The Complete Works of St. Anselm

St. Anselm of Canterbury

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The Complete Works of St. Anselm

Table of Contents

1. St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

2. The Devotions of Saint Anselm

3. Proslogium; Monologium; An Appendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. First Meditation: Of The Dignity And The Woe Of Man’S Estate.

3. Second Meditation: Of The Awful Judgment: For Awakening Fear In Oneself.

4. Third Meditation: A Bemoaning Of Virginity Sadly Lost.

5. Fourth Meditation: Teaching The Sinner To Bestir Himself For The Amendment Of His Sins.

6. Fifth Meditation: [§ 22] On The Life Of Soul And Of Flesh, [§ 23] And Of The Glory Of The Good Soul, [§ 24] And The Misery Of The Wicked Soul, On Their Departure From The Body.

7. Sixth Meditation: Designed To Brace The Heart Against Despair, Forasmuch As We Shall Without Doubt Find True Mercy For All Our Sins If We Do True Penance.

8. Seventh Meditation

9. Eighth Meditation: The Penitent’S Address To God His Father.

10. Ninth Meditation: Of The Humanity Of Christ.

11. Tenth Meditation: [§ 50.] Of The Passion Of Christ.

12. Eleventh Meditation: Of The Redemption Of Mankind.

13. Twelfth Meditation: Of The Humanity Of Christ.

14. Thirteenth Meditation: Of Christ.

15. Fourteenth Meditation

16. Fifteenth Meditation: Of The Memory Of Past Benefits From Christ, Of The Experience Of Present Benefits, And Of The Hope Of Future.

17. Sixteenth Meditation: Of Present Benefits From God.

18. Seventeenth Meditation: Of Future Benefits From God.

19. Eighteenth Meditation: Thanksgiving For The Benefits Of The Divine Mercy, And Prayer For The Divine Assistance.

20. Nineteenth Meditation: Of The Sweetness Of The Divine Majesty, And Of Many Other Things.

21. Twentieth Meditation

22. Twenty-First Meditation: [§ 103. The Soul Of Man Urged To Seek And To Find Its God. The Mind Aroused To The Contemplation Of God.]

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Introduction

THE See of Canterbury, in a period of hardly more than one hundred years, was held by three of the greatest Saints of England—St. Anselm, St. Thomas, and St. Edmund. These three, wonderful in their perfection, each distinct from the other, and in the gifts which constituted that perfection, had all one task, which was to vindicate the liberty and purity of the Church by suffering, by exile, and, though only one received the martyr’s crown, by the sacrifice of a martyr’s will. Yet how variously the Holy Ghost ripened and formed them! St. Anselm’s chief perfection was the illumination of the speculative intellect by the gifts of science and understanding: that of St. Thomas the elevation and grandeur of the will by fortitude and holy fear: that of St. Edmund the sanctification of the practical intellect by the gifts of counsel and of wisdom.

The works of St. Anselm exhibit an intellectual light, order, subtilty, penetration, and precision which give him a high place among the scholastic theologians of whom he was the forerunner and the guide. But even in the purest intellectual exercise of the reason, his writings are pervaded by the gift of piety, which makes its warmth sensibly felt. He may be regarded as the type of faith, rendering to God the reasonable service of the intellect. This
rationabile obsequium, which is the highest perfection of the human intelligence, springs from faith. Reason precedes faith indeed in judging of the motives of credibility: and the last act of reason judging of evidence precedes the first act of faith in believing the revelation of God. But when revelation has been once received, the grace of faith is unfolded by the gift of intellect into the faith which is one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost. Faith as a virtue illuminates the intelligence, but faith as a fruit of the Holy Ghost understands, so far as God permits, the intrinsic reason of what it believes. St. Anselm explains his whole method in these words:
‘As the right order demands that we should first believe the deep things of the
Christian faith before we venture to discuss them by reasoning, so it appears to
me to be negligence, if, after we are confirmed in faith, we should not
endeavour to understand what we believe.’[1] Here we have his method in direct contradiction to the rationalism of these later days, which makes reason the test, the measure, and the criterion of faith, destroying thereby the essence of faith, as well as the matter proposed to its belief. As St. Augustine says,
‘If you ask of me, or of any other Doctor, not unreasonably, that you may
understand what you believe, correct your definition,
not so as to reject faith, but so as to perceive by the light of reason the things which by the firmness of faith you already hold. . . .
Therefore it was reasonably said by the Prophet, "Unless you believe, you will not understand,”’[2] so St. Anselm begin where he prefers. And, indeed, it is for this reason that they have been divided
into sections;[3] that the reader may easily choose a place for beginning or for stopping,
and so avoid the weariness and annoyance which would be produced by too prolonged application to the book, or by repeated reperusal of one and the same passage; and that he may thus be the more likely to reap some pious dispositions from them;
for this was the end had in view in their composition.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

First Meditation

[§1.] I. Our creation to the Image and Likeness of God. Awake, my soul, awake; bestir thy energies, arouse thy apprehension; banish the sluggishness of thy deadly sloth, and take to thee solicitude for thy salvation. Be the rambling of unprofitable fancies put to flight; let indolence retire, and diligence be retained. Apply thyself to sacred studies, and fix thy thoughts on the blessings that are of God. Leave temporal things behind, and make for the eternal.

What, then, in so divine an occupation of the mind, canst thou conceive more useful or more salutary than to recall in delighted musing thy Creator’s boundless benefits to thee? Consider what grandeur and what dignity He bestowed on thee in the very beginning of thy creation, and ponder well what loving and what adoring worship thou shouldest therefore pay Him.

It was assuredly a noble purpose which He formed for the dignity of thy state, when, creating and ordering the universal frame of the visible and the invisible creation, He determined to make man; for He determined to lavish richer honours on man’s nature than on all other creations in the universe. Behold thy lofty origin, and bethink thee of the due of love thou owest thy Creator.
‘Let Us make man,’ said God, ‘to Our Image and Likeness’ (Gen. i. 26.). If thou awakest not at this word, O my soul; if thou art not all aflame with love of Him for His so ineffable graciousness of condescension towards thee; if thine inmost marrow burns not with longings after Him, what shall
I say? Asleep shall I call thee? Or must I rather think thee dead? Consider diligently,
therefore, what it is to have been created to God’s Image and God’s Likeness; thou hast in this thought the sweet earnest of a pious meditation in which thy musings may have full play.

Observe, then, that likeness is one thing; image another. For example, the horse, the ox, or other dumb animal may have a certain likeness to man; but the image of man is borne by none but a human being. Man eats, so does the horse; here is a certain likeness, a certain something common to creatures of diverse moulds. But the image of man is only borne by some human being, some being of selfsame nature with that man whose image he is. Image, therefore, is of a higher order than likeness.

God’s Likeness, then, may be attained by us in this way; if, musing on Him as the Good, we study to be good; if, owning Him the Just, we strive to be just; if, contemplating Him the Merciful, we make endeavours after mercy.

But how to His Image? Listen. God ever remembers Himself, understands Himself, loves Himself. If thou, therefore, after thy poor fashion, art unweariedly mindful of God, if thou understandest God, if thou lovest God, thou wilt then be man
‘to His Image;’ for thou wilt be striving to do that which God does eternally.
’Tis the duty of man to bend his whole being to this task; the task of remembering, of understanding, and of loving the Highest Good. To this idea should every thought and every turn and folding of thy heart be moulded, chased, and formed; to be mindful of God, to understand Him, and to love Him; and thus savingly exhibit and display the dignity of thine origin in that thou wast created to the Image of God.

But why say that thou wast created to His Image, when, as the Apostle testifies, thou art in deed His Image?
‘The man,’ he says, ‘ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God’ (1 Cor. xi. 7).

[§ 2.] II. To praise God eternally the end of our creation. Are, then, these so incalculable benefits of thy Creator inducements enough to thee for continual thanksgiving in return, and for discharging the debt of an endless love; when thou considerest that out of nothing—rather, out of clay—thou wast raised by His bounty to so excellent a dignity in the very beginning of thy state? Test thy life, therefore, by the master-feeling of the saints, and note well what is said of the saint,
‘With his whole heart he praised the Lord’ (Ecclus. xlvii. 10). Behold the end of thy creation, behold the task set thee as God’s servant! Why should God have graced thee with the privilege of so illustrious a lot, if He had not willed thee to apply thyself unceasingly to the praise of Himself? Thou wast created for the glory of thy Creator, that, making His praises thy employment, thou mightest ever advance towards Him by the merit of justice in this life, and mightest live happily in the world to come. For the praise of Him yields the fruit of justice here, and of beatitude hereafter.

And if thou praise Him, praise Him with all thy heart, praise Him by loving; for this rule of praising has been laid down for the saints—‘With all his heart he praised the Lord, and loved God who made him’ (ib.).

Praise then, and praise with all thy heart; and whom thou praisest, love; for, for this wast thou created, to praise Him, and to love Him also. For that man praises God, but not with all his heart, who is charmed by prosperity into blessing God, but checked by adversity from the privilege of blessing; whilst that man praises, but without loving, who amid his praises of God seeks for some other good in praising than God Himself. Praise therefore, and praise aright; in such wise that there be in thee no care, no aim, no thought, no anxious bent of mind, uninspired by praise of God, grace helping thee. From praise of Him let no prosperity of this present life seduce thee, nor no adversity restrain thee; for thus shalt thou praise Him with all thy heart. But when thou shalt praise Him with all thy heart, and praise with the homage of thy love as well, then wilt thou desire nothing from Him but Himself, and thou wilt pray that the object of thy longing may be
God; the reward of thy toil, God; thy solace in this life of shadows,
God; thy possession in that blissful life to come, God.

Yes, indeed, thou wast created for this; to praise Him, and to praise Him without end; which thou wilt then more fully understand when, entranced by the blessed vision of Himself, thou shalt see that by His sole and gratuitous goodness thou, when thou wast not, wast created out of nothing; so blessed, and to such unspeakable bliss created; created, called, justified, glorified. Such a contemplation as that will give thee an untiring love of praising Him without end; from whom, and through whom, and in whom thou wilt rejoice in being blessed with blessings so great and so
unchangeable.

[§ 3.] III. Wherever we are, we live, move, and are in Him; whilst also we have Him within us. But, returning from the beatitude that is to be, do thou with the eye of contemplation consider for a while the abundance of grace wherewith He hath enriched thee even in this fleeting life. He, very God, whose dwelling is in heaven, whose throne among the angels, He to whom heaven and earth, with all that they contain, do bow down and obey, has offered Himself to thee as thine abode, and furnished and prepared His presence for thee; for, as the Apostle teaches,
‘in Him we live, and move, and be’ (Acts xvii. 28). So to live, how sweet! So to move, how lovable! So to be, how desirable! For what more sweet than to have life in Him who is the very life of bliss itself? What more lovable than to rule each movement of will or act of ours towards Him and in Him, seeing that He will stablish us in an unending security? What more desirable than in aspiration and in act evermore in Him to be, in whom alone—or rather who alone—is true being, and apart from whom none can rightly be?
‘I AM WHO AM,’ He says (Exod. iii. 14); and beautifully said it is, for He alone truly IS, whose Being is unchangeable. He, therefore, whose so unapproached Being is being in so transcendent and unique a sense that He alone truly IS; in comparison of whom all being is no being; when He would create thee to so great excellency that thou couldest not even comprehend the lustre of thy dignity, what did He set as the sphere of thy being, what place of abode did He furnish for thee? Hear Him Himself speaking to His own in the Gospel,
‘Abide in Me, and I in you’ (St. xv. 4). O inconceivable condescension! O blissful abiding! O glorious interchange! What
condescension of the Creator, to will that His creature should in Him have dwelling! What inconceivable blessedness of the creature, to dwell in the Creator! How great glory of a rational creation to be, by so blessed an interchange, associated with the Creator, as that He in it and it in Him should have their dwelling! Yes, He of His mercy has willed that we, so highly ennobled in our creation, should have the farther dignity of dwelling in Him. He, governor of all things, without care or solicitude existing over all; He, source and foundation of all things, without toil sustaining all; He, superexcellent above all things, without vain-glory transcending all; He, embracing each and every thing that is, without extension of Himself enfolding all; He, the plenitude of all things, without narrowing of Himself, fulfilling all,—yes, indeed, He, though His Presence is nowhere wanting, has chosen for Himself a kingdom of delights within us; the Gospel bearing witness where it says,
‘The Kingdom of God is within you’ (St. Luke xvii. 21). And if the kingdom of God is within us, and if God dwells in His realm, does not He whose kingdom is within us abide Himself within us? Clearly so; for, in like manner, if God is wisdom, and if the soul of the just is the dwelling of wisdom, he who is truly just has God abiding in him. And the Apostle says,
‘The temple of God is holy, which temple you are’ (1 Cor. iii. 17).

Do thou, therefore, apply thyself unweariedly to the pursuit of holiness, lest thou cease to be the temple of God. He Himself says of His own,
‘I will dwell in them and walk in them’ (2 Cor. vi. 16). Doubt not, therefore, that wherever there are holy souls, there He is in them. For if thou art in those limbs of thine which thou quickenest, wholly and in all their parts, how much more is God, who created thee and thy body, wholly
present in thee through and through? It is thy duty, then, to think with most intense devotion with what consideration and what reverence we should control those senses and those members of our body, over which the very Godhead sits in charge. Let us offer, therefore, as is meet, the whole empire of our heart to so great an Indweller, that nothing in us may rebel against Him; but that all our thoughts, all the movements of our will, all our words, and the whole course and tenour of our actions may wait upon His beck, stand obedient to His will, and be conformed to His rule of right. For thus shall we truly be His kingdom, and He will abide in us; and we, abiding in Him, shall live aright.

[§ 4.] IV. All of us who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Rouse thyself, my soul; rouse thyself, and let the fire of a love from heaven blaze in thy inmost parts, and learn thou carefully the dignity bestowed on thee by thy Lord God; and learning, love; and loving, revere with the addresses of a holy practice. Does not He who has assigned thee a dwelling in Himself, and has deigned to dwell in thee, does not He clothe thee, deck thee, and adorn thee with
Himself? ‘As many of you,’ says the Apostle, ‘as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ’ (Gal. iii. 27). What worthy meed of praise, then, and of thanks wilt thou pay Him who has invested thee with such grace and exalted thee to so great dignity, as that with thy heart’s happiest outburst of joy thou mayest well exclaim,
‘He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and with the robe of justice He hath covered me’ (Is.
lxi. 10)? To the angels of God, to gaze on Christ is supremest joy; and, lo, of His infinite condescension He has bent Himself to thee so low as to will thee to be clothed with Himself. What sort of clothing can it be,
but that of which the Apostle glories when he says, ‘Christ . . . is made unto us
of God wisdom and justice and sanctification’ (1 Cor. i. 30)? And with what
stately robes could He have more richly decked thee than with the amice of
wisdom, the apparel of justice, the fair covering of sanctification?

[§ 5.] V. We are the Body of Christ. Yet why should I say that Christ has clothed thee with Himself, when He has joined thee to Himself so intimately as to choose that in the unity of the Church thou shouldest be of His very Flesh? Listen to the Apostle as he sets forth the witness of Scripture,
‘They two shall be in one flesh; I speak in Christ and in the Church’ (Eph. v. 32). And then again meditate on the closeness of union of their espousal.
‘Ye are,’ he says, ‘the Body of Christ, and members of member.’ Treat, then, thy body and its members with the respect which be seems them; lest if thou treat them wrongfully by any heedless management soever, thou be subjected to so much the severer punishment for thy unworthy usage, as thou wouldest have been crowned with a nobler prize for treating them as they deserved. Thine eyes are the eyes of Christ;
therefore thou mayest not turn thine eyes to gaze on any kind of vanity; for Christ is the Truth, to whom all vanity is entirely opposed. Thy mouth is the mouth of Christ; therefore thou mayest not—I speak not of detractions, nor of lies—thou mayest not open for idle speeches that mouth which should be reserved only for the praises of God and the edification of thy neighbour.

So, too, must thou think of the other members of Christ intrusted to thy keeping.

[§ 6.] VI. In Christ we are one, and are with Him one Christ. But look deeper still, and see in how close fellowship thou art joined with Him. Hear the Lord Himself entreating the Father for His own:
‘I will,’ He says, ‘that as I and Thou are One, so they also may be One in Us (St. John xvii. 21).
I am Thy Son by nature; let them by grace be Thy sons and My brethren.’ How high a privilege is this, that a Christian, mere man as he is, should in Christ be so advanced as to be in a certain sense himself called Christ! A truth apprehended by that faithful dispenser of the ecclesiastical household, who said,
‘All we Christians are in Christ one Christ.’ And no wonder; since He is the Head, we the Body; and He Bridegroom at once and Bride; Bridegroom in Himself and Bride in holy souls whom He has joined to
Himself by the bond of a deathless love. ‘As a Bridegroom He hath set a mitre on My Head, and adorned Me as a Bride with ornaments’ (Is.
lxi. 10).

Here, then, my soul, consider well His benefits to thee; burn thou from devotion to Him; glow with flames of desire for the blessed vision of Himself; call aloud, touched with the burning ardours of an inmost love; and, melted into longings after Him, break forth into the cry of the faithful spouse,
‘Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth (Cant. i. 1). Away from my soul, all delight outside of Him; let no attachment, let no solace of the present life allure me, so long as His blissful presence is denied me. Let Him embrace me with the arms of His charity; let Him kiss me with His mouth
of heavenly sweetness; let Him speak to me with that speech ineffable wherewith
He displays His secret wonders to the angels.’ Let this be the interchange of
addresses between the Bridegroom and the bride; I opening my heart to Him, He
unfolding His hidden sweetness to me. O my soul, quickened by musings such as
these, and inspired with the touch of a holy longing, strive thou to follow the Bridegroom; and say to Him,
‘Draw me; we will run after Thee to the sweet odour of Thy ointments’ (Cant. i. 3). So say, and say it faithfully, not with a quickly-fleeting sound of words, but with desires that can never flag. So speak as to be heard; so desire to be drawn to Him as to be able to follow on.

Say, therefore, to thy Redeemer and thy Saviour, ‘Draw me after Thee. Let not the world’s charms entice me, but the sweetness of Thine own most blessed love allure me. Time was I was drawn by my own vanity; but now let Thy truth draw me, draw me after Thee. Draw me, for Thou hast drawn; keep me, for Thou hast laid hold of me. Thou didst draw me to redeem, draw me to save. Thou didst draw me in Thy pity, draw me to Thy bliss. Thou didst lay hold of me, appearing among us made Man for us; keep me, keep me, now that Thou rulest over heaven exalted above the angels. It is Thy word, Thy promise. Thou hast promised, saying:
‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself’ (St. John xii. 32). Draw me now, therefore, Thou so mightily exalted, even as Thou hast allured me, so compassionately humbled. Thou hast ascended on high, let me see it; Thou reignest over all things, let me know it. Do I not know, then, that Thou reignest? Yes, yes, I do, and I thank Thee that I do. But let me know by perfect love what I know by pious thought of Thee; let me know by sight what I know by faith. Bind to Thyself the desires of my heart with the links of an indissoluble love, for with Thee are the spring and source of my life. Let loving unity associate whom redeeming love has linked together. For Thou hast loved me, Thou hast given Thyself for me. Let my desires be ever in heaven with Thee; let Thy protection be ever upon earth with me. Help this heart, this heart all but breaking with desire of Thy love, as Thou didst choose it, when it despised Thy love. Give to me now that I ask; for when I knew Thee not Thou gavest me
Thyself. I return, O take me home; for when I was a runaway Thou didst call me back. Let me give love, that I may have love; nay, rather, because I am loved, let me love Thee more and more, that I may all the more be loved by Thee. Let my heart’s will be one with Thine; let my one sole aim be all with Thee; for with Thee our nature, assumed by Thee in mercy, now reigns glorified. Let me cling to Thee inseparably, and adore Thee unweariedly, and serve Thee perseveringly, and seek Thee faithfully, and find Thee happily, and possess Thee eternally.’ Plying thy God with words like these, O my soul, take fire, and burn, and break forth in flames, and long to be all ablaze with yearnings after Him.

[§ 7.] VII. A consideration of our sins, for the which our conscience does the more sting us, and by which we have forfeited all these blessings. But whilst thou considerest to what and how great blessings thou hast been advanced by His grace, reflect also what and how great blessings thou hast by thine own fault foregone, and into what
evils thou hast fallen, overburdened by a load of sins. Ponder with sighs over the ills thou hast wantonly committed; reflect with groans and tears over the blessings which by those same ills thou hast miserably lost. For what good has not thy all-bountiful Creator of His goodness lavished on thee? And what ill hast thou not paid Him in requital, grown wanton in execrable impiety?
‘Thou hast cast away good, and merited evil; nay, made shipwreck of good, and freely chosen evil; and, the grace of thy Creator being thus lost, or rather thrown away, thou hast miserably incurred His wrath. Thou hast no resource for proving thyself innocent when a crowd of evils done by thee surrounds thee like a countless army, here confronting thee with thy unholy deeds, there marshalling an innumerable host of unuseful and, what is more to be condemned, of harmful words; and there yet again parading an infinite array of wicked thoughts. These, then, are the price for which thou hast foregone inestimable blessings; for these hast thou forfeited the grace of thy Creator. Conjure them up, and grieve over them; grieve over them, and renounce them; renounce them, and condemn them; condemn them, and change thy life to a better course. Wrestle with thyself in thy heart of hearts, lest even for a moment’s space thou give consent to any kind of vanity, whether in heart, or tongue, or, worst of all, in act. Let there be a daily, or rather an unceasing, struggle in thy heart, lest thou keep any kind of covenant with thy faults. Ever and unremittingly examine thyself severely; peer into thy secret depths; and, whatever thou findest wrong in thee, by a vigorous reproof smite it, lay it low, bruise it, crush it, fling it from thee and annihilate it. Spare not thyself, flatter not thyself; but in the light of the morning—that is to say, in the view of the last assize, which, like the morning beam, is breaking on the night of this present life—slay all the sinners of the land—that is to say, the sins and delinquencies of thine earthly life—and so destroy out of the city of God which thou shouldest build to Him in
thyself all those that work iniquity—that is, all diabolical suggestions, all delights hateful to God, all deadly consents, all froward acts. From all of them must thou, as the city of God, be thoroughly cleansed, that thus thy Creator may find, possess, and keep in thee an abode pleasing to Himself. Be not of those whose obstinacy very God seems to be wail when He says,
‘There is none that considereth in his heart, and saith, What have I done?’ (Is.
lvii. 1.) If they are to be cast away who have refused to blush, and to accuse themselves for the sins they have committed, canst thou neglect to arraign, to judge, and with strict discipline chastise
thyself? Review, then, in careful thought the innumerable blessings wherewith thy Creator has ennobled thee, no merits of thine own intervening, and call to mind thine own unnumbered evils, thy sole response—O, how wicked and how undeserved! for all those His benefits; and cry out in the pangs of a great grief,
‘What have I done? Provoked my God, challenged my Creator’s anger, repaid Him innumerable ills for untold goods. What have I
done?’ And speaking thus, rend, rend thy heart, pour forth sighs, weep showers
of tears. For if thou weepest not here, when wilt thou weep?

And if the averted Face of God do not excite thee to contrition—a Face averted from thy sins—at least let the intolerable pains of hell, which those sins have provoked, break thy hard heart.

Return then, sinful soul, return into thyself. Draw thy foot out of hell; so mayest thou escape from the evils due to thee, and recover the lost goods of which thou art so justly bereft; for if thou revert with pleasure to thine own evils, then all the goods given thee by Him are lost and thrown away. It behoves
thee, therefore, ever to keep a strict eye upon them, and chiefly those of which thy conscience does the more bitterly accuse thee, that so He may turn away His eye of anger from them. For if thou turnest aside thy sins with a due intention of satisfying for them, He turns aside His glance of retribution. If thou forgettest, He remembers.

[§ 8.] VIII. A review of our Lord’s Incarnation, by means of which
we have recovered all these losses. And that them mayest be set free from them, think of the compassions of thy Redeemer towards thee. Of a truth thou wast blinded by the guilt of original sin, and couldest not scan thy Creator’s royal heights. Sins like a fog enveloped thee; thou wast drifting to the realms of darkness, and, swept on by the whirling current of thy faults, thou wast hurrying to the eternal glooms; when lo, thy Redeemer applied the eye-salve of His Incarnation to thy blinded orbs, so that, albeit thou couldest not discern God shining in the secret chamber of His Majesty, thou mightest at any rate behold Him made manifest in man; and beholding, own; and owning, love; and loving, strive with all thy might to arrive at last at His glory. He was Incarnate to recall thee to a spiritual state; He became partaker of thy changeful lot to make thee sharer of His immutability; He stooped to thy lowliness that He might raise thee to His heights.

He was born of virginal integrity in order to heal the corruption of our wayward nature; circumcised, to teach man the duty of cutting away all excesses, whether of sin or of frailty; and offered in the temple and fondled by a holy widow, to teach His faithful to frequent the house of God, and aim by the pursuit of sanctity to merit to receive Him to themselves. He was embraced by the aged Simeon, who sang His praise, that so He might display to us His love of sober life and ripened character; and baptized, that thus He might sanctify for us the Sacrament of Baptism. And when in the Jordan, stooping to baptism at the hand of John, He heard the Voice of the Father, and received the Holy Spirit’s advent
under the figure of a dove, it was to teach us how to stand in unvarying humility of soul—as is intimated by the Jordan, which is by interpretation
their going down—and so be favoured with
converse with our heavenly Father, of Whom it is said, that ‘His communication is with the simple’ (Prov. iii. 32), and exalted by the presence of the Holy Ghost, Who takes His rest with the humble; at the hand of John withal, a name signifying
the grace of God, that, whatever we receive from God, we ascribe all to His grace, not our merits. And when He had completed His fast of forty days, and was gloriously tended by ministrant angels, He taught us how, by turning away from the enticements of transitory things, all through the course of the present life to trample the world and the prince of the world under our feet, and so be guarded by troops of angels. By day He converses with the people, preaching the Kingdom of God to them, and edifies the surging crowds by His miracles and His doctrine; by night He frequents the mountain, and spends the time in prayer: hinting to us how, at one time, as opportunity offers, to point the way of life, according to our measure, by word and by example to our neighbours among whom we live; how at another, to betake ourselves to thoughtful solitude, and climb the hill of virtues, and yearn after the sweetnesses of high contemplation, and with unweariable desire direct our soul’s bent to the things that are above.
’Tis on the mountain that He is transfigured before Peter and James and John; thus hinting to us that if like Peter (which is interpreted
acknowledging) we humbly acknowledge our infirmity, if we endeavour to be made supplanters of vices (for James, or Jacobus, means
supplanter), and strive faithfully to yield ourselves to the grace of God
(for this is signified by the name of John), we shall climb all happily that
heavenly mountain, and be hold the glory of Jesus; Jesus our King Himself being
our Guide. ’Twas in Bethany that He woke Lazarus out of sleep (Bethany is interpreted the house of obedience); showing thus that all who by the effort of a right will die to this world and rest in the bosom of obedience, shall be wakened up by Him to everlasting life. Intrusting His Body and Blood to His disciples in the mystic supper, He humbly washed their feet; teaching us that the dread ministries of the altar must be celebrated with purity of deed and pious humility of mind. And then, or ever He was exalted in the glory of His holy resurrection, He endured the jests and the rough speeches of perfidious men, the shame of the Cross, the bitterness of gall, and at last death; in all this admonishing His own, that they who desire to attain after death to glory should not only endure with even mind the toils and distresses of the present life, and the oppressions of the wicked, but should love all hardnesses that this world can give, for the sake of guerdons through eternity; should love them, court them, and thankfully embrace them.

These, therefore, so glorious and countless benefits of thy Creator, if thou endeavour to ponder them worthily, to embrace them devoutly, and to imitate them with a fervent love, not only shalt thou recover the good things lost to thee through thy first parent, but by the unspeakable grace of thy Saviour thou shalt have far higher goods for thy possession through eternity. For thine own very God being
made thy Brother by the mystery of the Incarnation, what unspeakable joy has He
not insured thee against the day when thou shalt see thy nature exalted in His
Person over all creation!

[§ 9.] IX. The duty of praying to be drawn out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs.
What then remains but, duly considering all these things, by all means possible
to rouse thy heart’s ardours towards the attainment of so great blessings, and to implore Him who created thee for their possession to snatch thee out of the pit of misery and out of the mire of dregs, and to make thee possessor of so great happiness? For what is the
‘pit of misery’ but the gulf of worldly desire? And what is the ‘mire of dregs’ but the filth of carnal pleasure? For these, that is to say cupidity and pleasure, are two bands or leashes by which the human race is checked and held back lest it should attain the blessed liberty of heavenly contemplation. For in truth earthly desire is a pit of misery, a pit which engulfs the soul it has enthralled by numberless desires, and drags, as strongly as ever chains could drag, into a deep, a gulf of vices; and then allows her to have no rest. For the mind of man, once crushed by the yoke of cupidity, is dissipated from without by the love of visible things, and distracted from within by conflicting passions. Toil in acquiring, anxiety in multiplying, delight in possessing, fear of losing, distress at having lost; these all make havoc of her, nor do they allow her to see what danger she is in. This is the pit of misery, and these are the ills with which worldly cupidity for ever stores it. From this pit it was that the blessed David rejoiced that he had been rescued, when he broke forth into thanksgiving, and exclaimed,
‘He hath brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs’ (Ps. xxxix. 3).

And the ‘mire of dregs,’ what is that? It is the delight of unchaste pleasure. Cry aloud, then, with the blessed David, and say to thy Creator,
‘Draw
me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast’ (Ps. lxviii. 15). Cleanse thy heart from every stain of carnal delight, shut out impure musings from thy soul, if thou dost really long to get free out of the filth of this mire. But when by penance, by
confession, by tears, by carefully inviting holy thoughts into the heart, thou hast clean escaped, then be ware that thou fall not back; but from the deep of thy heart of hearts sigh thou in the sight of God, and implore His mercy that He would set thy feet upon the rock; ask Him, that is to say, to establish thy heart’s affections in the strength of Christ; that thy mind may root itself on the solid ground of justice, clinging inseparably to Christ, of whom, it is said that He is
‘made unto us of God wisdom and justice and sanctification’ (1 Cor. i. 30). Pray Him also to direct thy steps that they turn not back to sins, but may advance with unvarying course and inflexible intent in the way of His. heavenly precepts, and may hasten on with full determination to the angels’ blissful home.

But, in aspiring to such a goal as this, be not remiss in praising thy Creator; rather supplicate His mercy that He would put a new song in thy mouth, and help thee to sing with due devotion a hymn to our God. For it is meet that a soul united to God in a new life should ever sing a new song in His praise, despising temporal things and yearning only for eternal; obeying the Divine law now no more from fear of punishment, but from love of justice. For the singing of the new song to God is this, to crush the desires of the old man, and with thy whole heart’s endeavour, and with a sole desire of eternal life, to walk the ways of the new man which have been pointed out to the world by the Son of God. And he sings a hymn to God who treasures in pure mind’s recollection the joys of that heavenly home, and strives to reach them, supported by the consciousness of a holy life, and relying on the gift of supernatural grace.

[§ 10.] X. A consideration of the miseries of the present life. But withal, weigh well the miseries of the present life, and with watchful heart reflect how very cautiously thou shouldest live in it. Remember that thou art partaker of his lot of whom Scripture says,
‘A man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness’ (Job iii. 23). For thou art indeed encompassed with a thick cloud of blind ignorance, since thou knowest not how God forms His estimate of thy works, and art all ignorant of the end that awaits thee.
‘Man knoweth not,’ says Solomon, ‘whether he be worthy of love or hatred’ (Eccles. ix. 1).

Picture to thyself some profound and darksome valley, stored in its depths with every kind of torments. High above it imagine a bridge, a solitary bridge, spanning the vast chasm, and measuring no more than a foot in breadth. This bridge, so narrow, so high, so perilous, if any one were forced to cross it whose eyes were bandaged so as not to see where he stepped, and his hands tied behind him so that he could not even grope with a staff to guide himself; what fear, think you, what perplexity would he not feel! What! Would there be place left in him for gaiety, for merriment, for wantonness? No, no, I warrant thee. All his pride would be taken from him, his vain-glory would be put to flight, and death, only death, would wave its dark shadow on his soul. Imagine, farther, hideous ravenous birds careering round the bridge, bent on dragging the traveller down into the deep; will not his terror be enhanced?
And if, as he crosses, the boards are slipped ever from his heels, will he not
be stricken with fresh alarms the further he advances?

But lay to heart the meaning of a similitude like this, and roused to solicitude brace thy mind with a godly fear. By that profound and dark some valley understand hell, hell deep and fathomless, and frightfully black with dreary gloom. Thither converge all kinds of torment; there all that soothes is not, all that terrifies, or tortures, or can distress, is, is everywhere. That perilous bridge, from which the awkward traveller launches headlong, is the present life, whence he who lives amiss falls and plunges into hell. The boards withdrawn at the passenger’s heel are the several days of our life, which so pass away as never to return; but by the diminution of their number urge us to our destiny and compel us to hurry to our end. The birds wheeling about the bridge and waylaying those who cross it are malignant spirits, whose whole study is to cast men down from the straight way they are on, and to hurl them into the depths of hell. We, we are the passengers, blinded by the gloom of uncertainty, and, from the difficulty of doing right, clogged, as it were, with a heavy chain, so that we cannot tread the way of a holy life unfettered unto God. Consider, then, whether in so great danger thou must not cry with utmost earnestness to thy Creator, that, shielded by His protection, thou mayest sing with confidence while passing through the troops of the adversaries,
‘The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?’ (Ps. xxvi. 1.) Light, I mean, against blindness, salvation against danger; for these are the two evils in which our first parent has involved us, ignorance and danger; such ignorance and such danger that we neither know whither we are going nor what we are to do; and that, when we have after a sort seen where we are, even then, clogged and hampered by difficulty, we can not fully do that which we rightly know.

Dwell on these things, O my soul; muse upon them; let thy mind day by day practise herself therein. Intent on them, let her recall herself from anxieties and thoughts about useless objects, and inflame herself with the fire of a holy fear and a blessed love, that she may avoid these ills, and secure eternal goods.

[§ 11.] XI. Of the body after the soul’s departure. And now I return to Thee, most sweet Creator and most kind Redeemer, who hast made me and re-made me; and with lowly prayers I supplicate Thy pity, that Thou wouldest teach my heart to consider with life-giving fear and salutary alarms, in how loathsome and deplorable plight my flesh must be given over after death a prey to worms and putrefaction, bereft of the breath that now inspires it. Where then will be the beauty, if any it have, of which it boasts now? Where the exquisite delights it revels in? Where its pampered limbs? Will not the prophet’s word then have its true fulfilment:
‘All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field’? (Is. xl. 6.) My eyes will be shut, their orbs twisted in the socket; eyes from whose vain and mischievous wanderings I ofttimes drew pleasure. So shall they lie, covered over with fearful darkness; eyes that now love to drink in vanities as they drink in the light. My ears will lie exposed, soon to be crowded with worms; ears which now catch with an accursed delight slanderous speeches and the vain tittle-tattle of the world. My jaws, which gluttony has opened wide, will be tied up, miser ably locked together. My nostrils, which are now gratified with divers odours, will waste and rot away. My lips, which loved ever to be relaxed with silly laughter, will grin with rank unsightliness. My tongue, which has so often uttered idle stories, will be clogged with putrid foulness. And, what now are ofttimes
gorged with various kinds of meat, throat and belly, will be choked with worms,
surfeited with worms! But why rehearse in detail? The whole frame and structure of the body, for the health, the comfort, and the pleasure of which almost every thought stands minister, will be dissolved into putrefaction and the worm, and last of all, vile dust. Where then the proud neck? Where the ornaments, the dress, the varied dainties? They are vanished, and gone like a dreamy gone all of them, never to return; and I, their poor, poor votary, left behind.

[§ 12.] XII. Of the soul after her separation from the body. O
good God, what do I behold? Lo, fear meets fear, and grief encounters grief!

After her separation from the body, will not the soul be stormed by a multitude of demons flying to confront her, and charged to lay against her accusation upon accusation, indictment on indictment? And will not the soul be examined on all of these, down to the most trivial negligence? The prince of this world surrounded by his satellites will come, furious with rage; that prince so adroit in circumventing, so unscrupulous in lying, so spiteful in accusing; he will come, preferring against her, out of all her offences done, as many true charges as he can, and forging many false besides. O dreadful hour! O terrible ordeal! Here the rigorous Judge to judge me, there the pert adversaries to accuse me. My soul shall stand alone without a comforter, and with no source of solace, unless it be that the memory of its good works protects it.

But in so strict a reckoning, when all things shall be naked and open,
‘who shall boast that he hath a chaste heart?’ For ‘if the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ (1 St. Pet. iv. 18.) Then shall the lips of the flatterers fail; the fawning tongue shall wag no more, vain-glory shall be proved a traitor, false joys shall flee away, dignities and pomp shall take to flight, and the greed of power shall be seen to have been a hollow cheat. Happy then the soul which in such peril is protected by the consciousness of innocence, and shielded by the memory of holiness; happy the soul which, while as yet in her lodging of flesh, was over and over again washed with the waters of contrition, dressed and trimmed with careful confessions, and illuminated with the light of sacred meditations; happy the soul which had been chastened by humility, tranquillised by patience, detached from her own will by obedience, and inspired by charity to the exercise of all virtue. Such a soul will have no dread of that fearful hour,
‘nor shall it be
confounded when it shall speak to its enemies in the gate’ (Ps. cxxvi. 5). For it will be joined to those of whom Scripture says,
‘When He shall give sleep to His beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord’ (ib. 3).

[§ 13.] XIII. A consideration of the day of judgment, when the goats shall be set on the left hand. And now who can skill to say anything of the terrors of that last assize, when the sheep shall be set on the right hand, and the goats on the left? What will be the trembling when the powers of heaven shall be moved? What the crash of the elements, what the wailings, what the cries, when that terrible sentence shall be passed upon the careless ones,
‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire’ (St. Matt. xxv. 41). A day
of wrath that day will be—dies iræ, dies illa—a day of tribulation and anguish, a day of clouds and whirlwind, a day of trumpet and the trumpet-blast! The voice of that day will be a bitter voice, and then the mighty shall be harrowed up; for they who now in the pride of their heart despise the will of God, and glory in the pursuit of their own self-will, shall then be wrapt in perpetual inextinguishable flame, and the undying worm shall feed on them, and the smoke of their torment shall go up for ever and ever.

[§ 14.] XIV. A consideration of the joy when the sheep shall be set on the right hand. But, while these are wailing and roaring out their heart’s grief for anguish of spirit, what, thinkest thou, will be the happiness and exultation of those blessed ones, who, set on the right hand of God, are to hear His that most joyful summons,
‘Come, ye blessed of My Father: possess you the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (St. Matt. xxv. 34). Then indeed shall the voice of joy and salvation dwell in the tabernacle of the just; then shall the Lord lift up the heads of the lowly, who now refuse not to be the vile and the outcast for His sake. He will heal the contrite of heart, and console with unending joys, according to their desire, those who now sorrow in their pilgrim age. Then will be seen the ineffable reward of those who held it joy to have thrown away their own wills from love of their Creator. In that day He will wreathe the heads of His obedient ones with a heavenly crown, and the glory of those who suffered shall shine forth with unutterable brightness. Then shall charity enrich her vassals with the society of all the angels, and purity of heart beatify her lovers with the all-happy vision of their Creator. Then shall God Himself reveal Himself to all who love Him, and raise them up for ever to enduring resting places and perpetual peace. Then in its truth shall this song be sung by all the elect:
‘Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they shall praise Thee for ever and ever’ (Ps.
lxxxiii. 3). In which praise may He vouchsafe to give us a part, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth God for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Second Meditation

[§ 15. The sinner’s fear.] My life affrights me. For
when carefully reviewed, its whole course shows in my sight like one great sin;
or at least it is well-nigh nothing but barrenness. Or, if any fruit is seen in
it, that fruit is so false, or so imperfect, or in some way or other so tainted
with decay and corruption, that it must needs either fail to satisfy God, or
else utterly offend Him.

So then, sinner, thy life, so far from being almost all, is altogether all steeped in sin, and therefore worthy of condemnation; or else it is unfruitful, and deserving of disdain. But why distinguish the unfruitful from the damnable? For surely, if it is unfruitful, it is damnable by that very fact. For what the Truth hath spoken is as evident as it is true:
‘Every tree that doth not yield good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire’ (St. Matt. iii. 10). For if I employ myself in constructing something useful or serviceable, surely I do not value the result of my labour at the price of the bodily sustenance which I
consume while employed on the work. Who feeds a flock, pray, which is to bring in less than the value of its pasturage? And yet Thou, O God, Thou dost all too bountifully feed and foster me; and dost await me, good-for-nothing worm and foul sinner that I am. O, how less offensive is a dead dog to the human senses than a sinful soul is to God; how much more loathsome to God is this than that is to men! Ah, no; call not the sinner a man, but a reproach, a disgrace to humanity; viler than a brute, more odious than a carcase. My soul is aweary of my life; I am ashamed to live; I am afraid to die.

What, then, remains for thee to do, O sinner, but all through thy whole life to bewail thy whole life, and in such wise to do so as that all thy whole life may be a bewailing of itself?

But here again my soul is sadly bewildered, and bewilderingly sad as well; for it grieves not in proportion to its knowledge of itself, but slumbers on in such security as if it knew not in what plight it is. O barren soul, what art thou doing? O sinful soul, why dost thou slumber? The
day of judgment is coming, the great day of the Lord is at hand; at hand, I say, and all too swift. The day of wrath that day shall be; the day of tribulation and anguish, the day of calamity and misery, the day of darkness and gloom, the day of cloud and whirlwind, the day of trumpet and the trumpet-cry. O bitter voice of the day of God!
Why dost thou slumber, thou lukewarm soul? Thing neither hot nor cold, and fit
only to be vomited out of the mouth, why dost thou slumber? He that awakes not,
he that trembles not, at such thunders is not asleep but dead. O barren tree,
where are thy fruits? Tree fit only for the axe and the fire, fit to be cut down
and burnt, what are thy fruits? Why, they are only pricking thorns and bitter
sins I Would to God the thorns pricked thee to repentance and so got broken;
would to God those bitter fruits dropped off and perished!

Perhaps thou thinkest some sin or other a little thing. Would that thy strict Judge thought any sin a little thing! But, ah me, does not every sin by its unholiness dishonour God? What then; will the sinner dare to call a sin a little thing? When is it a little thing to dishonour God? O dry and useless tree, worthy of eternal flames, what wilt thou answer in that day when a strict account, down to the twinkling of an eye, shall be required of thee of all the time dealt out to thee for living in, as to how it has been spent by thee? Ay, then will be condemned whatsoever shall be found in thee of labour or of leisure, of speech or of silence, down to the slightest thought; even the very fact that thou hast lived; if that life has not been ruled and directed to the will of God. Alas, how many sins will then start into view, as from an ambush, which now thou seest not! More, assuredly, and more terrible, it may be, than those which thou now seest. How many things which thou now thinkest not at all wicked, how many which thou now believest to be good, will then stand forth unmasked, sins of the deepest, blackest die! Then without doubt thou wilt receive according as thou hast done in the body; then, when there shall be no more time of mercy; then, when no repentance shall be accepted, when no promise of amendment may be made.

Here reflect on what thou hast done, and what award thou must receive. If much good and little evil, rejoice much; if much evil and little good, grieve much. What! O good-for-nothing sinner, are not thy evil deeds enough to extort a great and bitter cry? Are they not enough to distil thy blood and thy marrow into tears? Wo to the strange hardness, which such heavy hammers are too light to break! O, insensible torpor, that such sharp goads are not sharp enough to waken! Alas for the deadly sleep, that thunders so terrific are too dumb to startle!
O worthless sinner, all this should be enough to prolong a ceaseless grief; and
surely it is enough to draw perpetual tears!

But why should I smother in silence aught of the weight or of the magnitude of the misery that threatens? Why cheat the eyes of my soul? Shall I do so, that sudden sorrow may rain all unforeseen on the sinner; or that the intolerable storm may pelt upon him unawares? Surely this is riot for his interest. But if I should put into words whatever I might contrive to conjure up in imagination, yet that could never bear any sort of comparison with the reality.

Therefore let my eyes drop tears all day and all night, and never rest. Come, sinner, come; add fresh griefs to thy load of griefs; add terror to terror; add cry to cry; for He the very God will judge thee, in despite of whom I sin in every act of disobedience, and in every waywardness; He who has returned me good for evil, whilst I have given Him evil for good; who is now most long-suffering, but will then be most severe; who is now most merciful, and will then be most just.

Wo is me! wo is me! Against Whom have I sinned? I have dishonoured God; provoked the Omnipotent. Sinner that I am, what have I done! Against Whom have I done it! How wickedly have I done it! Alas, alas! O wrath of the Omnipotent, fall not on me; wrath of the Omnipotent, where could I endure thee? There is no place in all of me that could bear thy weight.
O anguish! Here, sins accusing; there, justice terrifying; beneath, the yawning frightful pit of hell; above, an angry Judge; within, a burning conscience; around, a flaming universe! The just will scarcely be saved; and the sinner entangled thus, whither, whither shall he fly? Tight bound, where shall I crouch and cower; how shall I show my face? To hide will be impossible, to appear will be intolerable; I shall long for the one, and it is nowhere; I shall loathe the other, and it is everywhere! What then? What then? What will happen then? Who will snatch me from the hands of God? Where shall I find counsel, where shall
I find salvation? Who is He that is called the Angel of great
counsel, that is called the Saviour, that I may shriek His Name? Why, here He
is; here He is; it is Jesus, Jesus the very Judge Himself, in
whose hands I am trembling!

[§ 16. The sinners hope.] Breathe again, sinner, breathe again; do not despair; trust in Him Whom thou fearest. Fly home to Him from Whom thou hast fled away; cry cravingly to Him Whom thou hast so proudly provoked. Jesus, Jesus; for the sake of this Thy Name, deal with me according to this Name. Jesus, Jesus; forget Thy proud provoker, and bend Thine eye upon the poor invoker of Thy Name, the Name so sweet, the Name so dear, the Name so full of comfort to a sinner, and so full of blessed hope. For what is Jesus but Saviour? Therefore, Jesus, for Thine own self’s sake be a Jesus to me; Thou who formedst me, that I perish not; who redeemedst me, that Thou condemn me not; who createdst me by Thy goodness, that Thy handiwork perish not by my iniquity. Recognise and own, Benignest, what is Thine; take away what is another’s. Jesus, Jesus, mercy on me, while the day of mercy lasts, that Thou damn me not in the day of judgment. For what profit shalt Thou have in my blood, if I go down into eternal corruption?
‘For the dead shall not praise Thee, O Lord, nor any of them that go down to hell’ (Ps. cxiii. 17). If Thou fold me in the wide, wide Bosom of Thy mercy, that Bosom will be none the less wide on my account. Therefore admit me, O most desired Jesus, admit me into the number of Thine elect; that with them I may praise Thee, and enjoy Thee, and make my boast in Thee amongst all who love Thy Name; who with the Father and the Holy Ghost reignest gloriously throughout unending ages. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Third Meditation

[§ 17. The sinner’s past.] O my soul, O woe begone soul, O wretched soul of an all too wretched mortal, throw aside thy lethargy, throw away thy sin, throw into thy task all the powers of thy mind; call home to heart thine outrageous guilt, and from that heart call forth a wild and woeful cry. Be think thee, wretch, bethink thee of thy horrible crime; prolong thy horror-stricken terror and thy terror-stricken grief. For thou, thou that once wast washed white in the celestial bath, dowered with the Holy Ghost, vowed in Christian profession; thou wast a virgin betrothed to Christ. O, where does memory lead me! O, whose is this Name I name! He is now no longer the loving Spouse of my virginity, but the terrible Judge of my unchastity. Ah, memory of lost happiness, why dost thou thus aggravate afresh the burden of the woe that masters me? How sad the plight of a man debauched, to whom good and ill alike are a torture! For an evil conscience racks me, and those its threatened torments in which I fear that I shall burn; and the memory of a good conscience racks me, and the thought of those its rewards which I know that I have lost, and shall never more recover. O sad, O grievous loss; the loss of losing irrecoverably that which ought to be interminably kept; an inconsolable loss, alas! a losing that has not only foredone my blessings, but has won me fresh racks and torments.

O virginity, now no longer my loved, but my lost; now no more a delight, but a despair to me; whither art thou gone? What rank salt mire is this where thou hast left me? And thou, fornication, mind’s polluter, soul’s destroyer, whence didst thou creep and steal on wretched me? And O, from how bright and glad a standing-place hast thou hurled me down! Here thou with thy fever parchest me, O bitter woe, for I have let go the one; and here thou, O irksome grief, and fear of a worse yet, dost torture me, for I have let the other come. On the one hand in consolable loss, on the other intolerable torment. Woe on this side, and woe again on that! Thus equally, O good and evil, thus with exactest justice do ye both punish miserable, wicked me, even while I live. Deservedly, deservedly indeed. For thou, O my soul, faithless to God, foresworn to God, false
spouse of Christ, hast deliberately dropped from thy virgin height, and
miserably plunged into the gulf of fornication. Thou, that wast erst espoused to
the King of heaven, hast made thyself mistress to the gaoler of hell. Ah, soul,
cast away from God, cast forth to the devil; rather caster away of God and
embracer of the devil. The act was thine, O my miserable soul; for ’twas thine,
’twas thine, become a brazen strumpet and a shameless courtesan, to give bill of
divorce to thy Lover and thy Creator God, and bestow thyself on thy seducer and
destroyer demon. O wretched, wretched change!

Alas, from what a height hast thou fallen, into what an abyss hast thou been hurled! Fie upon thee; thou hast scorned One, O how kind; and linked thee to one, O how malignant! What hast thou done, O madness, O unchastity all too mad, O wickedness all too unchaste? Thou hast left thy chaste Lover in heaven, and followed thy hateful seducer into hell, and prepared thee in hell’s pit a filthy lair in place of thy bridal chamber. Astounding horror, what perversity of will is this! Miracle of horror, what wilful perversity is this! Whence, then, O God, am I to draw for myself the corrective of such deep depravity? whence for Thee, O God, satisfaction for so black a sin? Fling thyself, miserable mortal, down into the black abyss of a woe unmedicined, thou that didst choose to fling thyself into the pit of a horrible iniquity. Wrap thee about, poor wretch, in guise of terrible grief, thou that didst all willingly launch into the slime of hellish filth. And thou, steeped in crime, muffle thyself round with horrid glooms of inconsolable wailing, thou that didst wanton wilfully in the quagmire of so grovel ling indulgence. Wallow in the gulf of bitterness, thou that didst dally in the bed of shame.

O shrinking terror, trembling grief, inconsolable distress, crowd, crowd upon me; whelm me, overwhelm me, bewilder me, encompass me, and make me all your own.
’Tis just, ’tis just. I have flouted you by my shameless daring; I have provoked you by my filthy wantonness no, no, God; God, not you and now in woebegone repentance I desire you. Torture your victim; avenge your God; let the fornicator feel betimes the hell-torment he has merited; let him have a foretaste of what he has laid up for himself; let him get accustomed to what he has to suffer. Prolong and lengthen out thy doleful penance, thou uncontrolled, unbridled sinner, that didst so long prolong thy impurity and thy guilt.
Roll back, roll back into the same seething gulf of bitterness, thou that didst so oft roll back into the same slough of lusts. And as for you, consolation, security, and joy, I forego you, I reject you till pardon of sin restore you. Away with you, away with you, before I die; if haply forgiveness may recall you to me, albeit after death. Let perpetual penance be the sad companion of my time; let perpetual grief be the unsatisfied torturer of my life; let sadness and harsh mournfulness be the unfatigued harrowers-up of my early and my latter age. O be it so! O be it so! I desire, I pray, I long that it may be so. For though I am unworthy to lift my eyes to heaven in prayers, surely I am not unworthy to blind them with tears. If my mind from shame of conscience is too much confounded to pray,
’tis right it should be confounded by the giddy bewilderment that comes of a mourner’s distress and grief. If it fears to be displayed in the sight of God,
’tis just it should have in its own sight the torments that its guilt has earned.

[§ 18. The sinner’s future.] So, then, let my heart ponder and ponder again on what it has done and what it has deserved. Let my mind go down, yes, down to the land of darkness, the land covered with the shadow of death; and there let her scan the torments that await a guilty soul; let her gaze on them, and study them; let her see, and be sore troubled. What is it, O God, what is it that I descry in the land of misery and darkness? Horror, horror! What is it that I behold here, where no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth? (Job x. 22.) Ah, the jarring shrieks, the tears and hurly-burly, the gnashing of teeth, the disordered advance of multitudinous wailings, wo, and wo; how many wo’s! how many and how many wo’s, and wo’s on the heels of wo’s! Ah, the sulphurous fire, the flame from the nether most deep! You volumes of blackest smoke, with what frightful roaring do I see you wreathe and roll! You worms, alive in fire; what strange appetite for gnawing thus inflames you, you that the fire of fires does not burn? And you, ye demons, glowing through and through, chafing with rage, gnashing your teeth with frenzy, why are ye so merciless to them that are writhing in the midst of you? O all and every kind of torments, measured by justice, but measureless to power of endurance, is it so that no controlment, no respite, no end is ever to subdue you? Are these the things, great God, that have been prepared for fornicators and despisers of Thee, of whom I am one? I, yes I; I am one of them.

Shudder, O my soul; and faint, my mind; and break, my heart. Whither do you drag me, O punishers of my guilt? Whither dost thou thrust me, O my sin? Whither dost thou drive me, O my God? If I have contrived to be Thy culprit, say, could I have contrived not to be Thy creature? If I have robbed me of my chastity, say, have I bereft Thee of Thy mercy? O Lord, O Lord, if I have let that come whence Thou canst damn, hast Thou let that go whence Thou art wont to save? Do not, do not, O Lord, so look upon my evil as to forget Thy good. Where, where, O God of truth, is that Thy,
‘I desire not the death of the sinner, but that the sinner turn from his way and live’? (Ezech. xxxiii. 11.) O Lord, who liest not,
O Lord, what means Thy nolo mortem peccatoris, if Thou bury down in hell a sinner crying unto Thee?
To plunge a sinner into the bottomless pit, is this Thy volo ut convertatur, Thy
volo ut vivat? I am the sinner, O Lord, I am the sinner. If, then, Thou desirest not the death of the sinner, what forces Thee to do what Thou desirest not, to give me over to the death? If Thou desirest that the sinner turn again and live, what prevents Thee from doing what Thou dost desire, that Thou convert me, and I live? What! does the enormity of my sin force Thee to what Thou desirest not, although Thou art Almighty God? Forbid it, Almighty God; forbid it, O Lord God; let not the wickedness of a sinner, a confessing, grieving sinner, prevail against the decree of the Omnipotent.

Remember, O just, O holy, O bountiful God, that Thou art merciful, and hast made me and re-made me. Therefore remember not, good Lord, Thy justice against Thy sinner, but be mindful of Thy condescension to Thy creature; remember not Thy fury against the guilty, but be mindful of Thy mercy to the miserable. True it is that my conscience and sense of guilt deserves damnation, and that my penance is not enough for satisfaction; but yet it is certain that Thy mercy out strips all Thy resentment. Spare, therefore, Thou good Lord, to whom salvation belongeth, and who desirest not the death of the sinner, spare my sinful soul; for it flies, frightened by Thy frightening justice, to Thy consoling mercy; that so, since the treasure of his marred virginity is now—O grief!—irrecoverable, yet the punishment due to fornication may not be inevitable to the penitent; for
’tis neither impossible to Thy omnipotence, nor ill-becoming to Thy justice, nor unwonted to Thy mercy; since Thou art good, and since Thy mercy reaches to eternity, Thou who art blessed for ever more. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Fourth Meditation

[§ 19. The necessity and the benefit of careful self-examination.] O soul of mine, so wretched and so soiled, recall to thee and carefully compose all thy bodily senses; and with more than usual care look and see how grievously thou art wounded and laid low. For since thy Creator, in His in finite goodness, grants thee life, since in His ineffable compassion He so patiently and all so tenderly awaits thy amendment, and a suitable satisfaction, be not slow and indolent in the curing of thy wounds, in the correcting of thy sins, in the reconciling of thy offended Creator, and in the making friends to thee of all His saints, whom by thy offences against their Creator and thine, their Lord and thine, thou hast turned into thy foes. If thou hadst always remained upright and pure, upright and pure as thy Creator made thee, if thou hadst always—as thou couldest well have done, hadst thou chosen—conformed thyself to His will without defection, thou wouldest now be running, happy and joyful, a happy and joyful course through this present life; the which course run through and finished, thou wouldest find assured to thee, happy and joyful, by His help, the possession of that happy and joyful life which has no end. But now, since, all wretched and unhappy, thou hast set at naught the will of thy Creator, and clung wretchedly and unhappily to thine own carnal pleasures; if, carefully refusing to pamper thyself, carefully refusing to spare thyself in what evils soever and what iniquities soever thou dost find that thou art entangled; if, seeing them and repenting of them, thou art setting thyself in earnest to return into the path of satisfaction and amendment; if so, then, by way of a beginning, throw away one thing from thine inmost self; I mean this,
the willing inclination to sin; throw it away, and embrace and do what thou so well knowest will be pleasing to thy Creator.

But it may be that thou sayest to thyself, beholding the enormity of thy sins, and despairing of indulgence and remission—it may be that thou sayest, having regard to thy habitual offences and their foulness,
‘How can I possibly henceforth have strength enough to amend my ways? I that am acting against the will of God, now well-nigh a lifetime; I whose whole being is set on the gratification of all kinds of wicked desires, and the doing of all kinds of wicked deeds; I that lie here hardened in sins, like some stone which iron cannot cut and fire cannot melt? For when with more than ordinary care I contemplate the justice of my Creator, and review the evil deeds which ever and anon I have committed, I am certain that nothing awaits me but the torments which evil deeds deserve.’ True, true enough is what thou sayest; for God, just judge and lover of equity that He is, ordains torments as the punishment of sins and evil deeds. But nevertheless, according to the measure of that very justice which makes Him punish those who persist in wickedness, does He repay with an ever-enduring guerdon those w r ho repent of their evil deeds, and do what is good.

For this reason did I just now admonish thee to examine thine inmost parts and all thy doings in His sight with special care; and with no less care to fix thine eye on the issue to which thy doings tend. If thou persevere in this, and persevere too in bruising thy hard heart with hammers of iron, as it were, by these reviews—if so, I verily believe that thou wilt thus do what, unless thou art mad, will yield thee as its return happiness and endless joys, and wilt rid thyself of that whence thou hast been meriting misery and torments.

[§ 20. The goodness of God, and the malignity of the Devil.] For this reason do I again and yet again admonish thee unintermittingly to recollect how sweet and how good is thy Creator towards thee; how great was His goodness in creating thee when thou wast not, and in making thee, instead of a dumb brute or an insensible creature, a being such as could understand and love Him, and, joyful and eternal, share His eternity with Him; how great His goodness in loving thee with such excess of love as that, though He knew that thou wouldest do many things against His will, He yet re fused not to create thee, and lo, thou art; how great His goodness in awaiting thine amendment with such gentle forbearance, so mercifully and compassionately does He still bear with thee! Yes, He awaits; thy Creator awaits thy improvement, as I said;. for He who was pleased to make thee, never, never wishes to destroy thee; rather would He have thee return to His all-merciful compassion; rather would He reward thee, cleansed and amended by true repentance, with that happy and eternal life which thou hadst lost through sin.

Think, therefore, and think again and again, of thy Creator’s kindness to thee; and, as is right, raise thyself and all thy powers to the contemplation of His unspeakable love. For the love of Him brooks no foulness of vice, and consents to no pleasure bred of carnal desires. For where love of Him reigns, there utmost peace abides, and deepest calm, and perfect readiness to do and think all that may tend to the attainment of eternal happiness. Know well that in all thy actions and all thy thoughts there are two round about thee, and very close to thee; one thy friend, the other thy foe.
Thy friend is thy Creator, who rejoices in all thy good works; whilst thy foe,
the devil, is mortified at those same good works of thine. The devil, ever
laying snares for thee as he does, is rejoiced if he see thee do evil deeds, and
give heed to vain and foolish thoughts, whence he may be able to find accusation against thee
before the Great Judge, and drag thee, thus accused and hence condemned, down with himself into perdition. The devil, ever eager for the destruction of the faithful, not only accuses them of the ills they really do, he even tries to set a stain on their good deeds and their right thoughts by making out of them material for his false charges. But be thou, on thy side, upon thy guard against his subtle tricks, and against his wiles so full of all deception; be on thy guard, be solicitous; and call upon thy Creator and thy dearest Lord not to let thee be led astray by the wiles and the deceptions of the foe. O, fly under the shadow of His wings from the face of the wicked who afflict thee (Ps. xvi. 8, 9), and who make it their aim, having afflicted and supplanted thee, to drag thee away to death and eternal ruin. Thy Creator and thy Lord is merciful and compassionate, far, far beyond the reach of words or even thoughts; so much so, that never does He destroy any man but through the man’s own great fault and own great sin.

[§ 21. The compassion of Jesus.] Earthly parents, father and mother, in our flesh, are wont to feel great compassion and sympathy for their offspring; and if they find them afflicted with pain of any kind, or any bodily inconvenience, are ready enough to spend both themselves and their fortunes, should reason so require, for their children’s recovery to ease and soundness. Ofttimes, too, many dumb animals even do not shrink from facing death itself for their young; and only too willingly go to meet it, that their offspring may escape it, Whence, now, comes this to man and to the brute? Whence comes this natural sympathy, but from Him who is the Father of sympathy and compassion; who wills not that any should perish, and rejoices not in the destruction of them that die? Our Creator, therefore, the Fountain of compassion, the Fountain of mercy, when He sees us His children stained with any sinful contagion, or hurt well nigh to death with the many and deep wounds that crime has made, displays towards us greater devotion in curing our sins, in healing our sickness, in cleansing away the leprosy and filth of our misdeeds, in wiping out the soils of our vain thoughts, than does earthly father for his children, or reasonless brute for its young. Nor is it enough for Him simply to cure our sicknesses, and so dismiss us; when we are healed, He makes us His own close familiars, and afterwards folds us tenderly in His arms as His own dearest children; ay, He embraces us and kisses us, and then soothes and consoles away all our infirmities, and all the sinful leprosy we had contracted by our folly, and entirely forgets all the injuries we once did Him by spurning Him in His consolations. He clothes us with honour in this present life, and crowns us with glory in the next; He makes us kings; and, as to our soul, her He makes a queen, whence He admonishes us as kings, already made so in the psalm:
‘And now, O ye kings, understand; receive instruction, you that judge the earth’ (Ps. ii. 10). For we then are kings indeed, when we rule our inordinate motions, and reduce them to reason and the will of our Creator; we receive instruction when we judge the earth, that is to say, when, if we see that our heart desires earthly things, we compel it to contemn the earthly and to love the heavenly. Our soul becomes a queen; for arrayed in varied robes—that is to say, adorned with divers virtuous gifts—she is wedded in mind’s continuous act and habit to Christ her Spouse who is in heaven, even whilst she sojourns here on earth. It was not enough for our Creator to create us, and to govern us when created, and to send angels, as often as need was, to defend us; but He in His own Person, taking our form to Him, taking our nature to Him, out of pity for the work of His hands, came down to us, looked carefully at our wounds, touched them, felt them; and, moved with pity for the misery which He saw enthralled us, grieved over us, and sighed in His inmost soul. He pitied, grieved, and sighed for us; and then of that very Flesh which He had assumed for our sake, made as it were a healing ointment, and applied it to our griefs, and restored us from our sickness back to perfect health. And, that He might in this mystery show how much He loved us, He gave us that very Flesh which He had assumed for us, that we might eat It; and onwards to this day fails not to administer It to us in the sacrifice of His altar.

Thou, then, my soul, consoled and animated by the sweet recollection of all these mercies, pray to thy Lord, pray to thy Creator; invoke all His saints to thy assistance, that, aided and consoled by their intercession, thou mayest gain of Him who made thee grace so to live in this thy
present state, so to purge away thy iniquities by true repentance and confession, as that, thy transitory passage run, thou mayest merit to mount up to joys eternal; by His help who liveth and reigneth God to eternal ages. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Fifth Meditation

So long as his soul dwells in the body, a man lives according to the flesh; and on its departure he dies according to the same flesh. And it is equally true that, just as the soul supplies life to the flesh so long as it remains in the flesh, so that flesh in turn supplies the soul with life so long as the flesh does the works of justice. Thus soul and flesh are seen to act reciprocally; the soul working for the flesh, and the flesh for the soul; and, pro vided that the soul cooperates duly with the flesh, they win for each other the life of an. enduring life. There is a difference, however; inasmuch as the soul is introduced to that life when it has shaken off the flesh, whereas the flesh will not enjoy it until reunited to that soul at the resurrection on the last day. Therefore rejoice, O my soul, and thou, my flesh, rejoice in the living God (Ps.
lxxxiii. 3). Come ye to God your Creator; come, and be enlightened (Ps. xxxiii. 6); and now no longer do that of which ye should be ashamed; but always study to do what may ensure you joy for ever. I implore and I exhort you, that you receive not the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. vi. 1). For although He now suffers much to be done by you which much displeases Him, think not that He will suffer it always. For He is patient, doubtless, but yet a rewarder; and loving, but yet a searcher of heart and reins. He endures much now, awaiting our amendment, such is His great gentleness; but if we do not correct ourselves betimes, He will condemn us, such is His perfect justice. And He, who is now so kind to us as to call us His brethren and His friends, will then, at that last scrutiny, reject us as enemies whom He refuses to know, there being no good works by which He can know us.

My soul and my flesh, now, now at least, keep watch at all times and everywhere, thinking on your end. For, it may be, you will not easily sin if you do this; and, if you do it as I admonish you, you may be secure; because, in the day when many are sorrowing who now laugh and rejoice, you will be glad and exult with an unspeakable joy.

Give diligent heed, therefore, to your works. If they are good and pleasing to God, rejoice; if they are bad and not acceptable to Him, reform them at once. Let not your eye slumber, nor your eyelids sleep. The pit of perdition is wide open, .and he who is ever so little off his guard, slips into it easily enough. Sin, injustice, folly, vanity, impel
him to it scarce resisting, and, once plunged into it, there will be no escaping
for ever. But as the pit of eternal destruction yawns for the wicked and the
evil workers, so the gate of Paradise stands opened wide to the good and those
who persevere in goodness; and the soul once welcomed there shall always remain
and dwell there, full of joy and gladness for ever and ever.

[§ 23.] And now let us trace, if we can, with careful eye the course by which good works raise to heaven the soul of him who has lived well, whilst evil works drag the soul of the sinner into hell. The purged soul, as soon as she parts from the body, sees all her works;
and seeing that all of them are good, rejoices with an indescribable joy.
Presently an angel takes her into his keeping; yes, the angel who
guarded her eyes from beholding vanity, and closed her ears against hearing
iniquity, he embraces her; who kept watch about her mouth, that it should not
speak lies, he protects her; who shielded her from sinning by sense of touch or
smell, he rejoices in her; and in his great joy and blithesomeness hovers round
about her, and sets her before the throne of the Divine brightness, there to be
happy without end. And other angels then fly to greet her, and other saints,
whose post is there before the face of the Majesty of God, and recognising her
as their friend and their associate in good works, joyfully embrace her with the
arms of a tenderest love; and, ac costing her as follows, declare the common joy
of one and all of the denizens of bliss: ‘Lo, thou art our companion; lo, thou
art our friend, for thou hast served God faithfully, and hast laboured with all
thy might to do His commandments; now, now at last rest thee from thy toil, and
enjoy unending happiness, now and onwards through eternity.’

[§ 24.] But, on the other hand, when the soul of the wicked is forced to go out of the body, angels of Satan presently receive her; and, binding her roughly with chains of fire, and forcing her still more roughly on from every side, hurry her off to the torments of that hell where Satan, plunged in the pit, lies deep and low, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (St. Matt. viii. 12), where
‘fire and brimstone and storms of wind is the portion of the cup of sinners’ (Ps. x. 7). Then the infernal king, Satan himself, clutching her in his grasp, and belching on her a breath of loathsome fire, orders her to be pinioned by his satellites, and, thus bound, to be cast into the midst of the tormenting fires, there to be tortured with out end with them, there without end to die undyingly for very grief. Then the unhappy soul, racked with pains, hedged round by the infernal fiends, above, beneath, on every side, returning at last to herself, and seeing all the evils she has ever done, cries with a woful cry,
‘Ah, poor me, poor me! why did I ever live? Poor me, racked all over with such strange torments! poor me! O worms, O worms, why do you gnaw me so cruelly? Pity me, pity me; pity poor me, that suffer so many and such awful other torments! Ah, poor me, poor me! And I want to die; but, dying and dying, still I cannot die. Now do I, poor wretch, receive again all wherein I sinned, by sight, by taste, by hearing, by smell, by touch.’ And yet it avails not the woe-begone soul so miserably grieving, so late repenting, so sadly crying out for pain, that so great sorrow now afflicts it. No; what in her earthly life she merited, that she now receives in the pains of hell, poor soul, poor sinful soul.

Therefore pay good heed, O my soul, and thou, O my flesh; and paying heed, judge true judgment, and decide which is the better, which the more profitable, course to follow; to do well and receive good, or to do ill and receive evil? Unless you are fools, you will answer,
‘To do well and get good.’ Therefore do good; do good that you may be able to have good, that Good from which all good is; I mean the Good of all good, which cannot but be good. Our Creator has given us many good things, He has placed many within our reach; but there is no good so precious, none so worthy of every wise man’s quest, as THE GOOD. to whom no created good may be compared; and He is our Creator Himself, who is never other than good. Which Good, if, by His grace, you are able to have, you will have all other goods in Him. But if, having others, you have not Him, the Sole Good, you labour in vain, and, like idiots chasing the wind, you will find at last not truth, but hollowness and vanity.

No; all present glory, as indeed you see it to be if you rightly consider the matter, is like a bladder filled with wind; which, so long as it is held in the hands quite carefully and only looked at, shows goodly and fair enough; but if by any chance the smallest hole be pricked in it, emptiness—not goodliness, only emptiness and wind—is left in your hands.

Therefore reflect; and, as I admonished you at the beginning of this meditation, think ever on your last end; because thus thinking, and being always solicitous about your departure hence, you will not easily sin; and so living on to the last, the temporal joys being ended, which, whilst you were thus timorous, flitted like a puff of wind across your cheek, you will find not vanity but truth, which is Christ; to whom may He bring you who created you. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Sixth Meditation

[§ 25. The condition of the sinner.] I feel no little fear when I look back upon the sins I have committed, and bethink me of the pains and torments which I deserve to suffer for them; and so, in my great anxiety and my great alarm lest I should be lost, I look about me to see if haply I may anywhere discover any means of consolation. But, alas poor me! I find none; for not only my Creator, but my Creator and the whole creation He has made, are, I know full well, enlisted as my adversaries. Thus my Creator with His whole creation, grievously offended at my sins, condemns me; whilst my conscience, too well assured of its evil deeds, accuses me at every point. So that I find no consolation, nor do I think that I shall readily procure it from any source whatever.

What, then, am I to do? Whither shall I turn, desolate as I am, entangled as I am in the meshes of my sins? If
I resolve to turn again to Him who made me upright, and so supplicate His unspeakable mercy to have pity on me, I greatly fear lest by my so great rashness I should move Him to all the greater anger against me, and lest He should all the more severely on this account avenge Himself on those enormities of mine by the which I have not feared to provoke His loving-kindness.

What then? Am I to lie still, as though in despair, without counsel, without help? My Creator even now suffers me to live, even now fails not to supply me with all that is needful for the sustentation of this present life; and, for I find it by actual experience, my sins avail not to conquer His goodness, and induce Him to determine now at last to cover me
with confusion, as I have long ago deserved, and destroy me altogether. Of all certainties this is most certain, that He is merciful to me, inasmuch as He lavishes on me such inestimable blessings, and that even now He does not seek to avenge Himself on my iniquities.

[§ 26. The Divine mercy before the Incarnation.] I have heard, and what I have heard is true—for they who have had experience of a fact are in a position to attest it—that He the Fountain of Mercy, which began to flow from the very be ginning of the world, flows still. He was abundantly merciful, as they tell us, and very pitiful to Adam our first father, in that He did not punish him forthwith with the eternal perdition he had deserved on committing that sin of eating the forbidden fruit; but patiently waited for his amendment, and gave him merciful helps to enable him to return into the grace of Him whom he had offended. Indeed, He often sent him and those who sprang from him angels, for this very end; admonishing them to return and do penance for their iniquities; for He was still willing to receive them, should they with all their hearts repent of their sins. But they, still persisting in their sins and despising His admonitions, added fresh sins to the old; and grown mad, as it were, frantic, and hateful in their iniquities, began against their nature, although created in honour by reason of God’s likeness, to imitate the behaviour of brute beasts.

Then again He sent patriarchs, He sent prophets; but even then men chose not to forsake their crooked and perverse ways, but, of those who gave them counsels of salvation, slew some, and afflicted others with various and unheard-of tortures. Still, like a merciful father, He chastened them for a season, not to avenge Himself on their affronts and scorn, as though goaded to it by their evil deeds, but that they thus corrected might have recourse to His mercy, who in no wise desires the perdition of those whom He of His goodness created out of nothing.

[§ 27. The Divine mercy in the Incarnation.] But when, visited and visited again, first by admonition, then by correction, they still refused to be converted, the Fountain of Mercy could restrain Himself no longer, but, descending from the Bosom of the Father, took our true humanity, took our sinful likeness, and began all sweetly to admonish them that they should do salutary penance for their sins, and should own Him to be the very Son of God. For He had come for their salvation, and they must not lose hope, but must believe most firmly that pardon was now theirs for all their sins, if only they forsook them and did penance. For there is no sin so grievous that it cannot be washed out by penance, and so washed out as that the devil himself can no more henceforth call it to remembrance. Then, therefore, sinners beholding the so great sweetness of their Creator, began of their own accord to run in eager crowds to the Fountain of Mercy, and to wash away their sins in Him. Nay more; He on His part proceeded, Fountain of Mercy, to live with sinners, proceeded to throw open to them the sacred doors of that sacramental confession by means of which every burden of sin is lightened and removed, for in true confession every stain is cleansed and washed away.

After this, as the time drew near when He must suffer for the redemption of sinners, the Jews, of whose stock He was sprung according to the flesh, moved with envy for that He was merciful and compassionate, crucified Him. And yet He, even in His very death, not unmindful of His compassion, prayed to His Father for His murderers, that He would forgive them this sin,
‘for they know not’—were His words—‘for they know not what they do’ (St. Luke xxiii. 34). Thus does that sweetest compassion of our Lord find excuses for them; our Lord who desires not the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and live (Ezech. xxxiii. 11). Who, then, has heart so hard, so stony hard, that the so great loving-kindness of his Creator cannot soften it; whom, though His creature made by Him out of nothing to His image and likeness, he treated with dishonour; yet He punished not revengefully, but, dishonoured as He was and provoked by men’s many evil deeds, yet endured all with patience, and sweetly admonished them to return to Him with out doubt and without delay. Ay, indeed; our Lord Jesus Christ is merciful and sweet; as where He says by His prophet,
‘Is it my will that a sinner should die, and not that he should be converted from his ways and live’ (Ezech. xviii. 23), and so, doing penance, should return to the grace of his Creator? And how merciful He is to the sinful soul He declares by another prophet,
when He implores it, even after the sin committed, to turn again and find mercy, saying,
‘Thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers’ (Jer. iii. 1); that is to say, thou, who hadst pledged thy faith to Me in baptism, hast stained and desecrated thy conjugal fidelity with many lovers; yet do penance and re turn to Me, and I will receive thee. Let no sinner, then, lose heart when, after having been defiled with many lovers, his soul is received again; for the Fountain of Mercy, Jesus Christ, is exhausted by the iniquities of none, polluted by the crimes of none; but, always pure and always full to over flowing with grace and sweetness, receives all who return to Him, weak though they be, sinful though they be, and whatever be the sins that have defiled them. And that all sinners, and all unjust, may be sure that they receive forgiveness of their sins, if they do really strive to put away their sins and do penance, He, the Fountain of Mercy, has suffered the very same Flesh which, as I have said, He assumed in their behalf, to be crucified; that those who were dead in sins, and could by no other means return to life again unless redeemed by the price of His Blood, might not despair at all when they should see what price has been offered for their sins.

[§ 28. The sinner’s contemplation of himself.] When, then, I contemplate the so great compassion 06 my Lord Jesus Christ, and see that, although so many sinners and unjust run to the Fountain of Mercy, none are shut out, but all are welcomed, am I alone to give up hope? am I alone to fear that He who washes others clean cannot wash away my sins? I know, I know assuredly, and I truly believe, that He who cleanses others is able to cleanse me also, and, if He will, for He is most mighty, to remit me all my sins. Still, however, there are great differences between one sinner and another; between, that is to say, him who sins more grievously, and him who sins less. And I, contemplating in this respect the greatness of my sins and the deep dye of the iniquities that my soul has been stained withal, see clearly that I am not in like case with other sinners, but that I am sinner more than any other sinner, and far beyond all other sinners. For many have sinned, and then desisted; some, although they have often sinned, have yet at some time set a limit to their evil courses; others, again, even if they have done many evil deeds, have not failed also to do many good, and have thus merited either that those evil deeds should be remitted altogether, or else have gained that even the pains of hell should be more tolerable for them. But I, poor I, sinful and wretched above all sinful and all wretched mortals, understanding well and knowing well to what dire perdition my sin and the fascination of sin was leading me, have never cared to desist from sins and evil deeds, but have ever aggravated old sins by new, and thus all wittingly and wilfully have plunged myself, wretch that I am, into the perdition of sin; and, but that the infinite goodness of my Lord still bore with me, long, long ago must I have been devoured by hell itself. I then, after living as I have lived, after committing so great enormities and involving myself in so great iniquities, how shall I dare to fly to the Fountain of Mercy in the company of others, sinners, it is true, but sinners who have not done so great ill , for fear lest by reason of the foulness of my crimes He who has washed others whose foulness is more tolerable should refuse to wash me? Help me therefore, O Lord Jesus Christ, help Thy creature, overwhelmed though I be by a multitude of sins; but rather, seeing in me Thine own creation, help me lest I despair; for, as we do believe, no load of sins can be so enormous in guilt as to conquer Thee, if only the sinner despair not of Thy mercy.

[§ 29. The sinner’s prayer to Jesus Christ.] Suffer me therefore, O Lord Jesus Christ, to gaze on Thy unspeakable mercy, and to tell abroad Thy sweetness and goodness towards the sinful and the wretched. I have said it already, but O, it delights me much, whenever fit occasion offers, to make remembrance of Thy sweetness and Thy grace to sinners, and to say how great they are. For, out of love for sinners and for their redemption—not merely sinners who are sinners more or less, but sinners who are sinful beyond measure, if only they repent—Thou earnest down from the Bosom of the Father, Thou didst enter the Virgin’s womb, didst take true flesh of her, and living in the world didst call all sinners to penance, at last didst endure the gibbet of the Cross for them, and dying thus according to the flesh, didst restore to them the life which by their sin they had justly lost. Therefore, when I consider the evil deeds that I have done, I am sure that I shall be lost, if Thou shouldest please to judge me according to my deserts; but, when I consider that death of Thine which Thou didst undergo for the redemption of sinners, I do not despair of Thy mercy. Why; the thief who for his sins was crucified by Thy side lived on in sin, to the very passing away of his soul in death; and yet, in the very hour of his dissolution, because he confessed his faults and proclaimed his guilt, found mercy and was that very day with Thee in Paradise. And I, beholding Thee, as I do, dead for the redemption of sinners, Thy Hands and Thy Feet fastened by the nails, Thy Side opened by the soldier’s lance, the river of Blood and Water flowing from that dear Side of Thine, am I to despair? One thing, and one thing only, dost Thou desire; that is, that we re pent of our wickednesses, and endeavour to amend as best we may. If we do this, we are safe; for if our last day finds us thus—since we have the instance of the thief who thus in his last hour merited to be saved—confiding in the unspeakable mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, we may have little or no fear of the accusation of the enemy. Having, therefore, before our eyes the price of our redemption, the Death, that is to say, of our Redeemer, and His Blood which was shed for us; having, besides, the example of the thief and of many who, having been entangled in many and great sins, have been mercifully forgiven by Him, the Fountain of Mercy, Jesus Christ, let us not despair, but fly, sure of the remission of our sins, to Him the Fountain of Mercy, in whom we see and know that so many and so great sinners have been washed clean; and let us be sure that we in like manner shall be cleansed by the same Fountain of Mercy, if we abstain from our wickednesses and our sins, and, as far as we can, have a care to do what is right. But, to abstain from evil and do good, is what we cannot compass by our own strength and without His help. Let us, therefore, implore His unspeakable compassion, whose care it was to create us when we were not, that He would grant us thus in this life, before we go forth hence, to amend our faults; that, this life ended, we may have strength to travel home to Him in a straight unfettered flight, and so may dwell with Him in everlasting glory, joined with the angelic choirs who now enjoy it, rejoicing in unending bliss.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Seventh Meditation

[§ 30.] I. Of the changefulness of all that is in the world. Nothing is more certain than death, nothing more uncertain than the hour of death. Let us then reflect how short our life is, how slippery our path; how certain our death, how uncertain the hour of our death. Let us consider what bitternesses are mixed up with whatever of sweet or pleasant chances to allure
us if we come within its reach in the course of our life’s journey. O, how deceitful and how false, how changeful and how fugitive, is all the offspring of this world’s love, all the pretence of transitory grace and beauty, all the promise of carnal pleasure! And let us also ponder well the sweetness and loveliness, the serenity and calm, of our own heavenly home; let us think well whence it is that we have fallen and where we lie, what we have lost and what found, that so we may learn from either
consideration what good need we have to mourn and lament in this our banishment. It is for this reason that Solomon declares,
‘He that addeth knowledge addeth also labour’ (Eccles. i. 18); for the more thoroughly a man understands what are his soul’s maladies, the more abundant food has he for sighs and grief. Thus, in truth, meditation engenders knowledge, knowledge invites to compunction, compunction urges to devotion, and devotion leads to prayer. By habits of unremitting meditation man is so enlightened as to know himself, whilst in the practice of compunction his heart is touched with an intimate sorrow from the contemplation of its ills.

[§ 31.] II. Of the manifold blessings of Almighty God.
Poor me, how ardently ought I to love my Lord for creating me when I was not,
and for redeeming me when I was lost. I was not, and He made me out of nothing;
nor did He make me one amongst His many creatures that are devoid of reason, as
a tree, a bird, or one of the brute creation; but He willed that I should be a
man, and endowed me with the gifts of life, sensation, and discourse of reason.
I was lost, and to save me He stooped to my dying lot; immortal, He assumed
mortality, endured suffering, vanquished death, and thus restored me to my first
estate. Thus, thus have His grace and mercy always prevented me, and from many dangers He my deliverer has set me free. When I was going astray He led me back; when I knew nothing He taught me; when I sinned He chastened me; in my griefs He consoled me; in my despair He comforted; when I was fallen He raised me up; when I stood He held me; when I moved He guided me; when I came to Him He welcomed and received me. All this, and very much besides, has my Lord Jesus Christ done for me; and sweet will be the task of giving Him in return unceasing thanks for all, so may I for all His benefits be able to love and praise Him evermore. I have nothing that I can offer Him for all these things, except only that I love Him with all my heart; and there is no better and no fitter offering than what is given out of love.

[§ 32.] III. Here the sinner chides himself for his ingratitude. Alas, alas, alas, Lord God, is it so that I dare to come, that I dare to present myself in the presence of Thy saints; I of all men the most wretched and most sad; I that am so
ungrateful for so many and so great blessings; I that have so shamelessly and so gracelessly abused Thy gifts; I that have not blushed out of those very gifts to make weapons wherewith to fight against Thee, and that so often and so long; I that have not blushed, so often and so long, though the recipient of Thy bounty, to fight on the devil’s side against Thee, my King; I that have dared to turn Thy very gifts into arms in the devil’s service; I that have presumed so infamously to misuse my very self, and dared to hire myself as a slave to the devil, and make my members his; and in those very members do battle against Thee, my Creator, against Thee, Thou that didst make them and didst give them me.

Am I not he, O Lord my God, that has so often put himself as a sharp sword in the hands of the graceless fiend for the devouring of souls? O, how often have I set myself in array against Thee to compass my neighbour’s death! And as often as I have aimed the arrows of detraction or of flattery at other men, so often have I turned it into a bow of falsehood. O most merciful, O sweetest Father, I cannot count the times that I have infamously misused my bodily members, so giving arms to the devil, and fighting against Thee, for all that Thou art utmost gentleness and goodness.

[§ 33.] IV. An acknowledgment of sin. I am the maddest of all madmen, who, created by Thee out of nothing, chosen out of the mass of sin and perdition to be a child of Thy grace, adopted by Thee to be a joint-heir of Thy dearest and only-begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord and God, designed for the honours and the glories of Thy Kingdom, and filled with abundance of undeserved grace, yet forgot all this Thy lavish bounty, even though he saw full well that these so great blessings had been given him by Thee. Yes, indeed, I have spurned the honours of Thy heavenly kingdom, disdained Thy glory, and reduced myself to the condition of a bastard and degenerate child, and given myself over to the devil, to be dragged at his will over the dung hills of luxury and through the thorny brakes of avarice, and to be beaten on the rocks by the waves and breakers of pride.

I am the blind trader, who bartered away the priceless riches of the talents Thou gavest him, bartered them away, poor wretch, for want, for nakedness, for unending sighs; yes, I have exchanged peace the most delightsome and most joyous for thorns and a dunghill, that is to say, for riches and luxury; and pawned everlasting light for everlasting darkness, endless joys for endless griefs, eternal glory for eternal shame, and a throne in Thy kingdom for thraldom to devils.

I am that weakest of the sons of men who exposed himself as a butt for the arrow; for I have set myself to be pierced by the shafts of sin and torn from head to foot with wounds.

I am the mortal that, cast forth as a corpse to be torn and dragged to pieces by dogs of hell and all filthy carrion birds, cast forth from Thy holy city, the city of Thy holy ones, Thy friends, from the holy gladsome society of the blessed spirits of heaven, have given myself up to be consumed by vices as if by worms. O, how loathsome do I show in Thy holy eyes; stained and befouled with hideous noisome filth of luxury, scorched with fire of anger and avarice, my limbs infested with worms of hatred and envy, inflated and swollen by pride, from head to foot a mass of ulcers, scars, and wounds, stamped and scored with so many and so great sins, the lines and characters of diabolical foulness. I know, O merciful Lord, that Thou mayest deservedly and very justly say that I am none of Thine, and refuse to own in such a thing as I am, I will not say Thy child, but even Thy creation. For this hideous monstrous spectacle of all sorts of foulness is not Thy creation and re-creation; this hateful thing is no just image and similitude of Thee. It was quite an other creation that Thou madest me. Ah me! This likeness to the devil in all his foulness shows me hitherto to have been a child of the devil, an heir of the torments that await the unbelieving. Such, such is the exchange and the barter that I have made, fool, fool, blind fool that I have been, of pawning the glory and the dignity of bearing Thy likeness for most hateful and most vile deformity.

[§ 34. The sinner’s review of himself.] O holy Father, Thou didst not therefore intrust those
precious talents of Thine to me, as to have me yield Thee for usury so hateful an offence. Thou didst not therefore shed so many and so great benefits upon me, that Thou shouldest reap no better fruit from the seed sown than worthless weeds and thorns and thistles. Thou didst not therefore fill me and enrich me with so many and so great benefits, that I should turn them into weapons against Thee my God. It was not the design of Thy loving-kindness to give me arms against Thyself, nor to increase the devil’s power by arms of Thy giving. And now behold me. See, see, I am stricken with all these wounds, these fearful wounds, yet I do not suffer. Ah, surely, I am blind; for with all their foulnesses and this utter nakedness, yet I am not ashamed.

Yes, yes indeed; I am senseless and dull of heart, not to grieve over the so many and the so sad losses that I have suffered; not even to have spirit left in me to bewail the death that I am dying. Yes, yes indeed; my heart must be of stone, that I am so hardened as not even now and then upon occasion to dread the eternal torments that overhang me. Yes, yes indeed; this heart is a rock of ice, for all the fires of my all-pitiful Father’s love and His love’s blessings do not avail to warm it. Yes, yes indeed; I take shame to myself and chide myself, for the trumpet-cry of preaching and the thunders of Thy threatenings are alike in effectual to arouse me.

Where is the piercing grief of which they tell, the grief of compunction, with which to crush and fling away all this hell-inspired hardness, and annihilate all the stone, the stubbornness, the rebellion? Where, my God, is the shame that should cover me with confusion before Thine eyes and the eyes of all the whole court of heaven? Where is the dread of Thy vengeance, that should make me tremble through and through before Thee? Where is the love, and the desire of recovering Thy peace and love and grace, that ought to burn within me? Where are the torrents of tears with which I should wash away my stains and my defilements from before Thee? Where is the prayerful devotion by which I should strive to appease and propitiate Thee? Whither shall I turn, O tender and compassionate Father, having, as I have, nothing worthy of Thy regard that I can offer to Thy majesty?
Whither shall I fly, most merciful Father, I that am empty of all good; nay,
that stand displayed full of all evil; beneath the gaze of Thy saints and the
holy armies of Thy celestial hosts?

[§ 35. The sinner’s cry to God.] I know, O Lord God, Thou Ruler of my life, that every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father and Fountain of lights (St. James i. 16). I know that I can offer no acceptable pleasing thing to Thee, unless I have first drawn it from the Fountain of Thy goodness: and this only if Thou enlighten and if Thou teach me. I know that this earnest of Thy mercy must go before all effort of mine. I know, dearest Father, that if I cannot pilfer or filch away Thy good things from Thee, equally impossible is it for me, by any merits of mine, to procure the means whereby to return to Thee and please Thee. For what due can merits of mine procure me but the punishment of eternal death? I know that it rests with Thy good pleasure whether Thou destroy me, according to the multitude of my evil deeds, my offences, my neglects, and my omissions; or remake me, and make me acceptable to Thee after the inestimable riches of Thy mercy; for Thou, the sole maker of Thy creature, canst alone remake it.

Now do I fly to Thee, O merciful Father, knowing that Thou art my only refuge from
Thyself. Who can deliver me from Thy Hands but Thou only? Thy mercy can deliver me—the mercy which I have not only demerited but resisted and rebelled against—can deliver me from Thy all-just anger, which I have so wretchedly and so gratuitously provoked. Deign, therefore, to receive me, O Lord, now that I return to Thee. Turn away,
I pray Thee, Thy all-holy eyes from my foulnesses and my ingratitudes; and bend them on Thyself, from whom none ever asks forgiveness without hope of winning it. In Thyself wilt Thou find at once the source and the justification of any mercy Thou mayest show, according to the abundance of Thy sweetness and the immensity of Thy mercy. Do not, I pray Thee, look upon me; for in me Thou wilt find nothing but what well deserves Thy wrath, or is all worthy of eternal death. Then turn away Thy holy eyes, O Lord, from the sight of all that is so base and vile in me; the which, if I could see and scan them in Thy clear and blazing light, for very horror I could not endure it, but should abhor and shun my very self. Turn, turn away from my noisome foulness,
and turn Thee to Thyself. I know, O Lord of mercy, that Thy holy eyes are pure,
and cannot look upon horrible deformity, unless Thou give me goodness
wherewithal to please Thee. I know that all Thy heavenly court turn away their
eyes and shut their ears, unable to endure my hateful offences. But Thou, O
merciful Father, turn, turn to that Fountain of Mercy, whose mercy knows no
measure and no end, and so look upon me Thy creature with merciful and tender
regard. I am Thy creature, O Lord, and the work of Thy hands.

Remake, therefore,
I beseech Thee, what Thou, didst make in me, and destroy what I have done in
myself against Thy commandments. Destroy, I mean, whatever Thou hatest in me, and what ever not Thou hast made, but I, poor I. Remake and recreate what Thou didst create and make; for this is Thine, O Lord my God; and to hate what is Thine is an impossible reach of hatred, for
‘Thou hatest none of the things which Thou hast made’ (Wisdom xi. 25). Destroy in me that which is mine, that, in short, which Thou hast not made; that is to say, all my baseness and vileness; but destroy not me. Destroy it, O merciful, com passionate Lord, for Thou hatest it; and that I am beginning to hate it, is Thy good gift.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Eighth Meditation

[36. A prayer for mercy and help.] O heavenly Father, look, I beseech Thee, upon the everflowing fountain of Thy compassion, which, as a flood of cleansing, a flood precious beyond all price, and full of life, gushed from Thy dearest and only-begotten Son for the cleansing of the world; by the death of Whom Thy goodness has been even pleased to give us life, and also to wash us with His Blood. Nay more; Thou hast consigned Thy dearest Son to men as a shield of Thy good-will
a shield wherewith to shelter themselves from Thy wrath; He receiving in Himself
the death they fear, He presented as a shield to Thy justice and Thy all-just
anger. Nor only so; it pleased Thy mercy that not only should He bear the brunt
of Thy wrath, but endure our death as well.
’Twas so indeed; Thy Son, Thine Only-begotten, has alone borne our death.

‘Remember, O Lord, Thy bowels of compassion, and Thy mercies that are from the beginning of the world’ (Ps. xxiv. 6), and stretch out Thy hand to Thy creature that stretches forth to Thee. Help the weakness of him that struggles after Thee. Draw me; for Thou knowest that I cannot come to Thee, except Thou, the Father, draw me with the cords of love and desire. Make me a servant acceptable and pleasing unto Thee; for Thou knowest that I cannot please Thee else. Give me, I pray Thee, those holy gifts with which alone to please Thee, Thou that givest good gifts to them that ask Thee. Grant, I pray Thee, that my sole love and sole desire may be Thyself; my sole love and only fear, Thyself. Take me wholly for Thine own, Thou who knowest that to Thee I owe all that I am, all that I have, all that I know, and all my powers. Convert me wholly to Thy praise and glory, I that owe myself wholly to Thy praise. Deliver not, I pray Thee, Thy creature to Thy enemies; keep me for Thyself, whose alone I am entirely; and perfect in every part what Thou hast begun, and confirm what Thou hast wrought.

Hear my prayer, I beseech Thee, Thou who givest and inspirest it even ere I thought to call to Thee. Look upon Thy suppliant, Thou Who when I had a mind to pray didst even then deign to look upon me. Not in vain, O Lord of mercy, didst Thou deign to inspire that my prayer, not for nothing didst Thou give it me. Nay, for this very end didst Thou deign to give it, that Thou mightest listen to me; for this didst Thou grant it to me, that I might implore Thee to have mercy on me a sinner. So thus having given me an earnest of Thy mercy, give me the rest. Rescue me, O Lord my God, and snatch me out of the hands of my enemies; for they too are Thine, they are the subjects of Thy almighty power; and they hate no thing of good works in me except what Thou hast given me. There is nothing in me that they hate, but only that I love Thee. And they scheme with all their endeavours, with all their might, with all their craft, to prevent my loving Thee, glorifying Thee, and ever seeking Thee.

Therefore let not the enemies of Thy glory be too strong for me; but let them be the more
confounded as they see that I, bent on praising Thee and glorifying Thee, am seeking with all best endeavours that peace and glory of Thine, which they are intent upon diminishing. O Lord, let not, I beseech Thee, their so unholy and execrable design concerning me, nay, against me, be brought to pass; but enlarge Thou my soul, O Lord, for telling forth Thy praise and heralding Thy glory, that I may henceforth live altogether according to Thy great glory, and that my whole life may glorify Thee; and do Thou by my example invite and incite many of Thy predestined to glorify Thee. Let the presence of Thy light, and the sweetness of Thy glory, a glory which they can not bear, drive away from me the vile, unclean, and hateful spirits of darkness. O break my chains asunder, and take me out of durance, out of the horrible, black, and gloomy prison, out of the lake of misery and the mire of dregs, out of the abyss of death and darkness; and lead me forth into liberty and Thy marvellous light.

Enlighten me with Thy saving faith; gladden and strengthen me with Thy joyful and never-faltering hope; quicken me with Thy mighty and all-holy love. Subdue and humble me, and guard me with Thy strongest, securest, and most invincible fear. Fill me with wholesome shame from Thy all-lovely and all-glorious Self. And whensoever I present anything before Thine eyes that may offend them, break me, chastise me with pain greater than a woman’s, and medicine me, after Thine own sweet fashion, with most efficacious compunction from Thyself, that I go not out from Thy mercy’s presence empty and confounded; but obtain whatsoever by Thy bidding, by Thy gift, by Thy inspiration, I may ask, and whatsoever Thou hast promised unto them that ask. Let me find, O compassionate and merciful Lord, that not in vain do men fly for refuge to Thy mercy; that Thou art very close to all who seek Thee, helping them to find Thee; and that I can never faint or fail so long as I am with Thee, the Fountain of Compassion, O Thou who hast snatched me from the pit, and lavished on me Thou knowest how much, Thou knowest what. Ay, with what uneffort of omnipotence, of wisdom, and of goodness, wherewith Thou saidst and all things were made, with a like uneffort of compassion Thou canst speak, and all my deformities can be corrected and restored to sightliness.

[§ 37. The penitent’s hope in the Divine mercy.] And now, almighty and merciful Father, behold I have enumerated so many and so great Thy benefits which I have received from Thee; I have recounted the ills, so many and so great, which I have repaid Thee for Thy goodness. O wretched I, O thankless I, that for all so many and so great ills await and overhang me, yet appear before Thee with a heart obdurate and stolid, and dead and cold; and still am not ashamed. Detected in misdeeds so many and grievous, with no better prospect in the future than a gibbet in hell, still I am neither palsied with fright, nor tortured with grief, nor confounded with shame: no, nor set on fire with love of Thy so gentle and so long-forbearing goodness. What, art Thou waiting, dearest Father, and delaying to look on me and pity me, until, according to the measure of Thy mercy, I shall have become fit to appear in Thy Presence, and present in Thy Presence some thing fit to ask of Thee, and say something fit for Thee to listen to? See, see, it is a corpse that I have brought Thee; a corpse swarming with worms, and three days dead, is what comes to Thee, Thou Giver of life. See, see; what I
present to Thy almighty mercy is one blind, to be illuminated; one sick, to be made whole; one involved in, O how many and how great debts, to be set free; stark-naked and poverty-stricken, to be enriched. For easy it is to Thee to enrich a beggar in a moment.

Nor can I otherwise, most clement God, than offer Thee myself, just as I am; show Thee my death and wounds, my nakedness and poverty, and my debts, for which I fear the dungeon of everlasting death. Do Thou, then, show me Thine Eyes of mercy; if, indeed, Thou canst be turned and canst forgive, and canst pour upon me of Thy grace and bliss. For turn myself to Thee I can not; I am wounded with too many and too deep wounds; I am borne down by sicknesses and even death, and am become altogether helpless. But do Thou, O merciful Father, convert me, and I shall be converted to Thee. Convert me to Thee, O Lord (Lam. v. 21), and bruise and crush my heart, and implant in me the sensibilities of a quickening grief. For there is no fountain of blessings besides Thee; there is none from whom to receive love and fear, and grief and shame, wherewith to appear in Thy sight and be found worthy of Thy mercy, unless Thou, from the vast reservoir of Thy mercy, pour out grace on me, so all unworthy of Thy grace. O Lord, if Thou give me this, I shall be happy. If Thou vouch safe to chastise my offences and my crimes ac cording to Thy judgment and thy justice, O happy I; not so, if Thou correct me in Thy fury [Jer. x. 24], the fury which in the end overtakes and seizes all who rebel against and dare Thy mercy.

And this, O merciful Father, is Thy judgment and Thy justice; even this, that fear, love, shame, and grief work in the hearts of all who truly re pent and return to Thy goodness, that they may gain Thy mercy. Pierce, then, this thief with Thy holy fear, and burn this rebel with the fire of Thy love and charity; pierce, O Lord, this malefactor with life-giving and most wholesome sorrow from Thee; confuse this unblushing sinner with shame from thy glorious Self; nail, nail this miscreant to his cross of penal anguish, and let that anguish conciliate Thy mercy. Make me hunger for Thee with all my heart, and thirst for Thee with all my bowels; make me serve only Thee with all my inward parts, and with all my energies pursue what is well-pleasing in Thy sight. And so to Thee, with Jesus Christ, Thine only-begotten Son and our Lord, and with the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, Thy most holy Gift, be all honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Ninth Meditation

[§ 38. The glories and the condescension of our Lord Jesus Christ.] Let Jesus of Nazareth, who, though innocent, was condemned by the Jews and fastened to the cross by the Gentiles, be worshipped by us Christians with the honours due to Him as God. Let us who are Christ’s render to our Saviour’s griefs the homage of trembling adoration, of loving embrace, and of a courageous following; for this is meet, honourable, and available to salvation. For they are the potent instruments wherewith the almighty power and inscrutable wisdom of God wrought out, and even now works out, the restoration of the world. Christ the Lord was made a little less than the angels, that we might be made equal unto the angels; and who would not humble himself for the sake of Christ? Christ the Lord was crucified for our sins, and has sweetened to His lovers all the bitters of the Cross. He died, and dying destroyed death, that we might live through Him; and who would not love Christ the Lord? who would not suffer for Christ? Christ through the shame of the Cross has passed into the brightness of supremest glory, and for His reverence (Heb. v. 7) all power in heaven and in earth has been given to Him by God the Father, that all the angels of God may adore Him, and that in His Name every knee may bow of those that are in heaven, and in earth, and in hell (Phil, ii. 10).

Where then, O Christian, is thy boasting, if it be not in the Name of thy crucified Lord, Jesus Christ; in the Name which is above every name, the Name in which He who is blessed on earth shall be blessed in heaven? O boast in His holy Name, ye children of redemption; pay honour to your Saviour, who has done great things in us, and magnify His Name with me, saying,
‘We adore Thee, O Christ, King of Israel, Prince of the kings of the earth, Light of the Gentiles, Lord of hosts, most mighty virtue of the omnipotent God. We adore Thee, O priceless price of our redemption, our peace-offering, who alone, by the wonderful sweetness of Thy odour, hast inclined Thy Father who dwells in heaven to regard our lowliness, and hast Thyself alone propitiated Him.
O Christ, we speak abroad Thy mercies, we tell, and tire not in telling, of the
memory of Thy sweetness; to Thee, O Christ, we offer the sacrifice of praise for
the abundance which Thou hast shown us of Thy goodness, us, wicked seed that we
are and ungracious children.’

