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Chapter 37SermC.1.37

Sermo 37

The Necessity of Knowing God

The preacher recalls yesterday's exhortation and insists that no one can be saved without the knowledge of God, since one cannot love or hold fast to a God who is unknown.

I don't think we need to be urged to keep watch any longer, since without a doubt that whispered talk is keeping watch — still fresh as it is, the conversation that charitably came from us yesterday has, well, truly awakened some. So you remember that I have your assent: that no one can be saved without knowing her — from which, to be sure, humility the mother of salvation is born, along with the fear of the Lord, who is himself, just as he is the beginning of wisdom, so also the beginning of salvation. I say that no one is saved without that knowledge — even if they have the age and the capacity to know. I'm saying this because of the little ones, and because of the foolish, whose way of thinking is different. What if you don't know God? Can there be any hope of salvation when God is not known? Certainly not. For you cannot love someone you don't know, nor hold on to someone you haven't loved.

Fear and Love: The Two Foundations

Self-knowledge leads to the fear of God, and knowledge of God leads to love; both are necessary for salvation, while other forms of knowledge are spiritually neutral.

So know yourself, so that you may fear God; know him, so that you may equally soften him. In the one you are initiated into wisdom; in the other you are brought to completion, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and love is the fullness of the law.1 Therefore both kinds of ignorance must be avoided by you, because without the fear and love of God there can be no salvation. Other things are indifferent: they bring salvation if they are known, and damnation if they are unknown.

Sowing Righteousness, Reaping Hope

Learning is not despised, but it must rest on the prior foundation of righteousness and hope; good works, study, and tears are all seeds sown for future glory.

That said, I'm not arguing that literary learning — which adorns the soul, trains it, and enables it to teach others as well — should be despised or neglected. But those two things must come first, and it's good that they should, in which the higher reasoning declared that the sum of salvation is established.2 And see whether the one who said 'Sow for yourselves toward righteousness, reap the hope of life,' wasn't looking to and wasn't teaching this order, and then at last, 'Enlighten for yourselves,' he says, 'the light of knowledge.'✦✦3 He placed knowledge last, like a picture that can't hold its shape over empty space; and so he sent those two ahead and laid them under it, as if spreading something solid beneath the picture. Now I'll safely direct my attention to knowledge, if I first receive from life the security that comes through the gift of hope. So you've sown for yourself toward righteousness if, out of true self-knowledge, you roused yourself to fear God, humbled yourself, shed tears, poured out alms, and dedicated yourself to the other acts of devotion; if you afflicted your body with fasting and vigils, if you struck your breast with blows and wearied heaven with your cries. This, to be sure, is what it means to sow toward righteousness. Good works are seeds, good studies are seeds, and tears are seeds.

Tears of Sowing, Joy of Harvest

Those who sow in tears will return with joy carrying their sheaves; even now the faithful possess the firstfruits of the Spirit as present consolation, not merely future hope.

“They went,” he says, “and wept, scattering their seed.” But what? Will they weep forever? Far from it! But they will come with exultation, carrying their sheaves. Rightly with exultation, when they bring back sheaves of glory. To this you say, “In the resurrection on the last day”—and that's too long a wait. Don't let your spirit be broken; don't give in to faintheartedness. Meanwhile, you have the firstfruits of the Spirit, which for the present you gather in exultation.✦

Rejoicing in Hope

The hope of eternal life is not only future but brings present joy, because hope so great cannot exist without joy in the one who sows toward righteousness.

Sow for yourselves toward righteousness, he says, and reap the hope of life.✦ It doesn't just point you to the last day, when the thing will be real and not merely hoped for, but it speaks of the present. There will be great joy and abundant, overwhelming exultation when life comes.

The Witness of the Spirit

Scripture testifies that the righteous rejoice in hope even now; the Holy Spirit confirms this inwardly, bearing witness that believers are children of God and distributing gifts as He wills.

