SR
← Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity)/Book 1 · Speculum caritatis — Liber I
Chapter 15SpCar.1.15

Quod justissima sit etiam parvulorum damnatio.

The Dry Tree and the Fire of Justice

The human race is likened to a barren, root-corrupted tree justly given to the flames, yet some branches are mercifully grafted into the tree of life through grace alone.

To this you reply: reason most justly condemns those who are capable of reason and lack neither the judgment to choose nor the will to consent. But what of the little ones whom reason assigns to damnation — whom neither creation made evil nor their own will made wicked? What then? Do you consider it unjust that fire should consume wood that is useless and unfruitful? Consider, I beg you, the whole human race as it were a dry tree — a barren tree, a tree corrupted at its very root, infected as it is by the venom of the ancient serpent — most justly given over to the flames, destined for the fire, consigned to damnation. What then? You show yourself ungrateful, O useless wood, because certain small branches, cut off from your prematurely dead root, are snatched from the fire so that, grafted into a fruitful stock, they may be restored to their former beauty. Look at that green tree, the tree of life, whose leaves do not fall, whose every deed prospers, on whose sweetest side it willed itself to be opened on the cross — and who, from that condemned root, with branches set apart by mercy alone, gave them a place. Grafted to it, planted together, made one with it — not by their own power, which is nothing, but by participation in its Spirit — they come to life again and flourish. And having received that voluntary rain which God sets apart for his inheritance, with the sun of divine love growing warm, and with the fresh sap of heavenly grace restored, they bear spiritual fruits destined for the heavenly storehouses. But I have been left behind, says that useless branch.

The Voice of the Rejected Branch

The abandoned branch protests, but God answers with Christ's words from Matthew 20 and the testimony of Romans 9 on Jacob and Esau.

Completely abandoned. What are you complaining about? Is your eye evil because I am good?✦ To many I gave what I owed to no one; and from this you are worthless, from this envious, from this you set yourself against me, from this you build up your slander?1 But — you say — since condemnation holds both alike, wrapped up equally, why is one chosen and the other rejected?2 Or why? Because, he says, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Rom.✦ ix).3

The Potter's Sovereign Will

Using the potter-and-clay image from Romans 9, the author argues that God's will is itself the highest justice, and His mercy and hardening are both most righteous.

You cry out that it's unjust. Surely what's fashioned doesn't say to the one who fashioned it: Why did you make me this way?✦ Or doesn't the potter have authority over the clay, from the same lump, to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (ibid.)✦ . If, then, a man — from the vessels he makes — assigns to honor whichever ones he wishes and exposes to dishonor whichever ones he wishes, and no one has any grounds to call it unjust, are you the one lodging a complaint, when God, from vessels all of which have been set apart for the most just dishonor, takes up whichever ones He wills, leaves whichever ones He wills, restores whichever ones He wills to their former honor, and inflicts on whichever ones He wills the damnation they're due? If, I say, the potter's own will is justice itself when it comes to distinguishing the vessels he fashions from the same clay, how much more is the Almighty's own will the highest justice when it comes to distinguishing, ordering, choosing, separating, saving, and damning all the things He created from nothing? Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and He shows mercy toward whomever it has pleased Him; and whomever He wills He hardens — most justly, by deserting them — and whomever He wills He softens — most mercifully, by showing them mercy. And whatever He wills He does, and He does nothing unjust, since between just and unjust His will alone is the judge — which is nothing other than equity itself — and His will doesn't depend on some external law of justice, but the law of justice depends on His will.✦ We've said these things so that the damnation of little children might not seem unjust.

Fear and Persevere in God's Goodness

The reader is warned to fear rather than think lofty thoughts, to behold God's severity and goodness, and to persevere through prayer and humility rather than self-reliance.

