Verba monicionis sponse ad quendam dominum de restitucione facienda de iniuste acquisitis; et de voce angeli sentenciam contra ipsum proferentis crudelem.
The Peril of Unjust Gain
The author warns a lord against injustice by recalling the biblical judgment of Ahab and Jezebel.
My lord, I am warning you of the danger to your soul by reminding you how a certain king in the Old Testament is said to have desired a man's vineyard and offered a full price for it. But because the owner didn't want to sell the vineyard, the king grew angry and seized it for himself through injustice and violence; later, the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of a prophet, declaring that the king and queen were to die a most shameful death for that injustice. This was truly fulfilled in them, and their children found no joy at all in possessing that vineyard. Now, therefore, since you are a Christian and hold the faith in its entirety, and since you know most certainly that God is the same now as He was then—just as powerful and just as righteous as He was then—you can know without any hesitation, But if you want to possess anything unjustly—whether by forcing the owner to sell against their will, or by offering no payment for it—that powerful and just Judge will be your avenger. You, too, must fear that in your own sorrows a judgment will come upon you like the one written about that queen, and that your children won't be enriched by what was unjustly acquired, but will instead be afflicted by poverty.
A Call to Restitution
The author urges the recipient to seek God's friendship through immediate restitution of all ill-gotten goods.
Therefore, by the passion of Jesus Christ, who redeemed your soul with His precious blood, I urge and warn you not to destroy your soul for the sake of passing things, but to make full restitution to everyone you have harmed, whether directly or because of you. Whatever you've acquired unjustly, you must restore to those who are suffering because of it, for their comfort and as an example to others, if you wish to obtain the friendship of God. God is my witness that I don't write these things to you on my own, since I don't even know you; rather, it's what happened to another person that has compelled me, out of divine compassion for your soul, to write this.
The Angelic Sentence
A vision of an angelic rebuke reveals the internal state of a soul that has silenced its conscience in favor of its own will.
That person, not sleeping but wide awake, heard in their prayers the voice of an angel saying: "Urse, Urse, you who are far too bold against God and justice!"1 Your will has so conquered your conscience that your conscience is completely silent, while your will speaks and acts. Therefore, you will soon face judgment before the judgment of God; and your will shall be silent, while your conscience speaks and judges you according to the rectitude of justice.
Read the original Latin
Domine, vos de periculo anime vestre precaueo reducendo ad memoriam, quomodo rex quidam in veteri Testamento legitur unius hominis vineam desiderasse et pro vinea plenum precium prebuisse.
Sed quia possessori non placuit vineam vendere, indignatus rex vineam sibi per iniusticiam et violenciam usurpauit; ad quem postmodum Spiritus sanctus per os unius prophete loquebatur, indicans regem et reginam pro illa iniusticia turpissima morte debere mori.
Quod vere in eis completum est, ipsorumque liberi de predicte vinee possessione nequaquam sunt letati.
Nunc igitur, cum vos Christianus estis et fidem integraliter habetis et scitis certissime eundem Deum nunc esse, qui tunc erat et ita potentem et iustum sicut tunc, ideo sine omni hesitacione scire potestis,
quod si aliquid possidere desideraueritis iniuste aut cogendo possessorem ad vendendum contra velle suum aut nullum precium pro eo exhibendo, vindex erit ille potens et iustus iudex.
Vos quoque in doloribus timere habetis tale iudicium super vos venire, quale super illam reginam legitur peruenisse, vestrosque liberos de male acquisitis non ditari sed magis inopia tribulari.
Te igitur per Ihesu Christi passionem, qui tuam animam suo precioso sanguine redemit, hortor et ammoneo, ut animam tuam pro aliquibus transitoriis personaliter non disperdas sed omnibus iniuste a te vel ob tui causam dampnificatis plene satisfacias,
et quidquid iniuste acquisisti restituas illis ad consolacionem, qui nunc dolorem paciuntur, atque aliis in exemplum, si Dei amiciciam volueris obtinere.
Deus est michi testis, quod tibi ista non scribo a me, cum tui noticiam non habeo, sed illud quod uni persone contigit, hoc me cum diuina compassione anime tue compulit ad scribendum.
Illa enim persona non dormiens sed vigilans audiuit in oracionibus suis vocem angeli dicentis: "Vrse, Vrse, qui nimis audax es contra Deum et iusticiam!
Tua voluntas vicit in te conscienciam tuam ita, quod consciencia tua omnino tacet, et voluntas loquitur et operatur. Ideo cito venies in iudicium ante iudicium Dei; et voluntas tua silencium tenebit, et consciencia tua loquetur, et te ipsum secundum iusticie rectitudinem iudicabit."
Notes
- 1 ↩The name 'Urse' (or 'Ursus') is preserved as a proper noun, as it appears in the source text.
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