De tribus speciebus hominum respectu arcae.
Three Kinds of People
The author distinguishes three kinds of people by whether they have the flood of worldly desire and the ark of faith, and whether they remain in the ark.
Here we can consider three kinds of people: some who have the flood inside them but not the ark, some who have both the flood and the ark inside them but are not in the ark, and some who have the flood and the ark and remain in the ark. In the flood without the ark are the unfaithful, who are wrapped up in the desires of the flesh and who know of no other life beyond this passing one. In the flood they have the ark but do not remain in it: those who have already learned through faith to believe that beyond this changing state an immortal life is to come, but who set that life aside and subject their minds to the pleasure of temporal things. For Scripture says: Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.✦ Where your delight is, there your thought is also. But where your thought is, there is the dwelling of the inner person. For a person is said to dwell, as regards the inner life, where their thoughts dwell. And so those who set their hearts' delight in the vanity of this world, though they hold the ark of faith, are nonetheless shipwrecked inside.
Shipwrecked Despite the Ark
Those who enter the church and share Christ's sacraments yet love pagan thinkers and poets more than Christ suffer willing shipwreck in the flood they carry within.
But leaving aside the other lovers of the world, how many educated people do we now see who want to be called Christians, who enter the church alongside the other faithful and share in Christ's sacraments, yet in whose hearts the memory of Saturn and Jupiter, Hercules and Mars, or Achilles and Hector, Pollux and Castor, Socrates and Plato and Aristotle comes up more often than the memory of Christ and his saints? They love the trifles of poets, and either neglect the truth of the divine Scriptures or—what is worse!— mock and despise it. Let them see now what good it does them to enter the church on the outside while committing fornication against faith in their heart within. I proclaim to them that in the end they will be joined to those whom they now unite to themselves in their own thoughts through the affection of their heart, and whose life they love here, they will share their punishment there. What good does it do them to have faith and not remain in faith? What good does it do them to have a whole ship and, on the waves, suffer shipwreck—I won't say unwillingly, but willingly? What good does it do to know the truth and love falsehood?
The Perfect Ark of Love
The truly faithful are distinguished by loving what they believe, so that faith works through love and conquers the world, forming the ark that rides the waters without being submerged.
They are not like those who are truly faithful. Do you want to know what they're like? Hear what one of them has been, and understand that all such people are like that. Those who are one in truth can't be unlike each other. Listen, then, to what is said about him: the law of his God is in his heart—that is, to have the ark within—and yet perhaps this is not enough.✦ Listen again: In the law of the Lord is his will—that is, to dwell in the ark.✦ This one is perfect, who loves what he believes, so that his faith works through love, which conquers the world.✦✦ This is the ark in which we must be saved, which can be carried by the waters but can't be submerged at all, because it uses this world for necessity but doesn't yield to it through greed.
Creeping Things and Ships
Scripture's image of the great sea with creeping things and large animals is applied to the world through which spiritual ships pass.
This is what the Psalm says: "This is the great sea, vast in extent, where creeping things beyond number swarm." Small animals along with large ones — there ships will pass through.
Carnal Thoughts and the Ship of Faith
Worldly desire is in us from birth, carnal thoughts are like creeping things filling the inner self, and the ship of faith crosses the sea of the world without being submerged.
For from our mother the desire of this world is in us, and if any delights can be found in it, they are sprinkled with many bitternesses, which flow downward in our heart according to carnal attachment. The creeping things are carnal thoughts, deformed by the foulness of various vices.✦ When we admit them inordinately into our heart, we fill our inner parts as if with certain monstrous creeping things. The ship is that spiritual ark — that is, our faith — which, suspended upward from within, treads on the desire of the world. He said 'ships,' however, on account of the many souls.✦ For many souls are one soul on account of one faith and love, and one faith is many faiths on account of the many faithful souls, as has been said. Your faith has saved you, and my faith, and that person's faith — although nevertheless there is one Catholic faith.✦ Only the ship of faith, therefore, crosses the sea; only the ark escapes the flood; and if we desire to be saved, it is not enough for it alone to be in us — we must remain in it.
The Flood Within
No one can claim to be free from the flood of carnal desire, because as long as we live in this corruptible life the waters rage within, and even the good are carried across rather than fully dry.
