Duos esse mundos visibilem, et invisibilem.
Two Worlds, One Heart
The visible world is the material universe, while the invisible world is the human heart, where worldly desire pulls downward and faith in Christ lifts upward like Noah's ark above the flood.
Just as we have distinguished two works — that is, the works of creation and the works of restoration — so let us understand that there are two worlds: the visible and the invisible. The visible one is this vast structure of the universe, which we perceive with bodily eyes; the invisible one is the human heart, which we cannot see. And just as in the days of Noah the waters of the flood covered the whole earth, while the ark alone floated on the waters — it not only could not sink, but the more the waters swelled, the higher it was raised up on high — so let us now understand that in the human heart there is the desire of this world, like the waters of a flood, but the faith of Christ is the ark that is carried above, which tramples on passing pleasure and strains toward the eternal good that lies above. The desire of this world is compared to waters because it is unstable and slippery, and like water running downward it always seeks the lowest depths, making its followers unstable and dissolute. If someone turns inward to their own heart, they will be able to see how desire always flows downward into transitory things, and how faith reaches upward toward the perpetual good that lies above. But when Scripture says that desire dwells in the flesh and faith in the heart, how can we affirm that both are in the heart — unless it is because we are said to lust 'in the flesh' precisely when we lust carnally in our heart? Yet both lusting and believing belong to the heart, but one draws from the love of earthly things and the other from the love of heavenly things; therefore desire pulls downward, faith reaches upward. Desire is born in the heart from the flesh; faith is not from the flesh but is breathed into the heart by God.
Flesh and Spirit in Scripture
Scripture shows that faith is revealed by God while concupiscence dwells in the flesh, and walking by the Spirit means not fulfilling the desires of the flesh.
So when the Lord was praising Peter's faithful confession: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you," he said, "but my Father who is in heaven."✦ Regarding concupiscence, however, Paul says: "I do not do it, but the sin that dwells in me."✦ And he determines what it is in me in the same place. "I know," he says, "because it does not dwell in me — that is, in my flesh — what is good."✦ And again, what sin itself — which he had said dwells in the flesh — is, he declares elsewhere. "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh."✦ Assuredly, calling the desires of the flesh concupiscence.
Feeling Desire Without Consenting
Desire dwells in the flesh and faith in the spirit; though the impulse of desire cannot be escaped in this life, with God's grace one need not consent to it, for only the ark of faith keeps a person safe amid the flood.
Therefore desire dwells in the flesh—that is, downward in the heart—but faith dwells not in the flesh, but in the spirit. This point, however, must be carefully weighed: when the Apostle said, 'Walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh,' he did not say you would not feel them, but that you would not fulfill them. He thereby made it clear to every person that as long as one is in this life, the necessity of desiring is present from the corruption of our first birth—yet with the grace of God assisting, so that one does not consent to that same desire, this is possible for anyone.✦ For this reason he said elsewhere, 'Let not sin reign in your mortal body.'✦ It's as if he were saying: it can't be that sin—that is, the fuel of sin, the incentive of vices, the goad of desire—isn't present in your mortal body; but with the grace of God assisting, it can be that it doesn't reign, that it doesn't rule. It's impossible that you shouldn't feel it, but it's not necessary that you should consent to it. So everyone suffers within, in their own heart, a certain flood of desire, from which no one is freed except through the ark of faith. Where the evil person, walking on dry ground, is submerged, and the good person, submerged in the deep of the sea, is not harmed. A utterly dangerous shipwreck, which is—
The Peril of the Ungoverned Heart
Those tossed by the surges of their own desire face a dangerous inner shipwreck with no safe harbor.
Alas for the one who is in peril there! No harbor is safe for such a person, no anchorage secure, no calm serene — whoever is tossed inwardly by the surges of their own desire and swallowed up in the bottomless whirlpool of insatiable lust.
