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Chapter 9ChrP.3.9

De usu armorum carnalium et spiritualium.

Six Reasons for Taking Up Arms

The author introduces six reasons for bearing both physical and spiritual weapons, beginning with the need for training and exercise in warfare, drawing on Israel's experience with the Canaanites and the Pauline teaching that our true warfare is spiritual, not carnal.

There are six reasons we take up both physical and spiritual weapons. The first is for training, so that we may be exercised in warfare according to God's will. He placed many nations among the sons of Israel so that through those conflicts he might train Israel and all who were unfamiliar with the wars of the Canaanites, and afterward their sons might learn to fight against enemies and gain the habit of battle.✦1 What good would anyone be in battle unless he had trained with weapons? And so in times of peace, tournaments and other military games are held for practice, so that when war presses and enemies are encamped against us, no one lacking experience in arms might say with David, 'I cannot go forward thus armed,' and so, unarmed, be unable to stand against the enemy.✦23 But because a person's whole life on earth is a kind of military service — so that the moment a person comes into the world, he enters the field ready to fight against the powers of the air — the weapons of our warfare are not physical but powerful through God.✦✦45 Therefore, following the apostle's teaching, we ought to put on the armor of God.✦6 e.7 Virtues, which come from God alone — who gives virtue and strength to his people — are to be practiced in us, so that we may know how and be able to resist on the evil day of temptation, and so that through practice virtues may grow in us. As Chrysostom says: just as every skill is preserved, increased, and strengthened by bodily exercise, so every virtue is increased through practice and diminished through sloth.✦8910

Guarding Against Enemy Ambushes

The second reason for bearing arms is defensive vigilance against enemy ambushes, illustrated by Israel's watchfulness at narrow passes and Judas Maccabeus's strategic readiness, paralleled by the spiritual call to put on God's armor against the devil who prowls like a roaring lion.

The second reason we take up physical weapons is to guard against the ambushes of our enemies. That is why the sons of Israel, fearing enemy ambushes, took up weapons of war and stationed themselves at the narrow passes along the route, keeping watch all day and all night. We also read about Judas Maccabeus, that he ordered the sons of Israel to be armed and ready at strategic points, so that the enemies might not suddenly spring some evil upon them. For the same reason we take up spiritual weapons. As the apostle says: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, and put on the armor of God, so that you can stand against the snares of the devil, who lies in wait for us like a lion in its den.✦✦ This is that lion — our adversary the devil — who prowls around looking for someone to devour. We must resist him through the strength of faith.✦ The third reason we take up physical weapons is to meet the open assault of our enemies. This is why it is said in the book of the Maccabees that Lysias, trusting in the sheer number of his warriors and never once considering the power of God, but reckless in his mind, set out to destroy the holy city of Jerusalem and the temple of God. He had already overrun the garrison when Judas Maccabeus took up arms — and he and those with him, learning of this, wept and cried out to the Lord with tears, asking him to send them a good angel for their deliverance.

Meeting the Enemy in Open Battle

The third reason—meeting open assault—is illustrated by Judas Maccabeus's victory over Lysias, the Teutonic brothers' continual bearing of swords, and Paul's teaching that spiritual weapons are mighty through God for destroying demonic fortifications and every height raised against the knowledge of God.

They grew strong in spirit and in strength, and charging against them with a fierce attack they struck down eleven thousand foot-soldiers from their ranks and one thousand six hundred horsemen, and put them all to flight; many more of them escaped wounded and stripped bare, but Lysias himself also fled in disgrace and barely got away. This is the reason why the brothers of the Teutonic house, from the time they entered the land of Prussia right up to the present day, have continually carried swords — to guard against open attack or ambush. In the same way we take up the weapons of the virtues against the open attacks of the devil.✦ As the apostle says: though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh — for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.✦ e. weak, but powerful.✦ e. strong, by God.✦ is. through. God, for the destruction of fortifications —✦ is. of the cunning of demons, destroying their schemes — namely, the evil plots of demons — and every height✦ is. of understanding, exalting itself against the knowledge of God.✦ is.

The Virtues as Weapons Against Every Snare

Drawing on Bishop Paulinus's counsel to Augustine, the author urges believers to counter each of the devil's thousand snares with corresponding virtues—humility against pride, and so forth—while the fourth reason for bearing arms is introduced: the preservation of peace, supported by Christ's parable of the strong man armed.

