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← De Arca Noe Morali et Mystica (On the Moral and Mystical Ark of Noah)/Book 2 · De Arca Noe Morali — Liber 2
Chapter 8ArcaN.2.8

De diversitate arcam ascendentium.

Four Winds of the Soul

Humanity's origin, fall, and punishment are mapped onto the four directions and their heats and colds.

Some rise from the heat of the east, others from the heat of the west, others from the cold of the east, others from the cold of the west. The heat of the east is spiritual fervor; the heat of the west is the desire of the flesh. The cold of the east is the swelling of pride; the cold of the west is the blindness of ignorance. Humanity was created in the heat of the east, and because of this it was placed in the gardens of Eden toward the south of the east, but it crossed over to the cold of the east when it betook itself to the sharing of the one who first said he would set his seat toward the north. Then it fell into the heat of the west, when after sin it found in its members another law at war with the law of the mind. Then too it collapsed into the cold of the west, when, struck by the blindness of ignorance, it began to forget the eating of that heavenly bread. In the heat of the east is the beginning of our good nature; in the cold of the east is the beginning of fault. In the heat and cold of the west is the punishment of body and soul.

Christ the Mediator and Remedy

Through Christ, people from every direction are called to the heavenly banquet, where he heals pride, blindness, hunger, and burning desire.

Man was created on high in the heat of the east; in the cold of the east, man wanted to exalt himself proudly, and so man fell to the lowest depths in the heat and cold of the west. But through the mediator between God and humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ, look—these now come from the East, and those from the West, to sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.✦ Now they cry out to the north wind to give, and to the south wind not to hinder the children of God.✦ For Jesus Christ, true God and true man, offers an example in his humanity and a remedy from his divinity. From the humiliation of the weakness he took on, he restrains our pride and illuminates our blindness; from the power of his majesty, he feeds our souls with invisible food and shields our bodies from the burning heat of vice through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. The same one, therefore, becomes for us both the tree of life and the book of life: the tree, because he shades and feeds; the book, because he rebukes and instructs.✦✦ He rebukes the proud, illuminates the blind, feeds the hungry, and shades those who burn. Let the proud hear his rebuke and be humbled; let the blind hear instruction with the mind and be enlightened.

Rising to the House of the Lord

The burning and hungry are invited to Christ, all excuses are set aside, and the soul begins its joyful ascent toward the heavenly Jerusalem.

Those who are burning up from the heat of their vices should seek shade, so they can be cooled. Those who hunger and thirst for justice should hurry here, so they can be filled. Let no one make excuses for himself. Everyone finds a remedy suited to his own sickness — where room is given to the wrong, so they can correct themselves, and to the good, so they can become better. So let us rise up, setting aside every excuse. Let us rise up eagerly, let us rise up rejoicing, because we are going to the house of the Lord. Psalm 121. Let us go up to the feasts of the heavenly homeland — with the tribes of Israel to praise the name of the Lord in the towers of Jerusalem. Let us lift up our eyes and see the purple paths laid out along the sides of the eternal mountains, and the heavenly roads stretching straight to the gates of Jerusalem.1

The Open Gates and the Shining Cross

The soul beholds the heavenly city, its open gates, the cross raised on high, and the countless crowd streaming in from every nation to the eternal feast.

There the banner of the cross gleams in a lofty light, a rosy light, terrifying enemies and strengthening friends. The gates of the city stand open, and in its streets are the voices of those singing Alleluia. You will see many peoples ascending there, singing psalms, drawn from every tribe and nation and language: some gleaming in rosy garments, others shining in white clothing, others glowing in violet and scarlet adornment, all decked out for the solemn feast.2 A great and countless crowd, prepared for the day of the Lord. The king himself is above, and he invites us. He is below as well, and he helps us. The sluggish are roused, the fearful are strengthened, the weak are made strong, and the more spirited are made vigorous.3 Every generation, every sex, every condition of people flock together from every part of the world, and they eagerly ascend with gladness and joy to see the king in his splendor.

The Crimson Steps of Ascent

The soul climbs four ascents—from pride, from fleshly desire, from ignorance, and into ever-deepening goodness—under the image of the thirty-cubit column and the unity of Scripture in Christ.

Everyone wants to appear joyful on the day of so great a solemnity — every one of them longs to. So let us now talk about these steps of ascent, the ones by which the climb to heaven is made, so that no toil of the journey may terrify you, since the promised reward is what delights you. The ascents there are crimson, because the climb is made with effort — but love is spread beneath you, by which the effort itself is lightened. The first ascent is from the cold of the east — that is, from the swelling of pride — because a sinner must first be humbled, and rise again through obedience, since it was through disobedience that he had fallen into fault. The second ascent is from the heat of the west, because it is then necessary to trample down the vices of the flesh, so that we do not walk according to our own desires, and so that we put to death our members that are on earth, so that we may no longer serve sin.✦ The third ascent is from the cold of the west, because once we have now perfectly extinguished our carnal attachments through abstinence and the practice of discipline, then we are free to devote ourselves to meditation and to the teaching of divine Scripture, so that through the study of reading and through meditation the eye of the mind may once again be illuminated — as the Psalmist says: 'Turn away from me, evildoers, and I will search into the commandments of my God.'✦ The fourth ascent is from the heat of the east, where we progress from good to better — because we can never come to perfection unless we also strive to grow without pause in the good things we do. But as for the fact that we have raised a column of thirty cubits in height in the middle of the ark — whether we believe this happened just so according to the letter, or not — it makes no difference, as long as we understand that an opening of the same dimension and size was open upward from one end. Again, what we said earlier — that divine Scripture is signified by the height of thirty cubits, and that Christ was afterward figured by the column of thirty cubits in height — is not contradictory, because all divine Scripture is one book, and that one book is Christ, because all divine Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ; and in reading Scripture we seek this: that recognizing his deeds, his words, and his commands, we may deserve to do what he commanded and to receive what he promised.

Growing into His Fullness

The chapter closes with a prayer that, by knowing truth and growing in virtue, we may attain to the fullness of Christ's stature.

And so, growing both by the knowledge of truth and by the merit of virtue, may we attain all the way to his likeness and to the measure of the fullness of his age.✦

Read the original Latin

Alii siquidem ascendunt de calore orientis, alii de calore occidentis, alii de frigore orientis, alii de frigore occidentis. Calor orientis est fervor spiritualis, calor occidentis est concupiscentia carnis. Frigus orientis tumor superbiae, frigus occidentis caecitas ignorantiae. In calore orientis creatus est homo, propter quod et positus est in hortis Eden ad australem orientis, sed transivit ad frigus orientis, quando ad illius participationem se contulit, qui primus ad aquilonem sedem se positurum dixit. Deinde ad calorem occidentis cecidit, quando post peccatum aliam legem in membris suis repugnantem legi mentis invenit. Tunc quoque ad frigus occidentis corruit, quando ignorantiae caecitate percussus, illius coelestis panis esum oblivisci coepit. In calore orientis principium est bonae naturae, in frigore orientis initium culpae. In calore, et frigore occidentis poena corporis et animae.

In calore orientis in alto creatus fuit homo in frigore orientis, superbe exaltare se voluit homo, et idcirco in calore et frigore occidentis ad ima corruit homo. Sed per mediatorem Dei et hominum Dominum Jesum Christum, ecce isti jam veniunt ab Oriente, et illi ab Occidente ut recumbant cum Abraham et Isaac, et Jacob in regno coelorum. Jam clamant aquiloni ut det, et austro ne prohibeat filios Dei. Quia enim Jesus Christus verus Deus et verus homo est, in homine praebet exemplum, ex divinitate remedium. Ex humilitatione susceptae infirmitatis nostram, et superbiam reprimit, et illuminat caecitatem; ex virtute majestatis et animas nostras cibo invisibli pascit, et corpora nostra per obumbrationem Spiritus sancti ab aestu vitiorum protegit. Idem ergo nobis et lignum vitae, et liber vitae efficitur, lignum, quia obumbrat et pascit, liber quia increpat et erudit. Increpat elatos, illuminat caecos, esurientes cibat, aestuantes obumbrat. Audiant elati increpationem, et humilientur, audiant caeci animo doctrinam, et illuminentur.

Quos exurit aestus vitiorum, umbram petant ut refrigerentur. Qui esuriunt et sitiunt justitiam, huc properent ut saturentur. Nemo se excuset, omnis homo congruum suo morbo remedium invenit, ubi et malis locus datur, ut se corrigant, et bonis ut meliores fiant. Ascendamus ergo omni occasione postposita. Ascendamus alacres, ascendamus laetantes, quia in domum Domini ibimus (Psal. CXXI). Ascendamus ad festa supernae patriae tribus Israel ad confitendum nomini Domini in turribus Hierusalem. Levemus sursum oculos nostros, et videamus purpureas semitas stratas in lateribus montium aeternorum, et calles supernae directos usque ad portas Hierusalem.

