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Chapter 66SermC.1.66

Sermo 66

The Foxes in the Vineyard

The little foxes that ruin the vineyards are heretics and hypocrites who plunder the faith of the people and the dignity of the priests.

Catch the little foxes that are tearing down our vineyards for us.✦ Look, I'm coming against those foxes. They themselves are the ones who go beyond the way and harvest the vineyard. They're not content to abandon the way unless they can also lay waste to the vineyard, adding transgression. It's not enough to be heretics unless they're also hypocrites, so that the one sinning is sinning beyond measure. These are the ones who come in sheep's clothing to strip bare the sheep and despoil the rams.✦ Doesn't it seem to you that both things are fulfilled, where both the common people are plundered of faith and the priests are plundered by the common people? Who then are these plunderers?

The Hypocrisy of the Foxes

These false teachers disguise their malice under the appearance of virtue, using a vow of continence to cover their shame while redefining morality to suit their impurity.

These are sheep in outward bearing, foxes in cunning, and in action and cruelty they are wolves. These are people who want to appear good without being good, and don't want to appear evil — but are. They are evil, and want to appear good, so they won't be the only ones who are evil; yet they're afraid to be seen as evil, in case they're not evil enough.1 In fact, open malice has always done less harm, and no one has ever been deceived by someone good — only by the pretense of goodness.2 And so, when it comes to harming good people, the good strive to appear good; the evil don't want this, since it gives them more freedom to act maliciously.3 Among them there's no interest in practicing virtues, but in coloring vices with a kind of outward show of virtue — like painting them with red lead.4 In the end, they label the impiety of superstition with the name of religious life.5 They define innocence as nothing more than not harming openly — and so they claim the appearance of innocence for themselves alone. They bind themselves by a vow of continence as a cover for their shame. What's more, they think shame is something that applies only to wives, since only the one who is with a wife provides the reason that excuses shame in intercourse.

The Demonic Origin of Their Heresy

Unlike other heresies that have human founders, this sect originates from demons, fulfilling the Apostle's prophecy about those who forbid marriage under the guise of false holiness.

They are crude and ignorant men, and altogether contemptible — but I tell you, they must not be dealt with carelessly. For they advance greatly toward impiety, and their talk spreads like a cancer.✦ And yet the Holy Spirit, who once spoke so clearly about these things through the Apostle, did not overlook them: 'The Spirit explicitly says that in the last times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to spirits of error and to the teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of those who speak lies, with their own conscience seared, forbidding marriage and requiring abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving.'✦ These are the ones he meant — absolutely, these are the ones he was speaking of. These are the ones who forbid marriage and abstain from the foods God created — the ones we'll speak about further below. But now consider whether this isn't truly the work of demons and not a human deception, just as the Spirit had foretold. Ask them who the founder of their sect is; they won't give you anyone. What heresy has never had its own founder drawn from among human beings? The Manichaeans had Mani as their leader and teacher, the Sabellians had Sabellius, the Arians had Arius, the Eunomians had Eunomius, the Nestorians had Nestorius. In the same way, all these other plagues of the same kind are known to have each had their own individual teachers, human beings, from whom they simultaneously took both their origin and their name. What name or title would you give them? None at all, since their heresy didn't come from man, nor did they receive it through a man. Far be it, then, that it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ; rather, without a doubt, just as the Holy Spirit foretold, it came through the infusion and deceit of demons, in the hypocrisy of those speaking lies and forbidding marriage!✦6

The Folly of Condemning Marriage

Forbidding marriage does not increase chastity but unleashes every form of uncleanness, trapping the heretics in a logical pit where their doctrine inevitably destroys either honor or salvation.

They talk about this with hypocrisy and plain, fox-like cunning, pretending that what they say comes from a love of chastity, when in fact they've invented it to foster and multiply what is shameful. And yet the matter is so plain that I'm amazed any Christian could ever have been persuaded otherwise — unless these people are so bestial that they don't notice how the one who condemns marriage lets loose every rein of uncleanness, or at least are so full of wickedness and devilish malice that, fully aware of it, they still disguise their meaning and rejoice in the ruin of others. Take honorable marriage and the spotless bed out of the Church — don't you then fill the couch with concubines, with incestuous men, with those who spill their seed, with soft males, with men who lie with other men, and with every kind of uncleanness imaginable? So choose which you will: either all these monstrous people are saved, or the number of those who are saved is reduced to the few who practice continence. How sparing he is with the one! How generous with the other! Neither of these is fitting for the Savior. What? Will disgrace be crowned? Nothing less befits the author of honor itself. Will everyone be condemned except for a few who practice self-restraint? That is not what it means to be a Savior. Self-restraint is rare in this world, and that fullness did not empty itself for the sake of so small a gain to the world. And how have we all received of that fullness, if he granted a share of himself only to those who practice self-restraint? There is no answer they can give to that. But I don't believe that either. If there's any place for decency in heaven, then the honorable and the shameful can have nothing to do with each other — just as light and darkness have nothing in common. Indeed, no unclean person remains in the place of salvation. If anyone thinks otherwise, the apostolic voice will convict him beyond all ambiguity, declaring that those who do such things will not possess the kingdom of God.7 When will this treacherous little fox ever leave its den? I think it's been caught in a pit, where it made itself two openings, as it were — one to enter through and another to escape through. That's what it's accustomed to. See, then, how its escape is blocked on both sides. If he admits only the chaste into heaven, then salvation is lost to the greater part of it; if he admits all the filth along with the chaste, then what is honorable is lost. But she more justly perishes — unable to get out on this side or that — shut in forever and caught in the pit she made.

The False Argument for Virgin Marriage

The heretics wrongly claim that only virgins may marry, twisting the creation account and the Lord's words, but Scripture explicitly emphasizes the distinction of sexes, not virginity, as the basis for union.

