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Chapter 3ViaRegia.1.3

De observandis mandatis Domini

The Foundation of Love and Obedience

The author establishes that true love for God is demonstrated through the faithful keeping of His commandments.

Because, with the Lord's help, we have begun to write the royal road, we must set the steps of this work firmly, carefully, and in good order, so that whoever runs along it will not find a ruinous stumbling block there, but a profitable and eternal joy. Let's see what precept the Author of love himself gives us to keep after we have put love into practice. For he says: "If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to remain with you forever."1 So take this to heart, O most merciful and gentle King: how deeply our Lord Jesus Christ loves us. With a promise he asks for our love, and he says the Holy Spirit will remain with us forever if, after loving him, we keep his commandments.2 For from him (as we already said above) all good things are entrusted to us, and both the will to do good and the working of it are first given us by him.3 We are loved so that we may love; we are cherished so that we may cherish; we are known so that we may know; we are helped so that we may work, and by working be enriched with virtues.4 So if the love of God and neighbor draws you, it follows that you should do what he has commanded, because you only love as much as you do.5 For no one can sincerely love God who doesn't faithfully keep his commandments. Grasp this yourself as the Lord teaches you. For he says: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

Scriptural Witness to the Law

The author calls upon the testimony of the Apostles and the Book of Job to confirm the necessity of keeping God's word.

And whoever doesn't love me doesn't keep my words. John the apostle, too, filled with the Lord's love, says in his Letter: By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says he knows him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.6 But whoever keeps his word—in this the love of God is truly made perfect. The book of Job, too, consecrated by the Lord's own mouth, is a witness to this very thing, especially regarding kings, saying: He doesn't take his eyes from the just man, and he sets kings on the throne forever, and they are raised up.7 He will also open their ear so that he may correct them, and he will speak so that they may turn back from iniquity.8 If they listen and keep what he says, they will finish their days in good and their years in glory; but if they don't listen, they will pass through the sword and be consumed in folly. Job himself also gives good and upright testimony about himself, saying: My foot has followed in God's steps; I have kept his way and haven't turned aside from it; I haven't departed from the commandments of his lips, and I have hidden the words of his mouth in my heart.9 So, good king, we always want to hear this kind of testimony about you, and we want to see this kind of work often, too.

The Covenant of Blessing and Curse

A detailed exposition of the blessings promised for obedience and the consequences of turning away from God's law.

The Lord himself also, warning the people of Israel about love for him and about keeping his commandments, says: And now, Israel, hear the precepts and judgments that I teach you, so that by doing them you may live by them. Stay alert and take care that you never forget the Lord your God. And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except that you fear your God, walk in his ways, love him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, so that it may go well with you?10 But if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so as to do and keep all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will raise you above all the nations on earth; and all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you—if only you listen to his precepts. You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land, and the offspring of your livestock—the herds of your cattle and the folds of your sheep. The Lord will send blessing on your storehouses and on all the work of your hands. The Lord will make your enemies who rise against you fall before your eyes. The Lord also adds still more to Israel, and says: If you walk in my precepts and keep my commandments and do them, I will give you rains in their seasons, and the earth will bring forth its growth, and the trees will be filled with fruit.✦ The threshing of the harvest will overtake the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will run into the time of sowing; and you will eat your bread until you are full, and you will live in your land without fear.✦11 I will give you peace within your borders; you'll sleep, and no one will terrify you.✦ I will remove the wild beasts, and no sword will pass through your borders.✦ You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you.✦ Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand; your enemies will fall by the sword before your eyes.✦12 But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all my commandments—if you despise my laws and scorn my judgments so that you do not do what I have established and bring my covenant to nothing—I too will do these things to you.✦ I will quickly visit you with want and with a burning heat that wastes your eyes and consumes your souls.✦13 You will sow seed in vain, and enemies will devour it.✦ I will set my face against you, and you will fall before your enemies, and you will be subjected to those who hate you: you will flee when no one is pursuing you.✦ Through Isaiah, the Lord also cries out to Israel, saying: If only you had paid attention to my commandments!✦ Your peace would have been like a river, and your justice like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and the children of your womb like its grains—they wouldn't have perished, and their name wouldn't have been wiped out.✦14

The King's Eternal Reward

A concluding exhortation to the king, promising divine indwelling and eternal peace for those who diligently keep the commandments.

So it is good for you, O king, to love the Lord your God, and out of overflowing love for him to keep his commandments carefully and diligently.✦ His commandments are holy and just, and for those who keep them, they are deeply saving.15 Therefore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will come to you, and they will make a joyful dwelling with you in your own home, and you will be forever blessed, visited by such a Guest.✦16 Therefore your days will be filled with blessings, and your years with glory.✦ Therefore your peace will happily multiply, and joy like a river will be made complete forever.✦

Read the original Latin

Quia Domino auxiliante viam regiam scribere coepimus, necesse est ut in ea operis gressus firmiter et diligenter, et ordinate ponamus, ut currens per eam non ibi damnosum offendiculum, sed lucrosum aeternumque inveniat gaudium. Videamus quod nobis ipse dilectionis auctor post exsecutionem dilectionis conservandum concedat praeceptum; ait enim: Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate: et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paracletum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum. Attende ergo, o clementissime rex ac mitissime, quantum nos diligat Dominus noster Jesus Christus, qui cum promissione a nobis suam exigit dilectionem, et Spiritum sanctum dicit nobiscum esse in aeternum mansurum, si post dilectionem suam mandata ejus servaverimus. Ab ipso enim (ut jam superius diximus) nobis omnia bona creduntur, et velle bonum et operari ab illo prius nobis largitur. Diligimur enim ut diligamus, amamur ut amemus, cognoscimur ut cognoscamus, adjuvamur ut operemur et operando virtutibus ditemur. Ergo si te dilectio Dei proximique demulcet, consequens est ut facias quod ille praecepit, quia in tantum diligis, in quantum facis. Neque enim potest sincere Deum diligere, qui mandata ejus fideliter non implet. Ipse te Domino docente intellige; ait enim: Si quis diligit me, sermonem meum servabit; et Pater meus diliget eum, et ad eum veniemus, et apud eum mansionem faciemus.

Et qui non diligit me, sermones meos non servat. Joannes quoque apostolus dilectione Domini repletus in Epistola sua ait: In hoc scimus quoniam cognovimus eum, si mandata ejus observemus. Qui dicit se nosse eum, et mandata ejus non custodit, mendax est, et in hoc veriats non est. Qui autem servat verbum ejus, vere in hoc charitas Dei perfecta est. Liber quoque Job ore Domini sacratus de hoc ipso testis est, maxime de regibus dicens: Non aufert a justo oculos suos, et reges in solio collocat in perpetuum, et illi eriguntuur. Revelabit quoque aurem eorum, ut corripiat; et loquetur ut revertantur ab inquitate. Si audierint et observaverint, complebunt dies suos in bono, et annos suos in gloria: si autem non audierint, transibunt per gladium ut consumantur in stultitia. De se quoque ipse Job bonum rectumque dans testimonium, ait: Vestigia Dei secutus est pes meus, viam ejus custodivi, et non declinavi ex ea, a mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus.

Tale ergo de te, o bone rex, volumus semper audire testimonium, tale videre frequenter et opus.

Ipse quoque Dominus de dilectione sua atque mandatorum suorum observantia populum Israeliticum admonens, dicit: Et nunc, Israel, audi praecepta et judicia, quae ego doceo te, ut faciens ea, vivas in eis. Observa et cave ne quando obliviscaris Domini Dei tui. Et nunc, Israel, quid Dominus Deus tuus petit a te, nisi ut timeas Deum tuum, et ambules in viis ejus, et diligas eum, ac servias Domino Deo tuo, in toto corde tuo, et in tota anima, custodiasque mandata Domini, et caeremonias ejus, quas hodie praecipio tibi, ut bene sit tibi? Si autem audieris vocem Domini Dei tui, ut facias atque custodias omnia mandata ejus, quae ego tibi praecipio hodie, faciet te Dominus Deus tuus excelsiorem cunctis gentibus quae versantur in terra: venientque super te universae benedictiones istae, et apprehendent te, si tamen praecepta ejus audieris. Benedictus tu in civitate, et benedictus in agro. Benedictus fructus ventris tui, et fructus terrae tuae, fructusque jumentorum tuorum, greges armentorum tuorum, et caulae ovium tuarum. Emittet Dominus benedictionem super cellaria tua, et super omnia opera manuum tuarum. Dabit Dominus inimicos tuos qui consurgunt adversum te, corruentes in conspectu tuo.

Addens quoque Dominus adhuc ad Israelem, dicit: Si in praeceptis meis ambulaveritis, et mandata mea custodieritis, et feceritis ea, dabo vobis pluvias temporibus suis, et terra gignet germen suum, et pomis arbores replebuntur. Apprehendet messium tritura vindemiam, et vindemia occupabit sementem: et comedetis panem vestrum in saturitate, et absque pavore habitabitis in terra vestra. Dabo pacem in finibus vestris: dormietis, et non erit qui exterreat. Auferam malas bestias, et gladius non transibit terminos vestros. Persequemini inimicos vestros, et corruent coram vobis. Persequentur quinque de vestris centum alienos, et centum de vobis decem millia, cadent inimici vestri gladio in conspectu restro. Quod si non audieritis me, nec feceritis omnia mandata mea, si spreveritis leges meas, et judicia mea contempseritis, ut non faciatis ea quae a me constituta sunt, et ad irritum perducatis pactum meum, ego quoque haec faciam vobis. Visitabo vos velociter in egestate, et ardore qui conficiat oculos vestros, et consumat animas vestras.

Frustra seretis sementem, quae ab hostibus devorabitur. Ponam faciem meam contra vos, et corruetis coram hostibus vestris, et subjiciemini his qui oderunt vos: fugietis nemine persequente. Per Isaiam quoque Dominus ad Israel clamat, et dicit: Utinam attendisses mandata mea! Facta fuisset sicut flumen pax tua, et justitia tua sicut gurgites maris; et fuisset quasi arena semen tuum, et stirps uteri tui ut lapilli ejus: non interiisset, et non fuisset attritum nomen ejus.

Bonum ergo tibi est, o rex, ut diligas Dominum Deum tuum, et ob dilectionem ejus nimiam sollicite et diligenter custodias ejus praecepta. Sancta sunt enim mandata ejus et justa, et observantibus valde salutaria. Propterea Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus ad te venient, et apud te in proprio laetam mansionem facient, et beatus eris in perpetuo tali hospite visitatus. Propterea complebuntur in benedictionibus dies tui, et in gloria anni tui. Propterea pax tua feliciter multiplicabitur, et gaudium sicut flumen in aeternum complebitur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Lev.26.3-Lev.26.4 — If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and do them, Lev.26.4 — I will give your rains in their season, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will give their fruit.
  2. ↩Lev.26.5 — and threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell securely in your land.
  3. ↩Lev.26.6 — I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down with no one to frighten you. I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword shall pass through your country.
  4. ↩Lev.26.6 — I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down with no one to frighten you. I will remove harmful animals from the land, and no sword shall pass through your country.
  5. ↩Lev.26.7 — You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
  6. ↩Lev.26.8 — Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
  7. ↩Lev.26.14-Lev.26.16 — But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, Lev.26.15 — But if you reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so as not to do all my commandments, so that you break my covenant— Lev.26.16 — I also will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever, which will waste the eyes and cause the soul to languish; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
  8. ↩Lev.26.16 — I also will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever, which will waste the eyes and cause the soul to languish; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
  9. ↩Lev.26.16 — I also will do this to you: I will appoint over you sudden terror, consumption, and fever, which will waste the eyes and cause the soul to languish; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
  10. ↩Lev.26.17 — I will set my face against you, and you will be struck down before your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee with no one pursuing you.
  11. ↩Isa.48.18 — Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
  12. ↩Isa.48.18-Isa.48.19 — Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isa.48.19 — And your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; his name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
  13. ↩Deut.6.5 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
  14. ↩John.14.23 — Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.'
  15. ↩Job.36.11 — If they listen and serve him, they will complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness.
  16. ↩Isa.48.18;Isa.66.12 — Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isa.66.12 — For thus says the LORD: Behold, I am extending peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried on her side, and you shall be bounced on her knees.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Paracletum rendered Advocate (Holy Spirit); durable alternative: Paraclete / Helper / Comforter.
  2. 2 ↩post dilectionem suam taken as after loving him (in sequence with keeping the commandments), parallel to the Gospel condition in the previous sentence; could also be read as after receiving his love.
  3. 3 ↩creduntur rendered as are entrusted to us; sense may also be are credited/ascribed as coming to us from him.
  4. 4 ↩diligimur/diligamus and amamur/amemus kept as parallel love-verbs (loved/love; cherished/cherish) to preserve the Latin doublet without collapsing both pairs into identical wording.
  5. 5 ↩demulcet rendered draws you (soothes/charms/wins); the force is affectionate persuasion, not mere flattery.
  6. 6 ↩Source reading 'veriats' treated as corrupt for 'veritas' (truth), matching the expected 1 John wording and sense.
  7. 7 ↩Source reading 'eriguntuur' treated as corrupt for 'eriguntur' ('they are raised up').
  8. 8 ↩Source reading 'inquitate' treated as corrupt for 'iniquitate' (iniquity).
  9. 9 ↩'in sinu meo' is literally 'in my bosom/breast'; rendered as 'in my heart' for natural modern biblical cadence without changing the sense of interior keeping.
  10. 10 ↩caeremonias rendered as "statutes" (Vulgate/Deuteronomic sense of ordinances), not mere ritual pageantry.
  11. 11 ↩messium tritura / vindemia / sementem: agricultural calendar of overlapping abundance (threshing lasts into vintage; vintage into sowing), not mere sequential listing.
  12. 12 ↩Source ends with 'in conspectu restro'; almost certainly a corruption of 'vestro' (in your sight). Translation follows that intended reading.
  13. 13 ↩animas here follows lexeme default 'souls'; the curse idiom can also mean 'lives' (life wasting away under disease).
  14. 14 ↩justitia rendered as 'justice'; biblical English often uses 'righteousness' here. gurgites maris = surging waves/depths of the sea; lapilli ejus = the sand's pebbles/grains.
  15. 15 ↩salutaria rendered as 'deeply saving' (valde salutaria): spiritually wholesome / conducive to salvation, not merely medically healthful.
  16. 16 ↩in proprio taken as 'in your own home/place'; hospite as divine Guest (visitor), not merely host.

Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion

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