For when as yet we were Thine enemies, O Lord, and ancient death held sway over all flesh—a sway to which the whole seed of Adam was subject by the necessary law and condition of their primal guilt—Thou wast mindful of Thy all-abounding mercy, and didst look forth from Thy lofty dwelling on this our valley of misery and tears. Thou didst see, O Lord, the affliction of Thy people, and, touched to the heart with charity and sweetness, didst apply Thyself to think thoughts of peace and redemption for us. And although Thou wast the Son of God, true God co-eternal and consubstantial with God the Father and the Holy Ghost,
‘inhabiting the inaccessible light’ (1 Tim. vi. 16), and ‘upholding all things by the word of Thy power’ (Heb. i. 3), Thou didst not disdain to lower Thy majesty to this prison of our mortality, there to taste and swallow up our misery and restore us to glory. It was too little for Thy charity to destine cherubim or seraphim, or any one of the angelic choirs, to consummate the work of our salvation. Thou didst condescend to come to us in Thy own Person by the will of the Father, of whose abounding charity we have in Thee made proof. Thou earnest, I say, not by a local change, but by exhibition of Thy Person to us in the flesh. Thou didst stoop from the royal throne of Thy sublime glory into a humble maiden and abject in her own sight, a maiden sealed by the early vow of virginal chastity. In whose sacred womb the unspeakable power of the Holy Ghost caused Thee to be conceived, and thence to be born in the true nature of our humanity, in such wise that the majesty of the Godhead should not be violated in Thyself, nor the virginal integrity of Thy Mother sullied by the occasion of Thy birth.

[§ 39. The Nativity of Christ, and its sanctification of poverty.] O loveable, O admirable
condescension! God of boundless glory, Thou didst not disdain to be made a contemptible worm. Lord of all things, Thou didst appear as a slave among slaves. It seemed too little to Thee to be our Father; Thou didst deign, O Lord, to be our Brother also. Nay, more; Thou, Thou the Lord of all things, who hadst need of nothing, didst not refuse, even at the very outset of Thy human life, to taste to the full the inconveniences of most abject poverty. For, as the Scripture says, there was no room for Thee in the inn (St. Luke ii. 7) when Thou wast about to be brought forth, nor hadst Thou cradle to receive Thy frail and delicate frame; but Thou, Thou who boldest the earth in the palm of Thy Hand, wast laid, wrapt in rags, in the vile manger of a filthy cattle-shed; and Thy Mother shared with brute beasts a stall for her hospice. Be comforted, be comforted, you that are nurtured in filth and want, for your God is with you in your poverty. He does not lie cradled in splendour and luxury; no, nor is He found in the domains of those whose life is a life of ease. Why, O rich man, do you boast any longer I why do you boast, O thing of clay, as; you lie lolling in your couch of luxury and colour, while He, the King of kings, has preferred to dignify the pauper’s bed of straw by lying on it?
Why do you loathe hard beds, while He, the frail Baby-God, in whose Hand all
things are, has chosen for His pallet the hard straw where cattle lie, in
preference to your cover lets of silk and pillows of down?

But even this Thy tender infancy, O Christ, was not safe from persecutors’ swords. Thou wast still hanging a sucking-child at Thy Mother’s breast when
‘an angel appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying, Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt, and be there until I shall tell thee; for it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child, to destroy him’ (St. Matt. ii. 13). Thus even then, good Jesus, didst Thou begin to suffer. Nay, not only didst Thou endure in Thine own Person that persecution of Thine infancy, but even death in the person of Thy little ones, thousands and thousands of whom were slaughtered by the ruthless Herod at their mothers’ breasts for Thy sake.

[§ 40. The hidden life and ministry of our Lord.] And on finishing Thy course of early boy hood Thou didst bequeath us an example how to learn the truth with humility. For although Thou wast the Lord of all knowledge (1 Kings ii. 3) and the Very Personal Wisdom of God the Father, yet didst Thou sit—not with the council of vanity (Ps. xxv. 4)—but in the midst of the doctors, asking them questions and listening to them. And furthermore, Thou gavest us an instance of obedience in living humbly subject to the rule of pa rents, for all that Thou wast the Master of the world.

And when Thou didst attain the strength of riper age, and wast ready to lay to Thy hand for mighty deeds, then Thou didst issue forth for the saving of Thy people, like a giant strong to run the race of our sad estate (Ps. xviii. 6); and first of all, to be made in all things like Thy brethren, Thou didst—as though Thou wert indeed a sinner approach—Thy servant who baptized sinners with the baptism of penance, and didst even implore him to baptize Thee, Thee, innocent Lamb of God, whom slightest taint of sin had never stained. Thou wast baptized, not to sanctify Thyself by the waters, but to sanctify the waters by Thyself, that so through them we might be sanctified by Thee. And then Thou wentest forth in the Spirit of power, fresh from the baptismal wave, into the desert, that a pattern of the solitary life also might not be wanting in Thy Person. Loneliness, forty days’ fast, the sharp tooth of hunger, temptations from the deceiver-spirit,—all were borne by Thee with even mind, that thus all might by Thy working be made bearable to us. This done, Thou then earnest to the sheep that had been lost of the house of Israel (St. Matt. x. 6), lifting on high the torch of the Divine word for the illumination of the world; and, preaching the kingdom of God to all men, didst become the source of eternal salvation to all that obey, and confirm Thy preaching by signs following, and show forth the power of Thy Godhead to all that were in evil case; freely displaying to all all things that made for their salvation, that so Thou mightest gain all. But their foolish heart, O Lord, was darkened (Rom. i. 21), and they cast Thy words behind them (Ps. xlix. 17), and heeded not all the wonders that Thou didst work among them; except some few great heroic souls, whom Thou didst choose out from the
contemptible and base things of the world, that by them Thou mightest gloriously bring to naught the strong and lofty (1 Cor. i. 27, 28). But not alone were men unthankful to Thee for Thy all-gratuitous benefits; they assailed Thee with insults, O Lord of all lords, and did unto Thee what soever they had a mind (St. Matt. xvii. 12). For when Thou didst among them works of God none else did, what said they?
‘This man is not of God’ (St. John ix. 16); ‘He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils’ (St. Luke xi. 15);
‘He hath a devil’ (St. Matt. xi. 18); ‘He seduces the people;’ ‘He is a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners’ (St. Matt. xi. 19).

[§ 41. The meekness and humility of Christ.] Why, then, weep, O man of God, why sigh for sorrow when injurious words are heaped upon you? Do you not hear what insults were levelled, and all for your sake, at your Lord and God?
‘If they have called the good man of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household?’ (St. Matt. x. 25.) Ah, good Jesus, they assailed Thee with these and suchlike blasphemies, and sometimes even hurled stones at Thee; yet Thou didst bear all patiently, and wast made before them as a man that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth (Ps. xxxvii. 15). At last they bargained with a disciple of Thine, the son of perdition, for Thy just blood, for thirty pieces of silver (St. Matt, xxvii. 9), that they might yield Thy soul to death without a cause. Nor was the villany of Thy all-foredone betrayer unknown to Thee, even when Thou didst deign with Thy all holy Hands to touch, to wash, to wipe those cursed feet, so swift for the shedding of Thy Blood.

And yet you still walk with outstretched neck, O dust and earth; conceit still lifts you up above
your proper self, and impatience of control still urges you immoderately on! See, see thy Teacher of humility and lowliness, see thy Lord Jesus Christ, see the Creator of the universal world, see the dread Judge of living and dead kneeling upon His knees at the feet of a man, and that man His betrayer; and learn that He is
‘meek and humble of heart’ (St. Matt. xi. 29), and be confounded for your pride, and blush for shame at your peevishness.

And it was one sign more of Thy gentleness, Lord Jesus, that
refusing openly to detect and confound the traitor in presence of his brethren,
Thou didst give a kind hint, and bid him hasten what was in preparation. And yet
for all this his madness was not diverted from Thee; but he went out, and busied
himself about his repeated villany. ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer!
who didst rise in the morning’ (Is. xiv. 12) in the delights of paradise; for
thou wast glorious to behold, companion of the citizens of heaven, and guest of
the Word Divine; thou that wast brought up in scarlet (Lam. iv. 5), hast thou
indeed embraced the dung?

Then was Thy household, O Lord, glorified so as to be like the company of the angels; then, then at last was that happy society satisfied with the outpoured draughts of the Divine word that is sued from Thy mouth. For that polluted one had been dismissed whom Thou knewest to be unfit for the inpouring of that clear limpid stream.

[§ 42. The agony and the betrayal.] When, however, the maundy of a Saviour’s charity and patience had been given, and the kingdom of Thy Father consigned to Thy brethren, Thou didst retire with them to the place known to the traitor, knowing all the things that were about to come upon Thee, and then and there didst not shrink from pouring into Thy brethren’s ear that sorrow of soul which at the prospect of Thy impending Passion, like all those sufferings themselves when present to Thee, Thou didst undergo with perfect willingness:
‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death’ (St. Matt. xxvi. 38). And kneeling down Thou didst fall on Thy face, praying in an agony, and saying,
‘Abba, Father! My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me’ (ib. 39). And the anguish of Thy sorrowing Heart was betrayed by that sweat of blood which, what time Thou prayedst, rolled down in drops to the ground from Thy all-sacred Flesh. O Lord, and Lord of lords, Christ Jesus, why this so racking grief of soul, why this torture with such a rain of sweat, why this tortured supplication? For didst Thou not offer an entirely willing sacrifice to the Father, enduring nothing whatever without Thy will’s consent? Yes, Lord; yes indeed. But we believe that Thou didst take upon Thee this also for the consolation of Thy weak members, lest any of us should despair if the weak flesh murmur while yet his spirit is ready for suffering. And doubtless it was that we might have greater incentives still to love of Thee, and gratitude, that Thou didst set forth the natural weakness of the flesh by such kind of tokens as might make us learn that Thou hast verily borne our sicknesses Thyself, and didst not tread the thorny course of Thy Passion without the sense of physical pain. For that cry was the cry—as it should seem—of the flesh, not of the spirit, inasmuch as Thou didst add,
‘The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh weak’ (St. Matt. xxvi. 41). And Thy Spirit’s readiness, good Jesus, for Thy Passion Thou didst evidence clearly enough, in going forth to meet the men of blood as they drew near with the traitor, searching through the night for Thy life, with lanterns, torches, and weapons; and in shewing that it was Thou Thyself by accepting what they had received as the token from their guide in guilt. For as the murderous creature came near to Thee for the kiss of Thy Mouth, Thou didst not recoil, but didst sweetly place upon the mouth that ran over with wickedness that Mouth in which no deceit was found (Is. liii. 9).

What, O innocent Lamb of God, what hadst Thou in common with that wolf?
‘What concord hath Christ with Belial?’ (2 Cor. vi. 15.) But here again was Thy loving-kindness displayed in showing him all instances that could have served to soften the obduracy of a wicked heart; for Thou didst remind him of Thy ancient friendship in the words,
‘Friend, whereto art thou come?’ (St. Matt, xxvi. 50.) And Thou didst wish to strike a horror of his sin into that sacrilegious heart when Thou saidst to him,
‘Judas, dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?’ (St. Luke xxii. 48.) For ‘the Philistines are upon thee, Samson’ (Judges xvi. 14). But they were not frightened from their intent for all that, at the very moment of Thy seizure, Thou didst strike them to the earth with Thy omnipotent arm; not in self-defence, indeed, but that man’s presumption might be taught that it cannot avail aught against Thee, except by Thy allowance. And who can hear without a sigh how in that hour they laid their murderous hands on Thee, and, Thy Hands, Thy innocent Hands, good Jesus, being bound with cords, dragged Thee like a thief, Thee the gentlest Lamb, silent and unreproachful, with all insult to the slaughter? Yet even then, O Christ, the honeycomb of Thy sweetness ceased not to distil its mercy even on Thy foes; for Thou didst heal an enemy’s ear, wounded by Thy disciple, and didst restrain Thy defender’s zeal from striking in Thy behalf. O accursed madness, O stubborn hate, which neither the grandeur
of the miracle nor the kindness of the cure availed to subdue and crush.

[§ 43. The condemnation and the crucifixion.] Then wast Thou presented before the chief-priest’s council, who were enraged against Thee, and for confessing the truth, as it behoved Thee, wast
condemned to death on the charge of blasphemy. Jesus, most loving Lord, what indignities hast Thou not endured from Thine own nation! Thy adorable Face, which the angels long to stare at, and all the whole heavens are filled full with joy in gazing on, and the rich among the people do entreat (Ps. xliv. 13); they stained it with spittings from polluted lips, they struck it with sacrilegious hands, and covered it with a veil in derision; and Thee, the Lord of the universal world, they buffeted like a contemptible slave. And as though this were not enough, they gave Thy life over to an uncircumcised dog to be devoured, demanding that Thou who knewest no sin shouldest be done to death by the punishment of the cross, and that a murderer should be given them (Acts iii. 3),
preferring thus a wolf to the Lamb, and clay to Gold. O unworthy and O ill-starred compact! And yet the sacrilegious Pilate knew that this had been done to Thee for envy; still he withheld not his presumptuous hands from Thee, but filled Thy soul with bitterness without a cause; sent Thee off to be mocked, took Thee back again when mocked, made Thee stand naked before the eyes of Thy tormentors, and shrank not from tearing and gashing Thy virginal flesh with rods, laying bruises upon bruises with reiterated cruelty.

What, O Chosen Child of my Lord God, hadst Thou done to deserve such bitterness, to deserve such shame? Nothing, nothing. Undone mortal that I am,
’tis I that was the cause of all Thy tribulation and all Thy shame; ’tis I who ate the sour grapes, and Thy teeth were numbed, for Thou hast paid what Thou tookest not away (Ps.
lxviii. 5).. But the impiety of the perfidious Jews was even thus unsatisfied; for at last Thou wast turned over into the hands of uncircumcised soldiers to be destroyed by a death of all deaths the shamefullest. Nor was it enough for them to crucify Thee, they first filled Thy soul with insults; for what says the Scripture? They
‘gathered together unto Him all the whole band into the prætorium; and stripping Him they put a scar let cloak about Him; and platting a crown of thorns they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand; and, bowing the knee before Him, they mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews;’ and they buffeted Him;
‘and spitting upon Him they took the reed and struck His head. And after they had mocked Him, they took off the cloak from Him, and led Him away to crucify Him,’ bearing His own Cross. And they led Him out to Golgotha,
‘and they gave Him’ myrrhed ‘wine to drink, mingled with gall; and when He had tasted He would not drink’ (St. Matt. xxvii. 27-34). Then
‘they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst’ (St. John xix. 18).
‘And Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ (St. Luke xxiii. 33, 34).
‘Afterward Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the
scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst’ (St. John xix. 28).
‘And one running and filling a sponge with vinegar, and putting it upon a reed, gave Him to drink’ (St. Mark xv. 36).
‘Therefore, when He had taken the vinegar, He said, It is consummated’ (St. John xix. 30).
‘And crying with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit’ (St. Luke xxiii. 46).
‘And bowing His head, He gave up the ghost’ (St. John xix. 30). Then ‘one of the soldiers with a spear opened His side,
and immediately there came out blood and water’ (Ib. 34).

[§ 44. The humiliations of the Passion.] Now then, my soul, arouse thee; shake thee from the dust, and with fixed and earnest look gaze on this memorable Man, whom thou seest veritably
present, as it were, by the mirror of the gospel story. Look, my soul, and tell me who, who is He? He walks in majesty and with all the bearing of a king, and yet laden with contempt like some poor slave, and covered with confusion. He walks in majesty, and His Head is encircled with a crown; but O, that crown of His is torture, and pierces at a thousand points that goodly brow of His. He is clad like a king, in purple, but O, it is all for despite, not for honour. He carries a sceptre in His Hand, but only that His sacred Head may be smitten with it. They bend the knee to earth and worship Him, they all proclaim Him King; and, see, forthwith they fly upon Him, spit upon His cheeks, beat His jaws with the palms of their hands, and rain dishonours on His royal neck. Look, look again, and see how this Man of men is hard bested, is spit upon, is spurned. He is bid den to bow His back beneath the burden of a heavy cross, and carry His own instrument of shame. Led out to the place of death He is given myrrh and gall to drink; He is lifted up upon the cross, saying as He rises,
‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ (St. Luke xxiii. 34). Who, who, and what is This that, for all He was so oppressed, opened not His mouth even once to utter word of complaint, of excuse, or threatening, or malediction, against the dogs that encompassed Him, and at last breathed on His enemies a word of benediction such as the world had never heard from its foundation. What hast thou ever seen, O my soul, more gentle, or more kind and tender, than this Man? But look, look still, pay greater heed to Him; for now He appears worthy of boundless wonder as of tenderest pity. See Him, all naked and scarred with stripes, fastened with iron nails to the cross between two thieves, and even after death wounded in the side with a lance, and pouring forth bountiful rivers of Blood from the five wounds of Hands, of Feet, of Side. Weep tears, O eyes of mine; melt, melt, my heart, with fires of compassion for that Man of love, so bruised, and crushed, and battered with griefs so dire, for all that His was a tenderness so sweet.

[§ 45. The glories of the Passion.] Hast thou seen Him in His weakness, O my soul, and pitied Him? Turn again, and see His majesty, and thou shalt wonder. For what says the Scripture?
‘It was almost the sixth hour: and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour, and the sun was darkened’ (St. Luke xxiii. 44, 45).
‘And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top even to the bottom: and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent: and the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose’ (St. Matt. xxviii. 51, 52). Who, who is this; for heaven and earth share His grief, and dying He brings the dead to life? Own Him, own Him, my soul; it is the Lord Jesus Christ, thy Saviour, the only-begotten Son of God, true God, true Man, who alone was found without spot beneath the sun. Yet see how
‘He was reputed with the wicked’ (Is. liii. 12), and ‘we have thought Him as it were a leper’
(ib. 4), ‘despised
and the most abject of men’ (ib. 3); and f as a hidden untimely birth’ (Job iii. 16) which is cast forth from the womb, so is He cast forth from the womb of His mother, the unhappy synagogue. He so lovely beyond the sons of men, how unsightly beyond the sons of men has He become! Ay, indeed;
‘He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins’ (Is. liii. 5); and is be come a holocaust of sweetest odour in Thy sight, O Father of eternal glory, to turn away Thine indignation from us, and make us sit along with Himself in heavenly places.

[§ 46. Joseph in Egypt a type of Christ.] Look down, O Lord, holy Father, from Thy sanctuary, and from Thy high and heavenly dwelling, and behold this all-holy Victim, which our great High-priest, Thy holy Child Jesus, offers Thee for the sins of His brethren; and have mercy on the multitude
of our iniquities. Lo, the voice of the Blood of Jesus our Brother cries to Thee
from the Cross. For what is it, O Lord, that hangs on the Cross? Hangs, I say; for past things are as present with Thee. Own It, O Father. It is the coat of Thy Joseph, Thy Son; an evil wild beast hath devoured Him, and hath trampled on His Garment in its fury, spoiling all the beauty of this His remanent Corpse, and lo, five mournful gaping wounds are left in It. This is the Garment which Thy innocent holy Child Jesus, for the sins of His brethren, has left in the hands of the Egyptian harlot, thinking the loss of His robe a better thing than the loss of purity; and choosing rather to be despoiled of His coat of flesh and go down to the prison of death than to yield to the voice of the seductress for all the glory of the world.
‘All these will I give Thee, if, falling down, Thou wilt adore me’ (St. Matt. iv. 9); that is to say, if Thou wilt lie with the adultress. And now, O Lord and Father, we know that
‘Thy Son is living, and He is Ruler in all the land of Egypt’ (Gen. xlv. 26), even in all places of Thy dominion. For, led forth to Thy royal Throne from the prison of death and hell, shorn of mortality and with changed apparel of Flesh, He lives again in the bloom of immortal beauty, and with glory hast Thou welcomed Him. Pharaoh has been stricken down, Pharaoh the deadly foe, and by His own great might He has passed in lordly triumph into heaven. And now, behold, He appears at the right hand of Thy majesty for us, crowned with glory and honour,
‘for He is our Brother and our Flesh’ (Gen. xxxvii. 27).

Look, O Lord, on the Face of Thy Christ (Ps. lxxxiii. 10), who became obedient unto death to Thee. Let not the marks of His Wounds depart ever from Thine Eyes, but remember rather what satisfaction Thou hast received for our sins. O Lord, weigh in Thy balance the sins by which we have merited Thine anger, and the grief which Thy sinless Son has borne for us. Surely, O Lord, this grief of His will show more grievous than our sins, and cry louder to Thee to pour forth all Thy mercy on us than they can cry that Thou shouldest shut up Thy mercies in anger. O Lord, holy Father, let every tongue give thanks to Thee for the abundance of Thy mercy, which spared not the only Son of Thy Bosom, but gave Him up to die for us, that we might have so great and so faithful an Advocate before Thee in heaven.

[§ 47. Love our only possible return to Christ for His sufferings.] And as for Thee, O Lord Jesus, Lord of almighty zeal, what due return, what worthy thanks, can I ever pay Thee, mortal that I am, dust and ashes, and worthless clay? For what was there that it behoved Thee to do for my salvation,
and Thou hast not done it! From the sole of Thy foot to the crown of Thy head Thou didst plunge Thy whole Self in the waters of suffering, that all that is of me might be extricated from them; and so the waters came in even unto Thy soul (Ps.
lxviii. 2). For Thou gavest up Thy soul to death to give back my lost soul to me; and so Thou hast bound me in a double debt, in that Thou gavest what Thou didst, and in that Thou didst freely give it up for my sake. Either way I am Thy debtor.

And yet again, since Thou hast twice given me life, once in creating, and once in redeeming; that life, surely, is the very best return that I could ever pay thee. But when I think of Thine own precious Soul so tortured, I know not what due return could be by mortal ever paid to Thee. For could I pay Thee in return for it all heaven, all earth, and all the bravery of heaven and earth, yet even so I should not attain to the measure of my obligation. Nay, the very giving Thee what I have and what I can, is in itself Thy gift. I must love Thee, I must love Thee, Lord, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, all my strength, and follow as best I can Thy footsteps, who didst deign to die for me. And how shall all this be done in me, unless Thou do it? O, let my soul cling to Thee; for all its strength comes from Thee.

[§ 48. The likeness of His Death and of His Resurrection.] And now, O Lord Jesus, my Redeemer, I adore Thee as very God; I believe in Thee, I hope in Thee, and I sigh after Thee with all possible desires; O, help my imperfection. I bow down my whole self before the glorious insignia of Thy Passion, wherewith Thou didst accomplish my salvation. The royal standard of Thy victorious Cross; in Thy Name, O Christ, do I adore it. The thorny diadem; the nails glistening with Thy Blood; the lance plunged into Thy sacred Side; Thy Wounds; Thy Blood; Thy Death; Thy Burial; Thy triumphant Resurrection, and Thy Glory,—O Christ, I suppliantly adore and glorify them. For the balm of life breathes forth on me from all of them. By their life-giving odour revive and raise my spirit from the death of sin. Shield me by their virtue from the crafts of Satan; and comfort me, O Lord, that the yoke of Thy commandments may be sweet to me, and that the burden of the cross which Thou biddest me carry after Thee may be light and portable to the shoulders of my soul. For what courage have I for bearing up according to Thy precepts against the so many and so manifold oppressions of the world? Are my feet like hart’s feet, that I should be able to follow after Thee in Thy fleet passage through the thorns and roughnesses of Thy sufferings? But hear my voice, I pray Thee, and bend over Thy servant that sweet Cross of Thine, which is a tree of life to all that lay hold on it; and then will I run with alacrity, even as I hope to do; then will I carry after Thee without fainting and unweariedly the Cross Thine enemies have given Thee. Lay that divinest Cross, I pray Thee, on my shoulders; whose breadth is charity spreading over all creation; whose length, eternity; whose height, omnipotence; whose depth, unfathomable wisdom. And fasten my hands to it, and my feet; and clothe me from head to foot with the impress and the likeness of Thy Passion. Grant me, I implore Thee, to abstain from deeds of the flesh, which Thou hatest, and to do justice, which Thou lovest; and either way to seek Thy glory. So shall I deem my left hand to have been fastened with the nail of temperance, and my right hand with the nail of justice, to that lofty Cross of Thine. Let my mind meditate in Thy law
continually, and direct its every thought to Thee continually; and so by the nail of prudence fasten Thou my right foot to the same tree of life. Let not the joyless joy of this fleeting life dissipate the senses, which should only minister to the spirit, nor yet its jocund joylessness waste and diminish the rewards of the life eternal laid up in store for me; and so shall my left foot also be nailed to the Cross by the nail of fortitude.

But, that some likeness may appear in me even to the thorns on Thy Head, let the compunction of a saving penance be impressed in my mind, and compassion for the miseries of others, and a penetrating zeal urging and pricking me to what is right in Thine eyes; and so shall I in my griefs be conformed to Thee, so shall the threefold wreath of thorn be fastened on me (Ps. xxxi. 4).

I would also have Thee put to my lips the sponge upon the
reed, and make me taste the vinegar and its harshness; for I would have Thee,
through Thy Scriptures, make my reason taste and see to see how like a sponge is
all the hollow glory of the world, and how much more sour than vinegar is all the concupiscence of the world. So, Father, may it be brought to pass in me that the golden cup of Babylon that makes all the earth drunk (Jer. li. 7) may not seduce me with its worthless glitter, nor intoxicate me with its treacherous sweetness, as it does those who think darkness light, and light darkness, who think bitter sweet, and sweet bitter (Is. v. 20). And as to the wine mingled with myrrh, I suspect it, for Thou wouldest not drink of it; because, perhaps, it indicated the too great bitterness of Thy crucifiers.

And let Thy servant not only share Thy sufferings, let him also be made conformable to Thy life-giving death, by working this in me, that I may die after the flesh to sin, and live after the spirit to justice.

But that I may glory in bearing the perfect image of the Crucified, I pray Thee to express in me what the insatiable malice of sinners wrought in Thee even after Thou hadst died. Let Thy word wound my heart, Thy word living and effectual, more penetrating than the sharpest lance, and reaching even to the inmost parts of the soul; and let it draw forth from it, as though it were from my right side, in place of blood and water, love of Thee and love of my brethren.

And last of all, wrap my spirit in the
clean linen of the first robe;‘The clean linen of the
first robe:’ ‘Mundâ sindone primæ stolæ spiritum meum involve.’
The following passage from the first homily of St. Anselm serves to elucidate
the expression: ‘Spiritus enim meus super mel dulcis, et hereditas mea super mel et favum’ (Ecclus. xxiv. 27),
‘For My Spirit is sweet above honey, and My inheritance above honey and the
honeycomb.’ ‘Let us then advance and press onwards to the Divine Wisdom, treading obstacles and difficulties under foot, for that Spirit of His which He breathes into those who make for Him is sweeter than honey; and the inheritance of eternal bliss which He has prepared for them transcends in sweetness honey and the honeycomb.
Honey, he says; indicating the souls of the just, which, detached from their bodies, are already standing in the presence of the glory of their Creator, "and white stoles were given to each one of them" (Apoc. vi. 11): whereas by
honeycomb he indicates the elect, who shall be after the resurrection
beatified in body as well as in soul in the kingdom of God, when at last "they
shall receive double in their land" (Is. lxi. 7). For the honeycomb is honey in
wax, and represents the soul in the body; just as honey without wax represents
the soul without the body.’ The ‘simplex gloria’ of the next paragraph has the like allusion. The idea is by no means peculiar to St. Anselm; as, indeed, might be inferred from the text, for he writes as though the mystical meaning of the
prima stola were not new to his readers. St. Bernard says:
‘There are three conditions of the holy souls; the first, namely, in a corruptible body; the second, without the body; the third,
in their body now at last glorified. . . . They have already received each her one robe, but they will not be clothed with two robes each until we also are
clothed. . . . For the first robe is, as I have said, the happiness and rest of their souls; the second, the immortality and glory of their bodies’
(Serm. iii. In Festo omnium Sanctorum). So, too, in Serm. de Diversis, xli. 12,
‘For the present one robe has been given to each (Apoc. vi.) . . . pending their
coronation with twofold bliss.’

Nor was the idea of medieval origin; for St. Gregory the Great speaks as follows on Job xlii. 11:
‘And every man gave him one ewe and one earring of gold.’ ‘For as we said long ago, the saints receive one robe apiece before the resurrection, for they only enjoy bliss of soul; but at the end of the world they will receive two robes each, for they will have not only bliss of mind but also a glorified body.’ The passage to which he refers is this:
‘Prior to the resurrection they are said to have received one robe each, for as yet they only enjoy mental bliss; they will have received their twofold investiture when, together with perfect joy of soul, they are also decked with incorruptible flesh.’ And, indeed, the following passage from the seventeenth Meditation gives all that is necessary by way of explanation:
‘Expectant fideles donec impleatur numerus fratrum suorum ut in die
resurrectionis duplici stolâ, scilicet corporis et animæ perpetuâ felicitate fruantur.’ and in it let me rest, going in to Thee into the place of Thy wonderful tabernacle (Ps. xli. 5), and there hide me until Thy indignation pass away (Is. xxvi. 20).

But on the third day, the day of toil and the day of single glory overpast, on the first early morning of the week that shall see no end, do Thou revive me and raise me up, unworthy though I be, that in my flesh I may see Thy beauty, and be filled to the full with the joy of Thy countenance (Ps. xv. 11), O my Saviour and my God. Come, come the day, O my Saviour and my God; speed, speed the time; that what now I believe in I may then behold at last with unveiled eye; that what now I hope for and salute from afar, I may apprehend; that what now I desire with all my powers, I may clasp in my soul’s embrace and rapturously greet; and be all swallowed up in Thy love’s abyss, O my Saviour and my God! But now meanwhile, O thou my soul, bless thou thy Saviour; and magnify His Name, for it is holy and full of holiest delights.

[§ 49. Aspiration and prayer.] O how good and sweet Thou art, Lord Jesus, to the soul that seeks Thee, Jesus,
Redeemer of the captives; Saviour of the lost; Hope of the exiles; Strength of those that labour; Repose of the anxious spirit; dear Solace and sweet Refreshment of the tearful soul that runs toiling after Thee; Crown of them that conquer; sole Reward and only Joy of the citizens above; full Fountain overflowing with all graces; glorious Offspring of great God; Thyself great God. Great God, let all things that are in heaven above and in earth beneath bless Thee, for Thou art great and great is Thy Name. O
unfading Beauty of the most high God, and purest Brightness of Eternal Light; O Life enlivening all life, O Light enlightening all light, and sustaining in eternal splendour the thousand thousand thousands of lights that blaze before the Throne of Thy Divine Majesty, on from the distant dawn of their first early shining. O Thou welling Fountain, hidden from mortal sight in the eternal and exhaustless outgushing of Thy fresh limpid floods, Whose springs have no beginning, Whose deeps are deep and infinitely deep, Whose height attains no limit, Whose breadth broadens onwards marginless for ever, Whose purity is
unruffled through eternity! The Bosom of unfathomable God pours thee forth from the unsearchable abyss of His own profound, Life begetting Life, Light begetting Light, God begetting God, eternal God begetting eternal God, infinite God, God infinite and in all things coequal with Himself. And, Of Thy fulness we have all received (St. John i. 16).

Thee too, all-plentiful Spring of every good, priceless Light of sevenfold grace, Thee, O most merciful Spirit, I implore to vouchsafe to illuminate me by Thy visitation, whereinsoever, by reason of my frailty, I have too feebly grasped the truth of Thy majesty and grandeur, and whatsoever of all that I have understood of Thy Divine precepts I have by carnal wantonness disesteemed; so may I correct what is amiss, and, helped by Thee, whom, voyaging over this life’s sea of perils, I have invoked to my assistance, may I be guided without shipwreck to the harbour of eternal peace.

Thee, too, I entreat, all-pitiful Father, that, as Thou didst first make me and then re-make by the Passion of Thy only-begotten Son, so Thou wouldst give me to think and love whatsoever tends to Thy glory. I am frail and unequal to my undertaking, but do Thou grant me by diligent confession to attain the grace of redemption and salvation. And whatever work I undertake henceforth, make it tend altogether, by Thy grace, through Thy grace, and in Thy grace, to Thine only praise. Keep me henceforth from sin, teach me to be more constant and courageous in good works; and so long as I live in this body, let me show myself some way Thy servant. And so grant me, after my soul’s exit from the flesh, to obtain pardon of all my sins and reap life ever lasting. Through Him who with Thee liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Tenth Meditation

SWEET Jesus! Sweet in the bending of His Head in death; sweet
in His outstretched Arms; sweet in His opened Side; sweet in His Feet fastened
together with a nail!

He is sweet in the bending of His Head; for, inclining His Head on the Cross, He seems as it were to say to His beloved:
‘O My beloved, how often hast thou longed to enjoy the Kiss of My Mouth, addressing Me through My companions: "Let Him kiss me with the Kiss of His Mouth" (Cant. i. 1); I am ready, I incline My Head to thee, I offer thee My Mouth; kiss Me, and take thy fill; and say not in thy heart, "I seek not that Kiss, for there is no beauty and no comeliness in His Mouth, but I seek that glorious Kiss which the angel-citizens long to enjoy for ever." Err not thus, for unless thou first have the Kiss of this Mouth thou wilt never be able to attain to that other; therefore kiss this Mouth which I now
offer thee, for although it be without comeliness and beauty, yet it is not
without grace.’

Sweet in the stretching of His Arms. For stretching out His Arms He lets us know that He, ay He, desires our embraces, and seems as it were to say:
‘O come to Me, you that labour and are burdened, and refresh you within My Arms, within My embraces; you see that I am ready to fold you in My Arms; come then, come all of you; let none fear he will be turned back, "for I desire not the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way, and live" (Ezech. xxxiii. 11),
and "My delights are to be with the children of men”’ (Prov. viii. 31).

Sweet in the opening of His Side; for indeed that opened Side has revealed to us the treasures of His goodness, His Heart and His Heart’s love for us.

Sweet in the fastening together of His Feet with a nail; for by this He speaks thus, as it were, to us:
‘Lo now, if you think I ought to fly from you, and so are slow to come to Me, knowing that I am swift and fleet-footed as a hind; you see that My Feet are so fixed together with a nail that I cannot fly from you at all, because My pity keeps Me fastened tight. Nor can I flee from
you as your sins have merited, for My Hands, they too are fixed with nails.’

O good Jesus! O Lord all lowliness! O Lord all pity! O sweet in Mouth, sweet in Heart, sweet in Ear; unsearchably and unutterably pleasant; all merciful and pitiful, almighty and all- wise, all-bountiful yet not prodigal; O altogether sweet and kind. Thou alone art sovereign good,
‘beautiful among the sons of men? (Ps. xliv. 3), fair and lovely, and chosen out of thousands, and altogether to be desired (Cant. v. 10, 16). All beauty befits the Beautiful.

O my Lord, now my whole soul yearns for Thy embraces and Thy kisses; I seek nothing but Thyself, even though no reward were promised me. Let there be no hell, nor yet no paradise, still for Thy sweet goodness’ sake, still for Thine own Self’s sake, would I desire to cleave to Thee. Be Thou my only ceaseless meditation, Thou my only word, Thou my only work. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Eleventh Meditation

[§ 51. Cur Deus Homo.] Christian soul, soul raised from sad death, soul redeemed from miserable slavery and set free by the Blood of God, raise thy thoughts; bethink thee of thy revival from the dead, and ponder well the history of thy redemption and thy liberation. Consider where is the virtue of thy salvation, and what it is. Employ thyself in musing on it, delight thyself in contemplating it; shake off thy sloth, do violence to thy heart, bend thy whole mind to it; taste the goodness of thy Redeemer, break forth in fires of love to thy Saviour. Bite the honeycomb of the words that tell of it, suck their savour pleasant above honey, swallow their health-giving sweetness. Think, and so bite them; understand, and so suck them; love and rejoice, and so swallow them. Gladden thyself by biting, exult in sucking, fill thee to the full with joy by swallowing. Where and what is the virtue and the strength of thy salvation? Christ, Christ assuredly has raised thee up again; He, the good Samaritan, has healed thee; He, the good friend, has redeemed thee with His life, and set thee free. Christ, I say, Christ is He. And so the virtue of thy salvation is the virtue of Christ. And where is it; where is this His virtue? Of a truth,
‘horns are in His Hands, there is His strength hid’ (Hab. iii. 4). Yes, horns are in His Hands, for those Hands are fastened to the arms of the Cross. But O, what strength is there in such weakness? What grandeur in such humility? What of worshipful in such contempt? But because in weakness,
therefore it is a hidden thing; because in humility, it is veiled; because in contempt, it is concealed and covered up. O hidden strength! that Man fixed to a Cross should transfix the eternal death that oppressed the race of man; that Man bound to a tree should unbind the world which had been fast bound by perpetual death! O veiled omnipotence! that Man condemned with thieves should save men condemned with demons. O virtue concealed and covered up! that one Soul given up to torment should extricate innumerable souls from hell; should as man undergo the death of the body and destroy the death of souls.

Why, good Lord; why, merciful Redeemer; why, mighty Saviour; why didst Thou cover such strength with such humility? Was it to deceive the devil, who by deceiving man drove him out of Paradise? But surely the Truth, deceives not any one. He that will not know and refuses to believe the Truth, deceives himself; he that sees the Truth, and hates or despises it, deceives
himself. No; the Truth deceives none.

Was it, then, that the devil might deceive himself? Surely not; for as the Truth deceives none, so He intends not that any should deceive himself; albeit in allowing this He may be said to do it. For Thou didst not assume humanity that being known Thou mightest hide Thyself, but that not being known Thou mightest reveal Thyself. Thou didst by words declare Thyself true God, true Man, and Thou didst show it by Thy works. The fact was by its nature hidden, but it was not studiously hidden away from view; it was not done in such sort that it might be hidden from sight, but that in its own order it might be brought to its consummation; and not that any should be deceived, but that what was fitting might be done. And if indeed it be called a hidden fact, the meaning is, that it is a fact not revealed to all. For, true though it be that the Truth does not manifest Himself to all, yet He denies Himself to none. Therefore, O Lord, Thou didst do what Thou didst, not to deceive, nor that any should deceive himself, but that Thou mightest do what was to be done, and as it was to be done, Thou didst remain true in all things. Whosoever, therefore, has deceived himself in the matter of Thy Truth, let him not complain of Thee, but of his own
untruth.

Was there anything in the devil, as regards God, or as regards man, in respect of which it might be the more fittingly due that God should by preference act towards him in behalf of man kind in this manner, rather than with open and displayed strength; so that, inasmuch as he was bent on destroying just man unjustly, he should justly lose the power which he wielded over the unjust? Now, of course, nothing was due to the devil from God but punishment; nor did man owe any debt but his own recovery, thus, that as he, man, easily allowed himself to be conquered, in sinning, by him, the devil, so it was due that he should conquer the devil, and that by a struggle even to the death, in keeping justice unimpaired. But this was man’s due, as a debt, to none but God only; for his sin was sin not in respect of the devil, but in respect of God; nor was man accountable to the devil, but man and devil alike were God’s. And as to the fact that the devil harassed man, this he did not from zeal for justice, but from love of iniquity; by the permission, not by the command, of God; the justice of God exacting it, not any justice of the devil’s. There was nothing, therefore, on the part of the devil to make it due, in respect of him, that God should, having the salvation of man in view, either conceal or set aside His omnipotence.

Was there, then, any inherent necessity compelling the Most High thus to humble Himself, and the Almighty to toil as He did for the attainment of any end of His? Now all necessity and all impossibility is subject to His will; what He wills must of necessity be, what He does not will cannot possibly be. He acted, then, from His sole will; and, since His will is always good, from His sole goodness. For God needed not to save man in this way, but human nature had need that in this way it should satisfy to God. God needed not to endure so great toils and pains, but man had need thus to be reconciled to God; nor did God need to be thus humbled, but man had need thus to be rescued from the pit of hell. The Divine Nature needed not to be humbled, or to labour, nor indeed was it possible that it should; but need was that human nature should undergo all this, in order that it might be restored to that for which it had been created. But neither human nature nor anything that was not God could possibly avail for the attainment of the end. For man is not restored to that for which he was created if he be not advanced to a likeness with the angels, in whom is no sin; which cannot possibly come to pass unless he have received remission of all his sins; and this is not effected without the preliminary of a perfect satisfaction, that satisfaction being of necessity such that the sinner, or some one in the sinner’s behalf,
offer to God something which is not due by way of debt, and which is of greater value than all that is not God. For if to sin is to dishonour God—and man ought not to commit sin even though the inevitable consequence were that all which is not God should perish—immutable truth and right reason of course require that
he who sins should offer to God, by way of restitution for the honour taken from Him, something of greater worth than is that for which he ought not to have dishonoured Him [than all that is outside God]. And, since human nature had not this to give, nor yet could possibly be reconciled without payment of the satisfaction due; lest the justice of God should thus leave sin in God’s kingdom sin, a thing so repugnant to the order of that kingdom the goodness of God intervened, and the Son of God assumed it [i.e. human nature] into His own Person, so that, in that Person, Man might be God, and thus possess what should not only transcend every existence which is not God, but also the whole sum of the debt which sinners owe; and, since He owed nothing for Himself, should pay this in behalf of mankind at large, who had not wherewithal to pay what was due from them. For God-Man’s[4] life is of higher price than all that is not God, and transcends in worth all the debt which sinners owe by way of satisfaction. For if the putting Him to death surpasses all other sins, no matter what their heinousness or what their number, which can possibly be imagined outside of and away from the Person of God [i.e. God Himself], it is clear that His life is greater as a good than all sins outside of and away from the Person of God can ever be as evils. This His life God-Man, since death was not a thing He owed by way of debt, inasmuch as He was not a sinner, offered spontaneously, of His own treasure, to the honour of the Father; He offered it in permitting it, for His justice’ sake, to be taken away from Him, that thus He might offer an example to all mankind that the justice of God is not to be foregone by them even on account of death, the death which is in their case a debt that they must needs of necessity pay some day; whereas He, who owed no such debt, and might have avoided it without any violation of justice, willingly under went it for justice’ sake when inflicted on
Himself. Thus, then, Human Nature offered to God in that Man spontaneously and not as of debt that which was its own: so as to redeem itself in others, in whom it had not wherewith to pay what was required by way of debt. In all this the Divine Nature suffered no humiliation, but the Human was exalted; nor was the former in any way detracted from, but the latter was mercifully aided.

Nor did human nature in God-Man suffer aught by any kind of necessity, but only by free election. Nor did it succumb unwillingly to any violence from without, but by spontaneous goodness, endured at once nobly and mercifully, for the honour of God and the benefit of mankind generally, the evils by wicked will inflicted on it; and that by no compulsion of obedience, but by the disposition of an almighty wisdom. For the Father did not impose death upon God-Man by a compulsory imposition, but what He knew would be pleasing to His Father and profitable to mankind, that He voluntarily did. For it was impossible that the Father should force Him to that which could not be required of Him as due to Himself; and on the other hand, it was impossible but that so great an offering, voluntarily offered by the Son with such utter goodness of will, should be pleasing to the Father. Thus, then, He exhibited a free obedience to the Father, inasmuch as He spontaneously willed to do what He knew would be pleasing to the Father. And hence, since this utter goodness of will was the Father’s gift to Him, He is not improperly said to have received it as a precept of His Father’s. In this way,
therefore, it is that He was obedient to the Father even unto death; and that, as the Father gave Him commandment, so He did; and that He drank the chalice which His Father gave Him. For the obedience of Human Nature is exhibited at once in full perfection and in uttermost freedom, when it voluntarily surrenders its own free will to the will of God, and when, with a freedom all its own, it perfects the good will which was therefore accepted because
unexacted.

Thus He, Man, redeems mankind, inasmuch as that which He has of His own will offered to God is reckoned as covering the debt which was owing from them. By which payment man is not only and merely once redeemed from his faults, but how often soever he returns to God with worthy repentance, he is received; a repentance, however, be it well borne in mind, which is not promised unconditionally and absolutely to the sinner. And since this payment was effected on the Cross, our Christ has by the Cross redeemed us. Those, then, who choose to approach with worthy disposition to this grace are saved; whilst those who despise it, since they pay not what is due from them, are justly damned.

[§ 52. Thanksgiving for the liberation of mankind.] Lo, then, Christian soul, here is the strength of thy salvation; here is the cause of thy freedom; here is the price of thy redemption. Thou wast a captive, but thus hast thou been redeemed; thou wast a slave, lo, thus thou art made free. And so, an exile, thou art brought home; lost, thou art reclaimed; and dead, thou art restored to life. This let thy heart taste, O man, this let it suck, this let it swallow, whilst thy mouth receives the Body and Blood of the selfsame thy Redeemer. Make this in this present life thy daily bread, thy nourishment, thy support in pilgrimage; for by means of this, this and nothing else, shalt thou remain in Christ and Christ in thee, and in the life to come thy joy shall be full.

But how, O Lord, shall I rejoice in a freedom of mine which is none other than the purchase of Thy bonds; Thine, who didst endure death that I might live? What sort of gladness in my salvation can mine be, when that salvation is none other than the fruit of Thy griefs? How shall I exult in a life of mine, which is mine only by Thy death? Am I to rejoice in Thy sufferings, and in the cruelty of those who caused them? For, indeed, Thou hadst not borne them, had not they inflicted them, and, hadst Thou not endured them, all these my blessings had not been. And, on the other hand, if I grieve over the sufferings, how shall I rejoice in the blessings for which the sufferings were undergone, and which would not have been had the sufferings not been? Truth is, the wickedness that inflicted them was able to do nothing save as Thou didst willingly allow; nor didst Thou allow save as Thou didst mercifully will. I must needs therefore execrate the cruelty of those who caused Thy pains; I must compassionate and imitate Thy death and Thy toils; I must render Thee the homage of a thankful love for Thy merciful free choice in my behalf; and thus exult in safety and confidence in the benefits bestowed on me.

[§ 53. Man’s past condition and present privilege.] Therefore, poor mortal, leave their cruelty to the judgment of God, and busy thy thoughts with the debt of gratitude thou owest to thy Saviour. Consider what plight thou wast in, and what has been done for thee; think, too, who it is that has done it, and of what love He is worthy. Review at once thy need and His goodness; and see what thanks on the one hand thou renderest, and on the other how much thou owest to His love. Thou wast in darkness, on slippery ground, and on a slope sheering down to the chaos of hell whence none may return; an enormous weight, like some load of lead hanging from thy neck, dragged thee lower and lower; a burden too heavy to bear pressed upon thee from above; and unseen foes urged thee on, spite of thy struggles to get free. Thus wast thou, and without all help; and thou knewest not thy plight, for thus hast thou been conceived and born. O, what was thy condition then, and whither did they hurry thee! Shudder at the recollection, tremble at the review of it. O good Christ, O Lord Jesus; posited thus, neither seeking Thee, nor thinking of Thee, Thou didst shine upon me like a sun, and didst show me in what predicament I was. Thou didst throw away the leaden weight that dragged me down; Thou didst take off the burden that weighed upon me; Thou didst drive back the pursuing foes, and stand forth against them in my, defence; Thou calledst me by a new name, a name which Thou gavest me after Thine own; and, bowed down as I was, didst raise and set me up so as to behold Thee, saying,
‘Be of good heart; I have redeemed thee, I have given My life for thee. Do but cleave to Me, and thou shalt escape the miseries in which thou wast, and shalt not fall into the deep whither thou wast hurrying; but I will lead thee on, even to My kingdom, and make thee an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Myself.’ Thenceforth Thou didst take me into Thy keeping, that nothing should hurt my soul against Thy allowing. And, behold, although as yet I have not clung to Thee as Thou didst counsel, yet Thou hast not let me fall into hell, but art waiting still, that I may cling to Thee,
and Thou do for me as Thou hast promised. In truth, O Lord, such was my
condition, and thus hast Thou dealt with me. I was in darkness; for I knew nothing, not even myself. I was on slippery ground; for I was weak and frail, and prone to slip into sin. I was on the slopes over the pit of hell; for I had lapsed in my first parents from justice to injustice, a road by which men travel down into hell; and from beatitude to temporal woe, whence men launch into eternal. The weight of original sin drew me from below, and the
unsupportable burden of God’s judgment oppressed me from above; and my foes the demons, that by fresh actual sins they might make me more worthy of damnation, vehemently assailed me as much as in them it lay to do. Thus destitute, thus helpless, Thou, Jesus, didst shine upon me, and show me in what state I was. For even when as yet I could not know or be aware of it, Thou didst teach it all to others, who were to learn in my behalf, and afterwards me myself, or ever I sought it of Thee. The dragging lead, the pressing load, the urging foes—Thou hast rid me of them all; for Thou hast taken away the sin in which I was conceived and born, both the sin and its condemnation, and hast warded off the spiteful fiends from doing violence to my soul. Thou hast caused me to be called after Thy Name, a Christian; the Name by which I make confession of Thee, and Thou too dost own me among Thy redeemed; Thou hast lifted me up, moreover, and raised me to the knowledge and the love of Thee; Thou hast made me have good hope for the salvation of my soul, my soul for which Thou gavest Thine, and, only that I follow Thee, hast promised me Thy glory. And lo, although not yet I follow Thee as Thou hast counselled nay, rather, have committed many sins which Thou hast forbidden still Thou dost wait, dost wait that I may follow Thee, dost wait to give what Thou hast promised.

[§ 54. The soul’s surrender of itself to God.] Consider, O my soul, and thou, my inmost self, reflect, how much my entire being owes to Him. Of a truth, O Lord, because Thou hast made me, I owe my whole self to Thy love; because Thou hast redeemed me, I owe my whole self; because Thou dost promise so much, I owe my whole self; nay, I owe so much more than myself to Thy love as Thou art greater than I, for whom Thou didst give Thyself and dost promise Thyself. Grant, O Lord, I beseech Thee, that I may taste by love what I taste by speculation, perceive by affection what I perceive by the understanding. I owe Thee more than my whole self; but neither have I more, nor even this that I am can I of myself give up whole to Thee. Draw me, or rather this whole self of mine, O Lord, into Thy love. All that I am is Thine by creation; make it all Thine by love. Behold, O Lord, my heart lies open
before Thee; it tries, but of itself it cannot; what self cannot, do Thou. Admit me within the chamber of Thy love. I ask, I seek, I knock. Thou who causest me to ask, cause me to receive. Thou givest the
seek, give also the find. Thou teachest how to knock, open to him that knocks. To whom dost Thou ever give, if Thou sayest no to him that asks? "Who finds at all, if he that seeks seeks all in vain? To whom dost Thou open, if Thou shuttest the door to him that knocks? What dost Thou give to him that does not pray, if Thou refusest Thy love to him that does pray? The de siring is from Thee; let me have the obtaining too from Thee. Cling to Him, O my soul; cling, cling with importunity. Good Lord, good Lord, cast it not away; it faints of hunger for Thy love; revive it; let Thy sweet election satiate it, and Thy unfailing fondness nourish it, and Thy divine love fulfil it, and occupy me altogether, and possess and fill me through and through; for Thou art with the Father and the Holy Ghost, God only blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Twelfth Meditation

[§ 55. The Mystery of the Incarnation.] The subject of our Saviour’s most holy birth and in fancy is brimful of joy, of tenderness, of edification: of joy in respect of our own exceeding gladness; of tenderness in regard to His sufferings; and of edification because of the lessons taught us. For what more joyful than to behold as Man Him who, as we know, is man’s Creator? What, again, should seem to man more touching than to see, as he does, with unveiled eye, that in the Person of this Meditator of God and men, our Lord Jesus Christ, after a certain wondrous and ineffable manner, eternity begins to be, and majesty is shrouded in humility? He who IS everlasting in the Bosom of the Father is conceived in a Mother’s womb. Born from eternity of His Father without mother, He is born in time of His Mother without father. He who clothed the earth with trees and verdure, who decked the sky with its lamps, who peopled the sea with fishes, lies wrapped in rags. He whom the heaven of heavens cannot hold is confined in a narrow manger, is fed with a Mother’s milk. The Wisdom, whose wisdom has neither beginning nor end, who is Himself the very Wisdom of God the Father, advances from less to greater. He, whose eternity cannot be contracted even as it cannot be increased, exists by measurement of days and hours; and the primal Author of grace, its Preserver and its Rewarder, grows in grace. He who is the object of the adoration of all created being, and to whom every knee is bowed, is made subject to human parents. Let us add farther, if we may, the following:
‘He is baptised; yes in deed; the Lord by His servant, God by a man, the King by
His subject. He whom angels serve is tempted by the devil. Food hungers, the
Fountain thirsts, the Way is weary, Greatness is brought low, Might is weakened,
Power enfeebled, Glory despised and wronged, Joy mourns, Gladness grieves,
Majesty is shrouded in humility, and Life in death.’

[§ 56. Hope inspired by the thought of the Incarnation.] O good Jesus, how sweet Thou art in the heart of one that muses on Thee and that loves Thee! I know not how it is—no, for I can not compass all I say—yet so it is that Thou art far sweeter, in the heart of one who loves Thee, in that Thou art Flesh than in that Thou art the Word; sweeter in Thy lowliness than Thy glory. Yes, indeed, it is far, far sweeter for loving memory to see Thee born in time of Thy Virgin Mother than to behold Thee begotten of Thy Father
before the day-star; sweeter to think that Thou hast emptied Thyself, and hast taken the form of a servant, than that in the form of God Thou art equal to God; sweeter to see Thee dying on the tree in the sight of the Jews than to descry Thee lording it in heaven over the angels; sweeter to watch Thee amidst all things humbled and abased than high advanced and exalted over all; to know that as Man Thou hast borne a human lot than that as God Thy dealings have been all Divine; that Thou art the Redeemer of the perishing than that Thou art the Creator of all men out of nothing. O, how sweet it is, good Jesus, to go into the secret chamber of one’s heart and there call Thee to mind, for our sake conceived without stain in the Virgin’s womb, and born without hurt to her virginity; for our sake wrapped in rags, and laid in a manger,
bearing reproaches with patience, and insults silently; to think of Thee washing Thy disciples’ feet, and wiping them with a towel; praying on through the long night, sweating Thy sweat of Blood; sold for thirty pieces of silver, betrayed with a kiss, captured with swords and staves, bound, judged, condemned to the scourge, led like an innocent lamb to the slaughter, neither opening Thy mouth when roughly used, nor answering when accused in many things; buffeted, smitten, scourged with whips; discoloured and livid with scars; arrayed in a scarlet cloak; crowned with a crown of thorns; worshipped in derision; beaten about the head with a reed; scorned and mocked in a robe of white, and then condemned to death; to see Thee carrying the cross and fastened to it, praying for Thy murderers; given vinegar to drink and gall to eat, reviled by the thief, pouring forth Thy Blood through the five wounds of Thy Body, bowing Thy Head, giving up the ghost, commending Thy dear Soul into the Hands of Thy Father, and enduring all this for us. All these thoughts breed in us and increase greater and yet greater joy, confidence and consolation, love and desire.

[§ 57. Joy inspired by the thought of the Incarnation.] Who but must rejoice and be beside himself with joy, who but must be beyond all measure happy and full of gladness, on seeing that not only is his Creator made man for his sake, but that, besides this, He has endured such hardnesses and such indignities? What more delicious to ruminate upon? What sweeter for the mind to taste? What more joyful subject of meditation? Who is to rob me of my place in a Kingdom over which He reigns omnipotent who is my Brother and my Flesh? What possible issue can ever make me desolate, since so bright a hope confers on me so certain an assurance? How can any sadness possibly have any sort of place in one in whom a thought like this is incessantly kept alive? Nor is the confidence this thought engenders in me one whit the less that the object of my loving ardours is my own Creator. Assuredly it is in every way a safe, and in no respect a rash, confidence, which is created in the mind by the contemplation of our humanity in the very Person of Christ. Why may I not trust that I shall attain to the inheritance of the elect, when I behold the very Creator of all things dead for the sake of me? For me He poured forth Blood from His Side; why, then, should I not be sure that I have been redeemed, when I know that so high a price has been paid for me? And for me He poured forth water also; why should I not feel confident that I have been cleansed from all my defilements, when it is clear that I have been cleansed by the Water which gushed from the Heart of Christ? The one welled forth from Him, and so did the other; and if the one was shed for my redemption, the other was shed for the washing clean of the redeemed; one for the redemption of the captive, the other for the cleansing of the foul. For me, a slave, was the everlasting Son delivered up, that He might buy me an inheritance by His death; how then shall I not believe myself an heir; ay, indeed, an heir of God, and a joint-heir of Christ? (Rom. viii. 17.) Though I was an enemy, I was reconciled to God by the death of His Son; how, then, justified now by His death, shall I not be saved from wrath through Him?
Who shall lay anything to my charge, when His charity covereth the multitude of
sins? (1 St. Pet. iv. 8.) His Blood cries from the earth, and speaks better than
Abel; and shall not the voice of such and so loud a cry move His Father’s Heart?

[§ 58. Love inspired by the thought of the Incarnation.]
Far be it, and again I say, far be it from me that I should lack bowels of compassion as I behold Thee, O good Jesus, dying for me. Thou art crucified before my eyes, and shall no emotion stir my heart? That sword of Thine gleams
unsheathed before me, and shall it not pierce my soul? Sweet Jesus, what right have I to compassionate Thee? Yet it is none the less well that I should do so. And why should it not be well, since it is evident, if he discerns and judges aright in whom Thou spakest, that if we suffer with Thee we shall also reign with Thee? (Rom. viii. 17.) And in another place,
‘If we be dead with Him, we shall live also with Him’ (2 Tim. ii. 12). But that this compassion of which we speak may live and flourish in our mind, need is that it be inspired by an ardent charity; for whom we embrace with
a burning love, those, and those only, we truly compassionate in their woe, and truly congratulate in their good estate. O Jesus, neither my mind can comprehend, nor my tongue suffice to declare, how worthy Thou art to be loved by me, Thou who hast condescended to love me with such a perfect love. Thou hast loved me, and washed me from my sins in Thine own Blood. For if I love Thee much, Thou certainly hast loved me first, and hast loved me more. For
‘by this,’ says the Apostle, ‘hath appeared the charity of God, not as if we have loved God, but because He first loved us’ (1 St. John iv. 9, 10). He loved when I loved not; for indeed hadst Thou not loved him that loved not, Thou hadst not made him love. I love Thee, O sweetest Jesus, above all things; but all too little, because far less than Thou deservest, O Thou most dearly loved; and as far less than I ought. And who could? One may indeed love Thee, by Thy gift, as best he can, but never as much as he ought. Who shall repay Thee the worth of Thy innocent Blood, which flowed not in drops but in rivers from five parts of Thy Body? Thou createdst me when I was not; Thou redeemedst me when I was lost. But the sole motive for my being and for my salvation was Thy love. What didst Thou see in me, O Jesus, Sweetness of my life; what didst Thou see in me, that Thou shouldest pay so great a price for me? Nothing, nothing; but so it seemed good in Thy sight. As Creator, Thou bestowedst much on me, but far more as Redeemer. O, how lovely Thou art, Lord Jesus; and O, how sweet! Lovely, but to those who see Thee; sweet, but to those who taste Thee. Thou art not known, unless Thou be seen; nor found sweet, unless Thou be tasted. Make me seek Thee; and seeking find Thee; and finding keep Thee;
that Thou mayest be the sole sweetness of my taste, the sole pleasantness, the
sole delight. Make me know Thee, fear Thee, love Thee, yearn for Thee. Let me
not fall away into love of perishable things. Alas, my Lord, that I cannot taste
incessantly how delightful and how sweet Thou art!

[§ 59. Jesus the Salvation of sinners.] I am a sinner, O most merciful Jesus. Have mercy on me, Thou who earnest not to call the just, but sinners. Thou Fountain opened to the house of David, show Thyself, and flow forth, and wash me clean. For Thou art an open fountain to all who thirst after Thee; and of all who truly repent Thou dost wash away the stains, returning good for ill, a gift for their iniquity, merit for their fault, justice for their crime, and grace for their sin. King David had experience of this, who, on repenting, heard from Thy messenger the words,
‘The Lord also hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die’ (2 Kings xii. 23). For he was washed in Thee with the tears of penance, and cleansed from the stains of a grievous sin; for Thy purity washed out the foulness of the adulterer’s crime, and Thy compassion the murderer’s cruelty. In Thee was purged that prince of the Apostles, who wept bitter tears for his cowardly denial of Thee. In Thee, Thou purest and sweetest fountain, the woman who was a sinner was made white as snow, and merited to be blessed with so intimate a nearness to Thyself as to witness the new glories of Thy resurrection, even before Apostles, and to preach the news to them. In Thee too was he made clean, who, hanging near Thee on his cross, whilst he owned that he had received the due re ward of his deeds, and prayed to be remembered by Thee in Thy Kingdom, merited to hear Thee say at once to him,
‘Amen, I say to thee, This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise’ (St. Luke xxiii. 43). And day after day, O merciful Jesus, how many are there enlightened and cleansed in Thee; raised from darkness into light, from filthiness to purity! O take me, take me home from my long exile to Thyself.

O good Jesus, Thou living and life-giving sweetness, Thou true unfailing health, if I have sown in the flesh, what shall I reap from the flesh but corruption? And if I have loved the world, what fruit shall I gather from such love? O my Lord God, I was wont to pay a threefold tribute to the Babylonian king, when employed in his impious service. His service is sin; the threefold tribute is delight, consent, and act; and I paid the tribute in thought, in word, and in deed. See with what fires this boiling cauldron was heated (Jer. i. 14), whose face was from the face of the north; when the suggestion of the enemy made the embers burn, and set ablaze the thoughts of my heart. See, merciful Lord, the threefold cord that bound me tight, in mind, in tongue, in body. From the sole of my foot unto the top of my head there was no soundness in me; therefore
‘heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee’ (Ps. xl. 5). Do Thine own work, O merciful Jesus, and save me. For Thou art called Jesus for this only reason, that Thou shalt save Thy people from their sin (St. Matt. i. 21); who with the Father and the Holy Ghost livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Thirteenth Meditation

[§ 60. The Son of God, archetypal Beauty.] My heart’s voice is to Thee, my Lord and eternal King, Christ Jesus. The work of Thy hand dares to address Thee with loving boldness, for it yearns after Thy beauty and longs to hear Thy voice.
O Thou, my heart’s desired One, how long must I bear Thy absence; how long must I sigh after Thee, and my eyes drop tears? O Lord, all love, all loveable, where dwellest Thou? Where is the place of Thy rest, where Thou reposest all joyful among Thy favourite ones, and satisfiest them with the revelations of Thy glory? How happy, how bright, how holy, how ardently to be longed for, is that place of perennial joys! My eye has never reached far enough, nor my heart soared high enough, to know the multitude of the sweetnesses which Thou hast stored up in it for Thy children. And yet I am supported by their fragrance, though I am far away from them. The breath of Thy sweetness comes to me from afar; a sweetness which to me
exceeds the odour of balsam, and the breath of frankincense and myrrh, and every
kind of sweetest smell. It awakes chaste longings in my heart; and delightful,
yet scarce tolerable are its flames. For ‘what have I in heaven?’ (Ps. lxxiii. 25.) What is my treasure in that celestial shrine? What is my heritage in the land of the living? Is it not Christ, my Lord, my sole salvation, my total good, my fulness of joy? And how, O Lord, shall I restrain my heart from loving Thee? If I love not Thee, what shall I love? If I transfer my love from Thee, where shall I bestow it worthily? O longed-for Lord, where shall my longings find a rest outside of Thee? If my love stir its wing away from Thee, outside of Thee, it will be soiled; and my longings will be all in vain if they glance aside from Thee. For art not Thou loveable and desirable above all things that can be desired or loved? Whatever worth and beauty all creation has, it has from Thee; and what marvel, since Thou alone excellest all things? Thou hast clothed the sun among the stars with an excellent brightness, and brighter than the sun art Thou. Nay, what is the sun, or what is all created light, in comparison of Thee, but darkness? Thou hast peopled the sky with stars, the empyrean with angels, the air with birds, the waters with fish, the earth with herbs, and plants with flowers. But there is no beauty nor no grace in all of them in comparison of Thee, O Fountain of universal beauty, Lord Jesus. Thou hast stored honey with its sweetness, and sweeter than honey art Thou. Thou hast infused its pleasantness into oil, and pleasanter than oil art Thou. Thou hast shed their odours into all fragrant gums, and sweet and pleasant above all rare spices is Thy fragrance. Thou hast set gold among minerals in rare
preeminence for worth and beauty; yet what is all of it compared to my priceless Lord, and His fathom less glory, that the angels long to gaze into? Every precious stone and desirable to look upon is the work of Thy hands,—sardius, topaz, jasper, chrysolite,
onyx, beryl, amethyst, sapphire, carbuncle, emerald; and yet what are all of
them but toys compared with Thee, all-loveable and all-beauteous King? And Thine
own handiwork are those precious and immortal jewels with which Thou, O wise Master-builder, didst in the beginning of the ages beautifully embellish the superethereal palace to the praise and glory of the Father.

[61. The nine Choirs of Angels.] Through Thee, for the fulfilling of the behests of the eternal Father, thousands of thousands glide in swift flight twixt heaven and earth, like industrious bees that flit to and fro between their hive and the flowers; a busy throng, innocent and stainless, neither laggard nor disobedient. Through Thee a hundred times ten thousand stand ministrant in the sanctuary of the temple of highest heaven, staring on the Face of Majesty with a clear unflinching gaze, and sounding forth their harmonious ceaseless hymn to the glory of the triune undivided Godhead.

Through Thee the Seraphim burn, the Cherubim shine, the Thrones give judgment.

Thou, O Lord, art a fire that burns and consumes not; and, from their immediate nearness to the fires of Thy Godhead, all the sacred choir of the Seraphim are wrapt in coruscating flame, and pour abroad the overflowing of their blissful ardours on the other armies of Thy battling hosts; and of these we in our turn have tasted of the fulness.

Thou, our God, art very Light; and the hills catch Thy glory and shed it on Thy people, when Thou dost largely shower forth Thy hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge on the eyes of the Cherubim, who fix their nearer gaze on Thee. And from them are lighted in their turn the elect subordinated lamps of Thy marvellous tabernacle, which inextinguishably shine before Thy Face, O Lord.

Thou, King of kings, great awful Judge of judges, dost sit above the lofty Thrones, for they have no higher height than Thine above them, Thrones all life and bliss and uniform profoundest calm; through Thee scanning the ways of truth, and in Thy truth giving forth just judgments.

O Lord, our Lord, the holy sublime Dominions worship Thee,
expatiating freely in the mysteries of the Godhead, and, enthroned among the princes of Thy palace, sustain, with no loftiness of haughty pride, the primacy of an exalted rule.

O Lord, my God, through Thee the stately choir of Principalities reign as mighty noble chiefs over the army of the skies in the princedom of a sweet preëminence, unenvying and unenvied in their excellency, and fulfil the mysteries of the Divine will as they read the secret purpose of Thy Heart.

O Lord of the Powers, Thine is their might, as they plunge their flaming brand into the necks of the princes of hell; and fear Thee only, lest these should be able according to their will to do mischief for our hurt.

Thine, O virtue of the Father, are all the blessed wonder-working Virtues, whose ministry makes all the whole universe wonder and adore Thee, and, struck dumb awhile at Thy marvellous works, cry out and say,
‘Whatsoever the Lord pleased He hath done, in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in all the deeps’ (Ps. cxxxv. 6).

Thine, O sweet Jesus, are the magnificent Archangels, in whom the benignity of Thy great condescension chiefly works; for, glorious satraps of Thy palace, Thou disdainest not to dispatch them down to this poor world to support and help our lowliness, creatures of clay that we are, and close allied to dust and ashes. Through them, by Thy command, the chiefest interests of our salvation are administered, and the profoundest secrets of Thy supreme purpose are conveyed to us by them; by them come sicknesses and health to the generations of mankind; by them the kingdoms and the empires of the world subsist. And, chief amongst them do we own Thy Michael, the stalwart standard-bearer and the citizen of heaven, who stands in advance of the army of the living God, and brandishing his champion’s blade thunders with terrible voice against the marshalled hosts of the enemy.
‘Who is like God?’

And the blessed Angels, so loveable in their innocence, are they not the choice work of Thy Fingers, O Wisdom of God? For on the day of their creation Thou didst deck them with an in corruptible vestiture for the work of Thy holy service. These are the living stars of the higher heaven, the lilies of the inner paradise, the rose-trees planted by the silent-flowing waters of Siloe, with their roots immovably fixed in Thee. O River of peace, O Breath of the garden of de lights, O only Wisdom ranging round about the circling bourne of heaven; by Thee they shine, and burn, and glow in perfect wisdom, in virginal chastity, and in the ardours
of a deathless love. Blooming in endless youth, they find in our weakness the
sphere of their faithful service; for they lead us by the hand like tender
guides, and direct our steps as we travel through this darksome world, and ward off the assaults of the enemy, and whisper to us the secrets of Thy will, and brace up our failing hearts to good, and carry up the incense of our prayers to the altar of gold, and always supplicate the Face of our merciful Father for us.

Thus, merciful Father, Thou hast indeed some care for us, though for a season we are far away from home. And if the tenth drachma which once slipped from Thy bosom and has now been recovered by Thy toils and sorrows have any worth, it is all Thy gift, good Jesus. If there be aught of sweetest sound in this tenth chord strung of yore for the praise of God, it is the persuasive touch of Thy Sovereign Hand that evokes it, when on the ten-stringed psaltery Thou singest the glory of the Father. Sing as Thou singest, O Lord; play Thy sweet music with the swift and changeful modulations of a manifold thanks giving. Strike those nine tuneful heavenly strings, which never yet sounded harsh or sad. And touch that tenth, of lowest note, whose upper part strained and set in tune to Thee sounds joyfully; whilst its lower part, bound as yet awhile to the earth, knows only how to yield dull sounds of sadness and
untunefulness.

[§ 62. The desires of the soul aspiring to God.] When, O First-begotten of God, I muse with intensest thought upon all Thy wonderful works, I tremble with amazement; for Thou dost shine forth all-glorious in every way in all of them. And yet, great though they be, and beautiful and very good, they show as emptiness and nothing compared with Thee. Earth and sky and all their bravery subsist by Thee their Creator and Governor, and utter forth Thy power and fulness, Thy wisdom and beauty, Thy goodness and love; and as light excels darkness, so Thou and Thou alone transcendest all of them. And Thou, my God, awaitest me in heaven, the Treasure and the Reward of Thy servant; Giver at once and Gift, Saviour and Salvation. The expected of my soul,
‘what besides Thee has it desired upon earth?’ (Ps. lxxiii. 25.)

Why then should I leave heaven for an atom? What is it in all the earth that I have deemed a greater good than Thee, or -a dearer love than Thee, that I should steal my heart from Thee and desire anything in all the universe outside of Thee? Why in all my life have I ever loved any thing or desired anything but Thee, Jesus my God? Why, Jesus, have I delayed, why have I ever for a moment stopped entertaining Thee in my heart, embracing Thee with my whole soul, and delighting all the inward recesses of my being with Thy sweetness?
When I was not with Thee, where was I? When my desires rested not on Thee only,
whither, whither did they fly?

God of my life, how vainly have my days been spent, how unprofitably have they slipped by! days which Thou gavest me that I might do Thy will in them, and I have not done it. How long the years, how many the hours that I have squandered, living but bringing forth no fruit in Thy sight! And how then shall I stand? How shall I dare to lift my eyes and look in Thy Face at that great reckoning, if Thou shalt bid me give an account of all my sins or of all my opportunities, and shalt demand the issues of all! O let it not be so, most patient Father; nay, let it not be so, but rather let my wasted opportunities—alas, how many!—be buried in forgetfulness. And if, by Thy help, I have husbanded some few of them—their number is small enough, I know—let these be remembered to eternity; and, Father of all love, let at least this my residue of time be fruitful and hallowed by Thy grace, that it may find a place in the days of eternity and be reckoned in my favour in Thy sight.

Now, then, from this moment do you, all my desires, bestir yourselves and fly to your Lord Jesus: fly away; why linger ye? Speed ye to your goal, seek whom ye seek.
‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified’ (St. Mark xvi. 6). He has gone up into heaven;
‘He is not here’ (ib.). He is not where He was. He is not where His sacred Head had not where to rest; He is not where He walked in the midst of trouble, despised and put to scorn; He is not where He stood before Pilate to be judged; He is not where He stood derided and mocked in Herod’s presence; He is not where He hung between malefactors, spit upon, smitten, wounded, drenched with blood; He is not where He lay, shut in by the stone, and watched by the gentile guards. Where then, O where, is the Lord’s Beloved? He rests in
confidence, and no plague comes nigh His tabernacle. Above the height of heaven, above all the excellence of the angels, He is ascended and gone up in His own great might, and sits on the Throne of singular glory at the Right-hand of the Father, and reigns with Him, coëternal, consubstantial, clothed with the Divine Light, crowned with glory and honour as befits the Only-begotten, in undisturbed serenity, and joy, and uttermost almightiness; Lord in heaven, and Lord in earth. There all the angels of God adore Him, and the one vast throng of the citizens of the heavenly Sion. In Him, their sole centre, all hearts rejoice together, and the eyes of all the good feast on His Face whom all desire; in Him meet all the desires of all the saints, and the whole heavenly city, every way glorious in His Presence, sing their jubilee, their applause, and their
magnificat to Him.

[§ 63. The Saints in heaven.] ‘Rejoice, and praise, O thou habitation of Sion; for great is He that is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel’ (Is. xii. 6).

Rejoice, ye glorious Patriarchs in your royal Offspring, for all your expectations are fulfilled in Him and He is highly exalted, and in Him, your Seed, all nations shall be blessed, as the Divine word promised you.

Rejoice, ye Prophets, heralds of truth, in Jesus the great Prophet; for ye now see wonderfully and gloriously fulfilled all that you foretold of Him in the Holy Ghost, and are found faithful by Him in all your words.

And you, illustrious Princes of the sky, you blessed Apostles, rejoice in your Master the Lord Jesus, and again I say, rejoice in a familiar joy along with Christ; for, He whom ye once saw in hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and the like infirmities of the flesh, rejected by all, and reckoned with the wicked; see, how victoriously He conquers, see how royally He reigns, see how all things lie beneath His Feet, see how gloriously He shines in the light of His own dominion and the splendour of His jubilee; and how He has you for partners of His unspeakable glory, who of old
continued with Him in His temptations, and were partakers of His griefs. Now you adore those dear Knees of His, which were bent to the earth before you, as you sat at the most holy Supper. Now you adore those sacred Hands, with which the King of kings deigned to wash off the dust from your feet, wiping them with a towel.

Rejoice, ye victorious Martyrs, in Jesus the Prince of your host; for now ye possess Him for whom you gave up your lives to death; you have the reward of your struggle now, you have Jesus Himself the Son of God now.

Rejoice, ye venerable Confessors and Doctors, rejoice in Jesus the Master Teacher of the truth; because whom once you confessed before men by sacred doctrines and holy lives, He now confesses you before His Father and His holy angels.

Rejoice, ye Virgins, denizens of paradise and like the angels;
for, He whom you loved and sought and longed for, for love of Him disdaining
earthly bridegrooms and all the world’s bravery—now you behold Him, the Son of the great King, now you possess Him, now you rest in His chaste caresses, and no treachery of the enemy can ever tear Him from you.

[§ 64. The joys of Mary, Queen of Heaven, and Mother of God.] But, amongst all the dwellers in heaven, be thine, O Mary, the richest and the fullest joy; thine, Virgin among virgins supereminent, Rose of celestial sweetness, bright Star above the brightest of all the primeval lights of Divine illumination. Rejoice with supreme and singular joy above all others; for the very Child whom thou didst bring to a human birth and didst nurse at thy breasts, that Child thou adorest, true and living God, together with angels and all the whole company of the citizens of heaven. Rejoice, O happy Mother, for Whom thou sawest hanging on the wood of the cross, thou now seest reigning in heaven with great glory 3 thou seest all the grandeurs of heaven, of earth, of hell, bowed down
before His royal state, and all the might of His enemies crushed in the dust. All joy, all joy of joys is thine, thou plenitude of holiness, thou blessed Jerusalem, our Mother, who art above. Keep joyful holiday, sweet Mother, joyful and unending in the peaceful vision of thy Jesus, the Author of thy immunity from sin.

[§ 65. The loving aspirations of the soul to Jesus.] And thou now, my soul, lift up thyself again with all thy best endeavours, and join the thousands of saints who are rejoicing in Jesus their Lord. Fly thither in the chariot of faith and hope, and by the fire of love take there thy dwelling
‘where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God’ (Col. iii. 1). Strain thine eye, and see thou in the light of His countenance. Linger about the marks of His blessed Scars, and kiss them one by one with thankful devotion; Scars whence gushed those rivers of the precious Blood with which the only-begotten Son of God paid for thy salvation, and for thy sanctification to eternal life. O Jesus, he who loves Thee not, let him be anathema; whoso loves Thee not, let him be filled with bitterness. Thy love, O Lord, is chaste and admits of no impurity; the savour of Thy love is pure, and draws aside no soul from rectitude; Thy love is sweet, and no bitterness is in it, for it sweetens the world’s bitters, and turns to bitterness its sweets. It is not cramped by adversities, and no oppression overburdens it; it sinks not under want, and is embittered by no grief; it is even and undisturbed in bodily labours, careless of threats, incorruptible in the midst of blandishments; in tortures it remains invincible, and it lives for ever more in death.
As the miser gloats over his hoard, and the mother delights in the love of her only child, even so, sweet Jesus, the soul that loves
Thee sips joy and gladness from the treasures of Thy dear love. The sweetness of honey, the softness of milk, wine with its freshening taste, and all
delight some things—none, none of them so please the palate of those who taste them as
Thy love charms the souls of them that love Thee.

O sweet Jesus, living and all-desirable Bread; sweet Fruit of the vine; Oil of mingled rarities;
gentle Lamb; strong Lion; lovely Leopard;[5]

guileless Dove; swift Eagle; Star of the morning; Sun of eternity; Angel of peace; fontal Light of the sempiternal lights; let my every sense conspire to praise Thee, and love Thee, delight in Thee, and admire Thee; Thee, the God of my heart and my portion, Christ Jesus. Let my heart die to its will, and my flesh to its desires; do Thou live in me, and let the live coal of Thy love glow in the midst of my soul, and break forth into a consuming fire; let Thy grace foster and nourish it in me, that it burn continually on my heart’s altar; let it glow in my inmost marrow, and rage in all the recesses of my soul; and in the perfect day let it be found perfected in Thee. In the day when Thou shalt see me stripped of this clothing of mortality, which I now carry about with me, let Thy Love enfold me, and be for a garment of beauty to my soul; that it be found not naked, but clothed upon, and have wherewithal to hide its infirmities from thine Eye. And that strange, that other fire, the fire that shall burn Thine adversaries; let the fervour of Thy love keep it far from me, and raise my soul to Thee, her Creator, and plunge her deep in the ocean of Thy Light Divine. Jesus, my Lord, let all who love Thee be filled with Thy benedictions; and coming home to Thee let their names be written in heaven, that they may have peace
‘under the covert of Thy wings’ (Ps.
lxii. 8). To Thee therefore, only-begotten of God, be with the Eternal Father, and the Holy Ghost, unceasing praise, inviolable beauty, and Kingdom never to be moved,
enduring for ever and for evermore. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Fourteenth Meditation

[§ 66.] Set as we are in the midst of snares, we all too easily grow cold and remiss in our longings after heaven. We have need, therefore, of some constant monitor, whose use shall be that when we have relaxed our efforts and lost ground, we may presently be roused from sloth, and may return to God, our true and highest good. It was not, therefore, from rash presumption, but from a great love for my God that I applied myself to the compilation of this little work; that I might always have about me, collected out of the choicest sayings of the holy fathers, a brief word or two ready to hand about my God; so that whenever I find I am growing cold, I may read, and reading be inflamed to love of Him.

I. Of the wonderful Being of God. Be present with me now, O God; Thou whom I seek, whom I love, whom I confess with heart and mouth, and adore with all my powers. My mind, bound by all vows to Thee, inflamed with love of Thee, breathing after Thee, yearning after Thee, longing to see Thee, Thee only, knows no other sweetness than to speak of Thee, hear of Thee, write of Thee, speculate on Thee, and muse anon on Thy glory in the heart’s deepest depth, that the sweet thought of Thee may be some little solace and repose to me in the midst of the whirl and turmoil of this present state. Thee, therefore, I invoke, O most desired Lord; to Thee I cry with a mighty cry in my inmost heart. Yes, indeed; invoking Thee, I invoke Thee in myself; for, but that Thou wert in me, I should not have been, and but that I was in Thee, Thou hadst not been in me. Thou art in me, since Thou dwellest in my memory; by it I know Thee, in it I find Thee, when I call Thee to mind, and when in Thee I delight concerning Thee, through Whom are all things and in Whom are all things.

Thou, O Lord, fillest heaven and earth; sustaining all things, but without effort; filling all things, but without contraction of Thyself; ever active, yet ever at rest; gathering together, yet needing nothing; seeking, though Thou lackest nothing; loving, but without distraction; jealous, yet free from care. Thou repentest, but art never sorry; Thou art angry, yet undisturbed. Thou changest Thy dealings, but alterest not Thy purpose. Thou recoverest what Thou findest, and Thou hast never lost. Never in want, yet Thou rejoicest in gain. Never greedy, yet Thou exactest usury. Thou payest in excess to whom Thou owest not, and ever receivest in excess, but only that Thou mayest owe. And who has anything that is not Thine? Owing nothing, Thou payest debts; paying what is due from Thee, Thou owest nothing. Thou art everywhere, and everywhere art entire. Perceived Thou mayest be, but Thou canst never be seen. In no place art Thou other wise than present, and yet Thou art far from the thoughts of the unjust. Nor art Thou absent in the place whence Thou art far removed; for though Thou be not there to bless, yet Thou art there to punish. Unmoved and unmoving dost Thou stand, and yet we follow after Thee, and following can not overtake Thee. Thou holdest all things, fillest all things, enfoldest all things, surpassest all things, and sustainest all things. Thou teachest the hearts of the faithful without sound of words. Undisturbed by reach of distance, unchanged by lapse of tune, tideless and ebbless, Thou makest the inaccessible light Thy dwelling,
‘which no man hath seen nor can see’ (1 Tim. vi. 16). Quiescent and self-sustained, still Thou evermore encirclest all. Thou canst not be parted and divided, for Thou art truly one; nor art Thou here, and there, and there again; but Thou All enfoldest all, fulfillest all, enlightenest and possessest all.

[§ 67.] II. Of the science of God, and the inadequacy of human speech to utter it. Though the whole world were filled with books, the unutterable science of Thy Being cannot have due utterance. For since Thou art all unspeakable, no writer’s and no limner’s skill could describe Thee or portray Thee. Thou art the Fountain of Light Divine, and the Sun of eternal splendour. Great Thou art without quantity, and therefore infinite; good without quality, and therefore the truly and supremely good; and none is good but Thou and Thou alone. Thy will is act; for power and will are one in Thee. By Thy mere will Thou madest all things out of nothing. Thou dost fulfil all creation without any lack whatever, and dost
control it without toil, and rule it without fatigue; and there is nothing that can disturb the order of Thy Kingdom, whether in little things or in great Thou art contained in all places, independently of place; and enfoldest all things without distribution of Thyself; and neither moving nor inert art present everywhere. Thou art not the Author of evil, for Thou canst not make it. There is no thing that Thou canst not do, nor didst Thou ever repent of anything that Thou hadst done. As we were made by Thy goodness, so are we punished by Thy justice, and set free by Thy tender mercy. Thy omnipotence controls all things, and rules and fills what is has created. Nor, though we say that Thou fillest all things, do all things therefore hold Thee, for they are rather held by Thee. Thou dost neither pervade all things, one by one sever ally; nor must we suppose that each separate object holds Thee by way of proportion to its size, the greatest more and the least less, since rather Thou art all Thyself in all things, and all things are in Thee. Thy omnipotence embraces all things; nor can any one find a recess wherein to avoid Thy power. For he who has Thee not at peace with him will never escape Thee in Thine anger.

[§ 68.] III. Of the desire of a soul thirsting after God. Thee, therefore, O God of tenderest mercy, I invoke into my soul, the soul which Thou dost furnish for Thy reception by the very desire Thou breathest into it. Enter into it, I pray Thee, and fit it for Thyself; that what Thou hast made and remade, Thou mayest hold and keep; that so I may keep Thee as a signet upon my heart. I implore Thee, O most merciful, forsake not him that calls upon Thee; because, or ever I called on Thee, Thou didst call me, and didst seek for me, that Thy servant might seek Thee; and seeking might find Thee, and finding might love Thee. I have sought Thee, and I have found Thee, Lord; and now I desire to love Thee. Increase this my desire, and give what I seek; for wert Thou to give me all that Thou didst ever make, that all were not enough without the gift of Thyself. Therefore, O my God, give me Thyself; restore me Thyself. See how I love Thee; and if it is too little, let me love Thee more. I am enthralled by love of Thee; I burn with longings after Thee; I am entranced with the sweet thought of Thee. When my mind sighs .after Thee, and dwells on Thy unspeakable mercy, lo, the very burden of the flesh weighs less, the tumult of distracting thoughts is lulled, mortality with its weary load palsies me not according to its wont; all is hushed, all is still; my heart glows, my soul exults; my memory is quickened,. my understanding filled with light; and my whole spirit, set on fire with desire of the vision of Thee, finds itself ravished with love of the things unseen. O let my soul take wings like an eagle’s, let it fly and not faint; let it fly till it reaches the goodliness of Thy dwelling and Thy glorious throne; and there, seated at the table of refreshment set for the citizens above, let it feast on Thine Eyes, and take its full in the place of pasture hard by the rivers of plenty. Be Thou our exultation, for Thou art our hope, our salvation, and our redemption. Be Thou our joy, for Thou wilt be our prize. Ever, ever let my soul seek Thee, and grant Thou that seeking Thee she miss not her goal.

[§ 69.] IV. Of the misery of a soul that loves not and that seeks not our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, wretched soul that seeks not Christ, nor loves Him; it lies barren and parched and sad. O God, his very life is loss who loves not Thee. He who cares to live, but not for Thee, is nothing and nothing worth. He who refuses to live to Thee is dead. He who is not wise in Thee is all unwise. O most compassionate Jesus, I commend myself to Thee. I yield and resign myself to Thee; for in Thee is my wisdom, my life, my all. I confide in Thee, I trust in Thee, I place all my hope in Thee; for through Thee I shall rise again, and live, and find my rest. I desire Thee, I love Thee and adore Thee; for with Thee shall I dwell, and reign, and be happy for ever. The soul that seeks Thee not, nor loves Thee, loves the world, serves sin, and is slave to vices; is never at rest and never safe. O most Merciful, let my mind be ever busied in Thy service; and all through this my pilgrimage let my heart burn with the fires of Thy love; let my spirit repose in Thee, O my God; let it in all its fancy flights muse upon Thee; let it sing Thy praises with jubilant joy, and so find consolation in its banishment. Let my soul fly and nestle under the shadow of Thy wings, safe from the billows of this life of cares. Let my heart, that sea troubled with great waves, rest
itself in Thee and be calm. O Thou, who art rich in all divinest dainties; Thou, God and most bountiful dispenser of heavenly satisfaction, do Thou give refreshment to the weary, call the wanderer to his home, unbind the captive, restore the broken hearted. I pray Thee, by the bowels of that mercy of Thine, whereby as the Orient from on high Thou hast visited us, bid the door open to the poor wretch that knocks, and so let him enter in with unfettered step to Thee, and rest himself in Thee, and regale himself on Thee, the Bread of heaven; for Thou art the Bread and the Fountain of life, Thou art the Light of eternal brightness, Thou art the all and the very source of being of the good who love Thee.

[§ 70.] V. Of the desire of the soul. O God, the Light of all hearts that see Thee, the Life of all souls that love Thee, the Inspiration of all thoughts that seek Thee; grant me this, to cling fast to Thy holy love. Come, I pray Thee, into my heart, and inebriate it with the fulness of Thy pleasures, that so I may forget these things of time. It is shame and grief to me to endure the doings of this naughty world. What I see is sad, and all that I hear of transitory things is grief to me. Help me, O Lord my God, and put joy in my heart; come to me, that I may see Thee. But the dwelling of my soul is all too narrow till Thou come to it, and it be enlarged by Thee. It is all a ruin; build it up again. It contains very much, as I confess and know, which cannot but offend Thine eyes; but who shall cleanse it, or to whom else shall I cry but Thee?
‘Cleanse Thou me from my secret sins, O Lord; and from those of others spare Thy servant’ (Ps. xviii. 13). Make me, O sweet Christ, good Jesus, make me, I pray Thee, from love and desire of Thee, to lay aside the burden of carnal desires and earthly concupiscences. Let my soul rule the flesh, my reason the soul, Thy grace my reason; and then subdue me both inwardly and outwardly to Thy will. Grant me that my heart, and my tongue, and all my bones may praise Thee. Enlarge my mind, and raise my heart’s vision on high, and so let my soul rise with swift flight of thought to Thee, Thee the eternal Wisdom that presidest over all. Loose me, I beseech Thee, from the cords that bind me, that, rising clear of all things here below, I may hurry home to Thee, cling to Thee alone, and rest in Thee alone.

[71.] VI. Of the happiness of the soul set free from her earthly prison. Happy the soul that, loosed from her earthly prison, seeks heaven with
unhampered wing; happy the soul that sees Thee face to face, O dearest Lord; that is touched by no fear of death, but gathers gladness from the incorruptible stores of the glory that cannot fail. Set free from toil and care, she fears no foe now, dreads no death now. She has Thee for her own; Thee, the merciful Lord, whom she long sought and ever loved; and, associated with the hymning choirs, sings through eternity sweet songs of cease less festival to the praise of Thy glory, O Christ, King of glory, O Lord Jesus. For she is inebriated with the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou givest her to drink of the torrent of Thy pleasures. O happy society of the citizens on high, O happy concourse of all returners to Thee from the weary toil of this our pilgrimage to the loveliness of perfect splendour, to the excellency of perfect grace, where Thy lieges, O Lord, be hold Thee evermore. There nothing that can distract the mind is given the ear to hear. O, what chants are chanted there! What instruments of music there are there! What songs, what melodies without end are sung out there! There sweet-voiced organs sound ever to the hymns, and angels’ tenderest melodies, and songs of songs full wonderful, which by the citizens on high are tuned forth to Thy praise and glory. No bitterness, no gall- like harshness, finds place in that Thy realm; for there evil and evil one are not. There is no assailing foe, nor no wantonness of sin there. There is no want there, no uncomeliness, no strife, no insolence, no wrangling, no fear, no uneasiness, no pain, no doubt, no violence, no discord; but peace profound, and perfect love, and jubilation, and eternal praise of God, and unanxious rest for ever, and joy in the Holy Ghost for evermore. O, how blessed shall I be if I hear those Thy people’s jocund melodies, and their sweet hymns pouring forth with due honour praises to the most high Trinity! Happy, ay, too happy, shall I be, if I, this very self of mine, shall merit to sing to the Lord Jesus one of the dear songs of Sion.

[§ 72.] VII. Of the joy of Paradise. O life all life; O eternal and eternally-blessed life, where is joy without grief, rest without labour, honour without apprehension, riches without loss, life without death, perpetuity without decay, happiness without disaster; where are all good things in perfect charity; where is beauty and the vision face to face; where is plenitude of science in all and pervading all; where God’s goodness is beheld, and the Light enlightening all is glorified by the saints; where the present Majesty of God is discerned, and the eyes of all who gaze upon it are satisfied with that their food of life; where they ever see and long to see, and long without anxious care, and are filled without satiety; where the true Sun of justice replenishes all with the wonderful vision of His beauty, and so enlightens all the denizens of the celestial land that they themselves shine with a light enkindled by God, a light enlightening beyond all the glory of this our sun, and be yond all the splendours of a universe of stars, those who, reposing on the immortal Godhead, are thus made immortal and incorruptible, according to the promise of our Saviour Lord,
‘Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me; that they may see My glory’ (St. John xvii. 24);
‘that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us’ (ib. 21).

[§ 73.] VIII. Of the kingdom of heaven. O kingdom of
heaven, O kingdom most blessed, O kingdom that knows not death, O kingdom
without end; where are no successions of ages all through eternity; where
perpetual nightless day knows no measurement by time; where the conqueror
warrior, after finished toil, is laden with unspeakable gifts—

‘Where crowns undying wreathe the noble brow.’

O that, my load of sins removed, the Divine compassion would bid me, the last and least of Christ’s servants, lay down this load of flesh, that so I might pass away into the endless joys of His Kingdom, and rest me there, and join the all-holy choirs, and with blissful spirits pay court to the glory of our Creator, and see the face of God close present, and be touched by no fear of death, and rejoice untroubledly in the incorruption of an en during immortality, and united with Him who knoweth all things, lose all my blindness and ignorance, and count all that is of earth of little moment, and care not to look back upon or any more remember this valley of tears, with its toilsome life, its life subject to corruption, its life full of all bitterness, its life attended by ills and tyrannised by the powers of hell; this life, with its swelling humours, its parching fevers, its cankering riches, its surfeiting meats, its emaciating hunger, relaxing levity, consuming sorrows, and pinching care; this life, in which security blunts, wealth puffs up, poverty brings low, youth elates, old age bends double, weakness breaks, sorrow crushes, the devil plots, and the world flatters; whilst the flesh is seduced by pleasure, the soul blinded, and the whole man thrown into disorder. When, lo, amidst these so many and so great ills death steals on us, steals on us like a thief, and so effectually puts an end to earthly joys, that when they cease to be, they are reckoned not even to have had a being.

[§ 74.] IX. God comforts the sorrowing soul after her great griefs. But what praises or what return of thanks can we find it in our power to
render unto Thee our God, who, in the very midst of the so bitter griefs that harass our mortality, never ceasest to console us with the wonderful visitations
of Thy grace? Lo, here I am, a poor wretch full of many sorrows; and while I look forward fearfully to the end of this my life, while I review my sins, while I
dread Thy judgment of me, while I think of the hour of death, while I shudder at the torments of hell, while I know not with what sort of strictness and scrutiny
Thou art weighing all my works, and am profoundly ignorant of the sort of end that is to close it all; while, in short, I revolve all this and much besides in the
depth of my heart; Thou, Thou, O Lord God, art close at hand to console me with Thy wonted mercy, and amidst these my complaints, these my excessive moanings and
sighs deep drawn from the bottom of my heart, dost lift up my sad and anxious mind above the tops of the hills unto the garden of spices, and there
settest me in a place of pasture beside the rivers of sweet waters, and preparest before me a table of manifold entertainment to refresh my wearied spirit and gladden
my sad heart; and thus at last revived with these dainties and raised above the heights of the earth, I rest at last in Thee, in Thee, true Peace.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Fifteenth Meditation

[§ 75. On the subjects of meditation.] [6]
No one should be tired of listening to what may rouse us to the love of God. Now we read in the Gospel that there were two sisters who loved their Lord with an ardent devotion; and although each of the two loved both God and her neighbour, yet Martha’s special occupation was to attend upon her neighbours, whilst Mary drank from the very Fount itself of love.

Now to the love of God there appertain two things: devotion in heart, and devotion in act. And act consists in the practical exercise of virtues, whilst the heart’s devotion revels in the taste of spiritual sweetness. The exercise of virtues has its praise in a fixed rule of life, in fasts, in vigils, in labour, in reading, in prayer, in silence, in poverty, and the rest; whereas affective devotion is nourished by salutary meditation.

And that the dearest love of Jesus may grow by affection in your heart, you have need of a three fold meditation; a meditation, that is to say, on things past, things present, and things to come; a meditation based on our remembrance of the past, our experience of the present, and our contemplation of the future.

[§ 76. The Annunciation.] When, therefore, your mind has been purged from tumultuous thoughts by that practical exercise of virtues, then turn your cleansed eyes back to the past, and first of all enter with blessed Mary into her chamber, and unroll the sacred books in which are foretold a virgin’s maternity and the birth of Christ. Then wait, expecting the arrival of the angel, that you may see him enter, and hear him salute her; that then, trans ported with ecstasy and wonder, you may with the greeting angel greet Mary, thy dearest Queen, saying with heart and voice,
‘Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee!’ (St. Luke i. 27.) Say it over and over again, and ask yourself what this fulness of grace may be, whence all the whole world has gathered grace; what may be the meaning of
‘the Word was made Flesh.’ O muse, and wonder that the Lord who fills earth and heaven is shut up in that, a maiden’s, womb, whom the Father has sanctified, the Son taken for His mother, the Holy Ghost overshadowed. O dearest Queen, with what draughts of sweetness wast thou filled, with what fires of love wast thou inflamed, when in thy soul and in thy flesh thou didst own the Presence of so great a Majesty, He of thy flesh taking Flesh to Himself, and after the model of thy sacred limbs clothing Himself with limbs, wherein dwelt corporally all the fulness of the Godhead. And all this, virgin, in your behalf, that you might love the Virgin whom you have taken as a pattern for imitation, and the Virgin’s Son, to whom you are espoused.

[§ 77. The Visitation, Nativity, and Adoration of the Kings.] And now, go up with your dearest Queen into the mountainous country: watch the embrace of the Virgin and of her that was barren, and note the lowly salutation by which the servant recognised his Lord, the herald his Judge, the voice the Word, shut up in the womb of an aged mother, owned, I say, the Lord, the Judge, the Word, owned Him enshrined in the Virgin’s womb, owned and greeted Him with an unspeakable joy. O blessed wombs, in one the Saviour of the world is rising to enlighten it; in the other, joy that shall know no end speaks with prophetic voice of clouds of sorrow banished from the sky. Hasten, I pray you, hasten; take your share in joys such as these; throw yourself at the feet of each; embrace your Spouse in the holy shrine of the one, and in the other’s womb venerate the Bridegroom’s friend.

With all devotion follow our Mother after this to Bethlehem, and attend her as she turns aside into the inn; bow yourself down all reverently while she brings forth her Child; and when the Babe is placed in the manger, break forth in cries of exultation, and sing with Isaias,
‘A Child is born to us: and a Son is given to us’ (Is. ix. 7), and embrace that dear crib of His. Let love temper bashfulness, and devotion banish fear, and so press your lips to those holiest Feet, and imprint kisses on His Knees. And then recall in imagination the watches of the shepherds, and marvel at the troops of angels, and mingle your prayers with the heaven-taught melody, singing in your heart and singing with your lips,
‘Glory to God in the highest!’ (St. Luke ii. 14.)

Nor must you in your meditation pass over the Magi and their offerings; nor leave Him to fly into Egypt unescorted. Let the eye of your devotion watch the Baby Jesus sweetly sucking the sweet breasts of the glorious Virgin-Mother, and after a child’s wont laying His Hand on His Mother’s bosom, and looking up and smiling at her. What sweeter sight? what more delightful? See Him Who IS, the Infinite, clinging with tiny arms to a mother’s neck; and say,
‘O happy, and more than happy, I, to see Whom kings desired to see, and saw
not!’ ‘Worthy indeed to be seen is He, for He is beautiful above the sons of men’ (Ps. xliv. 3).

[§ 78. The flight into Egypt.] Think, and think again, with what thoughts and what meditations that dearest Mother was entranced, as, all joyous and full of rapture, she held Him, her Lord, at once so great and so little, in her arms; kissed over and over again her little Infant, as He gambolled in her lap; or consoled Him in His tears with what lullaby she could, rocking Him on her knees; or, again, soothed Him with industrious care, as maternal love prompted her, according to His changeful wants. You may think the story to be true which relates that in the course of His journey He was seized by bandits, and res cued by the kindness of a certain youth. This lad, so the legend runs, was the son of the robber chief; who, on obtaining his share of the booty, and gazing on the Face of the little Child in His Mother’s lap, descried in His all-lovely Face so bright a majesty as that, not doubting Him to be more than human, he was inflamed with love of Him, and embracing Him exclaimed,
‘O most blessed Babe, should ever time come to Thee for having pity on me, remember me then, and for get not this time.’ They say that this lad was in after time the thief, who, hanging crucified at the right hand of his God, rebuked the blasphemy of his fellow with the words,
‘Neither dost thou fear God’ (St. Luke xxiii. 40); but turning to the Lord, and discerning in Him the selfsame majesty that once gleamed on the Baby brow, and mindful of the ancient compact,
said, ‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom’ (ib. 42). I think there can be no indiscretion in using this pious legend as an incentive to love, without rashly affirming it to be true.

[§ 79. The early life, baptism, fasting, and ministry of our Lord.] And think you that no access of sweetness will be yours if you contemplate Him a Boy with boys at Nazareth; or watch Him waiting on His Mother, helping His foster-father? And what will you not feel if, on His going up to Jerusalem with His parents when twelve years of age, and staying behind while they returned, not aware that He was in the city, you go with His Mother on her three days’ search for Him? O, in what showers your tears will fall when you hear the Mother chiding the Son in words of, so to say, sweet reproof!
‘Son, why hast Thou done so to us?’ (St. Luke ii. 48.)

But if it delight you to follow your Virgin Spouse whithersoever He goeth (Apoc. xiv. 4), pry into His loftier heights and secreter retirements, and at the wave of Jordon hear the Person of the Father in the Voice, see the Person of the Son manifest in the Flesh, and the Holy Ghost under the figure of the Dove.

Passing thence, your dearest Jesus consecrated for you retirement and solitude, and for you sanctified the endurance of fasts, showing you how to fight with your crafty foe. What He did here He did for you, and pay careful heed to His way of doing it. Love Him by whom was done what was done; and what was done, that imitate.