Some, however, who disagree with others, confess that marriage can be contracted only among virgins. But what reasoned distinction they can offer in this matter, I do not see — unless it is that each one, following his own whim, vies with the others to tear apart the sacraments of the Church, like a mother's womb, with a viper's tooth. For what they are said to allege about the first married couples — that they were virgins — how does that, I ask you, prejudice the freedom of marriage, so that it would not also be permitted to be contracted among those who are not virgins? But I don't know what they whisper they have found in the Gospel, which they vainly suppose supports their foolishness. This I believe: that when the Lord had set forth testimony from Genesis — 'And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them' — he then added, 'Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.'✦✦ These two, they say, God joined together because both were virgins, and so it was no longer permitted for them to be separated; but a union otherwise presumed will not be from God. Who told you that they were joined together by God because they were virgins? For Scripture does not say this. Were they not virgins, he says? They were; but it's not the same thing — being virgins when joined, and being joined because they were virgins. Although you won't even find this stated by name — that they were virgins — even if they were. The distinction of the sexes is clearly expressed, not that of virginity, since it says, 'Male and female he created them.'✦ Rightly indeed. For the marital union of bodies does not require integrity, but the fitness of the sexes. Rightly then, the Holy Spirit, instituting it, expressed sex, and was silent about virginity, and did not give the treacherous little foxes a chance to hunt for a word. Which they would certainly have gladly done; although even that would have been in vain. What if he had said, 'He created them virgins'?✦ Would you have seized on that alone as proof that only virgins may be joined in marriage? And yet how you would have crowed over a single word's opening! How you would have sneered at second and third marriages! How you would have mocked a Catholic woman for taking up with prostitutes and pimps — pairing off with them all the more eagerly, in fact, the more shamelessly they move from disgrace to respectability, which she doesn't hesitate to do.8 You might even have found fault with God for commanding the prophet to take a prostitute as his wife — but as it happens, that opening is no longer available, and it suits you just fine to be a heretic for free.✦9 The testimony you seized on to build up your error has turned out to be stronger for tearing it down: it does nothing in your favor and everything against you.

Apostolic Freedom to Marry

The Apostle Paul explicitly grants widows the freedom to marry, proving that marriage is a permitted and expedient good, not a restricted privilege only for virgins.

But now hear how it either wholly confounds or corrects you, and crushes and shatters your heresy completely. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband has died, she is released from the law of the husband; she may marry whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord. Paul is the one who grants a widow permission to marry whomever she wishes; and you, on the contrary, enjoin that no one marry except a virgin — and this only for a virgin, so that she may not marry whomever she wishes, or even on her own. Why do you curtail the hand of God? Why do you restrict the ample blessing of marriage? Why do you claim as proper to the virgin what is granted to the whole sex? Paul would not grant this unless it were permitted. But I'm putting it too mildly — he grants it, and he wills it too. I want, he says, the younger women to marry — and there's no doubt he means widows. What could be clearer than that? So what he allows, because it's permitted, he also wills, because it's expedient. Is a heretic forbidding what is both permitted and expedient? This prohibition won't persuade anyone of anything — except that the one imposing it is a heretic.

Holy Abstinence vs. Heretical Superstition

While the faithful practice bodily discipline for the sake of humility and prayer, the heretics superstitiously reject God's good creation, calling unclean what God has made clean.

It remains that we should also press them a little further on the rest of the apostolic prophecy. For these people abstain, as he foretold, from the foods God created to be received with thanksgiving — and in this way they show themselves to be heretics, not because they truly abstain, but because they abstain heretically.✦ I too sometimes abstain, but my abstinence is satisfaction for sins, not superstition for impiety. Surely we don't fault Paul because he disciplines his body and brings it into subjection?✦ I'll abstain from wine, because sensuality lives in wine; or if I'm weak, I'll use a little, following Paul's advice.✦ I'll abstain from meat, lest by overfeeding the flesh too much, it also feeds the flesh's vices at the same time. I'll make a point of taking even bread in measured amounts, so that a burdened belly doesn't make it wearisome to stand for prayer, and so the prophet won't reproach me for having eaten my bread to fullness.✦ But I won't even make a habit of gulping down plain water, lest the belly's distension reach all the way to the stirring of lust. A heretic does things differently. Surely such a one shudders at milk and whatever is made from it — in short, everything that is conceived through sexual union. And rightly and in a Christian manner — if not because these things come from sexual union, lest they lead to it. But what does it mean that, as a general rule, everything generated from sexual union is avoided? This close scrutiny of foods that are so explicitly singled out raises a suspicion in me. But if you bring us this from the physicians' rule, we don't fault caring for the flesh, which no one has ever hated, as long as it isn't excessive. If it's about the discipline of the abstinent, that is, the school of spiritual physicians, we also commend the virtue by which you tame the flesh and bridle lust. But if you're setting up the madness of Mani against God's generosity, so that what he created and gave to be received with thanksgiving, you not only treat ungratefully but, as a rash and impure judge, declare it unclean and abstain from it as though from something evil, I certainly won't praise the abstinence, but I'll curse the blasphemy: I'd say you are the more impure one, who considers something impure. To the clean, all things are clean, says the finest judge of all, and nothing is unclean except to the one who thinks something is unclean. But to the unclean and the unfaithful, nothing is clean, because their mind and conscience are defiled. Woe to you who reject the foods God created, judging them unclean and unworthy as you pass them into your bodies, since for this reason Christ's body, which is the Church, has spit you out as polluted and unclean.

The Hidden Darkness of the False Church

The heretics falsely claim to be the true Church and successors of the apostles, yet they remain hidden in darkness, contradicting the visible nature of Christ's universal kingdom.

I'm not unaware that they boast of being, alone, the body of Christ; but let them persuade themselves of this, who are already persuaded of it — that they have the power, daily, at their own table, to consecrate the body and blood of Christ for feeding themselves into the body of Christ and his members. To be sure, they boast of being successors of the apostles, and they call themselves apostolic, yet unable to show any sign of their own apostleship. How long will the lamp stay under a bushel? 'You are the light of the world,' it was said to the apostles; and so the apostles were placed on a lampstand, to shine out to the whole world. Let the successors of the apostles be ashamed, then, of being not the light of the world but the light of a bushel — while the world sits in darkness. Let us say to them: 'You are the darkness of the world' — and let us move on to other things. They call themselves the Church. But they contradict the one who says: 'A city built on a mountain cannot be hidden.' Do you really believe that a stone cut from a mountain without hands, made into a mountain, and filling the world, is enclosed in your caves?✦ And we shouldn't linger here either. Opinion itself shrinks from being made public, contained as it is by its own whisper. Christ has, and will always have, his full inheritance and his possession: the ends of the earth.✦ Rather, they withdraw from this great inheritance themselves, those who try to strip it away from Christ.

Christ's Abundant Redemption

The heretics restrict Christ's redemption by denying infant baptism, prayers for the dead, and the intercession of saints, but Christ's great price secures salvation for all ages and states of life.

Look at the detractors — look at the dogs. They mock us because we baptize infants, because we pray for the dead, because we ask for the intercessions of the saints. In every class of people and in both sexes they rush to proscribe Christ — in adults and children, in the living and the dead: on the one side, writing him off in infants because of the impossibility of nature; on the other side, writing him off in adults because of the difficulty of self-restraint. Furthermore, they defraud the dead of the living's help, and the living of the intercessions of the saints who have passed away. Far be it! The Lord will not abandon his people, who are like the sand of the sea, nor will he be satisfied with the small number of heretics — he who redeemed them all. For the redemption with him is not small, but plainly abundant. How great, then, is that number, in proportion to the greatness of the price! Those who try to empty it out only rob it of its value all the more. For what if an infant cannot speak for itself? The blood of its own brother, and such a brother, cries out to God from the earth on its behalf. Even so, its mother the Church stands by and cries out. But what can the infant do? Doesn't it seem to you that even the infant itself somehow gapes toward the springs of the Savior, cries out to God, and with its wailing keeps calling aloud: Lord, I suffer violence — answer for me? It urgently begs for the help of grace, because it suffers violence from nature. The innocence of the wretched cries out, the ignorance of the little one cries out, the frailty of the devoted cries out. And so all these cry out: the blood of a brother, the faith of a mother, the forsakenness of the wretched, and the misery of the forsaken — and it is cried out to the Father. Furthermore, the Father cannot deny himself — for he is Father. No one should tell me that someone lacks faith when a mother imparts her own, wrapping it around them in the Sacrament, until they become ready to perceive it unrolled and pure, not only by their own sense but also by assent.10 Is the cloak too short to cover them both? Great is the faith of the Church. Is her faith any less than that of the Canaanite woman, whose faith is agreed to have been enough both for her daughter and for herself?✦ That is why she heard: "O woman, great is your faith!"✦ "Let it be done for you as you asked."✦ Is her faith any less than that of the men who lowered the paralytic through the roof tiles and obtained salvation for his soul and his body at the same time?✦ Finally, you have this: when he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven"; and a little later, "Take up your mat and walk."✦ Whoever believes this will easily be persuaded that the Church rightly presumes not only that little ones baptized in her faith have salvation, but also that infants slain for Christ have the crown of martyrdom. Since these things are so, those who are born again will suffer no harm from the statement that without faith it is impossible to please God, since those who have received the grace of baptism as a testimony of faith are not without faith.11 But neither will they suffer harm from what was likewise said: 'Whoever does not believe will be condemned.' For what is believing except having faith? Therefore a woman will be saved through the childbearing of children, if she remains in faith with gentleness; and help will come to infants through the washing of regeneration; and adults who cannot abstain will redeem themselves by the thirtieth fruit of marriage; the prayers and sacrifices of the living will also reach the dead who need them and are worthy, with angels as mediators; and the consolations of those who have already arrived will by no means be lacking for the living, through God, who is everywhere and in whom the affection of love for the absent is nowhere absent.1213 For Christ both died and rose again for this reason, so that he might rule over the living and the dead. For this reason too the infant was born and advanced through each stage of life into mature manhood, so that no age would be lacking.

Purgatory and Sinful Clergy

The heretics wrongly deny purgatorial fire and reject the authority of sinful clergy, but Scripture affirms both a future purging of sin and the validity of sacramental office even in unworthy ministers.

They don't believe that purgatorial fire remains after death; but that the soul, once released from the body, passes immediately either to rest or to damnation. Let them ask, therefore, the one who said that there is a sin which would be forgiven neither in this age nor in the age to come — why he said this, if no forgiveness or purging of sin remains in the age to come.14 But as for those who don't acknowledge the Church — it's no wonder if they disparage the Church's orders, if they reject its institutions, if they despise the Sacraments, if they don't obey its commands. 'Apostles, archbishops, bishops, priests are sinners,' they say, 'and therefore they are fit neither for administering nor for receiving the Sacraments.' These two things will never agree: that someone is a bishop and that he is a sinner. That's false. Caiaphas was a bishop, and yet what a great sinner he was, dictating a sentence of death against the Lord! If you deny that he was a bishop, the testimony of John will convict you — John who relates that he even prophesied in testimony of his own high priesthood.15 Judas was an apostle, and though he was greedy and wicked, he was still chosen by the Lord.✦ Do you doubt the apostleship of the one the Lord himself chose? Didn't I, he says, choose you twelve, and one of you is a devil?✦ You hear that the same man was chosen as an apostle and turned out to be a devil, yet you deny that someone who is a sinner can be a bishop? The scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses' seat, and those who didn't obey them as bishops were held guilty of disobedience — even against the Lord himself when he commanded, saying: Do what they tell you.✦ So it's clear that even though they were scribes, even though Pharisees, even though admittedly great sinners, still, because of the seat of Moses, the following applied to them too — what he likewise said: Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever despises you despises me.✦

The Obstinacy and End of the Foxes

The heretics are irredeemably stubborn, and their fiery end is prefigured in Samson's foxes; their willingness to die for their error is a demonic delusion, entirely unlike true martyrdom.