But can the hope of such great joy exist without joy? Rejoicing in hope, the Apostle says.✦ And David said he had already rejoiced, not that he would one day rejoice, because he hoped he would go into the house of the Lord. He did not yet hold life itself, but he had already reaped its hope; and in his own experience he was tasting the truth of Scripture, which testifies that for the righteous, not only the reward, but the very expectation is joy. This hope brings forth in the heart of the one who has sown for himself unto righteousness, if he has not presumed upon the indulgence of sins — provided, however, that the very indulgence is confirmed by the power of grace received, to live more devoutly from now on. Everyone among you who perceives these things stirring within himself knows what the Spirit is saying, whose voice and working are never at odds with each other. Therefore, then, he understands what is being said, because what he hears outwardly, he perceives inwardly. For the one who speaks in us works in you as one and the same Spirit, distributing to each as he wills: to some, indeed, to speak; to others, however, to work what is good.✦

Already Harvesting: Forgiveness, Holiness, and Life

Those who have tasted God's sweetness have already harvested forgiveness, sanctification, and the hope of eternal life; knowledge of self sows in tears, but knowledge of God reaps in joy.

So whoever among you rejoices that, after the bitter and tearful first stirrings of your conversion, you caught your breath in hope and, lifted on the wings of grace, soared away into a certain serene calm of heavenly consolation — that person is indeed already harvesting, receiving the timely fruit of their tears; and they have seen God, and heard the voice saying: Give her from the fruit of her hands.✦ For how could someone who has tasted and seen that the Lord is sweet not have seen God?✦ How sweet and gentle you were felt to be, Lord Jesus, by the one to whom you granted not only forgiveness of sins, but also the gift of holiness — and not that alone, but added on top of it, to crown all goods, the promise of eternal life! Blessed is the one who has already harvested so much, having meanwhile a fruit for sanctification, and in the end, eternal life!✦ Rightly did the one who wept upon finding himself rejoice upon seeing the Lord: at the mere gaze of his mercy, such sheaves has that person already lifted — forgiveness, sanctification, the hope of life. Oh, how true is the word read in the Prophet: Those who sow in tears will reap with exultation.✦ There both kinds of knowledge are briefly summed up: knowledge of ourselves, which sows in tears; and knowledge of God, which reaps in joy.

The Glory of Divine Adoption

All earthly learning and glory pale beside the dignity of being called children of God; hope does not disappoint because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

So when this double knowledge goes before us — the knowledge of ourselves and of God — whatever learning may have grown up alongside it does not puff us up, since it can offer nothing of earthly profit or honor that isn't plainly inferior to the hope conceived, and to the joy of that hope, now rooted more deeply in the soul.✦4 Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.✦ That hope does not disappoint, because this one pours in certainty.5 For through this the Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God.✦ What, then, can come from all our learning, however great, that is not worth less than this glory — the glory by which we are counted among the children of God?6 I've said too little: the world itself and all its fullness can't even be compared to it — even if the whole world were handed over to each one of us as our possession.7 But if ignorance of God holds us, how can we hope in someone we don't know? If we are our own, how can we be humble, thinking ourselves to be something when we are nothing?8

Pride and Despair: The Twin Ignorances

Ignorance of self gives birth to pride, the beginning of all sin, while ignorance of God breeds despair, the consummation of malice; both must be driven away by the twin knowledge of self and God.

We know, moreover, that the proud and the despairing have no share or place in the inheritance of the saints. Look, then, with me now at how much care and concern we ought to devote to driving both of those ignorances away from us—one of which gives birth to the beginning of all sin, and the other to its completion—just as, of two corresponding kinds of knowledge, one brings forth the beginning of wisdom, and the other its perfection; the one produces the fear of the Lord, the other produces love.9 But that point about kinds of knowledge was shown above. Now consider the ignorances. For just as the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so pride is the beginning of all sin; and just as the love of God claims the perfection of wisdom for itself, so despair claims the entire consummation of malice for itself. And just as the fear of God comes into you from knowledge of yourself, and likewise the love of God comes from knowledge of God, so conversely, pride comes from ignorance of yourself, and despair comes from ignorance of God. So ignorance of yourself breeds pride in you, when your thinking—both deceived and deceiving—lies to you that you are better than you are. This indeed is pride, the beginning of all sin: when you are greater in your own eyes than you are before God, than you are in truth. And therefore, about the one who first committed this great sin (I am speaking of the devil), it has been said that he did not stand in the truth, but is a liar from the beginning; because what was in his thought was not in the truth.✦

Choosing the Lowest Place

Since God's judgment remains hidden, it is safer and more just to choose the lowest place for oneself, following Christ's counsel, than to risk the shame of self-exaltation.