Now, then, let the woman who was taken in adultery be present to your recollection, and recall what Jesus did, what He said, when asked to pass sentence on her. He cast His eyes to the earth, lest haply by looking at the woman He should too much abash her; and when by writing on the earth He had declared her accusers to be earthly and not heavenly, He said,
‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’ (St. John viii. 7). O the wonderful, the unquenchable kindness of Christ! He might justly have
condemned her; see how mercifully, and yet how prudently, He set her free! For when by that one sentence He had rebuked them, and banished them the temple, think then what merciful eyes He lifted on her, think with what sweet and gentle voice He pronounced the sentence of His absolution. Imagine His sighs, picture to yourself His tears as He said,
‘Hath no man condemned thee’ (ib. viii. 10.) Happy, let me say it, happy was that adulterous woman, absolved of the past,
and made secure for the future. For, O good Jesus, when Thou sayest, ‘Neither will I condemn thee’
(ib. 10),
who—who shall do so? God is He who justifieth. Who is he that shall condemn? (Rom. viii. 33, 34.) Yet, yet again let Thy voice be heard,
‘Go, and now sin no more’ (St. John viii. 11).

[§ 80. Our Lords works of mercy.] Nor will you pass that house unvisited where they are letting down the paralytic through the tiles before the feet of Jesus; and where power and pity are met together:
‘Son,’ He says, ‘thy sins are forgiven thee’ (St. Mark ii. 5). O wonderful kindness, O unspeakable mercy! Happy he; he received what he asked not for, remission of sins; a remission unpreceded by confession, unmerited by satisfaction, undemanded by contrition. It was the body’s healing, not the soul’s, that he craved; and, lo, he gained health of body and of soul! Of a truth, O Lord, in Thy will is life; if Thou decree to save us, no one can stay Thy hand. If Thou decree otherwise, there is none that dare say, Why doest Thou this? Why, Pharisee, dost thou murmur?
‘Is thy eye evil because I am good?’ (St. Matt. xx. 15.) Certainly ‘He hath mercy on whom He will’ (Rom. ix. 18); let us cry to Him, and pray to Him, that He may be pleased to will. And more than this, let our prayer be enriched, and our devotion
deepened, and our love quickened by good works. Let pure hands be lifted up in
prayer, hands which blood of impurity has not stained, nor unlawful touch
defiled, nor avarice hardened; and with the pure hands let a heart without anger
and strife be lifted up, a heart calmed by tranquillity, composed by peace, and washed by purity of conscience. But the paralytic is not said in the account to have satisfied any of these conditions, and yet we do read that he merited remission of all his sins. Such, however, is the virtue of His unspeakable mercy, on which it is the height of folly to presume, even as it is blasphemy to derogate from it. He is able to say efficaciously to whomsoever He will what He said to the paralytic,
‘Thy sins are forgiven thee.’ But whoever expects to hear these words spoken to him without labour on his own part, without contrition, without confession, or even without prayer, that man’s sins never are remitted.

[§ 81. Bethany and the Cœnaculum.] But we must go hence and make our way to Bethany, where the most sacred bonds of friendship are
consecrated by our Lord’s authority; for ‘Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus’ (St. John xi. 5); and no one can doubt that this is told us with a view to the special and sacred law of friendship, a law which bound them close in a common familiar attachment. Witness those sweet tears which lie wept with the weeping sisters, and were interpreted by all the people as the token of His love:
‘Behold how He loved him’ (ib. 36).

And, lo, now they make Him a supper. ‘Martha served, but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him’ (St. John xii. 2, 3). Mary therefore took an alabaster box of precious ointment. Rejoice, I pray you, to take part in this feast. And distinguish the parts played by the several per sons. Martha served; Lazarus reclined at table; Mary anoints her Lord. Be this last part yours; break in that supper-room the alabaster of your heart; and whatever you have of devotion, what ever of love, whatever of desire, whatever of affection, pour all of it on the head of your Spouse, adoring God in the Person of Man, and Man in the Personal God. If the traitor chides, if he murmurs, if he is jealous, if he calls your devotion extravagance and waste, heed it not.
‘To what purpose is this waste? For this might have been sold for much,’ &c. (St. Matt. xxvi. 8, 9). The Pharisee murmurs, for he is jealous of the penitent. Judas murmurs, for he begrudges the pouring out of the ointment; but the Judge receives not the accusation,
and acquits the accused: ‘Why do you trouble this woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon Me’
(ib. 10).
Let Martha toil, let her serve, let her provide shelter for the wanderer, food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty; I alone am Mary’s, and she is Mine. She gives Me all she has; let her expect from Me whatever she desires. What? Do you play Mary’s part in forsaking the feet she so delightedly kisses, in turning your eyes from that loveliest of faces that she gazes on, and in shutting your ears to that sweet voice of His with which she is refreshed? Still, let us rise and go hence. Whither, do you say? Why, surely let us go, that you may accompany the Lord of heaven as He advances seated on an ass; and that, marvelling that such great things should be done for you, you may add your praises to the praises of the little children, crying out and saying,
‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ (St. Matt. xxi. 9).

And now go up with Him to the large dining-room furnished (St. Mark xiv. 15), and find it your joy to be present at the supper of salvation. Let love conquer bashfulness, and devotion shut out fear, that at least He may give an alms to the beggar from the crumbs that fall from the table; or else stand at a distance, and, like a pauper awaiting a rich man’s pleasure, stretch out your hand to receive something. When, however, rising from supper He has girded Himself with a towel and poured water into a basin (St. John xiii. 4, 5), think what majesty it is, what might it is, that is washing the feet of men and wiping them; what condescension it is that touches with so sacred hands the feet of the betrayer. Look, watch, wait, and then offer Him your feet to wash, for whom He washes not shall not have part with Him (St. John xiii. 8).

But why in such haste to go? Stay a moment. Pray do you see
who it is that has just reclined himself on His breast and lays his head in His
bosom? Happy he, whoever he may be!

O yes! I see now certainly who it is; John is his name. O John, what sweetness, what grace and joy, what light and devotion didst thou draw to thee from that Fountain! In that Fountain, of a truth, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. ii. 3). There is the fountain of mercy, there is the very home of compassion, there is the honeycomb of everlasting sweetness. And why hast thou all this, O John? Art thou sublimer than Peter, or holier than Andrew, or more highly graced than all the rest of the apostles? This is the special privilege of virginity;
’tis because thou art a virgin, elect of the Lord, and of all more loved than all. Now, then, virgin sister, leap for joy, go near, and delay not to claim some little portion of this sweetness; and if you cannot assay a higher part, intrust your heart to John as he fills himself with the wine of joy in contemplation of the Godhead, and then hie thee to thy Lord and draw milk from the fountains of His Humanity; and as He speaks the while, committing His disciples to the Father in that all-holy prayer,
‘Holy Father, keep them in Thy name’ (St. John xvii. 11), bow down your head to merit to hear the
words, ‘I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me’
(ib. 24).

[§ 82. Gethsemane and the high-priest’s palace.] It is good for you to be here, but we must go. He will lead the way to Olivet; you must follow. And albeit He takes Peter and the two sons of Zebidee and retires to the recesses of the garden, still do you watch from far, and see how He takes upon Him the necessity of our state; see how He whose are all things begins to grow sorrowful and very sad, saying,
‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death’ (St. Matt. xxvi. 38). Why is this, O my God? Thou dost so feel for and with me, in displaying Thyself Man, as that Thou seemest in a certain sort to forget that Thou art God. Fallen prostrate on Thy face Thou prayest, and, lo, Thy Sweat is turned to Blood trickling down upon the ground (St. Luke xxii. 44). Why, my sister, do you delay? Run, run to Him, lap up those dearest drops, and lick the dust of His feet. Do not sleep with Peter, lest you merit to have it said to you as to the rest,
‘What! would you not watch one hour with Me?’ (St. Matt. xxvi. 40).

But, lo, the traitor advances with the impious crowd behind him; Judas offers the kiss; they lay hands on Jesus; they hold their Lord fast bound; they manacle those dear hands of His. Who could endure it? Pity, I know, fills all your heart now, and zeal inflames all your inmost parts. Let Him alone, I pray you; let Him suffer; He is suffering for you. Why do you want a sword? why does your anger burn? why are you filled with indignation? For if, like Peter, you cut off an ear of one of them; if you draw the sword and sever a foot from its limb, He will restore everything; nay, should you even kill one of them, without doubt He will raise him to life again.

No; better follow Him to the high-priest’s palace, and that loveliest face of His, which they besmear with spittings, wash, O wash it with your tears.

See with what pitiful eyes, with what a merciful and what an efficacious glance He turned and looked on Peter, now for the third time denying Him; and Peter turning back to Him, and returning into himself, wept bitterly. O, good Jesus, would that that dear eye would look on me, that have so often denied Thee by the worst of actions and of desires at the voice of a pert serving-maid, my flesh.

[§ 83. The Prætorium.] And now, for it is morning, He is delivered up to Pilate, before whom He is accused and holds His peace, for He was led as a sheep to the slaughter (Is. liii. 7, Acts viii. 32). Mark Him, how He stands before the governor, with Head bent down, with Eyes turned to the ground, with Face all peace; He speaks little and seldom, He is ready for insults, and goes all eagerly to be scourged. You cannot bear more of this, I know; you cannot bear to see there before your very eyes that dearest Back furrowed by the thongs, that Face bruised with blows, that sensitive Head crowned with thorns; that Eight Hand, which rules heaven and earth, dishonoured with a reed. But see, they are leading Him out; the scourging is over; He wears a crown of thorns, and a purple garment; and Pilate cries,
‘Behold the Man!’ (St. John xix. 5.) Man in very truth, who can doubt it? Witness the stripes the rods have made, the livid wounds, the filthy spittings.

Know now, at last, thou Devil,[7] that He is a man.
‘I grant you,’ you say, ‘He is a man.’ But yet you say, ‘What is He?’ Ay, what is He? For amid so many injuries He is not angry, as a
man would be; He is not moved, as a man would be; He is not indignant against
His torturers, as a man would be. Then surely He is more than man. But if so,
who owns more than man? He is owned, I grant, as man in His endurance of the
judgments of the wicked of the earth; He will be owned as God when He
comes to pass judgment. Too late, O Devil; you have found it out too late. Why
have tried to work by Pilate’s wife to procure His discharge? You spoke not quick enough. The judge is on the bench; the sentence is pronounced already.

[§ 84. The Crucifixion.] Now He is led forth to death, carrying His Cross. O what a spectacle is this! Do you see it? Lo, the government is upon His shoulders (Is. ix. 6). See, here is His rod of equity, His rod of empire. Wine mingled with gall is given Him to drink. He is stript of His garments, which are divided among the soldiers; but His tunic is not rent, but passes by lot to one of them. His dear Hands and Feet are bored with nails; and He, stretched on the Cross, is hung up between thieves. Of God and men the Mediator, He hangs in the midst between heaven and earth; joining lowest things and highest, earthly things and heavenly; and heaven is bewildered, and earth condoles.

And what of you? No wonder if, while the sun mourns, you mourn also; if, while the earth shakes, you tremble; if, while rocks rend, your heart is torn; if, while the women beside the Cross are all in tears, you cry aloud with them.

And O, amidst it all, think of that sweetest Heart of His, how pitifully still It kept Itself, recking not contumely, heeding 110 pain, refusing to feel insults and reproaches. Nay, rather, at whose hands He suffers, He compassionates them; by whom He is wounded, He heals them; by whom He is slain, He procures them life. O with what sweetness and self-devotion of heart and soul, with what abundant overflowing charity He cries,
‘Father, forgive them!’

O Lord, look on me; here I am, worshipping Thy Majesty, not slaying Thy Flesh; adoring Thy death, not mocking Thy sufferings; musing on Thy mercy, not contemning Thy weakness. Let, therefore, Thy sweet Humanity interpose in my behalf, and Thy unspeakable compassion commend me to Thy Father; and do Thou say, dear Lord,
‘Father, forgive him.’

But you, virgin, who can presume on a more intimate nearness to the Son of the Virgin than the women that stand far off; come with the Virgin-Mother and the virgin-disciple, come close to the Cross, come close and gaze upon that Face, suffused with pallor. What, my dear sister, will you all-tearless watch your Lady’s tears? Do you stand with dry eyes whilst the sword of grief goes through her soul? Will you heave no sigh when you hear Him say to His Mother,
‘Woman, behold thy Son;’ and to John, ‘Behold thy Mother.’ And just as He gave His disciple a Mother, so did He give Paradise to a robber.

‘Then one of the soldiers opened His Side with a spear’ (St. John xix. 34). O hasten, linger not; eat thy honeycomb with thy honey; drink thy wine with thy milk (Cant. v. 1). The Blood from His Side is made wine for thee, that thou mayest drink thy fill, and the Water turned into milk for thy nourishment; and rivers are made thee in the rock, wounds in His Limbs, and a cavern in the wall of His Body. Hide thee in those gaps, and nestle in them like a dove; and kiss over and over first one and then another; and stained with His Blood thy lips shall be
‘as a scarlet lace, and thy speech shall be sweet’ (Cant. iv. 3).

[§ 85. The Entombment and Resurrection.] But wait, wait awhile for the coming of the noble counsellor to draw out the nails, and loosen the Hands and Feet. See how he folds the Corpse in those his happiest arms, and clasps It to his bosom. Then could that holy man exclaim,
‘A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me’ (Cant. i. 12). And as for you; follow you the dearest Treasure of earth and heaven, and support His Feet, or hold up the Hands and the Arms; or at least gather up all carefully the drops of the most precious Blood, as they slowly trickle from him, and lick the dust that His Feet have touched. And notice besides how tenderly and lovingly the blessed Nicodemus lays his fingers on the all-holy Limbs, bathes Them with unguents, and assisted by St. Joseph, lays Him wound round with linen in the sepulchre (St. John xix. 38-40).

And now that this is over, leave not Mary Magdalene, but court her society, help her to
prepare the spices, and come with her betimes to the Lord’s sepulchre. O, may you merit to see with the eye of the soul, as she did by bodily vision, now an angel sitting on the stone which he had rolled away from the door of the monument; and now again, within the monument, two, one at the head, and one at the feet, preaching the Resurrection and its glories; and yet again Jesus
Himself, refreshing the sad and tearful Magdalene with eyes so gentle, and saying with voice so sweet,
‘Mary.’ At this word all the cataracts of her soul are broken loose, and tears are distilled from her very marrow, and sighs and sobs from her heart’s in most recess.
‘Mary.’ O happy thou! What were thy thoughts, thy heart, thy soul, when, in answer to this word, flinging thyself at His Feet, and greeting Him in return, thou saidst
‘Rabboni!’ What were the emotions, what the yearnings, what the ardours of thy soul, when thou saidst
‘Rabboni’? Tears prevent more, emotion chokes thy voice, and excess of love absorbs every sense of mind and body. But why, my dear Jesus, dost Thou drive me, loving Thee as I do, from Thy sacred and so longed-for Feet?
‘Touch Me not,’ Thou sayest. Why, O Lord, why? Why may I not touch those all-desired Feet of Thine, that were burrowed through with nails and drenched with Blood? Why may I not touch them, and caress them with a thousand kisses? What! is He less my Friend now that He is more glorious? See, I will not let Thee go; I will not leave Thee; I will not spare my tears; my heart shall break with sighs and sobs unless I touch Thee. But He says,
‘Touch Me not.’ This blessing shall not be refused thee, though it be delayed; go only, and tell My brethren that I have risen again. She ran quickly, wishing to return quickly; she returns, but not alone; there are other women with her. And Jesus goes to meet them, and with gentlest greeting raises them from their dejection and consoles their sorrow. And see; what was deferred before is granted now. For
‘they came up, and took hold of His Feet, and worshipped Him’ (St. Matt. xxviii. 9). Linger here, virgin, as long as you can, and neither let sleep break in upon your joys, nor any exterior distraction interrupt it.

But because in this life of sorrows there is no thing stable, nothing eternal, nor does man ever remain in the same state, need is that our soul, so long as we live in the flesh, be fed with some variety of nourishment. Let us, then, pass from our memories in the past to our experiences in the present, that from these too we may learn how de serving God is of our love.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Sixteenth Meditation

[§ 86. The writer’s review of his past life, and exhortation to his sister.] I think it no little blessing that God, turning our parents’ ill to good, created us of their flesh, and breathed into us the breath of life, distinguishing us from those who fall prematurely from the womb, or who, choked in their mothers, seem rather to have been
conceived for pain than for life. And that He further gave us sound and healthy limbs, so as not to be a grief to ourselves or an object of reproach to others, this assuredly is a great boon. But that He timed our birth as He did, and willed us to be born among people by whose intervention we were brought to His faith and sacraments; how shall we estimate this blessing and the measure of the goodness that prompted it? For what we rejoice to find has been granted to us we see to have been denied to men without number, whose lot as men is identical with ours. They have been left by justice, we have been called by grace.

Let us advance further. Recollecting that we were educated by Christian parents, that fire hurt us not, that water drowned us not, that we were not devoured by a demon, or worried by wild beasts, or killed by a fall, that we were nurtured up to ripe age in His faith and good pleasure, let us own that all was His gift. Thus far our lot was one and the same, children as we were of the same father, the same womb had enclosed us, the same bowels brought us forth.

And now, my sister, see by my case what great things God has done for your soul. He made a difference between you and me, as if between light and darkness; keeping you for Him, and leaving me to myself. O my God, whither did I go? whither did I fly? whither did I banish me? Driven from Thy Face like Cain, I lived on the earth a fugitive and a vagabond, and whoever was to find me was to kill me. For what was a miserable creative to do, abandoned by its Creator? Where was the lost sheep to go, where was it to hide itself, bereaved of its Shepherd? O my sister,
’twas a very evil beast that devoured thy brother. See then in me how great was His goodness in keeping thee unharmed by such a beast. How wretched am I, that lost my innocence! how happy you, whose virginity was protected by the Divine compassion! How often was your purity attempted and assailed, and yet preserved unhurt! whereas I, plunging wilfully into all sorts of shame, heaped up on my soul the fuel of a fire that was to burn me through, the elements of a corruption that was to kill me, the beginnings of the worms that were to gnaw me. Recall if you will all those my foulnesses over which you used to grieve, and for which you often chid me, you, girl and woman, me, boy and man. But the Scripture speaks not amiss which says,
‘No man can correct whom God hath despised’ (Eccl. vii. 14). O how dearly should you love the God who, while He cast me off, drew you to Himself; and, equal as were the states of both of us, yet despised me and loved you! Recall, as I said, my vile excesses, when the cloud of lust rose about me, and wanton concupiscence enthralled me, and there was no one to snatch me out and save me (Ps. vii. 3); for
‘the words of the wicked prevailed over me,’ who in the pleasant cup of love gave me to drink of the poison of wantonness. Natural sympathy with its charm and desire with its uncleanness combined in one, and at an age weak as yet, dragged me along the rough ways of vice, and then plunged me into a whirlpool of enormities. Thine anger and Thine indignation came upon me, O God, and I knew it not. I became the sport of my impurities, they wrecked and overwhelmed me; and Thou didst keep silence. Ah, my sister, consider carefully into what vilenesses and what foulness I was flung by my own free choice; and know that you too had fallen into such, but that the mercy of Christ preserved you.

I do not mean to say that He conferred no sort of good on me all the time that I say no thing here of the blessings I just now recounted as bestowed on both of us alike He with wonderful patience bore with my iniquities. To whom do I owe it that the earth did not swallow me up, that the bolts of heaven struck me not, nor the rivers drowned me? How could creation have endured so great injury against the Creator, but that He who made it, He who wills not the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live (Ezech. xxxiii. 11), restrained it? And, O, His grace to follow the fugitive as He did, and to soothe me in my alarm, and, all-despairing as I was, to restore me to hope, and, familiarised as I was with impurities, to attract and charm me with His sweetnesses, and undo the else indissoluble bonds of an evil habit, and to withdraw me from the world, and kindly receive me for His own! I pass in silence over His many dealings, many, and of great mercy, towards me; lest aught of the glory, which is all rightly His, should seem to be transferred to me. For the goodness of the Giver and the happiness of the recipient are so linked together by mankind, even in the estimates they form, as that not only is the Giver praised who were indeed the only one deserving praise but also the receiver. For who has anything that he has not received? And if he has received it by free gift, why praise him as if he had de served it? Praise, therefore, be to Thee, my God; glory be to Thee, thanksgiving be to Thee; but to me confusion of face (Dan. ix. 8), for that I have done so many ills and received so many goods.
‘How can it be, then,’ you will say, ‘that you have received less than I?’ O my sister, it is for the same sort of reason as that he is the happier man whose barque is borne back by the breezes safe to port with its cargo of merchandise and its lading of treasure; not he who has been wrecked, and escaped death with loss of everything. You, I mean, have your happiness in the treasure preserved to you by the Divine grace; whilst the chief labour incumbent on me is to repair what is broken, recover what is lost, patch up what is rent. Nay, indeed; I would have you be jealous of me, and think it just cause for shame if, after my so many enormities in my past life, I should ever hereafter prove to be your equal; for albeit the lustre of virginity is oft tarnished by some less and occasional faults, so fine is its nature, hateful evil courses, long persisted in, and sheer force of habit, mar the very features of virtues coming after vices.

Now, therefore, see what are the blessings in respect of which you have the sole experience of the Divine goodness; think with what a winning face Christ came to meet you when you renounced the world, with what dainties He has fed you when you were hungry, how great riches of His Divine compassion He has displayed to you, what affections He has inspired, and with what a cup of love He has inebriated you. For if He has not left without experience of spiritual consolations a runaway slave and rebel recalled by His sole mercy, what sweetness must
I not believe Him to have lavished on a virgin? If you were ever tempted, He sustained you; if you began to fail, He set you up. How often, when you were parched for fear, did He not stand by your side, a kind consoler! How often, when you panted for love of Him, did He not pour Himself into your very heart! How often, as you were singing or reading, did He not enlighten with His light the senses of your soul! How often, when you prayed, did He not ravish you with ineffable longings for Himself! How often, your mind being withdrawn from earthly things, did He not transport you into the midst of heavenly delights and the joys of paradise! Think of all these things, and turn them over in your mind, that all your heart’s love may be turned over to Him. O, let the world be worthless to you; let all carnal love be as dross; forget that you are in this world; for you have turned your heart’s intent and purpose to those who are in heaven and live in God; and where your treasure is, there, my sister, let your heart be also (St. Matt. vi. 21). Do not shut up your heart with the silver coins in your worthless purse; for you can never fly to heaven with a load of money about you. Think day by day that you are going to die, and you will not fidget yourself about to-morrow. Let not the future terrify you with its barren waste, nor a fear of coming hunger deject your spirits; but let all your trust rest in Him who feeds the birds and clothes the lilies. Let Him be your barn, make Him your treasury, make Him your purse, Him your riches, Him your joy; let Him alone be all in all to you. And meanwhile let this suffice for the things of the present.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Seventeenth Meditation

[§ 87. Death and its immediate sequel.] But, He who bestows on His own such great blessings in the present, what does He reserve for them in the future? As death is the termination of our present state, so is it the beginning of the future. Who is there whose nature does not shrink from it, and whose feelings experience no revulsion at the thought of it? The very beasts shun death, and cling to life, by flight, by concealment in hid den corners, and by a thousand other means.

Pay heed, now, to the answer thy conscience makes; and say, what assurance does thy faith make thee, what promise does thy hope hold out, what does thy love expect and long for? If thy life is a burden to thee, the world a weariness, and the flesh a grief, then surely death is thy desire; death that removes this burdensome yoke, and ends fatigue, and takes away the body with its pain. This one event, I tell thee, transcends all the delights, all the honours, and all the riches of the world; if only, by reason of a cloudless
conscience, a faith not to be shaken, and a certain hope, thou art not afraid to die; as he will best experience whose soul after having groaned awhile under the tyranny of this fear of death, has at last escaped into a freer air. For this is a salutary foretaste of thy future bliss; to find, I mean, that as death steals slowly on, thou canst overcome this natural horror by faith, temper it by hope, keep it at arm’s length by a conscience reconciled and pure; and if so, then death becomes to thee henceforth the beginning of repose, the goal of labours ended, and the end for ever of all moral ills. For thus it is written,
‘Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord’ (Apoc. xiv. 13). Whence the prophet, distinguishing between the death of the reprobate and the death of the just, says,
‘All the kings of the nations have all of them slept in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave, as an unprofitable branch, defiled and wrapped up’ (Is. xiv. 18, 19). Yes, all they have slept in glory, whose death has been composed and sanctified by a good conscience; for
‘precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints’ (Ps. cxv. 15). Yes, indeed; they have fallen asleep in glory, whose slumber is assisted at by angels, and thronged round about with saints that have sped to give assistance and minister solace to their fellow-citizen; for they do battle for him against his foes, repelling their onslaughts and rebutting their accusations; and so, escorting the holy soul onwards and away to the bosom of Abraham, compose it in a place of rest and peace. Not so the wicked; not so those whom accursed spirits tearing from the body as though they dragged them out of some loathsome sepulchre with instruments forged in hell, hurl down into the pit
‘defiled’ with lust, ‘wrapped up’ in the filth of desire, there to be burnt in fires through and through, there to be torn by birds, there to be suffocated with unending stench. Truly,
‘the expectation of the just is joy, but the hope of the wicked shall perish’ (Prov. x. 28). But what that rest and that peace shall be, and that joy in the bosom of Abraham which is assured to those there resting; and what is the happiness that they expect; no pen has skill to set it forth, for no man living has experienced what it is. They expect, they wait in happy expectation for the number of their brethren to be filled up, that so, on the day of the resurrection, they may all enjoy together their double robe,[8] that is to say, unending happiness both of body and of soul.

[§ 88. The Day of Judgment: the right hand and the left.] Now scan the terrors of that day when the virtues of the heavens shall be moved, when the elements shall be dissolved by fiery heat, when hell shall lie disclosed, when all hidden things shall be laid bare. The angry Judge shall descend from above, His fury burning, and His chariots as a tempest (Jer. iv. 13), to award punishment in His wrath, and destruction in flames of fire. O, happy he that is prepared to meet Him! And the wretched souls, what of them? How wretched then all they who now in this life are defiled by luxury, disordered by avarice, puffed up by pride.
‘The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just’ (St. Matt. xiii. 49), setting these on His right hand, and those on His left.

Now imagine that you are standing before the judgment-seat of Christ, between this company and that, and not yet assigned to either side. Cast your eyes to the left side of the Judge, and view that unhappy crowd. What shivering horror, what shame, what noisomeness, what fear, what agonies of grief, are there! See how they stand, all misery and woe, their teeth chattering, their bare breasts throbbing, their visage full of horror, their features distorted; crouching for very shame, and full of confusion at their foulness and nakedness. Gladly would they hide themselves, but that is not allowed them: they try to fly, but they are stopped. If they lift up their eyes, their angry Judge is frowning; if they cast them down, the horrible infernal pit flares upon them. There is no explaining away their crimes; to complain to their God of too severe a judgment will be impossible; for, whatever His decision, they know too well—their very
consciences tell them so—that it is just. See now, O see, how worthy of all thy love He is, in that by His predestination He has severed thee from this accursed company, by His call has wholly drawn thee away from it, and by His justification has purified thee to Himself.

Predestinated, called, justified; turn now your eyes to His right hand; and bethink you, into whose ranks will He place you, that He may glorify you? O what grace, what dignity, what joy and what security are theirs! Some of them set aloft on seats of judgment, others resplendent with crowns of martyrdom, others all white with virginal flowers, others enriched with largesses of almsgiving, others illustrious with sacred doctrine and erudition; yet all, all, one and all, of them are bound together in one holy society of charity. And the Face of Jesus shines on them; no object of terror, but of love; with no bitterness, but sweetness all; not alarming them, but soothing.

Now take your stand in the middle, as it were, not knowing to which company the Judge’s sentence will consign thee. O cruel suspense!
‘Fear and trembling are come upon me, and darkness ‘hath covered me’ (Ps. liv. 6). If He join me with those on His left hand, I shall have nothing to complain against His justice; if He enrol me with those on the right, to His grace must I attribute it, not to any merits of mine. In truth, O Lord, my life is in Thy will. Right well, then, may your soul expatiate in His love; for, though He might well have pronounced on you the sentence launched against the wicked, He has chosen rather to unite you with the just, that He may save you.

Imagine, therefore, that you are united with that sacred company, and that you hear the sentence from His Lips,
‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (St. Matt. xxv. 34). And then, the wretches listening to it, that other word of the Lord, full of anger and
fury, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire’ (ib. 41).
‘These shall go,’ He tells us, ‘into everlasting punishment; but the just into life eternal’
(ib. 46).
O cruel severance! O miserable lot! For, the wicked having been carried away lest they should see the glory of God, the just shall be taken, each one in his order, and set in his own place, according to his grade and merit, among the ranks of the angels; and then shall the glorious procession start upon its way, Christ our Head leading, and all His members following; and the kingdom shall be given up to God the Father, that He may reign in them and they in Him, sharing that kingdom which was prepared for them even from the very foundation of the world; a kingdom whose glorious state cannot even be conceived by us, much less described in writing or by words. This alone I know, that whatever you may wish to have shall not be wanting.

[§ 89. The joys of Heaven, and the joy of joys.] For there is no mourning there, no weeping, no sorrow, and no fear. There is no sadness there, no difference, no envy, no distress, no temptation, no changefulness and no unhealthiness of clime; no suspicion, no pretence, no flattery, no detraction, no sickness, no age, no death, no poverty, no night, no gloom; no need of eating, of drinking, or of sleeping; and no fatigue. What good, then, is there there? For, surely, where there is neither mourning, nor weeping, nor sorrow, nor sadness, what can there be but perfect joy? Where there is neither trial, nor distress, nor change of seasons, nor unhealthiness of clime; no summer too fierce, no winter too severe; what, what can there be but a certain perfect temperature of the elements, and true and uttermost tranquillity both of body and of mind? Where there is no cause for fear, what can there be but uttermost security? When neither envy nor estrangement, what but real and perfect love? Where no unsightliness, what but real and consummate beauty? Where no poverty, what but perfect fulness? Where neither labour nor exhaustion, what but uttermost repose and fullest strength? Where there is nothing to oppress or burden, what can there be but plenitude of happiness? And where old age and disease are never expected, never feared, what but truest health? Where no night is, and no darkness, what but perfect light? Where death and mortality are
altogether swallowed up, what is there but eternal life?

And what more can we require? Yes, indeed; we may ask for more, for something that transcends all this; I mean, the vision, the knowledge, and the love of the Creator. He shall be seen in Himself, and seen in all His creatures; ruling all things, but without solicitude; sustaining all things, but without exertion; communicating Himself in some strange way to each, according to his capacity, but without diminution of Himself, and without division of Himself. That Face shall be seen inviting all love and every longing, the Face that angels long to gaze into; and the meaning, the light, the sweetness of that Face, who, who shall tell them? The Father shall be seen in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and in each of Them the Holy Ghost. For He shall be seen as He is, the promise fulfilled in which He says,
‘He that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father; and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him’ (St. John xiv. 21).

And from this vision proceeds the knowledge of God, of which He Himself says,
‘This is life everlasting, that they may know Thee,
the only true God’ (ib. xvii. 3).

And from these two, the vision and the knowledge of God, there springs a love so great, an affection so ardent, a charity so sweet, a fruition so abundant, a longing so vehement, that neither satisfaction can pall desire, nor desire weary satisfaction. And what is this? What is it all? Ay,
‘the eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him’ (1 Cor. ii. 9).

Thus, my sister, from the recollection of past benefits from Christ, from experience of present, and from expectation of future, I have tried to sow in you some few seeds for meditations, whence may spring fruits of Divine love; only let meditation rouse your love, and let love awake desire, and let desire elicit tears; that so tears be your bread day and night (Ps. xli. 4), until you appear in His sight, and be embraced in His arms, and say as it is written in the Canticles,
‘My Beloved to me, and I to Him, He shall linger between my breasts’ (Cant. i. 12). Which may He vouchsafe to grant you, Who liveth and reigneth God for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Eighteenth Meditation

[§ 90. Thanksgiving for past blessings, and prayer for future.][9]

‘My Hope, my Light, sweet Lover of mankind;

True God and Christ, the Life, the Health, the Peace,

The Crown of all Thine own; fain would I tell

What for their saving Thou didst undergo,

Flesh of our flesh, bonds, cross, wounds, death, and grave;

Whence issuing in three days victoriously,

Death trodden under foot, Thou didst appear

To Thy disciples, strengthening their frail hearts;

Then, forty days elapsed, didst mount high heaven,

Where now Thou liv’st and reign’st for evermore.’[10]

Thou art my living God, my holy Christ, my merciful Lord, my great King, my good Shepherd, my Teacher of truth, my seasonable help, my Be loved beautiful beyond all men, my living Bread, my Priest for ever, my Guide and Leader to my fatherland, my true light, my heavenly sweetness, my straight way, my wisdom full of illumination, my stainless simplicity, my peace-making reconciliation, my safe protection, my good portion, my everlasting salvation, my great compassion, my all-enduring patience, my immaculate Victim, my holy redemption, my unfailing hope, my perfect charity, my holy resurrection, my eternal life, my exultation, and my most blessed life, Who shalt endure for evermore. Thee I beseech, implore, and beg, that Thou wouldest complete the work Thy mercy has begun in me; for I, the least of Thy servants, not unmindful of the benefits Thy tender mercy has bestowed on me, give thanks to Thee for that, notwithstanding my unworthiness, Thou of Thy sole compassion didst cause me to be born of Christian parents, and didst loose me from my original bonds by the waters of holy baptism and the Holy Spirit’s renovation, and didst enrol me in the company of the sons of Thy adoption; for Thou didst give me the gift of the right faith, and hast evermore vouchsafed to increase and confirm it in my heart by the illumination of Thy grace, and by the teachings of holy mother Church; and, O Lord, I beseech and suppliantly pray Thee, evermore increase this faith in me, this true and holy faith, this Catholic and orthodox faith, this most wise, far-seeing and inconquerable faith, this faith so richly adorned with all blessings and with every virtue, that so it may by love work in me what is pleasing to Thee, and may refuse to give way amidst words of strife in time of persecution, or in the day of necessity and death. O God, Thou Fount and Origin, Bestower and Preserver of all virtues, increase in me, I beseech Thee, true faith, unfailing hope, and perfect charity; profound humility, invincible patience, and perpetual chastity of body and of mind. Give me prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; discretion in all things, and a watchful sensibility, that I may wisely make discernment between good and evil, between the right hand and the left.
Therefore make me rich in holy virtues, so as by them to serve Thee, and by means of them to please Thee in truth; for by Thy grace I am enamoured of their beauty. Give me them for the honour and glory of Thy name; make them comrades of my faith, that they may be its inseparable companions all through the period of my life. And thus make me, I pray Thee, by Thy grace always stedfast in faith, and ready to do all good works, that Thy faith, which my tongue professes and my writings witness to, may be publicly and openly set forth by the good behaviour of an irreprovable life.

I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that though I was an empty vessel, worthless and senseless, yet Thou didst endue me with knowledge and under standing, and didst give me ever and anon some little skill wherewith to edify. Give me, besides, the gift of wise and very gentle speech, innocent of all bombast or pretence, and incapable of elation, by reason of gifts which are all Thine own, above my brethren. Put, I pray Thee, a word of comfort, of edification, of exhortation, into my mouth by Thy Holy Spirit, that so I may encourage the good to better things, and recall to the path of rectitude, both by word and by example, those who walk amiss. Let the words Thou givest to Thy servant be like sharpest darts and burning arrows, to penetrate and inflame the hearts of those who listen to the fear and the love of Thee, Thou Pastor and Ruler of all, Thou Christ and God, who hast called my littleness to this pastoral office for no merits of mine, but by the sole condescension of Thy mercy; do Thou, for Thine own sake and Thy mercy’s sake, fit me for this ministry, that I may rule
Thy house wisely, and be strengthened in all things to feed Thy flock according
to Thy will. Grant, for Thy mercy and goodness’ sake, that I may be made a
burning and shining light in Thy house; and vouchsafe for the honour and glory
of Thy Name that I may merit to attain Thy glory, bringing much good fruit with
me from this community of brethren, for to Thee nothing is difficult, nothing is impossible. With Thee to will is to do; Thy will is act. And so with the heart I believe, and with the mouth I make confession (Rom. x. 10), that Thou art both able and willing to perfect to great issues by me, who am so little and so worthless, this work of Thine; I know and am assured that Thou art able to bring forth good fruit and abundant from Thy flock by means of me, me that am so little and so weak. I am indeed a little, frail, and worthless son of man, having in me nothing that can be of service, nothing that can be suitable to so high an office; and therefore, despairing altogether on account of my own littleness and incapacity, I only find relief and breathe again in Thy mercy, in that and nothing else.

But great though Thou be in great things, yet dost Thou show more glorious still in least; and sweeter than ever, more abundant than ever, will be Thy praise in the mouth of men, when, by means of me, who am so little, Thou shalt have deigned to do great things by Thy flock. Send therefore to my help Thy holy angel out of heaven, that he, helping me in all things, may make this work of Thine prosper in my hand; so that Thy Name be glorified in me, a miserable sinner.
Rich in mercy, bountiful in gifts, who givest all to all and losest nothing, grant me heavenly and earthly aid in full sufficiency, that I may have wherewith to feed and to sustain Thy flock both in body and in soul, and to welcome without any hesitation those who come in Thy Name, and also to order and prepare for the repose and well-being of my brethren all the places intrusted to my management, as is fit ting and as duty bids. All this I ask of Thee, O Lord our God; for all our blessings are gifts from Thee, nor can we else serve and please Thee save only by Thy gift.

But if haply it is not in the counsel of Thy eternal will to gain much fruit from Thy sheep by my means, then, I implore and suppliantly pray Thee, release me from the bonds of so weighty an office in ways pleasing to Thyself by the disposition that seems good to Thee. For Thou knowest all things, and canst do all things. What do I here? Why do I dwell in these turmoils, if I am not to do by Thy grace some good for the salvation of my brethren? Two things do I seek from Thee, and for Thy clemency deny me not one of the two. I pray Thee by all Thy loving-kindness give me Thy heavenly consolation in my many troubles. For, as to that exceeding heavy burden which has been laid on my shoulders, I have not strength to carry it; I am afraid to set it down. I am straitened either way, and which to choose I know not. O God, the helper of all that trust in Thee, let not Thy mercy leave me nor Thy grace forsake me. O God, keep me; for I trust in Thee, and I confide only in Thy mercy; , since without Thee I cannot please Thee. Did ever any one hope in Thee, and was confounded? (Ecclus. ii. 11.) From the beginning of the world it hath not been heard (St. John ix. 32). Thou art the all-good God, of infinite mercy and boundless goodness, and wert never wont to forsake them that hope in Thee. O show Thy mercy upon me, I beseech Thee; for I have fled to Thee;
‘that they who hate me may see and be confounded, because Thou, O Lord, hast helped me, and hast comforted me’ (Ps.
lxxxv. 17).

[§ 91. Thanksgiving for past blessings, and prayer for future.] I give Thee thanks, O Lord, that Thou hast separated me from the vain society of this world, and led me on to this Thy sacred office, for no merits of mine, but by the sole condescension of Thy mercy. I bless Thee, O Lord our God, who givest me, undeserving as I am, to enjoy the society and the love of Thy servants. Give me quiet, give me health of body and health of soul; and withal suitable leisure to devote to Thee. Deliver me from the vain entanglements of this world; so that my soul may profit, for the honour and glory of Thy Name. And since it is written,
‘No man, being a soldier to God, entangleth himself with worldly business’ (2 Tim. ii. 4); and since Thou dost for this end withdraw from all cares and turmoil the souls of them that serve Thee, that they may be intent on Thee, their only Lord, by night and by day; give those who renounce the world a fruitful and spiritual disengagement, that with the palate of their inmost heart they may taste and see
‘that the Lord is sweet’ (1 St. Pet. ii. 3); that Thou, O Lord, art sweet and pleasant, as Thy scripture doth instruct us, saying,
‘Be still, and see that I am God’ (Ps. xlv. 11); and in another place, ‘The wisdom of a scribe cometh by his time of leisure; and he that is less in action shall receive wisdom’ (Ecclus. xxxviii. 25). But let the all-holy word which issued from Thy mouth inform us yet more fully,
‘You cannot serve God and mammon’ (St. Matt. vi. 24); and again, ‘No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God’ (St. Luke ix. 62); and Thou dost vouchsafe in another place to recall us by an evident instance,
‘Be you mindful of Lot’s wife’ (St. Luke xvii. 32).

I give Thee thanks, most merciful Lord, that, miserable and most heedless sinner though I be, and have been from the first, and though, beginning from my cradle, I have run through well nigh every course of vice and sin, yet still Thou dost so kindly and forbearingly await me and invite me to repentance; not willing to destroy me with my sins, my faults, my failings, and my neglects. For if Thou hadst willed to deal with me according to my sins, long, long ago had the earth swallowed me up alive. But, I pray Thee, Lord of pity, let not Thy waiting for me be in vain; let it not have been unfruitful all. Thou, who desirest not the death of the wicked (Ezech. xxxiii. 11), give for my past ills forgiveness, and amendment for the present; and, as to those yet to be, ever, ever grant me watchfulness and caution. Give me opportunity and space for fruit worthy of
penance (St. Luke iii. 8); open the eyes of my heart by Thy Holy Spirit, that I may see and bewail all my sins. Behold, Lord,
‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Cor. ii. 6). Have mercy on me, O Lord, and destroy me not with my sins; nor reserve my ills for punishment in that life to come, in those torments of hell, in that fearful scrutiny of Thine. For Thy tender mercy’s sake loose the bonds of all my sins before I pass away from this life. Give me a contrite and humble heart; give me the gift of tears. Give me light in my heart, strength in my body, that I may see what is to be done, and, what I see, may have strength and vigour to accomplish all the days of my life.
‘Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me’ (Ps.
lvi. 2). Let not this sinful soul, for which Thou didst deign to be born of the Virgin and to die on the Cross—bid it not, I pray Thee, be separated from this mortal body before Thou make me fully and perfectly repent, and bemoan all sins soever that I have committed since baptism, sins from my very cradle, whether committed knowingly or unknowingly, whether committed from self-sufficiency or from carelessness. So may I in the day of my departure, all my faults cleansed away, and my whole behaviour chastened and corrected to what is good, gaze all secure and happy on Thy all-sweet, all-lovely Face, full of joy and exultation for Thy boundless mercy and goodness.

Again I give Thee thanks, and yet again, O merciful almighty Christ, that Thou hast hitherto been pleased to deliver me, worthless and insignificant as I am, for Thine own sake and Thy Holy Name’s sake, from many straits, many tribulations, calamities, and sicknesses; to save me from many pits, snares, scandals, and sins; from many treacheries of foes visible and invisible; from many evils and most serious perils; marvellously and mercifully guiding my life’s course between adversity on the one hand, and prosperity on the other, so that neither should the one deject me nor the other too much elate. For Thou hast put a bridle on my jaws, and hast not left me altogether at the disposal of my own will, having care for me in Thy fatherly compassion, and not suffering me to be tempted beyond my power of endurance (1 Cor. x. 13). Where there was opportunity for sinning, often there was not the will; or where there was the will, opportunity was wanting.

Therefore be praise and benediction and thanks giving rendered unto Thee, O Lord my God, for all Thy gifts and largesses,
and for all the benefits which Thou dost lavish on me both in soul and body, and hast lavished incessantly even from my cradle, such has been Thy
mercy and Thy goodness, no merits of mine requiring; nay, rather, my sins notwithstanding. But I pray Thee, Lord, I pray Thee, let me not be unthankful
for such great benefits, nor unworthy of so many mercies. Be it neither mine, nor the devil’s, nor the world’s, nor anything’s, nor any man’s whatsoever,
to over throw Thy gifts in me; for whatever would oppose Thee is soon dashed to pieces. Put Thy bridle, I beseech, tighter and tighter to my jaws,
and lead me after Thee like some tractable and gentle brute; in nothing rebellious to Thy bidding, but with even and measured step carrying Thee,
my Lord, and in all things submissive to Thy will. Bestir my sluggishness, O Lord, with whips and goads of Thine, and make me with my whole heart
and energies seek Thy Face all the days of my life. Draw me to Thee, O God, Thou virtue of our salvation, with the rein of Thy mighty grace, and
let me not wander loose from wilfulness of mine in places of my own choosing. Let not Thy Image be defaced and blurred in me; for
so long as it is protected by Thy care it remains ever noble, princely, and distinct. Have mercy on me, O Lord, on me Thy most miserable and
unworthy servant; for I am not like those numberlessly many vassals of Thine, who have served Thee from their cradle; nor like those who, after
notorious sins committed, have merited by penance to become devout; nor like the Christian married women, not a few, who do Thee service by works of
mercy with utmost devotion; nor again am I like many of those who, in the eyes of men, seem wicked and renegade, but show far otherwise in Thy sight;
for ‘Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men’ (2 Par. vi. 30). But if, by Thy bountiful grace, I ever do or ever shall do any good, I know
not for what issue it is done, nor with what strict scrutiny it will be judged by Thee. Wherefore, O God, who art terrible in Thy counsels over the
sons of men (Ps. lxv. 5), I suppliantly and with exceeding dread implore Thy holy and infinite condescension, forasmuch as Thou wilt have none perish
but that all should be saved, not to leave me to the disposal of my own designs, not to the sentence of
my own will, nor within the power or temptation of the demons, nor to the erring judgment or the harmful designs of men; but for Thy goodness and Thy mercy’s sake,
according to that all-bountiful providence which can never be mistaken in its designs, do Thou here and ever, now and always, dispose the days of my life in
the order of Thy good pleasure, and by Thy Holy Spirit direct my heart, my tongue, and my actions by Thy mercy in accordance to Thy will; that Thou being my Ruler,
and Thou my Guide, I may ever truly study by Thy grace to speak and to do what is pleasing to Thee; so may they conduct me at last to eternal life, through Thy mercy
and Thy gift, who art the bestower of all good things, and who art with the Father and the Holy Ghost God blessed for ever and ever. Amen,

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Nineteenth Meditation

[§ 92.] I. Wonder at the unspeakable goodness of God the Creator, and the deep misery of man the creature. When I consider what God is, how sweet His Being, how loveable, and how good; when I think how It baffles all resources of speech and all capacity of wonder, and what demands It makes on the reverence and the admiration of every creature; and when, on the other hand, I see and understand what man is, whom very God made to His own Image and Likeness, and whom, furthermore, He created such that as he should al ways display in himself the image of his Creator, so he might always keep in mind the will and the love of Him who made him such as he is; when I review all this, I am overcome with wonder and with astonishment at the inestimable goodness of the Creator God, and the great misery of the creature man.

I wonder at the unspeakable goodness of God, that being, as He is, most omnipotent and most just, He should allow man to live even for a single hour; man whom He was pleased to create crowned with honour, in order that, as he, man, was more noble in himself than other creatures, so he should ever live, according to the will of his Creator, a more noble life than other creatures. And yet, most wretched and most miserable being, he does the very contrary; inasmuch as, whilst all other creatures ever correspond with the will of their Creator, he always, or at best only not always, contradicts and resists His will.

And I wonder also at man’s unbounded misery; I wonder to see that he has so far lost sense, and to such a degree lives like the very beast which has no sense, as at times to lose sight of his Creator, whereas he cannot ever lose sight of himself. I suppose that, unless he be mad, he is never oblivious of himself; never, I mean, so far oblivious as not to be well aware that he exists, and that he is a living and an intelligent being. Surely, it is fit matter for wonder and for unbounded astonishment, that man, so well aware that he possesses all these endowments, should ever lose sight of Him whose good pleasure it has been to bestow all these endowments on him.

[§ 93.] II. The degree to which man may be loved by man, and the reason why God should be more loved than any human being. The man who in this life receives some benefit or other from a fellow man will not unfrequently love his benefactor with so fervent an attachment, and devote himself to his service with such utter self-abandonment, as even not to shrink from facing death, and that more than once, in his behalf, should that benefactor’s interest require it. And yet no one is so devoid of sense as not to be sufficiently well aware that nothing which a man may possess in this life, nothing which one man may give to an other, can possibly be retained for ever, but that the owner must forego it before it comes to an end in the ordinary course of things, or, if not before, at any rate when it does come to an end.

But what God in this life gives to man is either such that he can never part with it and that none can ever take it from him, or else it is such that, even though man should forego it, it had been possible for him, by means of it, to merit an existence to all eternity with his Creator in a life of bliss. In this life, however, God frequently enough gives man the means of living according to reason, of loving his Creator as He commands and as is just, of paying persistent and unvarying obedience to His commandments; and no man can deprive him of this good, unless he of his own sole will forego it. Money, perishable money, he must forego, will he, nill he; but, so long as he has it, if he dispenses it as his God has bidden, he will merit by doing so to attain to eternal life.

O the infinite goodness and the inestimable condescension of our Creator! Having no need of man in any respect or at any time, yet of His sole goodness He created man, and creating him, endowed him with capacity of reason, that so he might be able to share His happiness and His eternity, and thus possess with Him joy and gladness everlastingly. And even now, although in many respects man stands opposed to Him, and does many things, knowingly and willingly, which must displease Him; yet does God admonish him to return and sue for pity of his Creator, and never presume to despair, whatever be the sin that he has committed. For He is the Fountain of mercy and compassion; and He longs to cleanse all men, with however deep a stain of sin they be defiled, and having cleansed them, to award them the joy of everlasting life.

[§ 94.] III. God made all things good, but He alone is Good essentially. O dearest and most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, Who art the merciful Lover of man kind and most compassionate Redeemer of sinners, let my soul adore Thee, let all my life be spent in Thy service, let all my inward parts yearn after Thee. My poor soul desires, O Lord, desires to think of Thee, to scan Thy wonders, and to know to the full how good Thou art to sinners, lest, falling into despair on account of my sins, I should by deliberate choice estrange myself from Thy goodness; but that, so fixing my mind on Thee, and believing in Thee, Who art the Truth,
I may now at last desist from my evil ways, and reset for the doing what is right a will that has been warped and bent by sins and wicked deeds.

I know, O Lord, that Thou hast made out of nothing all things that are; that they were not, and Thou madest them; but Thou Who madest them hast ever been, and time was never when Thou wast not. Thou wast ever good, ever omnipotent;
and therefore whatever things Thou hast made, Thou hast made them good. Thou,
therefore, Who hast been, art, and wilt be, ever; and Who earnest not out of
non-existence into being; as Being has been ever Thine, so have also goodness and omnipotence been ever Thine. And hence Thou hast no other law of being than goodness and omnipotence; and what is to Thee the law of being is by that very fact goodness and omnipotence; and so Thou canst not be other than good and omnipotent. And so of all that may in like manner be predicated or believed of Thee.

Yes, Thou truly art, and there is nothing else besides Thee, and Thou in Thyself simply art. For what Thou art now Thou dost not anon cease to be, but what Thou art now that Thou art ever. But the creature’s essence, whose being has not always been, but which has through Thee and by Thee come from non-existence into existence, is not identically the same as goodness and omnipotence; but when it is good, and when it has the capacity of doing good, the character and the capacity are alike from Thee, Thee Who art essentially good and omnipotent. Thou madest every creature good; and yet Thou hast not given to every creature, good though it have been made by Thee, reason by which to understand Thee. And although every creature praise Thee, and proclaim Thee its Creator and its Governor, yet every creature doth not understand Thee, but only the rational creation and that which Thou hast made to Thine image and likeness.

[§ 95.] IV. The praise of the Creator by the whole creation. And yet that creation even which Thou hast not gifted with intelligence praises Thee, when the rational creation beholds that it has been by Thee created so good, and ordered on so exquisite a plan. And this is being praised by it; Thy being understood, namely, by the rational creation to have made it good and ordered it exquisitely. But Thou hast distinguished between man’s nature and that nature which is not gifted with intelligence; Thou hast distinguished by ordaining that human nature [i.e. humanity], on whose account Thou madest that other [i.e. the irrational] creation, should dispose it according to Thy will, and should exact and receive from it, by Thy allowance, the means of its own sustentation.

But man—for he is composed of two parts different in origin from each other, soul,
namely, and body—receives the aliment needful for his bodily life from the creature, but draws the sup plies of his spiritual life
from the Creator; and yet both one and the other from the Creator. Man, in short, here in this transitory state lives
the life of the flesh so long as he is nourished with human food, and lives the life of the soul so long as he observes the will
and keeps the commandments of his Creator. And just as he dies the death of the flesh if he is not supported by human food, so
does he die the death of the soul when he disobeys the Divine commands. Man therefore, compound that he is of soul and flesh,
lives in his flesh and in his soul by doing what God bids, for by such a course he merits a blissful life with his Creator
in the life eternal. But if he essay to deviate from the course enjoined by his Creator, and seek in preference to live
according to the desires of the flesh—which indeed is not truly to live, but rather a miserable forfeiting of life—it
must clearly appear to the attentive thinker, that in man thus degraded is not the fashion of that perfect Man who was
created to the image of God, but rather a resemblance to the brute whose behaviour he takes care to copy. And in such
an event may it truly enough be averred that he is dead, doomed, as he is, to eternal death should he persist in this
course to the end.

[§ 96.] V. The resemblance of man to his Creator. Now God the Creator made man to His
Image and Likeness, for He made him a rational being. And just as God is good in will, so is man, made after His likeness, good also in will; in
this respect like the Creator, the Creator good in will, man good in will; but in another respect unlike Him, for the Creator is eternally good by and of Himself, and good by the law of His Being, whereas man is only good as imitating Him who eternally and essentially is of and by Himself good. The Creator, as I have just said, is good in will; man, made to the image of the Creator, is good in will, but with a difference, thus: The Creator neither wills to be nor can be other than good, whether in being or in will: for
will and can, will and power are His to be, His essence; whereas in man will and power are separable and separate from being. If, however, man conforms with the will of God, and wills what God does, he exhibits in himself the Image of God; and if he persevere in this even to the end, he merits, by the operation of the Divine compassion, to be close joined through eternity to his Creator’s will, and never again to be capable of detachment from it any more for ever. And just as in the Creator, Being is not separable from will, or will separable from Being, so too, after his measure, in man, once entered on
that happy state of existence, shall will be, by his Creator’s gift, as unchangeable in him as being; the which being shall be as undoubtedly able to do
whatever it may will as from subsisting in an undoubtedly happy state it shall be an undoubtedly happy being. And then shall man have free power of choice, truly
free because set free entirely from all evil: according as here in this transitory state he wills, so long as he lives, to do, God’s grace working in him, what God
commands, and to leave undone what God forbids.

[§ 97.] VI. Man is composed of two parts; by the one of which he is raised to highest things, and by the other dragged down to lowest. Now man is composed of two parts; one of them in the order of soul, the other in the order of flesh. The soul’s natural tendency—for the soul is a spiritual substance—is by the very law of its being to objects above itself; but that of the flesh—since the flesh passes forth from desire into the region of carnal appetites—is by a sort of inherent law towards things below. Between these two natural components of man stands the will, occupying as it were a middle place, and gifted with free power of choice. And should the will, by an exercise of this free choice, yoke and conjoin itself with the soul, which by an inherent law tends upwards, then soul and will by their united
strength—not, however, without inspiration from Divine grace—raise the flesh upwards with themselves to a highest
sphere, and lodge it there, to live without end in eternal happiness—happiness, indeed; for now at last there is no repugnancy
henceforward between flesh and soul, but they have evermore one only love, one only will; and then shall the will of God the
Creator and man the creature whom He made to His own image and likeness, be simply, absolutely one; for God shall be all in all
(1 Cor. xv. 28). But if, on the contrary, the will, by means of that same free choice, yokes itself with the desires of the flesh, which by a certain inherent
tendency incline to lowest things, then the will, making so ill a use of its free choice, and with it the flesh unite in dragging downwards the soul, bereft
of assistance from above; and the sins of man plunge the whole man, man’s self—his soul, namely,
and his body—into destruction, so as henceforth to possess nothing but ill, and endure nothing but torment.

[§ 98.] VII. Here man prays God not to allow
him to make ill use of his free power of choice. O my sweetest Lord and most merciful God, my Creator, my Salvation, my Life, my Hope, my Consolation, and my Refuge, do Thou govern and uphold my power of free choice by Thy grace and by Thy all-merciful loving-kindness, that
I may not by an ill use of it offend Thee, my dearest Creator; and whensoever evil charms me, or ever I carry it out in act, crush and destroy all my evil desire. Rather would I, O dearest Father, be dragged even against my will by Thee, and thrown manacled and fettered into some neglected corner of Thy house, and left lying there, than that I should be severed from Thee; and there, though I may not, through my sins, be allowed to gaze on Thy all-merciful Face, yet be it mine at least to listen to the gladness and the joy of them that wait on Thee.

Who, sweetest Creator of mankind, who can measure that unspeakable goodness of Thine, where with Thou hast loved our human nature to such excess of love, as not only to have created it when it was not, but for love of it to have become
Thyself a creature? Who can have heart so hard, so stony hard, as, knowing and scanning well Thy so great love to man whom Thou createdst, not
to be softened, and melted through and through into acknowledgment and adoration of Thy sweetness? Yes, yes, my soul; yes, yes, my heart, and all you inward parts of me; the wonder is that you ever can forget the so great charity and the so great mercy of your Creator. See, see, poor man, what thy Creator and what thy Lord has done. He whose TO BE ever is and ever was, He the Un changeable and the Invisible, He the Incomprehensible and the Immeasurable, He after a
wondrous and ineffable manner, without setting aside or foregoing His own TO BE,
‘debased Himself’ (Phil. ii. 7) in thy behalf, when in thy behalf He willed to be made a creature, that so He might
reconcile thee, who earnest out of non-existence into being, to Himself, who, so far from coming into being out of non-existence, had Being everlastingly; reconcile thee by so intimate a fellowship; and reconciling, remodel and restore thee to thy pristine dignity; and lead thee thus reformed home to His own TO BE.
Lo now, my God and my Creator, lo now Thou seest where I have landed in my meditations; and withal Thou seest how thus musing my poor soul is even yet enslaved to vanities and follies; for if, pitifully regarded by Thy grace, I begin at any time to meditate as may seem to tend to some little my soul’s profit, my mind, so unstable is it, so almost void of all good, soon, soon, too soon glides away into vanity and harm; unstable and empty as the chaff which the veriest breath of wind blows from the threshing-floor.

Therefore, seeing, as Thou dost, that my mind is so inconstant, so sluggish, and so indolent in meditating on what is serviceable, so eager and so zealous to what is harmful, bethink Thee not of my sinfulness. I am a sinner; I confess it, I
confess it; I am a graceless sinner, an unclean sinner; and yet I do not leave Thee, dearest Jesus Christ. Wilt Thou or wilt Thou not, I will not let Thee go,
weak though the hand be that detains Thee: Thou shalt go from me not except Thou absolve me from every thought of sin. Strike me, correct me, chide me; ay, chastise
Thy servant; and chastise him, until by Thy unspeakable goodness Thou lead me to the glory of Thy vision face to face.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Twentieth Meditation

[§ 99.] Complaint of the soul banished from God. My sinful soul is not content, O Lord, is not content with trusting that its sins are removed out of the abundance of Thy unspeakable mercy; it would fain have the grief removed which it suffers from the withholding of Thy Countenance, by at least giving vent to its complaint in Thy Presence. For it is absent from Thee, its Lord, and that on account of its iniquities.

I begin my meditation, then, by proposing that my sorrow be consoled; and, lo, the very gaining of the comfort is a fresh aggravation of the sorrow. For the very quest after consolation awakens in my mind a fresh consciousness of sorrow. I should not seek for consolation were I not conscious of my grief; for the search after the soothing repose of consolation is prompted by the consciousness of grief; and yet that very search does but quicken and enhance the consciousness. And thus the oftener the picture of my grief is set before the mind, the more vividly is it aggravated and
increased. What, then, am I doing? Is it really so that the
exhibition of one’s grief ever yields by way of return some solace, however
little?

Let me unfold, O Lord, before the eye of Thy mercy the
bitternesses of my soul, all the bitternesses that spring from its accumulated
iniquities, and hedge it round about; for, but for those iniquities, it would
not have to endure, as it does, its estrangement from Thy all-lovely Face. ’Tis hence that comes the utmost of my grief, O Lord; the know ledge that Thy
clemency has been so grievously offended by my iniquity, and that by that very
iniquity my heart’s eye is blinded so that it cannot see the light of Thy
desirable splendours. Thou madest me to rejoice in Thee; but I have made myself
so base that I blush to appear in Thy Presence. For ‘my iniquities are gone
over my head, and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me’ (Ps. xxxvii. 5):
my mind is bewildered with the stupefying gall of wickedness; my soul is stained
with vices and uncleanness; my heart is filled with the corruption of injustice;
my soul is ensnared in sinful toils, and all my whole being burdened with a
mountain of crimes. Who, then, will succour me, plunged as I am in such a deep
of miseries? Who will stretch out a hand to help me? What! have I, and I alone—alas, ’tis too true—exasperated
my God so grievously, that neither He nor any of His creatures needs notice me
any more? Woe is me! Why, why did I stay in the world even for an hour after I
was born, that I should do so great injury against my God? Why is life so long
allowed me that I should only squander it in vicious affections?

And yet why do I deplore the lengthening out of life, when I see that that very lengthening is God’s invitation to me to repent?
‘Knowest thou not,’ says the Apostle, ‘that the benignity of God leadeth thee to
penance?’ ‘But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God’ (Rom. ii. 4, 5). Life, in short, is allowed me that I may amend it. And why, then, is it not amended? And if life is prolonged for penance, why is that penance so in sincere? If God has mercy on my soul, standing aloof for a little space, why, why has it not mercy on itself by setting aside its sins? O senseless hardness of this heart of mine! Death is delayed, that life may be reformed; and yet, as life is lengthened out, a death more dire is laid up in store for me. Trouble, trouble either way. While I am in the body, I am absent from the Lord (2 Cor. v. 6); and I dread the while, lest for my sins it should be worse with me out of the body, to leave the body. I grieve that I am defrauded of God’s Presence; and I dread to encounter a removal from this body of corruption, although no otherwise can I be inducted to that Presence.

What is it, what is it, O Lord, that this poor sinner’s heart beholds, and yet knows not how to syllable? Indeed,
O good Jesus, to be dissolved and to be with Thee is by far the very best of is sues. Why, then, is not that desired which is surely known to be the best? To be dissolved and to be with Christ (Phil. i. 23) is bliss; to be pinioned with the body and kept away from Christ is misery. Why, then, fear to be rid of the misery, and not desire to possess the bliss? No; this, this is the reason why we do not desire to be dissolved from the body, this is it; that we are doubtful whether, after the dissolution, it will be granted unto us to be with Christ.

[§ 100. The soul’s absence from God.] And thus it comes about that our lodging in the flesh is judged a profitable thing;
for so long as we live in it, amendment of life is looked forward to with hope.
O the sins of men! For by their merit human life, misery that it is, is yet accounted profitable. Is it not so, that all this present life is misery? And this misery, albeit it is profitable in some instances even to the just, that they may augment their merit, proves to be the last of all necessities for the wicked, that they may provide themselves the medicine of penance. But note the difference; this one and the self-same misery challenges the grief of good minds, whilst by the unwise it is all too dangerously loved. For persisting in love of it, they move from this very misery on to misery everlasting; and their passage through a course of misery on to misery is effected in miserable sort: since this present misery is spent in the labour that their lusts impose, and the misery that is to be immediately after, and that shall never end, is endured in never-ending sorrow. Nay, indeed, that same misery will be all the sharper punishment as this life’s misery shall have been lengthened with a view to repentance. O Father, Thou who truly ART, since Thou in highest sense art—for
‘Thou art always the Self-same, and Thy years shall not fail’ (Ps. ci. 28)—come
and succour one oppressed with misery. For if the misery which, by the disposition of Thy mercy, I endure for the avoiding of a greater misery—and avoided it may be by the pursuit of penance—be protracted, why yet is this misery so much loved? Why do I love what I must needs forego so soon, and not desire what might secure beatitude when the misery of this present life is ended? If I am not able to love, as it were well that I should, the bliss which Thou dost promise to those that love Thee, why do I not at any rate dread the punishments Thou threatenest to them that despise Thee, one of whom—O grief—I am? For if I dreaded them, surely I should amend my ways, in some degree at least; and so would it be brought to pass that, through Thy mercy’s gift, I should attain sometime to the goal of love by the way of fear and chastisement.

But why do I not fear Thy judgments, unless it be. that I am so remiss in meditating on them? And, lest I should be able to think about them as frequently as I ought, my faults stand ever in my way, flattering and cajoling me with pleasures and allurements fraught with death. O Lord, O Lord, behold,
‘I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid’ (Ps. cxv. 16); for, although a sinner, yet the son of Thy holy Church. But what have I said! How could I dare to use the words,
‘Thy servant,’ when I know full well that I am the servant of sins? for
‘whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin’ (St. John viii. 34); and I fail not to sin incessantly; I am the servant, then, of sin; how, then, could I dare to say
‘Thy servant’?
No, no; I would not have said the word, were it not that, presuming on Thy
unspeakable compassion, I could even dare to say it; for servant though I be of
sin by the infirmity I am enduring, yet I am Thy servant by the desire which, I
rejoice to know, has been granted me by Thy adorable goodness. I am, then, Thy
servant, O Lord; if not in act and habit, yet at least in affection and will.
But herein am I in wretched and most deplorable plight; that, though I own
myself Thy servant, yet I do not strive to render Thee the honour due unto my
Lord, as it were well I should. For if I did, nothing, nothing could ever allure
me from the thought of Thee, and from the desire of understanding Thee, or from
the blissful sweetness of Thy love. O my Lord, O my Lord, why, since Thou art my
Lord, do I not live as servant of Thine ought to live? I own Thee for my God,
and I desire to be Thy servant; why fail I, then, in practice to lead a life
worthy of Thy servant?

[§ 101. Complaint of the soul banished from God.] But why should I not seek for the cause of this very misery, since I cannot doubt that it has been merited by my iniquity? Ah me! Why do I live? Why do I live so long, who live so ill? To live is granted me that death may be avoided; and that very living is found to be even worse than death. O, all-wise Maker of mankind and me, Thou givest me opportunity of endeavouring to prepare for the contemplation of Thy beauty; and I fail not day by day to show myself vile and viler still. What, O my God, more lovely than Thy unspeakable glory? and what more vile than my iniquity? O deepest heart of mine, feast thee upon sighs; so making sorrow thy pursuit shalt thou be illuminated with fresh beauty, and thine inward eye the easier lifted to behold the glory of the Light Supreme. O inmost soul of mine, away now with all thy foolish flights, set thyself to gaze only on the Divine Effulgence, and for desire of It shed plentiful showers of tears; so shall thy countless filthy stains be washed out by their flooding tide, and the pristine beauty lavished on thee by the bountiful Framer of all things be restored to thee again, by the providence of His mercy. And you, O my inward parts, strain all your powers, ply all your best endeavours, in quest of that pure, that simple, that eternal, that sole blessed Good, Whose light shall banish all your gloom, Whose limpid flood shall wash out all your stains, Whose freedom shall loosen all the bonds that bind you down enslaved to vice, Whose strength shall inform all your weakness, Whose wisdom chase away your folly, Whose life save you from eternal death, and make you sharers of His immortality. O Good surpassing all goods—for from Thee and in Thee all goods are, forasmuch as all goods art Thou—I confess that my ills are all too great, for too many and grievous are my sins,
and my faults increased past measurement; for hitherto my mind has—O how miserably!—been intently set upon them. O ills of mine, why have you so cruelly overridden me, and estranged me from the All-Good? O sins of mine, why hold you me so mercilessly entangled in your meshes, and suffer me not to enter into holy freedom? O faults of mine, why do you make my heart cling to you,—just as
the anteater’s tongue[11]
is wont to enthrall insects by its own sheer tenacity,—and allow me not to escape from you? Be troubled, O my mind; faint, faint, my heart; shrink with horror, O my soul; and you, my eyes, grow dim with weeping.
For what is to be found more wretched every way than I am? All things ever keep inviolate their appointed order; but as to mine, I violate it daily.

[§ 102. The soul’s return to God.] But He who bears so long with the sinner, will He refuse to receive the penitent? I will go
therefore to my Father, though I be a worthless child; I will go to Him, the innocence He gave me squandered all; I will go, famished with long, long hunger that I endure unfed with His heavenly converse; I. will go, and I will say to
‘Him,’ ‘Father,
I am not now worthy to be called Thy SON’ (St. Luke xv. 19); I do not venture to strive with Thy children for place of dignity; I only ask for mercy among Thy servants;
‘make me,’ therefore, ‘as one of Thy hired servants.’ Thus, merciful Father, shall Thy compassion be told abroad; and Thy riches will be none the less if Thou run to meet me as I desire to return to Thee, and if Thou fold me in the arms of Thy mercy, and bid me be adorned with the ring of faith and the robe of justice, and deign to say of me to Thy angels,
‘This My son was dead, and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found’ (ib. 24). But who, O all-good and admirable Father, shall give me to eat with worthy sentiments of faith and holiness of that fatted calf, given by Thee and immolated for my redemption on the altar of the Cross? For who is that mystic Calf, so meek in the death of sacrifice, so health-giving when partaken of as food; who but that Thine own only-begotten Son, whom Thou didst not spare but didst deliver up for us all? (Rom. viii. 32.)
’Tis He, O Lord, ’tis He with whose sweetness my heart pants to be refreshed; and this is He whom my mind longs to love before all things.
’Tis He by whose absence from her my soul complains with many sighs that she should be so estranged from Him.

But if I desire the Son do I in this neglect the Father? Far be it from me. Nay, how can it be possible? For the Father who begot is not other (by nature) than the Son who was begotten; and again, what the Son is that the Father is, albeit the Father is not the same Person with the’ Son. And how can I desire the Father and the Son, that Love of Father and of Son removed, who is not other (by nature) than what Father and Son is, and yet is another Person than Father and than Son? No, it cannot be.

Say therefore, O my soul, to thy Maker, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, one God,
‘I have sought Thy Face; Thy Face, O Lord, will I seek out’ (Ps. xxvi. 8). See, O Lord; see, I seek, I ask, I knock; when am I to find, when am I to have, when is the door to open to me? To Thee, O Lord, lie open all the secrets of my heart. Thou seest that the Presence of Thy Face is my sole hope of consolation. Ah me! How far am I, what a distant outcast am I, from that unspeakable joy that His Presence gives! How, then, shall I be comforted? How indeed, unless the beauty of that Thy Face beam upon me, whereon hangs all my hope of consolation? So then, O my God, let my eyes fail for Thy word, saying, When wilt Thou comfort me? (Ps. cxviii. 82.) Have regard, then, O my God, to the one only desire of my soul; have regard to the sigh of my heart, and
‘set my tears in Thy sight’ (Ps. lv. 9), tears which I shed for very grief, while my soul faints from the withholding of Thy Face; for
‘my life is wasted with grief, and my years in sighs’ (Ps. xxx. 11).

Have mercy on me, O Lord, have mercy on me. In season, out of season, will I cry to Thee, and never let Thee rest until Thou gladden me with the Presence of Thy Face; and refuse
myself all comfort; and punish myself with simply mourning over the absence of Thy Face. O Face of God, all glory! O Countenance, all light! So long as I see Thee not, so long shall my soul re main in gloom. But how long, O cruel bitter absence of God’s Face, how long wilt thou torture me? O wearisome life in this vain world, how long wilt thou hold shut up as it were in prison, bound by the bonds of thy vanities, my soul, so woful by its dwelling here in thee? O my soul, what is it that charms thee in this mortal life? Why dost thou not speed thee to the blissful vision of God, whence thou art held aloof by the merit of thy fault? Why dost thou not loathe this exile from the Face of God, and thy enthralment in the chains of this garish life? Why dost thou not yearn with utmost desire to have share in the joys of that blissful life, and be far away from the filth of this grovelling existence? Why dost thou not fly from the one, and hie thee to the other? If this life is given thee as a breathing time, with peace in possibility, why dost thou dally? Why not offer God such penance as that He may for give thee thy sins, and in mercy take thee to
Himself? Ay, let my turning be to Thee that Thy mercy regard me kindly, and Thy compassion
confirm me in my longing for Thy Face, and give me the gift of perseverance; for I believe that I shall not be severed from Thy bliss if only
I grow not weary in my desires after Thee. Let my soul ever yearn for the glory of Thy Face; my mind love it; my thoughts be intent upon it; my whole heart’s
affection sigh after it; my tongue speak of it; my whole being be held in thrall with love of it. Only let Thy mercy, while I carry about this
mortal body, and wear the fardels of my pilgrim age, bid me be established in Thy fear, enlarged in Thy love, taught in Thy law, devout in Thy precepts,
and filled with fires of longing for Thy promises; that, treading vices under foot, and practising all virtues, I may, adorned with these, both please
Thee evermore, and soon, soon attain to reach Thee in Thy heaven of bliss, where is given to Thee unending praise, unbounded glory, and honour through
eternity. Amen.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Twenty-First Meditation

AND now, poor mortal, avoid for a little while earthly employments, hide thee for a time from thy conflicting thoughts, throw aside thy burden some cares, and postpone to another time all wearisome distractions. Retire for a little space in God, and rest thee for a while in Him. Enter into the closet of thy heart; shut out all except God, and what may help thee in thy quest of Him, and with closed door seek Him. And then say, O my whole heart, say at once to God,
‘I seek Thy Face; Thy Face, O Lord, will I still seek.’

Now, therefore, O Lord my God, teach Thou my heart where and how to seek Thee; when and how to find Thee. If Thou art not here, O Lord, whither shall I go to seek Thee? But if Thou art everywhere, why do I not see Thee here? No; for in truth Thou inhabitest the inapproachable light. But where is the inapproachable light? Or how shall I approach the inapproachable? Or who will lead me into it, that I may see Thee in it? And then, what are the tokens by which I am to seek Thee, what the aspect by which I am to know Thee? O Lord my God, I have never seen Thee, and, I know not what Thou art like.

O what, most high God, what is this far-off exile of Thine to do? What is Thy servant to do, anxious from love of Thee, and far banished from Thy Presence? He yearns to behold Thee, and Thy Face is too far off from him; he longs to approach Thee, and Thy dwelling-place is inapproachable; he desires to find Thee, but knows not the place of Thy rest; and strives to seek Thee, but cannot tell what Thy Face is like.

O Lord, Thou art my God and my Lord, and I have never seen Thee. Thou hast made and re-made me, and all the blessings that I have are of Thy giving; and as yet I do not know Thee. I was created to behold Thee, and as yet I have not attained to the object of my creation. O sad estate of man! for man has foregone that for which he was created. O hard, O cruel lot! What, alas, did he lose, and what did he find? What went, and what remained? He lost the beatitude for which he was created, and he found the misery for which he was never made; that went without which no happiness is, and that remained which of itself is merest misery. And then he ate the bread of sorrows, and knew it not.

Ah, the general anguish of mankind, the universal wailing of the sons of Adam! Our first father had bread to the full, and we cry out for hunger.
He abounded, and we are beggars: he so happy in having, so sad in foregoing; we so unhappy in our need, so miserable in our craving! And yet we remain empty. Why did he not keep and guard,
when he might have done it so easily, what we lack so grievously? Why, why did he so block out the light, and cover us up in darkness? Why did he filch away our life, and bring in death instead? O woe-begone we! whence are we banished, whither are we driven? Whence hurled headlong, whither fallen low? From our home, to exile; from God and the vision of God, to self and its blindness; from the joys of immortality, to the horror and the bitterness of death. Miserable change!
From how great good to how great ill!

Sad loss, sad grief, sad everything! But wo is me, poor me, one of other the poor sons of Eve banished from their God. What have I endeavoured, what achieved? Whither did I tend, and what have I reached? To what did I aspire, and where am I now sighing,
‘I sought for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble’? (Jer. xiv. 19.)

I reached forth to God, and I stumbled on self. I sought rest
in my secret place, and ‘I met with trouble and sorrow’ (Ps. civ. 3) in my
inmost parts. I wished to return in the joy of my soul, and lo, I am forced ‘to
roar with the groaning of my heart’ (Ps. xxxvii. 9). Happiness was the goal of
my hope, and lo, sigh is crowded upon sigh. And Thou, O Lord, how long? ‘How
long, O Lord, wilt Thou forget me unto the end? how long dost Thou turn away Thy
Face from me?’ (Ps. xii. 1.) When wilt Thou look on me and hear me? When wilt
Thou lighten mine eyes and show me Thy Face? When wilt Thou restore Thyself to
me?

Look on me, O Lord, and hear me, and en lighten me, and show me Thyself.
Restore Thyself to me, that it may be well with me; Thou, without whom it goes so ill with me. Direct, O Lord, my labours and my endeavours unto Thee, for without Thee I am nothing worth. Thou invitest me; help me, O Lord, I pray Thee, that I sigh not from despair, but breathe again and hope. Lord, I pray Thee, for it is soured by its lonesomeness, sweeten my heart with Thy consolations. () Lord, I pray Thee, for I have begun to seek Thee hungering, let me not go away empty; I have drawn near famished with want, let me not depart unsatisfied. I have come, a beggar to the Rich, a wretch to the All-merciful; let me not turn back despised and without an alms. And even if
I sigh before I can eat, give me something to eat after I have sighed.

O Lord, I am bowed down low, and cannot look up; raise me, that I may lift mine eyes on high.
‘My iniquities are gone over my head’ (Ps. xxxvii. 5) and overwhelm me, ‘and as a heavy burden’ they press me sore. Rescue me, unburden me;
‘let not the pit shut her mouth upon me’ (Ps. lxviii. 16). Be it mine to see Thy light from afar, even from the depth. Teach me to seek Thee; and when I seek, show Thyself; for I can neither seek Thee unless Thou teach me, nor find Thee unless Thou show Thyself to me. Let me seek Thee by desiring, and desire Thee in seeking; let me find Thee by loving, and love Thee in finding. I confess to Thee, O Lord, and I give Thee thanks that Thou hast created me in Thine image, so as ever mindfully to muse on Thee and love Thee. But the image is so defaced by the wear and waste of evil habits, and so befouled with the smoke and stain of sins, that it cannot do that for which it was created unless Thou remake and readorn it. I do not essay to sound Thy depths,
O Lord, for I no way match my understanding to such an effort; but I do long in some sort to
understand that truth of Thine which my heart believes and loves; for I seek not to
understand that
I may believe, but I believe that I may understand.

[§ 104. The inapproachable dwelling-place of God.] Truly, O Lord, this light in which Thou dwellest is an inapproachable light. For in truth there is nothing that can pierce it, so as to see Thee in its midst. And truly, too, I see it not, for it is too bright to be seen: and yet whatever I see, I see by it; like the weak eye which, whatever it beholds, beholds by the sun’s light, a light which it is unable to look upon in the sun itself. My understanding cannot aspire to reach it, for it is too bright, therefore it endures it not; nor can the eye of my soul bear to fix too long a gaze upon it,
but is stricken by its brightness, quelled by its fulness, overwhelmed by its immensity, bewildered by its grandeur. O supreme and inapproachable Light, holy and blessed Truth, who art far from me, near though I be to Thee, how far removed art Thou from my ken, present though I be to Thy sight! Thou art altogether present every where, and I do not see Thee; I move in Thee and am in Thee, and I cannot approach Thee; Thou art within me and round about me, and I feel Thee not.

Thus ever dost Thou in Thy light and Thy bliss hide Thyself
from my soul; and she lingers on in her gloom and sadness. She strains her eye,
and descries not Thy beauty; she listens, but catches not Thy harmony; she longs
for Thee, but Thy fragrance breathes not on her; she feels for Thee, but nothing
of Thee answers to her touch; she tastes, and discerns not Thy sweetness. For
Thou hast all these in Thyself, beauty, harmony, fragrance, grace, and
sweetness, after Thine own ineffable manner, since Thou hast bestowed them on
created things in their own manner, as we recognise after a sensible manner; but
the senses of my soul are ‘dulled, stupefied, and blunted by the old disease of
sin. What art Thou, O Lord; what art Thou? Truly Thou art Life, and Truth, and
Goodness, and Bliss, and Eternity, and every good!

[§ 105. The goodness of God, the creative Life.] Rouse thyself now, O my soul; exert all thy powers, and think what that good is;
how great and of what degree it is. For if all good things taken severally are delectable, think, O think, how delectable must be that good which includes all goods and the delightsomeness of all; a delightsomeness, not such as we have by experience known in created things, but as different from that as the Creator transcends the creature. For if created life be good, how good is the Life creative! If achieved salvation be a joyous thing,
how joyous must that Salvation be by, which all salvation was achieved! If wisdom in the
observation of visible things be a worthy object of love, how loveable must that Wisdom be which created all things out of nothing!
In short, if in all delectable things there are many and great delights, what
and how great must be the delightsomeness of Him who created all delightsome
things!

And he who shall enjoy this good, what shall he have I rather, what shall he not have? What ever he shall wish, he will have; and not wish, he shall not have. Ay, he shall have blessings of body and of soul such as ear hath not heard, eye hath not seen, and heart of man hath not conceived.

Why, then, dost thou wander wide, poor child of earth, in thy
search after goods for body and soul? Love the One Good, in whom all good things
are, and it is enough. For what, O my flesh, dost thou love? What dost Thou
desire, O my soul? Whatever you love, whatever you desire, it is there. If
beauty delights you, ‘fulgebunt justi sicut sol’ (St.
Matt. xiii. 43)—the just shall shine as the sun. Or if fleetness, or strength,
or suppleness of body, such as nothing may resist; ‘erunt similes angelis Dei’ (St. Luke xx. 36)—they shall be like the angels of God, for
‘it is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body;’ spiritual, that is to say, in capacity, though not in essence. If health and long life have charms for you, healthful eternity and eternal health are there, for
‘the just shall live for evermore’ (Wisdom v. 16), and ‘the salvation of the just is from the Lord’ (Ps. xxxvi. 39).
If abundance, ‘they shall be satisfied when the glory of God shall appear’ (Ps. xvi. 15). If melody, there the angels sing together without end to God. If satisfaction,
‘they shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house’ (Ps. xxxv. 9). If aught and every pure and stainless pleasure have attraction for you,
‘Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure’ (Ps. xxxv. 9). If wisdom, the Wisdom of God shall Himself display Himself to them eternally. If friendship, they shall love God more than themselves, and God will love them more than they love themselves; for they shall love Him, and in Him, one another; and He will love Himself, and them in Himself. If concord, all of them will have one will; for they shall have no will but God’s only. If power, they shall have perfect mastery of their own will, as God has of His. For, as God’s will shall be the exact measure of His power, so in Him shall their power be as their will. For, as they shall will nothing apart from Him, even so shall He will whatever they shall will, and what He shall will cannot by any possibility but be. If honour and riches, God will set His good and faithful servants over many things; yea, they shall be called the sons of God, and gods; and where the Son is, there shall they be also,
‘heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ’ (Rom. viii. 17). If true security, they will assuredly be sure that they shall not lose their treasure by any choice of theirs, and that their lover Lord will not take it from His lovers;
and that there is nothing stronger than God, that it should sever an unwilling God and His unwilling creatures from each other.

But what and how great is the joy there, where such and so great is the good! O heart of man, poor heart; heart worn with woes, ay, over whelmed with woes; what, what would be thy joy if thou hadst all these blessings, and hadst them in abundance I Ask thine inmost self if it can com pass all its own joy that shall spring from its own so great bliss. Assuredly, if any other soul whom thou didst love even as thyself enjoyed the very same bliss as thou, thy joy would be doubled; for thou wouldst rejoice not one whit less for him than for thyself. And in like manner, if two, or three, or many more had the very same happiness as thyself, thou wouldst rejoice for each several soul among them as thou didst for thyself, if thy love for each of them were equal to thy love of
thyself. In that perfect charity, therefore, of innumerable blessed angels and holy souls, in the home where none loves any other less than he loves
himself it is alike true that each several soul, each several angel, shall rejoice for the sake of every other one no less than for his own sake.

If, then, the heart of man can scarce compass its own joy, to be begotten of its own so great bliss, how shall it be able to compass so many and so great joys? For
’tis true indeed that as great as is the love of any to another, so great will be his joy in that other’s good. But, O, in that perfect bliss, each one will love his God more, incomparably more, than will be his love for himself, and for all other beings with himself; and therefore he will rejoice more, more beyond all power of counting or imagining; he will rejoice more in the happiness of God than in his own happiness and that of all others besides. But and if they so love God with all their heart, with all their mind, with all their soul, that all heart, all mind, all soul shall not be sufficient for His worthiness to be loved, why, then, the just will so rejoice in that supreme felicity with all their heart, all their mind, all their soul, that all heart, all mind, all soul shall not be sufficient for the fulness of their joy.

[§ 106. The fulness of joy.] My God and my Lord, my hope and the joy of my heart, speak Thou to my soul, and tell me if this be the joy of which Thou tellest us by Thy Son,
‘Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full’ (St. John xvi. 24). For I have found a joy, full and more than full. For though heart be full, life full, soul full, the whole being full of it, still, still there will be joy remaining and overflowing beyond measure. For not the whole of that joy shall enter into those who enjoy it, but they, wholly rejoicing, shall enter into it.

Speak, O Lord, speak to Thy servant interiorly in his heart, and tell me: is this the joy into which Thy servants are to enter, who shall enter into the joy of their God? Certainly, that joy wherewith Thine elect are to rejoice
‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man’ (1. Cor. ii. 9) in this life. And I, O Lord have as yet neither said nor thought how great will be the joy of those Thy blessed ones. Only this can I say or think: they will rejoice even as they love, and they will love even as they know.
O how perfectly will they know Thee, O Lord, and how entirely will they love Thee! No, in this life of a truth eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man, how
in that life Thy saints shall know Thee, and shall Thee. I pray Thee, O my God, grant me to know Thee, to love Thee, to rejoice in Thee; and if
cannot in this life do so to the full, at least let me advance day by day more and more, until at last that
‘to the full’ shall be mine. Here
let the knowledge of Thee increase in me, that maybe full; here let Thy love grow in me, that there it may be full; that thus my
joy here may be great, great in hope; so as there to be full, full in Thee.

O Lord, Thou by Thy Son commandest, rather, Thou dost counsel us to seek, and Thou dost promise that we shall receive, that our joy may be full. Be it so, O Lord; I ask what Thou dost counsel by Thy Wonderful, Thy Counsellor, so as to receive what Thou dost promise by Thy Truth; that so my joy may be full. And meanwhile let my mind draw from thence its musings, and my tongue eloquence; let my heart love it, and my mouth speak of it; let my soul hunger after it, and my flesh thirst for it,
and my whole being desire it, until at last I enter into the joy of my Lord, who is Three and One, blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

THE END.

Genesis 1

1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

5

God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

7

God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8

God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9

God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

10

God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

11

God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so.

12

The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13

There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

15

and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

16

God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

17

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

18

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19

There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20

God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

21

God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22

God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23

There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24

God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.

25

God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26

God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

28

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29

God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30

To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

31

God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

1 Corinthians 11

1

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2

Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

3

But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

4

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

5

But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.

6

For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.

7

For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

8

For man is not from woman, but woman from man;

9

for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.

10

For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

11

Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord.

12

For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.

13

Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?

14

Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

15

But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

16

But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.

17

But in giving you this command, I don’t praise you, that you come together not for the better but for the worse.

18

For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.

19

For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.

20

When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

21

For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.

22

What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

23

For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.

24

When he had given thanks, he broke it and said,

“Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”

25

In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”

26

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

28

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

29

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.

30

For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.

31

For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.

32

But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

33

Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

34

But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

Sirach 47

1

And after him rose up Nathan

To prophesy in the days of David.

2

As is the fat when it is separated from the peace offering,

So was David

separated

from the children of Israel.

3

He played with lions as with kids,

And with bears as with lambs of the flock.

4

In his youth did he not kill a giant,

And take away reproach from the people,

When he lifted up his hand with a sling stone,

And beat down the boasting of Goliath?

5

For he called upon the Most High Lord;

And he gave him strength in his right hand,

To kill a man mighty in war,

To exalt the horn of his people.

6

So they glorified him for

his

ten thousands,

And praised him for the blessings of the Lord,

In that there was given him a diadem of glory.

7

For he destroyed the enemies on every side,

And brought to nothing the Philistines his adversaries,

Brake their horn in pieces to this day.

8

In every work of his he gave thanks to the Holy One Most High with words of glory;

With his whole heart he sang praise,

And loved him that made him.

9

Also he set singers before the altar,

And to make sweet melody by their music.

10

He gave beauty to the feasts,

And set in order the seasons to perfection,

While they praised his holy name,

And the sanctuary sounded from early morning.

11

The Lord took away his sins,

And exalted his horn forever;

And gave him a covenant of kings,

And a throne of glory in Israel.

12

After him rose up a son, a man of understanding;

And for his sake he lived at large.

13

Solomon reigned in days of peace;

And to him God gave rest round about,

That he might set up a house for his name,

And prepare a sanctuary forever.

14

How wise you were made in your youth,

And filled as a river with understanding!

15

Your soul covered the earth,

And you filled it with dark parables.

16

Your name reached to the isles afar off;

And for your peace you were beloved.

17

For your songs and proverbs and parables,

And for your interpretations, the countries marveled at you.

18

By the name of the Lord God,

Which is called the God of Israel,

You did gather gold as tin,

And did multiply silver as lead.

19

You did bow your loins to women,

And in your body you were brought into subjection.

20

You did blemish your honor,

And profane your seed,

To bring wrath upon your children;

And I was grieved for your folly:

21

So that the sovereignty was divided,

And out of Ephraim ruled a disobedient kingdom.

22

But the Lord will never forsake his mercy;

And he will not destroy any of his works,

Nor blot out the posterity of his elect;

And the seed of him that loved him he will not take away;

And he gave a remnant to Jacob,

And to David a root out of him.

23

And

so

rested Solomon with his fathers;

And of his seed he left behind him Rehoboam,

Even

the foolishness of the people, and one that lacked understanding,

Who made the people to revolt by his counsel.

Also Jeroboam the son of Nebat,

Who made Israel to sin,

And gave to Ephraim a way of sin.

24

And their sins were multiplied exceedingly,

To remove them from their land.

25

For they sought out all manner of wickedness,

Till vengeance should come upon them.

Acts 17

1

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

2

Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3

explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

4

Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women.

5

But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.

6

When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

7

whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”

8

The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.

9

When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

10

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

11

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

12

Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.

13

But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.

14

Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.

15

But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.

16

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.

17

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.

18

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

19

They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about?

20

For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”

21

Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

22

Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.

23

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.

24

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.

25

He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.

26

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

27

that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

28

‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

29

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

30

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

31

because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

32

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

33

Thus Paul went out from among them.

34

But certain men joined with him and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Exodus 3

1

Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.

2

Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3

Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

4

When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Here I am.”

5

He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”

6

Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7

Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8

I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9

Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11

Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

13

Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

14

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

15

God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

16

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.

17

I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

18

They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’

19

I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.

20

I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.

21

I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

22

But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”

John 15

1

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.

2

Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3

You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4

Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

5

I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

6

If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

7

If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

8

“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.

9

Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.

10

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.

11

I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

12

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

13

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

14

You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

15

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

16

You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

17

“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

18

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

19

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

20

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

21

But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.

22

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23

He who hates me, hates my Father also.

24

If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.

25

But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26

“When the Counselor

has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

27

You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Luke 17

1

He said to the disciples,

“It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!

2

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

3

Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.

4

If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

5

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

6

The Lord said,

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7

But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table,’

8

and will not rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’?

9

Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not.

10

Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ”

11

As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.

12

As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.

13

They lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14

When he saw them, he said to them,

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

As they went, they were cleansed.

15

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.

16

He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.

17

Jesus answered,

“Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18

Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

19

Then he said to him,

“Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.”

20

Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them,

“God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation;

21

neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”

22

He said to the disciples,

“The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

23

They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them,

24

for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.

25

But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26

As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man.

27

They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28

Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

29

but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.

30

It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

31

In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.

32

Remember Lot’s wife!

33

Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.

34

I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left.

35

There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.”

36

37

They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?”

He said to them,

“Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”

1 Corinthians 3

1

Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.

2

I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now,

3

for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?

4

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?

5

Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him?

6

I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.

7

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

8

Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.

10

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.

11

For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12

But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble,

13

each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.

14

If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.

15

If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

16

Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

17

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.

18

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.

19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”

20

And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.”

21

Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

22

whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,

23

and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

2 Corinthians 6

1

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain,

2

for he says,

“At an acceptable time I listened to you.

In a day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

3

We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,

4

but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,

5

in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;

6

in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,

7

in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

8

by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;

9

as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed;

10

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

11

Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.

12

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.

13

Now in return, I speak as to my children: you also open your hearts.

14

Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

15

What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever?

16

What agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.”

17

Therefore

“ ‘Come out from among them,

and be separate,’ says the Lord.

‘Touch no unclean thing.

I will receive you.

18

I will be to you a Father.

You will be to me sons and daughters,’

says the Lord Almighty.”

Galatians 3

1

Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?

2

I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?

3

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?

4

Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?

5

He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?

6

Even so, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”

7

Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.

8

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”

9

So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

10

For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

11

Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.”

12

The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”

14

that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15

Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.

16

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ.

17

Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

18

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

19

Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

20

Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.

21

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.

22

But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24

So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

26

For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

27

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29

If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.

Isaiah 61

1

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me,

because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and release to those who are bound,

2

to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3

to provide for those who mourn in Zion,

to give to them a garland for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning,

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,

that they may be called trees of righteousness,

the planting of Yahweh,

that he may be glorified.

4

They will rebuild the old ruins.

They will raise up the former devastated places.

They will repair the ruined cities

that have been devastated for many generations.

5

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks.

Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.

6

But you will be called Yahweh’s priests.

Men will call you the servants of our God.

You will eat the wealth of the nations.

You will boast in their glory.

7

Instead of your shame you will have double.

Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion.

Therefore in their land they will possess double.

Everlasting joy will be to them.

8

“For I, Yahweh, love justice.

I hate robbery and iniquity.

I will give them their reward in truth

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

9

Their offspring will be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge them,

that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”

10

I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh!

My soul will be joyful in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11

For as the earth produces its bud,

and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

1 Corinthians 1

1

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2

to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

3

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4

I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;

5

that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;

6

even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

7

so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

8

who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

10

Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11

For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

12

Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”

13

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

14

I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,

15

so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.

16

(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)

17

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.

18

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19

For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.

I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

20

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21

For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

22

For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

23

but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,

24

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

25

because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26

For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;

27

but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.

28

God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,

29

that no flesh should boast before God.

30

Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

31

that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

Ephesians 5

1

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

2

Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

3

But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

4

nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

5

Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

6

Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7

Therefore don’t be partakers with them.

8

For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

9

for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,

10

proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.

11

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.

12

For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

13

But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.

14

Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

15

Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,

16

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17

Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

18

Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

19

speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

20

giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;

21

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

22

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

23

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.

24

But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.

25

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;

26

that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

27

that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.

28

Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

29

For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;

30

because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.

31

“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.”

32

This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly.

33

Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

John 17

1

Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said,

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;

2

even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

4

I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.

5

Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

6

I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.

7

Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,

8

for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

9

I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

10

All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

11

I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.

12

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

13

But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

14

I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15

I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

16

They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

17

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

18

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

19

For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20

Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,

21

that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.

22

The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;

23

I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.

24

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25

Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.

26

I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Song of Solomon 1

1

The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Beloved

2

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;

for your love is better than wine.

3

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.

Your name is oil poured out,

therefore the virgins love you.

4

Take me away with you.

Let’s hurry.

The king has brought me into his rooms.

Friends

We will be glad and rejoice in you.

We will praise your love more than wine!

Beloved

They are right to love you.

5

I am dark, but lovely,

you daughters of Jerusalem,

like Kedar’s tents,

like Solomon’s curtains.

6

Don’t stare at me because I am dark,

because the sun has scorched me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me.

They made me keeper of the vineyards.

I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

7

Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

where you graze your flock,

where you rest them at noon;

for why should I be as one who is veiled

beside the flocks of your companions?

Lover

8

If you don’t know, most beautiful among women,

follow the tracks of the sheep.

Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

9

I have compared you, my love,

to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

10

Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,

your neck with strings of jewels.

Friends

11

We will make you earrings of gold,

with studs of silver.

Beloved

12

While the king sat at his table,

my perfume spread its fragrance.

13

My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,

that lies between my breasts.

14

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

15

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

Behold, you are beautiful.

Your eyes are like doves.

Beloved

16

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;

and our couch is verdant.

Lover

17

The beams of our house are cedars.

Our rafters are firs.

John 12

1

Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2

So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

3

Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

4

Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

5

“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

6

Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

7

But Jesus said,

“Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

8

For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

9

A large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10

But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

11

because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

12

On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13

they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

14

Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,

15

“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16

His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

17

The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead was testifying about it.

18

For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

19

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him.”

20

Now there were certain Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.

21

These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus.

23

Jesus answered them,

“The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24

Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

25

He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

26

If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27

“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.

28

Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

29

Therefore the multitude who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

30

Jesus answered,

“This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.

31

Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.

32

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

33

But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

34

The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say,

‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’

Who is this Son of Man?”

35

Jesus therefore said to them,

“Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.

36

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.”

Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.

37

But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn’t believe in him,

38

that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke,

“Lord, who has believed our report?

To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39

For this cause they couldn’t believe, for Isaiah said again,

40

“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart,

lest they should see with their eyes,

and perceive with their heart,

and would turn,

and I would heal them.”

41

Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.

42

Nevertheless even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn’t confess it, so that they wouldn’t be put out of the synagogue,

43

for they loved men’s praise more than God’s praise.

44

Jesus cried out and said,

“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

45

He who sees me sees him who sent me.

46

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.

47

If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48

He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day.

49

For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50

I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

Isaiah 57

1

The righteous perish,

and no one lays it to heart.

Merciful men are taken away,

and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.

2

He enters into peace.

They rest in their beds,

each one who walks in his uprightness.

3

“But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress,

you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.

4

Whom do you mock?

Against whom do you make a wide mouth

and stick out your tongue?

Aren’t you children of disobedience

and offspring of falsehood,

5

you who inflame yourselves among the oaks,

under every green tree;

who kill the children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

6

Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion.

They, they are your lot.

You have even poured a drink offering to them.

You have offered an offering.

Shall I be appeased for these things?

7

On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed.

You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

8

You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts,

for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me,

and have gone up.

You have enlarged your bed

and made you a covenant with them.

You loved what you saw on their bed.

9

You went to the king with oil,

increased your perfumes,

sent your ambassadors far off,

and degraded yourself even to Sheol.

10

You were wearied with the length of your ways;

yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’

You found a reviving of your strength;

therefore you weren’t faint.

11

“Whom have you dreaded and feared,

so that you lie,

and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart?

Haven’t I held my peace for a long time,

and you don’t fear me?

12

I will declare your righteousness;

and as for your works, they will not benefit you.

13

When you cry,

let those whom you have gathered deliver you;

but the wind will take them.

a breath will carry them all away:

but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land,

and will inherit my holy mountain.”

14

He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way!

Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”

15

For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity,

whose name is Holy, says:

“I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

16

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry;

for the spirit would faint before me,

and the souls whom I have made.

17

I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him.

I hid myself and was angry;

and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.

18

I have seen his ways, and will heal him.

I will lead him also,

and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

19

I create the fruit of the lips:

Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,”

says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.”

20

But the wicked are like the troubled sea;

for it can’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.

21

“There is no peace”, says my God,

“for the wicked.”

Proverbs 3

1

My son, don’t forget my teaching;

but let your heart keep my commandments:

2

for they will add to you length of days,

years of life, and peace.

3

Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.

Bind them around your neck.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4

So you will find favor,

and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

5

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,

and don’t lean on your own understanding.

6

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

7

Don’t be wise in your own eyes.

Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

8

It will be health to your body,

and nourishment to your bones.

9

Honor Yahweh with your substance,

with the first fruits of all your increase:

10

so your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will overflow with new wine.

11

My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,

neither be weary of his correction;

12

for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects,

even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

13

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,

the man who gets understanding.

14

For her good profit is better than getting silver,

and her return is better than fine gold.

15

She is more precious than rubies.

None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.

16

Length of days is in her right hand.

In her left hand are riches and honor.

17

Her ways are ways of pleasantness.

All her paths are peace.

18

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.

Happy is everyone who retains her.

19

By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.

By understanding, he established the heavens.

20

By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,

and the skies drop down the dew.

21

My son, let them not depart from your eyes.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

22

so they will be life to your soul,

and grace for your neck.

23

Then you shall walk in your way securely.

Your foot won’t stumble.

24

When you lie down, you will not be afraid.

Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

25

Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,

neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;

26

for Yahweh will be your confidence,

and will keep your foot from being taken.

27

Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,

when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

28

Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;

tomorrow I will give it to you,”

when you have it by you.

29

Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,

since he dwells securely by you.

30

Don’t strive with a man without cause,

if he has done you no harm.

31

Don’t envy the man of violence.

Choose none of his ways.

32

For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,

but his friendship is with the upright.

33

Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,

but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

34

Surely he mocks the mockers,

but he gives grace to the humble.

35

The wise will inherit glory,

but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Psalms 40

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

I waited patiently for Yahweh.

He turned to me, and heard my cry.

2

He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,

out of the miry clay.

He set my feet on a rock,

and gave me a firm place to stand.

3

He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God.

Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Yahweh.

4

Blessed is the man who makes Yahweh his trust,

and doesn’t respect the proud, nor such as turn away to lies.

5

Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done,

and your thoughts which are toward us.

They can’t be declared back to you.

If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.

6

Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire.

You have opened my ears.

You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.

7

Then I said, “Behold, I have come.

It is written about me in the book in the scroll.

8

I delight to do your will, my God.

Yes, your law is within my heart.”

9

I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly.

Behold, I will not seal my lips, Yahweh, you know.

10

I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.

I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation.

I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.

11

Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, Yahweh.

Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.

12

For innumerable evils have surrounded me.

My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up.

They are more than the hairs of my head.

My heart has failed me.

13

Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me.

Hurry to help me, Yahweh.

14

Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it.

Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.

15

Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, “Aha! Aha!”

16

Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.

Let such as love your salvation say continually, “Let Yahweh be exalted!”

17

But I am poor and needy.

May the Lord think about me.

You are my help and my deliverer.

Don’t delay, my God.

Psalms 69

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David.

1

Save me, God,

for the waters have come up to my neck!

2

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.

I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3

I am weary with my crying.

My throat is dry.

My eyes fail looking for my God.

4

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.

Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.

I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

5

God, you know my foolishness.

My sins aren’t hidden from you.

6

Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.

Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

7

Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.

Shame has covered my face.

8

I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s children.

9

For the zeal of your house consumes me.

The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10

When I wept and I fasted,

that was to my reproach.

11

When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12

Those who sit in the gate talk about me.

I am the song of the drunkards.

13

But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.

God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14

Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.

Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15

Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,

neither let the deep swallow me up.

Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16

Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

17

Don’t hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress.

Answer me speedily!

18

Draw near to my soul and redeem it.

Ransom me because of my enemies.

19

You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.

My adversaries are all before you.

20

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.

I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;

for comforters, but I found none.

21

They also gave me poison for my food.

In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22

Let their table before them become a snare.

May it become a retribution and a trap.

23

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.

Let their backs be continually bent.

24

Pour out your indignation on them.

Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25

Let their habitation be desolate.

Let no one dwell in their tents.

26

For they persecute him whom you have wounded.

They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

27

Charge them with crime upon crime.

Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

28

Let them be blotted out of the book of life,

and not be written with the righteous.

29

But I am in pain and distress.

Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30

I will praise the name of God with a song,

and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31

It will please Yahweh better than an ox,

or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32

The humble have seen it, and are glad.

You who seek after God, let your heart live.

33

For Yahweh hears the needy,

and doesn’t despise his captive people.

34

Let heaven and earth praise him;

the seas, and everything that moves therein!

35

For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.

They shall settle there, and own it.

36

The children also of his servants shall inherit it.

Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

Job 3

1

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.

2

Job answered:

3

“Let the day perish in which I was born,

the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’

4

Let that day be darkness.

Don’t let God from above seek for it,

neither let the light shine on it.

5

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.

Let a cloud dwell on it.

Let all that makes the day black terrify it.

6

As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.

Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.

Let it not come into the number of the months.

7

Behold, let that night be barren.

Let no joyful voice come therein.

8

Let them curse it who curse the day,

who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

9

Let the stars of its twilight be dark.

Let it look for light, but have none,

neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

10

because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,

nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

11

“Why didn’t I die from the womb?

Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?

12

Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breast, that I should nurse?

13

For now I should have lain down and been quiet.

I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

14

with kings and counselors of the earth,

who built up waste places for themselves;

15

or with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses with silver:

16

or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,

as infants who never saw light.

17

There the wicked cease from troubling.

There the weary are at rest.

18

There the prisoners are at ease together.

They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.

19

The small and the great are there.

The servant is free from his master.

20

“Why is light given to him who is in misery,

life to the bitter in soul,

21

Who long for death, but it doesn’t come;

and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22

who rejoice exceedingly,

and are glad, when they can find the grave?

23

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

whom God has hedged in?

24

For my sighing comes before I eat.

My groanings are poured out like water.

25

For the thing which I fear comes on me,

That which I am afraid of comes to me.

26

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest;

but trouble comes.”

Ecclesiastes 9

1

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.

2

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

3

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4

For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

6

Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

7

Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

8

Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.

9

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

10

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

11

I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

12

For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13

I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

14

There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

15

Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

16

Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

18

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.

Psalms 27

By David.

1

Yahweh is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear?

Yahweh is the strength of my life.

Of whom shall I be afraid?

2

When evildoers came at me to eat up my flesh,

even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell.

3

Though an army should encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear.

Though war should rise against me,

even then I will be confident.

4

One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after:

that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life,

to see Yahweh’s beauty,

and to inquire in his temple.

5

For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion.

In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me.

He will lift me up on a rock.

6

Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me.

I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent.

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.

7

Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice.

Have mercy also on me, and answer me.

8

When you said, “Seek my face,”

my heart said to you, “I will seek your face, Yahweh.”

9

Don’t hide your face from me.

Don’t put your servant away in anger.

You have been my help.

Don’t abandon me,

neither forsake me, God of my salvation.

10

When my father and my mother forsake me,

then Yahweh will take me up.

11

Teach me your way, Yahweh.

Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.

12

Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,

for false witnesses have risen up against me,

such as breathe out cruelty.

13

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

14

Wait for Yahweh.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for Yahweh.

Isaiah 40

1

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

2

“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”

3

The voice of one who calls out,

“Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!

Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4

Every valley shall be exalted,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

The uneven shall be made level,

and the rough places a plain.

5

Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6

The voice of one saying, “Cry!”

One said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

7

The grass withers,

the flower fades,

because Yahweh’s breath blows on it.

Surely the people are like grass.

8

The grass withers,

the flower fades;

but the word of our God stands forever.”

9

You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.

You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength!

Lift it up! Don’t be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

10

Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one,

and his arm will rule for him.

Behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11

He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs in his arm,

and carry them in his bosom.

He will gently lead those who have their young.

12

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

and marked off the sky with his span,

and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket,

and weighed the mountains in scales,

and the hills in a balance?

13

Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit,

or has taught him as his counselor?

14

Who did he take counsel with,

and who instructed him,

and taught him in the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15

Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,

and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.

Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16

Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17

All the nations are like nothing before him.

They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18

To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19

A workman has cast an image,

and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,

and casts silver chains for it.

20

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot.

He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

21

Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard?

Haven’t you been told from the beginning?

Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

22

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

23

who brings princes to nothing,

who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

24

They are planted scarcely.

They are sown scarcely.

Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground.

He merely blows on them, and they wither,

and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25

“To whom then will you liken me?

Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26

Lift up your eyes on high,

and see who has created these,

who brings out their army by number.

He calls them all by name.

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power,

not one is lacking.

27

Why do you say, Jacob,

and speak, Israel,

“My way is hidden from Yahweh,

and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”

28

Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard?

The everlasting God, Yahweh,

the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint.

He isn’t weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

29

He gives power to the weak.

He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30

Even the youths faint and get weary,

and the young men utterly fall;

31

but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run, and not be weary.

They will walk, and not faint.

Psalms 127

A Song of Ascents. By Solomon.

1

Unless Yahweh builds the house,

they who build it labor in vain.

Unless Yahweh watches over the city,

the watchman guards it in vain.

2

It is vain for you to rise up early,

to stay up late,

eating the bread of toil,

for he gives sleep to his loved ones.

3

Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh.

The fruit of the womb is his reward.

4

As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,

so are the children of youth.

5

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.

They won’t be disappointed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

Matthew 25

1

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

3

Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,

4

but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5

Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’

7

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8

The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

9

But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

10

While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.

11

Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’

12

But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13

Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

14

“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them.

15

To one he gave five talents,

to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.

16

Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

17

In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two.

18

But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.

19

“Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and settled accounts with them.

20

He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in addition to them.’

21

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

22

“He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them.’

23

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24

“He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter.

25

I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’

26

“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.

27

You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.

28

Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

29

For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away.

30

Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

31

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

32

Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33

He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34

Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

35

for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

36

I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’

37

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?

38

When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you?

39

When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’

40

“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,

you did it to me.’

41

Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;

42

for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;

43

I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44

“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

45

“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’

46

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Psalms 84

For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

1

How lovely are your dwellings,

Yahweh of Armies!

2

My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh.

My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

3

Yes, the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young,

near your altars, Yahweh of Armies, my King, and my God.

4

Blessed are those who dwell in your house.

They are always praising you.

Selah.

5

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.

6

Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs.

Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.

7

They go from strength to strength.

Every one of them appears before God in Zion.

8

Yahweh, God of Armies, hear my prayer.

Listen, God of Jacob.

Selah.

9

Behold, God our shield,

look at the face of your anointed.

10

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,

than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

11

For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield.

Yahweh will give grace and glory.

He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

12

Yahweh of Armies,

blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Matthew 3

1

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

2

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

3

For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

make the way of the Lord ready!

Make his paths straight!”

4

Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

5

Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

6

They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

7

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8

Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

9

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

10

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

11

“I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

12

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

13

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

14

But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”

15

But Jesus, answering, said to him,

“Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he allowed him.

16

Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.

17

Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Psalms 114

1

When Israel went out of Egypt,

the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language,

2

Judah became his sanctuary,

Israel his dominion.

3

The sea saw it, and fled.

The Jordan was driven back.

4

The mountains skipped like rams,

the little hills like lambs.

5

What was it, you sea, that you fled?

You Jordan, that you turned back?

6

You mountains, that you skipped like rams;

you little hills, like lambs?

7

Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

8

who turned the rock into a pool of water,

the flint into a spring of waters.

Job 10

1

“My soul is weary of my life.

I will give free course to my complaint.

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2

I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.

Show me why you contend with me.

3

Is it good to you that you should oppress,

that you should despise the work of your hands,

and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

4

Do you have eyes of flesh?

Or do you see as man sees?

5

Are your days as the days of mortals,

or your years as man’s years,

6

that you inquire after my iniquity,

and search after my sin?

7

Although you know that I am not wicked,

there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

8

“ ‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,

yet you destroy me.

9

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.

Will you bring me into dust again?

10

Haven’t you poured me out like milk,

and curdled me like cheese?

11

You have clothed me with skin and flesh,

and knit me together with bones and sinews.

12

You have granted me life and loving kindness.

Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

13

Yet you hid these things in your heart.

I know that this is with you:

14

if I sin, then you mark me.

You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

15

If I am wicked, woe to me.

If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head,

being filled with disgrace,

and conscious of my affliction.

16

If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.

Again you show yourself powerful to me.

17

You renew your witnesses against me,

and increase your indignation on me.

Changes and warfare are with me.

18

“ ‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?

I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

19

I should have been as though I had not been.

I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

20

Aren’t my days few?

Stop!

Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

21

before I go where I will not return from,

to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

22

the land dark as midnight,

of the shadow of death,

without any order,

where the light is as midnight.’ ”

Psalms 17

A Prayer by David.

1

Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea.

Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.

2

Let my sentence come out of your presence.

Let your eyes look on equity.

3

You have proved my heart.

You have visited me in the night.

You have tried me, and found nothing.

I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

4

As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips,

I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.

5

My steps have held fast to your paths.

My feet have not slipped.

6

I have called on you, for you will answer me, God.

Turn your ear to me.

Hear my speech.

7

Show your marvelous loving kindness,

you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

8

Keep me as the apple of your eye.

Hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9

from the wicked who oppress me,

my deadly enemies, who surround me.

10

They close up their callous hearts.

With their mouth they speak proudly.

11

They have now surrounded us in our steps.

They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.

12

He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,

as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13

Arise, Yahweh, confront him.

Cast him down.

Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14

from men by your hand, Yahweh,

from men of the world, whose portion is in this life.

You fill the belly of your cherished ones.

Your sons have plenty,

and they store up wealth for their children.

15

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness.

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

Psalms 2

1

Why do the nations rage,

and the peoples plot a vain thing?

2

The kings of the earth take a stand,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,

3

“Let’s break their bonds apart,

and cast their cords from us.”

4

He who sits in the heavens will laugh.

The Lord will have them in derision.

5

Then he will speak to them in his anger,

and terrify them in his wrath:

6

“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”

7

I will tell of the decree:

Yahweh said to me, “You are my son.

Today I have become your father.

8

Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance,

the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

9

You shall break them with a rod of iron.

You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10

Now therefore be wise, you kings.

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

11

Serve Yahweh with fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

12

Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way,

for his wrath will soon be kindled.

Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.

Psalms 34

By David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

1

I will bless Yahweh at all times.

His praise will always be in my mouth.

2

My soul shall boast in Yahweh.

The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

3

Oh magnify Yahweh with me.

Let’s exalt his name together.

4

I sought Yahweh, and he answered me,

and delivered me from all my fears.

5

They looked to him, and were radiant.

Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

6

This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him,

and saved him out of all his troubles.

7

Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him,

and delivers them.

8

Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good.

Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9

Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints,

for there is no lack with those who fear him.

10

The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger,

but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.

11

Come, you children, listen to me.

I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

12

Who is someone who desires life,

and loves many days, that he may see good?

13

Keep your tongue from evil,

and your lips from speaking lies.

14

Depart from evil, and do good.

Seek peace, and pursue it.

15

Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous.

His ears listen to their cry.

16

Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil,

to cut off their memory from the earth.

17

The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears,

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18

Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart,

and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

19

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20

He protects all of his bones.

Not one of them is broken.

21

Evil shall kill the wicked.

Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

22

Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants.

None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

Matthew 8

1

When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

2

Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”

3

Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying,

“I want to. Be made clean.”

Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

4

Jesus said to him,

“See that you tell nobody; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

5

When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him for help,

6

saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”

7

Jesus said to him,

“I will come and heal him.”

8

The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9

For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10

When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those who followed,

“Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.

11

I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,

12

but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13

Jesus said to the centurion,

“Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.”

His servant was healed in that hour.

14

When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.

15

He touched her hand, and the fever left her. So she got up and served him.

16

When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick,

17

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”

18

Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.

19

A scribe came and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”

20

Jesus said to him,

“The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

21

Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”

22

But Jesus said to him,

“Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

23

When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

24

Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep.

25

The disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”

26

He said to them,

“Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”

Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.

27

The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

28

When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.

29

Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

30

Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.

31

The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”

32

He said to them,

“Go!”

They came out and went into the herd of pigs; and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water.

33

Those who fed them fled and went away into the city and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.

34

Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.

Psalms 10

1

Why do you stand far off, Yahweh?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2

In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak.

They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

3

For the wicked boasts of his heart’s cravings.

He blesses the greedy and condemns Yahweh.

4

The wicked, in the pride of his face,

has no room in his thoughts for God.

5

His ways are prosperous at all times.

He is arrogant, and your laws are far from his sight.

As for all his adversaries, he sneers at them.

6

He says in his heart, “I shall not be shaken.

For generations I shall have no trouble.”

7

His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression.

Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.

8

He lies in wait near the villages.

From ambushes, he murders the innocent.

His eyes are secretly set against the helpless.

9

He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush.

He lies in wait to catch the helpless.

He catches the helpless when he draws him in his net.

10

The helpless are crushed.

They collapse.

They fall under his strength.

11

He says in his heart, “God has forgotten.

He hides his face.

He will never see it.”

12

Arise, Yahweh!

God, lift up your hand!

Don’t forget the helpless.

13

Why does the wicked person condemn God,

and say in his heart, “God won’t call me into account?”

14

But you do see trouble and grief.

You consider it to take it into your hand.

You help the victim and the fatherless.

15

Break the arm of the wicked.

As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.

16

Yahweh is King forever and ever!

The nations will perish out of his land.

17

Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble.

You will prepare their heart.

You will cause your ear to hear,

18

to judge the fatherless and the oppressed,

that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

Luke 23

1

The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.

2

They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

3

Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

He answered him,

“So you say.”

4

Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

5

But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place.”

6

But when Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean.

7

When he found out that he was in Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

8

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him.

9

He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers.

10

The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.

11

Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.

12

Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.

13

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,

14

and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and behold, having examined him before you, I found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

15

Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him.

16

I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

17

Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.

18

But they all cried out together, saying, “Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!”—

19

one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.

20

Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus,

21

but they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

22

He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

23

But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed.

24

Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.

25

He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.

26

When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry it after Jesus.

27

A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.

28

But Jesus, turning to them, said,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29

For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

30

Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’

31

For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

32

There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.

33

When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

34

Jesus said,

“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

35

The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”

36

The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,

37

and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

38

An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

39

One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”

40

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

41

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

42

He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

43

Jesus said to him,

“Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

44

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

45

The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

46

Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said,

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Having said this, he breathed his last.

47

When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.”

48

All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts.

49

All his acquaintances and the women who followed with him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things.

50

Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man

51

(he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for God’s Kingdom:

52

this man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.

53

He took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.

54

It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near.

55

The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid.

56

They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Jeremiah 3

1

“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh.

2

“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

3

Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed.

4

Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’?

5

“ ‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”

6

Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.

7

I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8

I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

9

Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood.

10

Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh.

11

Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.

13

Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.”

14

“Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

15

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16

It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of Yahweh’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made.

17

At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

18

In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

19

“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’

20

“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.

21

A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22

Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding.

“Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.

23

Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God.

24

But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”

Ecclesiastes 1

1

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

3

What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

4

One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

5

The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.

6

The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses.

7

All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.

8

All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9

That which has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10

Is there a thing of which it may be said, “Behold, this is new?” It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

11

There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

12

I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

14

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

15

That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted.

16

I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

17

I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

18

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

James 1

1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,

3

knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4

Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

6

But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

7

For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.

8

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9

But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;

10

and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.

11

For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.

12

Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

13

Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

14

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.

15

Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.

16

Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.

17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

18

Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19

So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

20

for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

21

Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22

But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

23

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;

24

for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25

But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.

26

If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.

27

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Wisdom of Solomon 11

1

She prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet.

2

They traveled through a desert without inhabitant,

and they pitched their tents in trackless regions.

3

They withstood enemies and repelled foes.

4

They thirsted, and they called upon you,

and water was given to them out of the flinty rock,

and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone.

5

For by what things their foes were punished,

by these they in their need were benefited.

6

When enemies were troubled with clotted blood

instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain,

7

to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies,

you gave them abundant water beyond all hope,

8

having shown by the thirst which they had suffered

how you punished the adversaries.

9

For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy,

they learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath.

10

For you tested these as a father admonishing them;

but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them.

11

Yes and whether they were far off or near,

they were equally distressed;

12

for a double grief seized them,

and a groaning at the memory of things past.

13

For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited,

they recognized the Lord.

14

For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking.

In the end of what happened, they marveled,

having thirsted in another manner than the righteous.

15

But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness,

wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin,

you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures for vengeance;

16

that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished.

17

For your all-powerful hand

that created the world out of formless matter

didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions,

18

or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage,

either breathing out a blast of fiery breath,

or belching out smoke,

or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes;

19

which had power not only to consume them by their violence,

but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight.

20

Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath,

being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power;

but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.

21

For to be greatly strong is yours at all times.

Who could withstand the might of your arm?

22

Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance,

and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning.

23

But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things,

and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent.

24

For you love all things that are,

and abhor none of the things which you made;

For you never would have formed anything if you hated it.

25

How would anything have endured unless you had willed it?

Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved?

26

But you spare all things, because they are yours,

O Sovereign Lord, you lover of lives.

Psalms 25

By David.

1

To you, Yahweh, I lift up my soul.

2

My God, I have trusted in you.

Don’t let me be shamed.

Don’t let my enemies triumph over me.

3

Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed.

They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.

4

Show me your ways, Yahweh.

Teach me your paths.

5

Guide me in your truth, and teach me,

For you are the God of my salvation,

I wait for you all day long.

6

Yahweh, remember your tender mercies and your loving kindness,

for they are from old times.

7

Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions.

Remember me according to your loving kindness,

for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.

8

Good and upright is Yahweh,

therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.

9

He will guide the humble in justice.

He will teach the humble his way.

10

All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth

to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11

For your name’s sake, Yahweh,

pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

12

What man is he who fears Yahweh?

He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.

13

His soul will dwell at ease.

His offspring will inherit the land.

14

The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him.

He will show them his covenant.

15

My eyes are ever on Yahweh,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

16

Turn to me, and have mercy on me,

for I am desolate and afflicted.

17

The troubles of my heart are enlarged.

Oh bring me out of my distresses.

18

Consider my affliction and my travail.

Forgive all my sins.

19

Consider my enemies, for they are many.

They hate me with cruel hatred.

20

Oh keep my soul, and deliver me.

Let me not be disappointed, for I take refuge in you.

21

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for you.

22

God, redeem Israel

out of all his troubles.

Lamentations 5

1

Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us.

Look, and see our reproach.

2

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

our houses to aliens.

3

We are orphans and fatherless.

Our mothers are as widows.

4

We have drunken our water for money.

Our wood is sold to us.

5

Our pursuers are on our necks.

We are weary, and have no rest.

6

We have given our hands to the Egyptians,

and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

7

Our fathers sinned, and are no more.

We have borne their iniquities.

8

Servants rule over us.

There is no one to deliver us out of their hand.

9

We get our bread at the peril of our lives,

because of the sword of the wilderness.

10

Our skin is black like an oven,

because of the burning heat of famine.

11

They ravished the women in Zion,

the virgins in the cities of Judah.

12

Princes were hanged up by their hands.

The faces of elders were not honored.

13

The young men carry millstones.

The children stumbled under loads of wood.

14

The elders have ceased from the gate,

and the young men from their music.

15

The joy of our heart has ceased.

Our dance is turned into mourning.

16

The crown has fallen from our head.

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17

For this our heart is faint.

For these things our eyes are dim:

18

for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate.

The foxes walk on it.

19

You, Yahweh, remain forever.

Your throne is from generation to generation.

20

Why do you forget us forever,

and forsake us for so long a time?

21

Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned.

Renew our days as of old.

22

But you have utterly rejected us.

You are very angry against us.

Jeremiah 10

1

Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel!

2

Yahweh says,

“Don’t learn the way of the nations,

and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky;

for the nations are dismayed at them.

3

For the customs of the peoples are vanity;

for one cuts a tree out of the forest,

the work of the hands of the workman with the ax.

4

They deck it with silver and with gold.

They fasten it with nails and with hammers,

so that it can’t move.

5

They are like a palm tree, of turned work,

and don’t speak.

They must be carried,

because they can’t move.

Don’t be afraid of them;

for they can’t do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.”

6

There is no one like you, Yahweh.

You are great,

and your name is great in might.

7

Who shouldn’t fear you,

King of the nations?

For it belongs to you.

Because among all the wise men of the nations,

and in all their royal estate,

there is no one like you.

8

But they are together brutish and foolish,

instructed by idols!

It is just wood.

9

There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish,

and gold from Uphaz,

the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith.

Their clothing is blue and purple.

They are all the work of skillful men.

10

But Yahweh is the true God.

He is the living God,

and an everlasting King.

At his wrath, the earth trembles.

The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation.

11

“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’ ”

12

God has made the earth by his power.

He has established the world by his wisdom,

and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.

13

When he utters his voice,

the waters in the heavens roar,

and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightnings for the rain,

and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

14

Every man has become brutish and without knowledge.

Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved image;

for his molten image is falsehood,

and there is no breath in them.

15

They are vanity, a work of delusion.

In the time of their visitation they will perish.

16

The portion of Jacob is not like these;

for he is the maker of all things;

and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance:

Yahweh of Armies is his name.

17

Gather up your wares out of the land,

you who live under siege.

18

For Yahweh says,

“Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time,

and will distress them, that they may feel it.”

19

Woe is me because of my injury!

My wound is serious;

but I said,

“Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it.”

20

My tent has been destroyed,

and all my cords are broken.

My children have gone away from me, and they are no more.

There is no one to spread my tent any more,

to set up my curtains.

21

For the shepherds have become brutish,

and have not inquired of Yahweh.

Therefore they have not prospered,

and all their flocks have scattered.

22

The voice of news, behold, it comes,

and a great commotion out of the north country,

to make the cities of Judah a desolation,

a dwelling place of jackals.

23

Yahweh, I know that the way of man is not in himself.

It is not in man who walks to direct his steps.

24

Yahweh, correct me, but gently;

not in your anger,

lest you reduce me to nothing.

25

Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,

and on the families that don’t call on your name;

for they have devoured Jacob.

Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him,

and have laid waste his habitation.

Hebrews 5

1

For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.

2

The high priest can deal gently with those who are ignorant and going astray, because he himself is also surrounded with weakness.

3

Because of this, he must offer sacrifices for sins for the people, as well as for himself.

4

Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was.

5

So also Christ didn’t glorify himself to be made a high priest, but it was he who said to him,

“You are my Son.

Today I have become your father.”

6

As he says also in another place,

“You are a priest forever,

after the order of Melchizedek.”

7

He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,

8

though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.

9

Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,

10

named by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

11

About him we have many words to say, and hard to interpret, seeing you have become dull of hearing.

12

For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food.

13

For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby.

14

But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

1 Timothy 6

1

Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.

2

Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

3

If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and doesn’t consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,

4

he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,

5

constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.

6

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7

For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.

8

But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.

9

But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.

10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11

But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

12

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

13

I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,

14

that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15

which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

16

He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

17

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

18

that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;

19

laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

20

Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge,

21

which some profess, and thus have wandered from the faith.

Grace be with you. Amen.

Hebrews 1

1

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

2

has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.

3

His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, who, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,

4

having become as much better than the angels as the more excellent name he has inherited is better than theirs.

5

For to which of the angels did he say at any time,

“You are my Son.

Today I have become your father?”

and again,

“I will be to him a Father,

and he will be to me a Son?”

6

When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”

7

Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,

and his servants a flame of fire.”

8

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your Kingdom.

9

You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity;

therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”

10

And,

“You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.

The heavens are the works of your hands.

11

They will perish, but you continue.

They all will grow old like a garment does.

12

You will roll them up like a mantle,

and they will be changed;

but you are the same.

Your years won’t fail.”

13

But which of the angels has he told at any time,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet?”

14

Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

Luke 2

1

Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.

2

This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

3

All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city.

4

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

5

to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.

6

While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth.

7

She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8

There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

9

Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

10

The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.

11

For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12

This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”

13

Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,

14

“Glory to God in the highest,

on earth peace, good will toward men.”

15

When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16

They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.

17

When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child.

18

All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds.

19

But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.

20

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

21

When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22

When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord

23

(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),

24

and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

25

Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

26

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

27

He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,

28

then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29

“Now you are releasing your servant, Master,

according to your word, in peace;

30

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31

which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;

32

a light for revelation to the nations,

and the glory of your people Israel.”

33

Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him,

34

and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.

35

Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

36

There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity,

37

and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.

38

Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

39

When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.

40

The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

41

His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

42

When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast,

43

and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it,

44

but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

45

When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him.

46

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.

47

All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48

When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”

49

He said to them,

“Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

50

They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them.

51

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

52

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Matthew 2

1

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,

2

“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”

3

When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4

Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.

5

They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,

6

‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah,

are in no way least among the princes of Judah;

for out of you shall come a governor

who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’ ”

7

Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

8

He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”

9

They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was.

10

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

11

They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12

Being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.

13

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

14

He arose and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt,

15

and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.

17

Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

18

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

lamentation, weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she wouldn’t be comforted,

because they are no more.”

19

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,

20

“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”

21

He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,

23

and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.

1 Kings 2

1

Now the days of David came near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying,

2

“I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;

3

and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn yourself.

4

Then Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘a man on the throne of Israel.’

5

“Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was around his waist, and in his sandals that were on his feet.

6

Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

7

But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.

8

“Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’

9

Now therefore don’t hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”

10

David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city.

11

The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

12

Solomon sat on David his father’s throne; and his kingdom was firmly established.

13

Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peaceably?”

He said, “Peaceably.

14

He said moreover, I have something to tell you.”

She said, “Say on.”

15

He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahweh.

16

Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.”

She said to him, “Say on.”

17

He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”

18

Bathsheba said, “All right. I will speak for you to the king.”

19

Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand.

20

Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.”

The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you.”

21

She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”

22

King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.”

23

Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.

24

Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me, and set me on my father David’s throne, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today.”

25

King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

26

To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the Lord Yahweh’s ark before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted.”

27

So Solomon thrust Abiathar out from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28

This news came to Joab; for Joab had followed Adonijah, although he didn’t follow Absalom. Joab fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and held onto the horns of the altar.

29

King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.”

30

Benaiah came to Yahweh’s Tent, and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out!’ ”

He said, “No; but I will die here.”

Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”

31

The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.

32

Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

33

So their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever. But for David, for his offspring, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.”

34

Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

35

The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.

36

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and live there, and don’t go anywhere else.

37

For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.”

38

Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

39

At the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your slaves are in Gath.”

40

Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his slaves; and Shimei went, and brought his slaves from Gath.

41

Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.

42

The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Didn’t I adjure you by Yahweh, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain, that on the day you go out, and walk anywhere else, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’

43

Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?”

44

The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wickedness that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head.

45

But king Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before Yahweh forever.”

46

So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out, and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Psalms 26

By David.

1

Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.

I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.

2

Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.

Try my heart and my mind.

3

For your loving kindness is before my eyes.

I have walked in your truth.

4

I have not sat with deceitful men,

neither will I go in with hypocrites.

5

I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and will not sit with the wicked.

6

I will wash my hands in innocence,

so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,

7

that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard

and tell of all your wondrous deeds.

8

Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,

the place where your glory dwells.

9

Don’t gather my soul with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men;

10

in whose hands is wickedness,

their right hand is full of bribes.

11

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.

Redeem me, and be merciful to me.

12

My foot stands in an even place.

In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.

Psalms 19

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

The heavens declare the glory of God.

The expanse shows his handiwork.

2

Day after day they pour out speech,

and night after night they display knowledge.

3

There is no speech nor language,

where their voice is not heard.

4

Their voice has gone out through all the earth,

their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

5

which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room,

like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.

6

His going out is from the end of the heavens,

his circuit to its ends.

There is nothing hidden from its heat.

7

Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul.

Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple.

8

Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart.

Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9

The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever.

Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.

10

They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold,

sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.

11

Moreover your servant is warned by them.

In keeping them there is great reward.

12

Who can discern his errors?

Forgive me from hidden errors.

13

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I will be upright.

I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.

Matthew 10

1

He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.

2

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter; Andrew, his brother; James the son of Zebedee; John, his brother;

3

Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, who was also called Thaddaeus;

4

Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

5

Jesus sent these twelve out and commanded them, saying,

“Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans.

6

Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7

As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’

8

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,

and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.

9

Don’t take any gold, silver, or brass in your money belts.

10

Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor sandals, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food.

11

Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you go on.

12

As you enter into the household, greet it.

13

If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you.

14

Whoever doesn’t receive you or hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.

15

Most certainly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

16

“Behold, I send you out as sheep among wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

17

But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.

18

Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations.

19

But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say.

20

For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

21

“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.

22

You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.

23

But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man has come.

24

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.

25

It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,

how much more those of his household!

26

Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

27

What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.

28

Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

29

“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin?

Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

30

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

31

Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

32

Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

33

But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

34

“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.

35

For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

36

A man’s foes will be those of his own household.

37

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.

38

He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me.

39

He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

40

“He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.

41

He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

42

Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.”

Romans 1

1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

2

which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

3

concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,

4

who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5

through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake;

6

among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

7

to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

9

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

10

requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

11

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

12

that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13

Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14

I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15

So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

16

For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

17

For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19

because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

20

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

21

Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23

and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.

24

Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;

25

who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26

For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

27

Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

28

Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

29

being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

30

backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31

without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

32

who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

Psalms 50

A Psalm by Asaph.

1

The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks,

and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.

2

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines out.

3

Our God comes, and does not keep silent.

A fire devours before him.

It is very stormy around him.

4

He calls to the heavens above,

to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5

“Gather my saints together to me,

those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”

6

The heavens shall declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge.

Selah.

7

“Hear, my people, and I will speak.

Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8

I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices.

Your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9

I have no need for a bull from your stall,

nor male goats from your pens.

10

For every animal of the forest is mine,

and the livestock on a thousand hills.

11

I know all the birds of the mountains.

The wild animals of the field are mine.

12

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

13

Will I eat the meat of bulls,

or drink the blood of goats?

14

Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Pay your vows to the Most High.

15

Call on me in the day of trouble.

I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

16

But to the wicked God says,

“What right do you have to declare my statutes,

that you have taken my covenant on your lips,

17

since you hate instruction,

and throw my words behind you?

18

When you saw a thief, you consented with him,

and have participated with adulterers.

19

“You give your mouth to evil.

Your tongue frames deceit.

20

You sit and speak against your brother.

You slander your own mother’s son.

21

You have done these things, and I kept silent.

You thought that I was just like you.

I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.

22

“Now consider this, you who forget God,

lest I tear you into pieces, and there be no one to deliver.

23

Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me,

and prepares his way so that I will show God’s salvation to him.”

Matthew 17

1

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves.

2

He was changed before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.

3

Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

4

Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

6

When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid.

7

Jesus came and touched them and said,

“Get up, and don’t be afraid.”

8

Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.

9

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying,

“Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

10

His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

11

Jesus answered them,

“Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things;

12

but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.”

13

Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.

14

When they came to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him and saying,

15

“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water.

16

So I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

17

Jesus answered,

“Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”

18

Jesus rebuked the demon, and it went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.

19

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?”

20

He said to them,

“Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

21

But this kind doesn’t go out except by prayer and fasting.”

22

While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them,

“The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men,

23

and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up.”

They were exceedingly sorry.

24

When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the didrachma coins came to Peter, and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the didrachma?”

25

He said, “Yes.”

When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying,

“What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?”

26

Peter said to him, “From strangers.”

Jesus said to him,

“Therefore the children are exempt.

27

But, lest we cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take up the first fish that comes up. When you have opened its mouth, you will find a stater coin.

Take that, and give it to them for me and you.”

John 9

1

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2

His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3

Jesus answered,

“This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

4

I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work.

5

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6

When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud,

7

and said to him,

“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”

(which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8

The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?”

9

Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

10

They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11

He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me,

‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’

So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

12

Then they asked him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

13

They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

14

It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.

15

Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

16

Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them.

17

Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

18

The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

19

and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20

His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21

but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.”

22

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

23

Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”

24

So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25

He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26

They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27

He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”

28

They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

29

We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

30

The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.

31

We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.

32

Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

33

If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34

They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.

35

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said,

“Do you believe in the Son of God?”

36

He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

37

Jesus said to him,

“You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”

38

He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.

39

Jesus said,

“I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

40

Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

41

Jesus said to them,

“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

Luke 11

1

When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

2

He said to them,

“When you pray, say,

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

May your Kingdom come.

May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

3

Give us day by day our daily bread.

4

Forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Bring us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.’ ”

5

He said to them,

“Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

6

for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’

7

and he from within will answer and say, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you’?

8

I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.

9

“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.

10

For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

11

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?

12

Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he?

13

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

14

He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the multitudes marveled.

15

But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

16

Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.

17

But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them,

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. A house divided against itself falls.

18

If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

19

But if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

20

But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.

21

“When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.

22

But when someone stronger attacks him and overcomes him, he takes from him his whole armor in which he trusted, and divides his plunder.

23

“He who is not with me is against me. He who doesn’t gather with me scatters.

24

The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of the man, passes through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none, he says, ‘I will turn back to my house from which I came out.’

25

When he returns, he finds it swept and put in order.

26

Then he goes, and takes seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

27

It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

28

But he said,

“On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”

29

When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say,

“This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet.

30

For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will also be to this generation.

31

The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is here.

32

The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here.

33

“No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, that those who come in may see the light.

34

The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light; but when it is evil, your body also is full of darkness.

35

Therefore see whether the light that is in you isn’t darkness.

36

If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”

37

Now as he spoke, a certain Pharisee asked him to dine with him. He went in and sat at the table.

38

When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed himself before dinner.

39

The Lord said to him,

“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.

40

You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?

41

But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

42

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

43

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the marketplaces.

44

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like hidden graves, and the men who walk over them don’t know it.”

45

One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.”

46

He said,

“Woe to you lawyers also! For you load men with burdens that are difficult to carry, and you yourselves won’t even lift one finger to help carry those burdens.

47

Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

48

So you testify and consent to the works of your fathers. For they killed them, and you build their tombs.

49

Therefore also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute,

50

that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

51

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zachariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.

52

Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”

53

As he said these things to them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be terribly angry, and to draw many things out of him;

54

lying in wait for him, and seeking to catch him in something he might say, that they might accuse him.

Matthew 11

1

When Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2

Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples

3

and said to him, “Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?”

4

Jesus answered them,

“Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:

5

the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,

the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

6

Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”

7

As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John,

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

8

But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.

9

But why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.

10

For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

11

Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

12

From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

13

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14

If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.

15

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

16

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions

17

and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’

18

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’

19

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

20

Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent.

21

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22

But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.

23

You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will go down to Hades.

For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until today.

24

But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment, than for you.”

25

At that time, Jesus answered,

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

26

Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.

27

All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.

28

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

29

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.

30

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Psalms 38

A Psalm by David, for a memorial.

1

Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath,

neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2

For your arrows have pierced me,

your hand presses hard on me.

3

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation,

neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

4

For my iniquities have gone over my head.

As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5

My wounds are loathsome and corrupt

because of my foolishness.

6

I am in pain and bowed down greatly.

I go mourning all day long.

7

For my waist is filled with burning.

There is no soundness in my flesh.

8

I am faint and severely bruised.

I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.

9

Lord, all my desire is before you.

My groaning is not hidden from you.

10

My heart throbs.

My strength fails me.

As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.

11

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague.

My kinsmen stand far away.

12

They also who seek after my life lay snares.

Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

and meditate deceits all day long.

13

But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear.

I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.

14

Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear,

in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15

For I hope in you, Yahweh.

You will answer, Lord my God.

16

For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me,

or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

17

For I am ready to fall.

My pain is continually before me.

18

For I will declare my iniquity.

I will be sorry for my sin.

19

But my enemies are vigorous and many.

Those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20

They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me,

because I follow what is good.

21

Don’t forsake me, Yahweh.

My God, don’t be far from me.

22

Hurry to help me,

Lord, my salvation.

Isaiah 14

1

For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.

2

The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh’s land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.

3

It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,

4

that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!”

5

Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,

6

who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.

7

The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out in song.

8

Yes, the cypress trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us.”

9

Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10

They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?”

11

Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.

12

How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!

13

You said in your heart, “I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!

14

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!”

15

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.

16

Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms,

17

who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities, who didn’t release his prisoners to their home?”

18

All the kings of the nations sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.

19

But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.

20

You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever.

21

Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.

22

“I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.

23

“I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies.

24

Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

25

that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.

26

This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27

For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

28

This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.

29

Don’t rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent’s root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.

30

The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.

31

Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32

What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.

Lamentations 4

1

How the gold has become dim!

The most pure gold has changed!

The stones of the sanctuary are poured out

at the head of every street.

2

The precious sons of Zion,

comparable to fine gold,

how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers,

the work of the hands of the potter!

3

Even the jackals offer their breast.

They nurse their young ones.

But the daughter of my people has become cruel,

like the ostriches in the wilderness.

4

The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst.

The young children ask bread,

and no one breaks it for them.

5

Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets.

Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.

6

For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom,

which was overthrown as in a moment.

No hands were laid on her.

7

Her nobles were purer than snow.

They were whiter than milk.

They were more ruddy in body than rubies.

Their polishing was like sapphire.

8

Their appearance is blacker than a coal.

They are not known in the streets.

Their skin clings to their bones.

It is withered.

It has become like a stick.

9

Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger;

For these pine away, stricken through,

for lack of the fruits of the field.

10

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children.

They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11

Yahweh has accomplished his wrath.

He has poured out his fierce anger.

He has kindled a fire in Zion,

which has devoured its foundations.

12

The kings of the earth didn’t believe,

neither did all the inhabitants of the world,

that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

13

It is because of the sins of her prophets

and the iniquities of her priests,

that have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.

14

They wander as blind men in the streets.

They are polluted with blood,

So that men can’t touch their garments.

15

“Go away!” they cried to them.

“Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch!

When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations,

“They can’t live here any more.”

16

Yahweh’s anger has scattered them.

He will not pay attention to them any more.

They didn’t respect the persons of the priests.

They didn’t favor the elders.

17

Our eyes still fail,

looking in vain for our help.

In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

18

They hunt our steps,

so that we can’t go in our streets.

Our end is near.

Our days are fulfilled,

for our end has come.

19

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky.

They chased us on the mountains.

They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

20

The breath of our nostrils,

the anointed of Yahweh,

was taken in their pits;

of whom we said,

under his shadow we will live among the nations.

21

Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom,

who dwells in the land of Uz.

The cup will pass through to you also.

You will be drunken,

and will make yourself naked.

22

The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion.

He will no more carry you away into captivity.

He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom.

He will uncover your sins.

Matthew 26

1

When Jesus had finished all these words, he said to his disciples,

2

“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

3

Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.

4

They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit and kill him.

5

But they said, “Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people.”

6

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,

7

a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.

8

But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste?

9

For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor.”

10

However, knowing this, Jesus said to them,

“Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good work for me.

11

For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.

12

For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.

13

Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her.”

14

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

15

and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?” So they weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.

16

From that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

17

Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”

18

He said,

“Go into the city to a certain person, and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ’ ”

19

The disciples did as Jesus commanded them, and they prepared the Passover.

20

Now when evening had come, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples.

21

As they were eating, he said,

“Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.”

22

They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, “It isn’t me, is it, Lord?”

23

He answered,

“He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me.

24

The Son of Man goes even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

25

Judas, who betrayed him, answered, “It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?”

He said to him,

“You said it.”

26

As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples and said,

“Take, eat; this is my body.”

27

He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying,

“All of you drink it,

28

for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.

29

But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”

30

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

31

Then Jesus said to them,

“All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

32

But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.”

33

But Peter answered him, “Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.”

34

Jesus said to him,

“Most certainly I tell you that tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

35

Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” All of the disciples also said likewise.

36

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples,

“Sit here, while I go there and pray.”

37

He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.

38

Then he said to them,

“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me.”

39

He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.”

40

He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,

“What, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour?

41

Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42

Again, a second time he went away and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.”

43

He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

44

He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words.

45

Then he came to his disciples and said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46

Arise, let’s be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”

47

While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

48

Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, “Whoever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him.”

49

Immediately he came to Jesus, and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

50

Jesus said to him,

“Friend, why are you here?”

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.

51

Behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

52

Then Jesus said to him,

“Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.

53

Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?

54

How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?”

55

In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes,

“Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me.

56

But all this has happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”

Then all the disciples left him and fled.

57

Those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

58

But Peter followed him from a distance to the court of the high priest, and entered in and sat with the officers, to see the end.

59

Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death,

60

and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward

61

and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’ ”

62

The high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that these testify against you?”

63

But Jesus stayed silent. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

64

Jesus said to him,

“You have said so. Nevertheless, I tell you, after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky.”

65

Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy.

66

What do you think?”

They answered, “He is worthy of death!”

67

Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him,

68

saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you?”

69

Now Peter was sitting outside in the court, and a maid came to him, saying, “You were also with Jesus, the Galilean!”

70

But he denied it before them all, saying, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

71

When he had gone out onto the porch, someone else saw him and said to those who were there, “This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

72

Again he denied it with an oath, “I don’t know the man.”

73

After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, “Surely you are also one of them, for your speech makes you known.”

74

Then he began to curse and to swear, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately the rooster crowed.

75

Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him,

“Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

Then he went out and wept bitterly.

Isaiah 53

1

Who has believed our message?

To whom has Yahweh’s arm been revealed?

2

For he grew up before him as a tender plant,

and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no good looks or majesty.

When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3

He was despised

and rejected by men,

a man of suffering

and acquainted with disease.

He was despised as one from whom men hide their face;

and we didn’t respect him.

4

Surely he has borne our sickness

and carried our suffering;

yet we considered him plagued,

struck by God, and afflicted.

5

But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

The punishment that brought our peace was on him;

and by his wounds we are healed.

6

All we like sheep have gone astray.

Everyone has turned to his own way;

and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7

He was oppressed,

yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth.

As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he didn’t open his mouth.

8

He was taken away by oppression and judgment.

As for his generation,

who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living

and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

9

They made his grave with the wicked,

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10

Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him.

He has caused him to suffer.

When you make his soul an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring.

He will prolong his days

and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.

11

After the suffering of his soul,

he will see the light and be satisfied.

My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself;

and he will bear their iniquities.

12

Therefore I will give him a portion with the great.

He will divide the plunder with the strong;

because he poured out his soul to death

and was counted with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sins of many

and made intercession for the transgressors.

Luke 22

1

Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching.

2

The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death, for they feared the people.

3

Satan entered into Judas, who was also called Iscariot, who was counted with the twelve.

4

He went away, and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them.

5

They were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6

He consented, and sought an opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the multitude.

7

The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed.

8

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying,

“Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”

9

They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare?”

10

He said to them,

“Behold, when you have entered into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters.

11

Tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’

12

He will show you a large, furnished upper room. Make preparations there.”

13

They went, found things as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

14

When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles.

15

He said to them,

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer,

16

for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in God’s Kingdom.”

17

He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said,

“Take this, and share it among yourselves,

18

for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until God’s Kingdom comes.”

19

He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.”

20

Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

21

But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.

22

The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!”

23

They began to question among themselves which of them it was who would do this thing.

24

A dispute also arose among them, which of them was considered to be greatest.

25

He said to them,

“The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’

26

But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.

27

For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

28

But you are those who have continued with me in my trials.

29

I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me,

30

that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

31

The Lord said,

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat,

32

but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail. You, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers.”

33

He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”

34

He said,

“I tell you, Peter, the rooster will by no means crow today until you deny that you know me three times.”

35

He said to them,

“When I sent you out without purse, wallet, and sandals, did you lack anything?”

They said, “Nothing.”

36

Then he said to them,

“But now, whoever has a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet. Whoever has none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword.

37

For I tell you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in me: ‘He was counted with transgressors.’

For that which concerns me has an end.”

38

They said, “Lord, behold, here are two swords.”

He said to them,

“That is enough.”

39

He came out and went, as his custom was, to the Mount of Olives. His disciples also followed him.

40

When he was at the place, he said to them,

“Pray that you don’t enter into temptation.”

41

He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and he knelt down and prayed,

42

saying,

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

43

An angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.

44

Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.

45

When he rose up from his prayer, he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping because of grief,

46

and said to them,

“Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

47

While he was still speaking, a crowd appeared. He who was called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss him.

48

But Jesus said to him,

“Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

49

When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, they said to him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”

50

A certain one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

51

But Jesus answered,

“Let me at least do this”

—and he touched his ear, and healed him.

52

Jesus said to the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders, who had come against him,

“Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?

53

When I was with you in the temple daily, you didn’t stretch out your hands against me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

54

They seized him, and led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed from a distance.

55

When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard, and had sat down together, Peter sat among them.

56

A certain servant girl saw him as he sat in the light, and looking intently at him, said, “This man also was with him.”

57

He denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”

58

After a little while someone else saw him, and said, “You also are one of them!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

59

After about one hour passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, “Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean!”

60

But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about!” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.

61

The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he said to him,

“Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.”

62

He went out, and wept bitterly.

63

The men who held Jesus mocked him and beat him.

64

Having blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked him, “Prophesy! Who is the one who struck you?”

65

They spoke many other things against him, insulting him.

66

As soon as it was day, the assembly of the elders of the people were gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away into their council, saying,

67

“If you are the Christ, tell us.”

But he said to them,

“If I tell you, you won’t believe,

68

and if I ask, you will in no way answer me or let me go.

69

From now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

70

They all said, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He said to them,

“You say it, because I am.”

71

They said, “Why do we need any more witness? For we ourselves have heard from his own mouth!”

Judges 16

1

Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.

2

The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light; then we will kill him.”

3

Samson lay until midnight, then arose at midnight and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, with the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

4

It came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5

The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

6

Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”

7

Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

8

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9

Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

10

Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies. Now please tell me how you might be bound.”

11

He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

12

So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

13

Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.”

He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the fabric on the loom.”

14

She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam and the fabric.

15

She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

16

When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.

17

He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”

18

When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.

19

She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20

She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!”

He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him.

21

The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

22

However, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.

23

The lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”

24

When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”

25

When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;

26

and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them.”

27

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson performed.

28

Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

29

Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested and leaned on them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.

30

Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

31

Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.

Psalms 45

For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song.

1

My heart overflows with a noble theme.

I recite my verses for the king.

My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.

2

You are the most excellent of the sons of men.

Grace has anointed your lips,

therefore God has blessed you forever.

3

Strap your sword on your thigh, mighty one:

your splendor and your majesty.

4

In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness.

Let your right hand display awesome deeds.

5

Your arrows are sharp.

The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.

6

Your throne, God, is forever and ever.

A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.

7

You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

8

All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.

9

Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women.

At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.

10

Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear.

Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.

11

So the king will desire your beauty,

honor him, for he is your lord.

12

The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift.

The rich among the people entreat your favor.

13

The princess inside is all glorious.

Her clothing is interwoven with gold.

14

She shall be led to the king in embroidered work.

The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.

15

With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led.

They shall enter into the king’s palace.

16

Your sons will take the place of your fathers.

You shall make them princes in all the earth.

17

I will make your name to be remembered in all generations.

Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.

Acts 3

1

Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

2

A certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb was being carried, whom they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask gifts for the needy of those who entered into the temple.

3

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive gifts for the needy.

4

Peter, fastening his eyes on him, with John, said, “Look at us.”

5

He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.

6

But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”

7

He took him by the right hand and raised him up. Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.

8

Leaping up, he stood and began to walk. He entered with them into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

9

All the people saw him walking and praising God.

10

They recognized him, that it was he who used to sit begging for gifts for the needy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

11

As the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

12

When Peter saw it, he responded to the people, “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him walk?

13

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

14

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

15

and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.

16

By faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

17

“Now, brothers, I know that you did this in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

18

But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.

19

“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,

20

and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before,

21

whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.

22

For Moses indeed said to the fathers, ‘The Lord God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him in all things whatever he says to you.

23

It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’

24

Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days.

25

You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘All the families of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.’

26

God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”

Matthew 27

1

Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

2

They bound him, led him away, and delivered him up to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

3

Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

4

saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.”

But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”

5

He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary and departed. Then he went away and hanged himself.

6

The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It’s not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.”

7

They took counsel, and bought the potter’s field with them to bury strangers in.

8

Therefore that field has been called “The Field of Blood” to this day.

9

Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

“They took the thirty pieces of silver,

the price of him upon whom a price had been set,

whom some of the children of Israel priced,

10

and they gave them for the potter’s field,

as the Lord commanded me.”

11

Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said to him,

“So you say.”

12

When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

13

Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they testify against you?”

14

He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.

15

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner whom they desired.

16

They had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas.

17

When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

18

For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.

19

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.”

20

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

21

But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

They said, “Barabbas!”

22

Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Jesus who is called Christ?”

They all said to him, “Let him be crucified!”

23

But the governor said, “Why? What evil has he done?”

But they cried out exceedingly, saying, “Let him be crucified!”

24

So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it.”

25

All the people answered, “May his blood be on us and on our children!”

26

Then he released Barabbas to them, but Jesus he flogged and delivered to be crucified.

27

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him.

28

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.

29

They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

30

They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.

31

When they had mocked him, they took the robe off him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

32

As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross.

33

When they came to a place called “Golgotha”, that is to say, “The place of a skull,”

34

they gave him sour wine to drink mixed with gall. When he had tasted it, he would not drink.

35

When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots,

36

and they sat and watched him there.

37

They set up over his head the accusation against him written, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

38

Then there were two robbers crucified with him, one on his right hand and one on the left.

39

Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads

40

and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

41

Likewise the chief priests also mocking with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said,

42

“He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.

43

He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

44

The robbers also who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach.

45

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

46

About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,

“Eli, Eli, lima

sabachthani?”

That is,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

47

Some of them who stood there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”

48

Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.

49

The rest said, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”

50

Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

51

Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.

52

The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

53

and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.

54

Now the centurion and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were done, were terrified, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

55

Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him.

56

Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

57

When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathaea named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus’ disciple, came.

58

This man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given up.

59

Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth

60

and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock. Then he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed.

61

Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

62

Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate,

63

saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’

64

Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”

65

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.”

66

So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.

John 19

1

So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him.

2

The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.

3

They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him.

4

Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

5

Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”

6

When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

8

When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.

9

He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

10

Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

11

Jesus answered,

“You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

12

At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”

13

When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.”

14

Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”

15

They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

16

So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.

17

He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,

18

where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.

19

Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

20

Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

21

The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, “I am King of the Jews.” ’ ”

22

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

24

Then they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says,

“They parted my garments among them.

For my cloak they cast lots.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

25

But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26

Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother,

“Woman, behold, your son!”

27

Then he said to the disciple,

“Behold, your mother!”

From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

28

After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said,

“I am thirsty.”

29

Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.

30

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,

“It is finished.”

Then he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

31

Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

32

Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;

33

but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.

34

However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

35

He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

36

For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”

37

Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”

38

After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.

39

Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.

40

So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

41

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.

42

Then because of the Jews’ Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there.

Mark 15

1

Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, bound Jesus, carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.

2

Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

He answered,

“So you say.”

3

The chief priests accused him of many things.

4

Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!”

5

But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.

6

Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him.

7

There was one called Barabbas, bound with his fellow insurgents, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.

8

The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them.

9

Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

10

For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up.

11

But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead.

12

Pilate again asked them, “What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

13

They cried out again, “Crucify him!”

14

Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”

But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”

15

Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.

16

The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort.

17

They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.

18

They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

19

They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him.

20

When they had mocked him, they took the purple off him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.

21

They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.

22

They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, “The place of a skull.”

23

They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn’t take it.

24

Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take.

25

It was the third hour, and they crucified him.

26

The superscription of his accusation was written over him, “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

27

With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.

28

The Scripture was fulfilled, which says, “He was counted with transgressors.”

29

Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,

30

save yourself, and come down from the cross!”

31

Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself.

32

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.

33

When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

34

At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”

which is, being interpreted,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

35

Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”

36

One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”

37

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.

38

The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.

39

When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

40

There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

41

who, when he was in Galilee, followed him and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

42

When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

43

Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for God’s Kingdom, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.

44

Pilate marveled if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.

45

When he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

46

He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.

47

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.

Matthew 28

1

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

2

Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat on it.

3

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

4

For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men.

5

The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.

6

He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying.

7

Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

8

They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.

9

As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying,

“Rejoice!”

They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.

10

Then Jesus said to them,

“Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers

that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”

11

Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.

12

When they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,

13

saying, “Say that his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.

14

If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.”

15

So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.

16

But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them.

17

When they saw him, they bowed down to him; but some doubted.

18

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying,

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

19

Go

and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20

teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Amen.

Matthew 4

1

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2

When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward.

3

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

4

But he answered,

“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’ ”

5

Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6

and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and,

‘On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

7

Jesus said to him,

“Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’ ”

8

Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

9

He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”

10

Then Jesus said to him,

“Get behind me,

Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’ ”

11

Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

12

Now when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee.

13

Leaving Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

15

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

toward the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

16

the people who sat in darkness saw a great light;

to those who sat in the region and shadow of death,

to them light has dawned.”

17

From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say,

“Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

18

Walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

19

He said to them,

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”

20

They immediately left their nets and followed him.

21

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them.

22

They immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.

23

Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

24

The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.

25

Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

Genesis 45

1

Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he called out, “Cause everyone to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

2

He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Does my father still live?”

His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

4

Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”

They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5

Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

6

For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be no plowing and no harvest.

7

God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

8

So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

9

Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait.

10

You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

11

There I will provide for you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.” ’

12

Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

13

You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.”

14

He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

15

He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16

The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

17

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.

18

Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’

19

Now you are commanded to do this: Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

20

Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”

21

The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22

He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

23

He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

24

So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”

25

They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.

26

They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.

27

They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.

28

Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Genesis 37

1

Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan.

2

This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.

3

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colors.

4

His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.

5

Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.

6

He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:

7

for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”

8

His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words.

9

He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”

10

He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?”

11

His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.

12

His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

13

Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”

14

He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15

A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16

He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.”

17

The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”

Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan.

18

They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.

19

They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes.

20

Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”

21

Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.”

22

Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.

23

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him;

24

and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

25

They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

26

Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

27

Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him.

28

Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.

29

Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes.

30

He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?”

31

They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.

32

They took the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. Examine it, now, and see if it is your son’s tunic or not.”

33

He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s tunic. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.”

34

Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.

35

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” His father wept for him.

36

The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.

Psalms 32

By David. A contemplative psalm.

1

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

2

Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,

in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3

When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4

For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

Selah.

5

I acknowledged my sin to you.

I didn’t hide my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

6

For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

7

You are my hiding place.

You will preserve me from trouble.

You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah.

8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.

I will counsel you with my eye on you.

9

Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,

who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

10

Many sorrows come to the wicked,

but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.

11

Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!

Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

Jeremiah 51

1

Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,

and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.

2

I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her.

They will empty her land;

for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.

3

Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow,

also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail.

Don’t spare her young men!

Utterly destroy all her army!

4

They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,

and thrust through in her streets.

5

For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God,

by Yahweh of Armies;

though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

6

“Flee out of the middle of Babylon!

Everyone save his own life!

Don’t be cut off in her iniquity;

for it is the time of Yahweh’s vengeance.

He will render to her a recompense.

7

Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand,

who made all the earth drunk.

The nations have drunk of her wine;

therefore the nations have gone mad.

8

Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed!

Wail for her!

Take balm for her pain.

Perhaps she may be healed.

9

“We would have healed Babylon,

but she is not healed.

Forsake her,

and let’s each go into his own country;

for her judgment reaches to heaven,

and is lifted up even to the skies.

10

‘Yahweh has produced our righteousness:

come, and let’s declare in Zion the work of Yahweh our God.’

11

“Make the arrows sharp!

Hold the shields firmly!

Yahweh has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes,

because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it;

for it is the vengeance of Yahweh,

the vengeance of his temple.

12

Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon!

Make the watch strong!

Set the watchmen,

and prepare the ambushes;

for Yahweh has both purposed and done

that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

13

You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures,

your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.

14

Yahweh of Armies has sworn by himself, saying,

‘Surely I will fill you with men,

as with the canker worm;

and they will lift up a shout against you.’

15

“He has made the earth by his power.

He has established the world by his wisdom.

By his understanding he has stretched out the heavens.

16

When he utters his voice,

there is a roar of waters in the heavens,

and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.

He makes lightning for the rain,

and brings the wind out of his treasuries.

17

“Every man has become brutish without knowledge.

Every goldsmith is disappointed by his image;

for his molten image is falsehood,

and there is no breath in them.

18

They are vanity,

a work of delusion.

In the time of their visitation, they will perish.

19

The portion of Jacob is not like these,

for he is the former of all things;

including the tribe of his inheritance:

Yahweh of Armies is his name.

20

“You are my battle ax and weapons of war.

With you I will break the nations into pieces.

With you I will destroy kingdoms.

21

With you I will break in pieces

the horse and his rider.

22

With you I will break in pieces

the chariot and him who rides therein.

With you I will break in pieces

man and woman.

With you I will break in pieces

the old man and the youth.

With you I will break in pieces

the young man and the virgin.

23

With you I will break in pieces

the shepherd and his flock.

With you I will break in pieces

the farmer and his yoke.

With you I will break in pieces

governors and deputies.

24

“I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight,” says Yahweh.

25

“Behold, I am against you, destroying mountain,” says Yahweh,

“which destroys all the earth.

I will stretch out my hand on you,

roll you down from the rocks,

and will make you a burned mountain.

26

They won’t take a cornerstone from you,

nor a stone for foundations;

but you will be desolate forever,” says Yahweh.

27

“Set up a standard in the land!

Blow the trumpet among the nations!

Prepare the nations against her!

Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz!

Appoint a marshal against her!

Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker worm!

28

Prepare against her the nations,

the kings of the Medes, its governors, and all its deputies, and all the land of their dominion!

29

The land trembles and is in pain;

for the purposes of Yahweh against Babylon stand,

to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

30

The mighty men of Babylon have stopped fighting,

they remain in their strongholds.

Their might has failed.

They have become as women.

Her dwelling places are set on fire.

Her bars are broken.

31

One runner will run to meet another,

and one messenger to meet another,

to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter.

32

So the passages are seized.

They have burned the reeds with fire.

The men of war are frightened.”

33

For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says:

“The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden.

Yet a little while, and the time of harvest comes for her.”

34

“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me.

He has crushed me.

He has made me an empty vessel.

He has, like a monster, swallowed me up.

He has filled his mouth with my delicacies.

He has cast me out.

35

May the violence done to me and to my flesh be on Babylon!”

the inhabitant of Zion will say; and,

“May my blood be on the inhabitants of Chaldea!”

will Jerusalem say.

36

Therefore Yahweh says:

“Behold, I will plead your cause,

and take vengeance for you.

I will dry up her sea,

and make her fountain dry.

37

Babylon will become heaps,

a dwelling place for jackals,

an astonishment, and a hissing,

without inhabitant.

38

They will roar together like young lions.

They will growl as lions’ cubs.

39

When they are heated, I will make their feast,

and I will make them drunk,

that they may rejoice,

and sleep a perpetual sleep,

and not wake up,” says Yahweh.

40

“I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,

like rams with male goats.

41

“How Sheshach is taken!

How the praise of the whole earth is seized!

How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations!

42

The sea has come up on Babylon.

She is covered with the multitude of its waves.

43

Her cities have become a desolation,

a dry land, and a desert,

a land in which no man dwells.

No son of man passes by it.

44

I will execute judgment on Bel in Babylon,

and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up.

The nations will not flow any more to him.

Yes, the wall of Babylon will fall.

45

“My people, go away from the middle of her,

and each of you save yourselves from Yahweh’s fierce anger.

46

Don’t let your heart faint.

Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land.

For news will come one year,

and after that in another year news will come,

and violence in the land,

ruler against ruler.

47

Therefore behold, the days come that I will execute judgment on the engraved images of Babylon;

and her whole land will be confounded.

All her slain will fall in the middle of her.

48

Then the heavens and the earth,

and all that is therein,

will sing for joy over Babylon;

for the destroyers will come to her from the north,” says Yahweh.

49

“As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall,

so the slain of all the land will fall at Babylon.

50

You who have escaped the sword, go!

Don’t stand still!

Remember Yahweh from afar,

and let Jerusalem come into your mind.”

51

“We are confounded,

because we have heard reproach.

Confusion has covered our faces,

for strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Yahweh’s house.”

52

“Therefore behold, the days come,” says Yahweh,

“that I will execute judgment on her engraved images;

and through all her land the wounded will groan.

53

Though Babylon should mount up to the sky,

and though she should fortify the height of her strength,

yet destroyers will come to her from me,” says Yahweh.

54

“The sound of a cry comes from Babylon,

and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

55

For Yahweh lays Babylon waste,

and destroys out of her the great voice!

Their waves roar like many waters.

The noise of their voice is uttered.

56

For the destroyer has come on her,

even on Babylon.

Her mighty men are taken.

Their bows are broken in pieces,

for Yahweh is a God of retribution.

He will surely repay.

57

I will make her princes, her wise men,

her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men drunk.

They will sleep a perpetual sleep,

and not wake up,”

says the King, whose name is Yahweh of Armies.

58

Yahweh of Armies says:

“The wide walls of Babylon will be utterly overthrown.

Her high gates will be burned with fire.

The peoples will labor for vanity,

and the nations for the fire;

and they will be weary.”

59

The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief quartermaster.

60

Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon.

61

Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, then see that you read all these words,

62

and say, ‘Yahweh, you have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that no one will dwell in it, neither man nor animal, but that it will be desolate forever.’

63

It will be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the middle of the Euphrates.

64

Then you shall say, ‘Thus will Babylon sink, and will not rise again because of the evil that I will bring on her; and they will be weary.’ ”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Isaiah 5

1

Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard.

My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

2

He dug it up,

gathered out its stones,

planted it with the choicest vine,

built a tower in the middle of it,

and also cut out a wine press in it.

He looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.

3

“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

please judge between me and my vineyard.

4

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?

Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

5

Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up.

I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down.

6

I will lay it a wasteland.

It won’t be pruned or hoed,

but it will grow briers and thorns.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”

7

For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:

and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression;

for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

8

Woe to those who join house to house,

who lay field to field, until there is no room,

and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!

9

In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate,

even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

10

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,

and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah.”

11

Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink,

who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

12

The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts;

but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh,

neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

13

Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge.

Their honorable men are famished,

and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

14

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire,

and opened its mouth without measure;

and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

15

So man is brought low,

mankind is humbled,

and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

16

but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice,

and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

17

Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,

and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

18

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

and wickedness as with cart rope,

19

who say, “Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come,

that we may know it!”

20

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

who put darkness for light,

and light for darkness;

who put bitter for sweet,

and sweet for bitter!

21

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and prudent in their own sight!

22

Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine,

and champions at mixing strong drink;

23

who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice for the innocent!

24

Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root shall be as rottenness,

and their blossom shall go up as dust,

because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies,

and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25

Therefore Yahweh’s anger burns against his people,

and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them.

The mountains tremble,

and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this, his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is still stretched out.

26

He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away,

and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth.

Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

27

No one shall be weary nor stumble among them;

no one shall slumber nor sleep,

neither shall the belt of their waist be untied,

nor the strap of their sandals be broken,

28

whose arrows are sharp,

and all their bows bent.

Their horses’ hoofs will be like flint,

and their wheels like a whirlwind.

29

Their roaring will be like a lioness.

They will roar like young lions.

Yes, they shall roar,

and seize their prey and carry it off,

and there will be no one to deliver.

30

They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea.

If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress.

The light is darkened in its clouds.

Sirach 24

1

Wisdom will praise her own soul,

and will proclaim her glory in the midst of her people.

2

She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High,

and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power.

3

“I came out of the mouth of the Most High,

and covered the earth as a mist.

4

I lived in high places,

and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud.

5

Alone I surrounded the circuit of heaven,

and walked in the depth of the abyss.

6

In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth,

and in every people and nation, I got a possession.

7

With all these I sought rest.

In whose inheritance shall I lodge?

8

Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment.

He who created me made my tabernacle to rest,

and said, ‘Let your tabernacle be in Jacob,

and your inheritance in Israel.’

9

He created me from the beginning before the world.

For all ages, I will not cease to exist.

10

In the holy tabernacle, I ministered before him.

So I was established in Zion.

11

In the beloved city, likewise he gave me rest.

In Jerusalem was my domain.

12

I took root in a people that was glorified,

even in the portion of the Lord’s own inheritance.

13

I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon,

And like a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon.

14

I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore,

and as rose plants in Jericho,

and as a fair olive tree in the plain.

I was exalted as a plane tree.

15

As cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given a scent to perfumes.

As choice myrrh, I spread abroad a pleasant fragrance,

as galbanum, onyx, stacte,

and as the smell of frankincense in the tabernacle.

16

As the terebinth, I stretched out my branches.

My branches are branches of glory and grace.

17

As the vine, I put forth grace.

My flowers are the fruit of glory and riches.

18

19

“Come to me, all you who desire me,

and be filled with my fruits.

20

For my memorial is sweeter than honey,

and my inheritance than the honeycomb.

21

Those who eat me will be hungry for more.

Those who drink me will be thirsty for more.

22

He who obeys me will not be ashamed.

Those who work in me will not sin.”

23

All these things are the book of the covenant of the Most High God,

the law which Moses commanded us for an inheritance for the assemblies of Jacob.

24

25

It is he who makes wisdom abundant, as Pishon,

and as Tigris in the days of first fruits.

26

He makes understanding full as Euphrates,

and as Jordan in the days of harvest,

27

who makes instruction shine forth as the light,

as Gihon in the days of vintage.

28

The first man didn’t know her perfectly.

In like manner, the last has not explored her.

29

For her thoughts are filled from the sea,

and her counsels from the great deep.

30

I came out as a canal stream from a river,

and as an irrigation ditch into a garden.

31

I said, “I will water my garden,

and will drench my garden bed.”

Behold, my stream became a river,

and my river became a sea.

32

I will yet bring instruction to light as the morning,

and will make these things clear from far away.

33

I will continue to pour out doctrine like prophecy,

and leave it to generations of ages.

34

Behold that I have not labored for myself only,

but for all those who diligently seek her.

Revelation 6

1

I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!”

2

Then a white horse appeared, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!”

4

Another came out: a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.

5

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see!” And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand.

6

I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”

7

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see!”

8

And behold, a pale horse, and the name of he who sat on it was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.

9

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had.

10

They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

11

A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.

12

I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.

13

The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.

14

The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

15

The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.

16

They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,

17

for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”

Job 42

1

Then Job answered Yahweh,

2

“I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

3

You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’

therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.

4

You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you will answer me.’

5

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you.

6

Therefore I abhor myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

7

It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.

8

Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”

9

So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what Yahweh commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.

10

Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before.

11

Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.

12

So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.

13

He had also seven sons and three daughters.

14

He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch.

15

In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16

After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.

17

So Job died, being old and full of days.

Psalms 42

For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah.

1

As the deer pants for the water brooks,

so my soul pants after you, God.

2

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?

3

My tears have been my food day and night,

while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

4

These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me,

how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house,

with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.

5

Why are you in despair, my soul?

Why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God!

For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.

6

My God, my soul is in despair within me.

Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan,

the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.

7

Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls.

All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

8

Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime.

In the night his song shall be with me:

a prayer to the God of my life.

9

I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10

As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me,

while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

11

Why are you in despair, my soul?

Why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God! For I shall still praise him,

the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

Isaiah 26

1

In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city.

God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

2

Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter:

the one which keeps faith.

3

You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace,

because he trusts in you.

4

Trust in Yahweh forever;

for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.

5

For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city.

He lays it low.

He lays it low even to the ground.

He brings it even to the dust.

6

The foot shall tread it down,

even the feet of the poor

and the steps of the needy.”

7

The way of the just is uprightness.

You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

8

Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you.

Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

9

With my soul I have desired you in the night.

Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly;

for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10

Let favor be shown to the wicked,

yet he will not learn righteousness.

In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully,

and will not see Yahweh’s majesty.

11

Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see;

but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed.

Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

12

Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us,

for you have also done all our work for us.

13

Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us,

but we will only acknowledge your name.

14

The dead shall not live.

The departed spirits shall not rise.

Therefore you have visited and destroyed them,

and caused all memory of them to perish.

15

You have increased the nation, O Yahweh.

You have increased the nation!

You are glorified!

You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16

Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you.

They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

17

Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery,

is in pain and cries out in her pangs,

so we have been before you, Yahweh.

18

We have been with child.

We have been in pain.

We gave birth, it seems, only to wind.

We have not worked any deliverance in the earth;

neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19

Your dead shall live.

My dead bodies shall arise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;

for your dew is like the dew of herbs,

and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

20

Come, my people, enter into your rooms,

and shut your doors behind you.

Hide yourself for a little moment,

until the indignation is past.

21

For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

Psalms 16

A Poem by David.

1

Preserve me, God, for I take refuge in you.

2

My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.

Apart from you I have no good thing.”

3

As for the saints who are in the earth,

they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god.

Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,

nor take their names on my lips.

5

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup.

You made my lot secure.

6

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7

I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel.

Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8

I have set Yahweh always before me.

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9

Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.

My body shall also dwell in safety.

10

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol,

neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

11

You will show me the path of life.

In your presence is fullness of joy.

In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

John 1

1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2

The same was in the beginning with God.

3

All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.

4

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.

6

There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.

7

The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.

8

He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.

9

The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

10

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him.

11

He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.

12

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

13

who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15

John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’ ”

16

From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.

17

For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

18

No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

19

This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20

He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”

21

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22

They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23

He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

24

The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.

25

They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

26

John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know.

27

He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.”

28

These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29

The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30

This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’

31

I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.”

32

John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.

33

I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’

34

I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

35

Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples,

36

and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

37

The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

38

Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them,

“What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”

39

He said to them,

“Come, and see.”

They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.

40

One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

41

He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).

42

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said,

“You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas”

(which is by interpretation, Peter).

43

On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him,

“Follow me.”

44

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

45

Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him,

“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

48

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered him,

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

49

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”

50

Jesus answered him,

“Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!”

51

He said to him,

“Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Proverbs 8

1

Doesn’t wisdom cry out?

Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?

2

On the top of high places by the way,

where the paths meet, she stands.

3

Beside the gates, at the entry of the city,

at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

4

“I call to you men!

I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

5

You simple, understand prudence!

You fools, be of an understanding heart!

6

Hear, for I will speak excellent things.

The opening of my lips is for right things.

7

For my mouth speaks truth.

Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

8

All the words of my mouth are in righteousness.

There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

9

They are all plain to him who understands,

right to those who find knowledge.

10

Receive my instruction rather than silver,

knowledge rather than choice gold.

11

For wisdom is better than rubies.

All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it.

12

“I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling.

Find out knowledge and discretion.

13

The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil.

I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.

14

Counsel and sound knowledge are mine.

I have understanding and power.

15

By me kings reign,

and princes decree justice.

16

By me princes rule,

nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.

17

I love those who love me.

Those who seek me diligently will find me.

18

With me are riches, honor,

enduring wealth, and prosperity.

19

My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,

my yield than choice silver.

20

I walk in the way of righteousness,

in the middle of the paths of justice,

21

that I may give wealth to those who love me.

I fill their treasuries.

22

“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work,

before his deeds of old.

23

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

before the earth existed.

24

When there were no depths, I was born,

when there were no springs abounding with water.

25

Before the mountains were settled in place,

before the hills, I was born;

26

while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,

nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

27

When he established the heavens, I was there.

When he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

28

when he established the clouds above,

when the springs of the deep became strong,

29

when he gave to the sea its boundary,

that the waters should not violate his commandment,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

30

then I was the craftsman by his side.

I was a delight day by day,

always rejoicing before him,

31

rejoicing in his whole world.

My delight was with the sons of men.

32

“Now therefore, my sons, listen to me,

for blessed are those who keep my ways.

33

Hear instruction, and be wise.

Don’t refuse it.

34

Blessed is the man who hears me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting at my door posts.

35

For whoever finds me, finds life,

and will obtain favor from Yahweh.

36

But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul.

All those who hate me love death.”

Song of Solomon 5

Lover

1

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Friends

Eat, friends!

Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.

Beloved

2

I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

It is the voice of my beloved who knocks:

“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;

for my head is filled with dew,

and my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3

I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on?

I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?

4

My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening.

My heart pounded for him.

5

I rose up to open for my beloved.

My hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the lock.

6

I opened to my beloved;

but my beloved left, and had gone away.

My heart went out when he spoke.

I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.

I called him, but he didn’t answer.

7

The watchmen who go about the city found me.

They beat me.

They bruised me.

The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

8

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

that you tell him that I am faint with love.

Friends

9

How is your beloved better than another beloved,

you fairest among women?

How is your beloved better than another beloved,

that you do so adjure us?

Beloved

10

My beloved is white and ruddy.

The best among ten thousand.

11

His head is like the purest gold.

His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

12

His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks,

washed with milk, mounted like jewels.

13

His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes.

His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

14

His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl.

His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

15

His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16

His mouth is sweetness;

yes, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.

Habakkuk 3

1

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

2

Yahweh, I have heard of your fame.

I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh.

Renew your work in the middle of the years.

In the middle of the years make it known.

In wrath, you remember mercy.

3

God came from Teman,

the Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah.

His glory covered the heavens,

and his praise filled the earth.

4

His splendor is like the sunrise.

Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

5

Plague went before him,

and pestilence followed his feet.

6

He stood, and shook the earth.

He looked, and made the nations tremble.

The ancient mountains were crumbled.

The age-old hills collapsed.

His ways are eternal.

7

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction.

The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

8

Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers?

Was your anger against the rivers,

or your wrath against the sea,

that you rode on your horses,

on your chariots of salvation?

9

You uncovered your bow.

You called for your sworn arrows.

Selah.

You split the earth with rivers.

10

The mountains saw you, and were afraid.

The storm of waters passed by.

The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

11

The sun and moon stood still in the sky,

at the light of your arrows as they went,

at the shining of your glittering spear.

12

You marched through the land in wrath.

You threshed the nations in anger.

13

You went out for the salvation of your people,

for the salvation of your anointed.

You crushed the head of the land of wickedness.

You stripped them head to foot.

Selah.

14

You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears.

They came as a whirlwind to scatter me,

gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.

15

You trampled the sea with your horses,

churning mighty waters.

16

I heard, and my body trembled.

My lips quivered at the voice.

Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place,

because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,

for the coming up of the people who invade us.

17

For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish,

nor fruit be in the vines;

the labor of the olive fails,

the fields yield no food;

the flocks are cut off from the fold,

and there is no herd in the stalls:

18

yet I will rejoice in Yahweh.

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

19

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength.

He makes my feet like deer’s feet,

and enables me to go in high places.

For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

Romans 8

1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

3

For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4

that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6

For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7

because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

8

Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.

9

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10

If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11

But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

15

For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17

and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

19

For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21

that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22

For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23

Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

24

For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25

But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

26

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30

Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32

He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33

Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36

Even as it is written,

“For your sake we are killed all day long.

We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37

No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 2

1

You therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2

The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

3

You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

4

No soldier on duty entangles himself in the affairs of life, that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.

5

Also, if anyone competes in athletics, he isn’t crowned unless he has competed by the rules.

6

The farmer who labors must be the first to get a share of the crops.

7

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

8

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the offspring of David, according to my Good News,

9

in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.

10

Therefore I endure all things for the chosen ones’ sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

11

This saying is trustworthy:

“For if we died with him,

we will also live with him.

12

If we endure,

we will also reign with him.

If we deny him,

he also will deny us.

13

If we are faithless,

he remains faithful;

for he can’t deny himself.”

14

Remind them of these things, charging them in the sight of the Lord, that they don’t argue about words, to no profit, to the subverting of those who hear.

15

Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

16

But shun empty chatter, for it will go further in ungodliness,

17

and those words will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus:

18

men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.

19

However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

20

Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of clay. Some are for honor, and some for dishonor.

21

If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

22

Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

23

But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife.

24

The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient,

25

in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

26

and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

John 4

1

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John

2

(although Jesus himself didn’t baptize, but his disciples),

3

he left Judea and departed into Galilee.

4

He needed to pass through Samaria.

5

So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son, Joseph.

6

Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being tired from his journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7

A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,

“Give me a drink.”

8

For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9

The Samaritan woman therefore said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

10

Jesus answered her,

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

11

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. So where do you get that living water?

12

Are you greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his children and his livestock?”

13

Jesus answered her,

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again,

14

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

15

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I don’t get thirsty, neither come all the way here to draw.”

16

Jesus said to her,

“Go, call your husband, and come here.”

17

The woman answered, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her,

“You said well, ‘I have no husband,’

18

for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”

19

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

20

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

21

Jesus said to her,

“Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father.

22

You worship that which you don’t know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.

23

But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to be his worshipers.

24

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

25

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, he who is called Christ. When he has come, he will declare to us all things.”

26

Jesus said to her,

“I am he, the one who speaks to you.”

27

At this, his disciples came. They marveled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no one said, “What are you looking for?” or, “Why do you speak with her?”

28

So the woman left her water pot, went away into the city, and said to the people,

29

“Come, see a man who told me everything that I did. Can this be the Christ?”

30

They went out of the city, and were coming to him.

31

In the meanwhile, the disciples urged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

32

But he said to them,

“I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

33

The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”

34

Jesus said to them,

“My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

35

Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest?’ Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

36

He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life; that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

37

For in this the saying is true, ‘One sows, and another reaps.’

38

I sent you to reap that for which you haven’t labored. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

39

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman, who testified, “He told me everything that I did.”

40

So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed there two days.

41

Many more believed because of his word.

42

They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

43

After the two days he went out from there and went into Galilee.

44

For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

45

So when he came into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went to the feast.

46

Jesus came therefore again to Cana of Galilee, where he made the water into wine. There was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.

47

When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and begged him that he would come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

48

Jesus therefore said to him,

“Unless you see signs and wonders, you will in no way believe.”

49

The nobleman said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

50

Jesus said to him,

“Go your way. Your son lives.”

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.

51

As he was going down, his servants met him and reported, saying “Your child lives!”

52

So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. They said therefore to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour, the fever left him.”

53

So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him,

“Your son lives.”

He believed, as did his whole house.

54

This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.

2 Kings 12

1

Jehoash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2

Jehoash did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

3

However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

4

Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the holy things that is brought into Yahweh’s house, in current money, the money of the people for whom each man is evaluated, and all the money that it comes into any man’s heart to bring into Yahweh’s house,

5

let the priests take it to them, each man from his donor; and they shall repair the damage to the house, wherever any damage is found.”

6

But it was so, that in the twenty-third year of king Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damage to the house.

7

Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, “Why don’t you repair the damage to the house? Now therefore take no more money from your treasurers, but deliver it for repair of the damage to the house.”

8

The priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, and not repair the damage to the house.

9

But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in its lid, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into Yahweh’s house; and the priests who kept the threshold put all the money that was brought into Yahweh’s house into it.

10

When they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king’s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put it in bags and counted the money that was found in Yahweh’s house.

11

They gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of Yahweh’s house; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on Yahweh’s house,

12

and to the masons and the stone cutters, and for buying timber and cut stone to repair the damage to Yahweh’s house, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it.

13

But there were not made for Yahweh’s house cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into Yahweh’s house;

14

for they gave that to those who did the work, and repaired Yahweh’s house with it.

15

Moreover they didn’t demand an accounting from the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work; for they dealt faithfully.

16

The money for the trespass offerings, and the money for the sin offerings was not brought into Yahweh’s house. It was the priests’.

17

Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it; and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.

18

Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and of the king’s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

19

Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

20

His servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla.

21

For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, struck him, and he died; and they buried him with his fathers in David’s city; and Amaziah his son reigned in his place.

Jeremiah 1

1

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.

2

Yahweh’s word came to him in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

3

It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

4

Now Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

5

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Before you were born, I sanctified you.

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

6

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.”

7

But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.

8

Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.

9

Then Yahweh stretched out his hand, and touched my mouth. Then Yahweh said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

10

Behold, I have today set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

11

Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

12

Then Yahweh said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it.”

13

Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?”

I said, “I see a boiling cauldron; and it is tipping away from the north.”

14

Then Yahweh said to me, “Out of the north, evil will break out on all the inhabitants of the land.

15

For, behold, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says Yahweh.

“They will come, and they will each set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem,

and against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.

16

I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness,

in that they have forsaken me,

and have burned incense to other gods,

and worshiped the works of their own hands.

17

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

18

For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.

19

They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to rescue you.”

Psalms 41

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

Blessed is he who considers the poor.

Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

2

Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive.

He shall be blessed on the earth,

and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

3

Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed,

and restore him from his bed of illness.

4

I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5

My enemies speak evil against me:

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6

If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood.

His heart gathers iniquity to itself.

When he goes abroad, he tells it.

7

All who hate me whisper together against me.

They imagine the worst for me.

8

“An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him.

Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”

9

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate bread with me,

has lifted up his heel against me.

10

But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up,

that I may repay them.

11

By this I know that you delight in me,

because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.

12

As for me, you uphold me in my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

13

Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

from everlasting and to everlasting!

Amen and amen.

Matthew 1

1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2

Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.

3

Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.

4

Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.

5

Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.

6

Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife.

7

Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.

8

Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.

9

Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.

10

Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.

11

Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12

After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.

13

Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.

14

Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.

15

Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.

16

Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

18

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

19

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

20

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21

She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

22

Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,

23

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,

and shall give birth to a son.

They shall call his name Immanuel,”

which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

24

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;

25

and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

Psalms 74

A contemplation by Asaph.

1

God, why have you rejected us forever?

Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

2

Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,

which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance:

Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

3

Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,

all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4

Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly.

They have set up their standards as signs.

5

They behaved like men wielding axes,

cutting through a thicket of trees.

6

Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

7

They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.

They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

8

They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.”

They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

9

We see no miraculous signs.

There is no longer any prophet,

neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

10

How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?

Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

11

Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?

Take it from your chest and consume them!

12

Yet God is my King of old,

working salvation throughout the earth.

13

You divided the sea by your strength.

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14

You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.

You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

15

You opened up spring and stream.

You dried up mighty rivers.

16

The day is yours, the night is also yours.

You have prepared the light and the sun.

17

You have set all the boundaries of the earth.

You have made summer and winter.

18

Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh.

Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

19

Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts.

Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.

20

Honor your covenant,

for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

21

Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed.

Let the poor and needy praise your name.

22

Arise, God! Plead your own cause.

Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

23

Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries.

The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

Psalms 136

1

Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

2

Give thanks to the God of gods;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

3

Give thanks to the Lord of lords;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

4

to him who alone does great wonders;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

5

to him who by understanding made the heavens;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

6

to him who spread out the earth above the waters;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

7

to him who made the great lights;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

8

the sun to rule by day;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

9

the moon and stars to rule by night;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

10

to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

11

and brought out Israel from among them;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

12

with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

13

to him who divided the Red Sea apart;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

14

and made Israel to pass through the middle of it;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

15

but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

16

to him who led his people through the wilderness;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

17

to him who struck great kings;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

18

and killed mighty kings;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

19

Sihon king of the Amorites;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

20

Og king of Bashan;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

21

and gave their land as an inheritance;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

22

even a heritage to Israel his servant;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

23

who remembered us in our low estate;

for his loving kindness endures forever;

24

and has delivered us from our adversaries;

for his loving kindness endures forever:

25

who gives food to every creature;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

26

Oh give thanks to the God of heaven;

for his loving kindness endures forever.

Mark 16

1

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.

2

Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

3

They were saying among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”

4

for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back.

5

Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed.

6

He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him!

7

But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’ ”

8

They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.

9

Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.

10

She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

11

When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved.

12

After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.

13

They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.

14

Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15

He said to them,

“Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation.

16

He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.

17

These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;

18

they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19

So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.

20

They went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

Isaiah 12

1

In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.

2

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”

3

Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.

4

In that day you will say, “Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name! Declare his doings among the peoples! Proclaim that his name is exalted!

5

Sing to Yahweh, for he has done excellent things! Let this be known in all the earth!

6

Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”

Colossians 3

1

If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.

2

Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.

3

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4

When Christ, our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory.

5

Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6

For these things’ sake the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7

You also once walked in those, when you lived in them;

8

but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.

9

Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,

10

and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

11

where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, or free person; but Christ is all, and in all.

12

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

13

bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.

14

Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection.

15

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.

16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

17

Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

18

Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19

Husbands, love your wives, and don’t be bitter against them.

20

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

21

Fathers, don’t provoke your children, so that they won’t be discouraged.

22

Servants, obey in all things those who are your masters according to the flesh, not just when they are looking, as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

23

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men,

24

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

25

But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality.

Psalms 62

For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.

1

My soul rests in God alone.

My salvation is from him.

2

He alone is my rock, my salvation, and my fortress.

I will never be greatly shaken.

3

How long will you assault a man?

Would all of you throw him down,

like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?

4

They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place.

They delight in lies.

They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

Selah.

5

My soul, wait in silence for God alone,

for my expectation is from him.

6

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.

I will not be shaken.

7

My salvation and my honor is with God.

The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

8

Trust in him at all times, you people.

Pour out your heart before him.

God is a refuge for us.

Selah.

9

Surely men of low degree are just a breath,

and men of high degree are a lie.

In the balances they will go up.

They are together lighter than a breath.

10

Don’t trust in oppression.

Don’t become vain in robbery.

If riches increase,

don’t set your heart on them.

11

God has spoken once;

twice I have heard this,

that power belongs to God.

12

Also to you, Lord, belongs loving kindness,

for you reward every man according to his work.

Luke 1

1

Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

2

even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

3

it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;

4

that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

5

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6

They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

7

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.

8

Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division

9

according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10

The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

11

An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12

Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

13

But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

14

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

16

He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

17

He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

18

Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

19

The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20

Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21

The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple.

22

When he came out, he could not speak to them. They perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.

23

When the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house.

24

After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying,

25

“Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”

26

Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

27

to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28

Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”

29

But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

30

The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and shall name him ‘Jesus.’

32

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

33

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.”

34

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”

35

The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

36

Behold, Elizabeth your relative also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

37

For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”

38

Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

39

Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

40

and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

41

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42

She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

43

Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

44

For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy!

45

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”

46

Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord.

47

My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

48

for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

49

For he who is mighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name.

50

His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him.

51

He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52

He has put down princes from their thrones,

and has exalted the lowly.

53

He has filled the hungry with good things.

He has sent the rich away empty.

54

He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

55

as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and his offspring forever.”

56

Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

57

Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.

58

Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.

59

On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

60

His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

61

They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”

62

They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

63

He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.”

They all marveled.

64

His mouth was opened immediately and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

65

Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

66

All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.

67

His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

68

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people;

69

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

70

(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

71

salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

72

to show mercy toward our fathers,

to remember his holy covenant,

73

the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,

74

to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,

should serve him without fear,

75

in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

76

And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

77

to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

78

because of the tender mercy of our God,

by which the dawn from on high will visit us,

79

to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death;

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80

The child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Isaiah 9

1

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death.

3

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased their joy.

They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder.

4

For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.

5

For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

6

For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7

Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.

8

The Lord sent a word into Jacob,

and it falls on Israel.

9

All the people will know,

including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,

10

“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with cut stone.

The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11

Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin,

and will stir up his enemies,

12

The Syrians in front,

and the Philistines behind;

and they will devour Israel with open mouth.

For all this, his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

13

Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them,

neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.

14

Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed, in one day.

15

The elder and the honorable man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

16

For those who lead this people lead them astray;

and those who are led by them are destroyed.

17

Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,

neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is profane and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

18

For wickedness burns like a fire.

It devours the briers and thorns;

yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19

Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up;

and the people are the fuel for the fire.

No one spares his brother.

20

One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry;

and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied.

Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:

21

Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

Revelation 14

1

I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.

2

I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps.

3

They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.

4

These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

5

In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.

6

I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

7

He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!”

8

Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”

9

Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand,

10

he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

11

The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

12

Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

13

I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”

14

I looked, and saw a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15

Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”

16

He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17

Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle.

18

Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!”

19

The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

20

The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

John 8

1

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2

Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

3

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

4

they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

5

Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

6

They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7

But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them,

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

8

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

9

They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

10

Jesus, standing up, saw her and said,

“Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

11

She said, “No one, Lord.”

Jesus said,

“Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

12

Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying,

“I am the light of the world.

He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13

The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

14

Jesus answered them,

“Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

15

You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

16

Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

17

It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

18

I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19

They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered,

“You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20

Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21

Jesus said therefore again to them,

“I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

22

The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says,

‘Where I am going, you can’t come’

?”

23

He said to them,

“You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

24

I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am

he, you will die in your sins.”

25

They said therefore to him, “Who are you?”

Jesus said to them,

“Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

26

I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

27

They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

28

Jesus therefore said to them,

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

29

He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

30

As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31

Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him,

“If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

32

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

33

They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say,

‘You will be made free’

?”

34

Jesus answered them,

“Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

35

A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

36

If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

37

I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38

I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

39

They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”

Jesus said to them,

“If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40

But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

41

You do the works of your father.”

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

42

Therefore Jesus said to them,

“If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

43

Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

44

You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45

But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47

He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

48

Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”

49

Jesus answered,

“I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.

50

But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51

Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52

Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say,

‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

53

Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54

Jesus answered,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.

55

You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.

56

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.”

57

The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?”

58

Jesus said to them,

“Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.

”

59

Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them, and so passed by.

Mark 2

1

When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was at home.

2

Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them.

3

Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him.

4

When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on.

5

Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic,

“Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

6

But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,

7

“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8

Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them,

“Why do you reason these things in your hearts?

9

Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’

10

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”

—he said to the paralytic—

11

“I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”

12

He arose, and immediately took up the mat and went out in front of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

13

He went out again by the seaside. All the multitude came to him, and he taught them.

14

As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. He said to him,

“Follow me.”

And he arose and followed him.

15

He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.

16

The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

17

When Jesus heard it, he said to them,

“Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

18

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”

19

Jesus said to them,

“Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast.

20

But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

21

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made.

22

No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.”

23

He was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain.

24

The Pharisees said to him, “Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?”

25

He said to them,

“Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry—he, and those who were with him?

26

How he entered into God’s house at the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?”

27

He said to them,

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

28

Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Matthew 20

1

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

2

When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius

a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3

He went out about the third hour,

and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

4

He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.

5

Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,

and did likewise.

6

About the eleventh hour

he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’

7

“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’

“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’

8

“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’

9

“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.

10

When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.

11

When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,

12

saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13

“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?

14

Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.

15

Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’

16

So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

17

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

18

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,

19

and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”

20

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.

21

He said to her,

“What do you want?”

She said to him, “Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.”

22

But Jesus answered,

“You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to him, “We are able.”

23

He said to them,

“You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24

When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.

25

But Jesus summoned them, and said,

“You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

26

It shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be

your servant.

27

Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

28

even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

29

As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

30

Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

31

The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

32

Jesus stood still and called them, and asked,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

33

They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”

34

Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.

Romans 9

1

I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit

2

that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

3

For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh

4

who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

5

of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.

6

But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel.

7

Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.”

8

That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as heirs.

9

For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”

10

Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac.

11

For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls,

12

it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.”

13

Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

14

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be!

15

For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

16

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy.

17

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

18

So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.

19

You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?”

20

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

21

Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?

22

What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

23

and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,

24

us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?

25

As he says also in Hosea,

“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people;

and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”

26

“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ”

27

Isaiah cries concerning Israel,

“If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea,

it is the remnant who will be saved;

28

for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,

because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”

29

As Isaiah has said before,

“Unless the Lord of Armies had left us a seed,

we would have become like Sodom,

and would have been made like Gomorrah.”

30

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;

31

but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness.

32

Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone;

33

even as it is written,

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense;

and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”

John 11

1

Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

2

It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

3

The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”

4

But when Jesus heard it, he said,

“This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God’s Son may be glorified by it.”

5

Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6

When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

7

Then after this he said to the disciples,

“Let’s go into Judea again.”

8

The disciples asked him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”

9

Jesus answered,

“Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10

But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”

11

He said these things, and after that, he said to them,

“Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”

12

The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

13

Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14

So Jesus said to them plainly then,

“Lazarus is dead.

15

I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”

16

Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”

17

So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

19

Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20

Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21

Therefore Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.

22

Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

23

Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise again.”

24

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

25

Jesus said to her,

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

27

She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, God’s Son, he who comes into the world.”

28

When she had said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.”

29

When she heard this, she arose quickly and went to him.

30

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him.

31

Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

32

Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

34

and said,

“Where have you laid him?”

They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

35

Jesus wept.

36

The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”

37

Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”

38

Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39

Jesus said,

“Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

40

Jesus said to her,

“Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”

41

So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said,

“Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

42

I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”

43

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

44

He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.

Jesus said to them,

“Free him, and let him go.”

45

Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.

46

But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

47

The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

48

If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

49

But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,

50

nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”

51

Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52

and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53

So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death.

54

Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

55

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

56

Then they sought for Jesus and spoke with one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?”

57

Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.

Matthew 21

1

When they came near to Jerusalem and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

2

saying to them,

“Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.

3

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

4

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

5

“Tell the daughter of Zion,

behold, your King comes to you,

humble, and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6

The disciples went and did just as Jesus commanded them,

7

and brought the donkey and the colt and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them.

8

A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

9

The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

10

When he had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

11

The multitudes said, “This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

12

Jesus entered into the temple of God and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.

13

He said to them,

“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’

but you have made it a den of robbers!”

14

The lame and the blind came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

15

But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant,

16

and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”

Jesus said to them,

“Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of children and nursing babies, you have perfected praise?’ ”

17

He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there.

18

Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.

19

Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it,

“Let there be no fruit from you forever!”

Immediately the fig tree withered away.

20

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?”

21

Jesus answered them,

“Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.

22

All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

23

When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

24

Jesus answered them,

“I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

25

The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

26

But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.”

27

They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.”

He also said to them,

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

28

But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’

29

He answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went.

30

He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I’m going, sir,’ but he didn’t go.

31

Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to him, “The first.”

Jesus said to them,

“Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you.

32

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.

33

“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country.

34

When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit.

35

The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

36

Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them the same way.

37

But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

38

But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’

39

So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed him.

40

When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

41

They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit in its season.”

42

Jesus said to them,

“Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected

was made the head of the corner.

This was from the Lord.

It is marvelous in our eyes’?

43

“Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.

44

He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”

45

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.

46

When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.

Mark 14

1

It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him.

2

For they said, “Not during the feast, because there might be a riot among the people.”

3

While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard—very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.

4

But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted?

5

For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” So they grumbled against her.

6

But Jesus said,

“Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me.

7

For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me.

8

She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for the burying.

9

Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

10

Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them.

11

They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.

12

On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”

13

He sent two of his disciples, and said to them,

“Go into the city, and there a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him,

14

and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?” ’

15

He will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”

16

His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found things as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

17

When it was evening he came with the twelve.

18

As they sat and were eating, Jesus said,

“Most certainly I tell you, one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”

19

They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”

20

He answered them,

“It is one of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish.

21

For the Son of Man goes, even as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

22

As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said,

“Take, eat. This is my body.”

23

He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them. They all drank of it.

24

He said to them,

“This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.

25

Most certainly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in God’s Kingdom.”

26

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

27

Jesus said to them,

“All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

28

However, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee.”

29

But Peter said to him, “Although all will be offended, yet I will not.”

30

Jesus said to him,

“Most certainly I tell you that you today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

31

But he spoke all the more, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” They all said the same thing.

32

They came to a place which was named Gethsemane. He said to his disciples,

“Sit here, while I pray.”

33

He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.

34

He said to them,

“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch.”

35

He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.

36

He said,

“Abba,

Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”

37

He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,

“Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you watch one hour?

38

Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

39

Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

40

Again he returned, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer him.

41

He came the third time, and said to them,

“Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42

Arise! Let’s get going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”

43

Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came—and with him a multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.

44

Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.”

45

When he had come, immediately he came to him, and said, “Rabbi! Rabbi!” and kissed him.

46

They laid their hands on him, and seized him.

47

But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

48

Jesus answered them,

“Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me?

49

I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”

50

They all left him, and fled.

51

A certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around himself over his naked body. The young men grabbed him,

52

but he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

53

They led Jesus away to the high priest. All the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes came together with him.

54

Peter had followed him from a distance, until he came into the court of the high priest. He was sitting with the officers, and warming himself in the light of the fire.

55

Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death, and found none.

56

For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony didn’t agree with each other.

57

Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,

58

“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”

59

Even so, their testimony didn’t agree.

60

The high priest stood up in the middle, and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it which these testify against you?”

61

But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”

62

Jesus said,

“I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky.”

63

The high priest tore his clothes, and said, “What further need have we of witnesses?

64

You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” They all condemned him to be worthy of death.

65

Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!” The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.

66

As Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the maids of the high priest came,

67

and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”

68

But he denied it, saying, “I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.

69

The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by, “This is one of them.”

70

But he again denied it. After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, “You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.”

71

But he began to curse, and to swear, “I don’t know this man of whom you speak!”

72

The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him,

“Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

When he thought about that, he wept.

John 13

1

Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

2

During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

3

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,

4

arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.

5

Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6

Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

7

Jesus answered him,

“You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”

8

Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!”

Jesus answered him,

“If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

9

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

10

Jesus said to him,

“Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”

11

For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said,

“You are not all clean.”

12

So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them,

“Do you know what I have done to you?

13

You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.

14

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15

For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.

16

Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is one who is sent greater than he who sent him.

17

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

18

I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’

19

From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he.

20

Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”

21

When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified,

“Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.”

22

The disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom he spoke.

23

One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast.

24

Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.”

25

He, leaning back, as he was, on Jesus’ breast, asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

26

Jesus therefore answered,

“It is he to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it.”

So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

27

After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him.

Then Jesus said to him,

“What you do, do quickly.”

28

Now nobody at the table knew why he said this to him.

29

For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus said to him, “Buy what things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.

30

Therefore having received that morsel, he went out immediately. It was night.

31

When he had gone out, Jesus said,

“Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.

32

If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him immediately.

33

Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you.

34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.

35

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

36

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”

Jesus answered,

“Where I am going, you can’t follow now, but you will follow afterwards.”

37

Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

38

Jesus answered him,

“Will you lay down your life for me? Most certainly I tell you, the rooster won’t crow until you have denied me three times.

Colossians 2

1

For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

2

that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

3

in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.

4

Now I say this that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.

5

For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

6

As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him,

7

rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.

8

Be careful that you don’t let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.

9

For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily,

10

and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.

11

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

12

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13

You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

14

wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us. He has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.

15

Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

16

Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day,

17

which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

18

Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,

19

and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.

20

If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,

21

“Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”

22

(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?

23

These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Acts 8

1

Saul was consenting to his death. A great persecution arose against the assembly which was in Jerusalem in that day. They were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles.

2

Devout men buried Stephen and lamented greatly over him.

3

But Saul ravaged the assembly, entering into every house and dragged both men and women off to prison.

4

Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching the word.

5

Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed to them the Christ.

6

The multitudes listened with one accord to the things that were spoken by Philip when they heard and saw the signs which he did.

7

For unclean spirits came out of many of those who had them. They came out, crying with a loud voice. Many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed.

8

There was great joy in that city.

9

But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,

10

to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that great power of God.”

11

They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.

12

But when they believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13

Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.

14

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,

15

who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;

16

for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus.

17

Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18

Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,

19

saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20

But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!

21

You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart isn’t right before God.

22

Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

23

For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”

24

Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me.”

25

They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans.

26

But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise, and go toward the south to the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert.”

27

He arose and went; and behold, there was a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem to worship.

28

He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

29

The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”

30

Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31

He said, “How can I, unless someone explains it to me?” He begged Philip to come up and sit with him.

32

Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this,

“He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.

As a lamb before his shearer is silent,

so he doesn’t open his mouth.

33

In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away.

Who will declare His generation?

For his life is taken from the earth.”

34

The eunuch answered Philip, “Who is the prophet talking about? About himself, or about someone else?”

35

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, preached to him about Jesus.

36

As they went on the way, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Behold, here is water. What is keeping me from being baptized?”

37

38

He commanded the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

39

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his way rejoicing.

40

But Philip was found at Azotus. Passing through, he preached the Good News to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.

Song of Solomon 4

Lover

1

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

Behold, you are beautiful.

Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.

Your hair is as a flock of goats,

that descend from Mount Gilead.

2

Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock,

which have come up from the washing,

where every one of them has twins.

None is bereaved among them.

3

Your lips are like scarlet thread.

Your mouth is lovely.

Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.

4

Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory,

on which a thousand shields hang,

all the shields of the mighty men.

5

Your two breasts are like two fawns

that are twins of a roe,

which feed among the lilies.

6

Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh,

to the hill of frankincense.

7

You are all beautiful, my love.

There is no spot in you.

8

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,

with me from Lebanon.

Look from the top of Amana,

from the top of Senir and Hermon,

from the lions’ dens,

from the mountains of the leopards.

9

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride.

You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes,

with one chain of your neck.

10

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine,

the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!

11

Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb.

Honey and milk are under your tongue.

The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

12

My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden;

a locked up spring,

a sealed fountain.

13

Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits,

henna with spikenard plants,

14

spikenard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree;

myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,

15

a fountain of gardens,

a well of living waters,

flowing streams from Lebanon.

Beloved

16

Awake, north wind, and come, you south!

Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out.

Let my beloved come into his garden,

and taste his precious fruits.

Ecclesiastes 7

1

A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.

2

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.

3

Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made good.

4

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5

It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools.

6

For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

7

Surely extortion makes the wise man foolish; and a bribe destroys the understanding.

8

Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.

The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

9

Don’t be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.

10

Don’t say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not ask wisely about this.

11

Wisdom is as good as an inheritance. Yes, it is more excellent for those who see the sun.

12

For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

13

Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?

14

In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider; yes, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him.

15

All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

16

Don’t be overly righteous, neither make yourself overly wise. Why should you destroy yourself?

17

Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?

18

It is good that you should take hold of this. Yes, also don’t withdraw your hand from that; for he who fears God will come out of them all.

19

Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

20

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and doesn’t sin.

21

Also don’t take heed to all words that are spoken, lest you hear your servant curse you;

22

for often your own heart knows that you yourself have likewise cursed others.

23

All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise;” but it was far from me.

24

That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?

25

I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

26

I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

27

“Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme

28

which my soul still seeks, but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all those.

29

Behold, I have only found this: that God made man upright; but they search for many schemes.”

Psalms 7

A meditation by David, which he sang to Yahweh, concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite.

1

Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you.

Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

2

lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,

ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.

3

Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,

if there is iniquity in my hands,

4

if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me

(yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),

5

let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;

yes, let him tread my life down to the earth,

and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah.

6

Arise, Yahweh, in your anger.

Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries.

Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

7

Let the congregation of the peoples surround you.

Rule over them on high.

8

Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples.

Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness,

and to my integrity that is in me.

9

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,

but establish the righteous;

their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

10

My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11

God is a righteous judge,

yes, a God who has indignation every day.

12

If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword;

he has bent and strung his bow.

13

He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death.

He makes ready his flaming arrows.

14

Behold, he travails with iniquity.

Yes, he has conceived mischief,

and brought out falsehood.

15

He has dug a hole,

and has fallen into the pit which he made.

16

The trouble he causes shall return to his own head.

His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

17

I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,

and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

Daniel 9

1

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the offspring of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

2

in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.

3

I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

4

I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said,

“Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments,

5

we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances.

6

We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7

“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.

8

Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

9

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness; for we have rebelled against him.

10

We haven’t obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

11

Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice.

“Therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.

12

He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem.

13

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our God, that we should turn from our iniquities and have discernment in your truth.

14

Therefore Yahweh has watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for Yahweh our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.

15

“Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly.

16

Lord, according to all your righteousness, please let your anger and your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.

17

“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.

18

My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.

19

Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”

20

While I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Yahweh my God for the holy mountain of my God,

21

yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering.

22

He instructed me and talked with me, and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you wisdom and understanding.

23

At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went out, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.

24

“Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.

25

“Know therefore and discern that from the going out of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.

26

After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off, and will have nothing. The people of the prince who come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will be with a flood, and war will be even to the end. Desolations are determined.

27

He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”

Matthew 6

1

“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving

before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2

Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

3

But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,

4

so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

5

“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.

6

But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7

In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.

8

Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.

9

Pray like this:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

10

Let your Kingdom come.

Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11

Give us today our daily bread.

12

Forgive us our debts,

as we also forgive our debtors.

13

Bring us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

14

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15

But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16

“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

17

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

18

so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19

“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

20

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;

21

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

23

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

25

Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26

See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?

27

“Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment

to his lifespan?

28

Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

29

yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.

30

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

31

“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’

32

For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33

But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

34

Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

Psalms 116

1

I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice,

and my cries for mercy.

2

Because he has turned his ear to me,

therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

3

The cords of death surrounded me,

the pains of Sheol got a hold of me.

I found trouble and sorrow.

4

Then I called on Yahweh’s name:

“Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul.”

5

Yahweh is gracious and righteous.

Yes, our God is merciful.

6

Yahweh preserves the simple.

I was brought low, and he saved me.

7

Return to your rest, my soul,

for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.

8

For you have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

and my feet from falling.

9

I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living.

10

I believed, therefore I said,

“I was greatly afflicted.”

11

I said in my haste,

“All people are liars.”

12

What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me?

13

I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name.

14

I will pay my vows to Yahweh,

yes, in the presence of all his people.

15

Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.

16

Yahweh, truly I am your servant.

I am your servant, the son of your servant girl.

You have freed me from my chains.

17

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and will call on Yahweh’s name.

18

I will pay my vows to Yahweh,

yes, in the presence of all his people,

19

in the courts of Yahweh’s house,

in the middle of you, Jerusalem.

Praise Yah!

Proverbs 10

1

The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son makes a glad father;

but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

2

Treasures of wickedness profit nothing,

but righteousness delivers from death.

3

Yahweh will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry,

but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked.

4

He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand,

but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

5

He who gathers in summer is a wise son,

but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.

6

Blessings are on the head of the righteous,

but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

7

The memory of the righteous is blessed,

but the name of the wicked will rot.

8

The wise in heart accept commandments,

but a chattering fool will fall.

9

He who walks blamelessly walks surely,

but he who perverts his ways will be found out.

10

One winking with the eye causes sorrow,

but a chattering fool will fall.

11

The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life,

but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

12

Hatred stirs up strife,

but love covers all wrongs.

13

Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment,

but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.

14

Wise men lay up knowledge,

but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.

15

The rich man’s wealth is his strong city.

The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

16

The labor of the righteous leads to life.

The increase of the wicked leads to sin.

17

He is in the way of life who heeds correction,

but he who forsakes reproof leads others astray.

18

He who hides hatred has lying lips.

He who utters a slander is a fool.

19

In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience,

but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

20

The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver.

The heart of the wicked is of little worth.

21

The lips of the righteous feed many,

but the foolish die for lack of understanding.

22

Yahweh’s blessing brings wealth,

and he adds no trouble to it.

23

It is a fool’s pleasure to do wickedness,

but wisdom is a man of understanding’s pleasure.

24

What the wicked fear will overtake them,

but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

25

When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more;

but the righteous stand firm forever.

26

As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes,

so is the sluggard to those who send him.

27

The fear of Yahweh prolongs days,

but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

28

The prospect of the righteous is joy,

but the hope of the wicked will perish.

29

The way of Yahweh is a stronghold to the upright,

but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

30

The righteous will never be removed,

but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

31

The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom,

but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

32

The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,

but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.

Jeremiah 4

1

“If you will return, Israel,” says Yahweh, “if you will return to me, and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight; then you will not be removed;

2

and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations will bless themselves in him, and they will glory in him.”

3

For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns.

4

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

5

Declare in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, ‘Blow the trumpet in the land!’ Cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble yourselves! Let’s go into the fortified cities!’

6

Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety! Don’t wait; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.”

7

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way. He has gone out from his place, to make your land desolate, that your cities be laid waste, without inhabitant.

8

For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us.

9

“It will happen at that day,” says Yahweh, “that the heart of the king will perish, along with the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder.”

10

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace;’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.”

11

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse;

12

a full wind from these will come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them.”

13

Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

14

Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?

15

For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim:

16

“Tell the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem, ‘Watchers come from a far country, and raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

17

As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’ ” says Yahweh.

18

“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”

19

My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart! My heart trembles within me. I can’t hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

20

Destruction on destruction is decreed, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains gone in a moment.

21

How long will I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

23

I saw the earth, and, behold, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light.

24

I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

25

I saw, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled.

26

I saw, and behold, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of Yahweh, before his fierce anger.

27

For Yahweh says, “The whole land will be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

28

For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it. I have planned it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back from it.”

29

Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and archers. They go into the thickets, and climb up on the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells therein.

30

You, when you are made desolate, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with makeup, you make yourself beautiful in vain. Your lovers despise you. They seek your life.

31

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who gives birth to her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, “Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.”

Matthew 13

1

On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

2

Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3

He spoke to them many things in parables, saying,

“Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4

As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5

Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6

When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7

Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8

Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10

The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

11

He answered them,

“To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12

For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

14

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘By hearing you will hear,

and will in no way understand;

Seeing you will see,

and will in no way perceive;

15

for this people’s heart has grown callous,

their ears are dull of hearing,

and they have closed their eyes;

or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and would turn again,

and I would heal them.’

16

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17

For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

18

“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19

When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20

What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it;

21

yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23

What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25

but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds

also among the wheat, and went away.

26

But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27

The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’

28

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29

“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

31

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field,

32

which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33

He spoke another parable to them.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures

of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34

Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

35

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36

Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37

He answered them,

“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38

the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39

The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40

As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity,

42

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46

who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind,

48

which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

49

So it will be in the end of the world.

The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

51

Jesus said to them,

“Have you understood all these things?”

They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

52

He said to them,

“Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

53

When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54

Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

55

Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

56

Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

57

They were offended by him.

But Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.”

58

He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Psalms 55

For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David.

1

Listen to my prayer, God.

Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.

2

Attend to me, and answer me.

I am restless in my complaint,

and moan

3

because of the voice of the enemy,

because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they bring suffering on me.

In anger they hold a grudge against me.

4

My heart is severely pained within me.

The terrors of death have fallen on me.

5

Fearfulness and trembling have come on me.

Horror has overwhelmed me.

6

I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!

Then I would fly away, and be at rest.

7

Behold, then I would wander far off.

I would lodge in the wilderness.”

Selah.

8

“I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm.”

9

Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language,

for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

10

Day and night they prowl around on its walls.

Malice and abuse are also within her.

11

Destructive forces are within her.

Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.

12

For it was not an enemy who insulted me,

then I could have endured it.

Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me,

then I would have hidden myself from him.

13

But it was you, a man like me,

my companion, and my familiar friend.

14

We took sweet fellowship together.

We walked in God’s house with company.

15

Let death come suddenly on them.

Let them go down alive into Sheol.

For wickedness is among them, in their dwelling.

16

As for me, I will call on God.

Yahweh will save me.

17

Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress.

He will hear my voice.

18

He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,

although there are many who oppose me.

19

God, who is enthroned forever,

will hear and answer them.

Selah.

They never change

and don’t fear God.

20

He raises his hands against his friends.

He has violated his covenant.

21

His mouth was smooth as butter,

but his heart was war.

His words were softer than oil,

yet they were drawn swords.

22

Cast your burden on Yahweh and he will sustain you.

He will never allow the righteous to be moved.

23

But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction.

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days,

but I will trust in you.

John 14

1

“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

2

In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.

3

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.

4

You know where I go, and you know the way.”

5

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6

Jesus said to him,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

7

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”

8

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

9

Jesus said to him,

“Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’

10

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.

11

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

12

Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

13

Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14

If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.

15

If you love me, keep my commandments.

16

I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,

that he may be with you forever:

17

the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.

18

I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

19

Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.

20

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

21

One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

22

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23

Jesus answered him,

“If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.

24

He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

25

I have said these things to you while still living with you.

26

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

27

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.

28

You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.

29

Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.

30

I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.

31

But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.

1 Corinthians 2

1

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

2

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

4

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5

that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.

7

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,

8

which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.

9

But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,

which didn’t enter into the heart of man,

these God has prepared for those who love him.”

10

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11

For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.

12

But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.

13

We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

14

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15

But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

16

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

Romans 10

1

Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved.

2

For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

3

For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

4

For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5

For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”

6

But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down);

7

or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)”

8

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;” that is, the word of faith which we preach:

9

that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

10

For with the heart, one believes resulting in righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made resulting in salvation.

11

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”

12

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him.

13

For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher?

15

And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace,

who bring glad tidings of good things!”

16

But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

17

So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

18

But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly,

“Their sound went out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.”

19

But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says,

“I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation.

I will make you angry with a nation void of understanding.”

20

Isaiah is very bold and says,

“I was found by those who didn’t seek me.

I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.”

21

But about Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Sirach 2

1

My son, if you come to serve the Lord,

prepare your soul for temptation.

2

Set your heart aright, constantly endure,

and don’t make haste in time of calamity.

3

Cling to him, and don’t depart,

that you may be increased at your latter end.

4

Accept whatever is brought upon you,

and be patient when you suffer humiliation.

5

For gold is tried in the fire,

and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.

6

Put your trust in him, and he will help you.

Make your ways straight, and set your hope on him.

7

All you who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy.

Don’t turn aside, lest you fall.

8

All you who fear the Lord, put your trust in him,

and your reward will not fail.

9

All you who fear the Lord, hope for good things,

and for eternal gladness and mercy.

10

Look at the generations of old, and see:

Who ever put his trust in the Lord, and was ashamed?

Or who remained in his fear, and was forsaken?

Or who called upon him, and he neglected him?

11

For the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

He forgives sins and saves in time of affliction.

12

Woe to fearful hearts, to faint hands,

and to the sinner who goes two ways!

13

Woe to the faint heart! For it doesn’t believe.

Therefore it won’t be defended.

14

Woe to you who have lost your patience!

And what will you all do when the Lord visits you?

15

Those who fear the Lord will not disobey his words.

Those who love him will keep his ways.

16

Those who fear the Lord will seek his good pleasure.

Those who love him will be filled with the law.

17

Those who fear the Lord will prepare their hearts,

and will humble their souls in his sight.

18

We will fall into the hands of the Lord,

and not into the hands of men;

for as his majesty is,

so also is his mercy.

Psalms 86

A Prayer by David.

1

Hear, Yahweh, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

2

Preserve my soul, for I am godly.

You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.

3

Be merciful to me, Lord,

for I call to you all day long.

4

Bring joy to the soul of your servant,

for to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5

For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,

abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.

6

Hear, Yahweh, my prayer.

Listen to the voice of my petitions.

7

In the day of my trouble I will call on you,

for you will answer me.

8

There is no one like you among the gods, Lord,

nor any deeds like your deeds.

9

All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord.

They shall glorify your name.

10

For you are great, and do wondrous things.

You are God alone.

11

Teach me your way, Yahweh.

I will walk in your truth.

Make my heart undivided to fear your name.

12

I will praise you, Lord my God, with my whole heart.

I will glorify your name forever more.

13

For your loving kindness is great toward me.

You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.

14

God, the proud have risen up against me.

A company of violent men have sought after my soul,

and they don’t hold regard for you before them.

15

But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God,

slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.

16

Turn to me, and have mercy on me!

Give your strength to your servant.

Save the son of your servant.

17

Show me a sign of your goodness,

that those who hate me may see it, and be shamed,

because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me.

Psalms 46

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.

1

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2

Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes,

though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;

3

though its waters roar and are troubled,

though the mountains tremble with their swelling.

Selah.

4

There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad,

the holy place of the tents of the Most High.

5

God is within her. She shall not be moved.

God will help her at dawn.

6

The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved.

He lifted his voice and the earth melted.

7

Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah.

8

Come, see Yahweh’s works,

what desolations he has made in the earth.

9

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots in the fire.

10

“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.”

11

Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah.

Sirach 38

1

Honor a physician according to your need

of him

with the honors due to him:

For truly the Lord has created him.

2

For from the Most High comes healing;

And from the king he shall receive a gift.

3

The skill of the physician shall lift up his head;

And in the sight of great men he shall be admired.

4

The Lord created medicines out of the earth;

And a prudent man will have no disgust at them.

5

Was not water made sweet with wood,

That the virtue thereof might be known?

6

And he gave men skill,

That they might be glorified in his marvelous works.

7

With them does he heal

a man,

And takes away his pain.

8

With these will the apothecary make a confection;

And his works shall not be brought to an end;

And from him is peace upon the face of the earth.

9

My son, in your sickness be not negligent;

But pray to the Lord, and he shall heal you.

10

Put away wrong doing, and order your hands aright,

And cleanse your heart from all manner of sin.

11

Give a sweet savor, and a memorial of fine flour;

And make fat your offering, as one that is not.

12

Then give place to the physician, for truly the Lord has created him;

And let him not go from you, for you have need of him.

13

There is a time when in their very hands is the issue for good.

14

For they also shall beseech the Lord,

That he may prosper them in

giving

relief and in healing for the maintenance of life.

15

He that sins before his Maker,

Let him fall into the hands of the physician.

16

My son, let your tears fall over the dead,

And as one that suffers grievously begin lamentation;

And wind up his body according to his due,

And neglect not his burial.

17

Make bitter weeping, and make passionate wailing,

And let your mourning be according to his merit,

For one day or two, lest you be spoken evil of:

And so be comforted for your sorrow.

18

For of sorrow comes death,

And sorrow of heart will bow down the strength.

19

In calamity sorrow also remains:

And the poor man’s life is grievous to the heart.

20

Don’t give your heart to sorrow.

Put it away, remembering the last end.

21

Don’t forget it, for there is no returning again:

Him you shall not profit, and you will hurt yourself.

22

Remember the sentence upon him; for so also shall yours be;

Yesterday for me, and today for you.

23

When the dead is at rest, let his remembrance rest;

And be comforted for him, when his spirit departs from him.

24

The wisdom of the scribe comes by opportunity of leisure;

And he that has little business shall become wise.

25

How shall he become wise that holds the plow,

That glories in the shaft of the goad,

That drives oxen, and is occupied in their labors,

And whose discourse is of the stock of bulls?

26

He will set his heart upon turning his furrows;

And his wakefulness is to give his heifers their fodder.

27

So is every craftsman and workmaster,

That passes his time by night as by day;

They that cut gravings of signets,

And his diligence is to make great variety;

He will set his heart to preserve likeness in his portraiture,

And will be wakeful to finish his work.

28

So is the smith sitting by the anvil,

And considering the unwrought iron:

The vapor of the fire will waste his flesh;

And in the heat of the furnace he will wrestle

with his work:

The noise of the hammer will be ever in his ear,

And his eyes are upon the pattern of the vessel;

He will set his heart upon perfecting his works,

And he will be wakeful to adorn them perfectly.

29

So is the potter sitting at his work,

And turning the wheel about with his feet,

Who is always anxiously set at his work,

And all his handiwork is by number;

30

He will fashion the clay with his arm,

And will bend its strength in front of his feet;

He will apply his heart to finish the glazing;

And he will be wakeful to make clean the furnace.

31

All these put their trust in their hands;

And each becomes wise in his own work.

32

Without these shall not a city be inhabited,

And men shall not sojourn nor walk up and down

therein.

33

They shall not be sought for in the council of the people,

And in the assembly they shall not mount on high;

They shall not sit on the seat of the judge,

And they shall not understand the covenant of judgment:

Neither shall they declare instruction and judgment;

And where parables are they shall not be found.

34

But they will maintain the fabric of the world;

And in the handiwork of their craft is their prayer.

Luke 9

1

He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.

2

He sent them out to preach God’s Kingdom and to heal the sick.

3

He said to them,

“Take nothing for your journey—no staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money. Don’t have two coats each.

4

Into whatever house you enter, stay there, and depart from there.

5

As many as don’t receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”

6

They departed and went throughout the villages, preaching the Good News and healing everywhere.

7

Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him; and he was very perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

8

and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

9

Herod said, “I beheaded John, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” He sought to see him.

10

The apostles, when they had returned, told him what things they had done.

He took them and withdrew apart to a desert region of a city called Bethsaida.

11

But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them of God’s Kingdom, and he cured those who needed healing.

12

The day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.”

13

But he said to them,

“You give them something to eat.”

They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.”

14

For they were about five thousand men.

He said to his disciples,

“Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

15

They did so, and made them all sit down.

16

He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.

17

They ate and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.

18

As he was praying alone, the disciples were with him, and he asked them,

“Who do the multitudes say that I am?”

19

They answered, “ ‘John the Baptizer,’ but others say, ‘Elijah,’ and others, that one of the old prophets has risen again.”

20

He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

21

But he warned them, and commanded them to tell this to no one,

22

saying,

“The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”

23

He said to all,

“If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross,

and follow me.

24

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, will save it.

25

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?

26

For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels.

27

But I tell you the truth: There are some of those who stand here who will in no way taste of death until they see God’s Kingdom.”

28

About eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up onto the mountain to pray.

29

As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became white and dazzling.

30

Behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah,

31

who appeared in glory, and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

32

Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him.

33

As they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he said.

34

While he said these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud.

35

A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!”

36

When the voice came, Jesus was found alone. They were silent, and told no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

37

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great multitude met him.

38

Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only born child.

39

Behold, a spirit takes him, he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams, and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely.

40

I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they couldn’t.”

41

Jesus answered,

“Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”

42

While he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

43

They were all astonished at the majesty of God.

But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples,

44

“Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men.”

45

But they didn’t understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

46

An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest.

47

Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child, and set him by his side,

48

and said to them,

“Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great.”

49

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow with us.”

50

Jesus said to him,

“Don’t forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us.”

51

It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem

52

and sent messengers before his face. They went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him.

53

They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set toward Jerusalem.

54

When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”

55

But he turned and rebuked them,

“You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are.

56

For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

They went to another village.

57

As they went on the way, a certain man said to him, “I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord.”

58

Jesus said to him,

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59

He said to another,

“Follow me!”

But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”

60

But Jesus said to him,

“Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce God’s Kingdom.”

61

Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”

62

But Jesus said to him,

“No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”

Luke 3

1

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2

in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

3

He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins.

4

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Make ready the way of the Lord.

Make his paths straight.

5

Every valley will be filled.

Every mountain and hill will be brought low.

The crooked will become straight,

and the rough ways smooth.

6

All flesh will see God’s salvation.’ ”

7

He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8

Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!

9

Even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”

10

The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”

11

He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

12

Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

13

He said to them, “Collect no more than that which is appointed to you.”

14

Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?”

He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”

15

As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ,

16

John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire,

17

whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

18

Then with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people,

19

but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done,

20

added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

21

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened,

22

and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”

23

Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,

24

the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,

25

the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,

26

the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah,

27

the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,

28

the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er,

29

the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,

30

the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim,

31

the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,

32

the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon,

33

the son of Amminadab, the son of Aram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,

34

the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

35

the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,

36

the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

37

the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

38

the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

2 Corinthians 2

1

But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.

2

For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me?

3

And I wrote this very thing to you, so that, when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy would be shared by all of you.

4

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.

5

But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.

6

This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;

7

so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.

8

Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.

9

For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.

10

Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

11

that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

12

Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,

13

I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.

14

Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.

15

For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish:

16

to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

17

For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Psalms 57

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

1

Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me,

for my soul takes refuge in you.

Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge,

until disaster has passed.

2

I cry out to God Most High,

to God who accomplishes my requests for me.

3

He will send from heaven, and save me,

he rebukes the one who is pursuing me.

Selah.

God will send out his loving kindness and his truth.

4

My soul is among lions.

I lie among those who are set on fire,

even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,

and their tongue a sharp sword.

5

Be exalted, God, above the heavens!

Let your glory be above all the earth!

6

They have prepared a net for my steps.

My soul is bowed down.

They dig a pit before me.

They fall into the middle of it themselves.

Selah.

7

My heart is steadfast, God.

My heart is steadfast.

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises.

8

Wake up, my glory! Wake up, lute and harp!

I will wake up the dawn.

9

I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples.

I will sing praises to you among the nations.

10

For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens,

and your truth to the skies.

11

Be exalted, God, above the heavens.

Let your glory be over all the earth.

1 Corinthians 10

1

Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2

and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

3

and all ate the same spiritual food;

4

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

5

However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

6

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

7

Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”

8

Let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.

9

Let’s not test Christ, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents.

10

Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.

11

Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

12

Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

13

No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

14

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

15

I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say.

16

The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ?

17

Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread.

18

Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

19

What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?

20

But I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons.

21

You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons.

22

Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

23

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build up.

24

Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good.

25

Whatever is sold in the butcher shop, eat, asking no question for the sake of conscience,

26

for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”

27

But if one of those who don’t believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience.

28

But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, with all its fullness.”

29

Conscience, I say, not your own, but the other’s conscience. For why is my liberty judged by another conscience?

30

If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced for something I give thanks for?

31

Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

32

Give no occasion for stumbling, whether to Jews, or to Greeks, or to the assembly of God;

33

even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.

2 Chronicles 6

1

Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

2

But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

3

The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.

4

He said, “Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

5

‘Since the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there and I chose no man to be prince over my people Israel;

6

but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’

7

Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

8

But Yahweh said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart;

9

nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who will come out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.’

10

“Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

11

There I have set the ark, in which is Yahweh’s covenant, which he made with the children of Israel.”

12

He stood before Yahweh’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands

13

(for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven)

14

and he said, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth; you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants who walk before you with all their heart;

15

who have kept with your servant David my father that which you promised him. Yes, you spoke with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.

16

“Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’

17

Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.

18

“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

19

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

20

that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name; to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place.

21

Listen to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.

22

“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

23

then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants, bringing retribution to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.

24

“If your people Israel are struck down before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;

25

then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

26

“When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them;

27

then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

28

“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;

29

whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who will each know his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread out his hands toward this house;

30

then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men)

31

that they may fear you, to walk in your ways, so long as they live in the land which you gave to our fathers.

32

“Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for your great name’s sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they come and pray toward this house;

33

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

34

“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;

35

then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

36

“If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near;

37

yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’

38

if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, and the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;

39

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, their prayer and their petitions, and maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.

40

“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.

41

“Now therefore arise, Yahweh God, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength. Let your priests, Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.

42

“Yahweh God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”

Psalms 66

For the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm.

1

Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!

2

Sing to the glory of his name!

Offer glory and praise!

3

Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds!

Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.

4

All the earth will worship you,

and will sing to you;

they will sing to your name.”

Selah.

5

Come, and see God’s deeds—

awesome work on behalf of the children of men.

6

He turned the sea into dry land.

They went through the river on foot.

There, we rejoiced in him.

7

He rules by his might forever.

His eyes watch the nations.

Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him.

Selah.

8

Praise our God, you peoples!

Make the sound of his praise heard,

9

who preserves our life among the living,

and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved.

10

For you, God, have tested us.

You have refined us, as silver is refined.

11

You brought us into prison.

You laid a burden on our backs.

12

You allowed men to ride over our heads.

We went through fire and through water,

but you brought us to the place of abundance.

13

I will come into your temple with burnt offerings.

I will pay my vows to you,

14

which my lips promised,

and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.

15

I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals,

with the offering of rams,

I will offer bulls with goats.

Selah.

16

Come and hear, all you who fear God.

I will declare what he has done for my soul.

17

I cried to him with my mouth.

He was extolled with my tongue.

18

If I cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord wouldn’t have listened.

19

But most certainly, God has listened.

He has heard the voice of my prayer.

20

Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer,

nor his loving kindness from me.

1 Corinthians 15

1

Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2

by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5

and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6

Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8

and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9

For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10

But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11

Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12

Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15

Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16

For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18

Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19

If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20

But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.

21

For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24

Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27

For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28

When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29

Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30

Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31

I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32

If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33

Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34

Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36

You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37

That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38

But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39

All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40

There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46

However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47

The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48

As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49

As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50

Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53

For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54

But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55

“Death, where is your sting?

Hades, where is your victory?”

56

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Philippians 2

1

If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

2

make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3

doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4

each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

6

who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7

but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8

And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.

9

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,

10

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11

and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13

For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14

Do all things without complaining and arguing,

15

that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16

holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

17

Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

18

In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.

19

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.

20

For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.

21

For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22

But you know the proof of him, that as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

23

Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.

24

But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

25

But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need,

26

since he longed for you all, and was very troubled because you had heard that he was sick.

27

For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.

28

I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor,

30

because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

Romans 2

1

Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.

2

We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

3

Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

4

Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

5

But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;

6

who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”

7

to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;

8

but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation,

9

oppression, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

10

But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

11

For there is no partiality with God.

12

For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

13

For it isn’t the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified

14

(for when Gentiles who don’t have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,

15

in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)

16

in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.

17

Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, rest on the law, glory in God,

18

know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,

19

and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

20

a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

21

You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal?

22

You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

23

You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law?

24

For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

25

For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

26

If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?

27

Won’t the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?

28

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;

29

but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

2 Corinthians 5

1

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

2

For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

3

if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.

4

For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5

Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

6

Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

7

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

8

We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

9

Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

10

For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

11

Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

12

For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance, and not in heart.

13

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

14

For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.

15

He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

16

Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

18

But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19

namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20

We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21

For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Philippians 1

1

Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ;

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:

2

Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3

I thank my God whenever I remember you,

4

always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy,

5

for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now;

6

being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

7

It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace.

8

For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.

9

This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment,

10

so that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ,

11

being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

12

Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News,

13

so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ,

14

and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.

15

Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.

16

The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains;

17

but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News.

18

What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice.

19

For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20

according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

21

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

22

But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I don’t know what I will choose.

23

But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

24

Yet to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.

25

Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,

26

that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.

27

Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;

28

and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

29

Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,

30

having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

Psalms 102

A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before Yahweh.

1

Hear my prayer, Yahweh!

Let my cry come to you.

2

Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress.

Turn your ear to me.

Answer me quickly in the day when I call.

3

For my days consume away like smoke.

My bones are burned as a torch.

4

My heart is blighted like grass, and withered,

for I forget to eat my bread.

5

By reason of the voice of my groaning,

my bones stick to my skin.

6

I am like a pelican of the wilderness.

I have become as an owl of the waste places.

7

I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.

8

My enemies reproach me all day.

Those who are mad at me use my name as a curse.

9

For I have eaten ashes like bread,

and mixed my drink with tears,

10

because of your indignation and your wrath;

for you have taken me up and thrown me away.

11

My days are like a long shadow.

I have withered like grass.

12

But you, Yahweh, will remain forever;

your renown endures to all generations.

13

You will arise and have mercy on Zion;

for it is time to have pity on her.

Yes, the set time has come.

14

For your servants take pleasure in her stones,

and have pity on her dust.

15

So the nations will fear Yahweh’s name,

all the kings of the earth your glory.

16

For Yahweh has built up Zion.

He has appeared in his glory.

17

He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,

and has not despised their prayer.

18

This will be written for the generation to come.

A people which will be created will praise Yah,

19

for he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.

From heaven, Yahweh saw the earth,

20

to hear the groans of the prisoner,

to free those who are condemned to death,

21

that men may declare Yahweh’s name in Zion,

and his praise in Jerusalem,

22

when the peoples are gathered together,

the kingdoms, to serve Yahweh.

23

He weakened my strength along the course.

He shortened my days.

24

I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days.

Your years are throughout all generations.

25

Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth.

The heavens are the work of your hands.

26

They will perish, but you will endure.

Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.

You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.

27

But you are the same.

Your years will have no end.

28

The children of your servants will continue.

Their offspring will be established before you.”

Luke 15

1

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.

2

The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”

3

He told them this parable.

4

“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

5

When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

6

When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’

7

I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

8

Or what woman, if she had ten drachma

coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?

9

When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’

10

Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”

11

He said,

“A certain man had two sons.

12

The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them.

13

Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.

14

When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.

15

He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

16

He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.

17

But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!

18

I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.

19

I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.” ’

20

“He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21

The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet.

23

Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate;

24

for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.

25

“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26

He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.

27

He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’

28

But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.

29

But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

30

But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

31

“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

32

But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ ”

Psalms 119

ALEPH

1

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless,

who walk according to Yahweh’s law.

2

Blessed are those who keep his statutes,

who seek him with their whole heart.

3

Yes, they do nothing wrong.

They walk in his ways.

4

You have commanded your precepts,

that we should fully obey them.

5

Oh that my ways were steadfast

to obey your statutes!

6

Then I wouldn’t be disappointed,

when I consider all of your commandments.

7

I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart,

when I learn your righteous judgments.

8

I will observe your statutes.

Don’t utterly forsake me.

BET

9

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By living according to your word.

10

With my whole heart, I have sought you.

Don’t let me wander from your commandments.

11

I have hidden your word in my heart,

that I might not sin against you.

12

Blessed are you, Yahweh.

Teach me your statutes.

13

With my lips,

I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth.

14

I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies,

as much as in all riches.

15

I will meditate on your precepts,

and consider your ways.

16

I will delight myself in your statutes.

I will not forget your word.

GIMEL

17

Do good to your servant.

I will live and I will obey your word.

18

Open my eyes,

that I may see wondrous things out of your law.

19

I am a stranger on the earth.

Don’t hide your commandments from me.

20

My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.

21

You have rebuked the proud who are cursed,

who wander from your commandments.

22

Take reproach and contempt away from me,

for I have kept your statutes.

23

Though princes sit and slander me,

your servant will meditate on your statutes.

24

Indeed your statutes are my delight,

and my counselors.

DALED

25

My soul is laid low in the dust.

Revive me according to your word!

26

I declared my ways, and you answered me.

Teach me your statutes.

27

Let me understand the teaching of your precepts!

Then I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28

My soul is weary with sorrow:

strengthen me according to your word.

29

Keep me from the way of deceit.

Grant me your law graciously!

30

I have chosen the way of truth.

I have set your ordinances before me.

31

I cling to your statutes, Yahweh.

Don’t let me be disappointed.

32

I run in the path of your commandments,

for you have set my heart free.

HEY

33

Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes.

I will keep them to the end.

34

Give me understanding, and I will keep your law.

Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.

35

Direct me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in them.

36

Turn my heart toward your statutes,

not toward selfish gain.

37

Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things.

Revive me in your ways.

38

Fulfill your promise to your servant,

that you may be feared.

39

Take away my disgrace that I dread,

for your ordinances are good.

40

Behold, I long for your precepts!

Revive me in your righteousness.

WAW

41

Let your loving kindness also come to me, Yahweh,

your salvation, according to your word.

42

So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me,

for I trust in your word.

43

Don’t snatch the word of truth out of my mouth,

for I put my hope in your ordinances.

44

So I will obey your law continually,

forever and ever.

45

I will walk in liberty,

for I have sought your precepts.

46

I will also speak of your statutes before kings,

and will not be disappointed.

47

I will delight myself in your commandments,

because I love them.

48

I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love.

I will meditate on your statutes.

ZAYIN

49

Remember your word to your servant,

because you gave me hope.

50

This is my comfort in my affliction,

for your word has revived me.

51

The arrogant mock me excessively,

but I don’t swerve from your law.

52

I remember your ordinances of old, Yahweh,

and have comforted myself.

53

Indignation has taken hold on me,

because of the wicked who forsake your law.

54

Your statutes have been my songs

in the house where I live.

55

I have remembered your name, Yahweh, in the night,

and I obey your law.

56

This is my way,

that I keep your precepts.

CHET

57

Yahweh is my portion.

I promised to obey your words.

58

I sought your favor with my whole heart.

Be merciful to me according to your word.

59

I considered my ways,

and turned my steps to your statutes.

60

I will hurry, and not delay,

to obey your commandments.

61

The ropes of the wicked bind me,

but I won’t forget your law.

62

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you,

because of your righteous ordinances.

63

I am a friend of all those who fear you,

of those who observe your precepts.

64

The earth is full of your loving kindness, Yahweh.

Teach me your statutes.

TET

65

You have treated your servant well,

according to your word, Yahweh.

66

Teach me good judgment and knowledge,

for I believe in your commandments.

67

Before I was afflicted, I went astray;

but now I observe your word.

68

You are good, and do good.

Teach me your statutes.

69

The proud have smeared a lie upon me.

With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.

70

Their heart is as callous as the fat,

but I delight in your law.

71

It is good for me that I have been afflicted,

that I may learn your statutes.

72

The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

YUD

73

Your hands have made me and formed me.

Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

74

Those who fear you will see me and be glad,

because I have put my hope in your word.

75

Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous,

that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

76

Please let your loving kindness be for my comfort,

according to your word to your servant.

77

Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;

for your law is my delight.

78

Let the proud be disappointed, for they have overthrown me wrongfully.

I will meditate on your precepts.

79

Let those who fear you turn to me.

They will know your statutes.

80

Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees,

that I may not be disappointed.

KAF

81

My soul faints for your salvation.

I hope in your word.

82

My eyes fail for your word.

I say, “When will you comfort me?”

83

For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke.

I don’t forget your statutes.

84

How many are the days of your servant?

When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?

85

The proud have dug pits for me,

contrary to your law.

86

All of your commandments are faithful.

They persecute me wrongfully.

Help me!

87

They had almost wiped me from the earth,

but I didn’t forsake your precepts.

88

Preserve my life according to your loving kindness,

so I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

LAMED

89

Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.

90

Your faithfulness is to all generations.

You have established the earth, and it remains.

91

Your laws remain to this day,

for all things serve you.

92

Unless your law had been my delight,

I would have perished in my affliction.

93

I will never forget your precepts,

for with them, you have revived me.

94

I am yours.

Save me, for I have sought your precepts.

95

The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me.

I will consider your statutes.

96

I have seen a limit to all perfection,

but your commands are boundless.

MEM

97

How I love your law!

It is my meditation all day.

98

Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies,

for your commandments are always with me.

99

I have more understanding than all my teachers,

for your testimonies are my meditation.

100

I understand more than the aged,

because I have kept your precepts.

101

I have kept my feet from every evil way,

that I might observe your word.

102

I have not turned away from your ordinances,

for you have taught me.

103

How sweet are your promises to my taste,

more than honey to my mouth!

104

Through your precepts, I get understanding;

therefore I hate every false way.

NUN

105

Your word is a lamp to my feet,

and a light for my path.

106

I have sworn, and have confirmed it,

that I will obey your righteous ordinances.

107

I am afflicted very much.

Revive me, Yahweh, according to your word.

108

Accept, I beg you, the willing offerings of my mouth.

Yahweh, teach me your ordinances.

109

My soul is continually in my hand,

yet I won’t forget your law.

110

The wicked have laid a snare for me,

yet I haven’t gone astray from your precepts.

111

I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever,

for they are the joy of my heart.

112

I have set my heart to perform your statutes forever,

even to the end.

SAMEKH

113

I hate double-minded men,

but I love your law.

114

You are my hiding place and my shield.

I hope in your word.

115

Depart from me, you evildoers,

that I may keep the commandments of my God.

116

Uphold me according to your word, that I may live.

Let me not be ashamed of my hope.

117

Hold me up, and I will be safe,

and will have respect for your statutes continually.

118

You reject all those who stray from your statutes,

for their deceit is in vain.

119

You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross.

Therefore I love your testimonies.

120

My flesh trembles for fear of you.

I am afraid of your judgments.

AYIN

121

I have done what is just and righteous.

Don’t leave me to my oppressors.

122

Ensure your servant’s well-being.

Don’t let the proud oppress me.

123

My eyes fail looking for your salvation,

for your righteous word.

124

Deal with your servant according to your loving kindness.

Teach me your statutes.

125

I am your servant. Give me understanding,

that I may know your testimonies.

126

It is time to act, Yahweh,

for they break your law.

127

Therefore I love your commandments more than gold,

yes, more than pure gold.

128

Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right.

I hate every false way.

PEY

129

Your testimonies are wonderful,

therefore my soul keeps them.

130

The entrance of your words gives light.

It gives understanding to the simple.

131

I opened my mouth wide and panted,

for I longed for your commandments.

132

Turn to me, and have mercy on me,

as you always do to those who love your name.

133

Establish my footsteps in your word.

Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.

134

Redeem me from the oppression of man,

so I will observe your precepts.

135

Make your face shine on your servant.

Teach me your statutes.

136

Streams of tears run down my eyes,

because they don’t observe your law.

TZADI

137

You are righteous, Yahweh.

Your judgments are upright.

138

You have commanded your statutes in righteousness.

They are fully trustworthy.

139

My zeal wears me out,

because my enemies ignore your words.

140

Your promises have been thoroughly tested,

and your servant loves them.

141

I am small and despised.

I don’t forget your precepts.

142

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.

Your law is truth.

143

Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me.

Your commandments are my delight.

144

Your testimonies are righteous forever.

Give me understanding, that I may live.

KUF

145

I have called with my whole heart.

Answer me, Yahweh!

I will keep your statutes.

146

I have called to you. Save me!

I will obey your statutes.

147

I rise before dawn and cry for help.

I put my hope in your words.

148

My eyes stay open through the night watches,

that I might meditate on your word.

149

Hear my voice according to your loving kindness.

Revive me, Yahweh, according to your ordinances.

150

They draw near who follow after wickedness.

They are far from your law.

151

You are near, Yahweh.

All your commandments are truth.

152

Of old I have known from your testimonies,

that you have founded them forever.

RESH

153

Consider my affliction, and deliver me,

for I don’t forget your law.

154

Plead my cause, and redeem me!

Revive me according to your promise.

155

Salvation is far from the wicked,

for they don’t seek your statutes.

156

Great are your tender mercies, Yahweh.

Revive me according to your ordinances.

157

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries.

I haven’t swerved from your testimonies.

158

I look at the faithless with loathing,

because they don’t observe your word.

159

Consider how I love your precepts.

Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness.

160

All of your words are truth.

Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.

SIN AND SHIN

161

Princes have persecuted me without a cause,

but my heart stands in awe of your words.

162

I rejoice at your word,

as one who finds great plunder.

163

I hate and abhor falsehood.

I love your law.

164

Seven times a day, I praise you,

because of your righteous ordinances.

165

Those who love your law have great peace.

Nothing causes them to stumble.

166

I have hoped for your salvation, Yahweh.

I have done your commandments.

167

My soul has observed your testimonies.

I love them exceedingly.

168

I have obeyed your precepts and your testimonies,

for all my ways are before you.

TAV

169

Let my cry come before you, Yahweh.

Give me understanding according to your word.

170

Let my supplication come before you.

Deliver me according to your word.

171

Let my lips utter praise,

for you teach me your statutes.

172

Let my tongue sing of your word,

for all your commandments are righteousness.

173

Let your hand be ready to help me,

for I have chosen your precepts.

174

I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh.

Your law is my delight.

175

Let my soul live, that I may praise you.

Let your ordinances help me.

176

I have gone astray like a lost sheep.

Seek your servant, for I don’t forget your commandments.

Psalms 56

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

1

Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up.

All day long, he attacks and oppresses me.

2

My enemies want to swallow me up all day long,

for they are many who fight proudly against me.

3

When I am afraid,

I will put my trust in you.

4

In God, I praise his word.

In God, I put my trust.

I will not be afraid.

What can flesh do to me?

5

All day long they twist my words.

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

6

They conspire and lurk,

watching my steps.

They are eager to take my life.

7

Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, God.

8

You count my wanderings.

You put my tears into your container.

Aren’t they in your book?

9

Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call.

I know this: that God is for me.

10

In God, I will praise his word.

In Yahweh, I will praise his word.

11

I have put my trust in God.

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

12

Your vows are on me, God.

I will give thank offerings to you.

13

For you have delivered my soul from death,

and prevented my feet from falling,

that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

Psalms 31

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.

Let me never be disappointed.

Deliver me in your righteousness.

2

Bow down your ear to me.

Deliver me speedily.

Be to me a strong rock,

a house of defense to save me.

3

For you are my rock and my fortress,

therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

4

Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,

for you are my stronghold.

5

Into your hand I commend my spirit.

You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.

6

I hate those who regard lying vanities,

but I trust in Yahweh.

7

I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,

for you have seen my affliction.

You have known my soul in adversities.

8

You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.

You have set my feet in a large place.

9

Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress.

My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

10

For my life is spent with sorrow,

my years with sighing.

My strength fails because of my iniquity.

My bones are wasted away.

11

Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,

a horror to my acquaintances.

Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

12

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.

I am like broken pottery.

13

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,

while they conspire together against me,

they plot to take away my life.

14

But I trust in you, Yahweh.

I said, “You are my God.”

15

My times are in your hand.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

16

Make your face to shine on your servant.

Save me in your loving kindness.

17

Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you.

Let the wicked be disappointed.

Let them be silent in Sheol.

18

Let the lying lips be mute,

which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

19

Oh how great is your goodness,

which you have laid up for those who fear you,

which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,

before the sons of men!

20

In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.

You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

21

Praise be to Yahweh,

for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

22

As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”

Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

23

Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints!

Yahweh preserves the faithful,

and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

24

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who hope in Yahweh.

Jeremiah 14

1

This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

2

“Judah mourns,

and its gates languish.

They sit in black on the ground.

The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3

Their nobles send their little ones to the waters.

They come to the cisterns,

and find no water.

They return with their vessels empty.

They are disappointed and confounded,

and cover their heads.

4

Because of the ground which is cracked,

because no rain has been in the land,

the plowmen are disappointed.

They cover their heads.

5

Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young,

because there is no grass.

6

The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights.

They pant for air like jackals.

Their eyes fail,

because there is no vegetation.

7

Though our iniquities testify against us,

work for your name’s sake, Yahweh;

for our rebellions are many.

We have sinned against you.

8

You hope of Israel,

its Savior in the time of trouble,

why should you be as a foreigner in the land,

and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

9

Why should you be like a scared man,

as a mighty man who can’t save?

Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us,

and we are called by your name.

Don’t leave us.

10

Yahweh says to this people,

“Even so they have loved to wander.

They have not restrained their feet.

Therefore Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish them for their sins.”

11

Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.

12

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

13

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

14

Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

15

Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.

16

The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

17

“You shall say this word to them:

“ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease;

for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,

with a very grievous wound.

18

If I go out into the field,

then, behold, the slain with the sword!

If I enter into the city,

then, behold, those who are sick with famine!

For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,

and have no knowledge.’ ”

19

Have you utterly rejected Judah?

Has your soul loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us?

We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

20

We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness,

and the iniquity of our fathers;

for we have sinned against you.

21

Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake.

Do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

22

Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?

Or can the sky give showers?

Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God?

Therefore we will wait for you;

for you have made all these things.

Psalms 105

1

Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name!

Make his doings known among the peoples.

2

Sing to him, sing praises to him!

Tell of all his marvelous works.

3

Glory in his holy name.

Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice.

4

Seek Yahweh and his strength.

Seek his face forever more.

5

Remember his marvelous works that he has done:

his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,

6

you offspring of Abraham, his servant,

you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

7

He is Yahweh, our God.

His judgments are in all the earth.

8

He has remembered his covenant forever,

the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,

9

the covenant which he made with Abraham,

his oath to Isaac,

10

and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute;

to Israel for an everlasting covenant,

11

saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,

the lot of your inheritance,”

12

when they were but a few men in number,

yes, very few, and foreigners in it.

13

They went about from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people.

14

He allowed no one to do them wrong.

Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes,

15

“Don’t touch my anointed ones!

Do my prophets no harm!”

16

He called for a famine on the land.

He destroyed the food supplies.

17

He sent a man before them.

Joseph was sold for a slave.

18

They bruised his feet with shackles.

His neck was locked in irons,

19

until the time that his word happened,

and Yahweh’s word proved him true.

20

The king sent and freed him,

even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free.

21

He made him lord of his house,

and ruler of all of his possessions,

22

to discipline his princes at his pleasure,

and to teach his elders wisdom.

23

Israel also came into Egypt.

Jacob lived in the land of Ham.

24

He increased his people greatly,

and made them stronger than their adversaries.

25

He turned their heart to hate his people,

to conspire against his servants.

26

He sent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen.

27

They performed miracles among them,

and wonders in the land of Ham.

28

He sent darkness, and made it dark.

They didn’t rebel against his words.

29

He turned their waters into blood,

and killed their fish.

30

Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the rooms of their kings.

31

He spoke, and swarms of flies came,

and lice in all their borders.

32

He gave them hail for rain,

with lightning in their land.

33

He struck their vines and also their fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country.

34

He spoke, and the locusts came

with the grasshoppers, without number,

35

ate up every plant in their land,

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

36

He struck also all the firstborn in their land,

the first fruits of all their manhood.

37

He brought them out with silver and gold.

There was not one feeble person among his tribes.

38

Egypt was glad when they departed,

for the fear of them had fallen on them.

39

He spread a cloud for a covering,

fire to give light in the night.

40

They asked, and he brought quails,

and satisfied them with the bread of the sky.

41

He opened the rock, and waters gushed out.

They ran as a river in the dry places.

42

For he remembered his holy word,

and Abraham, his servant.

43

He brought his people out with joy,

his chosen with singing.

44

He gave them the lands of the nations.

They took the labor of the peoples in possession,

45

that they might keep his statutes,

and observe his laws.

Praise Yah!

Psalms 13

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

How long, Yahweh?

Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2

How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

having sorrow in my heart every day?

How long shall my enemy triumph over me?

3

Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God.

Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;

4

lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;”

lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall.

5

But I trust in your loving kindness.

My heart rejoices in your salvation.

6

I will sing to Yahweh,

because he has been good to me.

Luke 20

1

On one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, thepriests and scribes came to him with the elders.

2

They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”

3

He answered them,

“I also will ask you one question. Tell me:

4

the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”

5

They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’

6

But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

7

They answered that they didn’t know where it was from.

8

Jesus said to them,

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

9

He began to tell the people this parable.

“A

man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time.

10

At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty.

11

He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty.

12

He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out.

13

The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’

14

“But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’

15

Then they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do to them?

16

He will come and destroy these farmers, and will give the vineyard to others.”

When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

17

But he looked at them and said,

“Then what is this that is written,

‘The stone which the builders rejected

was made the chief cornerstone?’

18

Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,

but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

19

The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.

20

They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor.

21

They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.

22

Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

23

But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them,

“Why do you test me?

24

Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”

They answered, “Caesar’s.”

25

He said to them,

“Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

26

They weren’t able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent.

27

Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection.

28

They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother.

29

There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless.

30

The second took her as wife, and he died childless.

31

The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died.

32

Afterward the woman also died.

33

Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”

34

Jesus said to them,

“The children of this age marry, and are given in marriage.

35

But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

36

For they can’t die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.

37

But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

38

Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive to him.”

39

Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you speak well.”

40

They didn’t dare to ask him any more questions.

41

He said to them,

“Why do they say that the Christ is David’s son?

42

David himself says in the book of Psalms,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

43

until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.” ’

44

“David therefore calls him Lord, so how is he his son?”

45

In the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,

46

“Beware of those scribes who like to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts;

47

who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these will receive greater condemnation.”

Wisdom of Solomon 5

1

Then the righteous man will stand in great boldness

before the face of those who afflicted him,

and those who make his labors of no account.

2

When they see him, they will be troubled with terrible fear,

and will be amazed at the marvel of salvation.

3

They will speak among themselves repenting,

and for distress of spirit they will groan,

“This was he whom we used to hold in derision,

as a parable of reproach.

4

We fools considered his life madness,

and his end without honor.

5

How was he counted among sons of God?

How is his lot among saints?

6

Truly we went astray from the way of truth.

The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us.

The sun didn’t rise for us.

7

We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction.

We traveled through trackless deserts,

but we didn’t know the Lord’s way.

8

What did our arrogance profit us?

What good have riches and boasting brought us?

9

Those things all passed away as a shadow,

like a message that runs by,

10

like a ship passing through the billowy water,

which, when it has gone by, there is no trace to be found,

no pathway of its keel in the billows.

11

Or it is like when a bird flies through the air,

no evidence of its passage is found,

but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of its pinions,

and torn apart with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through.

Afterwards no sign of its coming remains.

12

Or it is like when an arrow is shot at a mark,

the air divided by it closes up again immediately,

so that men don’t know where it passed through.

13

So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;

and we had no sign of virtue to show,

but we were utterly consumed in our wickedness.”

14

Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff carried by the wind,

and as foam vanishing before a tempest;

and is scattered like smoke by the wind,

and passes by as the remembrance of a guest that waits but a day.

15

But the righteous live forever.

Their reward is in the Lord,

and the care for them with the Most High.

16

Therefore they will receive the crown of royal dignity

and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand,

because he will cover them with his right hand,

and he will shield them with his arm.

17

He will take his jealousy as complete armor,

and will make the whole creation his weapons to punish his enemies:

18

He will put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and will wear impartial judgment as a helmet.

19

He will take holiness as an invincible shield.

20

He will sharpen stern wrath for a sword.

The world will go with him to fight against his frenzied foes.

21

Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim.

They will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow.

22

Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled from an engine of war.

The water of the sea will be angered against them.

Rivers will sternly overwhelm them.

23

A mighty blast will encounter them.

It will winnow them away like a tempest.

So lawlessness will make all the land desolate.

Their evil-doing will overturn the thrones of princes.

Psalms 37

By David.

1

Don’t fret because of evildoers,

neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

2

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

3

Trust in Yahweh, and do good.

Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

4

Also delight yourself in Yahweh,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5

Commit your way to Yahweh.

Trust also in him, and he will do this:

6

he will make your righteousness shine out like light,

and your justice as the noon day sun.

7

Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him.

Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,

because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.

8

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.

Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.

9

For evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land.

10

For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more.

Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.

11

But the humble shall inherit the land,

and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12

The wicked plots against the just,

and gnashes at him with his teeth.

13

The Lord will laugh at him,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,

to cast down the poor and needy,

to kill those who are upright on the path.

15

Their sword shall enter into their own heart.

Their bows shall be broken.

16

Better is a little that the righteous has,

than the abundance of many wicked.

17

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but Yahweh upholds the righteous.

18

Yahweh knows the days of the perfect.

Their inheritance shall be forever.

19

They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil.

In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20

But the wicked shall perish.

The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields.

They will vanish—

vanish like smoke.

21

The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back,

but the righteous give generously.

22

For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land.

Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.

23

A man’s steps are established by Yahweh.

He delights in his way.

24

Though he stumble, he shall not fall,

for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.

25

I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his children begging for bread.

26

All day long he deals graciously, and lends.

His offspring is blessed.

27

Depart from evil, and do good.

Live securely forever.

28

For Yahweh loves justice,

and doesn’t forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29

The righteous shall inherit the land,

and live in it forever.

30

The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom.

His tongue speaks justice.

31

The law of his God is in his heart.

None of his steps shall slide.

32

The wicked watch the righteous,

and seek to kill him.

33

Yahweh will not leave him in his hand,

nor condemn him when he is judged.

34

Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land.

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35

I have seen the wicked in great power,

spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

36

But he passed away, and behold, he was not.

Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37

Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,

for there is a future for the man of peace.

38

As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together.

The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39

But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh.

He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

40

Yahweh helps them and rescues them.

He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,

because they have taken refuge in him.

Psalms 36

For the Chief Musician. By David, the servant of Yahweh.

1

A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked:

“There is no fear of God before his eyes.”

2

For he flatters himself in his own eyes,

too much to detect and hate his sin.

3

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.

He has ceased to be wise and to do good.

4

He plots iniquity on his bed.

He sets himself in a way that is not good.

He doesn’t abhor evil.

5

Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

6

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God.

Your judgments are like a great deep.

Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.

7

How precious is your loving kindness, God!

The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

8

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house.

You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.

9

For with you is the spring of life.

In your light we will see light.

10

Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you,

your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11

Don’t let the foot of pride come against me.

Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12

There the workers of iniquity are fallen.

They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

John 16

1

“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2

They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3

They will do these things

because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4

But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6

But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8

When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9

about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10

about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11

about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13

However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14

He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15

All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes

of mine and will declare it to you.

16

A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17

Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us,

‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’

and,

‘Because I go to the Father’

?”

18

They said therefore, “What is this that he says,

‘A little while’

? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19

Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them,

“Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20

Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21

A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22

Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23

“In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24

Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26

In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,

27

for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28

I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29

His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30

Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31

Jesus answered them,

“Do you now believe?

32

Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33

I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

Footnotes

Cur Deus Homo, lib. i. c. 2.

De peccat. merites, c. xxi. 16,
tom. x. p. 16.

‘Ad hoc enim ipsum paragraphis sunt distinctæ;’
divided into sections by means of marks in the margin; or, divided into sections
by means of inserted headings. Thus in one of his letters (i. 20), writing of
some prayers to the Mother of God composed by him, he says, ‘Denique idcirco volui eas ipsas orationes per sententias
paragraphis distinguere, ut anticipando longitudinis fastidium, ubi volueris, possis eas legendo incidere.’

Of the meditations attributed to St. Anselm, the majority, as we find them in the printed editions, are not characterised by bracketed headings or
by subtitles; nor are their obvious subdivisions indicated by what we should call unbroken paragraphs.
The translator has therefore ventured to insert into such of the meditations as do not in the printed editions show where they are capable of an unforced subdivision,
a suitable subtitle, or at least a numerical indication. He has done this not irreverently, he trusts, to the saint, nor impertinently, he ventures to hope, to the reader.
To the compassion of the one and to the indulgence of the other does he commit himself; adding only this,
that whatever has been inserted by him is included within square brackets.

The phrase
‘GOD-MAN’ is familiar to all, and is used here as a rendering of ‘ILLE HOMO’
in preference to any such more literal but less usual forms of expression as ‘The Ideal Man’
‘The Model Man,’ or ‘The Man.’

Formosa Panthera. The following passage from Hugh of St. Victor,
De Bestiis et Aliis Rebus, lib. ii. cap. xxiii.,
may interest the reader; it is entitled De Pantheræ Natura. ‘There is an animal called
panthera, of various colour, but exceeding
beautiful and of great gentleness. It is said to be the enemy of none but the
dragon. When it has eaten and satisfied itself with all sorts of prey, it
betakes itself to its lair, and lays it down and sleeps for three days. And then
rising from sleep, it forthwith raises a great cry on high, and sends forth at
the same time an odour of exceeding sweetness, so sweet an odour as to surpass
all pigments and all aromatic drugs. When, then, they hear its voice, all beasts
from far and near gather together and follow its exceeding sweetness. The
dragon, however, and only the dragon, on hearing its voice hides terror-stricken
in its earthy caves; and there, unable to bear the strength of its odour, coils
itself together, and lies dull and stupid, motionless and spiritless, as though
it were dead. But all other animals follow the leopard whithersoever it goes.’

The passage is too long to quote in full; let it suffice, therefore, to add that Hugh of St. Victor draws instruction (1) from the name of the
panthera, quasi ‘omnis fera,’ (2) from its variegated skin, (3) from its beauty, (4) from its gentleness, and that he quotes Pliny and St. Isidore; the latter of whom (Etym.
lib. xii. cap. viii.) says, ‘Panther dictus, sive quod omnium animalium amicus sit, excepto dracone;
sive quia et sui generis societate gaudet, et ad eandem similitudinem quicquid accipit reddit. . . .
Bestia minutis orbiculis superpicta, ita ut oculatis ex fulvo circulis nigrâ vel alba distinguatur varietate.’

Pliny’s testimony is as follows: ‘Ferunt odore earum mire solicitari quadrupedes cunctas, sed capitis torvitate terreri. Quamobrem occultato eo reliqua dulcedine invitatas corripiunt’
(H.
N. lib. viii. cap. xxiii.).

And Ælian gives a like testimony, but at too great length to be quoted in this place. The reference is
De Naturâ Animalium, lib. v. cap. xl.

The genuineness of this and the two following meditations has been questioned. They certainly do constitute twenty-two chapters out of sixty-eight of a work printed in the appendix
to the Benedictine edition of St. Augustine, under the title De Vitâ Eremeticâ. But if internal evidence is to be trusted, they cannot possibly be St. Augustine’s.

On the other hand, there is no internal evidence whatever, apart from their style, which can justify us in saying that they are not St. Anselm’s. It is true that their author wrote them for an only sister, and that that sister was a nun. It is true, also, that St. Anselm see Epp. iii. 67 towards the end of his life gave us to understand that he was the only brother of his married sister Richera; but it does not follow that she was his only sister; still less does it follow that he had never had another. On the contrary the probability is, that as she had had several children (iii. 43),
only one of whom was at that time left to her, so she had had other brothers and sisters, of whom St. Anselm was the sole survivor. In short, there is no reason whatever for supposing, on the ground of internal evidence, as apart from that of style, that St. Anselm is not the author of these meditations, the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth.

And, as to style and manner, the translator can only say that the more he reads of St. Anselm, the less disposed is he to say
that the sixteenth is not his, and the more constrained he is to believe that the seventeenth is his; whilst the fifteenth presents no peculiarities which may not be
accounted for by the fact that it was written for the edification of one person, a
sister in religion.

Zabule. Probably for
Diabole; either a corrupted form or a corrupt reading.

Duplici stolâ: for the further explanation of this, see p. 128, n.

Probably written at Bec.

2 The original consists of eight hexameter verses:

‘Spes mea, Christe Deus, hominum Tu dulcis amator, Lux mea,’ &c.

The Benedictines read, ‘sicut gliris hastulam suam tenacitate infectam vincere solet.’
Migne’s ‘bastulam,’ probably a misprint, is
hopeless. I propose, as an emendation, ‘sicut gliris hastula suâ tenacitate insecta
vincere solet.’ If this be the right reading, the corruption is easy
to trace. ‘Sicut gliris
hastulā suā tenacitate insectā vincere solet;’ thence
‘sicut gliris hastulam suam tenacitate infectam vincere
solet.’

The glires of science are a very varied collection of animals, and are said to comprise nearly a third part of the mammalia; but the anteater is the only one of the
glires which seems to correspond with the
description in the text. Its tongue could scarcely be described better than as a
‘hastula tenacitate suâ vincens;’ for, it is an offensive weapon covered with a secretion which is simply irresistible by insects, such is its tenacity.

That ‘hastula’ not ‘glis’ is the subject of the clause lends probability
to the emendation; for, since making the correction, I have learnt that, when employed in catching insects, the natural weapon of the anteater
‘coils and twists about as if it possessed a separate vitality of its own;’ its
shape is that of a large red earth-worm, hence a certain suitability in the word
‘hastula.’’

I am inclined to think that the passage is, after all, an interpolation; that, inserted by a strange hand in the margin of a MS.,
it was introduced into the text of the work by a copyist, who, not familiar with the
character, read hastulā, suā and insectā for
hastula, sua and insecta.
The passage thus corrupted, ‘insectam’ would soon
become ‘infectam.’ TR.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

1. Preface

2. Chapter I

3. Chapter II

4. Chapter III

5. Chapter IV

6. Chapter V

7. Chapter VI

8. Chapter VII

9. Chapter VIII

10. Chapter IX

11. Chapter X

12. Chapter XI

13. Chapter XII

14. Chapter XIII

15. Chapter XIV

16. Chapter XV

17. Chapter XVI

18. Chapter XVII

19. Chapter XVIII

20. Chapter XIX

21. Chapter XX

22. Chapter XXI

23. Chapter XXII

24. Chapter XXIII

25. Chapter XXIV

26. Chapter XXV

27. Chapter XXVI

3. Preface To The Meditations

4. Meditation I

1. I

2. II

3. III

4. IV

5. V

6. VI

7. VII

8. VIII

9. IX

10. X

11. XI

12. XII

13. XIII

14. XIV

5. Meditation II

6. Meditation III

7. Meditation IV

8. Prayers Of St Anselm

1. I

2. II

3. III

4. IV

9. Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

1. INTRODUCTORY NOTE

2. I

3. II

4. III

5. IV

6. V

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Introduction

THE life of Saint Anselm is well known. It
belongs to the history of England. By
nature a recluse and a thinker, he was called upon
to play an active part in political life under circumstances of great difficulty. In the midst of
these he bore himself with a conscientious up
rightness, a quiet dignity and a persistency in
the refusal to sacrifice principle to expediency
which justified those who called him against his
will to the throne of Canterbury: but his heart
was elsewhere, in that passionate search for the
innermost meaning of his religious belief, of
which the history of the Church affords no
more striking example than his. The quarrels
about investitures, about the relations of Church
and State, of Pope and King, which distracted
his outward life in his later years, have left no
trace in his writings.[1] In a selection from
these, intended to form part of a Library of
Devotion, we need not dwell long upon them.

The only one of the works here translated,
the date of whose composition is known to us,
was written before Anselm was archbishop,
while he was still living in the seclusion of his
abbey at Bec in Normandy. Even of this
earlier part of his life information is so ready
to hand that I do not propose to give here more
than a very brief account of it. The following
outline will be sufficient to inform the reader
what manner of man the author was, whose
devotions are put before him.

Anselm was born in 1033 at Aosta in
Piedmont, a Burgundian city of Roman origin,
governed by its own prince-bishops, and lying
at the Italian end of the road over the pass of
the Great St Bernard. Both his parents were
of noble rank, and his mother, Ermenburga, was
a kinswoman of the counts of Maurienne, from
whom the house of Savoy, who now sit on the
throne of Italy, are descended. A pious and
studious boyhood, during which he twice begged
for admission to the monastic life from an abbot
of his acquaintance, who twice refused him for
fear of offending his father, was succeeded by a
time in which indulgence in the pleasures of
youth diverted him from more serious courses
and called down upon him, after the restraining
influence of his mother had been withdrawn by
her death, the undiscriminating indignation of his father. Finding that nothing he could do
availed to win back his father’s favour, he at
last turned his back upon home and kindred
and, with one attendant, set out across the Mont
Cenis, to seek a new career beyond the Alps;
and so came at last to Bec, drawn by the fame
of his countryman, the Lombard scholar
Lanfranc of Pavia, then a monk at Bec,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury and chief
counsellor of William the Conqueror. He was
himself professed in the same monastery, being
now twenty-seven years of age; and soon, in
1063, succeeded Lanfranc, who was then promoted to be Abbot of Duke William’s newly
founded Abbey of St Stephen at Caen, in the
office of Prior; in which capacity he was,
owing to the great age of the founder-abbot Herlwin, the principal governor of the society.

In 1078 Herlwin died, and Anselm was elected
his successor. The conquest of England by the
Norman Duke William in 1066 had brought
with it an accession to the abbey of property in
that country, which it became the duty of Anselm
occasionally to visit. On one of these visits it
was that he persuaded his old master Lanfranc,
who in 1070 had been raised to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, of the propriety,
concerning which Lanfranc had doubted, of recognizing as a martyr his predecessor Alphege,
who had been put to death by the heathen
Danes, not expressly for refusing to deny the
faith of Christ, but because he would not suffer
his flock to be impoverished by providing a
ransom for him. Anselm, we are told, defended
the right of Alphege to the glorious title of
martyr as one who had died for righteousness,
as the Baptist for truth, and therefore both
alike for Christ, who is very truth and very
righteousness.

The visits of Anselm to England led to his
being held in great reverence there, and at last
to his name being pressed upon the Conqueror’s son and successor William Rufus, when terrified
by a sickness thought to be mortal into a resolution of filling the vacant
primacy, which since Lanfranc’s death in 1089 he had kept vacant in order to
enjoy its revenues. This was in the spring of 1093, and in December of that
year Anselm, who much against his will had
accepted the king’s nomination, was consecrated
to the see of St Augustine. From this time
onwards his life was one long struggle in defence
of ecclesiastical rights and liberties against the
masterful sons of the Conqueror. A very few
words on the controversy respecting investitures
must suffice in this place: but a few are needful, because Anselm’s part therein may sometimes
alienate from him the sympathy of those in our
days who do not comprehend what was thought
to be at stake.

As with many of the important struggles of
history, an external consideration of this controversy suggests that it was trivial and vexatious;
and it is necessary to enter into the point of
view of an age very different from our own, to
understand its true inner nature. No doubt the
conferring of certain ornamental symbols of
ecclesiastical dignity is a matter which by itself
seems hardly worth the public distress which
ensued from the quarrel concerning it; no doubt
the predecessor of Anselm had accepted investiture from the predecessor of William Rufus,
and the Conqueror had exercised with the
consent of Lanfranc, and without the active
interference even of so energetic a pope as
Gregory VII. himself, the famous Hildebrand,
privileges the right to which Anselm would not
recognise in the Conqueror’s successors; no
doubt, as has been pointed out,[2] the Roman
See ultimately conceded all over Europe to
Christian princes, in substance if not in form,
what was refused to them by the popes during the quarrel of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Did then Anselm waste his life on an unimportant contest? I think not. If some of the
most enlightened minds of those times took uncompromisingly the Roman side in the quarrel,
undeterred very often by a clear perception that
the actual policy of the Roman See was often
inconsistent and even venal, it was that they saw
in the independence of the ecclesiastical order
under its Roman chief the security and the
one security for the maintenance of the Christian
moral code in a half-barbarous age of violence
and sensuality. The feudal customs of the
European nations, however deeply modified by
Christian influence, rested on no intelligible
Christian or even rational principle; and so
not only the canon law but the Roman civil
law also, with its claims to rationality and
universality, might well seem sacred and divine
in contrast to the chaotic “common law” of
the nations. Thus in the next century after
Anselm’s the great scholar John of Salisbury
could compare the sin of King Stephen in
suppressing Vacarius’ lectures on the Roman
law in England and in confiscating Archbishop Theobald’s copy of Justinian with the impieties of Uzziah and Antiochus Epiphanes.
There was no guarantee that a king would uphold the moral law of Christendom; or William
the Conqueror, who for all his masterfulness
cared above all things for the authority and
effectiveness of the church in his dominions,
might be succeeded by a reckless and godless
son like William Rufus: whereas, though the
series of popes would no less display inequalities
of moral excellence, the whole raison d’être, as
we say, of a pope’s position, whatever his personal character, was that of the upholder of the
Christian law; it rested ultimately not, like a
king’s, on force, but on general veneration for Christianity, however
imperfectly understood. The example of the subjection of the Church at
Constantinople to the civil power was a warning not to be forgotten against a
like submissiveness in the west.[3] We must not forget
moreover that the people often recognized the
cause of the clergy and the Church as their own,
as that of the oppressed against the oppressor;
this was probably the secret of Becket’s popularity, which had nothing to do, as the
French historian Augustin Thierry supposed,
with a Saxon origin which was not his; and
the like popularity attended Anselm, who was
not even born in the country; thus on occasion
of a demonstration of popular sympathy with him Eadmer his biographer observes,
“We
rejoiced therefore and took heart, trusting that,
as the Scripture saith, The voice of the people is
the voice of God.”[4]

Thus much I have said about the controversy
concerning investitures, because the quarrel about
the rights of King and Pope occupied so
important a place in Anselm’s life that some
understanding of that quarrel is indispensable to
a sympathetic appreciation of the man.

In 1097 Anselm, against the will of the
king, but, as he conceived, in accordance with
his duty, left England to visit the Pope,
Urban II., who received him with great
honour, and carried him with him the following
year to the council of Bari, where Anselm disputed against the representatives of the Greek
Church on the doctrine of the procession of the
Holy Ghost, as to which, in consequence of his
work, addressed to Pope Urban, On the Trinity
and the Incarnation of the Word he was already
reckoned a high authority, and on which he
afterwards composed an important treatise, which
we still possess. In 1099 he was present at
another council at Rome, where severe censures
were pronounced against those who, being laymen, gave or who received from laymen investiture with
ecclesiastical office. Anselm, with his already
high notions of papal authority, was by his assent
to the decrees of this council plunged deeper than
before into the controversy of which I spoke
above. He had quarrelled with William Rufus,
mainly because he held that it was his right and
duty to recognize the authority of him whom he
judged the lawful pope in England, apart from
any royal recognition, while the king, taking
advantage of the circumstance that there were
two claimants of the Roman See, maintained
that the recognition in his dominions of any
particular person as pope belonged to the royal
prerogative. He had not hitherto objected to
all investiture with ecclesiastical office by lay
men, and had himself done homage to William
Rufus for the archbishopric of Canterbury as
Lanfranc had done to the Conqueror. But
now, when recalled by Henry I. on William’s death in the year after the council of Rome—1100,—he refused this homage, and in 1103
left England again to take counsel of Urban’s successor, Paschal II. He was reconciled with
Henry,—who was not, like his brother, a hater
and wilful oppressor of the Church,—in 1106,
partly through the mediation of Adela, Countess
of Blois, the king’s sister and mother of his successor Stephen, one of many devout women
of rank, among whom Henry’s own queen, Maud,
must be reckoned, who were profoundly attached
to Anselm as a spiritual guide. He returned to
England in 1107, died on April 21, 1109, at
Canterbury, and was buried in his cathedral
church next to the tomb of his master, friend,
and predecessor, Lanfranc.

Such is the bare outline of this great man’s life. Of the beauties of his character, his self-devotion, his gentleness, his equanimity, his
kindliness and tolerance, I have said nothing;
they will be found set forth in the contemporary
Latin life by Eadmer, with the charm that only
an admiring friend can give to the story of one
he has known and almost worshipped. For
modern biographies of Anselm I would refer to
the French scholar Charles de Rémusat’s lucid
and thoughtful monograph Anselme de Canterbury, to the full and learned, if somewhat
diffuse and fanciful work of Mr Martin Rule,
Life and Times of St Anselm, to Dean Church’s well-known sketch, to the careful article by
Dean Stephens in the Dictionary of National
Biography, and the charmingly-written chapter
by Mr J. R. Green in his Short History of the
English People.

The first treatise of Anselm’s which I have chosen to translate is the greatest of all his works,
the Proslogion, as he called it, or Address to God,
in which he sought to show how by one irrefragable argument the being of God could be
demonstrated against all who should say with
the fool in the Psalms,(Ps. xiv. 1).There is no God. It was
not without much hesitation that I included the Proslogion in this selection. For it deals with an
abstruse subject-matter, and though it deals with
it in a style singularly simple, and almost wholly
free from technical expressions, it is beyond
doubt difficult to understand without a considerable effort of attention and thought. But it
seemed to me that no selection from Anselm’s devotional works could be considered representative, which did not include this very
remarkable writing. For the justification of
including Anselm among the masters of devotional literature lies in this, that no one has
ever more strikingly shown how the disinterested
search for metaphysical truth can be offered as a
service of passionate devotion to God. The
saying of Hegel, Das Denken ist auch Gottesdienst,
might be the motto of the most part of Anselm’s writings. The more richly endowed and many-sided intelligence of Augustine, in virtue of the very variety and breadth of its interests, illustrates
less remarkably than that of Anselm “the saint
as philosopher.” The story of Anselm’s death
bed tells its own tale of the dominance of
speculative interest in his spiritual life. “Palm
Sunday had dawned,” so Eadmer reports it, “and we were sitting round him according to
our custom; one of us therefore said to him, ‘Lord and Father, we understand that you are
leaving the world and going to your Lord’s Easter court.’ He answered, ‘If indeed this
is His will, I will gladly obey His will. But
if He should rather please that I should still
remain among you at least long enough to be
able to finish the working-out of a problem,
which I am revolving in my mind, concerning
the origin of the soul, I could gratefully accept
it, in that I know not whether any will finish
it, when I am gone.’”[5] The Proslogion, the
principal monument of such a character, may
thus be regarded as a work of high devotional
as well as of high philosophical value. As a
work of devotion it seemed to me not to need
an elaborate philosophical commentary; I have,
however, added in a supplementary Note some
few observations upon the reasoning which it contains. The reader who cares enough for
metaphysical speculation to follow them with
attention will not fail to go further. It is probably true that the “ontological argument,” as
the argument of the Proslogion afterwards came
to be called, is open to objection in the form
which Anselm gave to it; and that, even if it
does prove something, it does not prove all which
Anselm intended it to prove. The contemporary
criticism of the monk Gaunilo in his Apology for
the Fool Anselm himself answered in a treatise which is a model at once of
metaphysical acuteness and of controversial courtesy; Kant’s criticism of the same argument, as it was revived at the
inauguration of modern philosophy by Descartes,
is a graver matter, and, however we may think
that Kant may be answered on this point or on
that, no doubt he showed the bankruptcy of all
merely logical arguments to prove the existence
of the God of religion. But the devotional
value of the Proslogion does not stand or fall
with the adequacy or inadequacy of the argument
it contains; a perception of the inadequacy of
the argument may even lend it a greater devotional value. Devout persons will
often welcome a supposed proof of the truth of what they believe, less because
they need proof for themselves, than because they wish to be able to silence objectors; and, if only the objectors
are silenced, they are often not very careful to
examine too closely the means by which it is
done. Thus they fall into the error of the
scholasticism which roused the indignation of
Bacon, the scholasticism which seeks not the
truth but only the refutation of an opponent.
They became impatient with the philosophical
enquirer who has an eye for difficulties, and is
never done grubbing up the roots of his convictions. And the philosophical enquirer is apt
on his side to fall out of sympathy with the
devout, and all the more so if they adorn their
doctrine with the language of a philosophy
which is to them no more than apologetics. In
Anselm’s Proslogion, however, he will not find
apologetics but genuine enquiry; yet this enquiry
is conducted in a spirit of the most profound
devotion. This may seem a strange claim to
make for a treatise whose alternative title is
Faith in search of Understanding, and which
contains the famous saying, Credo ut intelligam,
I believe in order that I may understand. Is
not this the very opposite of free enquiry, to
make faith the starting-point? I do not think
so. A philosophy of religion is as little attainable without a religious experience, which the
philosopher first has, and then endeavours to understand, as a philosophy of aesthetic without
an experience denied to one who is insusceptible
to the beauty of nature and of art. It is this
living religious experience, rather than merely
the acquiescence in an authoritative dogma, that
Anselm has in view when he speaks of faith.
No doubt to him, living in an age when only
one creed was practically presented to his mind,
the distinction between these two meanings of
faith was not obvious as it is to us. But I do
not believe that an acquaintance with the writings
of Anselm at first hand will allow a candid
reader to see in him a mere apologist. He has
much of the same originality and independence
of mind, the same aptitude for introspection, as
the reviver of his argument, Descartes; and as
a philosopher of religion he has the advantage of
the modern thinker in a far richer and more
thorough religious experience with which to
start.[6]

The story of the composition of the Proslogion is thus told by Anselm’s companion and
biographer, the monk Eadmer. “After this it
came into his mind to enquire whether it would be possible to demonstrate by one short argument alone what is believed and taught concerning God, namely, that He is eternal, unchangeable, almighty, everywhere wholly present, in
comprehensible, righteous, gracious, merciful,
true, truth, goodness, righteousness, and so forth,
and how all these attributes are one in Him.
And this matter, as he told us, he found one of
great difficulty. For the consideration thereof
not only often robbed him of appetite and of
sleep but, which vexed him more, distracted the
direction of his thoughts to God at matins and
at other services of the Church. When therefore he perceived this, and could not fully
achieve the discovery of that which he sought,
he concluded that this train of thought was a
temptation of the devil, and strove to dismiss it
from his mind. But the more he laboured to
do this, the more did the thought haunt his
mind. And all at once one night during the
office of nocturns[7] the grace of God shone into
his heart, and the thing which he sought became
plain to his understanding, and filled all his
inward parts with an infinite joy and delight.
Considering then in himself that the same reasoning if it were known to others might be pleasing
to them also, he did not grudge them this satisfaction, but wrote down his argument on tablets
and delivered them to a brother of the monastery for more careful custody. When some
days had passed, he asked this brother for the
tablets. Search was made in the place where
they had been put by, but they could not be
found. The brethren were asked after them,
lest one of them should have taken them, but in
vain. Nor could any one be found who acknowledged that he had known anything of them.
Then Anselm wrote another discourse concerning the same matter on other tablets, and
delivered them to the same brother to be kept
more carefully. The brother laid them up in
the innermost part of his bed-chamber, and
the next day, though he had no suspicion of
any mischief, found them lying about on the
floor in front of his bed, the wax broken into
fragments and scattered on every side. The
tablets were picked up, the wax collected, and
brought to Anselm; he put together the wax
and, though with difficulty, recovered the writing. But fearing lest it should altogether be
lost through carelessness, he commanded that it
should be transcribed on parchment in the name
of the Lord. And so he composed a book, small in bulk but great in the importance of the
wise judgments and subtle reasonings which it
contained, and this he called Proslogion or The
Address. For herein he addresses either him self or God throughout. Now this
work came into the hands of a certain person, who was not a little dissatisfied
with some of the reasoning therein, and thinking it insufficient, desired to
refute it. He composed therefore a treatise against it and wrote it at the end
of Anselm’s own work. This was then sent to Anselm by a friend; and when he had
considered it, he was glad, and thanking his censor, he devised an answer to the
censure, and adding that to the treatise which had been sent him, he returned to
the friend who had sent it the censure and the reply together, in the hope that
not only this friend but others who desired to possess his book, would wish it
so, that to his own work should be added the censure of his reasoning, and to
the censure his own answer thereunto.”[8][9]

The critic whose adverse judgment of his
treatise Anselm received with such pleasure
(showing thereby how far more he was in love with the truth than with his own opinion) is
known to have been Gaunilo, a monk of Marmoutier, whose work under the title An Apology
for the Fool (that is, for the Psalmist’s fool who
said, There is no God) is still found in editions of
Anselm following the Proslogion, and followed
in its turn by Anselm’s rejoinder.

To the Proslogion I have added renderings of
certain of the Meditations, Prayers, and Letters
of Anselm. My choice has been made with
a view to the devotion of Anglican Christians
of to-day, for whom this series is primarily
intended. I have thus not chosen for translation meditations and prayers, the language of
which would be entirely uncongenial to modern
Anglican feeling, prayers (for example) addressed to St Mary or to other saints. But
what I have chosen, I have given in full.

I take this opportunity of acknowledging with
grateful thanks the help which I have received
in the preparation of this book for the press from
my sister, Miss Mildred Webb, and from my
friend, Mr Guy Kendall, of Magdalen College,
who read the whole of it in proof.

St Anselm does not appear to me to rank,
except in one kind, that of which the Proslogion
is an example, among the great masters of devotional literature. His meditations and prayers are often indeed characteristic of their writer.
The student of his theological and philosophical
works will often notice in them phrases which
show how deeply his thought entered into his
personal religion and coloured its expression.
They are in spirit exceedingly free from any
taint of superstition; in many of his prayers addressed to saints there is a perfunctoriness and
conventionality which show that, while he could
use on occasion without misgiving the language
of a view which made of God the image of an
earthly king whose ear might be gained by the
means of powerful favourites at court, this kind of
devotion remained somewhat external to his inner
life, the truer expression of which is found else
where in prayers which breathe a genuinely evangelical spirit of trust in God through Christ alone.

The second Meditation (which I have included in this selection) is especially admired by
Mr Rule. It is a striking example of mediæval
piety in one of its most characteristic moods.
In it a profound horror of sin and an intimate
sense of personal sinfulness find expression under
the vividly realised scriptural imagery of a great
assize. Those who are acquainted with the
history of Luther will remember how the great
thought of justification by faith alone came to him
as a deliverance from the spirit of distrustful and unloving anxiety which was a natural temptation of the monastic life. Isolated from the
ordinary occupations, duties, and trials of human
life, spending much time in self-examination,
inspired with the ambition to exemplify as perfectly as possible in his own person a certain
somewhat one-sided ideal of living, which was
deliberately regarded as an ideal in itself higher
than that of the secular Christian, the earnest
religious had much to invite him now to a reliance on his own works, now (by reaction) to an
unrelieved horror of the judgment which must be
passed by a perfectly just Judge on an obedience
so imperfect as self-examination showed him
that his was. Thus the terror of the Lord has
perhaps more than its due place in works of the
class to which St Anselm’s second Meditation
belongs. Nevertheless this fear and horror of
judgment is a normal stage in the development
of the Christian life. Even where the Christian
life has advanced beyond it, the moods of the
Christian, like those of other men, are not always
on a level with his highest spiritual attainment.
The sincere expression of an important part of
spiritual experience does not quickly lose its
value, even though its form have fallen out of
fashion. It has often been remarked that the
middle ages, in their preoccupation with the thought of Christ as Judge, sometimes forgot to
think of Him as Saviour, and therefore devised
other mediators to stand between the guilty
sinner and His wrath; and many representations
of the Last Judgment in art give support to this
observation. But however this may be, in this
work of St Anselm’s there is no such matter;
he flies for refuge only to the Judge who is at
the same time his Saviour.

The same is even more emphatically true of
our third (Gerberon’s sixth) Meditation. This
is written in a style more simple than Anselm’s is wont to be, but it is well attested for his, and
is conceived entirely in his spirit. Through
whatever changes the language of Christian devotion has passed or is yet to pass, the revelation
of God in the life and death of Jesus Christ
has been and is to thousands of Christians as to
Anselm here, a revelation at once of sin condemned and salvation freely offered, in the light
of which no thought either of the bargaining
which derogates from the holiness of God, or of
the merit which gives an occasion to human
pride, can for a moment find a place.

Our fourth Meditation (Gerberon’s eleventh)
is thoroughly characteristic of Anselm. In great
part it embodies the doctrine of the Atonement
which is set forth at length in his famous theological work Cur Deus Homo. That doctrine
is open to the charge of conceiving the whole
matter from a legal standpoint, which gives to
the notions connected with the owing and paying
of debts an ultimate and absolute value that they
cannot possess. It holds, however, an important
place in the history of theology by reason of its
decided rejection of the views which some had
put forward that the death of Christ was a price
paid to the devil, or even a trick played upon
him. The latter view Anselm sees clearly to
be inconsistent with holding God to be the
Truth; it is indeed a low and heathenish notion,
already before the days of Christianity condemned
by Plato, who made it a canon of theology to
attribute no deceitfulness to God. But even the
theory that a price due to the devil had to be
paid was false; for it gave to the power of evil
an independent place over against God which
believers in One God could not consistently concede to it. These theories Anselm rightly puts
aside; but his own theory also falls short of
what is required in a doctrine of the Atonement.
It does not turn upon the love of God, but, as was said above, upon a legal conception of His justice. Distinctions between the divine and the
human nature, between the Redeemer and the
redeemed, are more present to his thought (though not to his feeling) than the unity in
which the religious experience of reconciliation
and atonement finds them overcome. Yet it
must not be forgotten that the Christian sense of
forgiveness differs from that which might be
enjoyed by one who thought of God as a kindly
being who forgets, rather than forgives, what is
done amiss, just in this very point, that for the
Christian full justice (as we say) is done to the
forgiven sin; it is faced, known, “naked and
open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to
do.” Thus forgiven, it is indeed, as sin, taken
away; whereas, were it only passed over and
ignored, it might be there still, poisoning the
air; we should not really have done with
it. A deep sense of sin and a genuine faith in
its remission go together. Hence the readiness
of the true penitent to bear the punishment of his
sin, so he may be rid of the sin; the false penitent
desires less to be rid of the sin than to escape the
punishment. It is this aspect of the experience
of atonement to which Anselm’s language about
a debt to be paid aims at giving expression.

Into the history of these devotional writings
of Anselm I have not thought it my business to
enter here. It will be found perhaps most fully
treated by Mr Rule; or in the “Historical
Notice ” prefixed by Dr Pusey to a translation of Meditations and Prayers addressed to the
Holy Trinity and our Lord Jesus Christ by S.
Anselm, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, which
was published by Parker at Oxford in 1856.
I have translated from Gerberon’s edition, which
is reprinted in Migne’s Patrologia Latina. The
translation is a new one; but it is not in all
cases the first offered to English readers. In
1708 Dean Stanhope of Canterbury published a
book called Pious Breathings, Being the Meditations of St Augustine, his Treatise of the Love of
God, Soliloquies and Manual, to which are added
Select Contemplations from St Anselm and St
Bernard: and in 1856 appeared the Oxford
translation mentioned above, under the auspices
of Dr Pusey. To this last I have occasionally
been indebted for a word or phrase.

The devotion of St Anselm is of course the
devotion of his age and circumstances. He was
a monk, and his Christianity has a monastic
cast; those who use this series for the most part
take their share in the occupations of family,
social, civil life, and their Christianity is affected
by their experience as Anselm’s was by his. The
tone neither of his Christianity nor of theirs is
exactly that of the New Testament. In one
point the Christianity of the middle ages and that
of our own time are alike contrasted with that of the Apostles; both recognise, ours, however,
more completely than that of the middle ages, that
the scientific life and the political life are spheres
in which Christians may be expected to move.
In another point our Christianity is contrasted
with the mediæval and the apostolic, in that
there, and especially in mediæval Christianity,
the imagination dealt more confidently with the
hopes and fears of a future life than is easy or
possible for us. But, in spite of all this, there
is a fundamental likeness among all the products
of the Christian spirit: in all there is a contempt
of the world which is not proud or bitter, but
humbled by the consciousness of sin, and sweetened
by the love of Christ. We have much reason to
fear the warning addressed to those who say
Lord, Lord, and do not the things that He
said; but even to say Lord, Lord, to Christ,
is to own a standard and an ideal which are not
those of this world. The discontent with what
falls short of that standard and that ideal, which
it is the function of devotional writing to arouse,
is aroused by Anselm in tones which are, as I
have already suggested, especially worthy the
attention of those whose natural bent is towards
philosophical reflection. Two opposite dangers
beset such persons: the indulgence in contemplation, which weakens the sense of personal sinfulness; and the fear of consequences, which
refuses to follow the argument, in Plato’s words,
whithersoever it leads us. The study of Anselm,
a pattern of humble penitence and of indefatigable
intellectual curiosity, should discourage both these
perilous tendencies, and encourage at once sound
thought and genuine devotion.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Preface

I FORMERLY published, at the instance of
certain of my brethren, a little work, in
which, assuming the person of one who by
silent reasoning with himself is searching for a
knowledge he does not yet possess, I gave an
example of the manner in which we may
meditate concerning the grounds of our faith.
But afterwards, when I considered that this
work was put together by the interweaving of
a great number of arguments, I began to ask
myself whether there might not perhaps be
found some one argument which should have no
need of any other argument beside itself to
prove it, and might suffice by itself to demonstrate that God really exists and is the Supreme
Good, which needeth nothing beside itself to
give it being or well-being, but without which
nothing else can have either the one or the
other; and whereof all other things are true
which we believe concerning the divine essence. And when after many times earnestly directing
my thoughts to this matter, it sometimes seemed
to me that what I sought was just within my
grasp, but sometimes that it eluded my mind’s sight altogether, at last I resolved in despair to
renounce the search for a thing, the discovery
whereof was beyond my powers. But this
train of thought, so soon as I desired to lay it
aside lest it should hinder my mind while vainly
occupied therein from attending to other matters
which might be more profitable to me, at once
began to press itself as it were importunately
upon me, unwilling and reluctant as I was to
entertain it. And so one day, when I was
wearied out with violently resisting this importunity, in the midst of the struggle of my
thoughts, there so presented itself to me the
very thing which I had given up hope of
finding, that I hastened to embrace that very
train of thought which I was but a moment ago
anxiously thrusting from me. Thinking therefore that if I wrote down what I so greatly
rejoiced to have found, it would please others
who might read it, I wrote the following little
work, treating of this and of some other matters,
in the character of one striving to raise his
thoughts to the contemplation of God and
seeking to understand what he already believes.
And because neither this nor the other treatise
which I mentioned before, seemed to me worthy
to be called a book or to have the writer’s name
set in the front of it, and yet I thought I must not let them go without some title to invite those
to read into whose hands they might come, I
gave a name to each, calling the former An
example of meditation on the grounds of faith and
the latter Faith in search of Understanding.
But, when both had been often transcribed under
these titles by divers persons, was constrained
by many and especially by Hugh the reverend
Archbishop of Lyons and Legate of the
Apostolic See in Gaul, who laid his commands
upon me in virtue of his apostolical authority,
to prefix my name to them. And so that this
might be done more fittingly, I have called the
former Monologion, that is, The Soliloquy, and
this Proslogion, that is, The Address.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter I

COME now, thou poor child of man, turn
awhile from thy business, hide thyself for
a little time from restless thoughts, cast away
thy troublesome cares, put aside thy wearisome
distractions. Give thyself a little leisure to
converse with God, and take thy rest awhile in
Him. Enter into the secret chamber of thy
heart: leave everything without but God and
what may help thee to seek after Him, and
when thou hast shut the door, then do thou
seek Him. Say now, O my whole heart, say
now to God, I seek Thy face; Thy face, Lord, do I seek.(Ps. xxvii. 9). Come now then, O Lord my God,
teach Thou my heart when and how I may seek
Thee, where and how I may find Thee? O
Lord, if Thou art not here, where else shall I
seek Thee? but if Thou art everywhere, why do
I not behold Thee, since Thou art here present?
Surely indeed Thou dwellest in the light which
no man can approach unto.(1 Tim. vi. 16). But where is that
light unapproachable? or how may I approach
unto it since it is unapproachable? or who shall
lead me and bring me into it that I may see Thee
therein? Again, by what tokens shall I know
Thee, in what form shall I look for Thee? I
have never seen Thee, O Lord my God; I
know not Thy form. What shall I do then,
O Lord most high, what shall I do, banished
as I am so far from Thee? What shall Thy
servant do that is sick for love of Thee, and yet
is cast away from Thy presence?(Ps. li.) ii. He panteth
to behold Thee, and yet Thy presence is very
far from him. He longeth to approach unto
Thee, and yet Thy dwelling-place is unapproachable. He desireth to find Thee, yet he knoweth
not Thy habitation. He would fain seek Thee,
yet he knoweth not Thy face. O Lord, Thou
art my God, Thou art my Lord; and I have
never beheld Thee. Thou hast created me and
created me anew, and all good things that I
have, hast Thou bestowed upon me, and yet I
have never known Thee. Nay, I was created to behold Thee, and yet have I never unto this
day done that for the sake whereof I was created.
O miserable lot of man, to have lost that whereunto he was created! O hard and terrible
condition! Alas, what hath he lost? what hath
he found? what hath departed from him? what
hath continued with him? He hath lost the
blessedness whereunto he was created, and he
hath found the misery whereunto he was not
created; that without which nothing is happy,
hath departed from him, and that hath continued with him which by itself cannot but be
miserable. Once man did eat angels’ food,(Ps. lxxviii. 26).
after which he now hungereth; now he eateth
the bread of affliction, which then he knew not.
Alas for the common woe of man, the universal
sorrow of the children of Adam! Our first
father was filled with abundance, we sigh with
hunger; he was rich, we are beggars. He
miserably threw away that in the possession
whereof he was happy, and in the lack whereof
we are miserable; after which we lamentably
long and alas! abide unsatisfied. Why did he
not keep for us, when he might easily have kept
it that the loss whereof so grievously afflicts us?
Wherefore did he so overcloud our day, and plunge us into darkness? Why did he
take from us our life, and bring upon us the pains of death? Wretches that we
are, whence have we been driven out and whither? From our native country into
banishment, from the vision of God into blindness, from the joy of
immortality into the bitterness and horror of
death. How sad the change from so great good to
so great evil! Grievous is the loss, grievous the
pain, grievous everything. But alas for me, one
of the miserable children of Eve, cast far away
from God! What did I begin? and what have
I accomplished? At what did I aim? and unto
what have I attained? To what did I aspire?
and where am I now sighing? I sought good,
and behold, trouble.(Jer. xiv. 19). I aimed at God, and have
stumbled upon myself. I sought rest in my secret
chamber, and I have found tribulation and grief
in the inmost parts. I desired to laugh for
gladness of spirit and am constrained to roar for
the disquietness of my heart.(Ps. xxxviii. 8). I hoped for joy
and behold increase of sorrow. How long, O
Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, wilt
Thou forget us, how long wilt Thou hide Thy
face from us?(Ps. xiii. 1). When wilt Thou turn and
hearken unto us? When wilt thou enlighten
our eyes and show us Thy face? When wilt
Thou restore Thy presence to us? Turn and
took upon us, O Lord: hearken unto us, enlighten
us, show us Thyself. Restore to us Thy presence
that it may be well with us; for without Thee
it goeth very ill with us. Have pity upon our
labours and strivings after Thee, for without
Thee we can do nothing. Thou callest us;
help us to obey the call. I beseech Thee, O
Lord, that I may not despair in my sighing, but
may draw full breath again in hope. My heart
is embittered by its desolation; with Thy consolation, I beseech Thee, O Lord, make it sweet
again. I beseech Thee, O Lord, for in my
hunger I have begun to seek Thee, suffer me
not to depart from Thee fasting. I have come
to Thee fainting for lack of food; let me not go
empty away. I have come to Thee, as the poor
man to the rich, as the miserable to the merciful,
let me not return unsatisfied and despised: and
if before I be fed, I sigh, grant me that, though
after I have sighed, I may be fed. O Lord, I
am bent downwards, I cannot look up: raise
me up, that I may lift mine eyes to heaven. My
iniquities are gone over my head, they overwhelm
me; they are like a sore burden too heavy for
me to bear.(Ps. xxxviii. 4). Deliver me, take away my burden,
lest the pit of my wickedness shut its mouth upon
me: grant unto me that I may look upon Thy
light, though from afar off, though out of the
deep. I will seek Thee, with longing after
Thee. I will long after Thee in seeking Thee,
I will find Thee by loving Thee, I will love
Thee in finding Thee. I confess to Thee, O
Lord, and I give thanks unto Thee, because
Thou hast created in me this Thine image, that
I may remember Thee, think upon Thee, love
Thee[10]: but so darkened is Thine image in me by the smoke of my sins that it cannot do that
whereunto it was created, unless Thou renew it
and create it again. I seek not, O Lord, to
search out Thy depth, but I desire in some
measure to understand Thy truth, which my
heart believeth and loveth. Nor do I seek to understand that I may
believe, but I believe that I may understand. For this too I believe, that
unless I first believe, I shall not understand.(Is. vii. 9), rendered in our version,
If ye will not
believe, surely ye shall not be established; and in the
Vulgate, Si non credideritis, non permanebitis; but here,
as often by mediæval writers, quoted from St Augustine
in the form Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis,
If ye will
not believe, ye shall not understand, according to the
Septuagint version of the words.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter II

THEREFORE, O Lord, who grantest to
faith understanding, grant unto me that, so
far as Thou knowest it to be expedient for me,
I may understand that Thou art, as we believe;
and also that Thou art what we believe Thee to
be. And of a truth we believe that Thou art
somewhat than which no greater can be conceived.
Is there then nothing real that can be thus
described? for the fool hath said in his heart,
There is no God.(Ps. liii. 1). Yet surely even that fool
himself when he hears me speak of somewhat
than which nothing greater can be conceived understands what he hears, and what he understands
is in his understanding, even if he do not understand that it really exists. It is one thing for a
thing to be in the understanding, and another
to understand that the thing really exists. For
when a painter considers the work which he is
to make, he has it indeed in his understanding;
but he doth not yet understand that really to
exist which as yet he has not made. But when
he has painted his picture, then he both has the
picture in his understanding, and also understands it really to exist. Thus even the fool is
certain that something exists, at least in his
understanding, than which nothing greater can be
conceived; because, when he hears this mentioned, he understands it, and whatsoever is
understood, exists in the understanding. And
surely that than which no greater can be conceived
cannot exist only in the understanding. For if
it exist indeed in the understanding only, it can
be thought to exist also in reality; and real
existence is more than existence in the understanding only. If then that than which no
greater can be conceived exists in the understanding only, then that than which no greater can be
conceived is something a greater than which can
be conceived: but this is impossible. Therefore it is certain that something than which no
greater can be conceived exists both in the understanding and also in reality.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter III

NOT only does this something than which no
greater can be conceived exist, but it exists
in so true a sense that it cannot even be conceived not to exist. For it is possible to form
the conception of an object whose non-existence
shall be inconceivable; and such an object is of
necessity greater than any object whose existence is conceivable: wherefore if
that than which
no greater can be conceived can be conceived not
to exist; it follows that that than which no
greater can be conceived is not that than which no greater can be conceived [for there can be
thought a greater than it, namely, an object
whose non-existence shall be inconceivable];
and this brings us to a contradiction. And thus
it is proved that that thing than which no greater
can be conceived exists in so true a sense, that it
cannot even be conceived not to exist: and this
thing art Thou, O Lord our God! And so
Thou, O Lord my God, existest in so true a
sense that Thou canst not even be conceived not
to exist. And this is as is fitting. For if any
mind could conceive aught better than Thee,
then the creature would be ascending above the
Creator, and judging the Creator; which is a
supposition very absurd. Thou therefore dost
exist in a truer sense than all else beside Thee,
and art more real than all else beside Thee;
because whatsoever else existeth, existeth in a
less true sense than Thou, and therefore is less
real than Thou. Why then said the fool in his
heart, There is no God, when it is so plain to a
rational mind that Thou art more real than any
thing else? Why, except that he is a fool indeed?