Many other bad things have indeed been persuaded to this foolish and senseless people by spirits of error speaking lies in hypocrisy, but it isn't possible to respond to everything.✦ For who knows everything? Besides, the labor would be endless and entirely unnecessary. For as for those people, they aren't convinced by reasons because they don't understand; they aren't corrected by authorities because they won't accept them; and they aren't swayed by persuasions because they are subverted. It's been proven: they choose to die rather than be converted. Their end is destruction; their final fate awaits them like a fire. Their fate was indeed prefigured in Samson's deed, with the burning foxes' tails.✦ Often the faithful, laying hands on some of them, dragged them out into the open. When they were questioned about their faith, since they were regarded as suspect on certain matters, they refused everything entirely, following their own custom; but when they were examined by the judgment of water, they were found to be liars. And when they could no longer deny it—having been caught, after all, since the water would not receive them—seizing the bit in their teeth, as the saying goes, they confessed their impiety as wretchedly as they had once professed it freely, now openly affirming their piety and ready to undergo death for it. Nor were those who stood by any less ready to inflict it. And so the crowd rushed upon them and gave the heretics new martyrs of their own treachery. We approve the zeal, but we do not recommend the act, because faith must be persuaded, not imposed. Although without question it is far better for them to be restrained by the sword—namely, the sword of the one who does not bear it in vain—than to be allowed to draw many others into their own error.✦ For that ruler is God's minister, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who does wrong.✦ Some are amazed that they were led to death not only patiently, but even joyfully, as it seemed; but those who pay less attention don't realize how great the devil's power is — not only over the bodies of human beings, but also over hearts that, once he's been allowed to enter, he takes possession of. Isn't it a greater thing for a person to lay hands on himself than to endure that willingly from another? We've frequently experienced for ourselves that the devil has been able to do this in many cases: people who have either drowned or hanged themselves. In the end, Judas hanged himself — driven to it, without a doubt, by the devil. But I consider it a greater thing, and I'm more amazed by it, that he could send his way into someone's heart so that that person would betray the Lord, than that he would hang himself. So the constancy of the martyrs and the obstinacy of these people have nothing in common. In the martyrs, it's devotion that produces contempt of death; in these people, it's hardness of heart. And so the prophet was perhaps speaking in the voice of the martyr when he said: 'Their heart is curdled like milk, but I have meditated on your law' — because, even though the same punishment might appear to be involved, the intention behind it is entirely different: in the one case, a heart hardened against the Lord; in the other, one meditating on the law of the Lord.✦

Safeguarding the Bride of Christ

To protect the Church, these false teachers must be exposed and separated from their illicit cohabitation, ensuring that the bride of Christ remains pure and unscandalized.

Since these things are so, there is no need — as I said — to speak at length against people who are most foolish and utterly stubborn: it's enough to have exposed them so they can be avoided. And so, to get them identified, they should be compelled either to get rid of the women or to leave the Church — seeing that they are causing scandal for the Church through living together and sharing quarters with women. It is deeply to be grieved that not only lay rulers but also certain men — so it is said — from the clergy, and even from the order of bishops, who ought rather to be persecuting them, are tolerating them for the sake of profit, accepting gifts from them. And how, they say, are we to condemn people who have neither been found out nor confessed? That's frivolous enough — it's not reason but opportunity. On this count alone — even if there were nothing else — you can easily detect it: if, as I said, you separate the men and the women who claim to be living in chastity, and you compel the women to live with others of their own sex and state, and likewise the men with men who share the same commitment. By this means provision will be made at the same time for both groups — for their vow and for their reputation — since they will have had both witnesses and guardians of their own continence. But if they refuse to put up with it, they will be removed from the Church most justly — the very Church they are scandalizing — not only through a scandalous cohabitation but also through an illicit one. So let these remarks be enough to help detect the schemes of these foxes, and to give the beloved and glorious bride of our Lord Jesus Christ knowledge and a safeguard — he who is God blessed forever above all things. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Capite nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas. Ecce ego ad vulpes istas. Ipsae sunt quae praetergrediuntur viam, et vindemiant vineam. Non sunt contentae deserere viam, nisi et desertare vineam possint, addentes praevaricationem. Non sufficit haereticos esse, nisi et hypocritae sint, ut sit supra modum peccans peccatum. Hi sunt qui veniunt in vestimentis ovium ad nudandas oves et spoliandos arietes. An non tibi utraque res impleta videtur, ubi et fide plebes, et plebibus sacerdotes depraedati inveniuntur? Quinam isti praedones?

Hi oves sunt habitu, astu vulpes, actu et crudelitate lupi. Hi sunt qui boni videri, non esse; mali non videri, sed esse volunt. Mali sunt, et boni videri volunt, ne soli sint mali; mali videri timent, ne parum sint mali. Etenim minus semper malitia palam nocuit, nec unquam bonus, nisi boni simulatione deceptus est. Ita ergo in malum bonorum boni apparere student; mali nolunt, ut plus liceat malignari. Neque enim est apud eos virtutes colere, sed vitia colorare quodam quasi virtutum minio. Denique superstitionis impietatem nomine religionis intitulant. Innocentiam definiunt, tantum in aperto non laedere, innocentiae proinde solum sibi vindicantes colorem.

In operimentum turpitudinis, continentiae se insigniere voto. Porro turpitudinem in solis existimant reputandam uxoribus: cum vel sola sit ea, quae cum uxore est, causa, quae turpitudinem excusat in coitu. Rusticani homines sunt et idiotae, et prorsus contemptibiles: sed non est, dico vobis, cum eis negligenter agendum. Multum enim proficiunt ad impietatem, et sermo eorum ut cancer serpit.

Denique non neglexit Spiritus sanctus, qui de his quondam tam manifeste vaticinatus est, dicente Apostolo: Spiritus autem manifeste dicit, quia in novissimis temporibus discedent quidam a fide, attendentes spiritibus erroris, et doctrinis daemoniorum, in hypocrisi loquentium mendacium, et cauteriatam habentium suam conscientiam, prohibentium nubere, abstinere a cibis, quos Deus creavit ad percipiendum cum gratiarum actione. Istos prorsus, istos dicebat. Hi nubere prohibent, hi a cibis abstinent quos Deus creavit, de quibus postea videbimus. Nunc autem videte, si non proprie daemonum et non hominum ludificatio haec, secundum quod praedixerat Spiritus. Quaere ab illis suae sectae auctorem; neminem dabunt. Quae haeresis non ex hominibus habuit proprium haeresiarcham? Manichaei Manem habuere principem et praeceptorem, Sabelliani Sabellium, Ariani Arium, Eunomiani Eunomium, Nestoriani Nestorium. Ita omnes caeterae huiusmodi pestes, singulae singulos magistros, homines habuisse noscuntur, a quibus originem simul duxere et nomen.

Quo nomine istos titulove censebis? Nullo; quoniam non est ab homine illorum haeresis, neque per hominem illam acceperunt. Absit tamen ut per revelationem Iesus Christi, sed magis et absque dubio, uti Spiritus sanctus praedixit, per immisionem et fraudem daemoniorum, in hypocrisi loquentium mendacium, prohibentium nubere!

In hypocrisi plane hoc et vulpina dolositate loquuntur, fingentes se amore id dicere castitatis, quod magis causa turpitudinis fovendae et multiplicandae adinvenerunt. Res tamen tam in aperto est, ut mirer quomodo unquam homini Christiano persuaderi potuerit, nisi quod hi adeo aut bestiales sunt, ut non advertant, qualiter omni immunditiae laxat habenas, qui nuptias damnat; aut certe ita pleni nequitia, et diabolica malignitate absorpti, ut advertentes dissimulent, et laetentur in perditione hominum. Tolle de Ecclesia honorabile connubium et torum immaculatum; nonne reples cam concubinariis, incestuosis, seminifluis, mollibus, masculorum concubitoribus, et omni denique genere immundorum? Elige ergo utrumlibet, aut salvari universa monstra haec hominum, aut numerum salvandorum ad continentium redigi paucitatem. Quam parcus in uno! quam largus in altero! Neutrum horum competit Salvatori. Quid?

coronabitur turpitudo? Nihil minus decet honestatis auctorem. Damnabitur universitas praeter pauculos continentes? Non est hoc esse Salvatorem. Rara in terris continentia, neque pro tantillo quaestu ad terras plenitudo illa semetipsam exinanivit. Et quomodo de illa omnes accepimus, si solis indulsit continentibus participium sui? Non est quod ad hoc respondeant. Sed neque ad illud credo.

Si honestati in coelis est locus, non sit autem honesto et turpi consortium, sicut non est societas luci ad tenebras: profecto neminem immundorum locus in loco salutis manet. Si quis aliter sapit, arguet illum apostolica vox, absque omni ambiguo asserens: Quoniam, qui talia agunt, regnum Dei non possidebunt. Qua iam exiet de caverna haec insidiosa vulpecula? Puto in fovea deprehensam, in qua sibi duo quasi foramina fecerit, unum quo intret, alterum quo exeat. Nam consuevit ita. Vide ergo quomodo utrobique illi interclusus sit exitus. Si solos in coelestibus collocat continentes, perit ex maxima parte salus; si omnem spurcitiam pariter cum continentibus collocat, perit honestum. Sed iustius perit ipsa, neque hac exitura, neque illac, reclusa perpetuo, et capta in fovea quam fecit.

Quidam tamen dissentientes ab aliis, inter solos virgines matrimonium contrahi posse fatentur. Verum quid in hac distinctione rationis afferre possint, non video: nisi quod pro libitu quisque suo sacramenta Ecclesiae, tanquam matris viscera, dente vipereo certatim inter se dilacerare contendunt. Nam quod dicuntur praetendere de primis coniugibus, quia virgines erant; quid istud, quaeso, matrimonii praeiudicat libertati, quominus et inter non virgines contrahi liceat? Sed nescio quid se in Evangelio invenisse susurrant, quod suae ineptiae frustra existimant suffragari. Illud credo, quod Dominus cum praemisisset testimonium de Genosi: Et creavit hominem Deus ad imaginem et similitudinem suam, masculum et feminam creavit illos; postea intulit: Ergo quod Deus coniunxit, homo non separet . Hos, inquiunt, coniunxit Deus, quia virgines ambo erant, et iam non licuit separari: non erit autem ex Deo copulatio secus praesumpta. Quis tibi dixit propterea a Deo coniunctos, quia virgines erant? Nam Scriptura hoc non loquitur.

An non virgines erant, inquit? Erant; sed non est id ipsum, copulatos virgines, et copulatos quia virgines. Quanquam ne hoc quidem nominatim dictum reperies, quod virgines essent, quamvis essent. Sexuum sane expressa diversitas est, non virginitas, cum dictum est: Masculum et feminam creavit illos. Merito quidem. Non enim maritalis copula corporum requirit integritatem, sed sexuum aptitudinem. Bene proinde ipsam instituens Spiritus sanctus, sexum expressit, et virginitatem tacuit, nec dedit occasionem venandi verbum insidiosis vulpeculis. Quod utique libenter fecissent; quamvis id quoque frustra.

Quid enim si dixisset: Virgines creavit illos? Num propterea continuo obtinuisses, solos virgines licere coniungi? Et tamen quomodo exsultasses ex sola verbi occasione? quomodo exsufflasses secundas et tertias nuptias? quomodo insultasses catholicae, scorta lenonesque ad invicem tanto libentius coniungenti, quanto proinde eos de turpi ad honestum transire non dubitat? Fortassis et reprehenderes Deum prophetae praecipientem fornicariam ducere : nunc autem et occasio deest, et libet gratis haereticum esse. Nam testimonium quod usurpasti ad astruendum errorem tuum, plus ad destruendum valere inventum est; pro te facere nihil, contra te plurimum.

Nunc autem audi, quod te ex toto aut confundit, aut corrigit, et haeresim tuam prorsus conterit et comminuit. Mulier quanto tempore vir eius vivit, alligata est viro; si autem dormierit vir eius, soluta est a lege viri; cui vult nubat, tantum in Domino. Paulus est qui concedit viduae, ut cui vult nubat: et tu econtra praecipis: Nulla praeter virginem nubat, et hoc nonnisi virgini, ut non cui vult, nubat vel ipsa. Quid manum Dei abbrevias? quid largam benedictionem nuptiarum restringis? quid proprium vindicas virgini, quod indultum est sexui? Non concederet hoc Paulus, nisi liceret. At parum dico, concedit: vult quoque.

Volo, inquit, adolescentiores nubere : nec dubium quin viduas dicat. Quid manifestius? Ergo quod concedit, quia licet; etiam vult, quia expedit. Quod licet et expedit, haereticus prohibet? Nihil ex hac prohibitione persuadebit, nisi quod haereticus est.

Superest ut et de residuo apostolicae prophetiae istos aliquantulum exagitemus. Abstinent namque hi, ut praedixit ille, a cibis, quos creavit Deus ad percipiendum cum gratiarum actione : hinc quoque haereticos se probantes, non sane quia abstinent, sed quia haeretice abstinent. Nam et ego interdum abstineo; sed abstinentia mea satisfactio est pro peccatis, non superstitio pro impietate. Num redarguimus Paulum, quod castigat corpus suum, et in servitutem redigit? Abstinebo a vino, quia in vino luxuria est; aut si infirmus sum, modico utar, iuxta consilium Pauli. Abstinebo a carnibus, ne dum nimis nutriunt carnem, simul et carnis nutriant vitia. Panem ipsum cum mensura studebo sumere, ne onerato ventre stare ad orandum taedeat, et ne improperet etiam mihi propheta, quia panem meum comederim in saturitate. Sed ne simplici quidem aqua ingurgitare me assuescam, ne distensio sane ventris usque ad titillationem pertingat libidinis.