What if someone strayed from the truth in this way, so that he thought himself less and lower than the truth itself shows him to be? His ignorance would no doubt excuse him, and he'd hardly be thought proud; his iniquity wouldn't be found so hateful as his humility would perhaps be found gracious. For if we clearly knew in what state God holds each one of us, we'd neither withdraw above nor below the truth, but rest content with it in all things. But as it is, because God has made darkness his hiding place and his counsel remains hidden from us, so that no one knows whether he is worthy of love or of hatred, it's more just and more truly safe, following the counsel of Truth himself, for us to choose the lowest place for ourselves — the place from which we may later be raised higher with honor — rather than presume a higher one, from which we may soon be bound to step down in shame.✦10

The Doorway of Humility

No humiliation is dangerous, but the slightest pride is deadly; therefore compare yourself to no one, recline in the last place, and recognize that ignorance of self is the root of all sin.

So there's no danger in it: however much you humble yourself, however much you consider yourself less than you really are — that is, less than the truth about you holds. But it's a great evil and a terrible danger if you raise yourself up even a little beyond what's true, or if in your own mind you place yourself above even one person whom truth perhaps judges your equal, or even your better. Think of it this way — to make it clear: if you pass through a door whose lintel is set very low, it won't hurt you no matter how far you bend down. But it will hurt if you raise yourself up even a finger's width beyond what the doorway allows, so that you strike your head and are knocked down, shaken. So in the soul, no humiliation, however great, is something to plainly fear; but the slightest pride, rashly assumed, is horrifying and something to dread above all else. So don't compare yourself, my friend, to those above you, don't compare yourself to those below you, don't compare yourself to anyone at all, don't compare yourself to even a single person. After all, how do you know — my friend — whether that one person you perhaps consider the most worthless and wretched of all, whose life you shudder at as utterly wicked and especially depraved, and therefore think should be despised not only by you, who perhaps now trust that you are living soberly, justly, and faithfully, but even by all other sinners as the worst of the lot — how do you know, I say, whether by a change brought about by the right hand of the Most High, that person might become better than you and than them, already such as they are in God, even if not yet such in themselves?✦ And therefore God did not want us to choose a middle place, or even the second-to-last, or even the last place itself among the last of all: 'But recline,' he says, 'in the very last place,' so that you alone, plainly, sit as the last of all, and don't place yourself before anyone — I won't say don't prefer yourself to anyone, but don't even presume to compare yourself.✦ See what great evil comes from ignorance of ourselves — surely the sin of the devil, and the beginning of all sin: pride. What else ignorance may bring forth, even concerning God, we'll see elsewhere.

Final Admonition and Doxology

Because the hour is late, the preacher closes with a brief warning against self-ignorance, commending the hearers to Christ the sponsor of the Church, and sealing the sermon with 'Amen.'

Because the hour is too short to allow it now, since we gathered late today. And so let it be enough for each one now to have been warned not to be ignorant of himself — not only by our discourse, but also by the very condescension of the sponsor of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God over all, blessed forever.11 Amen.

Read the original Latin

Puto, non habemus nunc opus hortari ad vigilandum, cum absque dubio sermo ille suggillatorius vigilet, utpote adhuc recens, qui heri a nobis charitative prolatus, bene aliquos expergefecit. Ergo tenetis memoria quod teneam assensum vestrum, neminem absque sui cognitione salvari: de qua nimirum mater salutis humilitas oritur, et timor Domini, qui et ipse sicut initium sapientiae, ita est et salutis. Nemo, dico, absque illa cognitione salvatur, qui tamen aetatem habeat ac facultatem cognoscendi. Quod propter parvulos loquor, et propter fatuos, quorum alia ratio est. Quid, si ignoras Deum? poteritne spes esse salutis cum Dei ignorantia? Ne hoc quidem. Nec enim potes aut amare quem nescias, aut habere quem non amaveris.

Noveris proinde te, ut Deum timeas; noveris ipsum, ut aeque ipsum mitigas. In altero initiaris ad sapientiam, in altero et consummaris quia initium sapientiae timor Domini, est, et plenitudo legis est charitas. Tam ergo utraque ignorantia cavenda est tibi, quam sine timore et amore Dei salus esse non potest. Caetera indifferentia sunt, nec salutem, si sciantur, nec damnationem, si nesciantur, habentia.

Non tamen dico contemnendam aut negligendam scientiam litterarum, quae ornat animam, et erudit eam, et facit ut possit etiam alios erudire. Sed duo illa oportet et expedit ut praecedant, in quibus summam salutis constitui superior ratio declaravit. Et vide, si non intuebatur, et si non docebat hunc ordinem qui dicebat: Seminate vobis ad iustitiam, metite spem vitae; et tunc demum illuminate vobis, ait, lumen scientiae. Ultimam posuit scientiam, tanquam picturam, quae statum habere nequeat super inane: et ideo illa duo praemisit et subiecit illi, tanquam si solidum aliquid picturae substerneret. Securus iam intendam scientiae, si vitae prius per beneficium spei securitatem accepero. Tu ergo seminasti tibi ad iustitiam, si ex vera notitia tui evigilasti timere Deum, temetipsum humiliasti, fudisti lacrymas, eleemosynas profudisti, caeterisque te pietatis actionibus mancipasti, si ieiuniis et vigiliis afflixisti corpus, si pectus tunsionibus, coelos clamoribus fatigasti. Hoc siquidem seminare est ad iustitiam. Semina sunt bona opera, bona studia; semina lacrymae sunt.

Ibant, inquit, et flebant mittentes semina sua. Sed quid? semper flebunt? Absit! Sed venient cum exsultatione portantes manipulos suos. Merito cum exsultatione, cum reportant manipulos gloriae. Ad istud, inquis, in resurrectione in novissimo die, et est nimis longa exspectatio. Noli animo frangi, noli deficere a pusillanimitate spiritus; habes interim de primitiis spiritus, quod ad praesens in exsultatione metas.

Seminate, ait, vobis ad iustitiam, metite spem vitae. Non te modo mittit ad diem novissimum, quando res iam erit in re, et non in spe; sed de praesenti loquitur. Prorsus magna laetitia et exsultatio multa et nimis, cum vita venerit.

Sed nunquid tantae laetitiae spes erit sine laetitia? Spe gaudentes, ait Apostolus. Et David non laetaturum, sed laetatum se dixit, quod in domum Domini se speraret iturum. Nondum vitam tenebat, sed spem profecto vitae messuerat; atque in semetipso experiebatur veritatem Scripturae perhibentis quia non modo remuneratio, sed ipsa quoque exspectatio iustorum laetitia. Hanc parit in animo illius qui sibi ad iustitiam seminavit, praesumpta indulgentia delictorum, si tamen ipsam indulgentiam efficacia attestatur acceptae gratiae ad vivendum sanctius deinceps. Omnis in vobis qui haec sentit intra se actitari, scit quid loquitur Spiritus, cuius vox atque operatio minime inter se unquam dissentiunt. Propterea ergo intelligit quae dicuntur, quoniam quae foris audit, intus sentit. Nam, qui in nobis loquitur, operatur in vobis unus atque idem Spiritus, dividens singulis prout vult : aliis quidem loqui, aliis autem operari quod bonum est.

Quisquis itaque vestrum post illa amara et lacrymosa conversionis suae primordia respirasse in spem atque in quoddam serenum supernae consolationis pennis gratiae sublevatum se evolasse laetatur; is profecto iam metit, suarum recipiens fructum temporaneum lacrymarum; et ipse vidit Deum, et audivit vocem dicentis: Date ei de fructibus manuum suarum. Nam, quomodo non vidit Deum, qui gustavit et vidit quoniam suavis est Dominus? Quam dulcem et suavem te sensit, Domine Iesu, cui a te non modo peccata donata sunt, sed et munus sanctitatis indultum est; neque id solum, sed et addita insuper ad cumulum bonorum vitae aeternae promissio! Felix qui tantum iam messuit, habens interim quidem fructum suum in sanctificationem, finem vero vitam aeternam! Merito qui se invento flevit, gavisus est viso Domino: ad cuius utique miserationis intuitum tantos iam levavit manipulos, remissionem, sanctificationem, spem vitae. O quam verus est sermo qui in Propheta legitur: Qui seminant in lacrymis, in exsultatione metent. Ubi breviter comprehensa utraque cognitio est: et nostri quidem in lacrymis serens; quae autem Dei, metens in gaudio.

Hac ergo in gobis gemina praecunte notitia, iam ea quae forte supercreverit scientia minime inflat, utpote quae nihil afferre valeat terreni commodi vel honoris, quod non sit sane inferius spe concepta, laetitiaque spei iam altius radicata in animo. Spes autem non confundit; quia charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis. Ideo illa non confundit, quia ista infundit certitudinem. Per hanc enim ipse Spiritus testimonium perhibet spiritui nostro, quod filii Dei sumus. Quidnam igitur nobis de nostra quantacunque scientia provenire possit quod non sit minus hac gloria, qua inter Dei filios numeramur? Parum dixi: nec respici in eius comparatione potest orbis ipse et plenitudo eius, etiamsi totus cedat unicuivis nostrum in possessionem. Caeterum, si nos ignorantia Dei tenet, quomodo speramus in eum quem ignoramus? si nostri, quomodo humiles erimus, putantes nos aliquid esse, cum nihil simus?

Scimus autem nec superbis, nec desperatis partem esse vel societatem in sorte sanctorum.

Intuere ergo nunc mecum, quanta cura et sollicitudine ambas istas repellere a nobis ignorantias debeamus, quarum omnis peccati altera initium parit, altera consummationem: sicut duarum e regione notitiarum initium sapientiae una, perfectionem altera gignit; illa timorem Domini, ista charitatem. At istud de notitiis supra ostensum est. Nunc de ignorantiis vide. Etenim, sicut initium sapientiae timor Domini, sic initium omnis peccati superbia : et quomodo perfectionem sibi sapientiae vindicat amor Dei, ita desperatio sibi omnem malitiae consummationem. Et quemadmodum ex notitia tui venit in te timor Dei, atque ex Dei notitia Dei itidem amor; sic e contrario de ignorantia tui superbia, ac de Dei ignorantia venit desperatio. Sic autem superbiam parit tibi ignorantia tui, cum meliorem quam sis, decepta et deceptrix tua cogitatio te esse mentitur. Hoc quippe et superbia, hoc initium omnis peccati, cum maior es in tuis oculis quam apud Deum, quam in veritate. Et ideo qui primus peccavit hoc grande peccatum (diabolum loquor), de ipso dictum est quia in veritate non stetit, sed mendax est ab initio; quoniam, quod in sua fuit cogitatione, non fuit in veritate.

Quid, si in eo discordaret a veritate, ut minorem se inferioremque putaret, quam veritas haberet? Excusaret eum sua procul dubio ignorantia, et minime reputaretur superbus, nec tam inveniretur iniquitas eius ad odium, quam humilitas fortassis ad gratiam. Si enim in quonam statu unumquemque nostrum habeat Deus, liquido cognosceremus; nec supra sane, nec infra secedere deberemus, veritati in omnibus acquiescentes. Nunc autem, quia consilium hoc posuit tenebras latibulum suum, et sermo absconditus est a nobis, ita ut nemo sciat si dignus sit amore vel odio; iustius tutiusque profecto, iuxta ipsius Veritatis consilium, novissimum nobis locum eligimus, de quo postmodum cum honore superius educamur, quam praesumimus altiorem, unde cedere mox oporteat cum rubore.

Non est ergo periculum, quantumcunque te humilies, quantumcunque reputes minorem quam sis, hoc est, quam te veritas habeat. Est autem grande malum, horrendumque periculum, si vel modice plus vero te extollas, si vel uni videlicet in tua cogitatione te praeferas quem forte parem tibi veritas iudicat, aut etiam superiorem. Quemadmodum enim si per ostium transeas, cuius superliminare, ut ad intelligentiam loquar, nimium bassum sit, non nocet quantumcunque te inclinaveris; nocet autem, si vel transversi digiti spatio plus quam ostii patitur mensura, erexeris, ita ut impingas et capite quassato collidaris; sic in anima non est plane timenda quantalibet humiliatio, horrenda autem nimiumque pavenda vel minima temere praesumpta erectio. Quamobrem noli te, homo, comparare maioribus, noli minoribus, noli aliquibus, noli uni. Quid scis enim, o homo, si unus ille, quem forte omnium vilissimum atque miserrimum reputas, cuius vitam sceleratissimam ac singulariter foedissimam horres, et propterea illum putas spernendum non modo prae te, qui forte iam sobrie, et iuste, et pie vivere te confidis, sed etiam prae caeteris omnibus sceleratis tanquam omnium sceleratissimum: quid scis, inquam, si melior et te, et illis mutatione dexterae Excelsi in se quidem futurus sit, in Deo vero iam sit? Et propterea non mediocrem, non vel penultimum, non ipsum saltem inter novissimos eligere locum nos voluit: sed recumbe, inquit, in novissimo loco; ut solus videlicet omnium novissimus sedeas, teque nemini, non dico praeponas, sed nec comparare praesumas. En quantum malum venit de ignorantia nostri, utique peccatum diaboli, et initium omnis peccati, superbia. Quid etiam Dei parturiat ignorantia, alias videbimus.

Nam nunc horae brevitas non permittit, quoniam hodie tarde convenimus. Itaque sufficiat unumquemque modo, ne se ipsum ignoret, admonitum esse, non solum sermone nostro, sed ipsius quoque dignatione sponsi Ecclesiae Iesu Christi Domini nostri, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Hos.10.12 — Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap according to steadfast love; break up your fallow ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness upon you.
  2. ↩Ps.119.105;Isa.58.10 — Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. Isa.58.10 — and if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
  3. ↩Rom.8.23 — Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
  4. ↩Hos.10.12;Gal.6.8 — Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap according to steadfast love; break up your fallow ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness upon you. Gal.6.8 — For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
  5. ↩Rom.12.12 — Rejoice in hope; endure in affliction; persevere in prayer.
  6. ↩1Cor.12.11 — But the one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills.
  7. ↩Prov.31.31 — Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.
  8. ↩Ps.33.9 — For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
  9. ↩Rom.6.22 — But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end is eternal life.
  10. ↩Ps.125.5 — As for those who turn to crooked ways, the LORD will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel.
  11. ↩1Cor.8.1 — Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that all of us possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
  12. ↩Rom.5.5 — And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
  13. ↩Rom.8.16 — The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
  14. ↩John.8.44 — You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.
  15. ↩Ps.18.11 — He rode on a cherub and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
  16. ↩Luke.1.52 — He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.
  17. ↩Luke.14.10 — But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will have glory before all who are reclining at table with you.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The clause order is slightly ambiguous in the source: 'quia initium sapientiae timor Domini, est, et plenitudo legis est charitas.' The connective 'est' after 'Domini' is rendered with the natural English pairing 'is the beginning … and love is the fullness,' preserving the explanatory 'because' (quia) that governs both halves.
  2. 2 ↩superior ratio: the 'higher reasoning' or 'higher rationale'; could denote a divinely given order of wisdom. The sense is that a superior ordering principle has declared where salvation's fullness rests.
  3. 3 ↩The quoted imperatives echo Hosea 10:12 ('Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap steadfast love') and Isaiah 58:10 / Psalm 119:105 ('Let your light shine'). The embedded 'light of knowledge' phrasing is not a direct Moses quotation; candidate allusion held for later resolution.
  4. 4 ↩The phrase 'in gobis' is a rare form (possibly 'gobius/gobio,' meaning pots or vessels); the intended sense seems to be 'in these vessels,' i.e., our frail bodies. The translation renders it contextually as 'twin knowledge' (gemina notitia) going before us, preserving the metaphor of paired self-knowledge and knowledge of God.
  5. 5 ↩The pronouns 'illa' and 'ista' create a rhetorical contrast between the two kinds of hope/knowledge discussed. 'Illa' (that former knowledge-based hope) is distinguished from 'ista' (this knowledge that infuses certainty). The translation preserves the distinction with 'that' and 'this.'
  6. 6 ↩The manuscript reads 'filios' (accusative plural) where 'filiorum' (genitive plural) might be expected. The translation follows the apparent sense: 'counted among the children of God,' taking 'filios' as an accusative of respect or a textual variant for the genitive.
  7. 7 ↩'Parum dixi' ('I've said too little') is a rhetorical understatement meaning 'I haven't said enough' — the comparison falls short. The translation captures this idiomatically.
  8. 8 ↩'Si nostri' is elliptical — likely meaning 'if we belong to ourselves' (i.e., are self-possessed, self-reliant). The translation renders this as 'If we are our own.' The 'cum' clause is concessive: 'when in fact we are nothing.'
  9. 9 ↩“e regione notitiarum” is an idiomatic phrase meaning the knowledges correspond region by region, or directly parallel each other. Rendered as “corresponding kinds of knowledge” to capture the structural parallelism.
  10. 10 ↩The phrase 'he has made darkness his hiding place' echoes Psalm 18:11 (Vulgate), though the surrounding counsel-language is the author's own application.
  11. 11 ↩Sponsor (sponsi) here refers to Christ as the one who espouses or underwrites the Church; rendered 'sponsor' to preserve the nuptial-spousal resonance without archaism.

Sermones super Cantica Canticorum (Sermons on the Song of Songs) companion

Practice Bernard's method every morning

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Bernard built his monks' devotion around a short daily portion of one text taken slowly; Chosen Portion serves the same daily-portion practice on your phone.

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