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter IV

BUT how came the fool to say in his heart that which he could not conceive? or how came he to be able not to conceive that which yet he said in his heart? For it may be thought
that to conceive and to say in one’s heart are one
and the same thing. If it is true—nay, because
it is true, that he conceived it, because he said it
in his heart; and also true that he did not say
it in his heart because he could not conceive it;
it follows that there are two senses in which
something may be understood to be conceived or
said in the heart. For in one sense we are said
to have a conception of something, when we
have a conception of the word that signifies it;
and in another sense, when we understand what
the thing really is. In the former sense then we
may say that God is conceived not to exist: but
in the latter, He cannot by any means be conceived not to exist. For no man that understandeth what
fire and water mean, can conceive
that fire is really water; though he may have
this conception, as far as the words go. Thus
in like manner no man that understandeth what
God is can conceive that God does not exist;
although he may say these words [that God
does not exist] either with no meaning at all, or
with some other meaning than that which they
properly bear. For God is that than which no
greater can be conceived. He who well understandeth what this is, certainly understandeth
it to be such as cannot even be conceived not to
exist. Whosoever therefore understandeth in
this way that God exists, cannot conceive that
he does not exist. Thanks be to Thee, O
good Lord, thanks be to Thee! because that which heretofore I believed by Thy grace, I
now by Thine illumination thus understand, so
that, even though I should not wish to believe in
Thine existence, I cannot but understand that
Thou dost exist.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter V

WHAT then art Thou Lord God, Thou
than which nothing greater can be conceived? What indeed but that Supreme Good
which being alone of all things self-existent,
didst make all other things beside Thee out of
nothing? For whatsoever is not this is less
than can be conceived: but Thou canst not be
conceived to be less than the highest conceivable. What good thing is lacking to the
Supreme Good, whereon depends the being of
every good thing beside? Thou therefore art
righteous, true, blessed, and hast all attributes
which it is better to have than to be without;
for it is better to be righteous than not righteous,
and blessed than not blessed.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter VI

BUT since it is better to have perception or to
have omnipotence, to be pitiful or to be without passions, than not to have these attributes; how hast Thou perception, if Thou art not a
body? or omnipotence, if Thou canst not do
everything? or how art Thou at one and the
same time pitiful and without passions? For if
only bodily things have perception, since the
senses with which we perceive belong and attach
to the body; how canst Thou have perception,
since Thou art not a body but the Supreme
Spirit, which is higher than a body can be?
But if perception is only knowledge or a means
towards knowledge; since he who perceives, has
knowledge thereby, according to the special
character of the senses, by sight of colours, by
taste of savours and so forth: then whatsoever
has knowledge in whatsoever manner may be
said without impropriety in some sense to perceive. Therefore, O Lord, although Thou art
not a body, yet of a truth Thou hast in this
sense perception in the highest degree, since
Thou knowest all things in the highest degree;
but not in the sense wherein an animal that has
knowledge by means of bodily feeling is said to
have perception.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter VII

BUT again, how canst Thou be omnipotent,
if Thou canst not do all things? Yet if
Thou canst not suffer corruption, canst not lie,
canst not make what is true to be false, or what is done, undone, and so forth; how canst Thou
do all things? Or shall we say that to be
capable of these would be not power but rather
impotence? For he who can do these, can do
what is not expedient for him, and what he
ought not; and the more he can do what is not
expedient for him and what he ought not, the
more power have evil and wickedness over him,
and the less power hath he against them. He
therefore that can do such things, can do them
in virtue not of power but of impotence. For
he is said to be able to do them, not because he
himself has power in doing them, but because
his impotence gives something else power to
work in him; or else in an improper way of
speaking, such as we often use when we put to be
for not to be, and to do for not to do or to do
nothing. For we often say to one who says
that a thing is not such-and-such: It is as you
say it is; when it would seem more proper to
say, It is not as you say it is not. Again we
say: This man sits, as that man does; or This
man rests as that man does: though sitting is a
kind of not doing, and resting is doing nothing.
Thus then when a man is said to have the power
of doing or undergoing what is not expedient for
him or what he ought not, the word power
signifies impotence; since the more power of
this sort he hath, the more power have evil and
wickedness against him, and the less hath he
against them. Therefore, O Lord God, Thou
art all the more truly omnipotent, that Thou canst do nothing that is done through impotence,
and nothing hath any power against Thee.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter VIII

ONCE again, how art Thou at the same time
pitiful and yet without passions? For
unless Thou have passions, Thou wilt not have
compassion; if Thou hast not compassion, Thy
heart is not made sorry by compassion, that is
by fellow-feeling with the sorrowful; and this is
what pity is. Yet if Thou art not pitiful,
whence have the sorrowful so great consolation
from Thee? How then canst Thou at once be
and not be pitiful, O Lord, unless because Thou
art pitiful in respect of us, and art not pitiful in
respect of Thyself? For Thou art pitiful to
our apprehension, and art not pitiful to Thine
own. For when Thou hast respect to us in
our sorrow, we perceive the effects of pity; but
Thou feelest not the emotion thereof. And
thus Thou art pitiful in that Thou savest the
wretched, and sparest those that sin against
Thee; and yet again Thou art not moved by a
fellow-feeling with our misery.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter IX

AGAIN, how dost Thou spare the wicked, if Thou art wholly and supremely just? For how dost Thou, being wholly and supremely just, do aught that is not just? And what
manner of justice is that, to give eternal life to
one that deserves eternal death? Whence then,
O good God, good both to the good and to the
evil, whence is it that Thou savest the evil, if to
save the evil is not just, and yet Thou doest
nothing that is not just? Or is it because Thy
goodness is incomprehensible that this lieth hid
in that light unapproachable which is Thy
dwelling-place? Verily it is in the most deep
and secret abyss of Thy goodness that there
lieth hid the fountain, whence floweth the river
of Thy mercy. For though Thou art wholly
and supremely just, yet art Thou also gracious
to the wicked, because Thou art wholly and
supremely good. For Thou wouldest be less
good, if Thou wert not gracious to any that was
evil. For better is he who is good both to the
good and to the evil than he who is good to the
good only; and better is he who is good to the
evil both in punishing and in sparing them, than
he who is good in punishing them only. Therefore Thou art pitiful because Thou art wholly
and supremely good. And although perchance
we suppose that we see reason why Thou dost
reward good to the good and evil to the evil,
yet certainly we must be filled with wonder why
Thou, being wholly and supremely just and
having need of nothing, renderest good to the
evil and those who have sinned against Thee.
O the depth of Thy goodness, O God! We
both see whence Thou art merciful and yet see it only in part. We perceive whence the river
flows, yet behold not the fountain from which it
springs. For it is of the plenitude of Thy
goodness, that Thou art kind to them that have
sinned against Thee; and yet it lieth hid in the
depth of Thy goodness wherefore this is so.
Verily although it is in Thy goodness that Thou
rewardest good to the good, and evil to the evil;
yet this the rule of justice seems to require. But
when Thou rewardest good to the evil, then we
know that the supremely Good willed to do
that, yet wonder that the supremely Just was
able so to will. O thou mercy of God, from
how abundant a sweetness, from how sweet an
abundance flowest thou forth unto us! O
boundless goodness of God, how ought we
sinners to be moved by love of Thee! For
Thou savest the just, justice assenting; but
deliverest the wicked, when justice condemns
them; Thou savest the just by the help of their
deserts; Thou deliverest the wicked against
their deserts; Thou savest the just, acknowledging in them the good which Thou didst
give them; Thou deliverest the wicked, pardoning the evil which Thou hatest. O immeasurable
goodness, passing all understanding,(Philipp. iv. 7). let that
mercy be shed upon me, which proceedeth from
the great riches of that goodness! Let there
flow into me that mercy which floweth out of that goodness. Spare in Thy mercy,
and take not vengeance in Thy justice. For although it be hard to understand how Thy mercy is not
parted from Thy justice; yet is it necessary
to believe that it is not at enmity with Thy
justice, that it floweth from Thy goodness, that
it is not without justice, nay in truth accordeth
with Thy justice. For if Thou art merciful
only because Thou art supremely good, and art
supremely good only because Thou art supremely
just: therefore art Thou in truth merciful because
Thou art supremely just. Help me, O just and
merciful God, for I seek Thy light. Help me,
that I may understand what I say! Verily then
Thou art merciful because Thou art just. Is
then Thy mercy born of Thy justice? Dost
Thou then out of justice spare the wicked? If
it be so, O Lord, if it be so, teach me how it
is so. Is it because it is just that Thou shouldest
so be good that Thou couldst not be conceived
better, and shouldest work so mightily that
Thou couldst not be conceived mightier? For
what is juster than this? Yet this would not
be, if Thou wert good in punishing only, not in
sparing; and if Thou madest them good only
that were merely not good, and not also those
that were evil. And so it is just that Thou
shouldst spare the wicked, and make them that
were wicked to be good. Lastly, what is not
done justly, ought not to be done; and what
ought not to be done, is done unjustly. If then
Thou dost not have mercy on the wicked justly,
then Thou hast mercy on them unjustly: and
since it were blasphemy to say this, it is fit to believe that Thou hast mercy on the wicked
justly.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter X

BUT it is also just that Thou shouldest punish the wicked; for what is more just than
that the good should receive good things and
the evil evil things? How then is it just for
Thee both to punish the wicked and also to
spare them? For when Thou dost punish the
wicked, it is just, because it is agreeable to their
deserts; but when Thou sparest them, it is
just also, because though it befitteth not their
deserts, yet it befitteth Thy goodness. For in
sparing the wicked Thou are just in respect of
Thyself, though not in respect of us; just as[11]
Thou art pitiful in respect of us and not in
respect of Thyself; since in saving us, whom
Thou mightest justly destroy, Thou art pitiful;
not that Thou art Thyself moved by the feeling
of pity, but that we feel the effect of pity; and
in the same manner Thou art just, not that Thou
hast rendered to us what we have deserved, but
that Thou dost what becometh Thee, the
supremely Good. Thus dost Thou without
contradiction punish justly and justly spare.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XI

BUT is it not also just even in respect of
Thyself, O Lord, to punish the wicked?
For it is just that Thou shouldest be so just as
no man could conceive Thee juster; and this
Thou wouldest by no means be, if Thou didst
only render good to the good and not evil to
the evil. Far juster is he that rewards the good
and evil alike according to their deservings and
not the good only. And so Thou art just in
respect of Thyself, O just and gracious God,
both when Thou punishest and when Thou
sparest. Verily then all the paths of the Lord
are mercy and truth(Ps. xxv. 9). and yet the Lord is just or
righteous in all His ways(Ps. cxlv. 17).: and that without
contradiction, since those whom Thou dost will
to punish, it is not just should be saved: and
whom Thou dost will to spare, it is not just
should be condemned. For that alone is just,
which Thou dost will, and that not just, which
Thou wiliest not. Thus then is Thy mercy
born of Thy justice, because it is just that Thou
shouldest be so good as to be good even in
sparing; and this is perchance why the supremely
just can will good to the evil. But if it can at
all be apprehended why Thou canst will to save
the wicked; certainly that can by no means be
comprehended why among those alike wicked Thou savest these rather than those by Thy
supreme goodness and condemnest those rather
than these by Thy supreme justice. Thus then
hast Thou indeed perception and omnipotence,
art pitiful and yet without passion; as Thou
hast life, wisdom, goodness, blessedness, eternity
and whatsoever other attributes it is better to
have than not to have.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XII

BUT certainly whatsoever Thou art, this
Thou art by reason of nothing else outside
of Thyself.[12] Thou therefore art the life whereby Thou livest; and that wisdom whereby Thou
art wise; and that very goodness, whereby Thou
art good both to the good and also to the evil;
and so with the rest of Thine attributes.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XIII

BUT everything which is anyhow comprehended in place or time, is less than that
which no law of place or time restraineth.
Since then there is nothing greater than Thou, no
place or time comprehendeth Thee, but Thou
art everywhere and always: and of Thee alone
can it be said Thou alone art uncircumscribed and
eternal. How then are other spirits called uncircumscribed and eternal? Thou indeed art
alone eternal; because Thou alone of all beings
neither beginnest nor ceasest to be. But how
art Thou alone uncircumscribed? May we say
that the created spirit in comparison of Thee is
circumscribed, though in comparison of the
body, uncircumscribed? For the body is altogether circumscribed, since it is altogether in
some certain place, and cannot be at the same
time in any other; and this we see only in what
is of the nature of body. That again is uncircumscribed, which is altogether in all places at
the same time; and this is conceived to be true
of Thee only. But that is at once circumscribed and uncircumscribed which being wholly
in some certain place, can be at the same time
wholly elsewhere; and this we know to be true
of created spirits. For if the soul were not
wholly in every member of its body, it would
not be able wholly to have feeling in every member.[13] Thou then, O Lord, art in a sense
wherein it is true of nothing else, at once uncircumscribed and eternal; and yet other spirits
also are uncircumscribed and eternal.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XIV

HAST thou then found, O my soul, that
which thou wast seeking? Thou wast
seeking God and thou hast found that He is
that thing which is supreme among all things,
than which nothing better can be conceived,
and that this is very life, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal bliss and blissful eternity, and that
this is everywhere and always. For if thou
hast not found thy God, how can He be this
which thou hast found, and which thou hast
with so certain an assurance, so assured a certainty understood Him to be? But if thou hast
found Him, why dost thou not perceive that
which thou hast found? Why doth my soul
not perceive Thee, O Lord God, if she hath
found Thee? Hath she not found Thee, whom
she hath found to be light and truth? Or could
she understand anything at all concerning Thee,
except by Thy light and truth? If then she
hath seen light and truth, she hath seen Thee;
if she hath not seen Thee, she hath seen neither
light nor truth. Or is it rather that that which
she hath seen is indeed both truth and light; and
yet she hath not yet seen Thee because she hath
seen Thee in part only, but hath not seen Thee
as Thou art?(1 John iii. 2). O Lord my God, my Creator
and Renewer, tell my soul that longeth after
Thee, what else Thou art beside what she hath
seen, that she may see clearly that after which
she longeth. She stretcheth out herself that she
may see more, and yet seeth nothing beyond
what she hath seen, except mere darkness.
Nay, she seeth not darkness, for in Thee is no
darkness;(1 John i. 5). but she seeth that she can see no
farther, because of the darkness which is in
herself. Wherefore is this, O Lord, wherefore
is this? Are her eyes darkened by her own
infirmity, or are they dazzled by Thy splendour?
Surely she is both darkened in herself and
dazzled by Thee. Thus also she is darkened
by reason of her own littleness, and overwhelmed
by reason of Thine immeasurable greatness.
She is straitened by her own narrowness, and
vanquished by Thy vastness. For how great is
that Light, whereby every truth shineth that
doth enlighten the rational intelligence! How
vast is that Truth, wherein is contained every
thing that is true, and outside whereof is only
nothingness and falsehood! How immeasurable
is that Vision which beholdeth in one glance all
things that have been created and whence and
by whom and how they were created out of
nothing! What purity, what simplicity, what
clearness and splendour is there![14] Surely more
than can be comprehended by any creature.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XV

THEREFORE, O Lord, not only art
Thou that than which no greater can be
conceived, but Thou art something greater than
can be conceived. For because there may be
conceived to be something greater than can be
conceived; if Thou art not that something,
there may be conceived something greater than
Thee; which is impossible.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XVI

VERILY, O Lord, this is the light unapproachable, wherein Thou dwellest; for
of a truth there is nothing beside Thyself that
can enter into that light, there to behold Thee
in Thy fulness. Verily then I see not that
light, for it is too great for me; and yet whatsoever I see, I see by means of that light; even
as a weak eye seeth what it doth see by means
of the sun’s light, yet cannot look upon that
light as it is in the sun himself. My understanding cannot attain to that light unapproachable; it is too bright for it, it taketh it not in,
nor can my soul’s eye bear long to be directed
toward it. It is dazzled by the brightness,
vanquished by the vastness, overwhelmed by the
immensity, confounded by the compass thereof.

O supreme and unapproachable Light! O
entire and blessed Truth! how far off art Thou
from me, who am so near to Thee! How far
removed art Thou from my sight, who am
wholly present to Thine? Thou art everywhere
wholly present, yet I see Thee not. In Thee I move, in Thee I have my being;(Acts xvii. 18). yet can I
not approach unto Thee. Thou art within me
and about me, yet I perceive Thee not.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XVII

HITHERTO, O Lord, Thou art hid from
my soul in Thine own light and bliss;
and therefore she goeth up and down in her
darkness and misery. For she looketh about
her, and beholdeth not Thy beauty. She listeneth, and heareth not Thy harmony. She smelleth and perceiveth not Thy sweetness. She
tasteth, and hath no sense of Thy goodness.
She toucheth, and feeleth not Thy smoothness.
For Thou hast all these, beauty to the sight,
harmony to the ear, sweetness to the smell,
goodness to the taste, smoothness to the touch,
all in Thee, O Lord God, in Thine own ineffable way, since it is Thou who hast granted to
sensible things to have them in their own way
which our bodily senses perceive; but the senses
of my soul are stiffened and dulled and obstructed
by the long sickness of sin.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XVIII

AND once more behold, trouble!(Jer. xiv. 19). So once
more cometh sorrow and grief to me that
sought after joy and gladness.(Ps. li. 8). My soul hoped but now to
be filled, and behold, once more is she bowed down by want. I sought to eat and
be satisfied, and lo, I am more hungry than before. I strove to rise up into the light of God, and have
fallen back into mine own darkness. Nay, not only have I fallen into the
darkness, but I perceive myself encompassed about thereby. I fell into it before
my mother conceived me.(Ps. li. 5). Surely I was conceived in darkness, and was born under
the shadow thereof. Surely we all fell in him, in whom we all have sinned.(Rom. v.
12). The Vulgate (like A.V. marg.) renders the last words of this verse: in whom all have
sinned. We
all lost in him who might easily have kept it and lost it to his own sorrow and
ours, that which when we desire to seek, we know not: when we seek, we find not:
when we find, is not that which we seek. Help me then, according to Thy
goodness! Lord, I have sought Thy face; Thy face, Lord, will I seek; O hide not
Thou Thy face from me.(Ps. xxvii. 9, 10). Raise me up out of myself unto Thee.[15] Cleanse, heal,
quicken, enlighten the eye of my mind that it may look upon Thee. Grant that my
soul may collect her strength once more and with all the power of her
understanding strive after Thee, O Lord. What art Thou, O Lord, what art Thou?
How shall my heart understand what Thou art? Surely Thou art life and wisdom and
truth and goodness and blessedness and eternity and everything that is truly
good. These indeed are many; but my narrow understanding cannot see so many good things in one
apprehension at one and the same time, so as to
be delighted by the presence of all at once.
How then, O Lord, art Thou all these? Are
they parts of Thee, or is rather everyone of these
wholly what Thou art? For whatsoever is
composed of parts is not in all respects one, but
in a certain respect many and diverse from itself;
and either actually or in thought can be dissolved: but to be many and not one, or to be
capable of dissolution even in thought is far from
Thy nature, since Thou art that than which no
better can be conceived. Thus there are no
parts in Thee, O Lord, nor art Thou many and
not one: but Thou art one and the same with
Thyself, so that in nothing art Thou unlike
Thyself, nay, rather Thou art very Oneness,
indivisible by any understanding. Therefore life
and wisdom and Thine other attributes are not
parts of Thee but are all one, and everyone of
them is wholly what Thou art and what the
other attributes are. And as Thou hast no parts,
so neither is Thine eternity which is Thyself, at
any place or time a part of Thee or of Thy
whole eternity; but Thou art wholly everywhere and Thine eternity is wholly at all times.[16]

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XIX

BUT if Thou wast and art and shalt be by
reason of Thine eternity; and past being
is other than present being, and present being
than past or future being: how can Thine
eternity be said to be wholly at all times?[17] Or
shall we say that nothing has passed away from
Thine eternity so as now not to be, though
once it was; nor anything to come, as though
it were not as yet? Thou then wert not
yesterday nor shalt be to-morrow; but yesterday
and to-day and to-morrow Thou art. Nay, not
even art Thou yesterday and to-day and to
morrow; but Thou art, without any qualification,
apart from all time; for yesterday, to-day and
to-morrow are distinctions in time; but Thou, although nothing is without Thee, art nevertheless
Thyself neither in place nor in time, but all
things are in Thee; nothing comprehendeth
Thee but Thou comprehendest all things.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XX

THOU therefore dost fill and embrace all
things; Thou art before and beyond all
things. And indeed Thou art before all things;
because before they were made, Thou art.(John viii. 58).
But how art Thou before all things? For in
what manner art Thou beyond those things
which are to have no end?[18] Is it because they
can in no wise be without Thee; but Thou,
even though they should return into nothingness,
no less art? In this way then Thou art in a
manner of speaking beyond them. Or is it
again because they can be conceived of as having
an end, but Thou canst not? For in this way
indeed they have in some sense an end;[19] but
Thou in no sense. And certainly that which
in no sense hath an end is beyond that which in
any sense hath an end. Dost Thou then thus
also transcend all things, even though they be
eternal, in that Thine eternity and theirs is present to Thee in their entirety, while they
have not yet that part of their eternity which is
to come, as they have no longer that part which
is past. Thus Thou ever transcendest them;
both in that Thou art always present to them,
and because that is ever present to Thee
whereunto they have not yet come.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXI

IS this what we call the age of the age or the
ages of the ages?[20] For just as the age of
timeSaeculum temporum, an age made up of times. In
the Bible the whole course of this world, which goes
on in time, is represented as destined to come to an
end in the consummation of all things, which is often
spoken of as the end of the age, consummatio saeculi
((Matt. xiii. 40); xxiv. 3): the age then to be brought
to a close is here thought of as an age embracing the
various times which will have elapsed from the creation
to the last day; for, according to St Augustine, time
and the world were created together; the world was
created not in tempore but cum tempere. In the
Apocalypse ((x. 6)) an angel is represented as proclaiming
that there shall be time no longer. The saeculum which
now is, is contrasted with the saeculum, the world or
age to come in such passages as (Matt. xii. 32);
(Mark x. 30); (Luke xviii. 30). comprehendeth all things that are in time,
so Thine eternity comprehendeth the very ages
of times themselves. And it is indeed rightly called an age, because it is one and indivisible;
but also ages, because of the boundless immensity
thereof. And although Thou art so great, O
Lord, that all things are full of Thee and are
in Thee; yet Thou art such, without being in
space, so that in Thee there is neither middle
nor half nor any other part.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXII

THOU therefore alone, O Lord, art what
Thou art, and who Thou art. For what
is one thing in the whole and another in the
parts and has in it anything subject to change, is
not in all respects what it is.[21] And whatsoever
was not and begins to be, can be conceived
not to be; and except something other than
itself maintain it in existence, returns into
nothingness; and has a past self which is not
what now is; and a future self which it as yet
is not; that can only be said to exist in a
secondary and relative sense. But Thou art
what Thou art, because whatsoever Thou art
at any time or in any way, that Thou art wholly and always. And Thou art
who Thou art in
the primary and unqualified sense of the words;
because Thou hast neither a past self nor a future
self but only present self, nor canst Thou be
conceived as at any time not existing. More
over Thou art life and light and wisdom and
blessedness and eternity and many other such
like good things, and yet art but the One Supreme
Good, in all respect sufficient to Thyself and
needing none beside Thee, while all things
beside Thee cannot without Thee have either
being or well-being.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXIII

THIS Good art Thou, O Thou God the
Father; this Good is Thy Word, that is,
Thy Son. For there can be nothing else in the
Word whereby Thou utterest Thyself but what
Thou art, nor anything greater or less than
Thou art; because Thy Word is as true as
Thou art truthful. And therefore He is as
Thou art, the very Truth; not another Truth
than Thyself: and Thou art so utterly without
complexity in Thy nature that of Thee there
cannot be born anything that is other than what
Thou Thyself art. This same Good is the one
mutual Love which is between Thee and Thy
Son, that is, the Holy Spirit proceeding from
both. For the same Love is not unequal to Thee or to Thy Son, because Thou lovest
Thyself and Him, and He Himself and Thee
with a Love as great as Thou art and as He is;
nor can that be other than Thou and than He
which is not unequal to Thyself and to Him;
nor from Thy supreme simplicity of nature can
there proceed anything which is other than that
from which it proceedeth. But that which each
Person is, that the whole Trinity, Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, is at once; because each by
Himself is nothing else than the supremely
simple Unity and the supremely one Simplicity,
which cannot be multiplied nor can be now one
thing and now another. For there is one thing
necessary;Porro unum est necessarium, But one thing is needful,
the words of our Lord to Martha in (Luke x. 41).
St Anselm takes hold of the word, thinking of its
philosophical sense, in which it is the opposite of
contingent, and means what cannot be, so to speak,
thought away, but must always be supposed to exist
to account for the being of anything else; and is thus
applied to God, as the ultimate Reality at the back of
everything. And so he interprets the Gospel saying
here of the unity of God, the necessary Being. and doubtless this is that one thing
necessary, that wherein is all good, nay rather,
which is all good, the one wholly and solely Good.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXIV

AROUSE thyself, O my soul, and stir up thine understanding and consider so far as thou canst what and how great is this Good. For if particular good things are delightful,
consider earnestly how delightful must be that
Good which comprehendeth the pleasantness of
all particular goods; and that in a pleasantness
not such as we have known by experience in
things created, but surpassing that no less than
the Creator surpasseth the creature. For if the
life that is created be good, how good must be
the Life that createth! If health that is made
be pleasant, how pleasant must be that Health
that is the cause of all health! If the wisdom
be desirable that consisteth in the knowledge
of things created, how desirable must be the
Wisdom that wrought all things of nothing.
Lastly, if there be many great delights in things
delightful, what manner of delight and how great
must these be in Him who made those very
things themselves that are so delightful.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXV

O WHO shall enjoy this Good! And what shall he have, and what shall he lack?
Surely whatsoever he wisheth he shall have and
whatsoever he wisheth not, he shall be without.
For there shall be goods of body and of soul,
such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man(1 Cor. ii. 9). to conceive.
Why then, poor child of man, dost thou wander
hither and thither, seeking the goods of thy soul and body? Love the one Good wherein are
all goods, and it sufficeth thee. Set thy desires
upon that uncompounded Good which is all
good, and it is enough. For what dost thou
love, O my flesh, what dost thou desire, O my
soul? If beauty delight thee, the righteous shall
shine forth as the sun(Matt. xiii. 43).: if swiftness or strength
or freedom of body which nothing may hinder,
they are as the angels of God,(Matt. xxii. 30). because it is sown
a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body,(1 Cor. xv. 44).
spiritual, that is, in powers, not in nature. If a
long life of health, there is an eternity of health;
for the righteous live for evermore(Wisdom v. 15). and the health
of the righteous cometh of the Lord.(Ps. xxxvii. 40). The Latin word
salus may mean
either health or salvation. If abundance, they shall be satisfied when the glory of God
shall appear.(Ps. xvii. 16). (In the English Prayer-Book version When I awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied
with
it, but in the Vulg. I shall be satisfied when thy glory
shall appear). If drunkenness, they shall be made
drunken with the plenteousness of God’s house.(Ps. xxxvi. 8) (acc. to the Vulg.).
If melody, there shall the choirs of angels sing
together unto God for ever and ever. If any
pleasure, so it be but chaste, Thou shalt give
them drink of Thy pleasures as out of the river.(Ps. xxxvi. 8).
If wisdom, the very Wisdom of God shall manifest itself to them.Probably with reference to (John xiv. 21). If friendship, they
shall love God above themselves and one an
other as themselvesSee (Matt. xxii. 37-40).; and God shall love them
more than they love themselves; for they shall
love Him and one another in Him; and He
shall love Himself and them in Himself. If
concord, they shall all have one will, for they
shall have no will but God’s will only. If
power, they shall be almighty to do their own
wills, even as God to do His; for as God shall
be able to do what He willeth through His own
power, so shall they be able to do what they
will through His power; since, as they will
nothing else but what He wills, so He shall
will whatsoever they will; and whatsoever He
willeth cannot but be. If honour and riches,
God shall set His good and faithful servants
over many things(Matt. xxv. 23).; yea, they shall be called
sons of God, and gods(1 John iii. 1, 2). (John x. 34, 35).; and where His Son
shall be, there also they shall be,(John xiv. 3). heirs of God
and joint-heirs with Christ.(Rom. viii. 17). If true security,
certainly they shall be as sure that those goods,
or rather that Good, shall never and in no wise
fail them as they shall be sure that they will not
lose it of their own free will, and that God
their lover will not take it against their wills
from them that love Him, and that nothing
mightier than God will separate God and them
against their wills.(Rom. viii. 39). But what manner of joy and how great a joy must there be, where there
is such and so great a Good! O thou human
heart, thou hungry heart, thou heart acquainted
with sorrow, nay overwhelmed by sorrow, how
wouldest thou rejoice if thou didst abound in all
these goods! Look into thine heart and ask
it whether it could contain the greatness of
the joy which it would have, did it possess so
great happiness. Yet surely if another whom
thou didst love altogether as well as thyself,
were to have the same happiness, thy joy would
be doubled, since thou wouldst rejoice for him
no less than for thyself. But if two or three or
many more should have the same happiness,
thou wouldst rejoice as much for each as for
thyself, didst thou love each as thyself. Therefore in that perfect mutual love of innumerable
blessed angels and men, where none loveth
another less than himself, each will rejoice no
less for every other, than for himself. If then
the heart of a man can scarce contain the joy
he will have in himself in one enjoyment of so
great a good, how shall it be capable of so many
and so great joys? And since every man
rejoiceth in the good of any in proportion as he
loveth Him, as in that perfect felicity everyone
will love God beyond all comparison more than
he loves himself and all his fellows; so will he
rejoice beyond all measure more in the felicity
of God than in his own and that of all his
fellows. But if they so love God with their
whole heart, their whole mind, their whole soul,(Matt. xxii. 37). yet so that the whole heart, the whole
mind, the whole soul shall not suffice to the
excellency of the love; it will follow that they
shall so rejoice with their whole heart, their
whole mind, their whole soul, that their whole
heart, their whole mind, their whole soul shall
not suffice to the fulness of their joy.

Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

Chapter XXVI

O MY God and my Lord, my hope and the
joy of my heart, tell my soul if this be
the joy whereof Thou sayest unto us by Thy
Son, Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may
be full.(John xvi. 24). For I have found a joy that is full and
more than full. For when heart and mind and
soul and the whole man are full of that joy, yet
shall the joy abound yet more beyond measure.
Therefore that joy shall not wholly enter into
them that rejoice therein; but they that rejoice
shall wholly enter into that joy. Tell, O Lord,
tell Thy servant inwardly in his heart, if this
be the joy whereunto Thy servants shall enter,
who shall enter into the joy of their Lord.(Matt. xxv. 21, 23). But
assuredly that joy, wherein Thine elect shall
rejoice, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man.(1 Cor. ii. 9). And so
I have not yet uttered or conceived, O Lord, the greatness of the joy of Thy blessed ones.
For their joy shall be as great as their love and
their love as their knowledge. How great
shall be their knowledge of Thee, O Lord,
and how great their love of Thee! Surely in
this life eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
hath it entered into the heart of man(1 Cor. ii. 9). to conceive
the greatness of their knowledge and love of
Thee in the life to come. I pray Thee, O
God, let me know Thee and love Thee so that
I may rejoice in Thee. And if I cannot know
Thee, love Thee, rejoice in Thee fully in this
life, let me go forward from day to day, until
that knowledge, love and joy at last may be full.
Let the knowledge of Thee grow in me here,
and there be made full; let the love of Thee
increase in me here and there be full; so that
my joy may here be great in hope and there full
in fruition. O Lord, by Thy Son Thou dost
command, nay counsel us to seek and dost
promise to accept us that our joy may be full!
I seek, O Lord, that which by Thy wonderful
Counsellor(Isa. ix. 6). Thou counsellest us to seek; I will
accept that which Thou dost promise by Thy
Truth, that my joy may be full. O Thou
faithful God, I seek; grant that I may receive
that my joy may be full. Meanwhile may my
mind meditate thereon; may my tongue talk
hereof; may my heart love it, my mouth utter
it, my soul hunger after it, my flesh thirst after
it, my whole substance long for it, until I enter
into the joy of my Lord, three persons in one
God, blessed for evermore. Amen.

Note on the Argument of the Proslogion.

The argument which Anselm embodied in
the Proslogion may thus be stated. Whoever
speaks of God, even if only, like the Fool in
the Psalms, to say There is no God, must, if he
is not content to use words without any meaning
at all, attach some sense to the word God. Now
the sense in which, as a matter of fact, this word
is used, as well by those who deny as by those
who affirm the real existence of what is denoted
is this: That than which no greater can be conceived. Whoever asserts, however, that
this does
not exist, involves himself in a plain contradiction. For in asserting that that than which no
greater can be conceited does not exist, he implies
at once that he can conceive something greater,
namely that which, beside being all that this is
conceived to be, shall also be real. It would lie
outside my present task to discuss this argument
at length. But as the reader may fairly ask
what is thought of the argument by those who
make the criticism of such reasonings their business, I will now add a few observations to what
I have already said in the Introduction. I shall
not indeed state in detail whether this or that
philosopher accepted it or rejected it; for such
a catalogue of views and doctrines is by itself a very barren and unprofitable sort of knowledge.
But to mention some of the points on which
the criticism of Anselm’s argument might
fasten and has fastened, may well be of use in
the way of guidance and suggestion, and this I
will do, using technical expressions as little as I
can, and assuming as little as I may a previous
study of philosophy in my readers.

1. It may be asked, Does the argument , as it
stands, prove what it proposes to prove? It is
difficult, I think, to deny that it seems to do so,
and yet most readers will feel that it leaves them
unconvinced. They will be inclined to say of
it, as Hume said of Bishop Berkeley’s philosophy,
that it admits of no answer and produces no conviction. They will suspect some fallacy, some
sophistry, they will be sure that it can only be
by some trick that they are led so suddenly from
the idea or conception of God to belief in His
reality, for they are certain that the evidence of
reality must be something other than a mere idea.
What should it be then? The first answer
which suggests itself is probably, The evidence of
the senses. Seeing is believing, says the proverb.
And in many cases this is true. Who can hold a
fire in his hand, asks Bolingbroke in Shakespeare’s Richard II., by thinking on the frosty Caucasus?
And Kant, the greatest of all the unfavourable
critics of the Ontological Argument, suggested
that a hundred dollars in my pocket are some
thing very different from any thought of such a
sum. But then the most important thing about fire is that it should warm us; about dollars that
they should be handled and pass from hand to
hand. This is not so with God. No man hath
seen God at any time. He is not an object of
the senses at all, but of faith. A vision may
sometimes be the means by which faith is won;
but it is not the vision in itself that assures us.
One may see and yet not believe. They have
both seen and hated, said our Lord, both Me and
My Father. And again it is written, Blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Anselm, for his part, is quite clear that his
argument applies to God only. It is not at all
his intention to guarantee by his argument the
reality of everything of which we may be said
to have an idea. His contemporary critic, Gaunilo, thought that the same reasoning would
guarantee the existence of a most perfect island;
for we can form the idea of such an island really
existing; and if the island does not exist, this
idea would not be the idea of the most perfect
island, since such an island, really existing, would
be more perfect still; and we can frame the idea
of such an island. But Anselm replied to
Gaunilo that his reasoning was only applicable
to that than which no greater can be conceived;
for such a thing must be conceived to be eternal,
without beginning or end; and hence it cannot
be possible without being real. It is no part of
the notion of an island, even of the most perfect,
that it should be without beginning or end.
Hence all that our thought of the most perfect island involves is that it is
conceivable, possible;
that it may exist or have existed or be yet to
come into existence; but to speak of an eternal
object, one which has no beginning or end, in
this way, is absurd. It cannot, if it is not real
now, be possible, in the sense that it may have
existed in the past or may yet exist in the future;
it can only be possible if it actually exists. I see
no flaw in this answer of Anselm’s to his critic;
but it practically admits the insufficiency of the
original statement of the argument. For, as
originally stated, the argument does but show
that our notion of perfection is one which cannot
apply to a mere idea, but only to what is real;
it does not however prove that there is some
thing real to which it applies. The contradiction lies in thinking of it as unreal and yet as
perfect. Nothing is said in the original statement of the idea at first proving only the
possibility of its object; and proving the reality of
its object only in the case where possibility is
inconceivable without reality.

2. We may further ask, however, Does the
argument, if not as originally stated proving what
it proposes to prove, yet admit of a statement
which would prove it? That is, if we give up
the notion that the argument, as originally stated,
is by itself sufficient to refute atheism, is it sufficient, if we add to it the explanations by which
Anselm, replying to Gaunilo, was (as we have
seen) led to add to it? I think it is, so long as
we do not question the claim of thought to be our only criterion of reality. And few do seriously
question this claim. We look into a mirror and
see a looking-glass room. Do we believe, like
Alice in the fairy-tale, that we should find ourselves in that room, if we could only get through
the glass? Certainly not; that, we say, is no
real room, it is only a reflection. But why so?
We see it as much as we see this room in which
we are standing. We see it still, after we have
denied that it is real, just as much as we did
before. There it is; so is the room on this
side of the glass. Where is the difference?
We shall find that it is in consequence of the
contradictions between them, that we do not think
them equally real. On this side of the glass, if
you stretch out your hand to touch what looks
solid, it will feel solid, but if you stretch out
your hand to something which looks just the
same in the looking-glass room, you will feel
only the smooth surface of the mirror; if you
press on, you will break the glass, and the image
will vanish, not by the interposition of anything
but by the removal of what seemed to be between
us and it. You insist, then, that your world
shall be free from contradictions; and so where
you find in your every-day experience contradictions between appearances which are alike,
you say one is only appearance, a reflection of
the other which is real, and so fit both into one
harmonious system. It is not otherwise when
you rise from the experience of the senses to the
higher experience of science. We who believe the Copernican astronomy, and suppose that the
earth goes round the sun, not the sun round the
earth, see the sun rise in the east and set in the
west just as plainly as our ancestors did in the
days before Copernicus; but we say that this is
only appearance; really the earth is going round
the sun, not the sun round the earth. But why
really? Because this way of putting it explains
more, makes the whole of experience more
harmonious than it would be on any other theory.

And when we are not content even with
science; when we indulge ourselves in a faith
that, despite the many appearances which are
against it, the world is governed by the providence of a good God, we are still in the name
of harmony and consistency denying equal reality
to appearances which yet remain, as they were
before, equally apparent: just as we still see the
looking-glass room when we are no longer
children, and the sun rise when we have been
taught to believe in the Copernican system of
astronomy.

The Ontological Argument of Anselm then
is, if properly explained, sound, supposing we
assume that thought is the criterion of reality; or
rather, it is just the assertion that thought is
this criterion; that the standard by reference to
which we test the reality of everything else is a
standard which we carry with us, the standard
of what satisfies a thought intolerant of imperfection and contradiction, and insisting, where it
finds imperfection and contradiction, that it has before it only appearance and not what can finally
approve itself as real; that therefore that is the
most real which is the most satisfactory to thought.

3. We may, lastly, enquire whether the demonstration given by Anselm that our thought implies
the assurance of this perfect Reality, is precisely
what Anselm thought it to be, a proof of the existence of the God of religion? As to this, I will
briefly say that it does not seem to me to be so.
At least there are few men and perhaps no
Christians who will find in what this argument
proves to be real all that they need as an object
of religious worship. But Anselm did not
intend his Proslogion to be taken apart from his
Monologion, to which it is a sequel; even if he
thought, as he seems to have thought, that the Proslogion would by itself suffice for the refutation of atheism. That I have ventured here to
translate the Proslogion without the Monologion
is due to the circumstance that the intention of
this Selection is not philosophical but devotional;
and that the Proslogion is included in it less as a
philosophical argument than as an example to
show how philosophical reasoning can be made
a religious exercise. But Anselm had in the
Monologion already determined his conception
of the most real as the conception of the best.
That than which no greater can be conceived must
be that which our moral consciousness approves
as best; for our scale of values is derived from
our moral consciousness. Only if an ethical
interpretation be given to the conception of the most real will the argument of Anselm lead to
the God of religion; but nothing is said of this
in the argument itself. For Anselm himself
this interpretation was inevitable. His theology
was of the school of Plato, and the goodness
of God was its fundamental article. But this
article itself must be discussed by philosophy;
and while it is doubtful, the argument of
Anselm will not be found to bring us whither
he intended. The understanding at which he
aimed, he reckoned to be a half-way house
between faith and vision. It presupposed a faith
which could count nothing higher in the world or out of it, as Kant says, than
the good will:
and so it could seem to foreshadow the beatitude
pronounced on the pure in heart, that they should
see God.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Preface To The Meditations

THE Meditations and Prayers which here
follow, since they are published in order to
arouse the reader thereof to the love or fear of
God or to self-examination, are not to be read
in the midst of turmoil, but in stillness, not
quickly but slowly, with close and serious consideration. Nor ought the reader to be careful
to read through the whole of any one among
them, but so much as he perceives may by
God’s help do him good in kindling within
him the desire of prayer, or so much as may
give him pleasure. Nor need he begin any one
of them always at the beginning but wherever
shall best please him. For to this end are they
divided into paragraphs, that anyone may begin
or leave off where he chooses; so that the
length of a prayer or the frequent repetition
of one thing may not become wearisome; but
the reader may gather thence some taste of
devotion, for to that end were they composed.

Meditation I

I

Concerning the Dignity and the Misery of Human Nature.

That we were created in the Image and Likeness of God.

AWAKE, my soul, awake! show thy spirit,
arouse thy senses, shake off the sluggishness of that deadly heaviness that is upon thee,
begin to take care for thy salvation. Let the
idleness of vain imaginations be put to flight, let
go of sloth, hold fast to diligence. Be instant
in holy meditations, cleave to the good things
which are of God: leaving that which is temporal, give heed to that which is eternal. Now
in this godly employment of thy mind, to what
canst thou turn thy thoughts more wholesomely
and profitably than to the sweet contemplations
of thy Creator’s immeasurable benefits toward
thee. Consider therefore the greatness and
dignity that He bestowed upon thee at the
beginning of thy creation; and judge for thyself
with what love and reverence He ought to be
worshipped. For when, as He was creating
and ordering the whole world of things visible
and invisible, He had determined to create the nature of man, He took high counsel(Gen. i. 26). The plural used in this sentence was
often referred to the plurality of Persons in the Holy
Trinity. concerning the dignity of thy condition, forasmuch as He determined to honour thee more
highly than all other creatures that are in the
world.

Behold therefore to what greatness thou wast
created, and again consider what manner of love
thou oughtest to render therefore. Let Us make
man, saith God, in Our image, after Our likeness.
If thou art not aroused by this word of thy
Creator, if thou art not at so unspeakable a
goodness of condescension in Him towards thee,
set all on fire of love towards Him, if thy whole
heart is not inflamed with longing after Him,
what shall I say? Shall I count thee asleep, or rather dead?

Hearken then diligently what this meaneth,
that thou wast created in the image and likeness
of God. Thou hast here assured to thee sweet
matter for devout meditation, wherein to exercise
thy thoughts. Note therefore that the likeness
of God is one thing, the image another. Thus
a horse, an ox, and every other like creature
hath some likeness to a man; but none hath the
image of a man, except another man. A man
eateth, so doth a horse; here is a certain likeness, that is, something in common between
natures that are different. But the image of a
man none can express, except another man of the same nature as that whose image he is.
Thus the image is higher than the likeness.

Thus we may have in the way we have said,
some likeness to God if, considering that He is
good, we study to be good; if, knowing that
He is righteous, we endeavour to be righteous;
if, beholding His mercy, we give ourselves to
mercy.

But how can we be in His image. Hearken.
God is mindful of Himself, understandeth Himself, loveth Himself.[22] And thou too, if thou
after thy measure art mindful of God, understandest God, lovest God, then wilt thou be
in His image; for thou wilt be striving to do
that which God ever doth. Man ought to
make this the end of all his life, to be mindful
of the Chief Good, to understand it and to love
it; to this should every thought, every motion
of the heart be bent, be whetted, be conformed, that with an unwearying love thou
shouldst be mindful of God, understand God,
love God, and so for thy health set forth the
dignity of thy creation, wherein thou wast
created after the image of God. But why say
I that thou wast created after the image of
God, when, as the Apostle witnesseth, thou art
thyself the image of God. A man, saith the
Apostle, ought not to cover his head, forasmuch
as he is the image and glory of God.(1 Cor. xi. 7).

Meditation I

II

That the End for which we were created was to glorify God for ever.

ARE not these inestimable benefits bestowed
upon thee by thy Creator enough for thee,
to make thee render to Him continual thanksgiving and pay to Him thy debt of love
unceasing, when thou considerest how at the
beginning of thy creation He called thee by His
goodness out of nothing, or rather out of the
dust of the earth to so great a height of dignity?
Apply to thine own life the words of the Saints.
Hear what is said concerning a Saint. This
then is the praise given to a Saint: With all his
heart he praised the Lord. Behold that end
whereunto thou wast created; behold the task
which thy Master hath set thee to do. For to
what end should God have raised thee up by so
glorious a privilege in thy creation but that He
desired thee to give thyself to His praises with
out ceasing? Thou wast then created to praise
thy Creator, so that, being occupied in nothing
else than His praises, thou mightest here by the
service of thy righteousness draw nearer unto
Him and hereafter attain to the life of blessedness. For His praise makes thy righteousness
in this world, and thy happiness in the world to
come. But if thou praisest, praise Him from
thy whole heart, praise Him by loving Him.
For this is the rule of praising that is given to the Saints: With all his heart he praised the
Lord and loved God that made him.(Ecclesiasticus xvii. 8), acc. to Vulgate.

Praise therefore, and praise with thy whole
heart, and love Him whom thou praisest. For
he praiseth, but not with his whole heart, whom
prosperity persuadeth to bless God, but adversity
restraineth from the office of blessing. Again he
praiseth but loveth not, who in the praises of
God, seeketh to have anything by his praising
beside God Himself.

Praise therefore, and praise worthily, so that
to the utmost of thy power there be in thee no
charge, no thought, no contemplation, no carefulness of mind, that is void of the praise of
God. Let no worldly prosperity divert thee,
nor any worldly adversity restrain thee from His
praise. For thus thou wilt praise the Lord with
thy whole heart and with love also; thou wilt
seek from Him nothing else than Himself, that
He may Himself be the goal of thy desire and
the reward of thy labours, thy consolation in
this life of shadows and thy possession in the
blessed life to come. Hereunto wast thou
created, that thou shouldst bear a part in His
praises for ever and ever, and this thou shalt
more fully understand, when thou, being lifted
up by the blessed vision of Him, shalt see that
by His mere free bounty thou, when thou wast
not, wert out of nothing created to such happiness,
and created, called, justified, glorified(Rom. viii. 30). unto such unspeakable bliss. For the contemplation of
such things will give to thee a love that shall
not weary of praising Him for ever, of whom
and by whom and in whom thou shalt rejoice
that thou art blessed with good things so great
and so unchangeable.

Meditation I

III

That wheresoever we are, we live and move and
have our being in God, so long as e we have
Him within us.

BUT leaving that felicity which is to be, with
the mind’s eye look for awhile also upon
the greatness of the favour which He hath
abundantly bestowed upon Thee even in this
transitory life. He who dwelleth in heaven,
who reigneth among the angels, to whom heaven
and earth and all that in them is, do reverence,
He hath given Himself to be thy dwelling; He
hath prepared for thee His presence as an abode,
for as the Apostle Paul teacheth, in Him we live
and move and have our being.(Acts xvii. 28). Life is sweet,
movement is pleasant, being is desirable. For
what can be sweeter than to have life in Him,
who is the Blessed Life itself? what pleasanter
than to order all the course of our will and deed
toward Him and in Him who maketh us strong
with everlasting stability? what more desirable
than by prayer and conversation to be continually
in Him, in whom alone is true being, nay rather
who alone is true being, without whom nothing
can have wellbeing. I, saith He, am that I
am.(Exod. iii. 14). This is a saying most excellent. For
He Himself alone hath true being, whose being
is unchangeable. Thus He, whose being is so
excellent, may be said to be in so especial a sense,
that He may be said alone in very truth to be;
in comparison of whom all being beside His is
nothing; when He, I say, created thee for a so
great a height of dignity that thou canst not
even comprehend the glory of thine own natural
dignity, where did He appoint thy dwelling?
what abiding-place did He prepare for thee?
Hear what He saith unto His own in the
Gospel: Abide in Me, and I in you.(John xv. 4). O inestimable
dignity, O blessed abiding-place, O glorious intercourse between God and man!
How great the condescension of the Creator that it should be His will that His
creature should dwell in Him! How incomprehensible the blessedness of the
creature, that he should abide in his Creator! How great the glory of the
rational creature to have communion with his Creator in so blessed an
intercourse, that the Creator Himself should abide in the creature, the creature
itself in the Creator! So excellently then were we by His will created, so
mercifully was He pleased that we should abide in Him; even He who is above all
things, ruling over all things, yet without carefulness; who upholdeth all things, as the foundation of all
things, yet without labour: surpasseth all things
in excellence, yet without pride; comprehendeth
all things in His embrace, yet without distinction
of parts; filling all things with His fulness, yet
without limitation of Himself.

He then, though He is nowhere absent, chose
for Himself a kingdom of delight within us,
according to the witness of the Gospel, where
it is said, The kingdom of God is within you.(Luke xvii. 21).
But if the kingdom of God is within us, and
God dwelleth in His kingdom, doth He not
abide in us, since His kingdom is within us?
Certainly He doth; for if God is wisdom, and
the soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom,(Prov. xiv. 33).
then he who is truly righteous has God abiding
in him. For the temple of God is holy, saith the
Apostle, which temple ye are.(1 Cor. iii. 17). Do thou therefore follow earnestly after holiness without
fainting, lest thou cease to be the temple of
God. He Himself saith of His own, I will
dwell in them and walk in them.(2 Cor. vi. 16). Doubt not
that wheresoever there are holy souls, He is in
them. For if thou thyself too art everywhere
wholly in thy members, to which thou givest
life;[23] how much more is God wholly every
where, who created both thy self and thy body?
Thus it is to be with all diligence considered with what great circumspection and reverence
we ought to exercise our senses and the members
of our body, over which the Godhead itself
presideth. Let us therefore, as is right, give
to so great a tenant the whole command of our
body, so that nothing in us may be displeasing
to Him, but that all our thoughts and motions
of our will, all our words and works, may wait
upon His pleasure, obey His will, and be
ordered by His governance. For so we shall
be in truth His kingdom, and He will abide in
us, and we, abiding in Him, shall live well.

Meditation I

IV

That all we, who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

AWAKE, I beseech thee, O my soul, and
let the fire of a heavenly love be kindled
in thy heart, and wisely consider the beauty
which Thy Lord God hath bestowed upon
thee, and in considering love it, and in loving
do it reverence with the service of a holy conversation. For doth not He who maketh thee
to abide in Him, and hath condescended to
dwell in thee, clothe thee, cover thee, adorn
thee with Himself? As many of you, saith the
Apostle, as have been baptized into Christ, have
put on Christ.(Gal. iii. 27).

What praise, what thanksgiving wilt thou
rightly bestow upon Him, who hath clothed
thee with so great beauty, exalted thee to so
great honour, that thou canst say with all joy of
heart, The Lord hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness.(Isa. lxi. 10). It is the highest joy of the
angels of God to contemplate Christ, and lo,
of His boundless condescension He so far inclineth unto thee, as to be pleased to clothe
thee with Himself. What manner of clothing
is this but that of which the Apostle boasts,
saying Christ of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification?(1 Cor. i. 30). How would He more richly apparel thee than
by making thee glorious with the garment of wisdom, the ornament of
righteousness, the beauty of holiness?

Meditation I

V

That we are the Body of Christ.

AND why should I say that Christ hath
clothed thee with Himself, when He hath
joined thee so closely to Himself that He hath
been pleased to make thee flesh of His flesh
in the unity of the Church. Hear what the
Apostle saith, expounding the testimony of the Scripture, And they two shall be one
flesh.
But I speak, saith he, concerning Christ and the
Church.(Eph. v. 31, 32). Hereupon consider also in how
wonderful a bond He hath united thee with
Himself. The Apostle establisheth it, that thou
art the body of Christ. Ye are, saith he, the
body of Christ and members in particular.(1 Cor. xii. 27).

Keep therefore thy body and thy members
with that reverence which is befitting, lest if
thou wrong them by lightly entreating them,
thou suffer a greater punishment for thine unworthy ill-usage of them, according to the
greatness of the reward that would have been
thine, if thou hadst used them aright. Thine
eyes are the eyes of Christ. Therefore thou
mayest not turn the eyes of Christ to behold
vanity, for Christ is the Truth, and all vanity is
contrary to the truth.[24] Thy mouth is the mouth
of Christ. Thou oughtest not therefore to open,
I say not only in slanders and lies but even in
idle words, that mouth which should be opened
only for the praises of God and the edification
of thy neighbour. Be of this mind in respect
also of the other members of Christ that are
committed to thy charge.

Meditation I

VI

That we are one in Christ, and one Christ with Christ Himself.

CONSIDER also more yet more deeply in
how close an union thou art joined with
Him. Hear what the Lord Himself prayeth to
the Father for them that are His: I will, saith
He, that as Thou and I are one, so they also may
be one in Us.(John xvii. 21), loosely quoted. I am (that is) Thy Son by
nature; I pray that they may be Thy sons and
My brethren by grace. How great a dignity is
it for a Christian man, so to grow in Christ that
he himself may be called in a sense Christ.
This also that faithful steward of God’s house
hold the Church perceived when he said: All
we that are Christians in Christ are one Christ.The reference is presumably to
(1 Cor. xii. 12).
Nor should we wonder thereat, when we consider that He is the head and we His body;
He the bridegroom and He also the bride; in
Himself the bridegroom, but the bride in the
holy souls whom He hath bound to Himself in
the bonds of an everlasting love. As upon a
bridegroom, saith He, hath He set a crown upon
Me, and as a bride hath He adorned me with
ornaments.This is like (Isa. lxi. 10) but is not a quotation. Here then, O my soul, here do
thou consider His benefits towards thee, be thou inflamed with the love of Him, let the fire that
is in thee break out into longing after the blessedness of beholding Him. Cry out boldly in the
words of the faithful bride, Let Him kiss me with
the kisses of His mouth.(Cant. i. 1). Let all delight which
is not in Him depart from my mind, let no
pleasure, no consolation of this present life
comfort me, while His blessed presence is denied
to me. Let Him embrace me with the arms of
His love, let Him kiss me with the heavenly
sweetness of His mouth, let Him speak to me
with that ineffable eloquence wherewith He revealeth His secrets to the Angels. May the
Bridegroom and the Bride enjoy such mutual
interchange of discourse, that I may open my
whole heart to Him and He reveal to me the
secrets of His sweetness. Thus, O my soul,
refreshed by these and such like meditations and
full of the passion of a holy longing, do thou
strive to follow Thy Bridegroom and say unto
Him, Draw me after Thee; we will run after the
odour of Thine ointments.(Cant. i. 3), according to the Vulgate. Speak to Him and
speak as a loyal spouse not with the sound of
words that passeth away but with a longing of
heart that fainteth not; so speak that thou
mayest be heard, so desire to be drawn by Him
that thou mayest follow. Say therefore to thy
Redeemer and Saviour, Draw me after Thee.
Let not the sweetness of this world but let thy
sweetness of Thy most blessed love draw me. Draw me, for Thou hast drawn me heretofore;
hold me fast, for Thou hast laid hold upon me.
Thou hast drawn me to Thee by redeeming me;
draw me by saving me. Thou hast drawn me
by pitying me; draw me by blessing me. Thou
hast laid hold on me by appearing among men,
made man for us; hold me fast as Thou sittest
on Thy throne in heaven, exalted above the
Angels. That is Thy word, that is Thy
promise. Thou hast promised, saying: And I,
if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men
unto Me.(John xii. 32). Draw therefore now in Thy mighty
exaltation him whom Thou didst draw to Thee
in Thy merciful humiliation. Thou hast gone
up on high; let me believe it: Thou reignest
over all things; let me acknowledge it. Do I
not acknowledge that Thou reignest? Surely
I acknowledge it, and give Thee thanks. But
do Thou grant that I may acknowledge with
the acknowledgment of a perfect love that
which I acknowledge by a devout faith concerning Thee. Bind the desires of my heart to
Thee with the indissoluble bonds of love, since
the first-fruits of my spirit are already with Thee.
Vouchsafe that we, whom Thy love in redeeming us did knit to Thee, may have fellowship
with Thee in the unity of the same love. For
Thou hast loved me, Thou didst give Thyself
for me; may therefore my heart and mind
be with Thee continually in heaven, and Thy
protection with me continually on earth. Help
him when he burneth with longing after Thy
love, to whom Thou didst show love when he
despised it. Give to him when he asketh, to
whom Thou givest Thyself when he knew Thee
not. Receive him when he returneth to Thee,
O Thou who didst call him back to Thee when
he fled from Thee. I will love Thee that I
may be loved of Thee; nay rather, because I
am loved of Thee, I will love Thee more and
more that I may be loved the more. May my
thoughts be knit to Thee, may my heart be
wholly made one with Thee, where our nature,
which Thou hast in mercy taken upon Thyself,
reigneth with Thee in bliss. Grant that I may
cleave to Thee without parting, worship Thee
without wearying, serve Thee without failing,
faithfully seek Thee, happily find Thee, for
ever possess Thee.

Addressing God in these words, O my soul,
do thou kindle thyself, do thou burn, do thou
break forth into flames, and strive to become
wholly on fire with longing after Him.

Meditation I

VII

A Commemoration of our Sins, for which our Conscience doth reproach us, and whereby we
have lost all these things.

BUT when thou considerest to what good things and to how great thou hast been by His grace advanced, remember also what good things and how great thou hast lost through thy
fault, into how evil a state thou hast by thy sins
been cast down. Consider with sighing the evil
that thou hast done in thy wickedness; think
with groaning upon the good things which thou
for that evil’s sake hast miserably lost. For
what good thing did thy most excellent Creator
out of His goodness bestow upon thee; what
evil didst thou not render Him, thou that wast
nurtured in detestable unrighteousness? By
losing the good thou hast deserved the evil, nay
by casting away the good thou hast chosen the
evil; and losing or rather rejecting the grace
of thy Maker, thou hast to thy misery increased
His anger. Nor canst thou prove thyself guiltless, when the multitude of thy sins, like a
mighty army, encompasseth thee about; here
casting in thy teeth the reproach of thy wicked
deeds; there bringing forth a store exceeding
great of idle and (which deserve a greater condemnation) harmful words spoken by thee; there
again displaying the vast mass of thine evil
thoughts.

These are those things for whose sake thou
hast lost things good beyond all price; for the
sake of these hast thou endured to be without
the grace of Him that made thee. Groan as
thou thinkest upon them, renounce them as thou
groanest, condemn them as thou renouncest them,
renounce them by changing thy life for a better.
Strive inwardly with thyself, lest anon, even for
a moment, thou assent to some vanity, whether in heart or in tongue or, what hath the greatest
condemnation, even in deed. Let there be in
thy mind a daily, nay, a continual warfare, lest
thou keep any league with thy sins. Strictly
examine thyself always, search out the secrets
of thy heart, and whatsoever thou findest in thy
self that is reprobate, smite it with severe reproofs, throw it down, crush it, root it out, cast
it forth, destroy it altogether. Spare not thyself,
be not gentle with thyself, but in the morning
(that is, in the contemplation of the Last Judgment, for the Last Judgment followeth like the
morning light upon the night of this present life)
destroy all the ungodly that are in the land (that
is, the offences and sins of a worldly conversation) that thou mayest root out from the city of the
Lord (which thou oughtest to build within thyself) all wicked doers (that is, all suggestions of
the devil, all delights that God hateth, all deadly consentings, all perverse deeds).(Ps. ci.
11). The Vulgate has in the morning (A.V.
early) for the soon of the Prayer-book version. From all
such thou shouldest, as a city of God, be purified, that thy Creator may find and take in
possession and continually hold a habitation
within thee, wherein He may have pleasure.
Be not of those whose obstinacy God Himself
seems to lament, saying: There is no man layeth it
to heart and saith, What have I done?The quotation is a composite one, from (Isa.
lvii. 1),
and (Jer. viii. 6). If they
are rejected, because they refused to be ashamed for the evil which they have done, and to reprove themselves, wilt thou not take care, in
order that thou mayest come soon into the
number of the elect, to call thyself to account,
to judge thyself, to correct thyself with severe
discipline? Consider then diligently in thy
meditations the benefits which thy Creator hath
bestowed upon thee, wherewith without any
merits of thine He hath exalted thee; and call
to mind the innumerable evil thoughts words
and deeds, wherewith thine unrighteousness unworthily recompensed His kindness, and conceiving great sorrow in thyself, cry aloud,
What
have I done? I have vexed God, I have provoked my Creator to wrath, I have recompensed
His innumerable benefits with innumerable sins.

What have I done? As thou sayest this, smite
upon thy breast, utter thy voice in groaning, pour
forth thy tears. For if thou weepest not now,
when wilt thou weep? If the turning away of
the face of God from thee because of thy sins
stir thee not to sorrow, let at least the greatness
of the torments of hell, which these same sins
of thine have provoked, break the hardness of
thy heart.

Return then, return, thou wanderer from the
right way, unto thy heart, draw thy foot back
out of hell, that thou mayest be able to escape
the evil things which thou hast deserved and
win back the good things whereof thou art justly
deprived. For if thou have respect to those
things which are evil in thee, thou wilt find that thou hast lost all the good things which He had
bestowed upon thee. Thou must therefore ever
turn thine eyes upon the evils within thee, and
especially upon those whereof thy conscience
most seriously accuseth thee, that He may turn
away His eyes from them. For if thou by a
worthy purpose of amendment dost turn away
thy sins, He turneth away from them the eyes of
His vengeance; but if thou forgettest them, He
remembereth them.

Meditation I

VIII

A Commemoration of the Incarnation of our Lord, whereby we have recovered all these things.

THEREFORE, that thou mayest be delivered
thence, hear the mercies of thy Redeemer
toward thee.

Thou wast indeed blinded by the fault of
thine original sin and couldest not behold the
excellency of thy Creator. Encompassed by
the cloud of thy sins thou wentest on still in
darkness and, driven by the swift waves of the
flood of thine offences, wast being swept down
into everlasting night.

And, behold, thy Redeemer anointed thy
blinded eyes with the salve of His incarnation,
so that thou, who couldest not look upon God
in His glory in the secret place of His majesty,
mightest look upon God appearing in the form of a man, and beholding Him acknowledge
Him, and acknowledging Him love Him,
and loving Him do thine utmost with all thy
might to come unto His glory. He was made
flesh that He might call thee back to the things
of the spirit. He was made a partaker of thy
changeableness that He might make thee a partaker of His unchangeableness. He condescended
to thy lowliness that He might exalt thee unto
His high loftiness. He was born of a pure
virgin that He might heal the corruption of thy
sinful nature. He was circumcised that He
might teach man to cut off from himself all the
superfluity of sinful lusts. He was presented in
the temple and received by the holy widow,Anna ((Luke ii. 37)).
that He might admonish His faithful servants to
be continually in the house of God and to endeavour by the practice of holy living to be
worthy to receive Him. He was taken into
His arms and glorified by the aged Simeon, that
He might show forth His love towards gravity
of life and ripeness in righteousness. He was
baptized that He might sanctify the sacrament of
our baptism.[25] In the river Jordan as He bowed
Himself to receive baptism at the hand of John,
He heard the voice of the Father, and received
the Holy Ghost coming upon Him in the form
of a dove, that He might teach us that we should
abide in humility of mind, and therein be honoured by the word of the Father in heaven coming unto
us, whereof it is said that His communication is
with the simple,(Prov. iii. 32), according to the Vulgate. and glorified by the presence of
the Holy Ghost, who resteth upon the lowly.
For Jordan signifieth humility; since, being interpreted, Jordan is their descent.[26] And He was
baptized by the hand of John, whose name signifieth the grace of God,[27] that whatsoever we
receive of God, we should ascribe it to that
grace and not to our own deservings. After
fasting forty days He overcame the devil and
his temptations, and was glorified by the ministry
of angels, thereby teaching us in the whole time
of this present life by refusing the delights of
things temporal to trample under our feet the
world with the prince thereof, and so to be
escorted by the protection of angels. By day
He abode with the people preaching the kingdom of God, and edifying the multitudes by
His wonderful works and by His words. By
night he went into a mountain, and gave Himself
to prayer, teaching us, as the season requireth,
sometimes by word and deed to show forth, according to our ability, to our neighbours among
whom we live, the way of life; sometimes,
entering into the stillness of our soul and ascending the mountain of virtue, to breathe the sweet air of heavenly contemplation and without fainting
to direct our thoughts to things above. He was
transfigured in the mount before Peter, James, and
John, instructing us thereby that if we study like
Peter, whose name is by interpretation acknowledging,[28] humbly to acknowledge our weakness, to
supplant our sinful nature (for supplanter is the
meaning of JamesJames = Jacob. See (Gen. xxv. 26), xxvii. 36. St
Jerome, Lib. de Hebr. Nom. (de Evang. Matt.).), and in faith to submit ourselves to the
grace of God (which is the signification
of John[29]), we shall to our happiness ascend the
mount of heaven, there to behold the glory of Jesus,
He Himself our King being also our guide thither.
In Bethany, which is by interpretation the house
of obedience,[30] He raised Lazarus from the dead,
showing that all, who by the earnest endeavour
of a good will die to the world, and rest in the
bosom of obedience, shall be raised by Him to
life eternal. When He delivered His body and
blood to His disciples in the mystical supper He
humbly washed their feet, teaching us that the
sacred mysteries should be celebrated with deeds
of purity and devout humbleness of mind. When
He was to be glorified by the splendour of His
holy resurrection, He endured the mocking of
traitors, the cruelty of insults, the shame of the
cross, the bitterness of gall, and at the last death itself, admonishing His servants thereby that they
who desire after death to attain unto glory must
bear the troubles and labours of this present life
and the oppressions of the wicked, not only without murmuring, but with love and desire and
cheerful welcome to all that is hard in this
world for the sake of the eternal reward.

Upon these glorious and inestimable benefits,
bestowed upon thee by thy Creator, if thou
worthily meditate, if thou devoutly embrace
them, if thou strive with fervent charity to
imitate them, thou shalt not only recover the
good things which thy first parents lost, but
shalt obtain far greater things for ever through
the unspeakable grace of thy Saviour. For God
Himself through the mystery of the incarnation
hath become thy brother; and what ineffable joy shall not this cause to thee,
when thou shalt behold thy nature in Him so far exalted above all creation!

Meditation I

IX

That we must pray to be delivered out of the
horrible pit, out of the mire and clay.

WHAT then now remains but after the due
consideration of all these matters to
kindle in the mind the desire to inherit so great
goods, and with continual supplications to implore
Him who created thee to possess them to bring thee out of the horrible pit, out of the mire and
clay,(Ps. xl. 2). and make thee the possessor of blessedness
so great? What is that horrible pit, but the
abyss of worldly covetousness? what the mire
and clay but the filthiness of carnal pleasure?
For in the toils of these two, of covetousness
and of pleasure, is it that the race of man is
miserably entangled and hindered from attaining
to the blessed freedom of heavenly contemplation.
For in truth the horrible pit is worldly covetousness, which drags the mind that is subject unto
its dominion by desires innumerable, as by chains,
into the depth of sin, and suffereth it not ever to
rest. For the mind of man, when oppressed by
the yoke of covetousness, is distracted by the
love of things visible and driven hither and
hither by divers passions. It is wasted by toil
in the getting of money, by carefulness in increasing, by joy in possessing it, by fear of
losing it, by grief at the loss of it, and by none
of these is suffered to see in how great danger
it is. This is the horrible pit, which worldly
covetousness ceases not to fill with all these
great evils. Out of this pit did blessed David
rejoice to be delivered, when he gave thanks and
said: He brought me out of the horrible pit, out of
the mire and clay.

What is the mire and clay? The enjoyment of unclean pleasure. Cry out boldly then with blessed David, and say to thy Creator,
Take me out of the mire, that I sink not.(Ps. lxix. 15). Cleanse thy heart from all the pollution of fleshly delight,
shut out unclean thoughts from thy mind, if
thou wilt escape the foulness of this mire. But
when by repentance and confession, by weeping
for thy sin and occupying thy heart with holy
meditations, thou hast escaped thence, take heed
that thou fall not into it again; but with all thy
heart utter thy sighing before God, beseeching
His mercy that He may set thy feet upon the
rock,(Ps. xl.) i. that is, that thy mind may establish itself
upon the firm ground of righteousness by constantly cleaving unto Christ, of whom it is said
that He is made unto us of God wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification.(1 Cor. i. 30). Pray moreover
that He may order thy goings(Ps. xl. 2). that they turn not
back unto wickedness, but may go on steadily
in the heavenly way of His commandments,
and so hasten without any turning aside to the
blessed country of the Angels.

But when His direction shall have lifted thee
up, be careful that thou be not slack in singing
the praises of the Creator; rather do thou beseech Him of His mercy to put a new song in
thy mouth,(Ps. xl. 3). that with due devotion thou mayest
sing a thanksgiving unto our God.(Ibid). It is meet
that thou, my soul, when thou hast been brought
into fellowship with God by newness of life(Rom. vi. 4).
shouldest break forth into a new song in His
praise, despising things temporal, and longing
only after things eternal; being obedient to the law of God not from fear of punishment but
from love of righteousness. For this is to sing
a new song to God, to mortify the desires of the
old man, and to follow the way of the new man,
which the Son of God hath shown to the world,
from mere desire of the life everlasting. He singeth a thanksgiving,With reference to the verse of (Ps. xl.) quoted above
in the Latin the words canticum and
carmen differ, as do
song and thanksgiving, but there is no special reference
to thanks in the word carmen. who keepeth in the
remembrance of a pure mind the joys of his
heavenly country and, being sustained by the
consciousness of a holy life and trusting in the
gift of grace from above, striveth to attain
thereunto.

Meditation I

X

A Meditation on the Miseries of this Life.

IN the midst of these meditations, think earnestly
upon all the miseries of this present life, and
with a watchful heart consider how carefully
thou oughtest to live therein. Remember that
thou art of his company, concerning whom the
Scripture hath said: A man whose way is hid,
and whom God hath hedged in with darkness.(Job iii. 23), according to
the Vulgate.
For truly thou art hedged in with a deep darkness of ignorance, since thou knowest not how God will weigh thy works, and canst not tell
what thine end will be. No man knoweth,
saith Solomon, whether he is worthy of hatred
or of love, but all things are kept uncertain even
unto the end.(Ecclesiastes ix. 1), according to the Vulgate.

Imagine to thyself a valley deep and dark and
all manner of torments in the bottom thereof.
Suppose moreover a bridge cast across this
valley, exceeding long but of no more than a
foot’s breadth. Let a man be compelled to
pass over this bridge, so straight, so high, so
perilous; let his eyes be blindfolded that he
cannot see his steps; let his hands be bound
behind him, so that he cannot guide himself by
groping his way with a staff. How great would
be the fear and distress of mind in such an one!
Dost thou think there would be place in his
thoughts for cheerfulness, for merriment, for
wantonness? I trow not. All pride would be
taken from him, all vainglory put to flight, the
darkness of death alone would abide in his
mind. Imagine moreover a monstrous multitude
of savage birds hovering about the bridge and
seeking to drag the traveller, as he crosseth it,
down into the abyss. Will not his dread be
multiplied thereby? And what if each plank
be at once withdrawn so soon as he hath passed
over it? Will not he be stricken thereby by a yet greater fearfulness?

But now consider the signification of this
image and let a godly fear and trembling take
hold upon thy mind. By the deep and dark
valley is signified hell, which is an abyss immeasurable, and terrible with the shadows of
most black darkness. There are assembled
together all manner of torments. There all
that can soothe is lacking; and everything that
can appal and torment and distress, is present.
The perilous bridge, from which whosoever
maketh not his passage over it aright is hurled
downward, is this present life; wherein whosoever liveth ill, descendeth to hell. The planks
which are withdrawn when the traveller hath
passed over them are the days of our life;
which pass away never to return, but by growing
fewer press us onwards toward our end, and
compel us to hasten to our goal. The birds
that hover about the bridge and beset them that
pass over, are evil spirits, whose whole study is
to cast men down that are set on the right way,
and to hurl them into the depths of hell. We
ourselves are the travellers that pass over, blindfolded by our ignorance and bound by the chain
of the difficulty of doing good works, so that
we cannot direct our steps freely toward God
in holiness of life.

Consider therefore whether thou oughtest not
in so great a strait to cry out earnestly to thy
Creator, so that, being defended by His protection, thou mayest sing in faith among the
hosts of thine enemies: The Lord is my light
and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?(Ps. xxvii. 1).He is thy light against thy blindness; thy
salvation against thy difficulty. These are the
two evils, whereinto our first father caused us
to fall, even ignorance whither we go and difficulty in seeing what we ought to do. Meditate upon these things, O my soul, think upon
them; let thy mind daily exercise itself therein.
Let it being intent thereon, turn away from vain
and unprofitable cares and thoughts, let it burn
with the fire of holy fear and blessed love to fly
from these evils and lay hold upon eternal
goods.

Meditation I

XI

Of the Body, after the Departure of the Soul.

TO Thee I now turn back, O my most sweet
Creator, my most gracious Redeemer,
Thou fashioner and refashioner of my nature,
humbly in prayer beseeching Thy goodness to
teach my heart to consider with life-giving fear
and wholesome trembling the foul and mournful
state of my flesh after my death when bereft of
that spirit which doth at present quicken it, it
must be delivered over to be consumed by corruption and the worm. If it have any beauty
now, wherein it taketh pride, where will it then
be? where the abundance of most exquisite
delights? where the delicate limbs? Will there
not then be fulfilled indeed that saying of the
Prophet, All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as
the flower of the field?(Isa. xl. 6). Then shall
mine eyes be closed and turned backward unto
the inner chambers of the brain, in the vain and
mischievous imaginations whereof I so often took
pleasure. Now they rejoice to drink in vanity
as daylight; but then shall they lie covered
with horrible darkness. The ears that now
with damnable delight entertain the discourse of
slanderers and the vain rumours of the world
shall then lie open to the worms, soon to be
filled by them. The teeth that now are
loosened in gluttonous eating shall be miserably
clogged and choked. The nostrils shall stink,
that now are delighted with variety of sweet
odours. The lips shall be hideous with the
fulness of corruption, that so many times rejoiced
to be opened in foolish laughter. The throat
shall be clogged and the belly filled with worms,
that have again and again been swollen by all
manner of meats.

But why should I speak severally of every
member? The whole frame of the body,
whose health comfort and pleasure is almost all
our care, shall be dissolved into corruption, into
worms, at the last into the basest dust of the
earth. Where is now thy proud neck, where
thy boastful words, thy rich apparel, thy manifold delights? They have passed away like a
dream, they have all gone never to return, and
him that was in love with them they have left to
misery.

Meditation I

XII

Of the Soul after her Separation from the Body.

O GOOD God, what is it that I behold? Lo, there cometh fear upon fear, sorrow
upon sorrow. After she is separated from the
body, the soul shall be beset by a multitude of
evil spirits, who shall hasten to meet her and
shall magnify their accusations against her.
And inquisition shall be made concerning all
things whereof they accuse her, even to the
least of the negligences that she hath committed. There shall come the prince of this
world with his companions, raging with fury,
cunning in deceit, skilful in lying, malignant in
accusing, bringing forth against the soul all that
he can of the evils that she hath done, and
devising falsely many beside that she hath not
done. O terrible hour, O severe judgment!
On the one hand will be a Judge most strict in
judgment; on the other adversaries most wanton
in accusing. The soul shall stand alone with
none to comfort her, except she be defended by
the consciousness of good works. But in that
great severity of judgment, wherein all things
shall be laid open, who shall boast that his heart
is clean?Cp. (Prov. xx. 9).If the righteous scarcely be saved,
where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?(1 Pet. iv. 18).Then shall idle gladness depart, the pomp of
place shall be put to flight, the pursuit of worldly
greatness shall be proved deceitful.

Blessed is the soul, which in that judgment
a good conscience defendeth, and the remembrance of a holy life protecteth; which, while
she was yet in the flesh, was often cleansed by
the water of repentance, adorned with earnestness of confession, enlightened by meditation on
God’s holy law; which humility made gentle,
and patience quiet, and obedience free from
seeking her own will, and charity fervent in the
performance of every virtue. Such a soul shall
not fear that dreadful hour, and shall not be
ashamed when she speaketh with her enemies in
the gate.(Ps. cxxvii. 6). For she will have fellowship with
them, of whom the Scripture saith: When He
hath given His beloved sleep, behold the inheritance of the Lord.(Ps. cxxvii. 3, 4). This in the Vulgate reads thus:
When He hath given His beloved sleep, behold the inheritance
of the Lord, even children, a reward, the fruit of the womb.
This is interpreted by St Jerome of the saints at rest.
His beloved are the saints, who after the slumber of
this present life, seem to sleep here, that they may be
counted worthy in the resurrection to come to life
eternal. When the saints have departed out of this
world and obtained their rest, then shall they be made
the inheritance of the Lord, because they are no
longer subject to temptations.

Meditation I

XIII

A Meditation on the Day of Judgment, wherein
the Goats shall be set on the Left Hand.

BUT who can say anything of that terrible
sentence of the Last Judgment, whereby the
sheep shall be set on the right hand and the goats
on the left? How great shall be the trembling
when the powers of the heavens shall be shaken?(Matt. xxiv. 29).
How great the confusion, the lamentation, the
crying of those that howl, when they that neglect
to do good shall be met by that terrible word,
Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.(Matt. xxv. 41).
Verily that day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and
desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a
day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the
trumpet and alarm.(Zeph. i. 15, 16). Verily bitter is the voice of
the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall be
afflicted therein.(Zeph. i. 14). acc. to the Vulgate. For they that in the pride of
their hearts despise the will of God, boast themselves now in the following of their own wills;
but then shall they be cast into everlasting fire
which shall not be quenched for ever, and the
worm that dieth not shall feed upon them,See (Isa. lxvi. 24); (Mark ix. 45).
and
the smoke of their torment shall ascend up for ever
and ever.(Rev. xiv. 11).

Meditation I

XIV

A Meditation on the Joy which shall be where
the Sheep shall be set on the Right Hand.

BUT while these are in woe, and for distress
of spirit are uttering the lamentable groanings of their hearts, what thinkest thou will be
the joy and exultation of those blessed ones,
who shall be set at the right hand of God and
hear that most blissful voice which shall say
unto them, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world.(Matt. xxv. 34). Then verily shall the voice of joy
and health abide in the dwellings of the righteous.(Ps. cxviii. 15).
Then shall the Lord lift up the head of the
meek, who now refuse not to be counted vile and
outcast for His sake. He shall heal the broken
hearted, and console with everlasting joy them
that weep for longing after Him in this earthly
pilgrimage. Then shall be manifested their
unspeakable reward, who for love of their
Creator rejoice in the renunciation of their own
wills. In that day shall a heavenly crown be set
upon the heads of them that serve Him, and the
glory of those that wait patiently for Him shall
shine forth with splendour ineffable. There shall
love enrich His faithful soldiers with the fellowship of angels, and purity of heart shall bless them
that love Him with the blessed vision of their
Creator.See (Matt. v. 8). Then shall that song be sung by all the elect:
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be alway praising Thee.(Ps.
lxxxiv. 4). In
which song of praise may He vouchsafe to make
us partakers who with the Father and the Holy
Ghost liveth and reigneth God, world without
end. Amen.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Meditation II

Concerning the Terrors of the Day of Judgment.
An Incentive to Tears.

I AM afraid of my life because, when I
diligently examine it, I perceive that it is
altogether sin, or if, where most is barren, there
be any fruit found, it is either feigned fruit or
imperfect or in some manner corrupt, so that
what there is that displeaseth not God is yet not
pleasing unto Him.

Therefore, thou sinner, almost all thy life—nay not almost all, but of a truth all thy life—is
either in sin and deserveth condemnation, or
unfruitful and deserveth contempt. But why
do I divide what is unfruitful from that which
deserveth condemnation? For if it be unfruitful,
it must therefore be condemned. For we know
that the saying is true which He spake who is
the Truth: Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.(Matt. iii. 10).

Nay, if I do anything that profiteth, it is too
little to recompense God for the food and drink
which I misuse. But who feedeth a flockCp. (1 Cor. ix. 7).
which is worth less than the cost of the food
which it consumeth? Yet Thou, O God, art
more gracious than men, in that Thou dost feed me
and lookest for profit from me, Thy vile worm,
Thy sinful one that rotteth with the corruption of
sin. For more tolerable to a man is the stench
of a dog’s carcase than to God the soul that
sinneth; yea, far more foully doth this stink in
the nostrils of God than that in those of man.
Alas, I am no man but the scorn of men,(Ps. xxii. 6). viler
than a beast, baser than a dead carcase. My
soul is weary of life; I am ashamed to live, I am afraid to die. What is left
for thee, poor sinner, but all thy life through to lament thy whole life, so
that it may weep for itself, no part not mourning, no part not mourned?

But this is a marvellous thing, and marvellously
is my soul to be pitied therein[31]; that her knowledge exceedeth her sorrow so that she resteth
in security as though she knew not her condition. O thou barren soul, what art thou about?
Why sleepest thou, thou sinful one? The day
of judgment cometh; the great day of the Lord is near, it is near and passeth greatly. That day
is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress,
a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm.(Zeph. i. 15, 16).

O bitter voice of the day of the Lord!(Zeph. i. 14), acc. to the Vulgate. Why slumberest thou, thou lukewarm soul, meet to
be spued out of the mouth of the Lord?(Rev. iii. 16). He
who awaketh not, who trembleth not at these
mighty thunderings, is not asleep but dead.
Thou unfruitful tree, where is thy fruit? Thou
tree worthy of the axe, thou tree worthy to be
hewed down and burned, what are thy fruits?
Verily they are thorns and bitter sins; would that the thorns would prick thee
with repentance so that they might be broken off, and the bitterness of the
sins grow bitterer to thee till they perish altogether!

Peradventure thou thinkest some sin of thine
but a little thing; would that thy severe Judge
thought any sin a little thing! But alas, doth
not every sin transgress the commandment of
God and dishonour Him? What then? Shall
the sinner dare to call his sin a little thing?
When is it a little thing to dishonour God? O
thou dry and useless branch, worthy of everlasting fires, what wilt thou answer in that day,
when God shall require an account of the
manner wherein thou hast spent the whole time
of life that He hath allotted to thee, even to the least moment that is past in the twinkling of an
eye? Then shall be condemned whatsoever is
found in thee, in thy work or in thy play, in thy
speech or in thy silence, down to the least
thought, nay, thy very living, so thy life is not
ordered according to God’s will. Woe unto
thee! How many sins will rush forth upon
thee then of a sudden, as from an ambush,
whereof now thou takest no note! yea, more
sins and more grievous than those of which thou
takest note. How many evil things thou dost,
which thou thinkest not to be evil! how many,
which now thou thinkest good, will then be
revealed unto thee as sins most black! There
wilt thou receive the things done in thy body,
according to that thou hast done(2 Cor. v. 10).; then, when
the time of mercy shall be past; then, when
there shall be no room left for repentance, nor
any hope of amendment.

Consider now what thou hast done, and what thou oughtest to
receive. If thou hast done much good and little evil, rejoice greatly; if much
evil and little good, mourn greatly. O thou unprofitable sinner, are not these
thoughts enough to move thee to wail mightily? are they not enough to melt thy
blood and marrow into tears? Ah marvellous hardness of heart, that hammers so
heavy are too light to break! O profound lethargy, which pricks so sharp are too
blunt to rouse! O deadly slumber, which thunderings so terrible are too hoarse
to disturb! O unprofitable sinner, well may these things
suffice to draw forth from thee a river of tears;
well may they suffice to make thee weep dry
the fountain of thy tears.

But why must I dissemble, why not utter the
greatness and the grievousness of the misery
that hangeth over me, why hide it from the
eyes of my soul? is it that the woes may come
upon me unawares? that the intolerable tempest
of wrath should suddenly break forth upon me?
Nay this were not expedient for a sinner.

But if I speak, whatsoever I can conceive
cannot be compared unto the truth thereof.
Therefore let thine eyes weep day and night
and keep not silence. Make all the woes thou
hast endured hitherto heavier; add terror unto
terror, wailing unto wailing; for He shall be
thy Judge, who hath been set at nought in all
my sins of disobedience and transgression, who
hath rewarded me good for evil, and I have
rewarded Him evil for good; who is now most
patient, but in that day will be most severe; now
most merciful, but then most just.

Alas, alas! against whom have I sinned? I
have dishonoured God, I have provoked the
Almighty to anger! What have I done, poor
sinner? to whom and how wickedly? Woe is
me, woe is me! thou anger of the Almighty,
break not out upon me! There is nothing in
me that can endure Thine anger, O God. Into
what straits am I come! On this side are my
sins accusing me; and on that the justice of God making me afraid: above is my angry
Judge, below the horrible pit of hell laid open,
within my conscience on fire, without the world
being burned up. The righteous shall scarcely be
saved(1 Pet. iv. 18).; as to the sinner thus taken in his sin,
whither shall he turn? I am fast bound, where
shall I hide myself; and how shall I appear?
To hide myself is impossible, to show myself
intolerable. I shall desire to hide myself and
hate to show myself, but there will be no hiding-place at all, and everywhere shall I be manifest.

What, ah what will then become of me?
Who will deliver me out of the hands of God?
where shall I look for counsel? where for salvation? Who is He that is called the Angel of
the Great CounselThis title of Christ is taken from the LXX. version
of (Isa. ix. 6), which St Jerome quoted in his commentary
on the verse. It was also employed in one of the
Christmas introits. and the Saviour that I may
call upon His name? It is none other than He,
Jesus Himself, the Judge in whose hands I
tremble.

Breathe again, poor sinner, breathe again;
despair not, hope in Him whom thou fearest.
Fly to Him, from whom thou didst flee away.
Cease not to call upon Him whom thou didst
provoke to wrath. O Jesus, Jesus, for Thy
name’s sake, do unto me according to Thy
name!See (Matt. i. 21). Jesus, Jesus, forget the proud sinner
that provoked Thy wrath, and look upon me the unhappy one that calleth upon Thy sweet
name, Thy pleasant name, Thy name that
comforteth the sinner and openeth to him the
hope of blessing. For what signifieth Jesus but
Saviour. Therefore, O Jesus, for Thine own
sake be a Jesus to me. Thou who didst create,
suffer me not to perish; Thou who didst redeem
me, condemn me not; Thou who didst make
me by Thy goodness, suffer not the work of
Thy hands to perish by my own wickedness.
I pray Thee, most gracious Saviour, let not mine
iniquity destroy what Thine almighty goodness
hath wrought. Acknowledge in Thy goodness
what is Thine own in me; and what is not
Thine own, wipe off from me. For what profit
is there in my blood if I go down into everlasting corruption?(Ps. xxx. 9). For the dead praise Thee not,
O Lord, neither all they that go down into
hell.(Ps. cxv. 17). If Thou wilt receive me into the broad
bosom of Thy mercy, Thy bosom will not be
straitened because of me, O Lord. Receive me
therefore, O Jesus my beloved, receive me into
the number of Thine elect, that with them I
may praise Thee, enjoy Thee, and have my
glory in Thee among all that love Thy name,(Ps. v. 12), acc. to the Vulgate.
who with the Father and the Holy Ghost art
glorious for ever, world without end. Amen.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Meditation III

To encourage the spirit not to fall into despair, since if we truly repent, we shall without
doubt find mercy for all our sins.

WHEN I look back upon the sins which I
have done, and consider the pains and
torments which I ought to suffer because of
them, I have no little fear. And so, full of
trouble and full of dread at the thought of my
perdition, I go seeking for comfort wheresoever
I may find it. But alas, wretch that I am, I
find none. For I know well that I have
offended not my Creator alone but together with
Him all His creation. Therefore my Creator
with all His creation doth condemn me, being
grievously offended at my sins; and my own
conscience, having knowledge of my evil deeds,
doth beset me on every side with accusations.
And so I find no comfort, nor do I think that I
can readily have any. What then shall I do?
whither shall I turn myself? For I am left
desolate, and the wickedness of my sins compasseth me round about. If I desire to return
to Him who created me upright, and call upon
His unspeakable goodness to have mercy upon
me, then am I greatly afraid lest by so great
daring I should move Him to anger against me,
and lest He should take a more dreadful vengeance
upon my misdeeds, whereby I have not feared
to outrage His loving kindness. What then?
Shall I remain where I am, desperate and without help or counsel? Hitherto hath my Maker
suffered me to live; hitherto He ceaseth not to
provide me with all those things which are necessary to the sustenance of this life: and I find it
true by experience thereof that my sins have not
up to this day so much prevailed against His
goodness, that He should put me to confusion,
as I have deserved, or should utterly destroy me.
Most surely therefore is He gracious toward me,
since He bestoweth so great goodness upon me,
neither hath sought hitherto to avenge Him of
mine iniquities.

I have heard, and according to the witness of
those that have had experience thereof, it is a
true report that I have heard, that He is the
Fountain of Mercy, which began to flow from
the beginning of the world, and yet floweth unto
this day. He was very merciful, they say, and
gracious unto our first father Adam, when he
committed that sin of eating the forbidden fruit,
in that He condemned him not straightway, as
he had deserved, to everlasting perdition, but
with patience awaited his amendment, and in
His mercy helped him that he might be enabled
to return into the favour of Him whom he had
offended.

Many times therefore He sent His angel
unto him, and unto those who were born of him,
warning them that they should return unto Him and repent them of their iniquities, for that He
would yet with joy receive them, if with all
their heart they would repent them of their sins.
But they yet, continuing in their sins and despising His admonitions, added sin to sin, and
became as it were beside themselves and abominable in their wickedness, since, being made in
honour after the likeness of God, they began
contrary to nature to live after the manner of
brute beasts. He sent moreover patriarchs, He
sent prophets, but not even so would they leave
their crooked and perverse ways; but some of
them who spoke unto them wholesome warnings,
they slew; others they vexed with manifold and
strange torments. Yet did He chastise them
from time to time, as a merciful Father, not that
He, being provoked by their evil deeds, might
avenge Himself upon them for their scorn of
Him, but that they being corrected might return
unto His mercy, who by no means willeth the
destruction of those whom in His goodness He
hath created.

But when neither for often admonition nor for
often correction would they return unto Him,
the Fountain of Pity could no longer restrain
Himself, but coming down from the bosom of
the Father, and taking upon Him very manhood,
taking upon Him the form of sinners, He began
to admonish them in gentleness even then to
repent of their sins unto salvation and to acknowledge Him to be the Son of God. For there is
no sin so grievous but it may be put away by repentance, so that the very devil himself can no
longer remember it. Therefore did sinners, seeing the sweet gentleness of their Creator, begin
themselves to run zealously unto the Fountain of
Mercy, the Fountain of Pity, and to wash away
their sins therein. The Fountain of Pity also
Himself began to eat and drink with sinners,
began to open to them the sacramental blessings
of holy confession, for in true confession all stain
of guilt is washed away.

After this, as the time drew near at which
He was to suffer for the redemption of sinners,
the Jews, from whose stock He sprang according to the flesh, being moved by envy, crucified
Him, because He was good and merciful. But
He nevertheless even in the act of death did not
forget His goodness, but prayed to His Father for
His murderers, that He might forgive them this
sin; for they know not, saith He, what they do.(Luke xxiii. 34).
The Lord that willeth not the death of a sinner,
but rather that he should be converted and live.(Ezek. xxxiii. 11).
in His most sweet goodness maketh excuse for
them. Whose heart is so hard, whose so strong,
that this great kindness of our Creator cannot
soften? For when His creature, whom He had
created after His own image and likeness, so
much dishonoured Him, yet did He not avenge
Himself, but though dishonoured and provoked
by their many evil deeds, patiently suffered them
and gently admonished them to return to Him
without delay. Good therefore and gentle is
our Lord Jesus Christ; as is said by the prophet,
He willeth not the death of a sinner, but that
he should forsake his evil ways,(Ezek. xviii. 23). and so, repenting of his iniquities, return to the favour of His
Creator. Again how merciful He is toward the
soul that sinneth, He declareth by another prophet,
exhorting it that even after sinning it should
return to Him and find mercy;(Isa. lv. 7). saying, Thou
hast played the harlot with many lovers:(Jerem. iii. 1). that
is, Thou that in baptism didst promise to be
faithful unto Me, hast polluted thy chastity with
many lovers; yet repent and return again to Me,
and I will receive thee. Therefore let no sinner
despair, when she that played the harlot with
many lovers is received again; because no sins of
ours can dry up, no wickednesses pollute the
Fountain of Pity and Mercy, even Jesus Christ,
but ever pure and welling forth with the sweetness of His grace He receiveth all the weak and
sinful that return to Him, and washeth them
clean from all sins whatsoever wherewith they
are stained. And that all sinners and unrighteous
men may be assured that they do in truth receive
the forgiveness of their sins, if they do but take
care to lay aside their sins and to repent, He
Himself, the Fountain of Pity, for the love which
He had toward them, suffered that very flesh
which He took for their sakes, as I above set
forth, to be nailed to the cross, that they who
were dead in sins and could not otherwise return to life, except they were redeemed by the price
of His blood, might look upon the price which
was paid for their sins and by no means despair.

When therefore I behold this great goodness
of my Lord Jesus Christ, and how so many
sinners run to the Fountain of Pity, and none
are refused, but all are received, must I alone be
without hope, and fear that the very Fountain
of Pity that cleanseth others should not be able
to wash away my sins also? .1 know, I know
of a truth, and do surely believe that He who
cleanseth others can cleanse me also, and if He
will, for He is most mighty, forgive me all my
sins. But between sinner and sinner there is a
great difference, that is between him that sinneth
more and him that sinneth less. Whence I,
considering how greatly I have sinned, and by
how great unrighteousness my unhappy soul is
polluted, perceive that I am not only equal unto
other sinners but am a sinner more than any
sinner, and above all sinners. For many have
sinned, and then left sinning; some, though they
sinned often, yet did at some time make an end
of doing evil; again others, though they have
done much evil, have not failed to do much
good also, whereby they have merited either to
be wholly forgiven the evil which they did, or
have obtained that the pains of hell should be
made more tolerable unto them. But I, miserable man that I am, a miserable sinner above all
miserable sinners, perceiving and knowing the
greatness of the destruction down into which my sin and the pleasure of sin was driving me, have
yet not taken care to cease at any time from sins
and wickedness, but have ever added sin to sin,
and so have lightly and of mine own will plunged
myself to my sorrow into the perdition prepared
for sin, and, did not the immeasurable goodness
of the Lord still bear with me, I ought long
since to have been swallowed up by hell. I
then, who have lived thus, who have committed
so much evil, how shall I dare to run with other
sinners who have not done so great evil, unto
the Fountain of Mercy? For perhaps, so great
is the stench of my sin, that He will not cleanse
me, as He cleanseth other sinners whose stench
is less intolerable than mine. Help me therefore,
O Lord Jesus Christ, help Thy creature, although
overwhelmed by the greatness of his sins, yet looking upon the work of Thy hands, help him that he
despair not; for, as we believe, no wickedness is
so monstrous that it can prevail against Thee, if
only the sinner despair not of Thy mercy.

Suffer me therefore, O Lord Jesus Christ,
suffer me to look upon Thine unspeakable goodness, and declare how gracious and good Thou
art toward miserable sinners. I have said it
before, but it delighteth me greatly, so often as
fit occasion serveth, to remember how great is
the grace of Thy sweet goodness toward sinners.
For the love of men then, and for their redemption, not of those only who sin more or less, but
even of those who sin beyond measure, if they
do but repent, Thou didst descend from the bosom of the Father and enter into the womb of
the Virgin, and take of her true flesh; and by
Thy conversation in the world didst call all
sinners to repentance and so, dying according to
the flesh, didst restore to them the life which
for their sins they had justly forfeited.

And so, when I look back on the evil deeds
which I have wrought, if Thou wouldst have
me judge myself after my deserts, I am assured
of my perdition; but when I have respect unto
Thy death, which Thou didst suffer for the
redemption of sinners, I do not despair of Thy
mercy. That robber, who for his sins was
crucified with Thee, was ever in sin up to the
time of his departure out of this life, yet, because
in the very hour of his giving up the ghost he
confessed his sin and cried out upon his fault,
he found mercy and was that day with Thee in
Paradise.(Luke xxiii. 43). Therefore beholding Thee put to
death for the redemption of sinners, Thy hands
and feet pierced with nails, Thy side opened by
the soldier’s spear, the stream of blood and
water coming out of that side of Thine,(John xix. 34). ought
I to despair? There is but one thing which
Thou wilt have, without which no sinner can be
saved, to wit, that we repent us of our sins, and,
so far as we may, strive to amend our lives. If
we do this, we are sure that if but our last day
find us so doing (since we have the example
of the robber, who even so won salvation in his
last hour) we may, trusting in the unspeakable
goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, fear the
accusations of our enemy but little or not at all.
Having therefore before our eyes the price of
our redemption, that is, the death and blood of
our Redeemer, which was shed for the remission
of our sins; having also the example of the
robber, and of many compassed about by many
and great sins, whom the Fountain of Pity,
Jesus Christ, in His mercy loosed from them,
let us not despair, but run to the Fountain of
Pity Himself, in sure and certain hope of obtaining the forgiveness of our sins there, where we
see and acknowledge so many and so great
sinners to have been washed clean, and let us
assure ourselves that we in like manner may be
washed clean by the same Fountain of Mercy,
if we abstain from our sins and wickedness and,
so far as we may, strive hereafter to do good.
But to abstain from evil and to do good we
are not able by our own power without His
help. Let us implore therefore His unspeakable
mercy, who was pleased to make us when as
yet we were not, that He may grant us in this
life, before we go hence, to amend our lives and
to cleanse them with earnest sorrow, that this
life ended we may be enabled to come unto
Him by a straight road, none hindering us, to be
with Him in everlasting glory with the choirs
of angels and all saints, who already enjoy that
glory in joy without end.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Meditation IV

Concerning the Redemption of Mankind.

O CHRISTIAN soul, soul raised up from a grievous death, soul redeemed and delivered from a miserable slavery by the blood of
God, arouse thy mind from sleep, bethink thee
of thy resurrection, remember thy redemption
and deliverance. Consider where and what is
the strength of thy salvation,(Ps. cxl. 7). occupy thyself in
meditating thereon, delight thyself in the contemplation thereof; put away thy daintiness,
force thyself, give thy mind thereto; taste of
the goodness of thy Redeemer, kindle within
thyself the love of thy Saviour. With thy
mind eat of the honeycomb of His words, with
thine understanding suck out their sweetness, for
they are sweeter than honey;(Ps. xix. 10); cxix. 103. by loving them
and rejoicing therein feed thou upon them, for
they are savoury and wholesome withal. Rejoice in that eating, be glad in that sucking out
of the sweetness, make merry in that feeding
upon them. Where then and what is the
power and might of thy salvation? Surely it is
Christ that hath raised thee up. He, the good
Samaritan, hath healed thee; He, thy good
Friend, with His own life hath redeemed and
delivered thee; even Christ, I say, and none
else. Therefore it is Christ that is the strength of thy salvation. Where is this strength that
is Christ? He hath horns coming out of His
hands; and there was the hiding of His power.(Habakkuk iii. 4). The word
horns here means rays,
as it is translated in the Revised Version. The traditional representation of Moses with horns on his head
is due to a similar literal understanding of (Exod.
xxxiv. 29), where it is said that the skin of his face
sent forth horns, that is, rays of light, after his converse with God in the Mount.
Horns He hath in His hands, because His
hands are fastened to the arms of the Cross.
But what power is there in this great weakness?
what loftiness in that great lowliness? what that
is honourable in that great humiliation? Verily
it is therefore a hiding of His power; it is
hidden, because it is in weakness; concealed,
because in lowliness; secret, because in humiliation. O hidden power! that a Man, hanging
upon the Cross should hang up thereon that
eternal death which oppressed mankind, that a
Man bound to a tree should unbind the world
which was made fast to death everlasting! O
concealed loftiness! that a Man condemned with
robbers should save men who were condemned
with devils, that a Man stretched upon the Cross
should draw all things unto Himself!(John xii. 32), acc. to the Vulgate. O secret
might! that one Soul yielded in torment should draw souls innumerable out of
hell, that a Man should endure the death of the body, and destroy thereby the
death of souls!

Wherefore, O good Lord, O gracious Redeemer, wherefore didst Thou veil so great power
in so great lowliness? Was it that Thou
mightest thereby deceive the devil, who by
deceiving man did cast him out of paradise?
But of a surety the Truth deceiveth none. He
who knoweth not, who believeth not the truth,
deceiveth himself; and whoso seeth the truth
and hateth it or despiseth it, deceiveth himself;
the truth deceiveth none. Was it therefore
that the devil might deceive himself? But as
the Truth deceiveth none, so neither doth it
go about to make any deceive himself, though,
when it permitteth it, it be said to do it. For
Thou didst not take upon Thyself the nature of
man, to hide Thyself from those who knew
Thee, but to reveal Thyself to those that knew
Thee not. Thou didst call Thyself very God
and very Man, and didst show Thyself such by
Thy works. The thing was secret of its own
nature, it was not of said purpose made secret:
it was not so done as to be hid, but so as to be
accomplished in due course; not to deceive any,
but to be done as it ought to be done. And if
it be called secret, that signified! no more than
that it was not revealed to all. For although
the Truth reveal not itself to all, to none doth
it deny itself. Therefore, O Lord, Thou didst
do thus, neither to deceive any, nor to cause any
to deceive himself, but, that Thou mightest do
what was to be done as it ought to be done,
Thou didst throughout abide in the truth. Let
him therefore that deceiveth himself in Thy truth, complain not of Thee, but of his own
unfaithfulness to truth.

Shall we say that the devil had any just claim against God or
against men, on account whereof God must first thus deal with him on man’s
behalf, before He may put forth openly His mighty power, so that by unjustly
slaying a just man, he might justly lose the power which he had over the unjust?
But surely God owed the devil nothing but the punishment of his sins; neither
did man owe him anything except to overcome sin in his turn, so that as man once
through committing sin suffered himself to be easily overcome by the devil, so
man should overcome the devil in the very straits of death, by keeping even
therein his righteousness unimpaired. But even this too man owed not to the
devil but to God only. For the sin which he committed was not against the devil,
but against God; neither did man belong to the devil, but man and the devil
alike belonged to God. And in that the devil afflicted men, this he did not out
of zeal for righteousness, but out of zeal for wickedness; not by the command of
God, but by His permission only; because it was required by the justice, not of
the devil, but of God. There was therefore nothing in the devil, by reason
whereof God ought to have hidden or deferred the operation of His mighty power
for the salvation of man.[32]

Was there then any necessity that constrained
the Most High so to humble Himself, and the
Almighty to accomplish a work with so great
labour? Nay, all necessity and impossibility is
dependent upon His will. For whatsoever He
willeth, must of necessity be; and what He
willeth not, it is impossible should be. Therefore of His free will alone, and because His
will is ever good, out of mere goodness did He
do this. For God wrought thus, not that He
might in this manner, and no other accomplish
the salvation of men; but it was the nature of
man that required it in this manner to make
satisfaction to God. God had no need to
suffer things so troublesome, but man had need
thus to be reconciled to God. God had no
need of this humiliation, but man had need of
being thus delivered out of the depths of hell.
Now the divine nature neither needed humiliation or toil, nor was capable thereof. But
human nature must suffer all this, that it might
be restored to that state for which it was
created; yet neither human nature nor aught
that was less than God could be sufficient to
this work. For man is not restored to that
state for which he was made, if he be not
advanced to be like unto the angels, in whom
is no sin; and this cannot be, except he have
received remission of all sins, which may not be
done, unless full satisfaction have been made for
them. Now this satisfaction can only be made,
if the sinner, or someone on his behalf, offer of his own to God something which is not due to
God, but which surpasseth whatsoever is not
God. For if sin consisteth in the dishonouring
of God, and if man ought not to dishonour
God, even if it were necessary that everything
which is not God should perish, then the unchangeable truth and manifest reason of the
thing requireth that whatsoever sinneth should
render to God, for the honour whereof it hath
robbed Him, something greater than that at the
cost whereof he was bound not to dishonour Him.
But because human nature by itself had nothing
so great to offer, and yet without such satisfaction
made could not be reconciled, lest the justice of
God should leave within His kingdom a sin for
which no satisfaction could be made, the goodness of God came to the aid of His justice, and
the Son of God took the nature of man upon
Him in His own person, so that in that one
person there should be a God-man, who should
have a sacrifice to offer, exceeding in value not
only everything that is not God, but also every
debt that sinners ought to pay to God, and so,
owing nothing Himself, should give this in payment for others, who had not wherewith to pay
that which they owed. For the life of the man
who is God is more precious than everything
that is not God; and surpasseth every debt
which sinners owe for the satisfaction of God.
For if the putting to death of this Man exceedeth
all sins which can be conceived, howsoever many
and great they be, so they touch not the person of God, it is
manifest that the goodness of His life is greater than the evil of all sins
which touch not the person of God. That life this Man who had not incurred the
debt of death, because He had no sin, offered freely of His own to the honour of
the Father, since He suffered it to be taken from Him for righteousness sake, to
give an example to all that the righteousness of God should not be abandoned by us
even unto that death, which they must at some
time incur as a debt due from them; since He
who had not incurred that death, and might
without abandoning righteousness have escaped
it, yet when it was brought upon Him suffered
it freely for righteousness sake. Thus in that
Man human nature offered to God freely and
not as of debt what was its own, that it might
redeem itself in the persons of others in whom
it had not that which was due as a debt to offer.
In all this the divine nature was not abased, but
the human was exalted; the divine was not
minished but the human in mercy sustained.