Ibi vexillum crucis in sublimi luce, luce rosea micans, hostes terret et amicos confortat. Portae civitatis apertae sunt, et in plateis ejus voces canentium Alleluia. Videbis illuc ascendentes populos multos, accinctos in psalmis canentes ex omnibus gentibus et nationibus et linguis, alios in vestitu roseo fulgentes, alios amictu candido nitentes, alios in viola sandicina praelucentes omnis ornatus ad solemnitatem. Grandis et innumerabilis populus qui praeparatus est ad diem Domini. Ipse rex sursum est, et invitat nos. Deorsum est, et adjuvat nos. Excitantur pigri, confortantur timidi, roborantur infirmi, et animosiores red duntur strenui. Omnis aetas, utriusque sexus, omnis conditio concurrunt ex omnibus mundi partibus, et ascendunt certatim cum alacritate et laetitia videre regem in decore suo.

Cupiunt omnes, cupiunt singuli in die tantae solemnitatis apparere festivi Loquamur ergo nunc de his gradibus ascensionum, quibus in coelum scanditur, ut nullum terreat labor itineris, quem delectat praemium repromissionis. Sunt quidem ibi purpurei ascensus, quia cum labore ascenditur, sed substernitur charitas, qua labor ipse allevetur. Primus itaque ascensus est de frigore orientis, hoc est de tumore superbiae quia oportet primo peccatorem humiliari, et per obedientiam resurgere, qui per inobedientiam lapsum incurrerat culpae. Secundus ascensus est de calore occidentis quia necesse est deinde vitia carnis calcare, ut non ambulemus secundum desideria nostra, et mortificare membra nostra, quae sunt super terram, ut non serviamus ultra peccato. Tertius ascensus est de frigore occidentis, quia cum jam perfecte affectus carnales per abstinentiam, et exercitium disciplinae in nobis exstinxerimus, tunc libere meditationi, et doctrinae divinarum Scripturarum vacare poterimus, ut per studium lectionis et meditationem rursus illuminetur oculus mentis, sicut dicit Psalmista: Declinate a me maligni et scrutabor mandata Dei mei. Quartus ascensus est de calore orientis, ubi de bono proficimus in melius, quia nequaquam ad perfectionem venire possumus, nisi etiam in bonis, quae agimus, sine intermissione crescere studeamus. Quod autem columnam triginta cubitorum altitudinem habentem in medio arcae ereximus, sive ita ad litteram factum esse credamus, sive non, nihil interest, si tamen spatium ejusdem dimensionis, et quantitatis ab uno sursum patuisse intelligamus. Rursum quod per triginta cubitorum altitudinem divinam Scripturam significari diximus, et postea per columnam triginta cubitos habentem in altitudine Christum figurari asseruimus, contrarium non est, quia omnis Scriptura divina unus liber est, et ille unus liber Christus est, quia omnis Scriptura divina de Christo loquitur, et omnis Scriptura divina in Christo impletur, et legendo Scripturam hoc quaerimus, ut ejus facta, et dicta, atque praecepta agnoscentes, quod jussit facere, et quod promisit percipere mereamur.

Sicque et cognitione veritatis, et merito virtutis crescentes, usque ad ejus conformitatem et mensuram aetatis plenitudinis ipsius specialiter pertingamus.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.8.11 — I tell you, many will come from east and west and will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
  2. ↩Song.4.16 — Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choice fruits.
  3. ↩Rev.22.2 — In the middle of the city's street, and on both sides of the river, stood the tree of life, producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
  4. ↩Rev.20.12 — And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their works.
  5. ↩Col.3.5 — Put to death, therefore, the parts of you that belong to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
  6. ↩Ps.119.29 — Keep false ways far from me, and graciously grant me your law.
  7. ↩Eph.4.13 — until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin 'stratas' is uncertain in lemma — possibly from sterno ('spread, pave'). The sense is of paths laid out or paved along the mountainsides.
  2. 2 ↩sandicinum is a rare color/dye term; rendered as 'scarlet' as the most plausible sense, though the exact shade is uncertain.
  3. 3 ↩The source token 'red duntur' appears to be a split/corrupt form of redduntur ('are rendered/made'). The translation assumes the intended sense is 'are made vigorous' in parallel with the preceding clauses.

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