to Luke: “But I say to you that for every idle word that men speak they will give account on the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

That we are never to grumble, but to bless God for everything that happens. In Job: “‘Say some word against the Lord, and die.’ But he looked at her and said: ‘You have spoken like one of the foolish women. If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things?’ In all these things that befell him Job did not sin with his lips in the sight of the Lord.” Also there: “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth: a man without complaint, a true worshipper of God, keeping himself from all evil.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be in my mouth.” Also in Numbers: “Let their murmuring against me cease, and they shall not die.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “And about midnight Paul and Silas, praying, gave thanks to God; and the prisoners heard them.” Also the apostle Paul to the Philippians: “But do all things out of love, without murmurings and disputings, so that you may be without complaint and spotless children of God.”

That men are tempted by God for this purpose, that they may be proved. In Genesis: “And God tempted Abraham and said to him: Take your son, that only son of yours whom you have loved, Isaac, and go into the high land, and you shall offer him as a sacrifice on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Also in Deuteronomy: “The Lord your God tempts you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality; and having been troubled in a few things, they will be well rewarded in many, for God tested them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he proved them, and as a whole burnt offering he accepted them. And in their time there will be regard for them; they will judge nations and rule over peoples, and their Lord will reign for ever.” Also in Maccabees: “Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness?”

On the good of martyrdom. In the Wisdom of Solomon: “A faithful martyr delivers the soul from evils.” Also there: “Then the righteous will stand in great boldness against those who afflicted them and who plundered their labors. Seeing them, they will be troubled with terrible fear and will be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation, saying among themselves, repenting and groaning in anguish of spirit: These are the ones whom we once held in derision and as a byword of reproach. We fools considered their life madness and their end without honor. How are they now numbered among the sons of God, and their lot is among the saints? So we strayed from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness did not shine on us, and the sun did not rise for us. We grew weary in the way of iniquity and destruction, and we walked through trackless deserts, but the way of the Lord we did not know. What did pride profit us, or what has the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow.” Also in Psalm 115 [116]: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Also in Psalm 125 [126]: “Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. Going, they went and wept, sowing their seeds; but coming, they will come with exultation, carrying their sheaves.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Also there: “The hour will come when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God. But they will do this because they have not known the Father or me.” Also according to Matthew: “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Also there: “But when they hand you over, do not be anxious what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” Also there: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can kill both soul and body in gehenna.” Also there: “Whoever confesses me before men, I too will confess him before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I too will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. But he who endures to the end, he will be saved.” Also according to Luke: “Blessed will you be when men hate you and separate you and cast you out and curse your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and exult, for see, your reward is great in heaven.” Also there: “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive sevenfold in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” Also in the Apocalypse: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for their witness; and they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And a white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers should be completed, who would afterwards be slain after their example.” Also there: “After this I saw a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation and every tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and the Lamb; and they were clothed in white robes, and there were palms in their hands, and they said with a loud cry: Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb. And one of the elders answered, saying to me: Those who are clothed in white robes, who are they, and where have they come from? And I said to him: Lord, you know. And he said to me: These are they who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will dwell over them. They will neither hunger nor thirst any more, nor will the sun fall on them, nor will they suffer any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shelter them and lead them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Also there: “He who conquers, I will grant him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of my God.” Also there: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Happy are those who will keep watch and keep their garments, lest they walk naked and men see their shame. Also the apostle in Second Timothy: “I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. There now remains for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will render to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all who love his appearing.” Also to the Romans: “We are children of God; and if children, heirs also, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” Also in Psalm 118 [119]: “Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are those who search out his testimonies.”

That what we suffer in this world is less than the reward that has been promised. The apostle Paul to the Romans: “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come that will be revealed in us.”

That nothing is to be put before the love of God and of Christ. In Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “He who loves father or mother above me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter above me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not my disciple.” Also the apostle Paul to the Romans: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Distress, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are put to death all the day long; we are counted as sheep for slaughter. But in all these things we more than conquer through him who loved us.”

That we must obey not our own will but God's. In the Gospel according to John: “I did not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” Also according to Matthew: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I will, but what you will.” Also in the daily prayer: “Your will be done in heaven and on earth.” Also according to Matthew: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Also according to Luke: “But that servant who knows his master's will and does not obey his will shall be beaten with many stripes.” Also in the Epistle of John: “But he who does the will of God abides for ever, even as he abides for ever.”