Neither did human nature in that Man suffer
anything through any necessity, but through free
will alone. Neither was it overcome by any
violence, but of its own accord, out of goodness
unconstrained, it endured to God’s honour and
the profit of other men those things which the
evil will of others brought upon it not through
the compulsion of any obligation, but through
the appointment of a wisdom that had power to
accomplish its purposes. For the Father did not by His commandment compel that Man to
die, but that which He knew would be pleasing
to the Father and profitable to men, that of His
own free will He performed: for the Father
could not compel Him to do that which He
had no right to exact of Him; neither could
this great act of honour but be pleasing to the
Father, which His Son freely offered to Him.
Thus therefore He rendered unto the Father a
free obedience, in willing freely to do that which
He knew would be pleasing to the Father. But
because the Father bestowed upon Him this
good will, though it were free, yet is it rightly
said that[33] He received it as the commandment
of the Father.(John x. 18). In this manner therefore He
was obedient to the Father even unto death;(Philipp. ii. 8).
and as the Father gave Him commandment,
even so He did:(John xiv. 31). and He drank the cup which
His Father had given unto Him.(John xviii. 11). This is the
perfect and free obedience of human nature,
when it freely submitteth its own free will to
God’s will, and hath then of its own accord
carried out in deed that good purpose which
God hath not exacted but accepted. Thus this
Man redeemeth all others, in that He reckoneth
that which He hath freely given to God, as the
debt which they owed to God. And by this
price man is not only once redeemed from his
faults but, so often as he returneth to God
in worthy penitence, he is received; yet this worthy penitence is not promised to the sinner.
As to that which was done on the Cross, by His
Cross hath our Christ redeemed us. They therefore who desire to approach unto this grace with
a worthy affection are saved; but they who
despise it, because they pay not the debt which
they owe, are condemned.[34]

Behold, O Christian soul, this is the power of
thy salvation, this the cause of thy liberty, this
the price of thy redemption. Thou wast a
captive and in this wise wast thou redeemed.
Thou wast a slave, and thus wast thou made
free; an exile and thus brought home; lost and
thus found; dead and thus raised up. Upon this,
O man, let thy heart feed, this let it inwardly
digest, sucking out the sweetness and relishing
the goodness thereof, at such times as thy mouth receiveth the flesh and blood of Him, thy
Redeemer. Make this thy daily bread and
sustenance in this life, and thy provision for the
way,[35] for by this and by this alone shalt thou
both abide in Christ and Christ in thee, and in
the life to come shall He be thy full joy.

But, O Lord, Thou that didst endure death
that I might live, how shall I rejoice in my
freedom, seeing it cometh but of the chains that
bound Thee? how shall I take pleasure in my
salvation, since it is wrought but by Thy sufferings? how shall I be glad of my life, which
cometh only by Thy death? Shall I be glad
of Thy sufferings and of their cruelty that did
these things unto Thee? Or if I grieve for
Thee, how shall I be glad of that for the sake
whereof these things were done, and which
would not be, had these things not been? But
indeed their wickedness could have done nothing,
except by Thy free sufferance, nor didst Thou
suffer them except because in Thy goodness
Thou didst will it so. And thus I ought to
curse their cruelty, to imitate Thy death and
sufferings by fellowship therein, by thanksgiving
to show my love toward the kindness of Thy
purpose concerning me, and so safely to rejoice
in the good things which have been bestowed
upon me by those means.

Therefore, thou poor silly man, leave their
cruelty to the judgment of God, and consider
what thou owest to Thy Saviour. Remember
how it was with thee, and what was done for
thee, and consider how worthy is He of thy
love who did this for thee. Behold thy need
and His goodness, and see what thanks thou
shouldest render Him and how much thou
owest unto His love. Thou wast in darkness,
in a slippery place, in the way that goeth down
into the pit of hell, whence is no returning; a
huge weight as of lead hanging upon thy neck
did drag thee downwards, thy back was bowed
down by a burden thou wast not able to bear,
invisible foes drove thee onward with all their
might. Thus wast thou without all help and
knewest it not, because in this state was I conceived and born. O how was it then with
thee? Whither were they hurrying thee? think
thereon and tremble, consider and be afraid.
O good Lord Jesus Christ, when I was thus
set in the midst of these dangers and knew it
not nor sought for deliverance, Thou didst shine
forth upon me like the sun, and show me in
what state I stood. Thou didst cast away that
leaden weight which dragged me downwards;
Thou didst remove the heavy burden which
bowed me to the earth; Thou didst drive
away them that urged me forward and didst
set Thy face against them in my behalf. Thou
didst call me by a new name which Thou
gavest me after Thine own name. I was bowed together, and Thou didst lift me up to look upon
Thy face, saying, Trust in Me, I have redeemed
thee, I have given My life for thee; if thou
cleave to Me, thou shalt escape the evils which
were about thee, and shalt not fall into the pit
whither thou wast hastening; I will lead thee
unto My kingdom, and make thee an heir of
God and joint heir with Me. Afterwards didst
Thou receive me into Thy care, so that nothing
should harm my soul against Thy will; and
behold, though I have not stuck fast unto Thee,
as Thou didst bid me, yet hast Thou not
suffered me to fall into hell, but still lookest
that I should cleave unto Thee and Thou do
what Thou didst promise. Indeed, O Lord,
thus I was, and these things hast Thou done
unto me. I was in darkness, and knew nothing,
not even myself; in a slippery place, because I
was weak and frail, and ready to fall into sin;
on the road downwards into the pit of hell,
because in my first parents I had fallen from
righteousness into unrighteousness, whereby is
made the descent into hell, and from blessedness
into temporal misery, whence one must fall into
misery eternal. The weight of original sin
dragged me downwards, and the insupportable
burden of God’s judgment bowed down my
back, and mine enemies the devils pressed hotly
upon me, that, so far as in them lay, they might
make me to sin yet more and so bring upon
myself a greater condemnation. Thus was I
destitute of all help when Thou didst shine forth upon me and show me in what state I
stood. For even when I could not yet understand it, Thou didst teach all this to others who
stood in my place,[36] and afterwards to myself,
before I sought for it. Thou didst cast away
the leaden weight that dragged me downwards,
and the burden that was heavy upon my back,
and the enemies that urged me to destruction,
because Thou didst take away the sin wherein
I was born and conceived, and the condemnation
thereof, and didst forbid the wicked spirits to
do any violence to my soul. Thou madest me
to be called a Christian after Thy name; as
Christ I confess Thee, as a Christian Thou
knowest me among my redeemed; Thou hast
lifted and raised me up to know and to love
Thee; Thou hast made me to trust in the
salvation of my soul, for the sake whereof Thou
gavest Thy life, and Thou hast promised me
Thy glory if I will follow Thee. And so,
though even as yet I do not follow Thee as
Thou didst counsel me, but have done many
new sins which Thou hast forbidden, yet still
Thou waitest till I shall follow Thee and Thou
give me what Thou hast promised.

Consider, O my soul, consider earnestly, all
that is within me, how much my whole being
oweth unto Him. Truly, O Lord, because
Thou madest me, I owe unto Thy love my
whole self; because Thou didst redeem me, I
owe Thee my whole self; because Thou makest
me such great promises, I owe Thee my whole
self, nay more, I owe unto Thy love more than
myself, insomuch as Thou art greater than I,
for whom Thou didst give Thyself, to whom
Thou dost promise Thyself. Make me, I
beseech Thee, O Lord, to taste by love that
which I taste by knowledge; to perceive by
affection what I perceive by understanding. I
owe more than my whole self to Thee, but I
have no more than this, neither can I of myself
render even all this to Thee. Draw me, O
Lord, into Thy love, even this whole self of
mine. All that I am is Thine by creation,
make it to be all Thine by love. Behold, O
Lord, my heart is before Thee; it striveth, but
of itself it cannot do what it would; do Thou
do that which of itself it cannot do. Bring me
into the secret chamber of Thy love. I ask,
I seek, I knock. Thou who makest me to
ask, make me also to receive; Thou grantest
me to seek, grant me also to find; Thou
teachest me to knock, do Thou open to my
knocking. To whom dost Thou give, if Thou
deniest him that asketh? Who is he that
findeth, if he that seeketh is disappointed?
What dost Thou give to him that prayeth not,
if to him that prayeth Thou deniest Thy love?
From Thee have I my desire; from Thee may
I have also the accomplishment thereof. Cleave
thou unto Him, cleave unto Him right earnestly,
O my soul! O good Lord, good Lord, cast
her not away! She is sick with hunger for Thy love, do Thou cherish her, and let her be
satisfied with Thy loving-kindness, enriched by
Thy favour, fulfilled by Thy love; yet let Thy
love lay hold upon me and possess me wholly,
because Thou art with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, the one only God, blessed for ever world
without end. Amen.

Prayers Of St Anselm

I

A Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving to God.[37]

I GIVE Thee thanks and praise, O my God,
my Mercy, who hast vouchsafed to lead me
unto the conception of Thee,[38] and by the washing
of holy baptism to number me among Thy
children by adoption. I give Thee thanks and
praise, for that Thou hast patience with me in
Thine unbounded goodness, waiting for amendment of life in me, who have abounded in sins
from my childhood even unto this hour. Thee
I praise, Thee I glorify, who by the arm of Thy
might hast often delivered me out of many distresses calamities and miseries, and hitherto hast
spared me eternal pains and bodily torments.[39] I
praise Thee and glorify Thee, for that Thou hast vouchsafed to grant unto me soundness of
body, a quiet life, the love, affection and charity
of Thy servants toward me, for all these things
are the gifts of Thy goodness. Holy of holies,
who makest all things holy, I bless Thee, I
glorify Thee, I worship Thee, I give thanks to
Thee.[40] Let all Thy creatures bless Thee, let
all Thine angels and saints bless Thee. Let me
bless Thee in all the actions of my life. Let all
my frame, without and within, glorify and bless
Thee. My salvation, my light, my glory, let
mine eyes see Thee, which Thou hast created
and prepared to look upon the beauty of Thine
excellency. My music, my delight, let mine
ears bless Thee, which Thou hast created and
prepared to hear the voice of Thy cheerful
salvation. My sweetness, my refreshment, let
my nostrils bless Thee, which Thou hast made
to live and take pleasure in the sweet odour of
Thine ointments,See (Cant. i. 3). My praise, my new song,See (Ps. xl. 3); (Rev. xiv. 3), etc.
my rejoicing, let my tongue bless and magnify
Thee, which Thou hast created and prepared to
tell forth Thy wonderful works. My wisdom,
my meditation, my counsel, let my heart adore
and bless Thee for ever, which Thou hast pre
pared and given unto me to discern Thine unspeakable mercies. My life, my happiness, let
my soul, sinful though she be, bless Thee, which
Thou hast created and prepared to enjoy Thy
goodness.

Father adorable and terrible, worthy of worship
and of fear, I bless Thee, whom I have loved,
whom I have sought, whom I have ever desired.
My God, my lover, I thirst after Thee, I hunger
for Thee, I pour out my supplications to Thee,
with all the groanings of my heart I crave for
Thee. Even as a mother, when her only son is
taken from her, sitteth weeping and lamenting
continually beside his sepulchre, even so I also,
as I can, not as I ought, having in mind Thy
passion, Thy buffetings, Thy scourgings, Thy
wounds, remembering how Thou wast slain for
my sake, how Thou wast embalmed, how and
where Thou wast buried, sit with Mary at the
sepulchre in my heart, weeping.See (John xx. 11). Where faith hath
laid Thee, hope seeketh to find Thee, love to anoint Thee. Most gracious, most
excellent, most sweet, who will bring me to find Thee without the sepulchre, to
wash Thy wounds
with my tears, even the marks of the nails. Ye
daughters of Jerusalem, tell my Beloved that I am
sick of love.(Cant. v. 8). Let Him show Himself to me, let
Him make Himself known unto me. Let Him
call me by my name;See (John xx. 16). let Him give me rest
from my sorrow.

For my sorrow can take no rest while I am
an exile from Thy presence, O my God. Come
now, O Lord, reveal Thy face to me, show Thy
mercy to those that implore it. We know that
Thy resurrection is accomplished, manifest to our eyes Thy blessed incorruption. O Thou
wonderful one, above all estimation and comparison, I desired Thee, I hoped for Thee, I
sought Thee. Lo, Thou Thyself comest,
clothed in purple; Thou art red in Thine apparel.(Isa. lxiii. 2). Thou hast
washed Thy garments in wine
and Thy clothes in the blood of grapes.(Gen. xlix. 11). Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked,
when Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy
people.(Hab. iii. 13).

Abide with us,(Luke xxiv. 29). abide with us until the morning. Let us enjoy Thy presence; let us be
glad and rejoice in Thy resurrection. The
darkness thickens, the evening cometh fast.See (Luke xxiv. 29).
May our Sun, the Light eternal, Christ our
God show us the light of His countenance!(Ps. lxvii. 1).

But what is this? Alas, my Lord, alas, my
soul! Thou liftest up Thine hands.See (Luke xxiv. 50). Lo, Thou
goest upon Thy way. The heavens meet Thee,
the skies are bowed under Thee, a cloud is prepared to receive Thee in Thine ascension.See (Acts i. 9). Now
shall my tears be my meat day and night.(Ps. xlii. 3). I will
feed upon my griefs, I will give my soul to drink
of my sorrows. My life shall wax old in heaviness, and my years in mourning.(Ps. xxxi.
11). Whom have I
in heaven but Thee; and there is none upon earth
that I desire in comparison of Thee?(Ps. lxxiii. 24). With my
soul will I desire Thee in the night: yea with my
spirit within me will I seek Thee early.(Isa. xxvi. 9). Yet in the meanwhile wilt
Thou come unto us, O Lord, because Thou art gracious, and wilt not tarry,(Heb. x. 37).
because Thou art good. To Thee be glory,
world without end. Amen.

Prayers Of St Anselm

II

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit.[41]

NOW, O Thou Love that art the bond of
the Godhead, Thou that art the holy
Love which is betwixt the Father Almighty
and His most blessed Son, Thou Almighty
Spirit, the Comforter, the most merciful consoler of them that mourn, do Thou enter by
Thy mighty power into the innermost sanctuary
of my heart, and of Thy goodness dwell therein,
making glad with the brightness of Thy glorious
light the neglected corners thereof, and making
fruitful by the visitation of Thine abundant dew
the fields that are parched and barren with long
continued drought. Pierce with the arrows of
Thy love the secret chambers of the inner man.
Let the entrance of Thy healthful flames set the
sluggish heart alight, and the burning fire of
Thy sacred inspiration enlighten it and consume all that is within me, both of mind and body.
Give me drink of Thy pleasures as out of the
river(Ps. xxxvi. 8).; so that I may take no pleasure hereafter
in the poisonous sweetness of worldly delights.
Give sentence with me, God, and defend my
cause against the ungodly people.(Ps. xliii. 1). Teach me to
do the thing that pleaseth Thee, for Thou art my
God.(Ps. cxliii. 10). I believe that in whomsoever Thou
dost dwell, Thou makest there an habitation
for the Father and for the Son. Blessed is
he who shall be counted worthy to entertain
Thee; because by Thee the Father and the
Son shall make their abode with him.(John xiv. 23).

Come, O come, most gracious consoler of the
soul that sorroweth, Thou refuge in due time of
trouble.(Ps. ix. 9). Come, Thou cleanser from sin, Thou
healer of wounds.[42] Come, Thou strength of
the weak, Thou lifter up of them that fall.
Come, Thou teacher of the lowly and destroyer
of the proud. Come, Thou gracious father of
the fatherless, Thou gentle defender of the
cause of the widows.(Ps. lxviii. 5). Come, Thou hope of
the poor, and cherisher of the sick. Come,
Thou star of the seafarer, Thou haven of the
shipwrecked. Come, Thou that art the only
glory of them that live, the only salvation of
them that die. Come, most holy Spirit, come
and have mercy upon me, and fit me to receive Thee: and graciously grant to me that my
littleness may be pleasing to Thy greatness,
my weakness to Thy strength, according to
the multitude of Thy mercies, through Jesus
Christ my Saviour, who liveth and reigneth
with the Father in the Unity that is of Thee,
world without end. Amen.

Prayers Of St Anselm

III

A Prayer to Christ for my friends.[43]

O SWEET and gracious Lord Jesus Christ,
who hast shown unto us such charitable
love as no man hath greater, nor can any man
have so great; Thou who didst not deserve to
die,[44] and yet didst lay down Thy life in Thy
goodness for Thy servants, and didst pray even for Thy murderers,(Luke xxiii. 34). that Thou mightest make
them Thy brethren and sharers in Thy righteousness, and reconcile them to Thy merciful Father
and to Thyself; Thou, O Lord, who didst
show this great charity to Thine enemies, didst
also command Thy friends to show the like. O good Lord, with what affection shall I call
to mind Thine inestimable charity? What
reward shall I give(Ps. cxvi. 11). for Thine unspeakable
benefit? For the sweetness of Thy grace exceedeth all affection, and the greatness of
Thy benefit surpasseth all reward. What
reward then shall I give unto Him who created
me, and created me anew? What reward shall I give unto Him that had mercy upon me and
redeemed me? O Lord, Thou art my God, my
goods are nothing unto Thee.(Ps. xvi. 2). The whole world is Thine and all that is
therein.(Ps. l. 12). What reward
shall I, who am poor and needy,(Ps. xl. 20). who am a
worm,(Ps. xxii. 6). who am dust and ashes,(Gen. xviii. 27). give unto my
God, except to obey His commandment from
my heart. And this is Thy commandment. That
we love another.(John xv. 12).

O Thou that art good as man, as God, as
Lord, as friend, as whatsoever Thou art, Thy
humble, Thy despicable servant desires to obey
this Thy commandment. Thou knowest, O
Lord, that I am in love with that love which Thou commandest.[45] I seek that love, I follow
after it, for the sake thereof I, thy poor and
needy(Ps. xl. 20). servant knock and cry out at the door of
Thy mercy. And in so far forth as I have
already received the sweet alms of Thy free
bounty, and love all men in Thee and for Thy
sake, though not as I ought, nor as I would,
I entreat Thee to show mercy to all men.

Nevertheless, as there are some the love of
whom Thy loving-kindness hast in an especial
manner more intimately impressed upon my
heart, I do more ardently wish them well and
desire more earnestly to pray for them. Very
great is Thy servant’s longing[46] to pray for
them, O good God: yet he is afraid to appear
in the company of his loved ones, because he is
guilty before Thee. For with what countenance shall I, who am not worthy to ask pardon
for myself, presume to entreat Thy favour for
others? And I who anxiously seek others to
pray for me, with what confidence can I pray
for them? What shall I do, Lord God, what
shall I do? Thou biddest me pray for them,
and my love desires to pray for them, yet while
my conscience cries out that I should tremble for my own sins, I am afraid to speak for others.
Shall I then disobey Thy bidding, because I
have done what Thou hast forbidden? Nay
rather, since I have presumed to do what Thou
hast forbidden, I will embrace that which Thou
hast commanded, if perchance obedience may
treat my presumption, if perchance charity may
cover the multitude of my sins.(1 Peter iv. 8).

Therefore I pray to Thee, O good and
gracious God, for those who love me for Thy
sake, and whom I love in Thee; and for those
most earnestly, in whose love toward me and in
my love toward whom Thou knowest to be the
most sincerity. And I do this, O my Lord,
not as a righteous man, without fear for his own
sins, but as one who is afraid out of his poor
charity for the sins of others. Do Thou therefore be loving unto them, O Fountain of love,
who commandest me to love them, and givest
me love toward them. And if my prayer be
unworthy to profit them, because it is offered
unto Thee by a sinner, let it yet prevail on
their behalf, because it is made at the instance
of Thy commandment. Therefore for Thine
own sake, O author and giver of love, for Thine
own sake, not for mine, do Thou show love
towards them; and make them love Thee with
all their heart, with all their mind, with all their
soul; so that they may will, speak and do only
those things that please Thee and are expedient
for themselves. Too lukewarm, O my Lord, too lukewarm is my prayer, because my love is
too little fervent. Yet bestow not Thy benefits
upon them, O Thou that art rich in mercies,
according to the measure of my slothful devotion;
but, as Thy goodness exceedeth all the love of
man, so may Thine answer exceed the affection
of my supplication. Do unto them and concerning them, O Lord, that which is expedient
for them according to Thy will, that they may
so be guided and protected by Thee at all times
and in all places as to come at last to a
glorious and everlasting security. Who livest
and reignest, with the Father and the Holy
Ghost, world without end. Amen.

Prayers Of St Anselm

IV

A Prayer to Christ for my Enemies.[47]

LORD Jesus Christ, Lord of all power and
goodness, whom I pray to be gracious to
my friends. Thou knowest what my heart
desireth for mine enemies. For Thou, O God, who triest the very hearts and reins,(Ps. vii. 10). Thou
knowest the secrets of my heart within me.
For it is not hidden from Thee. If Thou
hast sown in the soul of Thy servant what he
may offer to Thee, and if that enemy(Matt. xiii. 28). and I
have sown there likewise what is to be burned with fire,(Matt. xiii. 30). that also is before Thine eyes.
Despise not, most gracious God, that which
Thou hast sown, but cherish it and give it
increase and bring it to perfection and preserve
it for ever. For as I could begin no good
thing without Thee, so can I neither finish it
nor keep it in safety except by Thy help.
Judge me not, O merciful God, according to
that which displeaseth Thee in me, but take
away what Thou hast not planted, and save my
soul which Thou hast created. For I cannot
amend myself without Thee, because if we be
good it is Thou that dost make us and not we ourselves.(Ps. c. 2). Neither can my soul endure Thy judgment, if Thou wilt judge her according to her
wickedness. Thou therefore, O Lord, who
alone art mighty, whatsoever Thou makest me
to desire for mine enemies, be that Thy gift
unto them, and Thine answer to my prayer.
And if I at any time ask for them anything
which transgresseth the rule of love, whether
through ignorance or through infirmity or
through wickedness, neither do that to them,
nor fulfil my petition therein. Thou who art
the true Light,(John i. 9). enlighten their blindness. Thou
who art supreme Truth, amend their error.
Thou art the true Life, quicken their souls.
For Thou hast said by Thy beloved Disciple,
He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death.(1 John iii. 14).
I pray therefore, O Lord, that Thou grant to them so much love of Thee and of their neighbour as Thou commandest us to have, lest they
should have sin before Thee concerning their
brother.

Forbid it, O good Lord, forbid it that I
should be to my brethren an occasion of death,
that I should be to them a stone of stumbling and
rock of offence.(1 Pet. ii. 8). For it is enough and more than
enough that I should be an offence unto myself;
mine own sin is sufficient for me. Thy servant
entreateth Thee for his fellow-servants that
they should not on my account offend so great
and good a Master, but be reconciled to Thee,
and agree with me according to Thy will for
Thy sake. This is the vengeance which my
inmost heart desireth to ask of Thee upon my
fellow-servants, mine enemies and fellow-sinners.
This is the punishment which my soul asketh
upon my fellow-servants and enemies, that they
should love Thee and one another, according to
Thy will and as is expedient for us, so that we
may satisfy our common Master both as concerning ourselves and as concerning one another
and serve our common Lord in unity by the
teaching of charity to the common good. This
vengeance I, Thy sinful servant, pray may be
prepared against all those that wish me evil and
do me evil. Do Thou prepare this also, most
merciful Lord, against Thy sinful servant like
wise.

Come then, O my good Creator and merciful
Judge, and by Thy mercy which passeth all
reckoning, forgive me all my debts as I in Thy
presence forgive all my debtors.(Matt. vi. 12). And if not
yet, because hitherto my spirit doth not so
forgive perfectly according to Thy measure but willeth so to do and accomplisheth by Thy help
what it can, doing violence to itself, this imperfect forgiveness I offer to Thee as it is, that
Thou mayest be pleased perfectly to forgive me
my sins and according to Thy power, be gracious
unto my soul.

Hearken unto me, hearken unto me, O great
and good Lord, with desire for the love of
whom my soul is fain to feed herself, but cannot
satisfy her hunger for Thee, to call upon whom
my mouth findeth no name that sufficeth my
heart. For there is no word that expresseth
unto me that which by Thy grace my heart
conceiveth concerning Thee. I have prayed,
O Lord, as I could, but my will was greater
than my power. Hearken unto me, hearken
unto me, according to Thy power, who canst do
whatsoever Thou dost will. I have prayed as
one weak and sinful, hear me, O hear me, as
one mighty and merciful; and grant unto my
friends and unto mine enemies not only what I
have prayed, but what Thou knowest to be
expedient for each one, and agreeable to Thy
will. Grant to all, both living and dead, the
help of Thy mercy; and ever hear me not
according to the desires of my heart or the
requests of my lips, but as Thou knowest and
wiliest that I ought to will and to ask, O
Saviour of the world, who with the Father and
the Holy Ghost livest and reignest God, world
without end. Amen.

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

THOUGH Anselm had a great reputation in
his time as a spiritual guide, his correspondence does not afford many examples of
spiritual advice which can be well selected for
the purpose of the present volume; although
not a few letters of warm affection to those who as
young men had attached themselves to him as
their master in religion witness abundantly to
the depth and strength of the friendships thus
begun. I have translated here five letters: two
to brother monks, one to his only sister, one to
a king, and one to a company of devout women
who seem to have formed themselves into a little
community under the guidance of a certain
Robert, perhaps their parish priest, for pursuing a
life of regulated piety, though, as it would seem,
not under a monastic rule; and who may perhaps
remind us of the household of Nicholas
Ferrar at Little Gidding in the seventeenth
century.

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

I

To Ralph.[48]

BROTHER Anselm to his dear brother
Ralph. Although you have forbidden me
in your letters to address you at the beginning
as Dom Ralph, yet my sentiments towards you
constrain me to show myself in the rest of my
letters your obedient servant. For I am ready
to be the obedient servant of Dom Ralph in the
same spirit of love in which I love him as the
brother, not of my flesh, but of my soul. And
so if you bid me not call you what notwithstanding, in virtue of your superiority of character
you really are (if I speak my mind candidly) to
me, let me at any rate follow my original wish
of calling myself what I really am to you. I
will then no longer address you as Dom Ralph
and sign myself Brother Anselm, but will address
you as Brother Ralph and sign myself your
obedient Servant, Anselm.[49]

As to your charitable desire that you should
be with me wherever I am, that comes to the
same thing as my own hearty wish to be with
you wherever you are. And as you ask me for
advice how this may be, I pray God to help us
so that it may be impossible for it to be other
wise. For, if God shall vouchsafe to hear us,
may our life together be by His assistance such
that so long as life shall last it may be all one
act of thanksgiving to Him. But since neither
you nor I are our own; for whether we live or
die we are the Lord’s;(Rom. xiv. 8). if He, who knows
better than we what is pleasing to Himself or
expedient for us, shall dispose of us otherwise
than we wish, let us endure in patience whatever
we perceive to be His pleasure concerning us, if
we have resolved not to displease Him. For
our life is short, and therefore the time is near
when we shall rejoice together in an everlasting
union with Him and with one another, if by
His grace we take care to pass this brief life in
submission to His will in all things. Nevertheless, in the meantime, in whatever places we may be, however near to one another or far
from one another, may love ever make our
spirits one. As to that, however, which you so
anxiously entreat me to beg of Archbishop
Lanfranc when he comes from England, that
you should be with me, I answer that as I wish
you that which I understand to be most pleasing to God and most profitable to you, I will, if
I find I can, try to bring it about. Meanwhile
do cheerfully the business which you are about:
for God loveth a cheerful giver.(2 Cor. ix. 7).

As to your complaint of being hindered by
your business from close attention to reading or
prayer, let it be a great consolation to you that
charity covereth the multitude of sins.(1 Pet iv. 8). For by
your being drawn back another is drawn on; by
your carrying of the burden another is relieved;
by your being heavy laden another is carried on
his way. And remember that the servant who
returns with his hands empty, runs quicker; but
it is the servant who comes home laden that the
whole household meets with greater joy.

Nor is he blamed by any because he came
more slowly than the other; but because he is
tired by useful work, he is bidden sit down and
rest. But if you say that your zeal or diligence
are not sufficient for the duty laid upon you, I
answer that (taking you at your own estimation,
not at mine) one weak eye cannot see as well as
two, yet it does not refuse to do what it can,
since no other part of the body can do it.

But because my letter is already too long, and
your other matters will be better discussed by
word of mouth than in writing; for written advice
you will find in abundance in Holy Scripture;
we will for the while commit them in trust to
God and pray earnestly concerning them, looking forward both of us to meeting and agreeing
to end our correspondence here.

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

II

To Herlivin,[50] Gondulf[51], and Maurice,[52]
Monks of Bec sojourning in Christ Church, Canterbury.[53]

TO his brethren and dearest friends, Dom Herlwin, Dom Gondulf and Dom Maurice, Brother Anselm, with the hope that going from strength to strength(Ps.
lxxxiv. 7). they may
attain unto Christ who is the supreme strength
of God.

Since you have all one purpose and I have
one desire for you all, I join you together and
address you all at once in the same letter. If
your kindness remembers what manner of men
I always wish to see you when you are with me,
you know well enough what manner of men I
constantly desire to hear you are when you are
away from me. For since, as my conscience
bears witness, I have from my heart—I do not
say, expended—but wished to expend on all of
you the love of a brother and on one of you[54]
the care of a father, no interval of land or sea
has been able to break off this affectionate regard
of mine for you. And so, although you have
incentives enough to duly progress in the good
course on which you have entered; for you
have the counsel and advice of our reverend Lord
and Father the Archbishop[55] close at hand, you
have that constant custom of private meditation
which your monastic profession imposes on each one of you, you have the frequent excitement of
zeal by mutual religious conversation; yet my
unceasing love for you makes me unwilling you
should miss my poor exhortations also, though
you are absent from me and need them not.
And so I admonish and entreat you, my dearest
friends, that nothing may distract the mind from
watchfulness over self. Let it anxiously consider what gain and progress it makes every
day,—lest which God forbid!—it lose and go
backward. For in the practice of virtue, as it
is harder to attain something new by effort than
to lose something old by sloth, so it is more
difficult to recover what is lost by negligence
than to acquire what one has not yet been
observed to possess. Therefore, my beloved
friends, always count what is past as nothing,
yet without being ashamed to hold that fast to
which you have once attained; and though from
infirmity you fail to add anything new thereto,
yet always strive to do so, without giving in.
For that among many called few only are
chosen,(Matt. xx. 16). we are assured by the word of the
Truth Himself; but we are all ignorant how
few are chosen, for concerning this that same
Truth was silent. And so whoever does not
yet live as those few live who are chosen, must
either amend his life, so as to set himself among
the few; or else have a sure and certain fear of
reprobation: but if a man think he is already
one of the few, he ought not straightway to be
confident that he is chosen. For since none of
us knows how few the elect may be, no man
can know that he is already one of the few elect,
although he be already like the few among the
many called. And so no one should look
behind him, and think how many are not so far
advanced as he in the way to the heavenly
country; but one should look steadily forward
and anxiously ask himself, whether he is walking as well as those of whose election no one
doubts. See then, my dearest friends, that
nothing cool the fear of God which you have
conceived; but grow more and more fervent
from day to day, as though the fire in you was
fanned by your unwearying zeal, until it be
changed for you into the steadfast light of
eternal security.

Farewell, my most loving friends; and I beg
you, by the brotherly love you owe me, pray
with special earnestness that 1, who exhort you
to improvement, may not myself finish that
miserable course of failure which I began long
since, and now have almost done.[56]

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

III

To Burgundus and his Wife Richera,[57] on Burgundius’ departure as a Pilgrim to Jerusalem.

ANSELM by the grace of God Archbishop of Canterbury to his dear brother and friend Burgundius and his wife Richera, his own sister, health and the blessing of God, and to the best of his power, his own also.

You have sent me word, my dearest Sir and
friend Burgundius, that you purpose to go to
Jerusalem for God’s service and the health of
your soul, and that you wish to have my consent
to this, and that of your son, my nephew,
Anselm.

I am glad to hear of your good intention and
advise and entreat you, if you make this journey,
neither to carry with you the sins you have
committed nor to leave them behind at home,
and to make a resolve of living well for the
future, as befits a Christian of your degree. Make then a confession by name of all your
sins from childhood upwards, so far as you can
remember them. See that you have no sin to
charge yourself with in respect of your wife,
whose goodness you know better than I; but
leave her so that she may have the means of
counsel and support, whatever God may do
with you, and that she be not driven from
your house and estate against her will so long
as she lives, but may be able to serve God for
the safety of your body and soul, and for her
own soul and that of your children. Dispose
therefore of all your property as you would do
if you knew you were just about to die and to
give account of all your life to God.

You ask my consent; I pray God you may
always and everywhere have God’s consent and
counsel and aid and protection in all things.

I charge you, my dearest sister, turn your
whole heart and mind to God’s service and, as
God hath taken from you all pleasure in this
life, consider that He has done this so that you
may have pleasure in none but Him; love Him,
desire Him, think upon Him, serve Him at all
times and in all places.

God Almighty ever bless you both.

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

IV

To Alexander, King of Scots.[58]

TO Alexander by the grace of God King of
Scots, Anselm servant of the Church of
Canterbury wishes health and promises his faithful prayers and sends him the blessing of God
and, for what it is worth, his own also.

Both I and the whole society of Christ Church,
Canterbury, thank God and rejoice that God
has advanced you by right of inheritance to your
father’s[59] kingdom after your brother’s[60] decease,
and has adorned you with a character worthy of
your royal dignity. As to your brother who by
his holy living deserved to make a good end at
his departure by God’s mercy out of this life, we
pray and will pray for him, as you request us,
as for one who loved us and whom we loved, that God may grant to his soul eternal joy in
His glory among His elect, and everlasting happiness.

I know that your Highness loves and desires
my counsel. And so first praying God that He
Himself may so guide you by the grace of His
Holy Spirit and give you His counsel in all
your acts, that He may bring you after this life
to His heavenly kingdom, I advise you earnestly
to preserve by His help, from whom you received
them, that fear of God and those good and
pious habits, which you began to have in youth
and even in childhood. For kings reign well
when they live according to God’s will and
serve Him in fear; and when they reign over
themselves and do not become the servants of
their own vices, but master the impetuosity of
these by courageous constancy. For there is
no inconsistency between constancy in virtue and
royal courage in a king. For some kings, like
David, at once lived a holy life and also governed
the people committed to their charge with vigorous justice and gentle kindness, according as the
matter in hand required. Do you show your
self such that the wicked may fear you and the
good love you; and, that your life may ever be
pleasing to God, let your mind ever remember
the punishment of the wicked and reward of
the good which shall be after this life. May
Almighty God entrust you and all your actions
to none other than to His own gracious government.

As to our brethren,[61] whom we have sent into
Scotland at the desire of your brother, who
has departed, as we trust, from the labours
of this life into his rest, we have not thought
it necessary to request your kindness for them,
because we know well your good will toward
them.

Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

V

To Robert[62] and the Devout Women under his Care.

ANSELM Archbishop to his very dear friend and son Robert and to his beloved sisters and daughters, Saegyth, Eadgyth, Theodgyth, Lufrun, Deorgyth, Godgyth,[63] wishes health and God’s blessing, and his own for what it is worth.

I rejoice and thank God for the holy resolution and holy course of life which you have
agreed to pursue together in the love of God
and in holiness of life, as I have been informed
by my brother and son William.[64]

In your kind love towards me, you request
of me, my very dear daughters, that I should
send you a letter of admonition to instruct you
and incite you to goodness of life; although you
have with you my dear son Robert, into whose
heart God hath put it to care for you in the
things of God, and who instructs you daily by
word and example how you ought to live. Yet
since I ought, if I can, to do what you ask me,
I will try to write to you a few words such as
you desire. My very dear daughters, every
action, whether it deserve praise or blame,
deserves it according to the intention of the
doer. For the will is the root and principle
of all actions that are in our own power, and
though we cannot do what we will, yet every
one of us is judged before God according to his
will. Do not therefore consider what you do,
but what you will; take more heed what your will is than what your works are. For every
action which is right is right because of the
righteousness of the will from which it proceeded; from the righteousness of his will is a
man called righteous, and from the unrighteousness of his will unrighteous. If then you wish
to live a good life, keep watch over your will
continually in great and small things alike; both
in those things which are in your own control,
and in things which are not; lest it swerve in
any degree from the right way. But if you wish
to know when your will is right, it is certainly
right when it is subject to the will of God.
And so when you decide to do or think of
doing anything of importance say in your hearts,
Does God will me to will this or no? If your
conscience answers, Yes, God does will me to
will this, and my will herein is pleasing to Him;
then, whether you can carry out your will or no,
cleave to it. But if your conscience witnesses
to you that God does not will you to have this
will, then turn away your heart from it with all
your might; and if you wish to drive it quite
away, put it out of your head and forget it so
far as you can. But as to the way in which you
may rid yourselves of an evil thought or will,
consider and observe this advice which I give
you. Do not wrangle with wicked thoughts
or wicked wishes, but when they beset you, do
your utmost to occupy your mind with some
useful thought or wish, until the others disappear.
For no thought or wish is ever driven away, except by some other thought or wish which is
inconsistent with it. Conduct yourselves then
thus towards unprofitable thoughts and wishes,
so that by attending with all your might to
profitable ones, your mind may come to refuse
any recollection or notice to the unprofitable.
When you wish to pray, or to engage in any
other good meditation, if these thoughts which
you ought not to entertain are importunate with
you, never consent to give up on their account
the good design upon which you have entered,
lest the devil who suggests them should rejoice
in having made you desist from a good work
once begun, but overcome them by despising
them in the manner I have described. Do not
grieve or vex yourselves because they beset you,
so long as by despising them in the way
I have shown you, you yield no assent to
them; otherwise they may take occasion from
your vexation with them to come back into
your mind and renew their old importunity.
For it is habitual with the human mind
for whatever either pleases or vexes it to
come back into one’s head more frequently
than that which it feels or thinks should be
neglected.

In like manner should a person who is earnest in a holy
resolution behave in the case of any unbecoming emotion whether in the body or
in the soul, such as the feeling of lust or of anger or of envy or of vainglory.
For these are most easily quenched when we treat them with contempt and refuse to indulge in them, or to think
about them or to do anything at their suggestion.
Do not fear that such emotions or imaginations
will be imputed to you as sins, if your will in
no degree associates itself with them; for there
is no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh.(Rom. viii. 1). For to
walk after the flesh is to agree to the will of the
flesh; and the Apostle gives the name of the
flesh to every vicious feeling in soul or body,
when he says, The flesh lusteth against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh.(Gal. v. 17). We shall indeed
easily extinguish this sort of suggestions, if we
crush their first beginnings, according to the
advice given above; but it will be difficult to
do it, if once we admit them at all into our
minds.

I thank you, my friend and dear son Robert,
as well as I can, for your loving care which you
take for God’s sake of these handmaidens of
God; and pray you to persevere heartily in this
holy and pious purpose. For you may be assured
that a great reward awaits you at God’s hands
for this holy zeal of yours. Almighty God be
ever the keeper of your whole life. Amen.
May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant
you remission of all your sins and make you
ever to advance to better things with humility,
and never to fall back. Amen.

Psalms 15

A Psalm by David.

1

Yahweh, who shall dwell in your sanctuary?

Who shall live on your holy hill?

2

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right,

and speaks truth in his heart;

3

he who doesn’t slander with his tongue,

nor does evil to his friend,

nor casts slurs against his fellow man;

4

in whose eyes a vile man is despised,

but who honors those who fear Yahweh;

he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;

5

he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury,

nor take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be shaken.

Psalms 28

By David.

1

To you, Yahweh, I call.

My rock, don’t be deaf to me,

lest, if you are silent to me,

I would become like those who go down into the pit.

2

Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,

when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

3

Don’t draw me away with the wicked,

with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors,

but mischief is in their hearts.

4

Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.

Give them according to the operation of their hands.

Bring back on them what they deserve.

5

Because they don’t respect the works of Yahweh,

nor the operation of his hands,

he will break them down and not build them up.

6

Blessed be Yahweh,

because he has heard the voice of my petitions.

7

Yahweh is my strength and my shield.

My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.

With my song I will thank him.

8

Yahweh is their strength.

He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.

9

Save your people,

and bless your inheritance.

Be their shepherd also,

and bear them up forever.

1 Timothy 6

1

Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.

2

Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brothers, but rather let them serve them, because those who partake of the benefit are believing and beloved. Teach and exhort these things.

3

If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and doesn’t consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness,

4

he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,

5

constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.

6

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7

For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.

8

But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.

9

But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.

10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11

But you, man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness.

12

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.

13

I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate testified the good confession,

14

that you keep the commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15

which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

16

He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

17

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

18

that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready to distribute, willing to share;

19

laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.

20

Timothy, guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge,

21

which some profess, and thus have wandered from the faith.

Grace be with you. Amen.

Psalms 52

For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, “David has come to Ahimelech’s house.”

1

Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man?

God’s loving kindness endures continually.

2

Your tongue plots destruction,

like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

3

You love evil more than good,

lying rather than speaking the truth.

Selah.

4

You love all devouring words,

you deceitful tongue.

5

God will likewise destroy you forever.

He will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent,

and root you out of the land of the living.

Selah.

6

The righteous also will see it, and fear,

and laugh at him, saying,

7

“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength,

but trusted in the abundance of his riches,

and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

8

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in God’s house.

I trust in God’s loving kindness forever and ever.

9

I will give you thanks forever, because you have done it.

I will hope in your name, for it is good,

in the presence of your saints.

Psalms 79

A Psalm by Asaph.

1

God, the nations have come into your inheritance.

They have defiled your holy temple.

They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

2

They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky,

the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth.

3

They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem.

There was no one to bury them.

4

We have become a reproach to our neighbors,

a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.

5

How long, Yahweh?

Will you be angry forever?

Will your jealousy burn like fire?

6

Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you,

on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;

7

for they have devoured Jacob,

and destroyed his homeland.

8

Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us.

Let your tender mercies speedily meet us,

for we are in desperate need.

9

Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name.

Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.

10

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Let it be known among the nations, before our eyes,

that vengeance for your servants’ blood is being poured out.

11

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you.

According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.

12

Pay back to our neighbors seven times into their bosom

their reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.

13

So we, your people and sheep of your pasture,

will give you thanks forever.

We will praise you forever, to all generations.

Jeremiah 14

1

This is Yahweh’s word that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.

2

“Judah mourns,

and its gates languish.

They sit in black on the ground.

The cry of Jerusalem goes up.

3

Their nobles send their little ones to the waters.

They come to the cisterns,

and find no water.

They return with their vessels empty.

They are disappointed and confounded,

and cover their heads.

4

Because of the ground which is cracked,

because no rain has been in the land,

the plowmen are disappointed.

They cover their heads.

5

Yes, the doe in the field also calves and forsakes her young,

because there is no grass.

6

The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights.

They pant for air like jackals.

Their eyes fail,

because there is no vegetation.

7

Though our iniquities testify against us,

work for your name’s sake, Yahweh;

for our rebellions are many.

We have sinned against you.

8

You hope of Israel,

its Savior in the time of trouble,

why should you be as a foreigner in the land,

and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to stay for a night?

9

Why should you be like a scared man,

as a mighty man who can’t save?

Yet you, Yahweh, are in the middle of us,

and we are called by your name.

Don’t leave us.

10

Yahweh says to this people,

“Even so they have loved to wander.

They have not restrained their feet.

Therefore Yahweh does not accept them.

Now he will remember their iniquity,

and punish them for their sins.”

11

Yahweh said to me, “Don’t pray for this people for their good.

12

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them; but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

13

Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ”

14

Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart.

15

Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.

16

The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, or their daughters, for I will pour their wickedness on them.

17

“You shall say this word to them:

“ ‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day,

and let them not cease;

for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach,

with a very grievous wound.

18

If I go out into the field,

then, behold, the slain with the sword!

If I enter into the city,

then, behold, those who are sick with famine!

For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land,

and have no knowledge.’ ”

19

Have you utterly rejected Judah?

Has your soul loathed Zion?

Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us?

We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

20

We acknowledge, Yahweh, our wickedness,

and the iniquity of our fathers;

for we have sinned against you.

21

Do not abhor us, for your name’s sake.

Do not disgrace the throne of your glory.

Remember, and don’t break your covenant with us.

22

Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain?

Or can the sky give showers?

Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God?

Therefore we will wait for you;

for you have made all these things.

Psalms 39

For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.

1

I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue.

I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

2

I was mute with silence.

I held my peace, even from good.

My sorrow was stirred.

3

My heart was hot within me.

While I meditated, the fire burned.

I spoke with my tongue:

4

“Yahweh, show me my end,

what is the measure of my days.

Let me know how frail I am.

5

Behold, you have made my days hand widths.

My lifetime is as nothing before you.

Surely every man stands as a breath.”

Selah.

6

“Surely every man walks like a shadow.

Surely they busy themselves in vain.

He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

7

Now, Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in you.

8

Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.

9

I was mute.

I didn’t open my mouth,

because you did it.

10

Remove your scourge away from me.

I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11

When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity,

you consume his wealth like a moth.

Surely every man is but a breath.”

Selah.

12

“Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry.

Don’t be silent at my tears.

For I am a stranger with you,

a foreigner, as all my fathers were.

13

Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,

before I go away and exist no more.”

Psalms 14

For the Chief Musician. By David.

1

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt.

They have done abominable deeds.

There is no one who does good.

2

Yahweh looked down from heaven on the children of men,

to see if there were any who understood,

who sought after God.

3

They have all gone aside.

They have together become corrupt.

There is no one who does good, no, not one.

4

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and don’t call on Yahweh?

5

There they were in great fear,

for God is in the generation of the righteous.

6

You frustrate the plan of the poor,

because Yahweh is his refuge.

7

Oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When Yahweh restores the fortunes of his people,

then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Isaiah 7

1

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.

2

David’s house was told, “Syria is allied with Ephraim.” His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.

3

Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller’s field.

4

Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm. Don’t be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

5

Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,

6

“Let’s go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let’s divide it among ourselves, and set up a king within it, even the son of Tabeel.”

7

This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “It shall not stand, neither shall it happen.”

8

For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people.

9

The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.’ ”

10

Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,

11

“Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.”

12

But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt Yahweh.”

13

He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?

14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

15

He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.

16

For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.

17

Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.

18

It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19

They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.

20

In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.

21

It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep.

22

It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter; for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.

23

It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.

24

People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.

25

All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”

Psalms 54

For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself among us?”

1

Save me, God, by your name.

Vindicate me in your might.

2

Hear my prayer, God.

Listen to the words of my mouth.

3

For strangers have risen up against me.

Violent men have sought after my soul.

They haven’t set God before them.

Selah.

4

Behold, God is my helper.

The Lord is the one who sustains my soul.

5

He will repay the evil to my enemies.

Destroy them in your truth.

6

With a free will offering, I will sacrifice to you.

I will give thanks to your name, Yahweh, for it is good.

7

For he has delivered me out of all trouble.

My eye has seen triumph over my enemies.

Philippians 4

1

Therefore, my brothers, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

2

I exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same way in the Lord.

3

Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4

Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”

5

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

6

In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

7

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

8

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things.

9

The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

10

But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length you have revived your thought for me; in which you did indeed take thought, but you lacked opportunity.

11

Not that I speak because of lack, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content in it.

12

I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.

13

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

14

However you did well that you shared in my affliction.

15

You yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the Good News, when I departed from Macedonia, no assembly shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only.

16

For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need.

17

Not that I seek for the gift, but I seek for the fruit that increases to your account.

18

But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.

19

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

20

Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.

21

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.

22

All the saints greet you, especially those who are of Caesar’s household.

23

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Psalms 26

By David.

1

Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.

I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.

2

Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.

Try my heart and my mind.

3

For your loving kindness is before my eyes.

I have walked in your truth.

4

I have not sat with deceitful men,

neither will I go in with hypocrites.

5

I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and will not sit with the wicked.

6

I will wash my hands in innocence,

so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,

7

that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard

and tell of all your wondrous deeds.

8

Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,

the place where your glory dwells.

9

Don’t gather my soul with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men;

10

in whose hands is wickedness,

their right hand is full of bribes.

11

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.

Redeem me, and be merciful to me.

12

My foot stands in an even place.

In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.

Psalms 46

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.

1

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2

Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes,

though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;

3

though its waters roar and are troubled,

though the mountains tremble with their swelling.

Selah.

4

There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad,

the holy place of the tents of the Most High.

5

God is within her. She shall not be moved.

God will help her at dawn.

6

The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved.

He lifted his voice and the earth melted.

7

Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah.

8

Come, see Yahweh’s works,

what desolations he has made in the earth.

9

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear.

He burns the chariots in the fire.

10

“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.”

11

Yahweh of Armies is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah.

1 John 3

1

See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.

2

Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.

3

Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

4

Everyone who sins also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness.

5

You know that he was revealed to take away our sins, and no sin is in him.

6

Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him.

7

Little children, let no one lead you astray. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

8

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.

9

Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.

10

In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn’t do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother.

11

For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;

12

unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.

13

Don’t be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

14

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.

15

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.

16

By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

17

But whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, then closes his heart of compassion against him, how does God’s love remain in him?

18

My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.

19

And by this we know that we are of the truth, and persuade our hearts before him,

20

because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

21

Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;

22

so whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

23

This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.

24

He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.

1 John 1

1

That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life

2

(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us);

3

that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

4

And we write these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled.

5

This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth.

7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

8

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10

If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Acts 17

1

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

2

Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3

explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

4

Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women.

5

But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.

6

When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

7

whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!”

8

The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.

9

When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

10

The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

11

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

12

Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.

13

But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.

14

Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.

15

But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.

16

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.

17

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.

18

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

19

They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about?

20

For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”

21

Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

22

Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.

23

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.

24

The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.

25

He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.

26

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

27

that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

28

‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

29

Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

30

The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

31

because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

32

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

33

Thus Paul went out from among them.

34

But certain men joined with him and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Romans 5

1

Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;

2

through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3

Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance;

4

and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope:

5

and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

6

For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

7

For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a good person someone would even dare to die.

8

But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.

10

For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

11

Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

12

Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

13

For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.

14

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.

15

But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

16

The gift is not as through one who sinned; for the judgment came by one to condemnation, but the free gift came of many trespasses to justification.

17

For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

18

So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.

19

For as through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous.

20

The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;

21

that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 8

1

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2

Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

3

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle,

4

they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

5

Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”

6

They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of.

But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7

But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them,

“He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

8

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

9

They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

10

Jesus, standing up, saw her and said,

“Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

11

She said, “No one, Lord.”

Jesus said,

“Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

12

Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying,

“I am the light of the world.

He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13

The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

14

Jesus answered them,

“Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

15

You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

16

Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

17

It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.

18

I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

19

They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?”

Jesus answered,

“You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

20

Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

21

Jesus said therefore again to them,

“I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

22

The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says,

‘Where I am going, you can’t come’

?”

23

He said to them,

“You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

24

I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am

he, you will die in your sins.”

25

They said therefore to him, “Who are you?”

Jesus said to them,

“Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

26

I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

27

They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

28

Jesus therefore said to them,

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

29

He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

30

As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

31

Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him,

“If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

32

You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

33

They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say,

‘You will be made free’

?”

34

Jesus answered them,

“Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.

35

A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.

36

If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

37

I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.

38

I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”

39

They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”

Jesus said to them,

“If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

40

But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.

41

You do the works of your father.”

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”

42

Therefore Jesus said to them,

“If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.

43

Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

44

You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45

But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.

46

Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

47

He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

48

Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”

49

Jesus answered,

“I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.

50

But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges.

51

Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”

52

Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say,

‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’

53

Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”

54

Jesus answered,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God.

55

You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.

56

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad.”

57

The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?”

58

Jesus said to them,

“Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.

”

59

Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them, and so passed by.

Matthew 13

1

On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

2

Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3

He spoke to them many things in parables, saying,

“Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4

As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5

Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6

When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7

Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8

Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10

The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

11

He answered them,

“To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12

For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

14

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘By hearing you will hear,

and will in no way understand;

Seeing you will see,

and will in no way perceive;

15

for this people’s heart has grown callous,

their ears are dull of hearing,

and they have closed their eyes;

or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and would turn again,

and I would heal them.’

16

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17

For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

18

“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19

When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20

What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it;

21

yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23

What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25

but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds

also among the wheat, and went away.

26

But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27

The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’

28

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29

“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

31

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field,

32

which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33

He spoke another parable to them.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures

of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34

Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

35

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36

Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37

He answered them,

“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38

the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39

The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40

As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity,

42

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46

who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind,

48

which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

49

So it will be in the end of the world.

The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

51

Jesus said to them,

“Have you understood all these things?”

They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

52

He said to them,

“Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

53

When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54

Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

55

Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

56

Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

57

They were offended by him.

But Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.”

58

He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Revelation 10

1

I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.

2

He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land.

3

He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices.

4

When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.”

5

The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky,

6

and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,

7

but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets.

8

The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.”

9

I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book.

He said to me, “Take it, and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.”

10

I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

11

They told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

Matthew 12

1

At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

2

But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”

3

But he said to them,

“Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:

4

how he entered into God’s house and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

5

Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

6

But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.

7

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’

you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.

8

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

9

He departed from there and went into their synagogue.

10

And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” so that they might accuse him.

11

He said to them,

“What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it and lift it out?

12

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”

13

Then he told the man,

“Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.

14

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

15

Jesus, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all,

16

and commanded them that they should not make him known,

17

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

18

“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,

my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit on him.

He will proclaim justice to the nations.

19

He will not strive, nor shout,

neither will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

20

He won’t break a bruised reed.

He won’t quench a smoking flax,

until he leads justice to victory.

21

In his name, the nations will hope.”

22

Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

23

All the multitudes were amazed, and said, “Can this be the son of David?”

24

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”

25

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them,

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

26

If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

27

If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

28

But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you.

29

Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.

30

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn’t gather with me, scatters.

31

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

32

Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in that which is to come.

33

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit.

34

You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

35

The good man out of his good treasure

brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things.

36

I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

37

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

38

Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

39

But he answered them,

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.

40

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41

The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.

42

The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.

43

“When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, and doesn’t find it.

44

Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came;’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

45

Then he goes and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”

46

While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.

47

One said to him, “Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you.”

48

But he answered him who spoke to him,

“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

49

He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, and said,

“Behold, my mother and my brothers!

50

For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Mark 10

1

He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.

2

Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

3

He answered,

“What did Moses command you?”

4

They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”

5

But Jesus said to them,

“For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.

6

But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.

7

For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife,

8

and the two will become one flesh,

so that they are no longer two, but one flesh.

9

What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

10

In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.

11

He said to them,

“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

12

If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

13

They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.

14

But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them,

“Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.

15

Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”

16

He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

17

As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”

18

Jesus said to him,

“Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God.

19

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’ ”

20

He said to him, “Teacher, I have observed all these things from my youth.”

21

Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him,

“One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”

22

But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.

23

Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples,

“How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!”

24

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again,

“Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!

25

It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”

26

They were exceedingly astonished, saying to him, “Then who can be saved?”

27

Jesus, looking at them, said,

“With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”

28

Peter began to tell him, “Behold, we have left all, and have followed you.”

29

Jesus said,

“Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,

30

but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.

31

But many who are first will be last; and the last first.”

32

They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.

33

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles.

34

They will mock him, spit on him, scourge him, and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

35

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.”

36

He said to them,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

37

They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.”

38

But Jesus said to them,

“You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

39

They said to him, “We are able.”

Jesus said to them,

“You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with;

40

but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”

41

When the ten heard it, they began to be indignant toward James and John.

42

Jesus summoned them, and said to them,

“You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

43

But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant.

44

Whoever of you wants to become first among you, shall be bondservant of all.

45

For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

46

They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.

47

When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”

48

Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”

49

Jesus stood still, and said,

“Call him.”

They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”

50

He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

51

Jesus asked him,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”

52

Jesus said to him,

“Go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus on the way.

Luke 18

1

He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,

2

saying,

“There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.

3

A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’

4

He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,

5

yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’ ”

6

The Lord said,

“Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.

7

Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?

8

I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

9

He also spoke this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.

10

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector.

11

The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

12

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’

13

But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

14

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

15

They were also bringing their babies to him, that he might touch them. But when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

16

Jesus summoned them, saying,

“Allow the little children to come to me, and don’t hinder them, for God’s Kingdom belongs to such as these.

17

Most certainly, I tell you, whoever doesn’t receive God’s Kingdom like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”

18

A certain ruler asked him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

19

Jesus asked him,

“Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one: God.

20

You know the commandments: ‘Don’t commit adultery,’ ‘Don’t murder,’ ‘Don’t steal,’ ‘Don’t give false testimony,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

21

He said, “I have observed all these things from my youth up.”

22

When Jesus heard these things, he said to him,

“You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have, and distribute it to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

23

But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was very rich.

24

Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said,

“How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!

25

For it is easier for a camel to enter in through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into God’s Kingdom.”

26

Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

27

But he said,

“The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

28

Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

29

He said to them,

“Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for God’s Kingdom’s sake,

30

who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life.”

31

He took the twelve aside, and said to them,

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are written through the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be completed.

32

For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on.

33

They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.”

34

They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.

35

As he came near Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the road, begging.

36

Hearing a multitude going by, he asked what this meant.

37

They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

38

He cried out, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”

39

Those who led the way rebuked him, that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”

40

Standing still, Jesus commanded him to be brought to him. When he had come near, he asked him,

41

“What do you want me to do?”

He said, “Lord, that I may see again.”

42

Jesus said to him,

“Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you.”

43

Immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, praised God.

Luke 10

1

Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place where he was about to come.

2

Then he said to them,

“The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest.

3

Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

4

Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.

5

Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’

6

If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.

7

Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house.

8

Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you.

9

Heal the sick who are there, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’

10

But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say,

11

‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’

12

I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

13

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

14

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.

15

You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.

16

Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

17

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

18

He said to them,

“I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.

19

Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.

20

Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

21

In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said,

“I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”

22

Turning to the disciples, he said,

“All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”

23

Turning to the disciples, he said privately,

“Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see,

24

for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”

25

Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26

He said to him,

“What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

27

He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

28

He said to him,

“You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”

29

But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

30

Jesus answered,

“A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31

By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32

In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33

But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion,

34

came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35

On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’

36

Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”

37

He said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him,

“Go and do likewise.”

38

As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

39

She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

40

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”

41

Jesus answered her,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

42

but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

1 Corinthians 2

1

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

2

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

4

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5

that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.

7

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,

8

which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.

9

But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,

which didn’t enter into the heart of man,

these God has prepared for those who love him.”

10

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11

For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.

12

But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.

13

We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

14

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15

But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

16

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

Matthew 22

1

Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying,

2

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a wedding feast for his son,

3

and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

4

Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding feast!” ’

5

But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise;

6

and the rest grabbed his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

7

When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.

8

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy.

9

Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast.’

10

Those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.

11

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing,

12

and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless.

13

Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’

14

For many are called, but few chosen.”

15

Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.

16

They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t partial to anyone.

17

Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

18

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said,

“Why do you test me, you hypocrites?

19

Show me the tax money.”

They brought to him a denarius.

20

He asked them,

“Whose is this image and inscription?”

21

They said to him, “Caesar’s.”

Then he said to them,

“Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

22

When they heard it, they marveled, and left him and went away.

23

On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him,

24

saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’

25

Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother.

26

In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh.

27

After them all, the woman died.

28

In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”

29

But Jesus answered them,

“You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.

30

For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.

31

But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying,

32

‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

33

When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

34

But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.

35

One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.

36

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

37

Jesus said to him,

“ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38

This is the first and great commandment.

39

A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

40

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

41

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,

42

saying,

“What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “Of David.”

43

He said to them,

“How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

44

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

sit on my right hand,

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?

45

“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

46

No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.

1 Corinthians 15

1

Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2

by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5

and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6

Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8

and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9

For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10

But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11

Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12

Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15

Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16

For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18

Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19

If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20

But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.

21

For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24

Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27

For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28

When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29

Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30

Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31

I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32

If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33

Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34

Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36

You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37

That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38

But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39

All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40

There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46

However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47

The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48

As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49

As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50

Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53

For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54

But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55

“Death, where is your sting?

Hades, where is your victory?”

56

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Wisdom of Solomon 5

1

Then the righteous man will stand in great boldness

before the face of those who afflicted him,

and those who make his labors of no account.

2

When they see him, they will be troubled with terrible fear,

and will be amazed at the marvel of salvation.

3

They will speak among themselves repenting,

and for distress of spirit they will groan,

“This was he whom we used to hold in derision,

as a parable of reproach.

4

We fools considered his life madness,

and his end without honor.

5

How was he counted among sons of God?

How is his lot among saints?

6

Truly we went astray from the way of truth.

The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us.

The sun didn’t rise for us.

7

We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction.

We traveled through trackless deserts,

but we didn’t know the Lord’s way.

8

What did our arrogance profit us?

What good have riches and boasting brought us?

9

Those things all passed away as a shadow,

like a message that runs by,

10

like a ship passing through the billowy water,

which, when it has gone by, there is no trace to be found,

no pathway of its keel in the billows.

11

Or it is like when a bird flies through the air,

no evidence of its passage is found,

but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of its pinions,

and torn apart with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through.

Afterwards no sign of its coming remains.

12

Or it is like when an arrow is shot at a mark,

the air divided by it closes up again immediately,

so that men don’t know where it passed through.

13

So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;

and we had no sign of virtue to show,

but we were utterly consumed in our wickedness.”

14

Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff carried by the wind,

and as foam vanishing before a tempest;

and is scattered like smoke by the wind,

and passes by as the remembrance of a guest that waits but a day.

15

But the righteous live forever.

Their reward is in the Lord,

and the care for them with the Most High.

16

Therefore they will receive the crown of royal dignity

and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand,

because he will cover them with his right hand,

and he will shield them with his arm.

17

He will take his jealousy as complete armor,

and will make the whole creation his weapons to punish his enemies:

18

He will put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and will wear impartial judgment as a helmet.

19

He will take holiness as an invincible shield.

20

He will sharpen stern wrath for a sword.

The world will go with him to fight against his frenzied foes.

21

Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim.

They will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow.

22

Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled from an engine of war.

The water of the sea will be angered against them.

Rivers will sternly overwhelm them.

23

A mighty blast will encounter them.

It will winnow them away like a tempest.

So lawlessness will make all the land desolate.

Their evil-doing will overturn the thrones of princes.

Psalms 38

A Psalm by David, for a memorial.

1

Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath,

neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2

For your arrows have pierced me,

your hand presses hard on me.

3

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation,

neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

4

For my iniquities have gone over my head.

As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5

My wounds are loathsome and corrupt

because of my foolishness.

6

I am in pain and bowed down greatly.

I go mourning all day long.

7

For my waist is filled with burning.

There is no soundness in my flesh.

8

I am faint and severely bruised.

I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.

9

Lord, all my desire is before you.

My groaning is not hidden from you.

10

My heart throbs.

My strength fails me.

As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.

11

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague.

My kinsmen stand far away.

12

They also who seek after my life lay snares.

Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

and meditate deceits all day long.

13

But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear.

I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.

14

Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear,

in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15

For I hope in you, Yahweh.

You will answer, Lord my God.

16

For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me,

or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

17

For I am ready to fall.

My pain is continually before me.

18

For I will declare my iniquity.

I will be sorry for my sin.

19

But my enemies are vigorous and many.

Those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20

They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me,

because I follow what is good.

21

Don’t forsake me, Yahweh.

My God, don’t be far from me.

22

Hurry to help me,

Lord, my salvation.

Psalms 18

For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,

1

I love you, Yahweh, my strength.

2

Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

3

I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised;

and I am saved from my enemies.

4

The cords of death surrounded me.

The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

5

The cords of Sheol were around me.

The snares of death came on me.

6

In my distress I called on Yahweh,

and cried to my God.

He heard my voice out of his temple.

My cry before him came into his ears.

7

Then the earth shook and trembled.

The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken,

because he was angry.

8

Smoke went out of his nostrils.

Consuming fire came out of his mouth.

Coals were kindled by it.

9

He bowed the heavens also, and came down.

Thick darkness was under his feet.

10

He rode on a cherub, and flew.

Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

11

He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him,

darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

12

At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,

hailstones and coals of fire.

13

Yahweh also thundered in the sky.

The Most High uttered his voice:

hailstones and coals of fire.

14

He sent out his arrows, and scattered them.

He routed them with great lightning bolts.

15

Then the channels of waters appeared.

The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16

He sent from on high.

He took me.

He drew me out of many waters.

17

He delivered me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

18

They came on me in the day of my calamity,

but Yahweh was my support.

19

He brought me out also into a large place.

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20

Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness.

According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me.

21

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22

For all his ordinances were before me.

I didn’t put away his statutes from me.

23

I was also blameless with him.

I kept myself from my iniquity.

24

Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful.

With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

26

With the pure, you will show yourself pure.

With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

27

For you will save the afflicted people,

but the arrogant eyes you will bring down.

28

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh.

My God will light up my darkness.

29

For by you, I advance through a troop.

By my God, I leap over a wall.

30

As for God, his way is perfect.

Yahweh’s word is tried.

He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

31

For who is God, except Yahweh?

Who is a rock, besides our God,

32

the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

33

He makes my feet like deer’s feet,

and sets me on my high places.

34

He teaches my hands to war,

so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

35

You have also given me the shield of your salvation.

Your right hand sustains me.

Your gentleness has made me great.

36

You have enlarged my steps under me,

My feet have not slipped.

37

I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them.

I won’t turn away until they are consumed.

38

I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise.

They shall fall under my feet.

39

For you have armed me with strength to the battle.

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

that I might cut off those who hate me.

41

They cried, but there was no one to save;

even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them.

42

Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind.

I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

43

You have delivered me from the strivings of the people.

You have made me the head of the nations.

A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

44

As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me.

The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

45

The foreigners shall fade away,

and shall come trembling out of their strongholds.

46

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock.

Exalted be the God of my salvation,

47

even the God who executes vengeance for me,

and subdues peoples under me.

48

He rescues me from my enemies.

Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me.

You deliver me from the violent man.

49

Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations,

and will sing praises to your name.

50

He gives great deliverance to his king,

and shows loving kindness to his anointed,

to David and to his offspring, forever more.

Psalms 37

By David.

1

Don’t fret because of evildoers,

neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

2

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

3

Trust in Yahweh, and do good.

Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

4

Also delight yourself in Yahweh,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5

Commit your way to Yahweh.

Trust also in him, and he will do this:

6

he will make your righteousness shine out like light,

and your justice as the noon day sun.

7

Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him.

Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,

because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.

8

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.

Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.

9

For evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land.

10

For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more.

Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.

11

But the humble shall inherit the land,

and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12

The wicked plots against the just,

and gnashes at him with his teeth.

13

The Lord will laugh at him,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,

to cast down the poor and needy,

to kill those who are upright on the path.

15

Their sword shall enter into their own heart.

Their bows shall be broken.

16

Better is a little that the righteous has,

than the abundance of many wicked.

17

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but Yahweh upholds the righteous.

18

Yahweh knows the days of the perfect.

Their inheritance shall be forever.

19

They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil.

In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20

But the wicked shall perish.

The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields.

They will vanish—

vanish like smoke.

21

The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back,

but the righteous give generously.

22

For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land.

Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.

23

A man’s steps are established by Yahweh.

He delights in his way.

24

Though he stumble, he shall not fall,

for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.

25

I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his children begging for bread.

26

All day long he deals graciously, and lends.

His offspring is blessed.

27

Depart from evil, and do good.

Live securely forever.

28

For Yahweh loves justice,

and doesn’t forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29

The righteous shall inherit the land,

and live in it forever.

30

The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom.

His tongue speaks justice.

31

The law of his God is in his heart.

None of his steps shall slide.

32

The wicked watch the righteous,

and seek to kill him.

33

Yahweh will not leave him in his hand,

nor condemn him when he is judged.

34

Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land.

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35

I have seen the wicked in great power,

spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

36

But he passed away, and behold, he was not.

Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37

Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,

for there is a future for the man of peace.

38

As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together.

The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39

But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh.

He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

40

Yahweh helps them and rescues them.

He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,

because they have taken refuge in him.

John 14

1

“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.

2

In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.

3

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.

4

You know where I go, and you know the way.”

5

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6

Jesus said to him,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

7

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”

8

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

9

Jesus said to him,

“Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’

10

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.

11

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

12

Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.

13

Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14

If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.

15

If you love me, keep my commandments.

16

I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor,

that he may be with you forever:

17

the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.

18

I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

19

Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.

20

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

21

One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

22

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”

23

Jesus answered him,

“If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.

24

He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

25

I have said these things to you while still living with you.

26

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.

27

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.

28

You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.

29

Now I have told you before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe.

30

I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.

31

But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let’s go from here.

Matthew 25

1

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2

Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.

3

Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,

4

but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5

Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6

But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’

7

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8

The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

9

But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

10

While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.

11

Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’

12

But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13

Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

14

“For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them.

15

To one he gave five talents,

to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.

16

Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.

17

In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two.

18

But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord’s money.

19

“Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and settled accounts with them.

20

He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in addition to them.’

21

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

22

“He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them.’

23

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24

“He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn’t sow, and gathering where you didn’t scatter.

25

I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’

26

“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.

27

You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.

28

Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

29

For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away.

30

Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

31

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

32

Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33

He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34

Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

35

for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

36

I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.’

37

“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?

38

When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you?

39

When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’

40

“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,

you did it to me.’

41

Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;

42

for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;

43

I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

44

“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’

45

“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’

46

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

John 10

1

“Most certainly, I tell you, one who doesn’t enter by the door into the sheep fold, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber.

2

But one who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.

4

Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

5

They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”

6

Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.

7

Jesus therefore said to them again,

“Most certainly, I tell you, I am the sheep’s door.

8

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

9

I am the door. If anyone enters in by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.

10

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

11

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

12

He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them.

13

The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep.

14

I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own;

15

even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

16

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.

17

Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life,

that I may take it again.

18

No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

19

Therefore a division arose again among the Jews because of these words.

20

Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”

21

Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed by a demon. It isn’t possible for a demon to open the eyes of the blind, is it?”

22

It was the Feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem.

23

It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.

24

The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

25

Jesus answered them,

“I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.

26

But you don’t believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I told you.

27

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28

I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

29

My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

30

I and the Father are one.”

31

Therefore the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

32

Jesus answered them,

“I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”

33

The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

34

Jesus answered them,

“Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’

35

If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),

36

do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’

37

If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.

38

But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

39

They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.

40

He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there.

41

Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.”

42

Many believed in him there.

Romans 8

1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

3

For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4

that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6

For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7

because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

8

Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.

9

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10

If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11

But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

15

For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17

and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

19

For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21

that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22

For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23

Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

24

For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25

But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

26

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30

Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32

He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33

Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36

Even as it is written,

“For your sake we are killed all day long.

We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37

No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 16

1

“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2

They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3

They will do these things

because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4

But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6

But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8

When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9

about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10

about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11

about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13

However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14

He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15

All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes

of mine and will declare it to you.

16

A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17

Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us,

‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’

and,

‘Because I go to the Father’

?”

18

They said therefore, “What is this that he says,

‘A little while’

? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19

Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them,

“Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20

Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21

A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22

Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23

“In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24

Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26

In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,

27

for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28

I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29

His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30

Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31

Jesus answered them,

“Do you now believe?

32

Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33

I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

Isaiah 9

1

But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death.

3

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased their joy.

They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder.

4

For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.

5

For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

6

For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7

Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.

8

The Lord sent a word into Jacob,

and it falls on Israel.

9

All the people will know,

including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,

10

“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with cut stone.

The sycamore fig trees have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11

Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin,

and will stir up his enemies,

12

The Syrians in front,

and the Philistines behind;

and they will devour Israel with open mouth.

For all this, his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

13

Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them,

neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.

14

Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed, in one day.

15

The elder and the honorable man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.

16

For those who lead this people lead them astray;

and those who are led by them are destroyed.

17

Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men,

neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is profane and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

18

For wickedness burns like a fire.

It devours the briers and thorns;

yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19

Through Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, the land is burned up;

and the people are the fuel for the fire.

No one spares his brother.

20

One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry;

and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied.

Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:

21

Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah.

For all this his anger is not turned away,

but his hand is stretched out still.

Genesis 1

1

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2

The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

4

God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.

5

God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”

7

God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8

God called the expanse “sky”. There was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9

God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.

10

God called the dry land “earth”, and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas”. God saw that it was good.

11

God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seeds, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with their seeds in it, on the earth;” and it was so.

12

The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with their seeds in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

13

There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;

15

and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

16

God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

17

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth,

18

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19

There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20

God said, “Let the waters abound with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the sky.”

21

God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

22

God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23

There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24

God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.

25

God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.

26

God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.

28

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29

God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.

30

To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.

31

God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

1 Corinthians 11

1

Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

2

Now I praise you, brothers, that you remember me in all things, and hold firm the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.

3

But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

4

Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

5

But every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is one and the same thing as if she were shaved.

6

For if a woman is not covered, let her hair also be cut off. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or be shaved, let her be covered.

7

For a man indeed ought not to have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

8

For man is not from woman, but woman from man;

9

for man wasn’t created for the woman, but woman for the man.

10

For this cause the woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels.

11

Nevertheless, neither is the woman independent of the man, nor the man independent of the woman, in the Lord.

12

For as woman came from man, so a man also comes through a woman; but all things are from God.

13

Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?

14

Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

15

But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.

16

But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.

17

But in giving you this command, I don’t praise you, that you come together not for the better but for the worse.

18

For first of all, when you come together in the assembly, I hear that divisions exist among you, and I partly believe it.

19

For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.

20

When therefore you assemble yourselves together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.

21

For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.

22

What, don’t you have houses to eat and to drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly and put them to shame who don’t have enough? What shall I tell you? Shall I praise you? In this I don’t praise you.

23

For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.

24

When he had given thanks, he broke it and said,

“Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”

25

In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”

26

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in a way unworthy of the Lord will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.

28

But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

29

For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy way eats and drinks judgment to himself if he doesn’t discern the Lord’s body.

30

For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.

31

For if we discerned ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged.

32

But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

33

Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

34

But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.

Sirach 17

1

The Lord created mankind out of the earth,

and turned them back to it again.

2

He gave them days by number, and a set time,

and gave them authority over the things that are on it.

3

He endowed them with strength proper to them,

and made them according to his own image.

4

He put the fear of man upon all flesh,

and gave him dominion over beasts and birds.

5

6

He gave them counsel, tongue, eyes,

ears, and heart to have understanding.

7

He filled them with the knowledge of wisdom,

and showed them good and evil.

8

He set his eye upon their hearts,

to show them the majesty of his works.

9

10

And they will praise the name of his holiness,

that they may declare the majesty of his works.

11

He added to them knowledge,

and gave them a law of life for a heritage.

12

He made an everlasting covenant with them,

and showed them his judgments.

13

Their eyes saw the majesty of his glory.

Their ears heard the glory of his voice.

14

He said to them, “Beware of all unrighteousness.”

So he gave them commandment, each man concerning his neighbor.

15

Their ways are ever before him.

They will not be hidden from his eyes.

16

17

For every nation he appointed a ruler,

but Israel is the Lord’s portion.

18

19

All their works are as clear as the sun before him.

His eyes are continually upon their ways.

20

Their iniquities are not hidden from him.

All their sins are before the Lord.

21

22

With him the alms of a man is as a signet.

He will keep the bounty of a man as the apple of the eye.

23

Afterwards he will rise up and recompense them,

and render their recompense upon their head.

24

However to those who repent he grants a return.

He comforts those who are losing patience.

25

Return to the Lord, and forsake sins.

Make your prayer before his face offend less.

26

Turn again to the Most High, and turn away from iniquity.

Greatly hate the abominable thing.

27

Who will give praise to the Most High in Hades,

in place of those who live and return thanks?

28

Thanksgiving perishes from the dead, as from one who doesn’t exist.

He who is in life and health will praise the Lord.

29

How great is the mercy of the Lord,

and his forgiveness to those who turn to him!

30

For all things can’t be in men,

because the son of man is not immortal.

31

What is brighter than the sun? Yet even this fails.

An evil man thinks about flesh and blood.

32

He looks upon the power of the height of heaven,

while all men are earth and ashes.

Exodus 3

1

Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.

2

Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3

Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”

4

When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Here I am.”

5

He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”

6

Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7

Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8

I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9

Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10

Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11

Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

13

Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?”

14

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

15

God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

16

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.

17

I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

18

They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’

19

I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.

20

I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.

21

I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

22

But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”

John 15

1

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer.

2

Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3

You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4

Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

5

I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

6

If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

7

If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

8

“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.

9

Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love.

10

If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.

11

I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.

12

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

13

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

14

You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.

15

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.

16

You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

17

“I command these things to you, that you may love one another.

18

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

19

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

20

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

21

But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.

22

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23

He who hates me, hates my Father also.

24

If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father.

25

But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

26

“When the Counselor

has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

27

You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Luke 17

1

He said to the disciples,

“It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come!

2

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

3

Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.

4

If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

5

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

6

The Lord said,

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7

But who is there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say when he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table,’

8

and will not rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’?

9

Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think not.

10

Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’ ”

11

As he was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the borders of Samaria and Galilee.

12

As he entered into a certain village, ten men who were lepers met him, who stood at a distance.

13

They lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14

When he saw them, he said to them,

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

As they went, they were cleansed.

15

One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.

16

He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks; and he was a Samaritan.

17

Jesus answered,

“Weren’t the ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

18

Were there none found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

19

Then he said to him,

“Get up, and go your way. Your faith has healed you.”

20

Being asked by the Pharisees when God’s Kingdom would come, he answered them,

“God’s Kingdom doesn’t come with observation;

21

neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, God’s Kingdom is within you.”

22

He said to the disciples,

“The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

23

They will tell you, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’ Don’t go away or follow after them,

24

for as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part under the sky, shines to another part under the sky; so will the Son of Man be in his day.

25

But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

26

As it was in the days of Noah, even so it will also be in the days of the Son of Man.

27

They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

28

Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;

29

but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from the sky and destroyed them all.

30

It will be the same way in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

31

In that day, he who will be on the housetop and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away. Let him who is in the field likewise not turn back.

32

Remember Lot’s wife!

33

Whoever seeks to save his life loses it, but whoever loses his life preserves it.

34

I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left.

35

There will be two grinding grain together. One will be taken and the other will be left.”

36

37

They, answering, asked him, “Where, Lord?”

He said to them,

“Where the body is, there the vultures will also be gathered together.”

Proverbs 14

1

Every wise woman builds her house,

but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

2

He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh,

but he who is perverse in his ways despises him.

3

The fool’s talk brings a rod to his back,

but the lips of the wise protect them.

4

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean,

but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

5

A truthful witness will not lie,

but a false witness pours out lies.

6

A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it,

but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

7

Stay away from a foolish man,

for you won’t find knowledge on his lips.

8

The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way,

but the folly of fools is deceit.

9

Fools mock at making atonement for sins,

but among the upright there is good will.

10

The heart knows its own bitterness and joy;

he will not share these with a stranger.

11

The house of the wicked will be overthrown,

but the tent of the upright will flourish.

12

There is a way which seems right to a man,

but in the end it leads to death.

13

Even in laughter the heart may be sorrowful,

and mirth may end in heaviness.

14

The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways;

likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.

15

A simple man believes everything,

but the prudent man carefully considers his ways.

16

A wise man fears and shuns evil,

but the fool is hot headed and reckless.

17

He who is quick to become angry will commit folly,

and a crafty man is hated.

18

The simple inherit folly,

but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

19

The evil bow down before the good,

and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20

The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor,

but the rich person has many friends.

21

He who despises his neighbor sins,

but he who has pity on the poor is blessed.

22

Don’t they go astray who plot evil?

But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.

23

In all hard work there is profit,

but the talk of the lips leads only to poverty.

24

The crown of the wise is their riches,

but the folly of fools crowns them with folly.

25

A truthful witness saves souls,

but a false witness is deceitful.

26

In the fear of Yahweh is a secure fortress,

and he will be a refuge for his children.

27

The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life,

turning people from the snares of death.

28

In the multitude of people is the king’s glory,

but in the lack of people is the destruction of the prince.

29

He who is slow to anger has great understanding,

but he who has a quick temper displays folly.

30

The life of the body is a heart at peace,

but envy rots the bones.

31

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker,

but he who is kind to the needy honors him.

32

The wicked is brought down in his calamity,

but in death, the righteous has a refuge.

33

Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,

and is even made known in the inward part of fools.

34

Righteousness exalts a nation,

but sin is a disgrace to any people.

35

The king’s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely,

but his wrath is toward one who causes shame.

1 Corinthians 3

1

Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.

2

I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now,

3

for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men?

4

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?

5

Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him?

6

I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.

7

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

8

Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.

10

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.

11

For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12

But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or stubble,

13

each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is.

14

If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward.

15

If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

16

Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

17

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.

18

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.

19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”

20

And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.”

21

Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

22

whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,

23

and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

2 Corinthians 6

1

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain,

2

for he says,

“At an acceptable time I listened to you.

In a day of salvation I helped you.”

Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

3

We give no occasion of stumbling in anything, that our service may not be blamed,

4

but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,

5

in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;

6

in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love,

7

in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

8

by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true;

9

as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed;

10

as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

11

Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians. Our heart is enlarged.

12

You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.

13

Now in return, I speak as to my children: you also open your hearts.

14

Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

15

What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what portion does a believer have with an unbeliever?

16

What agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they will be my people.”

17

Therefore

“ ‘Come out from among them,

and be separate,’ says the Lord.

‘Touch no unclean thing.

I will receive you.

18

I will be to you a Father.

You will be to me sons and daughters,’

says the Lord Almighty.”

Galatians 3

1

Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?

2

I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?

3

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh?

4

Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?

5

He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?

6

Even so, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.”

7

Know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham.

8

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”

9

So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham.

10

For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

11

Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.”

12

The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”

14

that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

15

Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it.

16

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ.

17

Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

18

For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

19

Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

20

Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.

21

Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.

22

But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

24

So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

26

For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

27

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29

If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.

Isaiah 61

1

The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me,

because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and release to those who are bound,

2

to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3

to provide for those who mourn in Zion,

to give to them a garland for ashes,

the oil of joy for mourning,

the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,

that they may be called trees of righteousness,

the planting of Yahweh,

that he may be glorified.

4

They will rebuild the old ruins.

They will raise up the former devastated places.

They will repair the ruined cities

that have been devastated for many generations.

5

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks.

Foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.

6

But you will be called Yahweh’s priests.

Men will call you the servants of our God.

You will eat the wealth of the nations.

You will boast in their glory.

7

Instead of your shame you will have double.

Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion.

Therefore in their land they will possess double.

Everlasting joy will be to them.

8

“For I, Yahweh, love justice.

I hate robbery and iniquity.

I will give them their reward in truth

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

9

Their offspring will be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge them,

that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”

10

I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh!

My soul will be joyful in my God,

for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland

and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

11

For as the earth produces its bud,

and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

1 Corinthians 1

1

Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

2

to the assembly of God which is at Corinth—those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, both theirs and ours:

3

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4

I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus;

5

that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge;

6

even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:

7

so that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

8

who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

10

Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11

For it has been reported to me concerning you, my brothers, by those who are from Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.

12

Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”

13

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

14

I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius,

15

so that no one should say that I had baptized you into my own name.

16

(I also baptized the household of Stephanas; besides them, I don’t know whether I baptized any other.)

17

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News—not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void.

18

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19

For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.

I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”

20

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21

For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

22

For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom,

23

but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks,

24

but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God;

25

because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26

For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble;

27

but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong.

28

God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist,

29

that no flesh should boast before God.

30

Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:

31

that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”

Ephesians 5

1

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

2

Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

3

But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

4

nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks.

5

Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

6

Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

7

Therefore don’t be partakers with them.

8

For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

9

for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,

10

proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.

11

Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.

12

For it is a shame even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

13

But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.

14

Therefore he says, “Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

15

Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,

16

redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17

Therefore don’t be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

18

Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

19

speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

20

giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;

21

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

22

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

23

For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.

24

But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.

25

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;

26

that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

27

that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.

28

Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

29

For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;

30

because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.

31

“For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh.”

32

This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly.

33

Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Corinthians 12

1

Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant.

2

You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.

3

Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.

4

Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5

There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord.

6

There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.

7

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.

8

For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;

9

to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;

10

and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.

11

But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.

12

For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

13

For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.

14

For the body is not one member, but many.

15

If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body.

16

If the ear would say, “Because I’m not the eye, I’m not part of the body,” it’s not therefore not part of the body.

17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?

18

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.

19

If they were all one member, where would the body be?

20

But now they are many members, but one body.

21

The eye can’t tell the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.”

22

No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.

23

Those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety;

24

whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,

25

that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.

26

When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

28

God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.

29

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers?

30

Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret?

31

But earnestly desire the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.

John 17

1

Jesus said these things, then lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said,

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you;

2

even as you gave him authority over all flesh, so he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

3

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

4

I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.

5

Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

6

I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.

7

Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you,

8

for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

9

I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

10

All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

11

I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.

12

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

13

But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

14

I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15

I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.

16

They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.

17

Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth.

18

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

19

For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

20

Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word,

21

that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.

22

The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one;

23

I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that you sent me and loved them, even as you loved me.

24

Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

25

Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.

26

I made known to them your name, and will make it known; that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Song of Solomon 1

1

The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.

Beloved

2

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;

for your love is better than wine.

3

Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.

Your name is oil poured out,

therefore the virgins love you.

4

Take me away with you.

Let’s hurry.

The king has brought me into his rooms.

Friends

We will be glad and rejoice in you.

We will praise your love more than wine!

Beloved

They are right to love you.

5

I am dark, but lovely,

you daughters of Jerusalem,

like Kedar’s tents,

like Solomon’s curtains.

6

Don’t stare at me because I am dark,

because the sun has scorched me.

My mother’s sons were angry with me.

They made me keeper of the vineyards.

I haven’t kept my own vineyard.

7

Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

where you graze your flock,

where you rest them at noon;

for why should I be as one who is veiled

beside the flocks of your companions?

Lover

8

If you don’t know, most beautiful among women,

follow the tracks of the sheep.

Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

9

I have compared you, my love,

to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.

10

Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,

your neck with strings of jewels.

Friends

11

We will make you earrings of gold,

with studs of silver.

Beloved

12

While the king sat at his table,

my perfume spread its fragrance.

13

My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,

that lies between my breasts.

14

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms

from the vineyards of En Gedi.

Lover

15

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.

Behold, you are beautiful.

Your eyes are like doves.

Beloved

16

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;

and our couch is verdant.

Lover

17

The beams of our house are cedars.

Our rafters are firs.

John 12

1

Then six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2

So they made him a supper there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with him.

3

Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.

4

Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who would betray him, said,

5

“Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?”

6

Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and having the money box, used to steal what was put into it.

7

But Jesus said,

“Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial.

8

For you always have the poor with you, but you don’t always have me.”

9

A large crowd therefore of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

10

But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,

11

because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

12

On the next day a great multitude had come to the feast. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13

they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”

14

Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written,

15

“Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16

His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about him, and that they had done these things to him.

17

The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead was testifying about it.

18

For this cause also the multitude went and met him, because they heard that he had done this sign.

19

The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “See how you accomplish nothing. Behold, the world has gone after him.”

20

Now there were certain Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.

21

These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22

Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus.

23

Jesus answered them,

“The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24

Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.

25

He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

26

If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

27

“Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.

28

Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

29

Therefore the multitude who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

30

Jesus answered,

“This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.

31

Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.

32

And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

33

But he said this, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

34

The multitude answered him, “We have heard out of the law that the Christ remains forever. How do you say,

‘The Son of Man must be lifted up?’

Who is this Son of Man?”

35

Jesus therefore said to them,

“Yet a little while the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness doesn’t overtake you. He who walks in the darkness doesn’t know where he is going.

36

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.”

Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.

37

But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn’t believe in him,

38

that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke,

“Lord, who has believed our report?

To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39

For this cause they couldn’t believe, for Isaiah said again,

40

“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart,

lest they should see with their eyes,

and perceive with their heart,

and would turn,

and I would heal them.”

41

Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him.

42

Nevertheless even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn’t confess it, so that they wouldn’t be put out of the synagogue,

43

for they loved men’s praise more than God’s praise.

44

Jesus cried out and said,

“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me.

45

He who sees me sees him who sent me.

46

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.

47

If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

48

He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him in the last day.

49

For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

50

I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

Psalms 1

1

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stand on the path of sinners,

nor sit in the seat of scoffers;

2

but his delight is in Yahweh’s law.

On his law he meditates day and night.

3

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,

that produces its fruit in its season,

whose leaf also does not wither.

Whatever he does shall prosper.

4

The wicked are not so,

but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

5

Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked shall perish.

Isaiah 57

1

The righteous perish,

and no one lays it to heart.

Merciful men are taken away,

and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.

2

He enters into peace.

They rest in their beds,

each one who walks in his uprightness.

3

“But draw near here, you sons of a sorceress,

you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes.

4

Whom do you mock?

Against whom do you make a wide mouth

and stick out your tongue?

Aren’t you children of disobedience

and offspring of falsehood,

5

you who inflame yourselves among the oaks,

under every green tree;

who kill the children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

6

Among the smooth stones of the valley is your portion.

They, they are your lot.

You have even poured a drink offering to them.

You have offered an offering.

Shall I be appeased for these things?

7

On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed.

You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

8

You have set up your memorial behind the doors and the posts,

for you have exposed yourself to someone besides me,

and have gone up.

You have enlarged your bed

and made you a covenant with them.

You loved what you saw on their bed.

9

You went to the king with oil,

increased your perfumes,

sent your ambassadors far off,

and degraded yourself even to Sheol.

10

You were wearied with the length of your ways;

yet you didn’t say, ‘It is in vain.’

You found a reviving of your strength;

therefore you weren’t faint.

11

“Whom have you dreaded and feared,

so that you lie,

and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart?

Haven’t I held my peace for a long time,

and you don’t fear me?

12

I will declare your righteousness;

and as for your works, they will not benefit you.

13

When you cry,

let those whom you have gathered deliver you;

but the wind will take them.

a breath will carry them all away:

but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land,

and will inherit my holy mountain.”

14

He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way!

Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”

15

For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity,

whose name is Holy, says:

“I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

16

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry;

for the spirit would faint before me,

and the souls whom I have made.

17

I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him.

I hid myself and was angry;

and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart.

18

I have seen his ways, and will heal him.

I will lead him also,

and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

19

I create the fruit of the lips:

Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,”

says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.”

20

But the wicked are like the troubled sea;

for it can’t rest and its waters cast up mire and mud.

21

“There is no peace”, says my God,

“for the wicked.”

Jeremiah 8

1

“At that time,” says Yahweh, “they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves.

2

They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth.

3

Death will be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them,” says Yahweh of Armies.

4

“Moreover you shall tell them, ‘Yahweh says:

“ ‘Do men fall, and not rise up again?

Does one turn away, and not return?

5

Why then have the people of Jerusalem fallen back by a perpetual backsliding?

They cling to deceit.

They refuse to return.

6

I listened and heard, but they didn’t say what is right.

No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?”

Everyone turns to his course,

as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle.

7

Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times.

The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming;

but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.

8

“ ‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?”

But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.

9

The wise men are disappointed.

They are dismayed and trapped.

Behold, they have rejected Yahweh’s word.

What kind of wisdom is in them?

10

Therefore I will give their wives to others

and their fields to those who will possess them.

For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness;

from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.

11

They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying,

“Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.

12

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?

No, they were not at all ashamed.

They couldn’t blush.

Therefore they will fall among those who fall.

In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh.

13

“ ‘I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh.

No grapes will be on the vine,

no figs on the fig tree,

and the leaf will fade.

The things that I have given them

will pass away from them.’ ”

14

“Why do we sit still?

Assemble yourselves!

Let’s enter into the fortified cities,

and let’s be silent there;

for Yahweh our God has put us to silence,

and given us poisoned water to drink,

because we have sinned against Yahweh.

15

We looked for peace, but no good came;

and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!

16

The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan.

The whole land trembles at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones;

for they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it,

the city and those who dwell therein.”

17

“For, behold, I will send serpents,

adders among you,

which will not be charmed;

and they will bite you,” says Yahweh.

18

Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

My heart is faint within me.

19

Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off:

“Isn’t Yahweh in Zion?

Isn’t her King in her?”

“Why have they provoked me to anger with their engraved images,

and with foreign idols?”

20

“The harvest is past.

The summer has ended,

and we are not saved.”

21

For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt.

I mourn.

Dismay has taken hold of me.

22

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Luke 2

1

Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.

2

This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

3

All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city.

4

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,

5

to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant.

6

While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth.

7

She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8

There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.

9

Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

10

The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.

11

For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12

This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”

13

Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying,

14

“Glory to God in the highest,

on earth peace, good will toward men.”

15

When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16

They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.

17

When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child.

18

All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds.

19

But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.

20

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.

21

When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22

When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord

23

(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),

24

and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

25

Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

26

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

27

He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,

28

then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29

“Now you are releasing your servant, Master,

according to your word, in peace;

30

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31

which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;

32

a light for revelation to the nations,

and the glory of your people Israel.”

33

Joseph and his mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning him,

34

and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.

35

Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

36

There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity,

37

and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day.

38

Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.

39

When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.

40

The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

41

His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.

42

When he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast,

43

and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it,

44

but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances.

45

When they didn’t find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him.

46

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.

47

All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

48

When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”

49

He said to them,

“Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

50

They didn’t understand the saying which he spoke to them.

51

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

52

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Proverbs 3

1

My son, don’t forget my teaching;

but let your heart keep my commandments:

2

for they will add to you length of days,

years of life, and peace.

3

Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you.

Bind them around your neck.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4

So you will find favor,

and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

5

Trust in Yahweh with all your heart,

and don’t lean on your own understanding.

6

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make your paths straight.

7

Don’t be wise in your own eyes.

Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.

8

It will be health to your body,

and nourishment to your bones.

9

Honor Yahweh with your substance,

with the first fruits of all your increase:

10

so your barns will be filled with plenty,

and your vats will overflow with new wine.

11

My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline,

neither be weary of his correction;

12

for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects,

even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

13

Happy is the man who finds wisdom,

the man who gets understanding.

14

For her good profit is better than getting silver,

and her return is better than fine gold.

15

She is more precious than rubies.

None of the things you can desire are to be compared to her.

16

Length of days is in her right hand.

In her left hand are riches and honor.

17

Her ways are ways of pleasantness.

All her paths are peace.

18

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her.

Happy is everyone who retains her.

19

By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth.

By understanding, he established the heavens.

20

By his knowledge, the depths were broken up,

and the skies drop down the dew.

21

My son, let them not depart from your eyes.

Keep sound wisdom and discretion:

22

so they will be life to your soul,

and grace for your neck.

23

Then you shall walk in your way securely.

Your foot won’t stumble.

24

When you lie down, you will not be afraid.

Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.

25

Don’t be afraid of sudden fear,

neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes;

26

for Yahweh will be your confidence,

and will keep your foot from being taken.

27

Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due,

when it is in the power of your hand to do it.

28

Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again;

tomorrow I will give it to you,”

when you have it by you.

29

Don’t devise evil against your neighbor,

since he dwells securely by you.

30

Don’t strive with a man without cause,

if he has done you no harm.

31

Don’t envy the man of violence.

Choose none of his ways.

32

For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh,

but his friendship is with the upright.

33

Yahweh’s curse is in the house of the wicked,

but he blesses the habitation of the righteous.

34

Surely he mocks the mockers,

but he gives grace to the humble.

35

The wise will inherit glory,

but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Genesis 25

1

Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah.

2

She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

3

Jokshan became the father of Sheba, and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim.

4

The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

5

Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac,

6

but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country.

7

These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred seventy-five years.

8

Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

9

Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre,

10

the field which Abraham purchased from the children of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah, his wife.

11

After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.

12

Now this is the history of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham.

13

These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to the order of their birth: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

14

Mishma, Dumah, Massa,

15

Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.

16

These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments: twelve princes, according to their nations.

17

These are the years of the life of Ishmael: one hundred thirty-seven years. He gave up his spirit and died, and was gathered to his people.

18

They lived from Havilah to Shur that is before Egypt, as you go toward Assyria. He lived opposite all his relatives.

19

This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham became the father of Isaac.

20

Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.

21

Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

22

The children struggled together within her. She said, “If it is like this, why do I live?” She went to inquire of Yahweh.

23

Yahweh said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb.

Two peoples will be separated from your body.

The one people will be stronger than the other people.

The elder will serve the younger.”

24

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.

25

The first came out red all over, like a hairy garment. They named him Esau.

26

After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27

The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.

28

Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob.

29

Jacob boiled stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

30

Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with some of that red stew, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

31

Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”

32

Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”

33

Jacob said, “Swear to me first.”

He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.

34

Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

Psalms 41

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

Blessed is he who considers the poor.

Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

2

Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive.

He shall be blessed on the earth,

and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

3

Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed,

and restore him from his bed of illness.

4

I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5

My enemies speak evil against me:

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6

If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood.

His heart gathers iniquity to itself.

When he goes abroad, he tells it.

7

All who hate me whisper together against me.

They imagine the worst for me.

8

“An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him.

Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”

9

Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,

who ate bread with me,

has lifted up his heel against me.

10

But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up,

that I may repay them.

11

By this I know that you delight in me,

because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.

12

As for me, you uphold me in my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

13

Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,

from everlasting and to everlasting!

Amen and amen.

Psalms 70

For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder.

1

Hurry, God, to deliver me.

Come quickly to help me, Yahweh.

2

Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul.

Let those who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace.

3

Let them be turned because of their shame

who say, “Aha! Aha!”

4

Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.

Let those who love your salvation continually say,

“Let God be exalted!”

5

But I am poor and needy.

Come to me quickly, God.

You are my help and my deliverer.

Yahweh, don’t delay.

Romans 6

1

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2

May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?

3

Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4

We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

5

For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;

6

knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.

7

For he who has died has been freed from sin.

8

But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;

9

knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!

10

For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

11

Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12

Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

13

Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14

For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

15

What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be!

16

Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?

17

But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered.

18

Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.

19

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.

20

For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness.

21

What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

22

But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.

23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Job 3

1

After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth.

2

Job answered:

3

“Let the day perish in which I was born,

the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’

4

Let that day be darkness.

Don’t let God from above seek for it,

neither let the light shine on it.

5

Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.

Let a cloud dwell on it.

Let all that makes the day black terrify it.

6

As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.

Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.

Let it not come into the number of the months.

7

Behold, let that night be barren.

Let no joyful voice come therein.

8

Let them curse it who curse the day,

who are ready to rouse up leviathan.

9

Let the stars of its twilight be dark.

Let it look for light, but have none,

neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,

10

because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,

nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

11

“Why didn’t I die from the womb?

Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me?

12

Why did the knees receive me?

Or why the breast, that I should nurse?

13

For now I should have lain down and been quiet.

I should have slept, then I would have been at rest,

14

with kings and counselors of the earth,

who built up waste places for themselves;

15

or with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses with silver:

16

or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,

as infants who never saw light.

17

There the wicked cease from troubling.

There the weary are at rest.

18

There the prisoners are at ease together.

They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.

19

The small and the great are there.

The servant is free from his master.

20

“Why is light given to him who is in misery,

life to the bitter in soul,

21

Who long for death, but it doesn’t come;

and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

22

who rejoice exceedingly,

and are glad, when they can find the grave?

23

Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,

whom God has hedged in?

24

For my sighing comes before I eat.

My groanings are poured out like water.

25

For the thing which I fear comes on me,

That which I am afraid of comes to me.

26

I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither do I have rest;

but trouble comes.”

Ecclesiastes 9

1

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.

2

All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

3

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4

For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

6

Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

7

Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

8

Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.

9

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

10

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

11

I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

12

For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13

I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

14

There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

15

Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

16

Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17

The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

18

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.

Isaiah 40

1

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.

2

“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”

3

The voice of one who calls out,

“Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness!

Make a level highway in the desert for our God.

4

Every valley shall be exalted,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

The uneven shall be made level,

and the rough places a plain.

5

Yahweh’s glory shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”

6

The voice of one saying, “Cry!”

One said, “What shall I cry?”

“All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory is like the flower of the field.

7

The grass withers,

the flower fades,

because Yahweh’s breath blows on it.

Surely the people are like grass.

8

The grass withers,

the flower fades;

but the word of our God stands forever.”

9

You who tell good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain.

You who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with strength!

Lift it up! Don’t be afraid!

Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold, your God!”

10

Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one,

and his arm will rule for him.

Behold, his reward is with him,

and his recompense before him.

11

He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

He will gather the lambs in his arm,

and carry them in his bosom.

He will gently lead those who have their young.

12

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,

and marked off the sky with his span,

and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket,

and weighed the mountains in scales,

and the hills in a balance?

13

Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit,

or has taught him as his counselor?

14

Who did he take counsel with,

and who instructed him,

and taught him in the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

15

Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket,

and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance.

Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.

16

Lebanon is not sufficient to burn,

nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering.

17

All the nations are like nothing before him.

They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.

18

To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to him?

19

A workman has cast an image,

and the goldsmith overlays it with gold,

and casts silver chains for it.

20

He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot.

He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.

21

Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard?

Haven’t you been told from the beginning?

Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?

22

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

23

who brings princes to nothing,

who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

24

They are planted scarcely.

They are sown scarcely.

Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground.

He merely blows on them, and they wither,

and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble.

25

“To whom then will you liken me?

Who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

26

Lift up your eyes on high,

and see who has created these,

who brings out their army by number.

He calls them all by name.

by the greatness of his might,

and because he is strong in power,

not one is lacking.

27

Why do you say, Jacob,

and speak, Israel,

“My way is hidden from Yahweh,

and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”

28

Haven’t you known?

Haven’t you heard?

The everlasting God, Yahweh,

the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint.

He isn’t weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

29

He gives power to the weak.

He increases the strength of him who has no might.

30

Even the youths faint and get weary,

and the young men utterly fall;

31

but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength.

They will mount up with wings like eagles.

They will run, and not be weary.

They will walk, and not faint.

Proverbs 20

1

Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler.

Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

2

The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion.

He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

3

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,

but every fool will be quarreling.

4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter;

therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

5

Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water,

but a man of understanding will draw it out.

6

Many men claim to be men of unfailing love,

but who can find a faithful man?

7

A righteous man walks in integrity.

Blessed are his children after him.

8

A king who sits on the throne of judgment

scatters away all evil with his eyes.

9

Who can say, “I have made my heart pure.

I am clean and without sin?”

10

Differing weights and differing measures,

both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.

11

Even a child makes himself known by his doings,

whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

12

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye,

Yahweh has made even both of them.

13

Don’t love sleep, lest you come to poverty.

Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

14

“It’s no good, it’s no good,” says the buyer;

but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.

15

There is gold and abundance of rubies,

but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.

16

Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger;

and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

17

Fraudulent food is sweet to a man,

but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

18

Plans are established by advice;

by wise guidance you wage war!

19

He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets;

therefore don’t keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

20

Whoever curses his father or his mother,

his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

21

An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning,

won’t be blessed in the end.

22

Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.”

Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.

23

Yahweh detests differing weights,

and dishonest scales are not pleasing.

24

A man’s steps are from Yahweh;

how then can man understand his way?

25

It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication,

then later to consider his vows.

26

A wise king winnows out the wicked,

and drives the threshing wheel over them.

27

The spirit of man is Yahweh’s lamp,

searching all his innermost parts.

28

Love and faithfulness keep the king safe.

His throne is sustained by love.

29

The glory of young men is their strength.

The splendor of old men is their gray hair.

30

Wounding blows cleanse away evil,

and beatings purge the innermost parts.

