VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XXI
The Wheel of the Winds and the Human Image
The winds, set within the great wheel bearing a human image, sustain the world and all that is in it by their own powers.
And they themselves, into the wheel shown before them — and set in it, the image of a human being standing — send forth their breathings, so that these same winds, by their own powers and functions, hold in being the world, the human being, and all things that are in the world.
Fear of Hell and the Birth of Faith and Holiness
When the faithful trample earthly desires, contrition rises like a stag's head — faith — and holiness follows, as fear of hell drives a person to grind down the body and burn wholly in faith.
So when any of the faithful trample underfoot the fleeting desires of earthly things by just examples, as if doing good works beneath their feet, as if from the watery air out of those very holy works, like a wolf, stripped punishments of hell break forth — because when they stop sinning, reaching toward the path of uprightness, they show that they have feared the hellish punishments that devour souls. These, when they carry, as it were, a breath — namely contrition — from their own mouth, which is from their greediness, into the hearts of human beings, since the faithful recoil from them, this same contrition, even when a person walks prosperously in works pleasing to God, extending forward, takes the form of a stag's head, that is, of faith, in the fullness of perfection that lies between hellish punishments and bodily affliction; and from its mouth also, that is, from its power, another breath, namely holiness, coming into the same perfection, remains. For when a person fears hellish punishments, he grinds down his body with many tribulations of miseries for a long time and often, until he reaches that perfection in which he burns wholly in faith, believing that God will snatch him out of hellish punishments; and so holiness rises up in him, when he casts aside worldly works and plunges himself entirely into spiritual ones.
Trust and Steadfastness Born of Bodily Chastisement
When adversity strikes the body, contrition gives way to trust — the crab's head — which wavers between hope and doubt until steadfastness leads the soul to unhesitating confidence in God's goodness.
But when, on the other hand, by God's permission, a person is chastised in the body by many calamities from the left-handed adversity of greed for the aforementioned hellish punishments, contrition also rises into his heart; and when he considers that he has no prosperity in this present life, stretching himself out from there, and so reaching toward the fullness of perfection that lies between hellish punishments and the judgment of God, he rises into the head of the crab, namely trust, which now has hope, now has doubt — because a person, placing his works in God, at one moment hopes to have obtained forgiveness of his sins, at another moment doubts; but at last, from trust, another breath going forth, which designates steadfastness, leads him on to this perfection of virtues, so that from then on he has no hesitation about the goodness of God. Moreover, by the very framework in which these assertions are distinct from one another, the effectiveness of their workings is also extended; for hellish punishments, even though they are to be feared, when a person afflicts himself in contrition out of fear of them, render faith together with holiness, and trust together with steadfastness, stronger — so that when hell is feared, the person is judged more cautious in all things.
Beholding God's Will and Bearing Indignities
All these powers, beholding the all-comprehending vision of God, urge the person to fulfill God's will, and fear of hell leads to patient endurance of indignities and holiness in every work.
And all these, beholding the vision of God, which comprehends all things, urge the person also so that he may fulfill the will of God by the power of his own strengths. For hellish punishments cause God to be feared, because when a person truly fears the punishments, he stops sinning, and when he sees good examples in other people, he endures very many indignations in himself often — so that when he bears them patiently, he demonstrates holiness in all his works.
Prosperity, Grace, and the Danger of Spiritual Lethargy
Those who prosper in good works entrust themselves confidently to grace and use fleeting things without attachment, but those lacking the Holy Spirit's vigor fall into unbelief and hell; Isaiah the servant speaks of this.
But when someone advances prosperously through the support of good works, suffering no hardship, their virtue is joined to the swiftness of uprightness, so that, possessing temporal prosperity and hesitating at nothing, they confidently entrust themselves to God's grace, and thus they use fleeting things as though walking past them, so as not to be deprived of the eternal, heavenly things that lie ahead. But whoever lacks the vigor of the Holy Spirit is suffocated in unbelief, consumed in depraved acts, and plunges into a hellish abyss, because they have not made the effort to entrust themselves to God's grace. Isaiah my servant speaks of this, saying:
Words of Isaiah and How They Are Received
The words of Isaiah on this subject are presented and their proper reception is indicated.