And let no one who trusts in his own conscience say, What do I have to do with this ark? The flood of carnal desire has dried up in me. Someone who is outside does not know what is happening within; but if a person returns to his heart, he will find there a stormy sea, tossed by fierce storms of cleansing passions and evil desires, which submerge the mind downward as often as they subject it to themselves through consent. For in every person, as long as he lives in this corruptible life where the flesh desires against the spirit, this flood is present; or rather, every person is in this flood, but the good are in it like those who are carried across the sea in ships, while the wicked are in it like the shipwrecked, who are tossed in the waves. In the good, the waters of this flood do begin to diminish in this life, and according to the difference of graces they decrease more or less in individuals; yet the ground of the human heart can never fully dry up as long as they live in this life. And so the dove sent out finds no place here where its foot may rest, but always returns to the ark, because a pure mind, finding nothing in this world where it can securely fix the foot of its affection, shrinks from lingering long outside the shelter of inner meditation; but if it has sometimes gone out through thought, it quickly returns, like a flying dove, withdrawing to the solitude of conscience away from all outward noise, and rests as if in the ark from the waves. Let us understand, then, that what we flee is within us, and that by which we ought to flee — desire and faith — is within us.
Fleeing Desire, Holding Faith
Divine warnings call us to flee the world not as place but as desire, because to remain in the world's delight is to be inwardly shipwrecked.
The desire we must flee; the faith we must lay hold of. Through desire we rise so that by growing we may leave it behind; through faith we rise so that by holding it fast we may always advance toward what is better. Desire belongs to the works of creation; faith belongs to the works of restoration — because through desire we are disordered by love and dissolve away, and through faith we are made firm by devout belief. And so divine warnings again and again call out to us and urge us to flee the world — not to go outside heaven and earth, but so that we may not remain in the world's desire. What does it mean, not to remain? Who remains in the world's desire? Whoever places the soul's delight in it and directs the soul's purpose toward being filled by it continually. Whoever thinks about it constantly and fixes the soul's resolve on it.
The World's Cursed Beauty
The world is called the enemy of God not because its substance is evil but because its beauty seduces souls, and fleeing its concupiscence is fleeing the occasion of evil.
When you follow it unthinkingly and take pleasure in it through your own consent. And so the world is cursed in sacred Scripture and is called the enemy of God—not because the world's substance is evil, but because the world's beauty seduces souls. For the substance of the world would not need to be fled if the world's concupiscence were not evil. So when we flee the world's concupiscence, we flee it because it is evil; but when we flee the world's substance, we flee it not because it is evil, but because it is an occasion of evil. For when the world's appearance is carefully thought out, an affection of concupiscence is born. Therefore, if we want to turn away from the world's concupiscence, we first need to shut out the memory of this world from our thinking. In my meditation, the Prophet says, a fire blazes up.✦ Just as wood feeds a fire, so thoughts feed desires.
Fire of Desire, Fire of Love
Thoughts feed desire as wood feeds fire, so good thoughts kindle the flame of love while evil thoughts kindle the flame of desire, and thoughts are judged by the feeling they produce rather than by their object.
If your thoughts are good during meditation, the fire of love will blaze up. But if your thoughts are evil, the fire of desire will blaze up. Just as the eye is fed by what it sees, so the soul is fed by its thoughts. Through a kind of shameful commerce, an unchaste mind takes pleasure in its desire, while inwardly, through thought, it embraces the thing it longs for. It even happens at times that what we often think about idly, we then desire illicitly, and whoever takes delight in thought through consent is judged guilty of the deed. Therefore, just as the weak abstain from certain foods not because the foods themselves are bad, but because they are not suited for their use, so too we must keep the appearance of earthly things from our thoughts, not because the things themselves are evil, but so that our soul, which is weakened in itself, may not be corrupted further by the memory of those things. But as far as the things themselves are concerned, since every creature of God is good, there is no thing that cannot be thought about without sin. Again, if we pay attention to depraved dispositions, there is no thing in which we cannot sin by thinking. For we can think well about evil and badly about good, cleanly about what is unclean, and uncleanly about what is clean.
Gathering Scattered Thoughts
The endless distraction of thoughts comes from the world and its desire, but the works of restoration gather them into ordered unity, leading toward the spiritual house of wisdom.
For thoughts aren't to be judged by what they arise from, but by the feeling they produce. We read that holy men not only thought about, but also spoke and wrote about, unclean things — which they certainly wouldn't have done if the thoughts of unclean things defiled the soul.1 It doesn't matter what kind of thing is being thought about; what matters is what kind of feeling the thought itself produces, because a thought doesn't pollute the mind where delight doesn't corrupt the conscience.2 It's good for us, then — as I've said — to forget this world and erase its memory from our heart, so that while we're often thinking about it we don't perhaps get drawn toward its lust.3 Enough has now been clearly shown, I think — as I've said — about where this endless distraction of our thoughts comes from: namely from the world and its desire, that is, from the works of creation.4 And again, what is it that can gather our scattered thoughts into one? It's the works of restoration. And because — as was said above — there can be no order where there's no end, it remains that, leaving behind the works of creation, we seek the order of our thoughts there where they have their limit, that is, in the works of restoration. This is what we proposed to examine earlier: namely, what the order of our thoughts ought to be, insofar as the spiritual house of wisdom can be built up in us from them.5 And because thoughts come from things, the order of our thoughts must be drawn from the order of things.
Entering the Works of Restoration
Setting aside the works of the condition, which are like a flood beneath, the author now enters the works of restoration as if entering the ark.
Next, then, we'll begin to discuss the works of restoration, having set aside the works of the condition—from which we've emerged as if from some flood flowing beneath—and now we're entering into the works of restoration as if into the ark.
Read the original Latin
Hic considerare possumus tres hominum species, alios qui intus diluvium habent et non arcam, alios qui et diluvium, et arcam intus habent, sed in arca non sunt, alios qui in diluvio et arcam habent, et in arca manent. In diluvio sine arca sunt infideles, quos carnis desideria involvunt, qui praeter hanc vitam transitoriam aliam esse nesciunt. In diluvio arcam habent, sed in ea non manent ii, qui jam per fidem post hujus mutabilitatis finem vitam immortalem esse venturam credere didicerunt, sed posthabita hac temporalium rerum delectationi animum suum subjiciunt. Dicit enim Scriptura: Ubi est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum. Ubi est delectatio tua, ibi est et cogitatio tua. Ubi vero est cogitatio tua, ibi est interioris hominis habitatio. Nam ibi quisque secundum interiorem hominem habitare dicitur, ubi cogitatione conversatur. Itaque ii, qui delectationem cordis sui in vanitate hujus mundi constituunt, quamvis arcam fidei habeant, intus tamen naufragi sunt.
Ut autem taceam caeteros mundi amatores, quot modo litteratos cernimus, qui vocari Christiani volunt, et cum caeteris fidelibus Ecclesiam intrant, et de sacramentis Christi participant, in quorum cordibus saepius est memoria Saturni et Jovis, Herculis et Martis, sive Achillis et Hectoris, Pollucis et Castoris, Socratis et Platonis et Aristotelis, quam Christi et sanctorum ejus? Nugas poetarum diligunt; et veritatem divinarum Scripturarum aut negligunt, aut (quod pejus est! ) irrident, et contemnunt. Videant nunc quid eis prosit foris Ecclesiam ingredi, et intus in corde a fide fornicari. Ego eis pronuntio, quod illis in fine sociandi sunt, quos nunc in cogitationibus suis per affectum cordis sibi conjungunt, et quorum hic vitam diligunt, eorum illic supplici participes erunt. Quid illis prodest habere fidem, et non manere in fide? Quid illis prodest navem integram habere, et in fluctibus naufragium, non dicam pati, sed sponte facere? Quid prodest veritatem cognoscere, et falsitatem diligere?
Non sunt tales qui vere fideles sunt. Vis scire quales sint? Audi qualis unus illorum fuerit, et tales omnes intellige. Dissimiles enim esse non possunt, qui veritate unum sunt. Audi ergo quid de illo: Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius, hoc est arcam intus habere, et quia hoc fortassis non sufficit. Audi iterum: In lege Domini voluntas ejus; hoc est in arca habitare. Hic perfectus est, qui diligit quod credit, ut habeat fidem operantem ex dilectione, quae mundum vincit. Haec est arca, in qua nos salvari oportet, quae ab aquis portari potest, submergi autem omnino non potest, quia hoc mundo utitur quidem ad necessitatem, sed non succumbit ei per cupiditatem.
Hoc est quod in psalmo dicitur: Hoc mare magnum, et spatiosum manibus, illic reptilia quorum non est numerus. Animalia pusilla cum magnis, illic naves pertransibunt.