Haereticus aliter. Nempe horret lac, et quidquid ex eo conficitur: postremo omne quod ex coitu concreatur. Recte et Christiane, si non idcirco quia ex coitu, sed ne ad coitum provocent.

Caeterum quid sibi vult, quod ita generaliter omne quod ex coitu generatur, vitatur? Suspicionem generat mihi observatio ista ciborum tam signanter expressa. Verumtamen si de regula medicorum hoc profers nobis, non reprehendimus curam carnis, quam nemo unquam odio habuit, si tamen non nimia fuerit. Si de disciplina abstinentium, id est spiritualium medicorum schola; etiam virtutem approbamus, qua carnem domas, frenas libidinem. At si de insania Manichaei praescribis beneficentiae Dei, ut quod ille creavit et donavit ad percipiendum cum gratiarum actione, tu non modo ingratus, sed et censor temerarius immundum decernas, et tanquam a malo abstineas; non plane abstinentiam collaudabo, sed exsecrabor blasphemiam: te magis immundum dixerim, qui immundum quid putas. Omnia munda mundis, ait ille rerum optimus aestimator: et nihil immundum, nisi ei qui immundum quid putat: Immundis autem, et infidelibus nihil est mundum, sed polluta est eorum mens et conscientia. Vae qui respuitis cibos, quos Deus creavit, iudicantes immundos et indignos, quos traiiciatis in corpora vestra: cum propterea vos corpus Christi, quod est Ecclesia, tanquam pollutos et immundos exspuerit.

Non ignoro, quod se et solos corpus Christi esse glorientur: sed sibi hoc persuadeant qui illud quoque persuasum habent, potestatem se habere quotidie in mensa sua corpus Christi et sanguinem consecrandi ad nutriendum se in corpus Christi et membra. Nempe iactant se esse successores apostolorum, et apostolicos nominant, nullum tamen apostolatus sui signum valentes ostendere. Quousque lucerna sub modio? Vos estis lux mundi, dictum est apostolis: et ideo apostoli super candelabrum, ut toto luceant mundo. Pudeat successores apostolorum lucem non esse mundi, sed modii, mundi autem tenebras. Dicamus eis: Vos estis tenebrae mundi: et transeamus ad alia. Se dicunt Ecclesiam. Sed contradicunt ei qui dicit: Non potest civitas abscondi supra montem composita.

Itane lapidem de monte abscissum sine manibus, montem factum, et implentem mundum, vestris creditis inclusum antris? Et ne hic quidem immorandum. Ipsa opinio refugit publicari suo contenta susurrio. Habet, et semper habebit integram Christus haereditatem suam, et possessionem suam terminos terrae. Se potius subtrahunt huic magnae haereditati, qui Christo illam conantur detrahere.

Videte detractores, videte canes. Irrident nos, quod baptizamus infantes; quod oramus pro mortuis; quod sanctorum suffragia postulamus. In omni genere hominum atque in utroque sexu festinant proscribere Christum, in adultis et parvulis, in vivis et mortuis; hinc quidem infantibus ex impossibilitate naturae, inde vero adultis ex difficultate continentiae praescribentes. Porro mortuos viventium fraudantes auxiliis, viventes nihilominus sanctorum, qui decesserunt, suffragiis spoliantes. Absit! Non relinquet Dominus plebem suam, quae est sicut arena maris, nec contentus erit paucitate haereticorum, qui omnes redemit. Neque enim parva, sed plane copiosa apud eum redemptio. Quantus vero numerus istorum ad magnitudinem pretii?

Se magis pretio fraudant, qui ipsum evacuare conantur. Quid enim si infans pro se loqui non potest, pro quo vox sanguinis fratris sui, et talis fratris, clamat ad Deum de terra? Astat et clamat nihilominus mater Ecclesia. Quid tamen infans? Nonne et ipse videtur tibi inhiare quodam modo fontibus Salvatoris, vociferari ad Deum, suisque vagitibus clamitare: Domine, vim patior, responde pro me? Flagitat auxilium gratiae, quia vim patitur a natura. Clamat innocentia miseri, clamat ignorantia parvuli, clamat addicti infirmitas. Ita ergo clamant haec omnia, sanguis fratris, fides matris, destitutio miseri, et miseria destituti: et clamatur ad Patrem.

Porro Pater se ipsum negare non potest: pater enim est.

Nemo mihi dicat quia non habet fidem, cui mater impertit suam, involvens illi in Sacramento, quousque idoneus fiat proprio, non tantum sensu, sed et assensu, evolutam puramque percipere. Nunquid breve pallium est, ut non possit ambos cooperire? Magna est Ecclesiae fides. Nunquid minor fide Chananaeae mulieris, quam constat et filiae sufficere potuisse, et sibi? Ideo audivit: O mulier, magna est fides tua! fiat tibi sicut petisti. Nunquid minor fide illorum, qui paralyticum per tegulas demittentes, animae illi simul et corporis obtinuere salutem? Denique habes: Quorum fidem ut vidit, ait paralytico: Confide, fili, remittuntur tibi peccata; et paulo post: Tolle grabatum tuum, et ambula.

Qui haec credit, facile huic persuadebitur merito Ecclesiam praesumere, non solum parvulis baptizatis in sua fide salutem, sed etiam interfectis pro Christo infantibus coronam martyrii. Quae cum ita sint, nullum praeiudicium sustinebunt regenerati de eo quod dictum est: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo, cum sine fide non sint, qui in testimonium fidei baptismi gratiam perceperunt. Sed neque de eo quod item dictum est: Qui vero non crediderit, condemnabitur. Quid enim credere est, nisi fidem habere? Itaque et mulier salvabitur per generationem filiorum, si permanserit in fide cum lenitate ; et infantibus per lavacri regenerationem succurretur; et adulti qui continere non poterunt, coniugii tricesimo fructu se rediment; viventium quoque preces et hostias mortui, qui opus habebunt, et digni erunt, mediantibus percipient angelis; et eorum qui iam pervenerunt, viventibus adhuc nequaquam solatia deerunt per Deum qui ubique est, et in Deo nusquam affectu charitatis absentium. Nam et Christus propter hoc mortuus est et resurrexit, ut vivorum dominaretur et mortuorum. Propter hoc quoque et infans natus est, et per singulos aetatum gradus profecit in virum, ut nulli deesset aetati.

Non credunt ignem purgatorium restare post mortem; sed statim animam solutam a corpore, vel ad requiem transire, vel ad damnationem. Quaerant ergo ab eo, qui dixit quoddam peccatum esse, quod neque in hoc saeculo, neque in futuro remitteretur, cur hoc dixerit, si nulla manet in futuro remissio purgatiove peccati. Iam vero qui Ecclesiam non agnoscunt, non est mirum si ordinibus Ecclesiae detrahunt, si instituta non recipiunt, si Sacramenta contemnunt, si mandatis non obediunt. 'Peccatores,' inquiunt, 'sunt apostolici, archiepiscopi, episcopi, presbyteri: ac per hoc nec dandis, nec accipiendis idonei sacramentis. Nunquam duo ista convenient, episcopum esse et peccatorem?' Falsum est. Episcopus erat Caiphas: et tamen quantus peccator, qui in Dominum mortis dictabat sententiam? Si negas episcopum, arguet te testimonium Ioannis, qui eum in testimonium sui pontificatus etiam prophetasse refert.

Apostolus erat Iudas: et licet avarus et sceleratus, electus tamen a Domino. An tu de illius apostolatu dubitas, quem Dominus elegit? Nonne ego, inquit, vos duodecim elegi, et unus ex vobis diabolus est? Audis eumdem electum apostolum, et exstitisse diabolum; et negas posse esse episcopum, qui peccator est? Super cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae et Pharisaei, et qui non obedierunt eis tanquam episcopis, inobedientiae rei fuerunt, etiam in ipsum Dominum praecipientem, et dicentem: Quae dicunt facite. Patet ergo, quamvis Scribae, quamvis Pharisaei, quamvis videlicet maximi peccatores; propter cathedram tamen Moysi, ad eos quoque nihilominus pertinere quod item dixit: Qui vos audit, me audit; et qui vos spernit, me spernit.

Multa quidem et alia huic populo stulto et insipienti a spiritibus erroris, in hypocrisi loquentibus mendacium, mala persuasa sunt: sed non est respondere ad omnia. Quis enim omnia novit? Deinde labor infinitus esset, minime necessarius. Nam quantum ad istos, nec rationibus convincuntur, quia non intelligunt; nec autoritatibus corriguntur, quia non recipiunt; nec flectuntur suasionibus, quia subversi sunt. Probatum est: mori magis eligunt, quam converti. Horum finis interitus, horum novissima incendium manet. Horum siquidem in facto Samson ex succensis vulpium caudis figura praecessit. Plerumque fideles iniectis manibus aliquos ex eis ad medium traxerunt.

Quaesiti fidem, cum de quibus suspecti videbantur, omnia prorsus suo more negarent; examinati iudicio aquae, mendaces inventi sunt. Cumque iam negare non possent, quippe deprehensi, aqua eos non recipiente; arrepto, ut dicitur, freno dentibus, tam misere quam libere impietatem non confessi, sed professi sunt, palam pietatem astruentes, et pro ea mortem subire parati. Nec minus parati inferre qui astabant. Itaque irruens in eos populus, novos haereticis suae ipsorum perfidiae martyres dedit. Approbamus zelum, sed factum non suademus; quia fides suadenda est, non imponenda. Quanquam melius procul dubio gladio coercentur, illius videlicet qui non sine causa gladium portat, quam in suum errorem multos traiicere permittantur. Dei enim minister ille est, vindex in iram ei qui male agit.

Mirantur aliqui, quod non modo patienter, sed et laeti, ut videbatur, ducerentur ad mortem; sed qui minus advertunt, quanta sit potestas diaboli, non modo in corpora hominum, sed etiam in corda, quae semel permissus possederit. Nonne plus est sibimet hominem iniicere manus quam id libenter ab alio sustinere? Hoc autem in multis potuisse diabolum frequenter experti sumus, qui se ipsos aut submerserunt, aut suspenderunt. Denique Iudas suspendit se ipsum, diabolo sine dubio immittente. Ego tamen maius existimo, magisque admiror, quod potuit immisisse in cor eius ut traderet Dominum, quam ut semetipsum suspenderet. Nihil ergo simile habent constantia martyrum, et pertinacia horum; quia mortis contemptum in illis pietas, in istis cordis duritia operatur. Et ideo Propheta martyris forsitan voce dicebat: Coagulatum est sicut lac cor eorum, ego vero legem tuam meditatus sum : pro eo videlicet quod etsi poena eadem videretur, longe diversa esset intentio; illo utique durante cor contra Dominum, isto in lege Domini meditante.

Quae cum ita sint, non est opus, ut dixi, frustra multa adversus homines stultissimos atque obstinatissimos dicere: sufficit innotuisse illos ut vitentur. Quamobrem ut deprehendantur, cogendi sunt vel abiicere feminas, vel exire de Ecclesia, utpote scandalizantes Ecclesiam in convictu et contubernio feminarum. Dolendum valde, quod non solum laici principes, sed et quidam, ut dicitur, de clero, necnon de ordine episcoporum qui magis eos persequi debuerant, propter quaestum sustineant, accipientes ab eis munera. Et quomodo, inquiunt, damnabimus nec convictos, nec confessos? Frivola satis, non ratio, sed occasio. Hoc solo, etiamsi aliud non esset, facile deprehendis, si, ut dixi, viros et feminas, qui se continentes dicunt, ab invicem separes: et feminas quidem cum aliis sui et sexus et voti degere cogas; viros aeque cum eiusdem propositi viris. Per hoc enim consultum erit utrorumque voto simul et famae, cum continentiae suae et testes habuerint et custodes. Quod si non sustinent, iustissime eliminabuntur de Ecclesia, quam scandalizant, non solum notabili, sed etiam illicita cohabitatione.

