De bono regimine in externis, et recursu ad Deum in periculis.

Freedom of the Children of God

The soul is called to inward freedom, mastering all things rather than being mastered by them, standing above the temporal and gazing upon the eternal as a true child of God.

Son, you ought to apply yourself diligently to this: that in every place, in every action or outward occupation, you may be inwardly free, master of yourself, and that all things may be under you, and you not under them — so that you may be the lord and ruler of your actions, not a slave or a purchased servant, but rather a true Hebrew, passing over into the strong freedom of the sons of God. They stand above present things and gaze upon eternal things; they look at what is passing with the left eye and at what is heavenly with the right. Temporal things do not draw them to cling to them, but they themselves draw temporal things rather to serve well, as they have been ordered by God and established by the highest Maker, who left nothing disordered in all his creation.¹²³

Entering the Tabernacle with Moses

Like Moses who entered the tabernacle to consult the Lord in every doubtful matter, the soul must turn inward to seek God's counsel, receiving divine instruction for present and future needs.

But if in every situation you don't stand on outward appearances, nor survey what you see or hear with the eye of the flesh, but at once enter with Moses into the tabernacle in every matter, to consult the Lord — then you will sometimes hear a divine answer and return instructed about many things present and future.^✦⁴⁵⁶ For Moses always had recourse to the tabernacle for doubtful matters and questions to be resolved, and he fled for the help of prayer against dangers and the wickedness of men to be overcome.⁷⁸⁹

The Inner Chamber and the Warning of the Gabaonites

The heart itself becomes the inner sanctuary where one earnestly implores God's help, lest, like Joshua deceived by the Gabaonites, one act without first seeking the Lord's word.

So too you ought to take refuge in the inner chamber of your heart, more earnestly imploring God's help.¹⁰¹¹ For this reason Joshua and the sons of Israel are recorded as having been deceived by the Gabaonites, because they did not first ask the word of the Lord, but being too credulous, they were misled by smooth talk and a false show of piety.^✦¹²¹³¹⁴

Read the original Latin

Fili, ad istud diligenter tendere debes, ut in omni loco, actione seu occupatione externa sis intus liber, et tui ipsius potens, et sint omnia sub te, et tu non sub eis, ut sis dominus actionum tuarum, et rector, non servus, nec emptitius, sed magis exemtus verusque Hebræus, in fortem ac libertatem transiens filiorum Dei; qui stant supra præsentia et speculantur æterna; qui transitoria intuentur sinistro oculo, et dextro cælestia, quos temporalia non trahunt ad inhærendum, sed trahunt ipsi ea magis ad bene serviendum, prout ordinata sunt a Deo, et instituta a summo Opifice, qui nil inordinatum reliquit in sua creatura.

Si autem in omni eventu stas non in apparentia externa, nec oculo carnali lustras visa vel audita, sed mox in qualibet causa intras cum Moyse in tabernaculum ad consulendum Dominum: et audies nonnunquam divinum responsum et redies instructus de multis præsentibus et futuris. Semper enim Moyses recursum habuit ad tabernaculum pro dubiis et quæstionibus solvendis fugitque ad orationis adjutorium pro periculis et improbitatibus hominum sublevandis. Sic et tu confugere debes in cordis tui secretarium divinum intentius implorando auxilium. Propterea namque Josue, et filii Israel a Gabaonitis leguntur decepti, quia os Domini non prius interrogaverunt, sed nimium creduli dulcibus sermonibus falsa pietate delusi sunt.

Scripture echoes

↩Exod.33.7-Exod.33.11 — Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he would call it the Tent of Meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. Exod.33.8 — And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and watch Moses until he entered the tent. Exod.33.9 — And whenever Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the entrance of the tent, and speak with Moses. Exod.33.10 — And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man at his tent entrance. Exod.33.11 — Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his assistant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
↩Josh.9.14 — So the men took provisions from their own supplies, but they did not ask the counsel of the LORD.

Notes

1 ↩Hebræus: Thomas uses the figure of the Hebrew to evoke the passage from slavery to freedom — the Exodus pattern of moving from bondage into the liberty of God's children.
2 ↩The image of the left eye (for transitory things) and the right (for heavenly things) draws on a traditional symbolic pairing: the right hand or eye signifies what is primary and good, the left what is secondary and passing.
3 ↩emptitius (hapax or very rare): likely 'purchased slave,' intensifying the contrast with the freeborn Hebrew.
4 ↩autem carries adversative force after the preceding section's exhortation; rendered as 'But' to mark the turn.
5 ↩The image of Moses entering the tabernacle to consult the Lord echoes Exodus 33:7–11 and similar passages where Moses seeks God's counsel.
6 ↩lustras (from lustro): 'survey' captures the sense of gazing over or examining, not merely 'look at'.
7 ↩enim is postpositive and explanatory, rendered as 'For' to introduce the reason supporting the preceding exhortation.
8 ↩recursum (recursus): 'recourse' preserves the sense of turning back repeatedly to a place of refuge.
9 ↩adjutorium (orationis): 'help of prayer' renders the genitive of purpose — prayer as the means of aid.
10 ↩secretarium: 'inner chamber' renders the metaphor of the heart as a private sanctuary where one meets God.
11 ↩cor (cordis): 'heart' in the interior-life sense — the seat of prayer and encounter with God.
12 ↩Direct reference to Joshua 9, where the Israelites are deceived by the Gibeonites because they 'did not ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord' (Joshua 9:14).
13 ↩quia introduces the causal clause explaining why they were deceived; sed contrasts their failure to ask with their excessive credulity.
14 ↩os Domini ('mouth/word of the Lord'): rendered as 'word of the Lord' to capture the metonymy of divine utterance.