Matre enim in nobis est concupiscentia hujus mundi, in qua si quae delectationes inveniri possunt multis amaritudinibus aspersae sunt, quae secundum affectum carnalem deorsum in corde nostro fluunt. Reptilia sunt carnales cogitationes diversorum vitiorum feditate deformes. Quas dum inordinate ad cor nostrum admittimus quasi quibusdam monstruosis reptilibus interiora nostra replemus. Navis est illa arca spiritualis, id est fides nostra, quae intrinsecus sursum suspensa calcat concupiscentiam mundi. Naves autem dixit propter multas animas. Nam et multae animae una anima propter unam fidem et dilectionem, et una fides multae fides propter multas animas fideles, quomodo dictum est. Fides tua te salvam fecit, et fides mea, et fides illius cum tamen una sit fides catholica. Sola ergo navis fidei mare transit, sola arca diluvium evadit, et nos si salvari cupimus non solum ipsa in nobis sit, sed nos in ipsa oportet maneamus.
Et nemo fidens conscientiae suae dicat. Quid mihi cum hac arca? Exsiccatum est in me diluvium carnalis concupiscentiae. Qui foris est, nescit quid intus agatur; sed si redierit homo ad cor suum inveniet, ibi tempestuosum salum saevis mundantium passionum et desideriorum malorum procellis exagitari, quae toties animum deorsum mergunt, quoties eum per consensum sibi subjiciunt. In omni enim homine, quandiu in hac vita corruptibili vivit, ubi caro concupiscit adversus spiritum, hoc diluvium est; vel potius omnis homo in hoc diluvio est, sed boni in eo sunt sicut ii, qui in mari portantur a navibus, mali vero in eo sunt sicut naufragi, qui volvuntur in fluctibus. In bonis quidem aquae hujus diluvii in hac vita minui incipiunt, et secundum differentiam gratiarum in singulis plus minusve decrescunt, plene tamen nunquam exsiccari potest terra humani cordis, quandiu in hac vita vivunt. Et ideo columba emissa non invenit hic, ubi requiescat pes ejus, sed semper ad arcam revertitur, quia mens pura, dum in hoc mundo nihil reperire potest, ubi affectionis suae pedem secure figat, diu extra custodiam internae meditationis morari reformidat; sed si forte aliquando per cogitationem exiverit, cito quasi columba avolans, et elongans ad solitudinem conscientiae redit ubique a strepitu exteriori, quasi in arca a fluctibus requiescit. Intelligamus ergo in nobis esse quod fugimus, in nobis esse quo fugere debemus concupiscentiam, et fidem.
Concupiscentiam quam fugere debemus; fidem, quam debemus apprehendere. De concupiscentia ascendere, ut illam proficiendo relinquamus; per fidem ascendere, ut illam tenendo in melius semper proficiamus. Concupiscentia pertinet ad opera conditionis, fides pertinet ad opera restaurationis, quia et illa inordinate amando per concupiscentiam difluimus, et ista pie credendo per fidem solidamur. Et idcirco divina monita toties clamant nobis, et suadent mundum fugere, non utique ut extra coelum et terram exeamus, sed ut in concupiscentia mundi non maneamus. Quid est non maneamus? Quis manet in concupiscentia mundi? Qui delectationem animi sui in ea ponit, et ad eam explendam jugiter intendit. Qui de ea assidue cogitat, et propositum animi sui in ea confirmat.
Qui eam ex deliberatione sequitur, atque in ea per consensum delectatur. Ideo ergo mundus in sacra Scriptura maledicitur, ideo inimicus Dei appellatur, videlicet non quia substantia mundi mala sit, sed quia pulchritudo mundi animas seducit. Substantia enim mundi fugienda non esset, si concupiscentia mundi mala non esset. Cum ergo concupiscentiam mundi fugimus, ideo fugimus quia mala est, cum vero substantiam mundi fugimus, ideo fugimus non quia mala sed quia occasio mali est. Excogitata enim mundi specie nascitur affectus concupiscentiae. Proinde, si concupiscentiam mundi declinare volumus, prius necesse est memoriam mundi hujus a cogitatione nostra excludamus. In meditatione mea ait Propheta, exardescit ignis. Sicut ignem ligna nutriunt, sic cogitationes desideria pascunt.
Si bonae cogitationes in meditatione fuerint, exardescet ignis charitatis. Sin autem malae fuerint cogitationes, exardescet ignis cupiditatis. Nam sicut oculus pascitur ex specie, sic animus pascitur ex cogitatione, et turpi quodam commercio impudica mens desiderio suo fruitur, dum quodammodo intus per cogitationem rem concupitam amplexatur. Fit etiam nonnunquam, ut quod frequenter cogitamus otiose, aliquando concupiscamus illicite, reusque facti judicatur, qui per consensum in cogitatione delectatur. Sicut ergo infirmi a quibusdam cibis abstinent, non quia mali sint ipsi cibi, sed quia ipsis ad utendum idonei non sint; sic et nos terrenarum rerum speciem a cogitationibus nostris arcere debemus, non quia res ipsae malae sint, sed ne animus noster, qui ex semetipso infirmatur, ex earum rerum recordatione amplius corrumpatur. Caeterum quantum ad ipsas res pertinet, quia omnis creatura Dei bona est, nulla res est, quae cogitari non possit sine peccato. Rursumque si pravos affectus attendimus, nulla res est, in qua peccare non possimus cogitando. Nam et de malo bene, et de bono male, et de immundo munde, et de mundo immunde possumus cogitare.
Cogitationes enim non ex re de qua surgunt, sed ex affectu quem gignunt, judicandae sunt. Legimus sanctos viros non solum cogitasse, sed et locutos esse et scripsisse de rebus immundis quod utique non fecissent, si cogitationes rerum immundarum animam inquinarent. Nihil interest, quale sit illud quod cogitatur, sed qualis ex ipsa cogitatione affectus consequatur, quia cogitatio mentem non polluit, ubi delectatio conscientiam non corrumpit. Expedit tamen nobis sicut diximus, ut obliviscamur mundum istum, et deleamus memoriam ejus de corde nostro, ne forte dum frequente de eo cogitamus, ad ejus concupiscentiam inflectamur. Satis, ut reor, aperte jam demonstratum est, unde haec infinita, quam patimur, cogitationum nostrarum distractio oriatur, a mundo videlicet et concupiscentia ejus, hoc est ab operibus conditionis. Rursumque quid sit illud, per quod colligi possunt in unum cogitationes nostrae, hoc est per opera restaurationis. Et quia, sicut supradictum est, ordo esse non potest, ubi finis non est, superest ut relictis operibus conditionis quaeramus ordinem cogitationum nostrarum ibi, ubi finitae sunt, hoc est in operibus restaurationis; hoc est, quod superius investigare proposuimus, quisnam videlicet cogitationum nostrarum ordo esse deberet, quatenus ex eis spiritualis domus sapientiae in nobis aedificari possit. Et quia ex rebus cogitationes veniunt, oportet ut ex ordine rerum sumatur ordo cogitationum.
Deinceps ergo tractare incipiemus de operibus restaurationis relictis operibus conditionis, de quibus quasi de quodam subterfluente diluvio egressi sumus, et nunc in opera restaurationis quasi in arcam ingredimur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.6.21;Luke.12.34 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke.12.34 — For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- ↩Jer.31.33 — But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- ↩Ps.1.2 — But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
- ↩Gal.5.6 — For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power; but only faith working through love.
- ↩1John.5.4 — For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
- ↩Ps.104.25 — This is the great and wide sea—there are creatures without number, living things both small and great.
- ↩Ps.104.25 — This is the great and wide sea—there are creatures without number, living things both small and great.
- ↩Luke.7.50 — But he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
- ↩Ps.39.4 — My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue.
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin immundis/immundarum carries ritual-moral 'unclean' force; 'unclean' is retained rather than 'impure' to preserve the biblical-moral register without archaism.
- 2 ↩Nihil interest is rendered idiomatically as 'It doesn't matter / what matters' to capture the contrastive focus without stiffness.
- 3 ↩Expedit tamen: 'It's good... then' captures the concessive-expedient force; 'tamen' rendered as a natural pivot rather than a stiff 'nevertheless'.
- 4 ↩operibus conditionis: 'works of creation' renders the moral-theological sense of the created order and its activities as a source of temptation; 'conditionis' here carries the sense of the created/constituted order.
- 5 ↩spiritualis domus sapientiae: 'spiritual house of wisdom' is retained as a concrete architectural metaphor; the Latin image is clear and vivid enough to preserve without paraphrase.
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