Read the original Latin
Sicut duo opera, id est opera conditionis, et opera restaurationis distinximus, ita duos mundos esse intelligamus visibilem, et invisibilem. Visibilem quidem hanc machinam universitatis, quam corporeis oculis cernimus, invisibilem vero cor hominis, quod videre non possumus. Et sicut in diebus Noe aquae diluvii universam terram operuerunt, sola autem arca aquis superferebatur, et non solum mergi non poterat, verum etiam quanto amplius aquae intumescebant, tanto altius in sublime elevabatur, ita et nunc intelligamus in corde hominis concupiscentiam hujus mundi esse, quasi quasdam aquas diluvii arcam vero, quae desuper ferebatur, fidem Christi, quae transitoriam delectationem calcat, et ad ea quae sursum sunt, aeterna bona anhelat. Ideo autem aquis concupiscentia hujus mundi comparatur, quia fluxa est et lubrica, et ad similitudinem aquae deorsum currentis semper ima petit, suosque sequaces instabiles, et dissolutos reddit. Si intraverit homo ad cor suum, videre poterit quomodo semper et concupiscentia deorsum in ea quae transitoria sunt, defluat; et fides in ea quae sursum sunt, bona perpetua tendat. Sed cum Scriptura dicat concupiscentiam in carne habitare, fidem in corde, quomodo nos utramque in corde esse affirmamus, nisi quia tunc carne concupiscere dicimur, quando corde carnaliter concupiscimus? Utrumque tamen cordis est et concupiscere et credere, sed aliud habet ex hoc quod terrena diligit, aliud habet ex hoc quod coelestia quaerit; ideo concupiscentia deorsum est, fides sursum. Concupiscentia ex carne cordi innascitur, fides non a carne, sed a Deo cordi inspiratur.
Proinde Dominus cum fidelem Petri confessionem laudaret: Caro, inquit, et sanguis non revelavit tibi, sed Pater meus qui est in coelis. De concupiscentia autem Paulus dicit: Non ego operor illud, sed peccatum, quod habitat in me. Et quid sit in me eodem loco determinat. Scio, inquit, quia non habitat in me hoc est in carne mea, bonum. Rursumque peccatum ipsum, quod in carne habitare dixerat, quid sit alibi declarat. Spiritu ambulate, et desideria carnis non perficietis. Utique desideria carnis concupiscentiam appellans.
Igitur concupiscentia in carne habitat, hoc est deorsum in corde, fides vero non in carne, sed in spiritu. Illud tamen diligenter considerandum est quod Apostolus cum dixit: Spiritu ambulate, et desideria carnis non perficietis, et non dixit non sentietis, sed non perficietis; manifeste declaravit omni homini quandiu in hac vita est, concupiscendi necessitatem ex corruptione primae nativitatis inesse, adjuvante tamen gratia Dei, ut eidem concupiscentiae non consentiat, nulli impossibile. Propterea alibi dixit: Non regnet peccatum in vestro mortali corpore. Quasi diceret, non potest fieri, ut in vestro mortali corpore peccatum, id est fomes peccati, incentivum vitiorum, stimulus concupiscentiae non sit, sed adjuvante gratia Dei fieri potest, ut non regnet, ut non praesit. Impossibile est ut illud non sentiatis, sed non necesse est ut illi consentiatis. Igitur omnis homo quoddam intus in corde suo diluvium concupiscentiae patitur, a quo nullus nisi per arcam fidei liberatur. Ubi malus homo per siccum ambulans mergitur, et bonus homo in profundo maris mersus non laeditur. Periculosum prorsus naufragium, quod tus est.
Vae ei qui ibi periclitatur! Nullus portus illi tutus est, nulla statio secura, nulla serenitas tranquilla, qui intrinsecus concupiscentiae suae aestibus jactatur, et insatiabili libidinum voragine absorbetur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.16.17 — But Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
- ↩Rom.7.17 — So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
- ↩Rom.7.18 — For I know that good does not dwell in me—that is, in my flesh. For the willing is present with me, but the working out of the good is not.
- ↩Gal.5.16 — But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh.
- ↩Gal.5.16 — But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh.
- ↩Rom.6.12 — Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.
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