Words of Isaiah on the same subject, and how they are to be received.
Read the original Latin
Ipsaque in rotam praemonstratam, et ad imaginem hominis in ea stantem spiramina sua mittunt, ita ut iidem venti mundum et hominem omniaque quae in mundo sunt viribus et officiis suis retineant. Itaque cum quilibet fideles caduca terrenarum cupiditatum justis exemplis quasi sub pedibus suis bona operando conculcant, quasi de aquoso aere ex ipsis sanctis operibus ut lupus infernales poenae denudatae prodeunt, quia cum illi peccare desistunt, ad viam rectitudinis tendentes, infernales poenas, quae animas devorant se pertimuisse demonstrant. Quae cum quasi flatum scilicet contritionem in corde hominum ex ore suo quod est a voracitate sua perducunt, quoniam fideles illas abhorrent, eadem contritio quamvis homo prospere in actibus suis incedat, secundum Deum se prolongans, in plenitudine perfectionis quae inter infernales poenas et corporalem tribulationem est, formam capitis cervi, id est fidei accipit, ex cujus etiam ore, id est virtute, alius flatus videlicet sanctitas veniens, in eadem perfectione permanet. Cum enim homo infernales poenas timet, corpus suum variis tribulationibus miseriarum tamdiu multoties conterit, quousque ad perfectionem illam pertingat, in qua totus in fide ardeat, credens quod Deus eum ab infernalibus poenis eripiat, sicque sanctitas in eo surgit, cum saecularia opera abjiciens spiritalibus se totum immergit. Cum vero a sinistra adversitate voracitatis praedictarum infernalium poenarum homo permissione Dei quamplurimis calamitatibus corporaliter castigatur, contritio quoque in cor illius ascendit, et cum se nullam prosperitatem praesentis vitae habere considerat, se ab inde extendens, et sic ad plenitudinem perfectionis quae inter infernales poenas et judicium Dei est pertingens, in caput cancri, videlicet fiduciae, quae nunc spem nunc dubium habet, surgit, quia homo opera sua in Deum ponens, modo remissionem delictorum suorum se obtinuisse sperat, modo dubitat, sed tandem de fiducia alius flatus qui constantiam designat exiens, illum ad perfectionem hanc virtutum perducit, ut deinceps de bonitate Dei nihil haesitet. Tenore autem quo assertiones istae a se discretae sunt illo etiam et efficacia operationum ipsarum protelatur, quoniam infernales poenae, quamvis metuendae sint, cum homo propter timorem illarum se in contritione affligit, fidem tamen cum sanctitate, fiduciam quoque cum constantia robustiores reddunt, ita ut cum infernus timetur, homo in omnibus cautior judicetur. Et hae omnes visionem Dei, qui cuncta comprehendit, inspicientes, hominem etiam ut voluntatem Dei perficiat, virtute virium suarum impellunt. Nam infernales poenae, ut Deus timeatur, faciunt, quia cum homo poenas veraciter timet, peccare desistit, atque cum bona exempla in aliis hominibus videt, plurimas indignationes in semetipso multoties suffert, ita ut cum illas patienter portat, in omnibus operibus suis sanctitatem demonstret.
Sed cum per sustentationem bonorum operum prospere incedit, nulla adversa patiens, virtute illorum ad velocitatem rectitudinis se conjungit, ita ut prosperitatem temporalium habens, gratiae Dei nihil haesitans, fiducialiter se commendet, quatenus etiam caducis rebus velut in ante gradiens sic utatur, ne aeternis in coelestibus post se vadens privetur. Qui autem viriditate Spiritus sancti caret, in infidelitate suffocatur, in pravisque actibus consumitur, submersionemque tartaream incurrit, quoniam gratiae Dei se commendare non studuit. De hoc loquitur Isaias servus meus, dicens:
Verba Isaiae ad idem pertinentia, et quomodo accipi debeant.
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