That fear is the foundation and support of hope and faith. In Psalm 110 [111]: “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “The beginning of wisdom is to fear God.” Also in Proverbs: “Blessed is the man who reveres all things with fear.” Also in Isaiah: “And upon whom else shall I look, but upon the humble and quiet man who trembles at my words?” Also in Genesis: “And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: Here I am. And he said: Do not lay your hand on the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear your God, and you have not spared your most beloved son for my sake.” Also in the second Psalm: “Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling.” Also in Psalm 33 [34]: “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.” Also in Psalm 18 [19]: “The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring for ever and ever.”

That we are not to judge another rashly. In the Gospel according to Luke: “Do not judge, lest you be judged; do not condemn, lest you be condemned.” Also to the Romans: “Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. But he will stand, for God is able to make him stand again.” Also there: “Therefore you are without excuse, O man; for in judging another you condemn yourself, since you who judge do the same things. And do you who judge those who do such things, and do the same yourself, hope that you will escape the judgment of God?” Also in First Corinthians: “And let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” Also there: “If anyone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.”

That when an injury has been received it is to be forgiven and pardoned. In the Gospel, in the daily prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Also in the Gospel according to Mark: “And when you stand to pray, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive you your sins.” Also there: “With the measure with which you measure, it will be measured back to you.”

That evil is not to be repaid for evil. In the Epistle of the apostle Paul to the Romans: “Repaying no one evil for evil.” Also there: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Also in the Apocalypse: “And he said to me: Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is now near. And let those who persist in doing harm do harm, and let him who is filthy be filthy still; but let the righteous do more righteous things still, and likewise the holy more holy things. See, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me, to render to each according to his deeds.”

That no one can come to the Father except through Christ. In the Gospel according to John: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” Also there: “I am the door; if anyone enters through me, he will be saved.”

That no one can attain to the kingdom of God unless he has been baptized and born again. In the Gospel according to John: “Unless one is born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. For what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Also there: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.”

That it is of little profit to be baptized and to receive the Eucharist unless one advances in deeds and works. In the Epistle of the apostle Paul to the First Corinthians: “Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but only one receives the crown? So run that you may all obtain it. And they do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Also there: “Many will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will say to them: I do not know you; depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” Also there: “Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Also the apostle Paul to the Philippians: “Shine as lights in the world.”

That even one who has been baptized loses the grace he has obtained unless he keeps his innocence. In the Gospel according to John: “See, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.” Also the apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone violates the temple of God, God will violate him.” Also in Chronicles: “God is with you while you are with him; if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”

That one who has sinned against God cannot be forgiven in the church. In the Gospel according to Matthew: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” Also according to Mark: “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and blasphemies; but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness, but will be guilty of an eternal sin.” Also in the first book of Kingdoms: “If a man sins by offending against a man, they will pray to the Lord for him; but if a man sins against God, who will pray for him?”

On hatred of the Name, foretold beforehand. In the Gospel according to Luke: “And you will be hated by all for my name's sake.” Also according to John: “If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. If you were of the world, the world would love what is its own; but because you are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

That what anyone has vowed to God is to be paid quickly. In Solomon: “When you vow a vow to God, do not delay to pay it.” Also in Deuteronomy: “But if you vow a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be slow to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it will be sin. You shall keep what goes out through your lips, and you shall perform the gift that you have spoken with your mouth.” Also in Psalm 49 [50]: “Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of your trouble, and I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “Has Satan filled your heart, that you should lie to the Holy Spirit, when the field was in your own power? You have not lied to men but to God.” Also in Jeremiah: “Cursed is he who does the works of God negligently.”

That he who does not believe is already judged. In the Gospel according to John: “He who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.” Also in Psalm 1: “Therefore the ungodly do not rise again in the judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous.”

On the good of virginity and continence. In Genesis: “I will greatly multiply your sorrows and your groanings; in sorrow you shall bear children, and your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Not all receive this saying, but those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who were born so from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made so by men, and there are eunuchs who have castrated themselves for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Let him who is able to receive it receive it.” Also according to Luke: “The sons of this world beget and are begotten. But those who have been counted worthy of that world and of the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they will not begin to die, for they are equal to the angels of God, since they are sons of the resurrection. And that the dead rise, Moses indicates, when he says at the bush: the Lord, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to him.” Also in the Epistle of the apostle Paul to the First Corinthians: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman. But because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to the wife her due, and likewise the wife to the husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, so that you may be free for prayer; and come together again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command. For I wish all men to be as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one of this kind, another of that.” Also there: “The unmarried man thinks about the things of the Lord, how he may please God; but he who has been joined in marriage thinks about the things of this world, how he may please his wife. So too the woman and the unmarried virgin think about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she who has married thinks about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” Also in Exodus, when God had commanded Moses to sanctify the people for the third day, he sanctified them and added: “Be ready for three days; you shall not go near women.” Also in the first book of Kingdoms: “And the priest answered David and said: There are no common loaves in my hand, only one holy loaf; if the young men have kept themselves from women, they shall eat.” Also in the Apocalypse: “These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they have remained virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.”