So then, O man, don't think lofty thoughts; but fear.✦ For if God does not spare branches whose condition is equal and whose merit is the same, perhaps he won't spare you either.✦4 See, therefore, the severity and the goodness of God.✦ In the case of those who are forsaken, you see his severity; in your case, his goodness — if, that is, you remain in that goodness.5 Otherwise, you too will be forsaken. Moreover, so that you won't be forsaken but rather be distinguished from those who are, don't presume on yourself, don't despair of God's goodness, don't be negligent about working, don't be sluggish about praying — along with the Prophet who says: Distinguish my cause from a people that is not holy (Ps.✦6 xlii). But so that you may persevere in this goodness, don't flatter yourself about your own strength; instead, place your confidence in him, to whom the Prophet also cries out: You, O Lord, will keep us and guard us from this generation forever (Psal.7

The Wicked Who Walk in a Circle

The chapter closes with a Psalm citation about the wicked walking in circles and a Samson analogy showing how those who abandon charity are reduced to grinding in the long circuit of disordered desire.

11). That is, the generation he immediately added this about: The wicked walk in a circle (Psalm 11:9). . These are the ones who, like Samson with the hair of his virtues cut off and the lights of knowledge and reason buried, are assigned to the millstone — so that, abandoning the short cut of charity, they may grind away in the long circuit of desire.8

Read the original Latin

Ad haec, inquis, ratio justissime illos condemnat, qui rationis capaces, nec judicio eligendi, nec voluntate carent consentiendi: caeterum parvulos qui ratio addicit damnationi, quos nec creatio malos, nec propria voluntas fecit injustos? Quid enim? Injustum aestimas, ut lignum inutile et infructuosum ignis depascat? Cogita, quaeso, totum humanum genus quasi lignum aridum, lignum infructuosum, lignum in ipsa radice vitiatum, utpote veneno antiqui serpentis inficiatum, justissime addictum flammis, igni destinatum, adjudicatum damnationi. Quid ergo? Ingratum te praebes, o lignum inutile, quod quidam ramusculi a tua praemortua praecisi radice, eripiuntur incendio, quatenus stipiti cuidam fructuoso inserti, pristinae venustati donentur! Vide lignum illud viride, lignum vitae, lignum cujus non defluunt folia, cujus omnia facta prosperantur, in ipso suo dulcissimo latere, quod idcirco voluit in cruce aperiri, ramis, ab illa damnata radice, sola sua miseratione discretis, dedisse locum; ut sibi inserti et complantati, et unum cum eo effecti, non sua virtute, quae nulla est, sed illius spiritus participatione, reviviscant et virescant, susceptaque pluvia illa voluntaria, quam segregat Deus hereditati suae, sole quoque divinae charitatis incalescente, resumpto novo coelestis gratiae succo, fructus afferant spirituales, supernis nimirum horreis recondendos. Sed relictus sum ego, ait ramus ille inutilis.

Relictus plane. Quid causaris? An oculus tuus nequam est, quia ego bonus sum? Multis quidem dedi, quod nulli debui; et tu hinc nequam, hinc invidus, hinc opponis, hinc calumniam struis? Sed, cum utrosque, inquis, parvulos, par teneat involutos damnatio, cur ille eligitur, iste respuitur? Aut quare. Quia Jacob, inquit, dilexi: Esau autem odio habui (Rom. ix).

Injustum clamas. Nunquid dicit figmentum ei, qui se finxit: quid me fecisti sic? An non habet potestatem figulus luti ex eadem massa facere aliud quidem vas in honorem; aliud in contumeliam (ibid.) . Si ergo homo ex vasis quae facit, quae voluerit deputat honori, quae voluerit exponit contumeliae; nec quisquam est qui causetur injustum, tu calumniaris, si Deus ex vasis, omnibus quidem justissimae contumeliae expositis, quae voluerit, assumat; quae voluerit, relinquat; quae voluerit, in pristinum reformet honorem; quibus voluerit, debitam inferat damnationem? Si, inquam, figulus in vasis, quae de eodem luto compingit discernendis, ipsa ejus voluntas justitia est, quomodo non multo magis in omnibus, quae ex nihilo creavit Omnipotens, discernendis, ordinandis, sumendis, discernendis, salvandis, damnandis, ipsa ejus voluntas summa justitia sit? Ergo miseretur cui voluerit; et misericordiam praestat, in quem sibi placuerit; et quem vult obdurat, justissime deserendo; et quem vult emollit, piissime miserendo; et quidquid vult facit, nec injustum aliquid facit, quandoquidem inter justum et injustum sola ejus discernit voluntas, quae non est aliud quam ipsa aequitas, nec ejus voluntas ex alia pendet lege justitiae, sed lex justitiae ex ejus utique voluntate. Haec diximus, ne injusta videatur damnatio parvulorum.