Faith. So always be armed with the weapons of the virtues and ready to stand against the devil's attack, because, as Bishop Paulinus wrote to Augustine, that enemy of ours has a thousand arts at work to harm us — and he must be overcome with as many different weapons as the snares he uses against us. Whether he attacks you openly or secretly through the vice of pride, set the virtue of humility like a shield in your defense, and he'll flee from you. That's how you should respond to every sin. If you take up the weapons of virtue and use them to defend yourself, you'll be the victor. — The fourth reason we use outward, physical weapons is for peace: so that we can enjoy our goods in peace. That's why the Lord says: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own courtyard, everything he possesses is at peace. In the same way, when we use the weapons of the virtues, we have peace — because there is no peace for the ungodly.

Recovering What Is Lost and the Violence of Virtue

The fifth reason for bearing arms is the recovery of what has been lost, exemplified by Israel's armed reclamation of the promised land, with a gloss noting that it is a holy violence to seize heaven through virtue since nature alone cannot attain it.

As Ecclesiasticus says: those rich in virtue make beauty their pursuit. 44, g. All who make peace in their own homes, having these things, have obtained glory in the generation of their own people. As Baruch says: if you had walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in peace everlasting. This is also what Solomon says: when the way of man has pleased the Lord, he will turn even his enemies to peace.✦ A fifth reason is so that we may recover what has been lost. So the sons of Israel, armed with weapons, went up into the land of promise that God had given to their fathers, and what had been seized from the hands of its enemies they recovered — yet now the violent seize it and possess it forever. The Gloss on the same passage: it is a great violence, to be born on earth and to seize and possess heaven through virtue, which we cannot possess through nature.

Displaying the Banner of Christ Against the Devil

The sixth reason for bearing arms is to terrify the enemy by display, illustrated by Judith's command to seize weapons after Holofernes' death, and spiritually fulfilled by raising the banner of Christ's nativity—humility against pride, poverty against avarice, austerity against lust—so that the devil flees in fear.

The sixth reason is for the sake of display, so that the enemies, seeing our weapons, may be terrified — as Judith said when Holofernes had already been killed: "When the sun has risen, let each one seize his weapons; go out with a charge, not so that you go down slowly, but as if making a rush, so that the scouts of Holofernes may hear this and, rousing him, may find him rolled in his own blood" — and so fear will rush upon them and they will flee. In this way we use the weapons of the virtues, so that we may show ourselves to be in the service of him who is King of kings and Lord of lords.✦✦ The apostle admonishes us toward this, saying: "In all things let us present ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, etc."✦ "… through the weapons of justice, the virtue of God."✦ The weapons of God's virtue are justice, which teaches us to render to each one what is his own — namely, to abandon the world and everything that is in the world, and to cling to God, who in his banner, which he left for us to carry, placed a sign. Of this sign, the angel said to the shepherds when the Lord was born: "This is the sign: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger."✦✦ In this sign three virtues are noted: namely, humility in the infancy, against pride; poverty in the swaddling clothes, against avarice; and the austerity of the manger, against the lust of the flesh. Raise this banner and display it to the devil, and fear will rush upon him and he will flee.✦

Read the original Latin

Sex sunt cause, propter quas utimur armis carnalibus et spiritualibus. Prima est propter exercicium, ut exercitemur in bellis secundum voluntatem dei, qui multas gentes climisit inter filios Israel, ut Israelem et omnes, qui non noverunt bella Chananeorum erudiret in eis, et postea discerent filii eorum certare cum hostibus et habere consuetudinem preliandi. Quid valeret aliquis in prelio, nisi exercitatus esset in armis. Ende tempore pacis fiunt torneamenta et ludi alii militares propter exercicium, ne instante bello, cum hostes sunt in foi ribus, aliquis non habens consuetudinem armorum dicat cum David: non possum sic armatus incedere, et ita inermis non possit hostibus obviare. Sed quia milicia est hominis vita super terram, ita quam cito venit homo in mundum, in trat campum pugnaturus contra aereas potestates, et arma milicie nostre non sunt carnalia, sed potencia ac deo. Ideo secundum doctrinam apostoli debemus induere armaturam dei i. e. virtutes, que a solo deo sunt, qui datd virtutem et fortitudinem plebi sue, et exercitari in illis, ut sciamus et possimus resistere in die malo tentacionis, et ut et in nobis virtutes augeantur per exercicium, ut di cit Crisostomus: sicut omne artificium corporali exercitacione servatur, augetur et additur, ita omnis virtus per exercicium augetur, per desidiam minoratur.

— Secunda causa, propter quam utimur armis carnalibus, est propter hostium insidias. Unde filii Israel timentes insidias hostium, assumentes arma bellica sederunt per loca angusta itineris et custodiebant tota die et nocte. Legitur et de Juda Machabeo, quod precepit filiis Israel, armatos esse in locis oportunis, ne forte ab hostibus repente mali aliquid oriretur. Ad idem utimur armis spirituaEphes. 6,lotlibus, ut dicit apostolus: confortamini in domino et in potencia virtutis ejus, et induite vos armaturam dei, ut possitis stare contra insidias dyaboli, qui insidiat tur nobis quasi leo in spelunca sua. Hic est ille leo adversarius noster dyabolus, qui circuit querens, quem devoret, cui resistere debemus in virtute fidei. — Tercia causa, propter quam utimur armis carnalibus, est propter hostium apertam impugnacionem. Unde dicitur in libro Machabeorum, quod cum Lisias confidens in multitudine bellatorum, nunquam recogitansa potestatem dei, sed mente effrenatus, vellet civitatem sanctam Jerusalem et templum dei destruere, et jam presidium expugnasset, Machabeus sumptis armis, et qui cum eo erant, hoc cognito, cum fletu et lacrimis rogabant dominum, ut eis bonum angelum mitteret ad salutem.

Convaluerunt animo et viribus, et irruentes impetu in eos prostraverunt xi milia peditum ex eis et equites mille et sexcentos universosque in fugam verterunt; plures ex eis vulnerati nudi evaserunt, sed et ipse Lisias turpiter fugiens evasit. Hec est causa, propter quam fratres domus Theutonice ab introitub terre Prussie usque ad presentem diem utuntur gladiis continue, ut aperta impugnacio vel occulta. Eodem modo utimur armis virtutum contra apertas impugnaciones dyaboli. Unde dicit apostolus: in carne ambulantes non2Cor secundum carnem militemusc, nam arma milicie nostre non sunt carnalia, glossa i. e. debilia, sed potencia i. e. forcia, a deo i.

e. per. deumd, ad destructionem municionum i. e. calliditatum" demonum, destruentes consilia scilicet mala demonum, et omnem altitudinem i. e. profunditatem intellectus, extollentem se adversus dei scienciam i. e.

fidem. Semper ergo sis paratus in armis virtutum contra impugnacionem dyaboli, quiaf secundum Paulinum episcopum ad Augustinum hostis ille noster mille nocendi habet artes, qui tarn variis expugnandus est armis, quam impugnat insidiis. Si te aperte impugnaverit vel occulte vicio superbie, obicias in defensione tua virtutem humilitatis, et fugiet a te. Sicque facies in omni peccato. Si armis virtutis oppositeg in defensione tua uteris, victor eris. — Quarta causa, propter quam utimur armis carnalibus, est propter pacem, ut possimus bona nostra in pace possidere. Unde dicit domi nus: cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum, in pace sunt omnia, que possidet. Sic solum cum utimur armis virtutum, pacem habemus, quia non est pax impiis.

Unde ecclesiasticus: homines divites in virtute, pulcritudinis Studium Ecci. 44, g. habentes, pacificantes in domibus suis, omnes isti in generacione* gentis sue gloriam sunt adepti. Unde dicit Baruch: si in via dei ambulasses, habitasses in Baruch pace sempiternak. Quare quoque dicit Salomon: cum placuerit domino via ho — minis, inimicos ejus convertet ad pacem. — Quinta causa est, ut bona perdita recuperemus. Sic filii Israel armis armati in terram promissionis ascenderunt, quam deqs dederat patribus eorum, et occupatam de manibus hostium recupevim patitur, et violenti rapiunt illud et possident in eternum. Glossa ibidem: grandis violencia est, in terra nasci et celum rapqre et habere per virtutem, quod per naturam habere non possumus.

— Sexta causa est propter ostentaeionem, ut hostes visis armis" terreantur, ut dixit Judith Holoferne jam interfecto: cum exierit sol, arripiet unusquisque arma sua, exite cum impetu, non ut des-J^dith cendatis deorsum, sed quasi impetum facientes, ut exploratores Ilolofernis hoc audiant et ipsum excitantes", inveniant in suo sanguine volutatum, et sic irruet super eos timor et fugient. Hoc modo utimur armis virtutum, ut ostendamus nos esse de ministerio illius, qui est rex regum et dominus dominancium. Ad quod nos monet apostolus, dicens: in omnibus exhibeamus nos sicut dei ministros in multa paciencia etc. per arma justicie, virtutis dei. Arma virtutis dei sunta justicia, que docet nos, unicuique reddere, quod suum est, mundum scilicet et omne, quod in mundo est, relinquere et adherere deo, qui in suo vexillo, quod nobis deferendum reliquit, posuit signum, de quo dixit nato domino angeluc Insb ad pastores: hoc signum; invenietis infantem pannis involufum et positum in presepio. In quo notantur tres virtutes scilicet humilitas in infancia contra superbiam, paupertas in pannis contra avariciam, et austeritas presepii contra carnis lasciviam. Erigas hoc vexillum et ostenta dyabolo, et irruet super eum timor et fugiet.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Judg.3.1-Judg.3.2 — Now these are the nations the LORD left in place to test Israel through them: all those who had not known any of the wars of Canaan. Judg.3.2 — This was only so the generations of the sons of Israel who had not known war before might learn it.
  2. ↩1Sam.17.39 — Then David girded his sword over his armor, but he tried to walk and could not, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, "I cannot go in these, for I have not tested them." And David took them off.
  3. ↩2Cor.10.3-2Cor.10.4 — For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 2Cor.10.4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for the tearing down of strongholds,
  4. ↩Eph.6.11-Eph.6.12 — Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Eph.6.12 — For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
  5. ↩Eph.6.11 — Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
  6. ↩Eph.6.13 — Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand firm in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.
  7. ↩Eph.6.10-Eph.6.11 — Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Eph.6.11 — Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
  8. ↩1Pet.5.8 — Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
  9. ↩1Pet.5.8 — Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
  10. ↩Eph.6.11 — Put on the full armor of God, so that you are able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
  11. ↩2Cor.10.3-2Cor.10.4 — For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 2Cor.10.4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for the tearing down of strongholds,
  12. ↩2Cor.10.4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for the tearing down of strongholds,
  13. ↩2Cor.10.4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for the tearing down of strongholds,
  14. ↩2Cor.10.4 — For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful to God for the tearing down of strongholds,
  15. ↩2Cor.10.5 — We destroy arguments and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
  16. ↩2Cor.10.5 — We destroy arguments and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
  17. ↩Prov.16.7 — When a person's ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
  18. ↩1Tim.6.15 — which he will display in his own time—the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of those who reign and Lord of those who rule.
  19. ↩Rev.19.16 — And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.
  20. ↩2Cor.6.4 — Use a colon rather than an em dash to launch the hardship catalogue: "But in every way we commend ourselves as servants of God: in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
  21. ↩2Cor.6.7 — by the word of truth, by the power of God, through the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left
  22. ↩Luke.2.12 — And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
  23. ↩1John.2.15-1John.2.17 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
  24. ↩Jas.4.7 — Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The verb 'climisit' (token 14) is uncertain and possibly corrupt; the translation assumes a sense of 'placed' or 'positioned' in context.
  2. 2 ↩The phrase 'in foi ribus' (tokens 18–19) is uncertain and possibly corrupt or vernacular; translated as 'encamped against us' based on contextual sense.
  3. 3 ↩The quotation attributed to David ('I cannot advance thus armed') echoes 1 Samuel 17:39, where David says of Saul's armor: 'I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.'
  4. 4 ↩The form 'trat' (token 16) is likely an aphaeretic or corrupt form of 'intrat' ('enters'); translated accordingly.
  5. 5 ↩The phrase 'the weapons of our warfare are not physical but powerful through God' closely echoes 2 Corinthians 10:4 and Ephesians 6:11–12.
  6. 6 ↩Alludes to Ephesians 6:11: 'Put on the whole armor of God.'
  7. 7 ↩The single letter 'e' appears to be a section marker or abbreviation, not a translatable sentence element.
  8. 8 ↩The form 'datd' (token 7) is likely a scribal error for 'dat' ('gives'); translated accordingly.
  9. 9 ↩The split form 'di cit' (tokens 36–37) is treated as 'dicit' ('says').
  10. 10 ↩The phrase 'resist in the evil day' echoes Ephesians 6:13.

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