Whanne the use of the wittes and of the imaginacioun is deedli synne, and whanne
The Parable of the Great Supper
The author introduces the Gospel parable of the great supper to illustrate how worldly attachments can hinder one's response to God's invitation.
Venial. Still, I'll say something about your question, because your desire draws more out of my heart than I intended at the start. Our Lord says in the Gospel: A man gave a great banquet and invited many. He sent his servant to tell those who were invited to come. The first said, "I've bought a farm; please, excuse me."1 The second said, "I've bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm going to test them out."2 And the third said, "I've married a wife, so I can't come" (Luke 14:16–20).✦ A man gave a great banquet and invited many to it, and at dinner time he sent his servant to those who had been invited. The first excused himself, saying he couldn't come because he had bought a farm; the second also excused himself, saying he couldn't come because he had bought five yoke of oxen and was going to test them out; the third excused himself because he had married a wife.3
The Five Senses and Vain Delight
The author interprets the 'five yoke of oxen' as the five senses, warning against seeking vain delight in creatures as a substitute for God.
I'll set aside the first and the last to speak of the middle one—the man who bought the oxen. These five yokes of oxen represent the five senses, which are beastly, like an ox.4 The man invited to the supper wasn't reproved because he bought the oxen, but because he went off to try them out and therefore wouldn't come. I tell you the same: having your senses and using them when necessary isn't a sin; but if you go off to test them through vain delight in creatures, then it is a sin. If you choose that delight as the final rest of your soul and as your full satisfaction—so that you keep no other bliss but only that kind of worldly vanity—then it is a mortal sin.5 For you are choosing it as your God, and so you will be shut out from the supper. The wise man forbade us to test our senses that way when he said: 'Do not go after your desires' (Ecclesiasticus 18:30).6 You must not follow your lusts, nor willfully test your pleasures.
Distinguishing Mortal and Venial Sin
The author clarifies the difference between mortal and venial sins regarding worldly attachments, noting that while venial sins do not exclude one from heaven, they hinder spiritual fervor.
Anyone burdened with mortal sins won't escape mortal sin in this matter, even if they don't see it; but I hope it doesn't touch you. Nevertheless, if out of frailty you take delight in your senses and in such vanity, but otherwise keep yourself in charity, and you don't choose that delight as the final rest of your soul, but always set God before everything in your desire—this sin is venial, greater or lesser according to the circumstances.7 You won't be shut out from the supper in the bliss of heaven because of these venial sins; but you will lack the tasting and sampling of that delicate supper while living on earth, unless you are diligent with all your powers to resist them.8 For while it's true that venial sins don't break charity, they certainly hinder the fervor and the spiritual feeling of charity.
Read the original Latin
venyal.
Neverethelees, sumdeel schal y seie to thi questioun, for thi desire draweth oute of myn herte more thanne I thought for to have seid in the bigynnynge. Oure Lord seith in the Goospel thus: Homo quidam fecit cenam magnam et vocavit multos. Et misit servum suum dicere invitatis ut venirent. Primus dixit: Villam emi; rogo te, habe me excusatum. Secundus dixit: Iuga boum emi quinque, et eo probare ea. Et tercius dixit: Uxorem duxi, et ideo non possum venire (Luke 14:16-20). A man made a gret sopeer and called many therto, and sent his servaunt at sopeer tyme to hem that weren praied. The first excuside hym that he myght not come, for he hadde bought a toun; the tothir also excuside hym that he myght not come, for he hadde bought fyve yokkes of oxsen and yeede for to assaie hem; the thridde excusid hym for he hadde wedded a wif.
I leve for to speke of the firste and of the laste, and telle the myddel, of hym that boughte the oxen. Thise fyve yokkes of oxen bitoken the fyve wittes, whiche aren beesteli, as an oxe. Now this man that was callid to the sopeer was not reproved for he boughte the oxen, but for he yeede for to assaie hem, and so he wolde not come. Right so y seie to thee, for to have thy wittes and use hem in nede, it is no synne; but yif thou goo for to assaie hem bi veyn delite in creaturis, thanne it is synne. For yif thou chese that delite as a fynal reste of thi soule and as a ful likynge, that thou kepist noon nother blisse have but sich othir wordli vanyté, thanne it is deedli synne. For thou chesist it as thi God, and so schal thou be putte fro the sopeer. For the wise man forbeed us that we schulde not assaie oure wittes so, whanne he seide thus: Non eatis post concupiscentias vestras (Ecclesiasticus 18:30). Thou schalt not goo aftir thi lustes, ne wilfulli assaie thyn likynges.
A man or a woman that is encombred with deedli synnes schal not ascape deedli synne in this, though he see it not; but I hope that it toucheth not thee. Neverethelees, yif thou bi freelté delite thee in thi wittes and in sich vanyté, but with that, thou kepist thee in charité in othir sides, and thou chesist not that delite for a ful reste of thi soule, but thou settest ai God bifore al thyng in thi desire, this synne is venyal, aftir the circumstaunces more or lasse. Ne thou schalt not for thise venyal synnes be putte fro the sopeer in the blisse of hevene, but thou schal wante the tastynge and the assaiynge of that delicat sopeer lyvynge in erthe, but yif thou be bisie with alle thi myghtes for to agenstonde sich venyal synnes. For though it be soo that venial synnes breketh not charité, soothli thei lette the fervour and the goostli felynge of charité.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.14.16-Luke.14.20 — But he said to him, 'A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many.' Luke.14.17 — And he sent his servant at the hour of the banquet to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for it is now ready.' Luke.14.18 — And they all, with one accord, began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you, have me excused.' Luke.14.19 — And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you to excuse me.' Luke.14.20 — And another said, 'I have married a wife, and because of this I am not able to come.'
Notes
- 1 ↩Latin villam / ME toun: estate or farmstead, not a modern town; rendered farm to match the Gospel sense.
- 2 ↩Source Latin is slightly condensed (et eo probare ea) versus fuller Vulgate wording; sense is clear: going off to test the oxen.
- 3 ↩ME toun renders Latin villam (estate/farm); kept as farm for consistency with s4 and Gospel sense.
- 4 ↩wittes = the five bodily senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch), not intellectual wits.
- 5 ↩deedli synne rendered as mortal sin (deadly sin), the traditional category opposed to venial sin in the next section.
- 6 ↩Latin Non eatis post concupiscentias vestras rendered in modern English; citation follows the source. Deuterocanonical (Sirach/Ecclesiasticus); final Moses resolution deferred.
- 7 ↩charité is rendered charity here as the theological virtue whose preservation marks the boundary between venial and mortal sin in this passage.
- 8 ↩ME but yif is rendered unless (the exception condition on lacking earthly taste of the supper, not on exclusion from heaven).
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
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