Itaque, o homo, noli altum sapere; sed time. Si enim ramis cum quibus est aequa conditio, par meritum, non parcit Deus, ne forte nec tibi parcat. Vide ergo severitatem et bonitatem Dei. In his quidem qui deseruntur, severitatem; in te autem bonitatem, si tamen permanseris in bonitate. Alioquin et tu relinqueris. Porro ut non relinquaris, sed a relictis potius discernaris, noli de te praesumere, noli de Dei bonitate desperare, noli esse negligens ad operandum, noli esse segnis ad orandum cum Propheta, qui ait: Discerne causam meam de gente non sancta (Psal. xlii). Verum, ut in bonitate hac perseveres, non tibi de tuis viribus blandiaris, sed de illo praesume, cui item clamat Propheta: Tu, Domine, servabis nos, et custodies nos a generatione hac in aeternum (Psal.

xi). Illa scilicet generatione, de qua statim subjecit: In circuitu impii ambulant (ibid.) . Hi sunt, qui instar Samson decisis virtutum crinibus, defossisque scientiae rationisque luminibus, deputantur ad molam, ut deserentes compendium charitatis, circuitum teneant cupiditatis.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Matt.20.15 — Or is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am good?
  2. ↩Rom.9.13 — Just as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
  3. ↩Rom.9.20 — But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Will what is molded say to its maker, 'Why did you make me like this'?
  4. ↩Rom.9.21 — Does not the potter have authority over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
  5. ↩Rom.9.18 — So then, He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
  6. ↩Rom.11.20 — Well said: they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear.
  7. ↩Rom.11.17-Rom.11.21 — But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker of the root and the richness of the olive tree, Rom.11.18 — Do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you. Rom.11.19 — Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Rom.11.20 — Well said: they were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear. Rom.11.21 — For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
  8. ↩Rom.11.22 — Consider then the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
  9. ↩Ps.42.1;Ps.44.1 — To the choirmaskil. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. Ps.44.1 — To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. A Maskil.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩hinc repeated four times is rhetorical anaphora; rendered 'from this' each time to preserve the accusatory force
  2. 2 ↩cum taken as concessive ('although') rather than temporal or causal; par teneat = 'holds equally'
  3. 3 ↩Roman numeral citation marker from the Vulgate chapter numbering; preserved as-is from source
  4. 4 ↩The 'branches' likely refer to the image of Romans 11:17–24 (grafted olive branches), though the author does not cite the source here. 'Equal condition, equal merit' underscores the argument that no one has grounds for complaint before God.
  5. 5 ↩permanseris could be perfect subjunctive ('if you have remained') or future perfect indicative ('if you will have remained'). The sense is conditional: perseverance in goodness is required to experience God's goodness rather than his severity.
  6. 6 ↩The fourfold 'noli' series moves from self-reliance to despair to neglect of action to neglect of prayer — a comprehensive warning against both pride and sloth.
  7. 7 ↩blandiaris could be present subjunctive ('you may not flatter yourself') or present indicative ('you are not flattering yourself'). The subjunctive reading fits the hortatory context better: 'don't flatter yourself.'
  8. 8 ↩The Samson analogy (Judges 16) frames disordered desire as self-destruction: just as Samson lost his strength when his hair was cut, those who abandon charity lose their spiritual vitality and are reduced to grinding labor.

Speculum caritatis (The Mirror of Charity) companion

Reorder one love at a time, daily

Use the study map with the free Chosen Portion app's daily readings to work through Aelred at a sustainable pace.

Aelred wrote the Mirror as a rule for daily interior discipline in community, and Chosen Portion carries that discipline forward as a short ordered reading each day.

  • All 3 books and 102 chapters mapped into 4 weekly themes with page-level pointers
  • Aelred's choice-motion-fruit test, turned into a one-page self-examination worksheet
  • 16 discussion questions ready for personal journaling or a 4-session small group
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →