Question 1. What is said, that the infants killed were two years old and under, signifies that the lowly who have the twofold love (See Matt 22:37–40) are able, like two-year-old little ones, to die for Christ.

2. What I tell you in the dark, that is, while you are still in carnal fear, since fear is in darkness, speak in the light, that is, in the confidence of truth once the Holy Spirit has been received; and what you hear in the ear, preach upon the housetops, that is, what you hear in secret, preach with the dwelling of the flesh trodden underfoot.

3. Do not think that I have come to send peace upon the earth. I have not come to send peace, but a sword; for I have come to set a man against his father, because someone renounces the devil, who was his father (See John 8:44), and a daughter against her mother, the people of God against the worldly city, that is, against the ruinous fellowship of the human race, which Scripture signifies now as Babylon, now as Egypt, now as Sodom (See Rev 11:8), now by yet other names, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, the Church against the Synagogue, which according to the flesh bore Christ (See Rom 9:5) the bridegroom of the Church;

and they are divided by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God (See Eph 6:17), and a man's enemies are those of his own household, with whom he had previously been bound up by familiar association.

4. That coming down from the mountain, after he had there given the precepts to the disciples and the multitude (See Matt 5–7), he at once stretched out his hand and healed a leper, signifies that those who were doubtful about fulfilling those precepts are cleansed from such inconstancy by his help.

5. As to what the Lord said to the scribe who wished to follow him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head, it is understood that he wished to follow him because he was moved by the Lord's miracles, out of empty boastfulness, which the birds signify; but he feigned the obedience of a disciple, and this pretense is signified by the name of foxes. By the laying down of his head he signified his humility, which had no place in that pretender and proud man.

6. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Here he calls those who do not believe the dead; but their own dead are those who nonetheless departed from the body without faith.

7. Shake the dust from your feet, either as a testimony to the earthly labor that they had undertaken for them in vain, or to show that they sought nothing earthly from them at all, so much so that they would not even allow the dust from their land to cling to them.

8. Be therefore wise as serpents in guarding against evil by protecting the head, which is Christ (See 1 Cor 11:3), for the serpent exposes its whole body to its pursuer for the sake of its head; or because, squeezing itself through narrow places, it is stripped of its old skin and renewed, which those imitate to whom it is said, Enter by the narrow gate (Matt 7:13), when they are stripped of the old man (See Col 3:9). For if he were warning that evil is to be guarded against in such a way that one must violently resist the wicked, he would not have said above, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. And he wished them to be innocent as doves, so as to harm no one. For this kind of bird kills no animal at all, not only of the large ones against which it has no strength, but even of the tiniest ones on which even very small sparrows feed. Now among all irrational living things there is a certain fellowship with one another, just as there is among rational ones too, that is, among human beings, not only with one another but even with the angels. Let them therefore learn from the likeness of the doves to harm no one at all who belongs to their fellowship by sharing in reason.

9. I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. It must be noted that confession is set down here as praise of God; for the Lord was not confessing sins, which he had none of (See 1 Pet 2:22), especially since another evangelist records that he said this while rejoicing (See Luke 10:21), although the very words he speaks leave no doubt that they are spoken in praise of God. Therefore Scripture in general calls confession whatever is plainly declared as it is perceived. For that saying, Whoever confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father (Matt 10:32), or as it is elsewhere, before the angels of God (Luke 12:8), certainly does not mean that one who confesses Christ is confessing sins. But if some think it is called confession for this reason, that the name of Christ was charged as a crime in the time of persecution, does Christ then also confess before the Father or before the angels the man who has confessed him? In Ecclesiasticus too it is set down thus: And you shall say this in confession: All the works of the Lord are exceedingly good (Sir 39:20–21), in which place the praises of God are unmistakably heightened. These things have been said on account of the inexperience of the brethren who, when they hear this word as the reader reads, at once beat their breasts, not noticing in what place it is said, as though there could be no confession except of sins.

10. It must be noted that, concerning what seemed to the Jews to have been done unlawfully, namely that the disciples plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath, one example is given of royal power, that of David, and another of priestly power, that of those who through the ministry of the temple violate the Sabbath, so that the charge of plucking ears of grain on the Sabbath pertains far less to him who is the true king and the true priest and is therefore Lord of the Sabbath.

11. 1. But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the rulers of the Church acted too negligently, or when the apostles received the sleep of death, the devil came and sowed those whom the Lord interprets as evil sons. But it is rightly asked whether they are heretics or badly living Catholics. For heretics too can be called evil sons, because, begotten of the same seed of the Gospel and the name of Christ, they are turned by depraved opinions to false teachings. But since he says they were sown among the wheat, those seem to be signified who are of one communion; yet because the Lord interpreted the field itself as not the Church but this world, heretics are well understood, since it is not by the fellowship of one Church or one faith, but only by the fellowship of the Christian name, that they are mingled with the good in this world, so that those who are evil within the same faith are reckoned rather as chaff than as weeds (See Matt 3:12), because chaff too has the very foundation in common with the grain, and a common root. In that net, surely, in which both bad and good fish are enclosed (See Matt 13:47–50), the bad Catholics are not absurdly understood. For the sea is one thing, which signifies rather this world, and the net another, which seems to show the communion of one faith or one Church. Between heretics and bad Catholics there is this difference, that heretics believe false things, while the others, believing true things, do not live as they believe.

11. 2. It is also commonly asked how schismatics differ from heretics, and this is found: that it is not a different faith that makes schismatics, but the broken fellowship of communion. But whether they are to be counted among the weeds can be doubted. For they seem rather to be more like spoiled ears of grain, as it is written, And the wicked son shall be spoiled by the wind (Prov 10:5), or like the chaff of the husks of grain, broken or split and swept away from the standing crop. For the higher they are, that is, the prouder, the more fragile and the lighter they are. Nor does it follow that every heretic or schismatic is bodily separated from the Church. For if someone believes false things about God or about some part of the teaching that pertains to the building up of the faith (See Eph 4:29), in such a way that he is not moderated by the hesitation of one inquiring, but is at variance by the opinion and error of one who believes unshakably and knows nothing at all, he is a heretic and is outside in mind, although within he seems to be present bodily. For the Church bears many such, since they do not defend the falsity of their opinion in such a way as to make a crowd intent on it; but if they do this, then they are expelled.

Likewise, whoever envy the good, so as to seek occasions for excluding or degrading them, or are prepared to defend their own crimes, if these are charged or exposed, in such a way that they even contemplate stirring up the segregations of conventicles or the disturbances of the Church, are already schismatics and severed in heart from unity, even if, when no occasions are found or their deeds are concealed, they are joined to the sacrament of the Church by bodily association.

11. 3. For this reason those alone are rightly reckoned bad Catholics who, although they believe true things that pertain to the teaching of the faith, and if perhaps they do not know something and think it must be inquired into, examine it with piety preserved and without any prejudgment of the truth, and love and honor the good, or those whom they think good, as much as they can, yet live shamefully and wickedly, contrary to how they believe one must live. For such men, even if they are exposed or accused, rebuked for the sake of the Church's discipline and their own salvation or suspended from communion, in no way think that they must withdraw from the Catholic communion, but, however they are permitted, they seek a place for making amends. And sometimes through penance they are changed into grain, whether rebuked or removed, or even terrified by the word of God when no one accuses or reproaches them by name.

But sometimes, even under the name of penitents, they live as they were accustomed, or not much less, and some even more; yet in no way do they depart from Catholic unity. If death steals upon them living thus, they are reckoned as chaff to the very end. This too they themselves believe; for if they believe otherwise and hold it unshakably, they are already to be counted among heretics, supposing that God will grant pardon to all who persevere even in great iniquity to the end of life, merely because they held to the unity of the Church not with sincere love (for then they would live well), but rather through fear of punishments.

These, then, either do not believe this or do not firmly hold the opinion, even if they perhaps are still inquiring; but rather the hope of delay deceives them, while they suppose they will live longer and at some time change their ruined ways for the better. Against them it is said, Do not delay to turn to God, and do not put it off from day to day; for his wrath will come suddenly, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you (Sir 5:8–9); for those are turned who begin to live rightly. For this is to return to God. But those who persistently follow their own desires have their back, as it were, to God (See Jer 32:33), although, set within unity, they often try to look at him with the neck twisted back. Therefore these too, as the prophet says, are flesh, a spirit that goes and does not return (Ps 78:39 (77)).

But nevertheless, as has been said, on account of that same faith and the unity of the Church they are counted neither among the weeds, since those are rooted outside, nor among the chaff of the ears, which dares to set itself even above the grain by harsh dissension and fragile pride, but, though subject to the grain, yet among the chaff that is to be separated at the final winnowing (See Matt 3:11).

11. 4. But the good Catholics are those who follow both an unimpaired faith and good morals. As to what pertains to the teaching of the faith, if they have anything to inquire into, they inquire in such a way that there is no dangerous contention, either for the one inquiring, or for the one with whom he inquires, or for those who hear them discussing. And they teach, if they have anything to teach, in such a way that they convey customary and established things as safely and confidently and gently as they can, but unfamiliar things, even if they have grasped them with the clearest manifestation of truth, in the manner of inquiring rather than of laying down or affirming, on account of the weakness of the hearer. For if some truth has so great a weight that it exceeds the strength of the learner, it must be held in suspense so that it may stretch him as he grows, not imposed so that it may crush the little one. Hence that saying of the Lord, But when the Son of man comes, do you think he will find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

But sometimes a thing must even be concealed, yet with encouraging hope, so that despair may not make people colder, but desire make them more receptive. Hence that saying of the same Lord, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). As to what pertains to morals, this is well and briefly said: either one must struggle against the love of temporal goods so that it does not conquer, or, even when it has been tamed and subdued, it must be such that, when it begins to rise, it is easily checked, or so extinguished that it stirs in no part at all. From which it comes about that some bravely undergo even death itself for the sake of the truth, some with equanimity, some gladly. These three kinds are the fruit of fertile ground, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold (See Matt 13:8, 23). In some one of these kinds a person must be found at the time of his death, if he rightly thinks of departing from this life.

11. 5. Now not only the weeds are to be tolerated until the harvest—which, when the devil had sown them over by scattering depraved errors and false opinions, that is, when, with the name of Christ going before, he had superimposed heresies, he the more hid himself and became most concealed, for this is the meaning of and went away—but also the chaff is to be tolerated until the winnowing (See Matt 3:12). Nor is the weight of the grain more strongly proved except by the disturbances of the chaff, which, when it has not been able to oppress them with the truth defended, gives way with unity preserved. Yet in this parable the Lord, as he concluded in his exposition of it, is understood to have signified by the name of weeds not certain things but all scandals and those who work iniquity.

11. 6. But when the blade had sprung up and borne fruit, then the weeds also appeared. For when a person has begun to be spiritual, judging all things (See 1 Cor 2:15), then errors begin to appear to him. And the servants said to him, Do you wish us to go and gather them? Are these servants the same whom a little later he calls reapers?

Or, since in the exposition of the parable he said the reapers were angels, and since no one could easily dare to say that the angels did not know who had sown the weeds, or that these appeared to the angels when the blade had borne fruit, it is rather right to understand that the faithful themselves are the men signified in this place by the name of servants, whom he also calls the good seed?

Nor is it any wonder if they themselves are called both the good seed and the servants of the head of the household, just as he says of himself that he is both the door and the shepherd (See John 10:7, 11); for from its various significations one and the same thing admits even several and diverse likenesses, especially since, when he was speaking to the servants, he did not say, At the time of the harvest I will say to you, Gather first the weeds, but, I will say, he says, to the reapers. From which it is understood that the gathering of the weeds for burning belongs to other ministries, and that no son of the Church ought to suppose that this office pertains to himself.

11. 7. When, therefore, anyone has begun to be spiritual, he recognizes the errors of the heretics and altogether judges and discerns that whatever he has heard or read is abhorrent to the rule of truth; but until he is perfected in these same spiritual matters and in a manner ripens into the fruit that the blade has given, it can disturb him why under the Christian name so many falsehoods of heretics have arisen. Hence the servants say, Did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then do the weeds come from?

Then, when he has recognized that the devil has contrived this fraud, since he perceives that he can do nothing against the authority of so great a name, so as to cloak his deceptions under that same name, the will may arise in him to remove such men from human affairs, if he has any power for a time; but whether he ought to do so, he consults the justice of God, whether God commands him this or permits it and wills this to be the office of men. Hence it is that the servants say, Do you wish us to go and gather them?

To them the Truth himself replies that man is not so constituted in this life that he can be certain of what sort anyone will afterward be whose error he sees in the present, or even what that error may contribute to the progress of the good, and therefore that such men are not to be removed from this life, lest, when one attempts to kill the evil, he kill the good, which perhaps they are going to be, or do harm to the good to whom even against their will they perhaps are useful; but that it is then done opportunely, when already at the end there remains no time either for changing one's life or for advancing toward the truth from the occasion and comparison of another's error, and that then this is done not by men but by angels.

Hence it is that the head of the household replies, No, lest perhaps in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. But at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers and the rest; and in this way he renders them most patient and most calm.

11. 8. But it can be asked, as to what he says, Bind them in bundles to be burned, why he did not say that one bundle or one heap of weeds is made, unless perhaps, on account of the variety of heretics—differing not only from the wheat but even from one another—he signified by the name of bundles the proper conventicles of each heresy, in which they are individually bound together by their own communion, so that they begin even then to be bound for burning, when, segregated from Catholic communion, they have begun to have their own, as it were, churches; so that their burning is at the end of the age, while now is the binding of the bundles. But if it were so, no longer would many recover their senses and, returning to the Catholic Church, fall away from error. For this reason the binding of the bundles too is to be in the end, so that the obstinacy of each error may be punished, not confusedly, but according to the measure of its own perversity.

11. 9. Lest perhaps in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Is it because the good too, while they are still weak, have need in certain respects of the admixture of the wicked, whether so that through them they may be exercised, or so that by comparison with them a great exhortation may be made to them to strive toward the better, and if these were taken away the height of love would, as it were, be uprooted and wither—which is to be rooted up (for thus the Apostle says, That, rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend (Eph 3:17–18))? Or is it perhaps for this reason that the wheat is rooted up together when the weeds are removed, because many are first weeds and afterward become wheat, who, unless they are patiently borne while they are evil, do not arrive at a praiseworthy change; and so, if they were torn up, the wheat too would be rooted up, the wheat that they would have been if they had been spared?

12. [13.] The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. And finding one precious pearl, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. The question is why he passed from the plural number to the singular, so that, although the man seeks fine pearls, he finds one precious one, which, when all that he has have been sold, he may buy.

Either, then, this man, seeking good men with whom he may profitably live, finds one in place of all, without sin (See 2 Cor 5:21), the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus (See 1 Tim 2:5).

Or, seeking precepts by which, kept, he may conduct himself rightly with men, he finds the love of neighbor, in which one thing the Apostle says all are contained, so that you shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, and any other commandment are individual pearls that are summed up in this saying, You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Rom 13:8–9).

Or the man seeks good understandings and finds that one in which all are contained: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (See John 1:1), shining with the brightness of truth and solid with the firmness of eternity and on every side like itself in the beauty of divinity, who, as God, is to be understood when the shell of the flesh has been pierced. For he had already attained to that very pearl who, in the coverings of mortality, as though by the obstacle of shells, had once lain hidden in the deep of this age and amid the rocky hardnesses of the Jews; he, then, had already attained to that pearl who says, Even though we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer (2 Cor 5:16). Nor is any understanding at all worthy of the name of a pearl except that to which one comes when all the carnal coverings have been removed by which, whether through human words or through the likenesses set around it, it is veiled, so that, pure and solid and nowhere discordant with itself, it may be discerned by sure reason. Yet all these true and firm and perfect understandings that one Word contains, through whom all things were made (See John 1:3), which is the word of God.

But whichever of these three it may be, or if anything else can occur that may be well signified by the name of the one precious pearl, its price is we ourselves, who are not free to possess it unless all the things that are possessed for a time are despised for our liberation. For when our possessions have been sold, we receive no greater price for them than ourselves, because, entangled in such things, we did not belong to ourselves, so that we may again give our very selves for that pearl, not because it is worth only so much, but because we can give no more.

13. 1. [14.] And they closed their eyes, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, that is, they themselves were the cause that God closed their eyes. For another evangelist says, He blinded their eyes. But is it so that they should never see, or rather so that they might not even in this way at some time see—displeased with themselves at their own blindness and grieving over themselves, and from this humbled and moved to confess their sins and piously to seek God?

For thus Mark says it: Lest at any time they should turn and their sins be forgiven them (Mark 4:12). Here it is understood that by their sins they deserved not to understand, and yet this very thing was done to them mercifully, so that they might recognize their sins and, being converted, deserve pardon.

But as to the fact that John speaks of this place thus, Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I heal them (John 12:39–40), it seems to be opposed to this opinion and altogether to compel us so that what was said here, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, is not taken as: lest even in this way they should at some time see with their eyes, but plainly as: that they should not see, since he says so openly thus, that they should not see with their eyes.

And what he says, Therefore they could not believe, sufficiently shows that this blinding was not made so that, moved by it and grieving that they did not understand, they might at some time be converted through penance; for they could not do this unless they first believed, so that by believing they might be converted, by conversion be healed, by health understand, but rather that they were blinded so that they would not believe; for he says most openly, Therefore they could not believe.

13. 2. But if it is so, who would not rise up in defense of the Jews, to proclaim that they were without fault for not believing? For therefore they could not believe, because he blinded their eyes (John 12:39–40). But since God rather ought to be understood as without fault, we are compelled to confess that they deserved to be thus blinded by certain other sins; yet by that blinding they could not believe. For these are the words of John: Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes. In vain, therefore, do we try to understand that they were blinded so that they might be converted, since they could not be converted because they did not believe, and they could not believe because they had been blinded.

Or perhaps we may not absurdly say that certain of the Jews were curable, but nevertheless so endangered by so great a swelling of pride that it was expedient for them first not to believe, and that they were blinded for this, so that they might not understand the Lord speaking through parables, which, not being understood, they would not believe in him, and, not believing, would crucify him along with the others who were past hope, and thus, after his resurrection, would be converted, when, now more humbled by the guilt of the Lord's death, they would more vehemently love him by whom they would rejoice that so great a crime had been forgiven them—since their pride was so great that it had to be cast down by such a humbling?

Anyone might judge that this was incongruously said, did he not read in the Acts of the Apostles that it most manifestly happened so (See Acts 2:36–41). What John says, then—Therefore they could not believe, because he blinded their eyes, that they should not see—is not at variance with that opinion by which we understand that they were blinded so that they might be converted (See Mark 4:12), that is, that the Lord's meanings were hidden from them through the obscurities of the parables so that after his resurrection they might recover their senses with a more wholesome penance; because, blinded through the obscurity of the discourse, they did not understand the sayings of the Lord, and by not understanding them did not believe in him, and by not believing crucified him; and thus, after his resurrection, terrified by the miracles that were done in his name, they were pricked by the greater guilt of the crime and, prostrated to penance, then, having received indulgence, were converted to obedience with the most ardent love.

13. 3. For of those for whom that blindness, which was made through the tongue of the parables, did not avail toward conversion, the prophet says in another place—which the Apostle also mentioned, when he was treating of the obscurity of tongues—thus: In other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and even so they will not heed me, says the Lord (1 Cor 14:21–25; Isa 28:11). For it would not be said, Even so they will not heed me, unless it were done for this purpose, that they might in this way heed, that is, that it might avail them toward humble confession and anxious inquiry and obedient conversion and fervent love. But this is also the principle of bodily medicine. For very many medicines first afflict in order to heal, and the salves themselves that pertain to the eyes, if they need to be poured in within, cannot be of benefit unless they first close and disturb the sense of seeing.

13. 4. Nor let it disturb anyone that the same prophet says, Unless you believe, you will not understand (Isa 7:9 (Septuagint)), as if what John says were contrary, Therefore they could not believe, because he blinded their eyes (John 12:39–40), that is, because those parables were spoken in such a way that they could not be understood by them. For someone says: If they had to believe in order to understand, how could they not believe because they did not understand, that is, because he blinded their eyes? But what Isaiah says, Unless you believe, you will not understand, was said of that understanding in which one will always abide, the understanding of ineffable things; but when something is said that is to be believed, unless what is said is understood, it cannot be believed. The things said, then, must be understood so that the things that could be said may be believed; and the things that could be said must be believed so that the things that cannot be said may be understood.

14. [15.] And without parables he did not speak to them, not because he said nothing in plain terms, but because he expounded almost no discourse in which he did not signify something through a parable, although in it he also said some things in plain terms, so that often his whole discourse is found expounded with parables, but no whole discourse is found said in plain terms. By expounded discourses I mean when, on some occasion of things, he begins to speak until he concludes whatever pertains to that matter and passes to another. Sometimes, indeed, one evangelist joins together what another indicates was said at different times. For each one arranged the narrative that he had begun not altogether according to the order of the things done, but according to the capacity of his own recollection.

15. [16.] Have you understood all these things? They say to him: Yes. He said to them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a man, the head of a household, who brings forth from his treasure things new and old. Did he wish by this conclusion to expound what he had called the treasure hidden in the field (See Matt 13:44), since the holy Scriptures are understood, which are comprised under the name of the two Testaments, the New and the Old, just as in another evangelist he seems by such a conclusion to expound the twice-sharpened sword (See Rev 1:16);

or, because he said these things in parables and, when he had asked them whether they had understood, they answered that they had understood, did he perhaps wish by this last likeness of the head of a household bringing forth from his treasure things new and old to show that he is to be held instructed in the Church who has understood even the old Scriptures expounded by parables, taking from these new ones the rules, since the Lord declared even these things through parables, although Christ himself was the end of those things (See Rom 10:4), that is, that in him those old things might be fulfilled; so that, if he himself, in whom those things are fulfilled and manifested, still speaks through parables until his Passion rends the veil (See Matt 27:51), so that there may be nothing hidden that is not revealed (See Matt 10:26), much more should we recognize that those things which were written of him so long ago to commend so great a salvation are veiled with parables—things which the Jews, when they take them according to the letter, refused to be instructed in the kingdom of heaven, nor to pass over to Christ, that the veil which is set over their heart might be taken away (See 2 Cor 3:15–16).

16. 1. [17.] His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas, and his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? And they were offended at him. That among the Jews kinsmen are customarily called brothers is proved to such a degree that not only those of an equal degree of descent—such as are the sons of brothers and sisters, who even among us are most commonly called brothers—but even an uncle and a sister's son, as Jacob and Laban were to each other, are found called brothers (See Gen 29:13–15). It is no wonder, then, that whatever kinsmen on the maternal side were called the Lord's brothers, since even from the kinship of Joseph they could be called his brothers by those who supposed him to be the Lord's father.

16. 2. No one violates general justice except by transgressing through lust either against what is agreeable to human society, such as theft, robbery, adultery, incest, and the like; or against nature, such as insult, slaughter, homicide, intercourse with males or with beasts; or against measure in things permitted, such as beating a servant or a son more than is fitting, eating or drinking more than is fitting, lying with one's own spouse more than is fitting, and the like.

16. 3. It is rightly understood that the Holy Spirit therefore first gave to men the gift of tongues (See Acts 2:4), which were instituted by the agreement and good pleasure of men and are learned from without through the bodily senses by the habit of hearing, in order to show them how easily he could make them wise through the wisdom of God which is within them.

16. 4. Likewise the will of the eternal Word is always stable, because it has all things at once; but our will does not stand, because it does not have all things at once; therefore we will now this, now that. Likewise, all the things that have been made were thus in that Word, and his very assumption of manhood was foreknown by him just as if a painter should wish to paint a whole house and should think of, or know, the place where he ought to paint even himself: he has the whole in his art and in his preparation and in his will, although he unfolds each thing in its own appointed times. So every creation and man himself, who was to bear, mystically and by an unutterable assumption, the person of that same Wisdom, was always in that Wisdom, as in the eternal art of God, although it brings about each thing in its own times—the Wisdom that reaches mightily from end to end and orders all things sweetly (See Wis 8:1) and, abiding in itself, makes all things new (See Wis 7:27).

16. 5. Likewise, how would anyone wish to will to die, if one had so come to willing to die who already has a sound faith and sees where he must come—to this he already advances, that he gladly departs from this life. For to see where one must come is not the same thing as also to love that and to desire already to be there, which, when it has been brought about in anyone's mind, it is necessary that he die gladly. In vain, therefore, do certain ones who already hold a sound faith say that they are unwilling to die so that they may make progress, since their very progress consists in this progress, that they will to die. If, then, they wish to speak truly, let them not say: I am unwilling to die so that I may make progress, but: I am unwilling to die because I have made little progress. And so, for the faithful, to be unwilling to die is not a counsel that they may make progress, but an indication that they have made little progress. Accordingly, let them will what they do not will, namely that they be perfect, and they are perfect.