That the Father judges nothing, but the Son; and that the Father is not honored by one by whom the Son is not honored. In the Gospel according to John: “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” Also in Genesis: “And the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from heaven, from the Lord.” Also in Psalm 71 [72]: “O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the king's son, to judge your people in your righteousness.”

That a believer ought not to live like the heathen. In Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord: Do not walk according to the ways of the nations.” On this very point, that one ought to separate himself from the heathen so as not to be a partner in their guilt and a sharer in their plague, also in the Apocalypse: “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins and may not be struck by her plagues; for her sins have reached up to heaven, and the Lord God has remembered her iniquities. Therefore he will repay her double, and in the cup in which she mixed, double has been mixed for her; and as much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much torment and mourning will be given her. Because she says in her heart: I am a queen, and I am not a widow, and I shall not see mourning; therefore in one hour her plagues will come, death, mourning, and famine, and she will be burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who will judge her. And the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and lived in luxury will weep and beat their breasts over her.” Also in Isaiah: “Go out from their midst, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.”

That God is patient for this purpose, that we may repent of our sin and be reformed. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not say: I have sinned, and what harm has befallen me? For the Most High is a patient repayer.” Also the apostle to the Romans: “Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But by your hardness and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works.”

That a woman ought not to be adorned in worldly fashion. In the Apocalypse: “And one of the seven angels who had the bowls came and approached me, saying: Come, I will show you the condemnation of the great harlot who sits upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. And I saw a woman sitting upon a beast. And that woman was clothed in a purple and scarlet mantle, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and uncleanness and the fornication of the whole earth.” Also to Timothy: “Let your women be with modesty and chastity, adorning themselves not with braided hair nor with gold nor pearls or costly clothing, but as befits women who profess chastity, by good conduct.” Also the apostle Peter to the people of Pontus: “Let there be in a woman not the outward adornment of ornament or gold or clothing, but the adornment of the heart.” Also in Genesis: “Tamar covered herself with a mantle and adorned herself, and when Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot.”

That a believer ought not to be punished for other offenses, but only for the Name. The apostle Peter to the people of Pontus: “Let none of you suffer as a thief or a murderer or as an evildoer or as one who meddles in others' affairs, but as a Christian.”

That the servant of God ought to be innocent, lest he fall into punishment by the world. The apostle Paul to the Romans: “Do you wish not to fear the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from it.”

That an example of living has been given us in Christ. In the Epistle of the apostle Peter to the people of Pontus: “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps; who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return; when he suffered, did not threaten, but handed himself over to one who judged unjustly.” Also the apostle Paul to the Philippians: “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of man and found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God exalted him and gave him a name, that it might be above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things 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.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “If I, your master and lord, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash the feet of others; for I have given you an example, that as I have done, you also should do to others.”

That good works are to be done without boasting or display. In the Gospel according to Matthew: “Let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” Also there: “When you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the streets and synagogues, that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.”

That we are not to speak foolishly or coarsely. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Foolish talk and coarse jesting, which are not fitting, let them not even be named among us.”

That faith is of total benefit, and that we can do as much as we believe. In Genesis: “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” Also in Isaiah: “And if you do not believe, neither will you understand.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Also there: “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Also according to Mark: “Whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be yours.” Also there: “All things are possible to him who believes.” Also in Habakkuk: “But the righteous lives by my faith.” Also in Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, believing, were delivered from the flame.

That he who truly believes can obtain it at once. In the Acts of the Apostles: “‘See, here is water; what prevents me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said: ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’”

That believers who have a dispute among themselves ought not to go to a heathen judge. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Does any of you, having a matter against another, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” Also there: “Already it is altogether a fault among you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why do you not rather suffer wrong? Why do you not rather suffer fraud? But you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that to brothers. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not obtain the kingdom of God?”

That hope is of things to come, and that faith concerning what has been promised must therefore be patient. The apostle Paul to the Romans: “We have been saved in hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what one sees, why does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

That a woman ought to be silent in the church. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Let your women be silent in the churches. But if any wish to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home.” Also to Timothy: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. But a woman is not permitted to teach or to have authority over her husband. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived.”

That it comes about through our own fault and desert that we are afflicted and do not feel God's help in all things. In Hosea: “Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel; for the Lord has a judgment against the inhabitants of the land, because there is neither mercy nor truth nor knowledge of God in the land. Cursing and lying and murder and theft and adultery have spread over the land; they mingle blood with blood. Therefore the land will mourn with all its inhabitants, with the beasts of the field, with the serpents of the earth, with the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea will fail, so that no one judges, no one refutes.” Also in the prophet Isaiah: “Is the hand of the Lord not strong enough to save, or will he make his ear heavy so that he does not hear? But your sins separate between you and God, and because of your sins he has turned his face from you, so as not to have mercy. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with sins; and your lips have spoken wickedness, and your tongue meditates injustice. No one speaks truth, nor is there true judgment. They trust in vain things and speak empty words; they conceive pain and bring forth wickedness.” Also in Zephaniah: “Let it utterly fail from the face of the earth, says the Lord. Let man and beast fail, let the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea fail, and I will take away the wicked from the face of the earth.”

That we are not to lend at interest. In Psalm 14 [15]: “He who has not put out his money at interest and has not taken bribes against the innocent: he who does these things will not be moved for ever.” Also in Ezekiel: “But the man who is righteous will not oppress anyone, and will restore the debtor's pledge, and will not commit robbery; he will give his bread to the hungry and cover the naked, and he will not put out his money at interest.” Also in Deuteronomy: “You shall not lend to your brother at interest, whether interest on money or interest on food.”

That even enemies are to be loved. In the Gospel according to Luke: “If you love those who love you, what thanks is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and the evil and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”

That the sacrament of the faith is not to be profaned. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “Say nothing in the ears of a foolish man, lest when he hears he mock your sensible words.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and dash you down.”

That no one ought to be puffed up over his work. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not exalt yourself in doing your work.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “Which of you, having a servant ploughing or tending sheep, says to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Does he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and gird yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterwards you shall eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did what he was commanded? So you also, when you have done what you were commanded, say: ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we ought to have done.’”

That the freedom to believe or not to believe is placed in our own choice. In Deuteronomy: “See, I have set before your face life and death, good and evil. Choose life, that you may live.” Also in Isaiah: “And if you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you are unwilling and do not listen to me, the sword will devour you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “The kingdom of God is within you.”

That the secrets of God cannot be seen through, and that our faith ought therefore to be simple. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “We see now through a mirror, in a riddle, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I have been known.” Also in Solomon, in Wisdom: “And seek God in simplicity of heart.” Also in the same: “He who walks simply walks confidently.” Also there: “Do not be very wise, and do not argue more than you ought.” Also in the same: “Do not seek what is too high for you, and do not search into what is too strong for you.” Also in Isaiah: “Woe to those who are clever in their own eyes.” Also in Maccabees: Daniel in his simplicity was delivered from the mouth of the lions. Also the apostle Paul to the Romans: “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid him? For from him and through him and in him are all things; to him be glory for ever and ever.” Also to Timothy: “But avoid foolish and uninstructed questions, knowing that they breed quarrels; and the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all.”

That no one is without stain and without sin. In Job: “For who is clean from stains? Not one, even if his life on earth is but a single day.” Also in Psalm 50 [51]: “For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother bore me.” Also the apostle John: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

That we are to please not men but God. In Psalm 52 [53]: “Those who please men have been put to shame, because God has despised them.” Also the apostle Paul to the Galatians: “If I wished to please men, I would not be the servant of Christ.”

That nothing of what is done escapes God. In the Wisdom of Solomon: “In every place the eyes of God watch the good and the evil.” Also in Jeremiah: “I am a God near at hand, and not a God far off. If a man hides himself in a hiding place, shall I then not see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?” Also in the first book of Kingdoms: “Man looks on the face, but God on the heart.” Also in the Apocalypse: “And all the churches will know that I am he who searches the reins and the heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” Also in Psalm 18 [19]: “Who understands his faults? Cleanse me from my hidden ones, O Lord.” Also the apostle Paul in Second Corinthians: “We must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.”

That the believer is corrected and preserved. In Psalm 117 [118]: “The Lord has chastened me sorely, but he has not handed me over to death.” Also in Psalm 88 [89]: “I will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not turn away from them.” Also in Malachi: “And he will sit refining and purifying as gold and silver, and he will cleanse the sons of Levi.” Also in the Gospel: “You will not come out from there until you have paid the last farthing.”

That no one ought to be saddened by death, since in living there is toil and danger, in dying peace and the assurance of rising again. In Genesis: “Then God said to Adam: Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from that tree from which alone I had commanded you not to eat, cursed shall the ground be in all your works; in sorrow and groaning you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the grass of the field in the sweat of your face. You shall eat your bread until you return to the earth from which you were taken; for you are earth, and to earth you shall go.” Also there: “And Enoch pleased God, and he was not found afterwards, because God had taken him away.” Also in Isaiah: “All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass has withered and the flower has fallen, but the word of the Lord remains for ever.” Also in Ezekiel: “They say: Our bones have become dry, our hope has perished, we have breathed our last. Therefore prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I open your graves, and I will bring you out of your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live; and I will place you in your own land, and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and will do it, says the Lord.” Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “He was snatched away, lest wickedness change his understanding; for his soul was pleasing to God.” Also in Psalm 83 [84]: “How lovely are your dwellings, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.” Also the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians: “We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.” Also in First Corinthians: “Fool, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.” Also there: “Star differs from star in glory; so also is the resurrection. The body is sown in corruption, it rises without corruption; it is sown in dishonor, it rises in glory; it is sown in weakness, it rises in power; it is sown a natural body, it rises a spiritual one.” Also there: “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Then shall come to pass the word that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your victory?” Also in the Gospel according to John: “Father, I desire that those whom you have given me may be with me where I shall be, and see my glory which you gave me before the foundation of the world.” Also according to Luke: “Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Also according to John: “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

On the idols which the heathen think are gods. In the Wisdom of Solomon: “They considered all the idols of the nations to be gods, which have neither the sight of eyes for seeing, nor nostrils for drawing breath, nor ears for hearing, nor fingers on their hands for handling, and their feet too are sluggish for walking. For a man made them, and one who has borrowed his breath fashioned them. But no man can fashion a god like himself; for since he is mortal, he fashions a dead thing with lawless hands. He himself is better than the things he worships, for he at least has lived, but they never.” Also there: “Nor, paying heed to the works, did they recognize who the craftsman was; but they thought either fire or wind or swift air or the circle of the stars or the great water or the sun or the moon to be gods, rulers of the world. If they supposed these to be gods because of their beauty, let them know how much more beautiful than these is their Lord; or if they marvelled at their power and works, let them understand from them that he who established these mighty things is mightier than they.” Also in Psalm 134 [135]: “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands. They have a mouth and will not speak; they have eyes and will not see; they have ears and will not hear; for there is no breath in their mouth. Let all who make them become like them.” Also in Psalm 95 [96]: “For all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.” Also in Exodus: “You shall not make for yourselves gods of gold nor gods of silver.” And again: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything.”

That excessive craving for food is not to be indulged. In Isaiah: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. This sin shall not be forgiven you until you die.” Also in Exodus: “And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Also the apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Food does not commend us to God; neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we do not eat shall we lack.” Also there: “When you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment.” Also to the Romans: “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “I have food to eat that you do not know. My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”

That the craving for possessions and money is not to be indulged. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver.” Also in Proverbs: “He who hoards grain is cursed among the people; but blessing is on the head of him who shares it.” Also in Isaiah: “Woe to those who join house to house and add field to field, so as to take something from their neighbor. Will you dwell alone upon the earth?” Also in Zephaniah: “They will build houses and not live in them, and plant vineyards and not drink their wine, for the day of the Lord is near.” Also in the Gospel according to Luke: “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul?” Also there: “But God said to him: Fool, this night your soul is required of you; then whose will the things you have prepared be?” Also there: “Remember that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus evil things; now he is comforted here, and you are in torment.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “But Peter said to him: Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk. And taking him by the right hand he raised him up.” Also in First Timothy: “We brought nothing into this world, and neither can we take anything out. So having food and clothing, let us be content with these. But those who wish to become rich fall into temptation and the snare of the devil and many harmful desires, which plunge a man into ruin and destruction. For the root of all evils is covetousness, which some have craved and made shipwreck of the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows.”

That marriage is not to be contracted with the heathen. In Tobit: “Take a wife from the seed of your parents, and do not take a foreign wife who is not from the tribe of your parents.” Also in Genesis, Abraham sends his servant so that Rebecca may be taken from his own seed for his son Isaac. Also in Ezra, when the Jews were being laid waste, God was not satisfied until they had put away their foreign wives, together with the children they had begotten of them. Also the apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if he has fallen asleep, she is free: let her marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But she will be happier if she remains as she is.” Also in First Corinthians: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Or do you not know that he who joins himself to a harlot is one body? For the two shall be in one flesh. But he who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit.” Also in Second Corinthians: “Do not be joined with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” Also concerning Solomon in the third book of Kingdoms: “And his foreign wives turned his heart after their gods.”

That the sin of sexual immorality is graver. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Every sin that a man commits is outside the body; but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”

Which things are fleshly and bring forth death, and which are spiritual and lead to life. The apostle Paul to the Galatians: “For the flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to one another, so that you do not do the very things you wish. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, acts of sexual immorality, uncleanness, filthiness, idolatry, sorceries, murders, enmities, strifes, jealousies, animosities, provocations, grudges, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and things like these: those who do such things will not possess the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, great-heartedness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control, chastity. For those who are Christ's have crucified their flesh with its vices and desires.”

That all sins are laid aside in baptism. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Neither the sexually immoral, nor those who serve idols, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor men who lie with males, nor thieves, nor the fraudulent, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will obtain the kingdom of God. And such indeed you were; but you have been washed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

That the discipline of God is to be observed in the precepts of the church. In Jeremiah: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they will feed you, feeding you with discipline.” Also in Solomon, in Proverbs: “My son, do not neglect the discipline of God, nor faint when you are rebuked by him; for whom God loves, he rebukes.” Also in Psalm 2: “Lay hold of discipline, lest the Lord be angry and you perish from the right way, when his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who trust in him.” Also in Psalm 49 [50]: “But to the sinner God says: Why do you recount my righteous acts and take my covenant in your mouth? For you have hated discipline and cast my words behind you.” Also in Solomon: “He who rejects discipline is wretched.”

That it was foretold that they would spurn sound discipline. The apostle Paul in Second Timothy: “There will be a time when they will not endure sound teaching, but according to their own desires they will heap up for themselves teachers, itching in their hearing; and they will turn their hearing away from the truth and turn aside to fables.”

That we must withdraw from one who lives disorderly and against discipline. The apostle Paul to the Thessalonians: “Now we command you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from all brothers who walk disorderly and not according to the tradition which they received from us.” Also in Psalm 49 [50]: “If you saw a thief, you ran along with him, and you cast your lot with adulterers.”

That the kingdom of God is not in the wisdom of the world nor in eloquence, but in the faith of the cross and in the power of one's way of life. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Christ sent me to preach, not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ be made empty. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent I will reject. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe. For the Jews desire signs and the Greeks seek wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Also there: “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise, let him become a fool in this world, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: He catches the wise in their own craftiness.” Also there: “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

That parents are to be obeyed. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Children, be obedient to your parents, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

That fathers too ought not to be harsh toward their children. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord.”

That slaves, when they have believed, ought to serve their fleshly masters all the more. Paul to the Ephesians: “Slaves, obey your fleshly masters with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, as to Christ, not serving for the eye, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ.”

Also that masters ought to be gentler. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “And you, masters, do the same to them, giving up threats, knowing that both their Lord and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with him.”

That all approved widows are to be honored. The apostle Paul in First Timothy: “Honor widows who are truly widows. But she who lives in luxury is dead while she lives.” Also there: “But avoid younger widows; for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they wish to marry, incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their first faith.”

That everyone ought to take greater care of his own, and especially of believers. The apostle Paul in First Timothy: “But if anyone does not take care of his own, and especially of his household, he denies the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Also in Isaiah: “If you see someone naked, clothe him, and do not despise those of your own seed.” Concerning these household members it is said in the Gospel: “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more his household!”

That an elder is not to be accused rashly. The apostle Paul in First Timothy: “Do not receive an accusation against an elder.”

That one who sins is to be rebuked publicly. The apostle Paul in First Timothy: “Rebuke one who sins in the presence of all, so that the rest may have fear.”

That we are not to talk with heretics. The apostle Paul to Titus: “Avoid a heretical man after a first rebuke, knowing that such a one is perverted and sins, and is condemned by himself.” Also the apostle John: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us.” Also in Second Timothy: “Their word creeps like a cancer.”

That the innocent ask with confidence and obtain. The apostle John: “If our heart does not reproach us, we have confidence toward God, and whatever we ask we shall receive from him.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Also in Psalm 23 [24]: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? He who is innocent in hands and clean in heart.”

That the devil has no power against a man unless God has permitted it. In the Gospel according to John Jesus said: “You would have no power against me unless it had been given you from above.” Also in the third book of Kingdoms: “And the Lord stirred up a satan against Solomon himself.” Also in Job, God first gave permission, and only so was the devil allowed. Also in the Gospel the Lord first gives permission, saying to Judas: “What you are doing, do quickly.” Also in Solomon, in Proverbs: “The heart of the king is in the hand of God.”

That a hired man's wages are to be paid promptly. In Leviticus: “The wages of your hired man shall not remain with you overnight until morning.”

That we are not to practise divination. In Deuteronomy: “Do not take omens, nor practise augury.”

That a topknot is not to be worn. In Leviticus: “You shall not make a topknot from the hair of your head.”

That the beard is not to be plucked. In Leviticus: “You shall not spoil the shape of your beard.”

That we are to rise when a bishop or presbyter comes. In Leviticus: “You shall rise up before the face of an elder, and you shall honor the person of a presbyter.”

That schism must not be made, even if he who withdraws remains in the one faith and in the same tradition. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “He who splits logs will be endangered by them, if the iron flies off.” Also in Exodus: “In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house.” Also in Psalm 132 [133]: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” Also the apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Now I beseech you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but that you be perfected in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Also in Psalm 67 [68]: “God, who makes those of one mind dwell in a house.”

That believers ought to be simple, but with prudence. In the Gospel according to Matthew: “Be prudent as serpents and simple as doves.” Also there: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its savor, with what will it be salted? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

That a brother is not to be cheated. The apostle Paul in First Thessalonians: “Not to overreach one's brother in business, because God is the avenger in all these things.”

That the end of the world will come suddenly. The apostle Paul in First Thessalonians: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “No one can know the time or the times which the Father has set in his own power.”

That a wife is not to depart from her husband, or, if she departs, is to remain unmarried. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “To those who are married I command, not I but the Lord, that a wife is not to depart from her husband; but if she departs, she is to remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband; and a husband is not to put away his wife.”

That each person is tempted only as much as he is able to bear. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “No temptation will seize you but what is human. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure.”

That not everything that is lawful is to be done. The apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient; all things are lawful, but not all things build up.”

That it was foretold that heresies would come. The apostle Paul: “There must also be heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest among you.”

That the Eucharist is to be received with fear and honor. In Leviticus: “But whatever soul eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of salvation, which is the Lord's, with his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall perish from his people.” Also in First Corinthians: “Whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.”

That we are to live with the good, but avoid the wicked. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “Do not bring the ungodly man into the dwelling of the righteous.” Also in Ecclesiasticus: “Let righteous men be your companions at table.” Also there: “A faithful friend is a medicine of life and immortality.” Also there: “Keep far from a man who has power to kill.” Also there: “Happy is he who finds a true friend, and who tells of righteousness to an ear that hears.” Also there: “Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue.” Also in Psalm 17 [18]: “With the holy you will be holy, and with the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the perverse you will be overturned.” Also the apostle Paul in First Corinthians: “Evil conversations corrupt good morals.”

That we must act by deeds, not words. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not be quick with your tongue, and useless and slack in your works.” Also the apostle in First Corinthians: “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” Also to the Romans: “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” Also in the Gospel according to John: “He who does and so teaches will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Also according to Matthew: “Everyone who hears my words and does them I will liken to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. The rain came down, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock. And everyone who hears my words and does not do them I will liken to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.”

That we must hasten to faith and to attainment. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not delay to turn to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day; for his wrath comes suddenly.”

That a catechumen ought no longer to sin. The apostle Paul to the Romans: “Let us do evil, that good may come: their condemnation is just.”

That the judgment will be according to the times, whether of natural equity before the law, or of the law after Moses. The apostle Paul to the Romans: “As many as have sinned without the law will perish without the law; and as many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

That the grace of God ought to be free. In the Acts of the Apostles: “Your money perish with you, because you thought the grace of God could be possessed by money.” Also in the Gospel: “Freely you have received, freely give.” Also there: “You have made my Father's house a house of trade.” Also in Isaiah: “You who thirst, go to the water; and as many as have no money, go, buy and drink without money.” Also in the Apocalypse: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give from the fountain of the water of life freely. He who conquers will possess these things and their inheritance, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.”

That the Holy Spirit has often appeared in fire. In Exodus: “And Mount Sinai was all smoking, because God had come down upon it in fire.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind rushing, and it filled the whole place where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues divided as of fire, which also rested on each one of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Also in the sacrifices: whichever God held acceptable, fire came down from heaven to consume them. Also in Exodus: “The angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire from the bush.”

That all good people ought to listen willingly to rebuke. In the Proverbs of Solomon: “He who rebukes an ungodly man will be hated by him. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.”

That we must refrain from much speaking. In the Proverbs of Solomon: “In much speaking you will not escape sin; but if you spare your lips you will be wise.”

That we are not to lie. In the Proverbs of Solomon: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord.”

That those who do wrong in the household are to be corrected often. In the Proverbs of Solomon: “He who spares his rod hates his son.” Also there: “Do not cease to correct a child.”

That when injury has been received, patience is to be kept and vengeance left to God. In the Proverbs of Solomon: “Do not say, ‘I will avenge myself on my enemy’; but wait for the Lord, that he may be your help.” Also in Zephaniah: “Wait for me, says the Lord, on the day of my rising again for a testimony; for my judgment is upon the assemblies of the nations, to take hold of kings and pour out my wrath upon them.”

That we are not to disparage others. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “Do not love to disparage, lest you be rooted out.” Also in Psalm 49 [50]: “You sat and disparaged your brother, and set a stumbling block against your mother's son.” Also the apostle Paul to the Romans: “I myself wished to be accursed from Christ for my brothers.” Also to the Colossians: “To speak evil of no one, and not to be quarrelsome.”

That we must not lay snares for our neighbor. In Solomon, in Proverbs: “He who digs a pit for his neighbor will himself fall into it.”

That the sick are to be visited. In Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus: “Do not be slow to visit the sick; for by such things you will be made firm in love.” Also in the Gospel: “I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.”

That whisperers are accursed. In Ecclesiasticus: “The whisperer and the double-tongued is accursed, for he has troubled many who were at peace.”

That the sacrifices of the wicked are not acceptable. In Ecclesiasticus: “The Most High does not approve the gifts of the unrighteous.”

That those who have held greater power in the world are judged more severely. In Ecclesiasticus: “A most severe judgment will fall on those who rule; for mercy is granted to the lowly, but the mighty will suffer torments mightily.” Also in the second Psalm: “And now, O kings, understand; be instructed, you who judge the earth.”

That the widow and orphans ought to be protected. In Solomon: “Be merciful to orphans as a father, and as a husband to their mother; and you will be like a son of the Most High, if you obey.” Also in Exodus: “You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. But if you afflict them and they cry aloud to me, I will hear their cries, and I will be angry in my soul and kill you with the sword; and your wives will be widows and your children orphans.” Also in Isaiah: “Judge for the orphan and do justice to the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord.” Also in Job: “I kept the needy from the hand of the mighty, and I helped the orphan who had no helper; the mouth of the widow blessed me.” Also in Psalm 67 [68]: “Father of orphans and judge of widows.”

That while one is in the flesh, he ought to make confession. In Psalm 6: “But in the underworld who will confess to you?” Also in Psalm 29 [30]: “Will the dust make confession to you?” Also elsewhere, that confession is to be made: “I prefer the repentance of the sinner to his death.” Also in Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord: Shall he who falls not rise again, or he who turns away not turn back?”

That flattery is ruinous. In Isaiah: “Those who call you happy lead you into error and disturb the path of your feet.”

That God is loved more by him to whom more sins are forgiven in baptism. In the Gospel according to Luke: “He to whom little is forgiven loves little.”

That the struggle against the devil is a hard one, and that we ought therefore to stand firm so that we may conquer. The apostle Paul to the Ephesians: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and princes of this world and of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the most evil day, so that, having accomplished all things, you may stand, your loins girded with truth, putting on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, taking up in all things the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the burning darts of the most wicked one, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

On the Antichrist, that he will come as a man. In Isaiah: “This is the man who stirs up the earth, who shakes kings, who makes the whole world a desert.”

That the yoke of the law, which we have cast off, was heavy, and that the yoke of the Lord, which we have taken up, is light. In the second Psalm: “Why have the nations raged, and the peoples devised vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ: Let us break their bonds and cast their yoke from us.” Also in the Gospel according to Matthew: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is good and my burden is light.” Also in the Acts of the Apostles: “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no burden other than these necessary things: that you abstain from idolatries and from blood and from sexual immorality; and whatever you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another.”

That we must persevere in prayer. Paul to the Colossians: “Persevere in prayer, keeping watch in it.” Also in the first Psalm: “But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he will meditate day and night.”