Ergo ista sufficiant pro deprehendendis harum vulpium dolis, ad dandam scientiam et cautelam dilectae et gloriosae sponsae Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.2.15 — Catch the foxes for us— the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, while our vineyards are in bloom.
  2. ↩Matt.7.15 — Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
  3. ↩2Tim.2.17 — and their word will spread like gangrene; among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
  4. ↩1Tim.4.1-1Tim.4.5 — Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will abandon the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. 1Tim.4.2 — This will come through hypocritical liars, whose own consciences have been seared as with a hot iron, 1Tim.4.3 — who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 1Tim.4.4 — For every creation of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when it is received with thanksgiving. 1Tim.4.5 — For it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer.
  5. ↩1Tim.4.1-1Tim.4.3 — Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will abandon the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. 1Tim.4.2 — This will come through hypocritical liars, whose own consciences have been seared as with a hot iron, 1Tim.4.3 — who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
  6. ↩Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  7. ↩Matt.19.6 — So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.
  8. ↩Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  9. ↩Gen.1.27 — So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
  10. ↩Hos.1.2 — When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the LORD."
  11. ↩1Tim.4.3-1Tim.4.4 — who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 1Tim.4.4 — For every creation of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected when it is received with thanksgiving.
  12. ↩1Cor.9.27 — But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that after preaching to others, I myself might not be disqualified.
  13. ↩1Tim.5.23 — No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach and your frequent ailments.
  14. ↩Ezek.16.49 — Now this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: pride, abundance of bread, and careless ease were hers and her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy.
  15. ↩Dan.2.34-Dan.2.35 — You were looking on until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and shattered them. Dan.2.35 — Then the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold were all shattered at once and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors. And the wind swept them away, so that no trace of them was found. But the stone that had struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
  16. ↩Ps.2.8 — Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.
  17. ↩Matt.15.21-Matt.15.28 — And Jesus went out from there and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Matt.15.22 — And behold, a Canaanite woman from those regions came out and cried out, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely tormented by a demon." Matt.15.23 — But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us. Matt.15.24 — But he answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matt.15.25 — But she came and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, help me.' Matt.15.26 — But he answered, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Matt.15.27 — She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Matt.15.28 — Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour.
  18. ↩Matt.15.28 — Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour.
  19. ↩Matt.15.28 — Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour.
  20. ↩Mark.2.1-Mark.2.12 — And when he had entered again into Capernaum, after some days it was reported that he was at home. Mark.2.2 — And many gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door. And he was speaking the word to them. Mark.2.3 — And they came, carrying a paralytic to him, being carried by four men. Mark.2.4 — And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was; and after breaking it open, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic lay. Mark.2.5 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.' Mark.2.6 — But some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts, Mark.2.7 — Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone? Mark.2.8 — And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they were reasoning thus within themselves, said to them, "Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts?" Mark.2.9 — Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat, and walk'? Mark.2.10 — But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins—he says to the paralytic— Mark.2.11 — I say to you, rise, take up your mat, and go to your house. Mark.2.12 — And he got up, and immediately picked up the mat, and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
  21. ↩Mark.2.5 — And seeing their faith, Jesus says to the paralytic, 'Child, your sins are forgiven.'
  22. ↩John.6.70 — Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil."
  23. ↩John.6.70 — Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil."
  24. ↩Matt.23.2-Matt.23.3 — saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves on Moses' seat." Matt.23.3 — Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and observe; but do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do.
  25. ↩Luke.10.16 — The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me; but the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.
  26. ↩1Tim.4.1-1Tim.4.2 — Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will abandon the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. 1Tim.4.2 — This will come through hypocritical liars, whose own consciences have been seared as with a hot iron,
  27. ↩Judg.15.4-Judg.15.5 — And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put one torch between the two tails, in the middle. Judg.15.5 — And he set fire to the torches and let them loose among the standing grain of the Philistines, and it burned from sheaves to standing grain and even to the olive orchard.
  28. ↩Rom.13.4 — For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's servant, an avenger for wrath against the one who practices evil.
  29. ↩Rom.13.4 — For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God's servant, an avenger for wrath against the one who practices evil.
  30. ↩Ps.68.3 — As smoke is driven away, so may they be driven away; as wax melts before fire, so may the wicked perish before God.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The paradox 'ne parum sint mali' (lest they be too little evil) is rendered to capture the ironic fear of falling short in wickedness — likely aimed at those who want company in their vice to feel less exposed.
  2. 2 ↩Etenim is rendered 'In fact' to capture its confirmatory force. The aphoristic contrast between open malice and feigned goodness is kept sharp.
  3. 3 ↩The phrase 'in malum bonorum' (to the harm of good people) is rendered contextually. The good want to appear good so the evil can't hide behind a good disguise; the evil resist this because it would limit their freedom to do harm.
  4. 4 ↩Minium (red lead / vermilion) is kept as a concrete image for superficial coloring. The metaphor of dyeing vices to look like virtues is preserved.
  5. 5 ↩religio rendered as 'religious life' per lexeme policy (monastic/devotional practice sense), not generic 'religion'.
  6. 6 ↩The Latin syntax of 'Absit tamen ut per revelationem... sed magis' is elliptical, literally 'Far be it that through a revelation... but rather'. The translation supplies 'it came' to bridge the ellipsis and clarify the contrast between divine revelation and demonic infusion.
  7. 7 ↩The concluding clause quotes Galatians 5:21 (Vulg.).
  8. 8 ↩The rare verb exsufflo carries the sense of blowing scorn upon or treating with contempt; 'mocked' captures the rhetorical force here.
  9. 9 ↩The allusion is to God's command to Hosea (Hosea 1:2) to take 'a wife of whoredoms'; the Latin fornicariam ducere echoes that prophetic charge.
  10. 10 ↩The syntax of 'evolutam puramque percipere' is elliptical; 'evolutam' (unrolled/unfolded) contrasts with 'involvens' (wrapping), suggesting the mother's faith is initially wrapped around the child in the Sacrament and later perceived openly.
  11. 11 ↩The clause 'cum sine fide non sint, qui ... gratiam perceperunt' is read causally: the baptized who received grace are not, in this sense, without faith.
  12. 12 ↩The phrase 'coniugii tricesimo fructu' is rendered as 'the thirtieth fruit of marriage', echoing the language of marital fruitfulness; the precise numerical sense is traditional but not fully certain.
  13. 13 ↩The clause 'in Deo nusquam affectu charitatis absentium' is compressed: the sense is that in God the loving affection for those who are absent is never absent.
  14. 14 ↩The Latin form purgatiove is uncertain in segmentation (likely purgatio + -ve 'or purging'); the Fathers debated whether any purgation of sins occurs after death. The clause is presented as the objectors' inference, not necessarily the author's settled conclusion.
  15. 15 ↩The form prophetasse is morphologically uncertain (perfect infinitive of prophesy); the sense is that John's Gospel reports Caiaphas's prophetic utterance about his office as high priest.

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