Verba Christi ad sponsam inquirencia ab ea, qualiter mundus stat; et de sponse responsione, scilicet quod stat sicut saccus expansus, ad quem omnes indiscrete concurrunt; et de crudelissima Christi sentencia et iusta contra tales.
The World as an Open Sack
Christ questions the state of the world and reveals his impending judgment upon those who live in vanity.
The Son says, "Daughter, how does the world stand right now?" She replies, "It stands like an open sack that everyone is rushing toward, and like a man running who doesn't care what follows."1 The Lord answered: "It is just, therefore, that I should drive my plow over the world, over both Gentiles and Christians; I will spare neither old nor young, neither poor nor rich." But everyone will be judged according to their own justice, and everyone will die in their own sin, and houses will be left empty, yet I won't bring about the end just yet.2
The Sufficiency of Divine Truth
The bride pleads for warnings to be sent to the world, but Christ explains that the existing scriptures and teachings are already sufficient for salvation.
And she said, "O Lord, please don't be angry if I speak." Send some of your friends to warn them and alert them to their danger!" The Lord replied, "It is written that the rich man in hell, despairing of his own salvation, begged that someone be sent to warn his brothers so they wouldn't perish in the same way." And the answer given to him was: 'This will not happen, because they have Moses and the prophets, from whom they can be taught.' Here is what I say: they have the Gospels and the words of the prophets; they have the examples and teachings of the doctors; they have reason and understanding. Let them use these, and they'll be saved.
The Mission of the Few
Christ acknowledges the difficulty of reaching the wretched but promises to send his chosen friends to prepare the way.
If you send yourself to the wretched, you won't be able to cry out loudly enough to be heard. If I send my friends to the wretched, they are few; and if they cry out, they'll barely be heard. Nevertheless, I will send my friends to whomever I please, and they will prepare the way for God.
Read the original Latin
Filius loquitur: "Quomodo, filia, stat modo mundus?" Et illa: "Sicut saccus expansus, ad quem currunt omnes, et sicut homo currens non curans, quid sequatur."
Respondit Dominus: "Ideo iusticia est, ut vadam cum aratro meo super mundum, super gentiles et christianos; non parcam seni et iuueni, non pauperi et diuiti,
sed unusquisque iudicabitur secundum iusticiam suam, et unusquisque morietur in peccato suo, et relinquentur domus sine habitatoribus, nec tamen faciam adhuc consummacionem."
Et illa: "O, Domine, ne," inquit, "indigneris, si loquar. Mitte aliquos de amicis tuis, qui precaueant et premoneant eos de periculo suo!"
Et Dominus: "Scriptum est," inquit, "quod diues in inferno desperans de salute sua propria peciit, ut aliquis mitteretur ad precauendum fratres suos, ne similiter perirent.
Et responsum est ei: 'Nequaquam fiet hoc, quia habent Moysen et prophetas, a quibus doceri possunt.'
Sic ego dico nunc: Habent euangelia et dicta prophetarum, habent exempla et verba doctorum, habent racionem et intelligenciam. Vtantur ergo eis et saluabuntur.
Nam si misero te, non ita alte clamare poteris, ut audiaris. Si misero amicos meos, pauci sunt; et si clamauerint, vix audientur. Verumptamen mittam amicos meos ad quos michi placuerit, et preparabunt viam Deo."
Notes
- 1 ↩The Latin 'saccus expansus' suggests a gaping, receptive, or perhaps discarded vessel; the imagery emphasizes the indiscriminate and thoughtless nature of worldly pursuit.
- 2 ↩The Latin 'iusticiam suam' here carries the sense of the individual's own moral standing or works, contrasted with divine mercy.
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