1 Peter 4

1

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,

2

that you no longer should live the rest of your time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

3

For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.

4

They think it is strange that you don’t run with them into the same excess of riot, blaspheming.

5

They will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

6

For to this end the Good News was preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed as men in the flesh, but live as to God in the spirit.

7

But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

8

And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.

9

Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.

10

As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms.

11

If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

12

Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

13

But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory you also may rejoice with exceeding joy.

14

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.

15

For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.

16

But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.

17

For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?

18

“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”

19

Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.

Matthew 24

1

Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.

2

But he answered them,

“You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”

3

As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4

Jesus answered them,

“Be careful that no one leads you astray.

5

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.

6

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet.

7

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places.

8

But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

9

“Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake.

10

Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.

11

Many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray.

12

Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.

13

But he who endures to the end will be saved.

14

This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

15

“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation,

which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

16

then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

17

Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house.

18

Let him who is in the field not return back to get his clothes.

19

But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!

20

Pray that your flight will not be in the winter nor on a Sabbath,

21

for then there will be great suffering,

such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.

22

Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened.

23

“Then if any man tells you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There!’ don’t believe it.

24

For false christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.

25

“Behold, I have told you beforehand.

26

“If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; or ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it.

27

For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

28

For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures

gather together.

29

“But immediately after the suffering

of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

30

and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

31

He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

32

“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.

33

Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.

34

Most certainly I tell you, this generation

will not pass away until all these things are accomplished.

35

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

36

“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven,

but my Father only.

37

As the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

38

For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship,

39

and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

40

Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left.

41

Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and one will be left.

42

Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.

43

But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

44

Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.

45

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?

46

Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.

47

Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.

48

But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’

49

and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,

50

the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,

51

and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.

Zephaniah 1

1

Yahweh’s word which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2

I will utterly sweep away everything from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.

3

I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says Yahweh.

4

I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,

5

those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,

6

those who have turned back from following Yahweh, and those who haven’t sought Yahweh nor inquired after him.

7

Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.

8

It will happen in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing.

9

In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.

10

In that day, says Yahweh, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.

11

Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off.

12

It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

13

Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine.

14

The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.

15

That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,

16

a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.

17

I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Yahweh, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

18

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.

Isaiah 66

1

Yahweh says,

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build to me?

Where will I rest?

2

For my hand has made all these things,

and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh:

“but I will look to this man,

even to he who is poor and of a contrite spirit,

and who trembles at my word.

3

He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man;

he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog’s neck;

he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig’s blood;

he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol.

Yes, they have chosen their own ways,

and their soul delights in their abominations:

4

I also will choose their delusions,

and will bring their fears on them;

because when I called, no one answered;

when I spoke, they didn’t listen;

but they did that which was evil in my eyes,

and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”

5

Hear Yahweh’s word,

you who tremble at his word:

“Your brothers who hate you,

who cast you out for my name’s sake, have said,

‘Let Yahweh be glorified,

that we may see your joy;’

but it is those who shall be disappointed.

6

A voice of tumult from the city,

a voice from the temple,

a voice of Yahweh that repays his enemies what they deserve.

7

“Before she travailed, she gave birth.

Before her pain came, she delivered a son.

8

Who has heard of such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day?

Shall a nation be born at once?

For as soon as Zion travailed,

she gave birth to her children.

9

Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to be delivered?” says Yahweh.

“Shall I who cause to give birth shut the womb?” says your God.

10

“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her.

Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;

11

that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts;

that you may drink deeply,

and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”

12

For Yahweh says, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,

and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;

and you will nurse.

You will be carried on her side,

and will be dandled on her knees.

13

As one whom his mother comforts,

so I will comfort you.

You will be comforted in Jerusalem.”

14

You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice,

and your bones will flourish like the tender grass.

Yahweh’s hand will be known among his servants;

and he will have indignation against his enemies.

15

For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire,

and his chariots will be like the whirlwind;

to render his anger with fierceness,

and his rebuke with flames of fire.

16

For Yahweh will execute judgment by fire and by his sword on all flesh;

and those slain by Yahweh will be many.

17

“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh.

18

“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory.

19

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send those who escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to far-away islands, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

20

They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house.

21

Of them I will also select priests and Levites,” says Yahweh.

22

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain.

23

It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh.

24

“They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Mark 9

1

He said to them,

“Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come with power.”

2

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.

3

His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.

4

Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.

5

Peter answered Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

6

For he didn’t know what to say, for they were very afraid.

7

A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

8

Suddenly looking around, they saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only.

9

As they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

10

They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.

11

They asked him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

12

He said to them,

“Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised?

13

But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”

14

Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them.

15

Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him, greeted him.

16

He asked the scribes,

“What are you asking them?”

17

One of the multitude answered, “Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit;

18

and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”

19

He answered him,

“Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”

20

They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.

21

He asked his father,

“How long has it been since this has been happening to him?”

He said, “From childhood.

22

Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23

Jesus said to him,

“If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24

Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”

25

When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him,

“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”

26

After crying out and convulsing him greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead, so much that most of them said, “He is dead.”

27

But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he arose.

28

When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?”

29

He said to them,

“This kind can come out by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

30

They went out from there, and passed through Galilee. He didn’t want anyone to know it.

31

For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them,

“The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.”

32

But they didn’t understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

33

He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them,

“What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”

34

But they were silent, for they had disputed with one another on the way about who was the greatest.

35

He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them,

“If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.”

36

He took a little child, and set him in the middle of them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,

37

“Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.”

38

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”

39

But Jesus said,

“Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me.

40

For whoever is not against us is on our side.

41

For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward.

42

Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck.

43

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna,

into the unquenchable fire,

44

‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’

45

If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna,

into the fire that will never be quenched—

46

‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’

47

If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna

of fire,

48

‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’

49

For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.

50

Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Revelation 14

1

I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a number, one hundred forty-four thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads.

2

I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of a great thunder. The sound which I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps.

3

They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one hundred forty-four thousand, those who had been redeemed out of the earth.

4

These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed by Jesus from among men, the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.

5

In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.

6

I saw an angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal Good News to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

7

He said with a loud voice, “Fear the Lord, and give him glory; for the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of waters!”

8

Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”

9

Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand,

10

he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.

11

The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.

12

Here is the perseverance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

13

I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”

14

I looked, and saw a white cloud, and on the cloud one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15

Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Send your sickle, and reap; for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”

16

He who sat on the cloud thrust his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17

Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven. He also had a sharp sickle.

18

Another angel came out from the altar, he who has power over fire, and he called with a great voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Send your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for the earth’s grapes are fully ripe!”

19

The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

20

The wine press was trodden outside of the city, and blood came out of the wine press, even to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.

Psalms 19

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

The heavens declare the glory of God.

The expanse shows his handiwork.

2

Day after day they pour out speech,

and night after night they display knowledge.

3

There is no speech nor language,

where their voice is not heard.

4

Their voice has gone out through all the earth,

their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

5

which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room,

like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.

6

His going out is from the end of the heavens,

his circuit to its ends.

There is nothing hidden from its heat.

7

Yahweh’s law is perfect, restoring the soul.

Yahweh’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple.

8

Yahweh’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart.

Yahweh’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9

The fear of Yahweh is clean, enduring forever.

Yahweh’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.

10

They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold,

sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.

11

Moreover your servant is warned by them.

In keeping them there is great reward.

12

Who can discern his errors?

Forgive me from hidden errors.

13

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I will be upright.

I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

14

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

Yahweh, my rock, and my redeemer.

Matthew 5

1

Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

2

He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

4

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they shall be comforted.

5

Blessed are the gentle,

for they shall inherit the earth.

6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be filled.

7

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.

8

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they shall see God.

9

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called children of God.

10

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

11

“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12

Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13

“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.

14

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.

15

Neither do you light a lamp and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house.

16

Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17

“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18

For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter

or one tiny pen stroke

shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

19

Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

20

For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

21

“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’

and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’

22

But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause

will be in danger of the judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’

will be in danger of the council. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.

23

“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you,

24

leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

25

Agree with your adversary quickly while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison.

26

Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny.

27

“You have heard that it was said,

‘You shall not commit adultery;’

28

but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

29

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

30

If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.

31

“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’

32

but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.

33

“Again you have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’

34

but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

35

nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

36

Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.

37

But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.

38

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’

39

But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40

If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.

41

Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.

42

Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.

43

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor

and hate your enemy.’

44

But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you,

45

that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

46

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?

47

If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors

do the same?

48

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Psalms 85

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.

1

Yahweh, you have been favorable to your land.

You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.

2

You have forgiven the iniquity of your people.

You have covered all their sin.

Selah.

3

You have taken away all your wrath.

You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.

4

Turn us, God of our salvation,

and cause your indignation toward us to cease.

5

Will you be angry with us forever?

Will you draw out your anger to all generations?

6

Won’t you revive us again,

that your people may rejoice in you?

7

Show us your loving kindness, Yahweh.

Grant us your salvation.

8

I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people, his saints;

but let them not turn again to folly.

9

Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,

that glory may dwell in our land.

10

Mercy and truth meet together.

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

11

Truth springs out of the earth.

Righteousness has looked down from heaven.

12

Yes, Yahweh will give that which is good.

Our land will yield its increase.

13

Righteousness goes before him,

And prepares the way for his steps.

Matthew 3

1

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

2

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

3

For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

make the way of the Lord ready!

Make his paths straight!”

4

Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

5

Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

6

They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

7

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8

Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!

9

Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

10

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

11

“I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.

12

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

13

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.

14

But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”

15

But Jesus, answering, said to him,

“Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he allowed him.

16

Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.

17

Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

1 Corinthians 9

1

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?

2

If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3

My defense to those who examine me is this:

4

Have we no right to eat and to drink?

5

Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

6

Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?

7

What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?

8

Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing?

9

For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares,

10

or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.

11

If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?

12

If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.

13

Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar?

14

Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.

15

But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.

16

For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News.

17

For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

18

What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

19

For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.

20

To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;

21

to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.

22

To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

23

Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.

24

Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.

25

Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

26

I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,

27

but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Psalms 23

A Psalm by David.

1

Yahweh is my shepherd:

I shall lack nothing.

2

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3

He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

6

Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.

Revelation 3

1

“And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write:

“He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things:

“I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

2

Wake up and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God.

3

Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.

4

Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that didn’t defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

5

He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

7

“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write:

“He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:

8

“I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name.

9

Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

10

Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

11

I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.

12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.

13

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

14

“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write:

“The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning

of God’s creation, says these things:

15

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.

16

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.

17

Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;

18

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.

19

As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

21

He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne.

22

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”

2 Corinthians 5

1

For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

2

For most certainly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

3

if indeed being clothed, we will not be found naked.

4

For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened, not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5

Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

6

Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

7

for we walk by faith, not by sight.

8

We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

9

Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

10

For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

11

Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

12

For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance, and not in heart.

13

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

14

For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.

15

He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

16

Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

18

But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19

namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20

We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21

For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Matthew 1

1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2

Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.

3

Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.

4

Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.

5

Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.

6

Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife.

7

Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.

8

Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.

9

Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.

10

Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.

11

Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12

After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.

13

Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.

14

Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.

15

Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.

16

Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

17

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.

18

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

19

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

20

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21

She shall give birth to a son. You shall name him Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

22

Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,

23

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,

and shall give birth to a son.

They shall call his name Immanuel,”

which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

24

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;

25

and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

Psalms 31

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

In you, Yahweh, I take refuge.

Let me never be disappointed.

Deliver me in your righteousness.

2

Bow down your ear to me.

Deliver me speedily.

Be to me a strong rock,

a house of defense to save me.

3

For you are my rock and my fortress,

therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.

4

Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,

for you are my stronghold.

5

Into your hand I commend my spirit.

You redeem me, Yahweh, God of truth.

6

I hate those who regard lying vanities,

but I trust in Yahweh.

7

I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,

for you have seen my affliction.

You have known my soul in adversities.

8

You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.

You have set my feet in a large place.

9

Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am in distress.

My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

10

For my life is spent with sorrow,

my years with sighing.

My strength fails because of my iniquity.

My bones are wasted away.

11

Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors,

a horror to my acquaintances.

Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

12

I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.

I am like broken pottery.

13

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,

while they conspire together against me,

they plot to take away my life.

14

But I trust in you, Yahweh.

I said, “You are my God.”

15

My times are in your hand.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

16

Make your face to shine on your servant.

Save me in your loving kindness.

17

Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you.

Let the wicked be disappointed.

Let them be silent in Sheol.

18

Let the lying lips be mute,

which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

19

Oh how great is your goodness,

which you have laid up for those who fear you,

which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,

before the sons of men!

20

In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.

You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

21

Praise be to Yahweh,

for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

22

As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”

Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

23

Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints!

Yahweh preserves the faithful,

and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

24

Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who hope in Yahweh.

Psalms 16

A Poem by David.

1

Preserve me, God, for I take refuge in you.

2

My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord.

Apart from you I have no good thing.”

3

As for the saints who are in the earth,

they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god.

Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,

nor take their names on my lips.

5

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup.

You made my lot secure.

6

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.

Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7

I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel.

Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8

I have set Yahweh always before me.

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9

Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices.

My body shall also dwell in safety.

10

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol,

neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

11

You will show me the path of life.

In your presence is fullness of joy.

In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

Psalms 5

For the Chief Musician, with the flutes. A Psalm by David.

1

Give ear to my words, Yahweh.

Consider my meditation.

2

Listen to the voice of my cry, my King and my God;

for I pray to you.

3

Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice.

In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.

4

For you are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness.

Evil can’t live with you.

5

The arrogant will not stand in your sight.

You hate all workers of iniquity.

6

You will destroy those who speak lies.

Yahweh abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7

But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness I will come into your house.

I will bow toward your holy temple in reverence of you.

8

Lead me, Yahweh, in your righteousness because of my enemies.

Make your way straight before my face.

9

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth.

Their heart is destruction.

Their throat is an open tomb.

They flatter with their tongue.

10

Hold them guilty, God.

Let them fall by their own counsels.

Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions,

for they have rebelled against you.

11

But let all those who take refuge in you rejoice.

Let them always shout for joy, because you defend them.

Let them also who love your name be joyful in you.

12

For you will bless the righteous.

Yahweh, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.

Luke 23

1

The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.

2

They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting the nation, forbidding paying taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

3

Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

He answered him,

“So you say.”

4

Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

5

But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place.”

6

But when Pilate heard Galilee mentioned, he asked if the man was a Galilean.

7

When he found out that he was in Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

8

Now when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle done by him.

9

He questioned him with many words, but he gave no answers.

10

The chief priests and the scribes stood, vehemently accusing him.

11

Herod with his soldiers humiliated him and mocked him. Dressing him in luxurious clothing, they sent him back to Pilate.

12

Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before that they were enemies with each other.

13

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,

14

and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and behold, having examined him before you, I found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

15

Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him.

16

I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

17

Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast.

18

But they all cried out together, saying, “Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!”—

19

one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.

20

Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus,

21

but they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

22

He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

23

But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed.

24

Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done.

25

He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.

26

When they led him away, they grabbed one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry it after Jesus.

27

A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.

28

But Jesus, turning to them, said,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

29

For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

30

Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us.’

31

For if they do these things in the green tree, what will be done in the dry?”

32

There were also others, two criminals, led with him to be put to death.

33

When they came to the place that is called “The Skull”, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

34

Jesus said,

“Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Dividing his garments among them, they cast lots.

35

The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”

36

The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar,

37

and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

38

An inscription was also written over him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

39

One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!”

40

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

41

And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”

42

He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

43

Jesus said to him,

“Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

44

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

45

The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

46

Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said,

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Having said this, he breathed his last.

47

When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, “Certainly this was a righteous man.”

48

All the multitudes that came together to see this, when they saw the things that were done, returned home beating their breasts.

49

All his acquaintances and the women who followed with him from Galilee stood at a distance, watching these things.

50

Behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man

51

(he had not consented to their counsel and deed), from Arimathaea, a city of the Jews, who was also waiting for God’s Kingdom:

52

this man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.

53

He took it down, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.

54

It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near.

55

The women, who had come with him out of Galilee, followed after, and saw the tomb, and how his body was laid.

56

They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Ezekiel 33

1

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

2

“Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

3

if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people;

4

then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

5

He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul.

6

But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

7

“So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me.

8

When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand.

9

Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

10

“You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?” ’

11

Tell them, ‘ “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?” ’

12

“You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins.

13

When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed.

14

Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right;

15

if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die.

16

None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

17

“ ‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair.

18

When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he will even die therein.

19

When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it.

20

Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’ ”

21

In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!”

22

Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

23

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

24

“Son of man, those who inhabit the waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; but we are many. The land is given us for inheritance.’

25

Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. So should you possess the land?

26

You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. So should you possess the land?” ’

27

“You shall tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “As I live, surely those who are in the waste places will fall by the sword. I will give whoever is in the open field to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves will die of the pestilence.

28

I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. The pride of her power will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, so that no one will pass through.

29

Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.” ’

30

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’

31

They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

32

Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don’t do them.

33

“When this comes to pass—behold, it comes—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Ezekiel 18

1

Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying,

2

“What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,

‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,

and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

3

“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel.

4

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

5

“But if a man is just,

and does that which is lawful and right,

6

and has not eaten on the mountains,

hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,

hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife,

hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity,

7

and has not wronged any,

but has restored to the debtor his pledge,

has taken nothing by robbery,

has given his bread to the hungry,

and has covered the naked with a garment;

8

he who hasn’t lent to them with interest,

hasn’t taken any increase from them,

who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity,

has executed true justice between man and man,

9

has walked in my statutes,

and has kept my ordinances,

to deal truly;

he is just,

he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.

10

“If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things,

11

or who does not do any of those things,

but even has eaten at the mountain shrines,

and defiled his neighbor’s wife,

12

has wronged the poor and needy,

has taken by robbery,

has not restored the pledge,

and has lifted up his eyes to the idols,

has committed abomination,

13

has lent with interest,

and has taken increase from the poor;

shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

14

“Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and doesn’t do likewise,

15

who hasn’t eaten on the mountains,

hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,

hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife,

16

hasn’t wronged any,

hasn’t taken anything to pledge,

hasn’t taken by robbery,

but has given his bread to the hungry,

and has covered the naked with a garment;

17

who has withdrawn his hand from the poor,

who hasn’t received interest or increase,

has executed my ordinances,

has walked in my statutes;

he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

18

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

19

“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.

20

The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

21

“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

22

None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

23

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

24

“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

25

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?

26

When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die.

27

Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive.

28

Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

29

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?

30

“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity will not be your ruin.

31

Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?

32

For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!

Isaiah 55

1

“Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters!

Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat!

Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

2

Why do you spend money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good,

and let your soul delight itself in richness.

3

Turn your ear, and come to me.

Hear, and your soul will live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

4

Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander to the peoples.

5

Behold, you shall call a nation that you don’t know;

and a nation that didn’t know you shall run to you,

because of Yahweh your God,

and for the Holy One of Israel;

for he has glorified you.”

6

Seek Yahweh while he may be found.

Call on him while he is near.

7

Let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him,

to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.

9

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky,

and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth,

and makes it grow and bud,

and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11

so is my word that goes out of my mouth:

it will not return to me void,

but it will accomplish that which I please,

and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.

12

For you shall go out with joy,

and be led out with peace.

The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing;

and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands.

13

Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up;

and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up.

It will make a name for Yahweh,

for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”

Jeremiah 3

1

“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh.

2

“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

3

Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed.

4

Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’?

5

“ ‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”

6

Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.

7

I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8

I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.

9

Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood.

10

Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” says Yahweh.

11

Yahweh said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says Yahweh; ‘I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful,’ says Yahweh. ‘I will not keep anger forever.

13

Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.”

14

“Return, backsliding children,” says Yahweh; “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

15

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16

It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of Yahweh’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made.

17

At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘Yahweh’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Yahweh’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

18

In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

19

“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’

20

“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.

21

A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22

Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding.

“Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.

23

Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in Yahweh our God.

24

But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”

John 19

1

So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him.

2

The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment.

3

They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him.

4

Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

5

Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”

6

When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

8

When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid.

9

He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

10

Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

11

Jesus answered,

“You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”

12

At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”

13

When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement”, but in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.”

14

Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”

15

They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

16

So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led him away.

17

He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull”, which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha”,

18

where they crucified him, and with him two others, on either side one, and Jesus in the middle.

19

Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

20

Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek.

21

The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, “I am King of the Jews.” ’ ”

22

Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

24

Then they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says,

“They parted my garments among them.

For my cloak they cast lots.”

Therefore the soldiers did these things.

25

But standing by Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26

Therefore when Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother,

“Woman, behold, your son!”

27

Then he said to the disciple,

“Behold, your mother!”

From that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

28

After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said,

“I am thirsty.”

29

Now a vessel full of vinegar was set there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop, and held it at his mouth.

30

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,

“It is finished.”

Then he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

31

Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

32

Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him;

33

but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs.

34

However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

35

He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe.

36

For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”

37

Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”

38

After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked of Pilate that he might take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.

39

Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.

40

So they took Jesus’ body, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

41

Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid.

42

Then because of the Jews’ Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there.

Psalms 20

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

1

May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble.

May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,

2

send you help from the sanctuary,

grant you support from Zion,

3

remember all your offerings,

and accept your burned sacrifice.

Selah.

4

May he grant you your heart’s desire,

and fulfill all your counsel.

5

We will triumph in your salvation.

In the name of our God, we will set up our banners.

May Yahweh grant all your requests.

6

Now I know that Yahweh saves his anointed.

He will answer him from his holy heaven,

with the saving strength of his right hand.

7

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God.

8

They are bowed down and fallen,

but we rise up, and stand upright.

9

Save, Yahweh!

Let the King answer us when we call!

Habakkuk 3

1

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.

2

Yahweh, I have heard of your fame.

I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh.

Renew your work in the middle of the years.

In the middle of the years make it known.

In wrath, you remember mercy.

3

God came from Teman,

the Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah.

His glory covered the heavens,

and his praise filled the earth.

4

His splendor is like the sunrise.

Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.

5

Plague went before him,

and pestilence followed his feet.

6

He stood, and shook the earth.

He looked, and made the nations tremble.

The ancient mountains were crumbled.

The age-old hills collapsed.

His ways are eternal.

7

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction.

The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.

8

Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers?

Was your anger against the rivers,

or your wrath against the sea,

that you rode on your horses,

on your chariots of salvation?

9

You uncovered your bow.

You called for your sworn arrows.

Selah.

You split the earth with rivers.

10

The mountains saw you, and were afraid.

The storm of waters passed by.

The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

11

The sun and moon stood still in the sky,

at the light of your arrows as they went,

at the shining of your glittering spear.

12

You marched through the land in wrath.

You threshed the nations in anger.

13

You went out for the salvation of your people,

for the salvation of your anointed.

You crushed the head of the land of wickedness.

You stripped them head to foot.

Selah.

14

You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears.

They came as a whirlwind to scatter me,

gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.

15

You trampled the sea with your horses,

churning mighty waters.

16

I heard, and my body trembled.

My lips quivered at the voice.

Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place,

because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble,

for the coming up of the people who invade us.

17

For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish,

nor fruit be in the vines;

the labor of the olive fails,

the fields yield no food;

the flocks are cut off from the fold,

and there is no herd in the stalls:

18

yet I will rejoice in Yahweh.

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

19

Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength.

He makes my feet like deer’s feet,

and enables me to go in high places.

For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

Exodus 34

1

Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

2

Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

3

No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”

4

He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; then Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.

5

Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name.

6

Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

7

keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

8

Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

9

He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

10

He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.

11

Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12

Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you;

13

but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

14

for you shall worship no other god; for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15

“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

16

and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

17

“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

18

“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

19

“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

20

You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

21

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

22

“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

23

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.

24

For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.

25

“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.

26

“You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27

Yahweh said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

28

He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

30

When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

31

Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

32

Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

33

When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

34

But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35

The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Philippians 2

1

If therefore there is any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion,

2

make my joy full by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind;

3

doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself;

4

each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.

5

Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus,

6

who, existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7

but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

8

And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, yes, the death of the cross.

9

Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,

10

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,

11

and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12

So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13

For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14

Do all things without complaining and arguing,

15

that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without defect in the middle of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16

holding up the word of life, that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

17

Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.

18

In the same way, you also rejoice, and rejoice with me.

19

But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered up when I know how you are doing.

20

For I have no one else like-minded, who will truly care about you.

21

For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.

22

But you know the proof of him, that as a child serves a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

23

Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it will go with me.

24

But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

25

But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need,

26

since he longed for you all, and was very troubled because you had heard that he was sick.

27

For indeed he was sick, nearly to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.

28

I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.

29

Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor,

30

because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

John 18

1

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered.

2

Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.

3

Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

4

Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were happening to him, went out, and said to them,

“Who are you looking for?”

5

They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus said to them,

“I am he.”

Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them.

6

When therefore he said to them,

“I am he,”

they went backward, and fell to the ground.

7

Again therefore he asked them,

“Who are you looking for?”

They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”

8

Jesus answered,

“I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,”

9

that the word might be fulfilled which he spoke,

“Of those whom you have given me, I have lost none.”

10

Simon Peter therefore, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

11

Jesus therefore said to Peter,

“Put the sword into its sheath. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not surely drink it?”

12

So the detachment, the commanding officer, and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him,

13

and led him to Annas first, for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.

14

Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should perish for the people.

15

Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest;

16

but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.

17

Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?”

He said, “I am not.”

18

Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself.

19

The high priest therefore asked Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.

20

Jesus answered him,

“I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret.

21

Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Behold, they know the things which I said.”

22

When he had said this, one of the officers standing by slapped Jesus with his hand, saying, “Do you answer the high priest like that?”

23

Jesus answered him,

“If I have spoken evil, testify of the evil; but if well, why do you beat me?”

24

Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.

25

Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?”

He denied it and said, “I am not.”

26

One of the servants of the high priest, being a relative of him whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”

27

Peter therefore denied it again, and immediately the rooster crowed.

28

They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

29

Pilate therefore went out to them, and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?”

30

They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”

31

Pilate therefore said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.”

Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is illegal for us to put anyone to death,”

32

that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what kind of death he should die.

33

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

34

Jesus answered him,

“Do you say this by yourself, or did others tell you about me?”

35

Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”

36

Jesus answered,

“My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”

37

Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?”

Jesus answered,

“You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

38

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.

39

But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

40

Then they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

John 20

1

Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.

2

Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him!”

3

Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.

4

They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.

5

Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn’t enter in.

6

Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,

7

and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

8

So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.

9

For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10

So the disciples went away again to their own homes.

11

But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,

12

and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13

They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”

14

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn’t know that it was Jesus.

15

Jesus said to her,

“Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”

She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16

Jesus said to her,

“Mary.”

She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!” which is to say, “Teacher!”

17

Jesus said to her,

“Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

18

Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.

19

When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle, and said to them,

“Peace be to you.”

20

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

21

Jesus therefore said to them again,

“Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

22

When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them,

“Receive the Holy Spirit!

23

If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

24

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

25

The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

26

After eight days again his disciples were inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the middle, and said,

“Peace be to you.”

27

Then he said to Thomas,

“Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

28

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

29

Jesus said to him,

“Because you have seen me,

you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

30

Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;

31

but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Song of Solomon 5

Lover

1

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;

I have drunk my wine with my milk.

Friends

Eat, friends!

Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.

Beloved

2

I was asleep, but my heart was awake.

It is the voice of my beloved who knocks:

“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;

for my head is filled with dew,

and my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3

I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on?

I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?

4

My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening.

My heart pounded for him.

5

I rose up to open for my beloved.

My hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the lock.

6

I opened to my beloved;

but my beloved left, and had gone away.

My heart went out when he spoke.

I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.

I called him, but he didn’t answer.

7

The watchmen who go about the city found me.

They beat me.

They bruised me.

The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

8

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

that you tell him that I am faint with love.

Friends

9

How is your beloved better than another beloved,

you fairest among women?

How is your beloved better than another beloved,

that you do so adjure us?

Beloved

10

My beloved is white and ruddy.

The best among ten thousand.

11

His head is like the purest gold.

His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

12

His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks,

washed with milk, mounted like jewels.

13

His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes.

His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

14

His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl.

His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.

15

His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

16

His mouth is sweetness;

yes, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

daughters of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 63

1

Who is this who comes from Edom,

with dyed garments from Bozrah?

Who is this who is glorious in his clothing,

marching in the greatness of his strength?

“It is I who speak in righteousness,

mighty to save.”

2

Why is your clothing red,

and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat?

3

“I have trodden the wine press alone.

Of the peoples, no one was with me.

Yes, I trod them in my anger

and trampled them in my wrath.

Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments,

and I have stained all my clothing.

4

For the day of vengeance was in my heart,

and the year of my redeemed has come.

5

I looked, and there was no one to help;

and I wondered that there was no one to uphold.

Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me.

My own wrath upheld me.

6

I trod down the peoples in my anger

and made them drunk in my wrath.

I poured their lifeblood out on the earth.”

7

I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh

and the praises of Yahweh,

according to all that Yahweh has given to us,

and the great goodness toward the house of Israel,

which he has given to them according to his mercies,

and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.

8

For he said, “Surely, they are my people,

children who will not deal falsely;”

so he became their Savior.

9

In all their affliction he was afflicted,

and the angel of his presence saved them.

In his love and in his pity he redeemed them.

He bore them,

and carried them all the days of old.

10

But they rebelled

and grieved his Holy Spirit.

Therefore he turned and became their enemy,

and he himself fought against them.

11

Then he remembered the days of old,

Moses and his people, saying,

“Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock?

Where is he who put his Holy Spirit among them?”

12

Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand?

Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?

13

Who led them through the depths,

like a horse in the wilderness,

so that they didn’t stumble?

14

As the livestock that go down into the valley,

Yahweh’s Spirit caused them to rest.

So you led your people to make yourself a glorious name.

15

Look down from heaven,

and see from the habitation of your holiness and of your glory.

Where are your zeal and your mighty acts?

The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me.

16

For you are our Father,

though Abraham doesn’t know us,

and Israel does not acknowledge us.

You, Yahweh, are our Father.

Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.

17

O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways,

and harden our heart from your fear?

Return for your servants’ sake,

the tribes of your inheritance.

18

Your holy people possessed it but a little while.

Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.

19

We have become like those over whom you never ruled,

like those who were not called by your name.

Genesis 49

1

Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

2

Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob.

Listen to Israel, your father.

3

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength,

excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.

4

Boiling over like water, you shall not excel,

because you went up to your father’s bed,

then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

5

“Simeon and Levi are brothers.

Their swords are weapons of violence.

6

My soul, don’t come into their council.

My glory, don’t be united to their assembly;

for in their anger they killed men.

In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

7

Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;

and their wrath, for it was cruel.

I will divide them in Jacob,

and scatter them in Israel.

8

“Judah, your brothers will praise you.

Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.

Your father’s sons will bow down before you.

9

Judah is a lion’s cub.

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down, he crouched as a lion,

as a lioness.

Who will rouse him up?

10

The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until he comes to whom it belongs.

The obedience of the peoples will be to him.

11

Binding his foal to the vine,

his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine,

his robes in the blood of grapes.

12

His eyes will be red with wine,

his teeth white with milk.

13

“Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea.

He will be for a haven of ships.

His border will be on Sidon.

14

“Issachar is a strong donkey,

lying down between the saddlebags.

15

He saw a resting place, that it was good,

the land, that it was pleasant.

He bows his shoulder to the burden,

and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

16

“Dan will judge his people,

as one of the tribes of Israel.

17

Dan will be a serpent on the trail,

an adder in the path,

that bites the horse’s heels,

so that his rider falls backward.

18

I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.

19

“A troop will press on Gad,

but he will press on their heel.

20

“Asher’s food will be rich.

He will produce royal dainties.

21

“Naphtali is a doe set free,

who bears beautiful fawns.

22

“Joseph is a fruitful vine,

a fruitful vine by a spring.

His branches run over the wall.

23

The archers have severely grieved him,

shot at him, and persecuted him:

24

But his bow remained strong.

The arms of his hands were made strong,

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

(from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),

25

even by the God of your father, who will help you,

by the Almighty, who will bless you,

with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that lies below,

blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

26

The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors,

above the boundaries of the ancient hills.

They will be on the head of Joseph,

on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

27

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.

In the morning he will devour the prey.

At evening he will divide the plunder.”

28

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his own blessing.

29

He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30

in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place.

31

There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah:

32

the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.”

33

When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.

Luke 24

1

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.

2

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.

3

They entered in, and didn’t find the Lord Jesus’ body.

4

While they were greatly perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling clothing.

5

Becoming terrified, they bowed their faces down to the earth.

They said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

6

He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee,

7

saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”

8

They remembered his words,

9

returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

10

Now they were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. The other women with them told these things to the apostles.

11

These words seemed to them to be nonsense, and they didn’t believe them.

12

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping and looking in, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he departed to his home, wondering what had happened.

13

Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.

14

They talked with each other about all of these things which had happened.

15

While they talked and questioned together, Jesus himself came near, and went with them.

16

But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

17

He said to them,

“What are you talking about as you walk, and are sad?”

18

One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things which have happened there in these days?”

19

He said to them,

“What things?”

They said to him, “The things concerning Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people;

20

and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

21

But we were hoping that it was he who would redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.

22

Also, certain women of our company amazed us, having arrived early at the tomb;

23

and when they didn’t find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.

24

Some of us went to the tomb, and found it just like the women had said, but they didn’t see him.”

25

He said to them,

“Foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!

26

Didn’t the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter into his glory?”

27

Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28

They came near to the village where they were going, and he acted like he would go further.

29

They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is almost evening, and the day is almost over.”

He went in to stay with them.

30

When he had sat down at the table with them, he took the bread and gave thanks. Breaking it, he gave it to them.

31

Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, then he vanished out of their sight.

32

They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

33

They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,

34

saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

35

They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

36

As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them,

“Peace be to you.”

37

But they were terrified and filled with fear, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

38

He said to them,

“Why are you troubled? Why do doubts arise in your hearts?

39

See my hands and my feet, that it is truly me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”

40

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

41

While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them,

“Do you have anything here to eat?”

42

They gave him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb.

43

He took them, and ate in front of them.

44

He said to them,

“This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”

45

Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures.

46

He said to them,

“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,

47

and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48

You are witnesses of these things.

49

Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50

He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.

51

While he blessed them, he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven.

52

They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

53

and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

Psalms 68

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song.

1

Let God arise!

Let his enemies be scattered!

Let them who hate him also flee before him.

2

As smoke is driven away,

so drive them away.

As wax melts before the fire,

so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

3

But let the righteous be glad.

Let them rejoice before God.

Yes, let them rejoice with gladness.

4

Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Extol him who rides on the clouds:

to Yah, his name!

Rejoice before him!

5

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows,

is God in his holy habitation.

6

God sets the lonely in families.

He brings out the prisoners with singing,

but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

7

God, when you went out before your people,

when you marched through the wilderness...

Selah.

8

The earth trembled.

The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai—

at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

9

You, God, sent a plentiful rain.

You confirmed your inheritance when it was weary.

10

Your congregation lived therein.

You, God, prepared your goodness for the poor.

11

The Lord announced the word.

The ones who proclaim it are a great company.

12

“Kings of armies flee! They flee!”

She who waits at home divides the plunder,

13

while you sleep among the camp fires,

the wings of a dove sheathed with silver,

her feathers with shining gold.

14

When the Almighty scattered kings in her,

it snowed on Zalmon.

15

The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains.

The mountains of Bashan are rugged.

16

Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains,

at the mountain where God chooses to reign?

Yes, Yahweh will dwell there forever.

17

The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands.

The Lord is among them, from Sinai, into the sanctuary.

18

You have ascended on high.

You have led away captives.

You have received gifts among people,

yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.

19

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens,

even the God who is our salvation.

Selah.

20

God is to us a God of deliverance.

To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death.

21

But God will strike through the head of his enemies,

the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.

22

The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan,

I will bring you again from the depths of the sea,

23

that you may crush them, dipping your foot in blood,

that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from your enemies.”

24

They have seen your processions, God,

even the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

25

The singers went before, the minstrels followed after,

among the ladies playing with tambourines,

26

“Bless God in the congregations,

even the Lord in the assembly of Israel!”

27

There is little Benjamin, their ruler,

the princes of Judah, their council,

the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.

28

Your God has commanded your strength.

Strengthen, God, that which you have done for us.

29

Because of your temple at Jerusalem,

kings shall bring presents to you.

30

Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds,

the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples.

Being humbled, may it bring bars of silver.

Scatter the nations that delight in war.

31

Princes shall come out of Egypt.

Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.

32

Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth!

Sing praises to the Lord—

Selah—

33

to him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old;

behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.

34

Ascribe strength to God!

His excellency is over Israel,

his strength is in the skies.

35

You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries.

The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people.

Praise be to God!

Acts 1

1

The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach,

2

until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

3

To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom.

4

Being assembled together with them, he commanded them,

“Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

5

For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6

Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

7

He said to them,

“It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

9

When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

10

While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

11

who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

12

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

13

When they had come in, they went up into the upper room where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

14

All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15

In these days, Peter stood up in the middle of the disciples (and the number of names was about one hundred twenty), and said,

16

“Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.

17

For he was counted with us, and received his portion in this ministry.

18

Now this man obtained a field with the reward for his wickedness, and falling headlong, his body burst open, and all his intestines gushed out.

19

It became known to everyone who lived in Jerusalem that in their language that field was called ‘Akeldama,’ that is, ‘The field of blood.’

20

For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘Let his habitation be made desolate.

Let no one dwell in it;’

and,

‘Let another take his office.’

21

“Of the men therefore who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22

beginning from the baptism of John, to the day that he was received up from us, of these one must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23

They put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

24

They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show which one of these two you have chosen

25

to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.”

26

They drew lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

Psalms 43

1

Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation.

Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.

2

For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me?

Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3

Oh, send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead me.

Let them bring me to your holy hill,

to your tents.

4

Then I will go to the altar of God,

to God, my exceeding joy.

I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.

5

Why are you in despair, my soul?

Why are you disturbed within me?

Hope in God!

For I shall still praise him:

my Savior, my helper, and my God.

Psalms 32

By David. A contemplative psalm.

1

Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven,

whose sin is covered.

2

Blessed is the man to whom Yahweh doesn’t impute iniquity,

in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3

When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4

For day and night your hand was heavy on me.

My strength was sapped in the heat of summer.

Selah.

5

I acknowledged my sin to you.

I didn’t hide my iniquity.

I said, I will confess my transgressions to Yahweh,

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

Selah.

6

For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found.

Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him.

7

You are my hiding place.

You will preserve me from trouble.

You will surround me with songs of deliverance.

Selah.

8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go.

I will counsel you with my eye on you.

9

Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding,

who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

10

Many sorrows come to the wicked,

but loving kindness shall surround him who trusts in Yahweh.

11

Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous!

Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!

Psalms 74

A contemplation by Asaph.

1

God, why have you rejected us forever?

Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

2

Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old,

which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance:

Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

3

Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins,

all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4

Your adversaries have roared in the middle of your assembly.

They have set up their standards as signs.

5

They behaved like men wielding axes,

cutting through a thicket of trees.

6

Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

7

They have burned your sanctuary to the ground.

They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

8

They said in their heart, “We will crush them completely.”

They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

9

We see no miraculous signs.

There is no longer any prophet,

neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

10

How long, God, shall the adversary reproach?

Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

11

Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand?

Take it from your chest and consume them!

12

Yet God is my King of old,

working salvation throughout the earth.

13

You divided the sea by your strength.

You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14

You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces.

You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

15

You opened up spring and stream.

You dried up mighty rivers.

16

The day is yours, the night is also yours.

You have prepared the light and the sun.

17

You have set all the boundaries of the earth.

You have made summer and winter.

18

Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh.

Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

19

Don’t deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts.

Don’t forget the life of your poor forever.

20

Honor your covenant,

for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

21

Don’t let the oppressed return ashamed.

Let the poor and needy praise your name.

22

Arise, God! Plead your own cause.

Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

23

Don’t forget the voice of your adversaries.

The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

Isaiah 26

1

In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city.

God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks.

2

Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter:

the one which keeps faith.

3

You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace,

because he trusts in you.

4

Trust in Yahweh forever;

for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.

5

For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city.

He lays it low.

He lays it low even to the ground.

He brings it even to the dust.

6

The foot shall tread it down,

even the feet of the poor

and the steps of the needy.”

7

The way of the just is uprightness.

You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

8

Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you.

Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

9

With my soul I have desired you in the night.

Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly;

for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10

Let favor be shown to the wicked,

yet he will not learn righteousness.

In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully,

and will not see Yahweh’s majesty.

11

Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see;

but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed.

Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

12

Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us,

for you have also done all our work for us.

13

Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us,

but we will only acknowledge your name.

14

The dead shall not live.

The departed spirits shall not rise.

Therefore you have visited and destroyed them,

and caused all memory of them to perish.

15

You have increased the nation, O Yahweh.

You have increased the nation!

You are glorified!

You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

16

Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you.

They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

17

Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery,

is in pain and cries out in her pangs,

so we have been before you, Yahweh.

18

We have been with child.

We have been in pain.

We gave birth, it seems, only to wind.

We have not worked any deliverance in the earth;

neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

19

Your dead shall live.

My dead bodies shall arise.

Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust;

for your dew is like the dew of herbs,

and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.

20

Come, my people, enter into your rooms,

and shut your doors behind you.

Hide yourself for a little moment,

until the indignation is past.

21

For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

Hebrews 10

1

For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

2

Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

3

But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins.

4

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

5

Therefore when he comes into the world, he says,

“You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering,

but you prepared a body for me.

6

You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin.

7

Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)

to do your will, O God.’ ”

8

Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them” (those which are offered according to the law),

9

then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second,

10

by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11

Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices which can never take away sins,

12

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,

13

from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet.

14

For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

15

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,

16

“This is the covenant that I will make with them:

‘After those days,’ says the Lord,

‘I will put my laws on their heart,

I will also write them on their mind;’ ”

then he says,

17

“I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more.”

18

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19

Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

20

by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,

21

and having a great priest over God’s house,

22

let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

23

let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.

24

Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,

25

not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

26

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins,

27

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries.

28

A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.

29

How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

30

For we know him who said, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will repay,” says the Lord. Again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

31

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

32

But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings;

33

partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so.

34

For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.

35

Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward.

36

For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

37

“In a very little while,

he who comes will come, and will not wait.

38

But the righteous will live by faith.

If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

39

But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

Psalms 44

For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. A contemplative psalm.

1

We have heard with our ears, God;

our fathers have told us what work you did in their days,

in the days of old.

2

You drove out the nations with your hand,

but you planted them.

You afflicted the peoples,

but you spread them abroad.

3

For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword,

neither did their own arm save them;

but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face,

because you were favorable to them.

4

God, you are my King.

Command victories for Jacob!

5

Through you, we will push down our adversaries.

Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.

6

For I will not trust in my bow,

neither will my sword save me.

7

But you have saved us from our adversaries,

and have shamed those who hate us.

8

In God we have made our boast all day long.

We will give thanks to your name forever.

Selah.

9

But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor,

and don’t go out with our armies.

10

You make us turn back from the adversary.

Those who hate us take plunder for themselves.

11

You have made us like sheep for food,

and have scattered us among the nations.

12

You sell your people for nothing,

and have gained nothing from their sale.

13

You make us a reproach to our neighbors,

a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.

14

You make us a byword among the nations,

a shaking of the head among the peoples.

15

All day long my dishonor is before me,

and shame covers my face,

16

at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses,

because of the enemy and the avenger.

17

All this has come on us,

yet we haven’t forgotten you.

We haven’t been false to your covenant.

18

Our heart has not turned back,

neither have our steps strayed from your path,

19

though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals,

and covered us with the shadow of death.

20

If we have forgotten the name of our God,

or spread out our hands to a strange god,

21

won’t God search this out?

For he knows the secrets of the heart.

22

Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long.

We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

23

Wake up!

Why do you sleep, Lord?

Arise!

Don’t reject us forever.

24

Why do you hide your face,

and forget our affliction and our oppression?

25

For our soul is bowed down to the dust.

Our body clings to the earth.

26

Rise up to help us.

Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

Psalms 9

For the Chief Musician. Set to “The Death of the Son.” A Psalm by David.

1

I will give thanks to Yahweh with my whole heart.

I will tell of all your marvelous works.

2

I will be glad and rejoice in you.

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

3

When my enemies turn back,

they stumble and perish in your presence.

4

For you have maintained my just cause.

You sit on the throne judging righteously.

5

You have rebuked the nations.

You have destroyed the wicked.

You have blotted out their name forever and ever.

6

The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin.

The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.

7

But Yahweh reigns forever.

He has prepared his throne for judgment.

8

He will judge the world in righteousness.

He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.

9

Yahweh will also be a high tower for the oppressed;

a high tower in times of trouble.

10

Those who know your name will put their trust in you,

for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

11

Sing praises to Yahweh, who dwells in Zion,

and declare among the people what he has done.

12

For he who avenges blood remembers them.

He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.

13

Have mercy on me, Yahweh.

See my affliction by those who hate me,

and lift me up from the gates of death,

14

that I may show all of your praise.

I will rejoice in your salvation in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

15

The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made.

In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.

16

Yahweh has made himself known.

He has executed judgment.

The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands.

Meditation. Selah.

17

The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol,

even all the nations that forget God.

18

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

19

Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail.

Let the nations be judged in your sight.

20

Put them in fear, Yahweh.

Let the nations know that they are only men.

Selah.

Psalms 69

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David.

1

Save me, God,

for the waters have come up to my neck!

2

I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold.

I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3

I am weary with my crying.

My throat is dry.

My eyes fail looking for my God.

4

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head.

Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.

I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

5

God, you know my foolishness.

My sins aren’t hidden from you.

6

Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies.

Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

7

Because for your sake, I have borne reproach.

Shame has covered my face.

8

I have become a stranger to my brothers,

an alien to my mother’s children.

9

For the zeal of your house consumes me.

The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10

When I wept and I fasted,

that was to my reproach.

11

When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

12

Those who sit in the gate talk about me.

I am the song of the drunkards.

13

But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time.

God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14

Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink.

Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15

Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me,

neither let the deep swallow me up.

Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16

Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

17

Don’t hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress.

Answer me speedily!

18

Draw near to my soul and redeem it.

Ransom me because of my enemies.

19

You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor.

My adversaries are all before you.

20

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.

I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;

for comforters, but I found none.

21

They also gave me poison for my food.

In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22

Let their table before them become a snare.

May it become a retribution and a trap.

23

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see.

Let their backs be continually bent.

24

Pour out your indignation on them.

Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25

Let their habitation be desolate.

Let no one dwell in their tents.

26

For they persecute him whom you have wounded.

They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

27

Charge them with crime upon crime.

Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

28

Let them be blotted out of the book of life,

and not be written with the righteous.

29

But I am in pain and distress.

Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30

I will praise the name of God with a song,

and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31

It will please Yahweh better than an ox,

or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32

The humble have seen it, and are glad.

You who seek after God, let your heart live.

33

For Yahweh hears the needy,

and doesn’t despise his captive people.

34

Let heaven and earth praise him;

the seas, and everything that moves therein!

35

For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah.

They shall settle there, and own it.

36

The children also of his servants shall inherit it.

Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

Psalms 17

A Prayer by David.

1

Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea.

Give ear to my prayer that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.

2

Let my sentence come out of your presence.

Let your eyes look on equity.

3

You have proved my heart.

You have visited me in the night.

You have tried me, and found nothing.

I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

4

As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips,

I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.

5

My steps have held fast to your paths.

My feet have not slipped.

6

I have called on you, for you will answer me, God.

Turn your ear to me.

Hear my speech.

7

Show your marvelous loving kindness,

you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

8

Keep me as the apple of your eye.

Hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9

from the wicked who oppress me,

my deadly enemies, who surround me.

10

They close up their callous hearts.

With their mouth they speak proudly.

11

They have now surrounded us in our steps.

They set their eyes to cast us down to the earth.

12

He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey,

as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13

Arise, Yahweh, confront him.

Cast him down.

Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14

from men by your hand, Yahweh,

from men of the world, whose portion is in this life.

You fill the belly of your cherished ones.

Your sons have plenty,

and they store up wealth for their children.

15

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness.

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

Psalms 51

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

1

Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

2

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.

Cleanse me from my sin.

3

For I know my transgressions.

My sin is constantly before me.

4

Against you, and you only, I have sinned,

and done that which is evil in your sight,

so you may be proved right when you speak,

and justified when you judge.

5

Behold, I was born in iniquity.

My mother conceived me in sin.

6

Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

7

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean.

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8

Let me hear joy and gladness,

that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.

9

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all of my iniquities.

10

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Renew a right spirit within me.

11

Don’t throw me from your presence,

and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

12

Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Uphold me with a willing spirit.

13

Then I will teach transgressors your ways.

Sinners will be converted to you.

14

Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation.

My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15

Lord, open my lips.

My mouth will declare your praise.

16

For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it.

You have no pleasure in burnt offering.

17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart.

18

Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19

Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.

Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Genesis 18

1

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

2

He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

3

and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

4

Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

5

I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”

6

Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”

7

Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

8

He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

9

They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”

He said, “There, in the tent.”

10

He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

11

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

12

Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

13

Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child when I am old?’

14

Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes around, and Sarah will have a son.”

15

Then Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid.

He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

16

The men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.

17

Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do,

18

since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?

19

For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Yahweh may bring on Abraham that which he has spoken of him.”

20

Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,

21

I will go down now, and see whether their deeds are as bad as the reports which have come to me. If not, I will know.”

22

The men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Yahweh.

23

Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?

24

What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?

25

May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”

26

Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27

Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.

28

What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

29

He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”

30

He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?”

He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

31

He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”

32

He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”

33

Yahweh went his way as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Psalms 7

A meditation by David, which he sang to Yahweh, concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite.

1

Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you.

Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

2

lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,

ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.

3

Yahweh, my God, if I have done this,

if there is iniquity in my hands,

4

if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me

(yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),

5

let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;

yes, let him tread my life down to the earth,

and lay my glory in the dust.

Selah.

6

Arise, Yahweh, in your anger.

Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries.

Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

7

Let the congregation of the peoples surround you.

Rule over them on high.

8

Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples.

Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness,

and to my integrity that is in me.

9

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,

but establish the righteous;

their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

10

My shield is with God,

who saves the upright in heart.

11

God is a righteous judge,

yes, a God who has indignation every day.

12

If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword;

he has bent and strung his bow.

13

He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death.

He makes ready his flaming arrows.

14

Behold, he travails with iniquity.

Yes, he has conceived mischief,

and brought out falsehood.

15

He has dug a hole,

and has fallen into the pit which he made.

16

The trouble he causes shall return to his own head.

His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.

17

I will give thanks to Yahweh according to his righteousness,

and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High.

Psalms 101

A Psalm by David.

1

I will sing of loving kindness and justice.

To you, Yahweh, I will sing praises.

2

I will be careful to live a blameless life.

When will you come to me?

I will walk within my house with a blameless heart.

3

I will set no vile thing before my eyes.

I hate the deeds of faithless men.

They will not cling to me.

4

A perverse heart will be far from me.

I will have nothing to do with evil.

5

I will silence whoever secretly slanders his neighbor.

I won’t tolerate one who is arrogant and conceited.

6

My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,

that they may dwell with me.

He who walks in a perfect way,

he will serve me.

7

He who practices deceit won’t dwell within my house.

He who speaks falsehood won’t be established before my eyes.

8

Morning by morning, I will destroy all the wicked of the land,

to cut off all the workers of iniquity from Yahweh’s city.

John 1

1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2

The same was in the beginning with God.

3

All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.

4

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.

6

There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John.

7

The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him.

8

He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light.

9

The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.

10

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him.

11

He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.

12

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:

13

who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15

John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’ ”

16

From his fullness we all received grace upon grace.

17

For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

18

No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

19

This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20

He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”

21

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22

They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23

He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

24

The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.

25

They asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

26

John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know.

27

He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.”

28

These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29

The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30

This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’

31

I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel.”

32

John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him.

33

I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’

34

I have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

35

Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples,

36

and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”

37

The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

38

Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them,

“What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”

39

He said to them,

“Come, and see.”

They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour.

40

One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

41

He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ).

42

He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said,

“You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas”

(which is by interpretation, Peter).

43

On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him,

“Follow me.”

44

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter.

45

Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46

Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him,

“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

48

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered him,

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

49

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”

50

Jesus answered him,

“Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!”

51

He said to him,

“Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

1 Peter 2

1

Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

2

as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that with it you may grow,

3

if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

4

coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

5

You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6

Because it is contained in Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious:

He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”

7

For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient,

“The stone which the builders rejected

has become the chief cornerstone,”

8

and,

“a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.”

For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

10

In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11

Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

12

having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13

Therefore subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme;

14

or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

15

For this is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

16

as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.

17

Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

18

Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all respect: not only to the good and gentle, but also to the wicked.

19

For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.

20

For what glory is it if, when you sin, you patiently endure beating? But if, when you do well, you patiently endure suffering, this is commendable with God.

21

For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps,

22

who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

23

When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.

24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.

25

For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Matthew 6

1

“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving

before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

2

Therefore, when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

3

But when you do merciful deeds, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does,

4

so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

5

“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward.

6

But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

7

In praying, don’t use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.

8

Therefore don’t be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.

9

Pray like this:

“ ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.

10

Let your Kingdom come.

Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

11

Give us today our daily bread.

12

Forgive us our debts,

as we also forgive our debtors.

13

Bring us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

14

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15

But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

16

“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward.

17

But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

18

so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

19

“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

20

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;

21

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

23

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

25

Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26

See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?

27

“Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment

to his lifespan?

28

Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,

29

yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.

30

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

31

“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’

32

For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33

But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.

34

Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

Romans 14

1

Now accept one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.

2

One man has faith to eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

3

Don’t let him who eats despise him who doesn’t eat. Don’t let him who doesn’t eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him.

4

Who are you who judge another’s servant? To his own lord he stands or falls. Yes, he will be made to stand, for God has power to make him stand.

5

One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.

6

He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. He who doesn’t eat, to the Lord he doesn’t eat, and gives God thanks.

7

For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.

8

For if we live, we live to the Lord. Or if we die, we die to the Lord. If therefore we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

9

For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11

For it is written,

“ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘to me every knee will bow.

Every tongue will confess to God.’ ”

12

So then each one of us will give account of himself to God.

13

Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.

14

I know, and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean of itself; except that to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

15

Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

16

Then don’t let your good be slandered,

17

for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

18

For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.

19

So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.

20

Don’t overthrow God’s work for food’s sake. All things indeed are clean, however it is evil for that man who creates a stumbling block by eating.

21

It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

22

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who doesn’t judge himself in that which he approves.

23

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it isn’t of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

24

Now to him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret through long ages,

25

but now is revealed, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known for obedience of faith to all the nations;

26

to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

2 Corinthians 9

1

It is indeed unnecessary for me to write to you concerning the service to the saints,

2

for I know your readiness, of which I boast on your behalf to those of Macedonia, that Achaia has been prepared for the past year. Your zeal has stirred up very many of them.

3

But I have sent the brothers that our boasting on your behalf may not be in vain in this respect, that, just as I said, you may be prepared,

4

lest by any means, if anyone from Macedonia comes there with me and finds you unprepared, we (to say nothing of you) would be disappointed in this confident boasting.

5

I thought it necessary therefore to entreat the brothers that they would go before to you and arrange ahead of time the generous gift that you promised before, that the same might be ready as a matter of generosity, and not of greediness.

6

Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

7

Let each man give according as he has determined in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that you, always having all sufficiency in everything, may abound to every good work.

9

As it is written,

“He has scattered abroad. He has given to the poor.

His righteousness remains forever.”

10

Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness,

11

you being enriched in everything to all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.

12

For this service of giving that you perform not only makes up for lack among the saints, but abounds also through much giving of thanks to God,

13

seeing that through the proof given by this service, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the Good News of Christ and for the generosity of your contribution to them and to all,

14

while they themselves also, with supplication on your behalf, yearn for you by reason of the exceeding grace of God in you.

15

Now thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift!

Matthew 20

1

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

2

When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius

a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3

He went out about the third hour,

and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.

4

He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way.

5

Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour,

and did likewise.

6

About the eleventh hour

he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’

7

“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’

“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’

8

“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’

9

“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.

10

When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.

11

When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household,

12

saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13

“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?

14

Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you.

15

Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’

16

So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

17

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,

18

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,

19

and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”

20

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.

21

He said to her,

“What do you want?”

She said to him, “Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.”

22

But Jesus answered,

“You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to him, “We are able.”

23

He said to them,

“You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24

When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.

25

But Jesus summoned them, and said,

“You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

26

It shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be

your servant.

27

Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

28

even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

29

As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

30

Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

31

The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

32

Jesus stood still and called them, and asked,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

33

They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”

34

Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.

Galatians 5

1

Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

2

Behold, I, Paul, tell you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing.

3

Yes, I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

4

You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

5

For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.

6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

7

You were running well! Who interfered with you that you should not obey the truth?

8

This persuasion is not from him who calls you.

9

A little yeast grows through the whole lump.

10

I have confidence toward you in the Lord that you will think no other way. But he who troubles you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.

11

But I, brothers, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.

12

I wish that those who disturb you would cut themselves off.

13

For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.

14

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

15

But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.

16

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

17

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.

18

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19

Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,

20

idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,

21

envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.

22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,

23

gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

24

Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.

25

If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.

26

Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

Footnotes

His letters, of course, excepted.

See for example Rémusat, Anselme de Canterbury,
p. 366.

Rémusat, Anselme de Canterbury, p. 348.

Historia Novorum, i. (Migne, Patrologia
Latina, clix. col. 385 B.

Eadmer, Vita Anselmi, ii. 7, § 72 (Migne,
P.L.,
clviii. col. 115 B).

I have discussed the comparison and contrast of
Anselm and Descartes in a paper on Anselm’s Ontological
Argument for the Existence of God, published in Proceedings
of the Aristotelian Society, 1895 (vol. iii. No. 2, pp. 25 foll.).

I so translate inter nocturnas vigilias
with Mr Rule. But it may mean only “during the watches of the night.”

The whole of this last sentence is somewhat
obscure; but the general meaning is plain.

Eadmer, Vita Anselmi, i. 3,
§ 26 (Migne, P.L,
clviii. col. 63, 64).

St Anselm is here thinking of a favourite thought
of his. I will try to state it as simply as I can. If a
man at any time looks into himself, he is aware that he is thinking of something; he is conscious of two
things; himself who thinks and what he is thinking
of. This last may be himself too; he may be thinking of himself. Nay, it must always be himself in a
sense, because it is his own idea or thought of other
things that he has before him, when he thinks of
them; not the things as they may be unthought of,
but as they are in his mind. Now the consciousness
of self as thinking, St Anselm always calls memory or
memory of self; because it is in memory that we are
chiefly aware of ourselves as being the same who
yesterday did or felt one thing and to-day do or feel
something else, and yet are the same in both cases;
and the consciousness of what we are thinking about,
our thought as distinguished from our self, he calls our
understanding or understanding of self; because that is the
end and upshot of our thinking, thoroughly to understand what we think about, and at last, so to put it,
to understand ourselves and all that is in our minds and
thoughts. But we should not care to do this if we
did not have an interest in what we think about, and
unless this interest carried us through as it were, and
so St Anselm says that there would be no use or
purpose in memory and understanding unless the object of
them were either loved or else hated or rejected. And
so the permanent nature of the mind is a trinity of
self-consciousness (or, as St Anselm says, memory),
understanding, and love; for love is the intensest form
of the interest which continues without rejecting
to contemplate any object. And therein he sees in the human mind an image of the Divine. For if we try to think of a Being which is eternally all which we
are trying to be, and perfectly that which we are
imperfectly (and we are of course only conscious of our
imperfection in virtue of the notion of such a perfect
Being with which we contrast ourselves) we shall
think of this Being as conscious of Himself, as having
before Him all that is in His mind, not as something not perfectly grasped or comprehended, hut as wholly
land completely what He is in Himself, indissolubly united with Himself; a Thought not unexpressed but
adequately uttered and so called a Word; a Word the
complete expression of Himself, as real a person as
Himself, as a Son with His Father; and this Word or
Son loved with a love which is no mere feeling of the
lover who remains distinct from the love he bears;
but a love which is all that Himself is: and is fully
and adequately reciprocated by its object: a Spirit of
mutual Love, therefore, proceeding equally from both
the Father and the Son: in other words a Trinity such
as the Christian theology describes. Hence St Anselm
sees in the trinity of memory, understanding and love in
the human mind the truest image of the Trinity of
Father, Son and Holy Ghost in God.

Compare chap. viii. above.

St Anselm means that there is this difference
between God and us: if one of us is living or wise
or good we partake of a life or wisdom or a goodness
which is not ourselves: we are said to have life or
wisdom or goodness, not to be life or wisdom or
goodness: we may cease to have them or partake of
them, and then we are living or wise or good no
longer. But with God this is not so; there is no
such distinction between Him and His life or wisdom
or goodness; He is that life or wisdom or goodness,
in virtue of which He is said to be living or wise or
good.

That is, when I feel, for example, a pain in my
finger, it is I that feel it; I am not conscious of a
division in my consciousness. The body is divided into
parts, but not the consciousness: the finger has not a
consciousness of its own, distinct from that of the
next finger, but I, one and the same consciousness,
am conscious of feelings now in one finger, now in
another. This remains true, notwithstanding the
facts now known, but unknown to St Anselm, which
show that particular kinds of consciousness are connected with particular parts of the brain; so that
injury to, or removal of a particular part of the brain
makes one incapable of a certain kind of consciousness.
For despite this fact, the consciousness is not divided
into parts one outside of another; the consciousness is
one at each moment; the division into parts, one out
side of the other, is only true of the brain, which by
experiments (not by immediate consciousness) we find
to be bound up with our consciousness. We are not
directly conscious of our brains at all; and for many
centuries it was held to be uncertain whether the brain
was the organ of consciousness or not.

I read ibi for
ubi here.

Reading
Releva.

St Anselm here explains
that, as God’s attributes cannot be distinguished from Himself, as our
attributes can be distinguished from ourselves—see chap. xiii.—so they cannot
be so distinguished from one another, as to be looked upon in the light of parts
which added together make up the composite notion of God’s nature. We may only
be able to think first of one divine attribute, then of another; but we must not suppose
God’s nature to be divisible, even in thought: we can
conceive of many things as divided which we cannot
actually cut up into parts; and many things which we
always find together we can think of as separate; but
we must think of God as so perfectly one that no
division or dissolution into constituent elements or
parts can for a moment be thought of in His case.
Otherwise He would not be the original and ultimate
Reality, but would have grown out of the coalescence
of simpler elements into one complex being.

Because if the divine eternity be thought of merely
as a continual passing of time which did not begin and
will not end, it will be made up, just as time is, of
successive parts of duration, which cannot be all there
at once.

He has probably in view angels and human souls.

That is, they might possibly have an end, though
they will not. God who created them out of nothing,
might annihilate them; though such is not His will.

Saeculum saeculi, saecula saeculorum: translated in our
Bibles and Prayer-books, world without end.

Finite things are not at one time all that they are,
taken as a whole; for that would include what they
were but now are not, what they will be but are not
yet, as well as what they are at the moment. What
we are at any one moment is but a fragment of what
we reckon ourselves to be; our possibilities are not
exhausted in our actual condition at a particular point
of time.

See above, Proslogion, ch. i. p. 9, n. 2.

See Proslogion, ch. xiii.

He plays on the likeness of the words
vanitas and veritas.

That is, by the baptism in the river Jordan did sanctify
water to the mystical washing away of sin.

According to St Jerome,
Liber de Nominibus Hebraicis
(de Genesi).

According to St Jerome in the same work (de Actibus Apostolorum).

According to St Jerome,
Lib. de Hebr. Nom. (de Evang. Lucae).

According to St Jerome in the same work (de Actibus Apostolorum).

St Jerome, Lib. de Hebr. Nom. (de Evang. Matt.).

The play upon words here,—one very characteristic
of Anselm, with whom this particular kind of phrase
is a trick of style so common as often to become tedious—miserabiliter mirabilis et mirabiliter miserabilis—cannot
be exactly reproduced in English.

On the views of the Atonement by the death of
Christ which Anselm here rejects, see the Introduction.

Reading quia for
qui.

In Anselm’s view the debt due to God from sinners
they can never pay; it can only be paid by Christ, who
does not owe the debt, but has a sacrifice to offer to
the Father worthy, as ours could never be, of His
acceptance. By repentance and amendment however,
which are all we can do, we accept the salvation
offered to us through Christ’s vicarious sacrifice: if we
do not repent and amend, then we have no part in the
payment of our debt by Christ; we do not acknowledge
that it is our debt which He paid. It cannot be denied
that there is something artificial in the whole account
of the matter here given; and it will seem the more
artificial the more we forget that it is to be regarded
less as a commentary upon the Gospel history than as
an analysis of the relations in which the converted
soul finds itself towards God and towards its own
sins. Of that experience I believe that Anselm’s teaching is in essentials a true representation.

Viaticum: Anselm has doubtless in his mind the
use of this word for the Eucharist, when administered
to the sick and dying as a provision from the journey
from this world to the next.

The allusion is to the sponsors in baptism.

This is the 12th Prayer in Gerberon’s edition.

This is a characteristic touch, which seems to stamp
the prayer as a genuine work of St Anselm. Before
admission into the Christian covenant he places the
conception of God, which, as he argues in the Proslogion,
is by itself enough to give to every rational being the
assurance of His existence.

His thought in placing eternal pains before
bodily
torments seems to be this: Thou hast not cut short my life
in the midst of my sins; nor in the extension of life thus
given made me to suffer bodily pain.

A reminiscence of the Gloria in excelsis.

This is the 14th Prayer in Gerberon’s edition.

See the Veni Sancte Spiritus (the sequence for
Pentecost).

This is the 23rd Prayer in Gerberon’s edition.

In the famous treatise on the Atonement called Cur Deus Homo, or
Why God became Man, St Anselm
makes much of the thought that the man Christ, being
free alike from original and from actual sin, discharged
in dying no debt of nature, but did something over and
above what was required of Him (namely, a righteous
life) and offered to God something which indeed belonged to God already, as does everything which He
created, but which God did not exact, and could thus
be reckoned as a satisfaction for the sins of others.
To this thought he here refers, saying that Christ owed
no debt which was paid by Him in dying.

The elaborate phrase of Anselm here,
quia dilectionem
quam jubes amo, amorem diligo, caritatem concupisco, using
a number of synonyms for love which we can scarcely
parallel in English, I have not attempted to translate
closely.

Here too I have not kept closely to the original
which repeats the word Vult, wishes, three times.

This is the 24th Prayer in Gerberon’s edition.

This is Letter XI. of Book I. in Gerberon’s edition.
The person to whom it was addressed was, as it would
seem, a monk of the abbey of Bec (of which Anselm
was at the time of writing Prior, but not as yet Abbot)
who was detained by Archbishop Lanfranc in England
on some ecclesiastical business.

This passage has been difficult of translation,
owing to the absence of any term in modern English exactly corresponding to the
dominus, the use of which
as addressed to himself Ralph had desired Anselm to
discontinue. It was the ordinary term of respect,
used to persons of a certain position, and still commonly prefixed, in the shortened form
Dom, to the
names of Benedictine monks. But preserving its proper meaning of lord or
master it immediately suggested
the antithesis of servant which Anselm here insists on
using of himself, even though he consents to call his
correspondent brother.

Herlwin is often mentioned in St Anselm’s correspondence. From the roll of monks of Bec he seems
to have been considerably the senior of Anselm in the
monastery. He was a namesake, perhaps a kinsman,
of the founder.

Gondulf was one of St Anselm’s dearest friends.
He became a monk of Bec very shortly before Anselm
himself, was brought to England by Lanfranc, and
raised to the see of Rochester in 1077. He died at
the age of eighty-four in 1108 and was buried by
Anselm’s side at Canterbury. He was the architect
of the White Tower of London.

Maurice was an intimate friend and frequent correspondent. He was one of those who urged Anselm
to write the Monologium.

The cathedral clergy of Canterbury were at this time Benedictine monks, and therefore under the same
rule as the monks of Bee, of which Anselm was Prior
at this time, and to which his correspondents belonged.
During the primacy of Lanfranc and Anselm there was
much intercourse between Bee, of which both arch
bishops had been prior and Anselm also abbot, and
Christ Church, Canterbury, of which convent the
Archbishops were considered to be ex officio Abbots,
the actual governor bearing only the inferior title of
Prior.

Maurice.

Lanfranc.

Anselm cannot have been more than forty-five
at this time, but his health was probably already
injured by his austerities. He lived however to be
seventy-six.

Richera was St Anselm’s only sister, and Burgundius was her husband. Their only son was a
younger Anselm, at this time a professed monk and
in attendance upon his uncle, now Archbishop of
Canterbury and, as appears from a letter written soon
after this to his sister, in the midst of his dispute
with Henry I. about the homage claimed from him by
the king.

Son of Malcolm Canmore (the Malcolm of
Macbeth)
and St Margaret of Scotland: brother of Matilda, the
wife of the English King Henry I. He reigned from
1107 to 1124, and was succeeded by his brother St
David.

Malcolm Canmore. He succeeded to the kingdom
of Scotland in 1057, married the English princess St
Margaret as his second wife in 1068 and died in 1093.

Edgar, son and successor of Malcolm Canmore.
He was named after his uncle, the English prince
Edgar Atheling, St Margaret’s brother. He reigned
from 1094 to 1107.

Probably Benedictine monks from Canterbury.
Both Edgar and Alexander were interested in the
introduction into Scotland of the religious institutions
prevalent in England. Edgar had refounded Coldingham for Durham monks; Alexander at a later date
brought Canterbury monks to Dunfermline.

I know nothing further of this Robert than
appears from this letter.

The printed text has
Seit, Edit et Hydit, Luverim,
Virgit, Godit. Through the kindness of Mr Moule of
C.C.C., Cambridge, I learn that the manuscript of
Anselm’s Letters belonging to the Parker collection
has Thydit for et Hydit, and Dirgit for Virgit. The Anglo-Saxon names thus disguised have been kindly
identified for me as above by Mr W. H. Stevenson of
Exeter College, Oxford. Except Eadgyth, which survives as Edith, all have gone out of use.

This may be (but it is quite possible it is not)
William of Chester, a pupil of Anselm. a monk first
(probably) of Bec, then of the daughter house at
Chester, who addressed a poem to St Anselm on his
elevation to the see of Canterbury.

Proslogium; Monologium; An Appendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo

Table of Contents

Introduction

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

1. Preface

2. Chapter I

3. Chapter II

4. Chapter III

5. Chapter IV

6. Chapter V

7. Chapter VI

8. Chapter VII

9. Chapter VIII

10. Chapter IX

11. Chapter X

12. Chapter XI

13. Chapter XII

14. Chapter XIII

15. Chapter XIV

16. Chapter XV

17. Chapter XVI

18. Chapter XVII

19. Chapter XVIII

20. Chapter XIX

21. Chapter XX

22. Chapter XXI

23. Chapter XXII

24. Chapter XXIII

25. Chapter XXIV

26. Chapter XXV

27. Chapter XXVI

Monologium - On The Being Of God

Preface

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

Chapter IX

Chapter X

Chapter XI

Chapter XII

Chapter XIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XV

Chapter XVI

Chapter XVII

Chapter XVIII

Chapter XIX

Chapter XX

Chapter XXI

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIII

Chapter XXIV

Chapter XXV

Chapter XXVI

Chapter XXVII

Chapter XXVIII

Chapter XXIX

Chapter XXX

Chapter XXXI

Chapter XXXII

Chapter XXXIII

Chapter XXXIV

Chapter XXXV

Chapter XXXVI

Chapter XXXVII

Chapter XXXVIII

Chapter XXXIX

Chapter XL

Chapter XLI

Chapter XLII

Chapter XLIII

Chapter XLIV

Chapter XLV

Chapter XLVI

Chapter XLVII

Chapter XLVIII

Chapter XLIX

Chapter L

Chapter LI

Chapter LII

Chapter LIII

Chapter LIV

Chapter LV

Chapter LVI

Chapter LVII

Chapter LVIII

Chapter LIX

Chapter LX

Chapter LXI

Chapter LXII

Chapter LXIII

Chapter LXIV

Chapter LXV

Chapter LXVI

Chapter LXVII

Chapter LXVIII

Chapter LXIX

Chapter LXX

Chapter LXXI

Chapter LXXII

Chapter LXXIII

Chapter LXXIV

Chapter LXXV

Chapter LXXVI

Chapter LXXVII

Chapter LXXVIII

Chapter LXXIX

Appendix

1. IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL - AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENT OF ANSELM IN THE PROSLOGIUM

2. IN REPLY TO GAUNILON'S ANSWER IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL

3. Chapter I

4. Chapter II

5. Chapter III

6. Chapter IV

7. Chapter V

8. Chapter VI

9. Chapter VII

10. Chapter VIII

11. Chapter IX

12. Chapter X

Cur Deus Homo

1. Preface

2. BOOK FIRST: Chapter I

3. Chapter II

4. Chapter III

5. Chapter IV

6. Chapter V

7. Chapter VI

8. Chapter VII

9. Chapter VIII

10. Chapter IX

11. Chapter X

12. Chapter XI

13. Chapter XII

14. Chapter XIII

15. Chapter XIV

16. Chapter XV

17. Chapter XVI

18. Chapter XVII

19. Chapter XVIII

20. Chapter XIX

21. Chapter XX

22. Chapter XXI

23. Chapter XXII

24. Chapter XXIII

25. Chapter XXIV

26. Chapter XXV

27. BOOK SECOND: Chapter I

28. Chapter II

29. Chapter III

30. Chapter IV

31. Chapter V

32. Chapter VI

33. Chapter VII

34. Chapter VIII

35. Chapter IX

36. Chapter X

37. Chapter XI

38. Chapter XII

39. Chapter XIII

40. Chapter XIV

41. Chapter XV

42. Chapter XVI

43. Chapter XVII

44. Chapter XVIII (a)

45. Chapter XVIII (b)

46. Chapter XIX

47. Chapter XX

48. Chapter XXI

49. Chapter XXII

Proslogium; Monologium; An Appendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo

Introduction

THE present volume of St. Anselm’s most important philosophical and theological writings contains: (1) The Proslogium (2) the Monologium, (3) the Cur Deus Homo, and (4) by way of historical complement, an Appendix to the Monologium entitled In Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon, a monk of Marmoutiers. The Proslogium (which, though subsequent in point of time to the Monologium, is here placed first, as containing the famous ontological argument), the Monologium and the Appendix thereto were translated by Mr. Sidney Norton Deane, of New Haven, Conn.; the Cur Deus Homo was
rendered by James Gardiner Vose, formerly of Milton, Conn., and later of Providence, R. I., and published in 1854 and 1855 in the Bibliotheca Sacra, then issued at Andover, Mass., by Warren F. Draper. The thanks of the reading public are due to all these gentlemen for their gratuitous labors in behalf of philosophy.

Welch’s recent book Anselm and His Work, by its accessibility, renders any extended biographical notice of Anselm unneccessary. We append, therefore, merely a few brief paragraphs from Weber’s admirable History of Philosophy on Anselm’s position in the world of thought, and we afterwards add (this, at the suggestion of Prof. George M. Duncan, of Yale University) a series of
quotations regarding Anselm’s most characteristic contribution to philosophy—the ontological argument—from Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibnitz, Kant, Hegel, Dorner, Lotze, and Professor Flint. A bibliography also has been compiled. Thus the work will give full material and indications for the original study of one of the greatest exponents of
Christian doctrine.

ANSELM’S PHILOSOPHY.

(AFTER WEBER.[1])

“The first really speculative thinker after Scotus is St. Anselmus, the disciple of Lanfranc. He was born at Aosta (1033),
entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy (1060), succeeded Lanfranc as Abbot (1078), and as Archbishop of Canterbury (1093). He died in 1109. He left a great number of writings, the most important of which are: the Dialogus de grammatico, the Monologium de divinitatis essentia sive
Exemplum de ratione fidei, the Proslogium sive Fides quoerens intellectum, the De veritate, the De fide trinitatis, and the Cur Deus Homo?

“The second Augustine, as St. Anselmus had been called, starts out from the same principle as the first; he holds that faith precedes all reflection and all discussion concerning religious things. The unbelievers, he says, strive to understand because they do not believe; we, on the contrary, strive to understand because we believe. They and we have the same object in view; but inasmuch as they do not believe, they cannot arrive at
their goal, which is to understand the dogma. The unbeliever will never understand. In religion faith plays the part played by experience in the understanding of the things of this world. The blind man cannot see the light, and therefore does not understand it; the deaf-mute, who has never perceived sound, cannot have a clear idea of sound. Similarly, not to believe means not to perceive, and not to perceive means not to understand. Hence, we do not reflect in order that we may believe; on
the contrary, we believe in order that we may arrive at knowledge. A Christian ought never to doubt the beliefs and teachings of the Holy Catholic Church. All he can do is to strive, as humbly as possible, to understand her teachings by believing them, to love them, and resolutely to observe them in his daily life. Should he succeed in understanding the Christian doctrine, let him render thanks to God, the source of all intelligence! In case he fails, that is no reason why he should obstinately
attack the dogma, but a reason why he should bow his head in worship. Faith ought not merely to be the starting-point,—the Christian’s aim is not to depart from faith but to remain in it,—but also the fixed rule and goal of thought, the beginning, the middle, and the end of all philosophy.

“The above almost literal quotations might give one the impression that St. Anselmus belongs exclusively to the history of theology. Such is not the case, however. This fervent Catholic is more independent, more of an investigator and philosopher than he himself imagines. He is a typical scholastic doctor and a fine exponent of the alliance between reason and faith which forms the characteristic trait of mediaeval philosophy. He assumes,
a priori,
that revelation and reason are in perfect accord. These two manifestations of one and the same Supreme Intelligence cannot possibly contradict each other. Hence, his point of view is diametrically opposed to the credo quia absurdum. Moreover, he too had been besieged by doubt. Indeed, the extreme ardor which impels him to search everywhere for
arguments favorable to the dogma, is a confession on his part that the dogma needs support, that it is debatable, that it lacks self-evidence, the criterion of truth. Even as a monk, it was his chief concern to find a simple and conclusive argument in support of the existence of God and of all the doctrines of the Church concerning the Supreme Being. Mere affirmation did not satisfy him; he demanded proofs. This thought was continually before his mind; it caused him to forget his meals, and
pursued him even during the solemn moments of worship. He comes to the conclusion that it is a temptation of Satan, and seeks deliverance from it. But in vain. After a night spent in meditation, he at last discovers what be has been seeking for years: the incontrovertible argument in favor of the Christian dogma, and he regards himself as fortunate in having found, not only the proof of the existence of God, but his peace of soul. His demonstrations are like the premises of modern
rationalism.

“Everything that exists, he says, has its cause, and this cause may be one or many. If it is one, then we have what we are looking for: God, the unitary being to whom all other beings owe their origin. If it is manifold, there are three possibilities: (1) The manifold may depend on unity as its cause; or (2) Each thing composing the manifold may be self-caused; or (3) Each thing may owe its existence to all the other things. The first case is identical with the
hypothesis that everything proceeds from a single cause; for to depend on several causes, all of which depend on a single cause, means to depend on this single cause. In the second case, we must assume that there is a power, force, or faculty of self-existence common to all the particular causes assumed by the hypothesis; a power in which all participate and are comprised. But that would give us what we had in the first case, an absolute unitary cause. The third supposition, which makes each
of the ‘first causes’ depend on all the rest, is absurd; for we cannot hold that a thing has for its cause and condition of existence a thing of which it is itself the cause and condition. Hence we are compelled to believe in a being which is the cause of every existing thing, without being caused by anything itself, and which for
that very reason is infinitely more perfect than anything else: it is the most real (ens
realissimum), most powerful, and best being. Since it does not depend on any being or on any condition of existence other than itself it is a se and per se; it exists, not because something else exists, but it exists because it exists; that is, it exists necessarily, it is necessary being.

“It would be an easy matter to deduce pantheism from the arguments of the Monologium. Anselmus, it is true, protests against such an interpretation of his theology. With St. Augustine he assumes that the world is created ex nihilo. But though accepting this teaching, he modifies it. Before the creation, he says, things did not exist by themselves, independently of God; hence we say they were derived from non-being. But they
existed eternally for God and in God, as ideas; they existed before their creation in the sense that the Creator foresaw them and predestined them for existence.

“The existence of God, the unitary and absolute cause of the world, being proved, the question is to determine his nature and attributes. God’s perfections are like human perfections; with this difference, however, that they are essential to him, which is not the case with us. Man has received a share of certain perfections, but there is no necessary correlation between him and these perfections; it would have been possible for him not to receive them; he could have
existed without them. God, on the contrary, does not get his perfections from without: he has not received them, and we cannot say that he has them; he is and must be everything that these perfections imply; his attributes are identical with his essence. Justice, an attribute of God, and God are not two separate things. We cannot say of God that he has justice or goodness; we cannot even say that be is just; for to be just is to participate in justice after the manner of
creatures. God is justice as such, goodness as such, wisdom as such, happiness as such, truth as such, being as such. Moreover, all of God’s attributes constitute but a single attribute, by virtue of the unity of his essence (unum est quidquid essentialiter de summa substantia dicitur).

“All this is pure Platonism. But, not content with spiritualising theism, Anselmus really discredits it when, like a new Carneades, he enumerates the difficulties which he finds in the conception. God is a simple being and at the same time eternal, that is, diffused over infinite points of time; he is omnipresent, that is,
distributed over all points of space. Shall we say that God is omnipresent and eternal? This proposition contradicts the notion of the
simplicity of the divine essence. Shall we say that he is nowhere in space and nowhere in time? But that would be equivalent to denying his existence. Let us therefore reconcile these two extremes and say that God is omnipresent and eternal, without being limited by space or time. The following is an equally serious difficulty: In God there is no change and consequently nothing accidental. Now, there is no substance without accidents. Hence God is not a substance; he transcends all substance.
Anselmus is alarmed at these dangerous consequences of his logic, and he therefore prudently adds that, though the term ‘substance’ may be incorrect, it is, nevertheless, the best we can apply to God—si quid digne dici potest —and that to avoid or condemn it might perhaps jeopardise our faith in the reality of the Divine Being.

“The most formidable theological antinomy is the doctrine of the trinity of persons in the unity of the divine essence. The Word is the object of eternal thought; it is God in so far as he is thought, conceived, or comprehended by himself. The Holy Spirit is the love of God for the Word, and of the Word for God, the love which God bears himself. But is this explanation satisfactory? And does it not sacrifice the dogma which it professes to explain to the conception
of unity? St. Anselmus sees in the Trinity and the notion of God insurmountable difficulties and contradictions, which the human mind cannot reconcile. In his discouragement be is obliged to confess, with Scotus Erigena, St. Augustine, and the Neo-Platonists, that no human word can adequately express the essence of the All-High. Even the words ‘wisdom’ (sapientia) and ‘being’ (essentia) are but imperfect expressions of what he imagines to be the essence of God. All theological phrases are analogies, figures of speech, and mere approximations.

“The Proslogium sive Fides quoerens intellectum has the same aim as the Monologium: to prove the existence of God. Our author draws the elements of his argument from St. Augustine and Platonism. He sets out from the idea of a perfect being, from which he infers the existence of such a being. We have in ourselves, he says, the idea of an absolutely perfect being. Now, perfection implies existence. Hence God exists. This argument, which has
been termed the ontological argument, found an opponent worthy of Anselmus in Gaunilo, a monk of Marmoutiers in
Touraine. Gaunilo emphasises the difference between thought and being, and points out the fact that we may conceive and imagine a being, and yet that being may not exist. We have as much right to conclude from our idea of an enchanted island in the middle of the ocean that such an island actually exists. The criticism is just. Indeed,
the ontological argument would be conclusive, only in case the idea of God and the existence of God in the human mind were identical. If our idea of God is God himself, it is evident that this idea is the immediate and incontrovertible proof of the existence of God. But what the theologian aims to prove is not the existence of the God-Idea of Plato and Hegel, but the existence of the personal God. However that may be, we hardly know what to admire most,
—St. Anselmus’s broad and profound conception, or the sagacity of his opponent who, in the seclusion of his cell, anticipates the Transcendental Dialectic of Kant.

“The rationalistic tendency which we have just noticed in the Monologium and the Proslogium meets us again in the Cur Deus Homo? Why did God become man? The first word of the title sufficiently indicates the philosophical trend of the treatise. The object is to search for the causes of the incarnation. The incarnation, according to St. Anselmus, necessarily foIlows from the necessity of redemption. Sin is an offence against
the majesty of God. In spite of his goodness, God cannot pardon sin without compounding with honor and justice. On the other hand, he cannot revenge himself on man for his offended honor; for sin is an offence of infinite degree and therefore demands infinite satisfaction; which means that he must either destroy humanity or inflict upon it the eternal punishments of hell. Now, in either case, the goal of creation, the happiness of his creatures, would be missed and the honor of the Creator
compromised. There is but one way for God to escape this dilemma without affecting his honor, and that is to arrange for some kind of satisfaction. He must have infinite satisfaction, because the offence is immeasurable. Now, in so far as man is a finite being and incapable of satisfying divine justice in an infinite measure, the infinite being himself must take the matter in charge; he must have recourse to substitution. Hence, the necessity of the incarnation. God becomes
man in Christ; Christ suffers and dies in our stead; thus he acquires an infinite merit and the right to an equivalent recompense. But since the world belongs to the Creator, and nothing can be added to its treasures, the recompense which by right belongs to Christ
falls to the lot of the human race in which he is incorporated: humanity is pardoned, forgiven, and saved.

“Theological criticism has repudiated Anselmus’s theory, which bears the stamp of the spirit of chivalry and of feudal customs. But, notwithstanding the attacks of a superficial rationalism, there is an abiding element of truth in it: over and above each personal and variable will there is an absolute, immutable, and incorruptible will, called justice, honor, and duty, in conformity with the customs of the times.”

CRITICISMS OF ANSELM’S ONTOLOGICAL

ARGUMENT FOR THE BEING OF GOD.

DESCARTES [2]

“But now, if from the simple fact that I can draw from my thought the idea of anything it follows that all that I recognise clearly and distinctly to pertain to this thing pertains to it in reality, can I not draw from this an argument and a demonstration of the existence of God? It is certain that I do not find in me the less the idea of him, that is, of a being supremely perfect, than that of any figure or of any number whatever; and I do not know less clearly and
distinctly that an actual and eternal existence belongs to his nature than I know that all that I can demonstrate of any figure or of any number belongs truly to the nature of that figure or that number: and accordingly, although all that I have concluded in the preceding meditations may not turn out to be true, the existence of God ought to pass in my mind as being at least as certain as I have up to this time regarded the truths of mathematics to be, which have to do only with numbers and
figures: although, indeed, that might not seem at first to be perfectly evident, but might appear to have some appearance of sophistry. For being accustomed in all other things to make a distinction between existence and essence, I easily persuade myself that existence may perhaps be separated from the essence of God, and thus God might be conceived as not existent actually. But nevertheless, when I think more attentively, I find that existence can no more be separated from the essence of God
than from the essence of a rectilinear triangle can be separated the equality of its three
angles to two right angles, or, indeed, if you please, from the idea of a mountain the idea of a valley; so that there would be no less contradiction in conceiving of a God—that is, of a being supremely perfect, to whom existence was wanting, that is to say, to whom there was wanting any perfection—than in conceiving of a mountain which had no valley.

“But although, in reality, I might not be able to conceive of a God without existence, no more than of a mountain without a valley, nevertheless, as from the simple fact that I conceive a mountain with a valley, it does not follow that there exists any mountain in the world, so likewise, although I conceive God as existent, it does not follow, it seems, from that, that God exists, for my thought does not impose any necessity on things; and as there is nothing to
prevent my imagining a winged horse, although there is none which has wings, so I might, perhaps, be able to attribute existence to God, although there might not be any God which existed. So far from this being so, it is just here under the appearance of this objection that a sophism lies hid; for from the fact that I cannot conceive a mountain without a valley, it does not follow that there exists in the world any mountain or any valley, but solely that the mountain and the valley, whether
they exist or not, are inseparable from one another; whereas from the fact alone that I cannot conceive God except as existent, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and, consequently, that he exists in reality; not that my thought can make it to be so, or that it can impose any necessity upon things; but on the contrary the necessity which is in the thing itself, that is to say, the necessity of the existence of God, determines me to have this thought.

“For it is not at my will to conceive of a God without existence, that is to say, a being supremely perfect without a supreme perfection, as it is at my will to conceive a horse with wings or without wings.

“And it must not also be said here that it is necessarily true that I should affirm that God exists, after I have supposed him to possess all kinds of perfection, since existence is one of these, but that my first supposition is not necessary, no more than it is necessary to affirm that all figures of four sides may be inscribed in the circle, but that, supposing I had this thought, I should be constrained to admit that the rhombus can be inscribed there, since it
is a figure of four sides, and thus I should be constrained to admit something false. One ought not, I say, to allege this; for although
it may not be necessary that I should ever fall to thinking about God, nevertheless, when it happens that I think upon a being first and supreme, and draw, so to speak, the idea of him from the store-house of mind, it is necessary that I attribute to him every sort of perfection, although I may not go on to enumerate them all, and give attention to each
one in particular. And this necessity is sufficient to bring it about (as soon as I recognise that I should next conclude that existence is a perfection) that this first and supreme being exists: while, just as it is not necessary that I ever imagine a triangle, but whenever I choose to consider a rectilinear figure, composed solely of three angles, it is absolutely necessary that I attribute to it all the things which serve for the conclusion that there three angles are not greater than two
right angles, although, perhaps, I did not then consider this in particular.”

SPINOZA [3]

PROP. XI. God, or substance, consisting, of infinite attributes, of which each expresses eternal and infinite essentiality, necessarily exists.

“Proof.—If this be denied, conceive, if possible, that God does not exist: then his essence does not involve existence. But this (by Prop. vii.) is absurd. Therefore God necessarily exists.

“Another Proof.—Of everything whatsoever a cause or reason must be assigned, either for its existence, or for its non-existence—e. g., if a triangle exist, a reason or cause must be granted for its existence; if, on the contrary, it does not exist, a cause must also be granted, which prevents it from existing, or annuls its existence. This reason or cause must either be contained in the nature of the thing in question, or be external to it. For
instance, the reason for the non-existence of a square circle is indicated in its nature, namely, because it would involve a contradiction. On the other hand, the existence of substance follows also solely from its nature, inasmuch as its nature involves existence. (See Prop. vii.)

“But the reason for the existence of a triangle or a circle does not follow from the nature of those figures, but from the order of universal nature in extension. From the latter it must follow, either that a triangle necessarily exists, or that it is impossible
that it should exist. So much is self-evident. It follows therefrom that a thing necessarily exists, if no cause or reason be granted which prevents its existence.

“If, then, no cause or reason can be given, which prevents the existence of God, or which destroys his existence, we must certainly conclude that he necessarily does exist. If such a reason or cause should be given, it must either be drawn from the very nature of God, or be external to him—that is, drawn from another substance of another nature. For if it were of the same nature, God, by that very fact, would be admitted to exist. But substance of another
nature could have nothing in common with God (by Prop. ii.), and therefore would be unable either to cause or to destroy his existence.

“As, then, a reason or cause which would annul the divine existence cannot be drawn from anything external to the divine nature, such cause must perforce, if God does not exist, be drawn from God’s own nature, which would involve a contradiction. To make such an affirmation about a being absolutely infinite and supremely perfect, is absurd; therefore, neither in the nature of God, nor externally to his nature, can a cause or reason be assigned which would annul
his existence. Therefore, God necessarily exists. Q. E. D.

“Another proof.—The potentiality of non-existence is a negation of power, and contrariwise the potentiality of existence is a power, as is obvious. If, then, that which necessarily exists is nothing but finite beings, such finite beings are more powerful than a being absolutely infinite, which is obviously absurd; therefore, either nothing exists, or else a being absolutely infinite necessarily exists also. Now we exist either in ourselves, or in something
else which necessarily exists (see Axiom i. and Prop. vii.). Therefore a being absolutely infinite—in other words, God (Def. vi.)—necessarily exists. Q. E. D.

“Note.—In this last proof, I have purposely shown God’s existence a posteriori, so that the proof might be more easily followed, not because, from the same premises, God’s existence does not follow a priori. For, as the potentiality of existence is a power, it follows that, in proportion as reality increases in the nature of a thing, so also will it increase its strength for existence. Therefore a being absolutely infinite, such as God, has from himself an
absolutely infinite power of existence, and hence he does absolutely exist. Perhaps there will be many who will be unable
to see the force of this proof, inasmuch as they are accustomed only to consider those things which flow from external causes. Of such things, they see that those which quickly come to pass—that is, quickly come into existence—quickly also disappear; whereas they regard as more difficult of accomplishment—that is, not so easily brought into existence
—those things which they conceive as more complicated.

“However, to do away with this misconception, I need not here show the measure of truth in the proverb, ‘What comes quickly, goes quickly,’ nor discuss whether, from the point of view of universal nature, all things are equally easy, or otherwise: I need only remark, that I am not here speaking of things, which come to pass through causes external to themselves, but only of substances which (by Prop. vi.) cannot be produced by any external cause. Things which are
produced by external causes, whether they consist of many parts or few, owe whatsoever perfection or reality they possess solely to the efficacy of their external cause, and therefore their existence arises solely from the perfection by their external cause, not from their own. Contrariwise, whatsoever perfection is possessed by substance is due to no external cause; wherefore the existence of substance must arise solely from its own nature, which is nothing else but its essence. Thus, the
perfection of a thing does not annul its existence, but, on the contrary, asserts it. Imperfection, on the other hand, does annul it; therefore we cannot be more certain of the existence of anything, than of the existence of a being absolutely infinite or perfect—that is, of God. For inasmuch as his essence excludes all imperfection, and involves absolute perfection, all cause for doubt concerning his existence is done away, and the utmost certainty on the question is given. This, I
think, will be evident to every moderately attentive reader.”

LOCKE [4]

“Our idea of a most perfect being, not the sole proof of a God.—How far the idea of a most perfect being which a man may frame in his mind, does or does not prove the existence of a God, I will not here examine. For, in the different make of men’s tempers, and application of their thoughts, some arguments prevail
more on one, and some on another, for the confirmation of the same truth. But yet, I think this I may say, that it is an ill way of
establishing this truth and silencing atheists, to lay the whole stress of so important a point as this upon that sole foundation: and take some men’s having that idea of God in their minds (for it is evident some men have none, and some worse than none, and the most very different) for the only proof of a Deity; and out of an over-fondness of that darling invention, cashier, or at least endeavor to invalidate, all other arguments, and forbid us to hearken to those proofs, as being weak or
fallacious, which our own existence and the sensible parts of the universe offer so clearly and cogently to our thoughts, that I deem it impossible for a considering man to withstand them.”

LEIBNITZ [5]

“Although I am for innate ideas, and in particular for that of God, I do not think that the demonstrations of the Cartesians drawn from the idea of God are perfect. I have shown fully elsewhere (in the Actes de Leipsic, and in the Memoires de Trevoux) that what Descartes has borrowed from Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, is very beautiful and really very ingenious, but that there is still a gap therein to be
filled. This celebrated archbishop, who was without doubt one of the most able men of his time, congratulates himself, not without reason, for having discovered a means of proving the existence of God a priori, by means of its own notion, without recurring to its effects. And this is very nearly the force of his argument: God is the greatest or (as Descartes says) the most perfect of beings, or rather a being of supreme grandeur and perfection, including all degrees thereof.
That is the notion of God. See now how existence follows from this notion. To exist is something more than not to exist, or rather, existence adds a degree to grandeur and perfection, and as Descartes states it, existence is itself a perfection. Therefore this degree of grandeur and perfection, or rather this perfection which consists in existence, is in this supreme all-great, all-perfect being: for otherwise some degree would be wanting to it, contrary to its definition.
Consequently this supreme being exists. The Scholastics, not excepting even their Doctor Angelicus, have misunderstood
this argument, and have taken it as a paralogism; in which respect they were altogether wrong, and Descartes, who studied quite a long time the scholastic philosophy at the Jesuit College of La Fleche, had great reason for re-establishing it. It is not a paralogism, but it is an imperfect demonstration, which assumes something that must still be
proved in order to render it mathematically evident; that is, it is tacitly assumed that this idea of the all-great or all-perfect being is possible, and implies no contradiction. And it is already something that by this remark it is proved that, assuming that God is Possible, he exists, which is the privilege of divinity alone. We have the right to presume the possibility of every being, and especially that of God, until some one proves the contrary. So that this metaphysical
argument already gives a morally demonstrative conclusion, which declares that according to the present state of our knowledge we must judge that God exists, and act in conformity thereto. But it is to be desired, nevertheless, that clever men achieve the demonstration with the strictness of a mathematical proof, and I think I have elsewhere said something that may serve this end.”

KANT [6]

“Being is evidently not a real predicate, or a concept of something that can be added to the concept of a thing. It is merely the admission of a thing, and of certain determinations in it. Logically, it is merely the copula of a judgment. The proposition, God is almighty, contains two concepts, each having its object, namely, God and almightiness. The small word is, is not an additional predicate, but only serves to put the predicate in
relation to the subject. If, then, I take the subject (God) with all its predicates (including that of almightiness), and say, God is, or there is a God, I do not put a new predicate to the concept of God, but I only put the subject by itself, with all its predicates, in relation to my concept, as its object. Both must contain exactly the same kind of thing, and nothing can have been added to the concept, which expresses possibility only, by my thinking its object as simply, given
and saying, it is. And thus the real does not contain more than the possible. A hundred real dollars do not contain a penny more than a hundred possible dollars. For as the latter signify
the concept, the former the object and its position by itself, it is clear that, in case the former contained more than the latter, my concept would not express the whole object, and would not therefore be its adequate concept. In my financial position no doubt there exists more by one hundred
real dollars, than by their concept only (that is their possibility), because in reality the object is not only contained analytically in my concept, but is added to my concept (which is a determination of my state), synthetically: but the conceived hundred dollars are not in the least increased through the existence which is outside my concept.

“By whatever and by however many predicates I may think a thing (even in completely determining it), nothing is really added to it, if I add that the thing exists. Otherwise, it would not be the same that exists, but something more than was contained in the concept, and I could not say that the exact object of my concept existed. Nay, even if I were to think in a thing all reality, except one, that one missing reality would not be supplied by my saying that so
defective a thing exists, but it would exist with the same defect with which I thought it; or what exists would be different from what I thought. If, then, I try to conceive a being, as the highest reality (without any defect), the question still remains, whether it exists or not. For though in my concept there may be wanting nothing of the possible real content of a thing in general, something is wanting in its relation to my whole state of thinking, namely, that the knowledge of that object
should be possible a posteriori also. And here we perceive the cause of our difficulty. If we were concerned with an object of our senses, I could not mistake the existence of a thing for the mere concept of it; for by the concept the object is thought as only in harmony with the general conditions of a possible empirical knowledge, while by its existence it is thought as contained in the whole content of experience. Through this
connection with the content of the whole experience, the concept of an object is not in the least increased; our thought has only received through it one more possible perception. If, however, we are thinking existence through the pure category alone, we need not wonder that we cannot find any characteristic to distinguish it from mere possibility.

“Whatever, therefore, our concept of an object may contain, we must always step outside it, in order to attribute to it existence. With objects of the senses, this takes place through their connection with any one of my perceptions, according to empirical laws;
with objects of pure thought, however, there is no means of knowing their existence, because it would have to be known entirely a
priori, while our consciousness of every kind of existence, whether immediately by perception, or by conclusions which connect something with perception, belongs entirely to the unity of experience, and any existence outside that field, though it cannot be declared to be absolutely impossible, is a presupposition that cannot be justified by anything.

“The concept of a Supreme Being is, in many respects, a very useful idea, but, being an idea only, it is quite incapable of increasing, by itself alone, our knowledge with regard to what exists. It cannot even do so much as to inform us any further as to its possibility. The analytical characteristic of possibility, which consists in the absence of contradiction in mere positions (realities), cannot be denied to it; but the connection of all real properties in one
and the same thing is a synthesis the possibility of which we cannot judge a priori because these realities are not given to us as such, and because, even if this were so, no judgment whatever takes place, it being necessary to look for the characteristic of the possibility of synthetical knowledge in experience only, to which the object of an idea can never belong. Thus we see that the celebrated Leibnitz is far from
having achieved what we thought he had, namely, to understand a priori the possibility of so sublime an ideal Being.

“Time and labor therefore are lost on the famous ontological (Cartesian) proof of the existence of a Supreme Being from mere concepts; and a man might as well imagine that he could become richer in knowledge by mere ideas, as a merchant in capital, if, in order to improve his position, he were to add a few noughts to his cash account.”

HEGEL [7]

“This proof was included among the various proofs up to the time of Kant, and—by some who have not yet reached the Kantian standpoint—it is so included even to the present day. It is different from what we find and read of amongst the ancients. For it was said that God is absolute thought as objective; for because things in the world are contingent, they are not the truth in and for itself—but this is found in the infinite. The
scholastics also
knew well from the Aristotelian philosophy the metaphysical proposition that potentiality is nothing by itself, but is clearly one with actuality. Later, on the other hand, the opposition between thought itself and Being began to appear with Anselm. It is noteworthy that only now for the first time through the Middle Ages and in Christianity, the universal Notion and Being, as it is to ordinary conception, became established in this pure abstraction as these infinite
extremes; and thus the highest law has come to consciousness. But we reach our profoundest depths in bringing the highest opposition into consciousness. Only no advance was made beyond the division as such, although Anselm also tried to find the connection between the sides. But while hitherto God appeared as the absolute existent, and the universal was attributed to Him as predicate, an opposite order begins with Anselm—Being becomes predicate, and the absolute Idea is first of all
established as the subject, but the subject of thought. Thus if the existence of God is once abandoned as the first hypothesis, and established as a result of thought, self-consciousness is on the way to turn back within itself. Then we have the question coming in, Does God exist? while on the other side the question of most importance was, What is God?

“The ontological proof, which is the first properly metaphysical proof of the existence of God, consequently came to mean that God as the Idea of existence which unites all reality in itself, also has the reality of existence within Himself; this proof thus follows from the Notion of God, that He is the universal essence of all essence. The drift of this reasoning is, according to Anselm (Proslogium, C. 2), as follows: ‘It is one thing to say that a thing
is in the understanding, and quite another to perceive that it exists. Even an ignorant person (insipiens) will thus be quite convinced that in thought there is something beyond which nothing greater can be thought ; for when he hears this he understands it, and everything that is understood is in the understanding. But that beyond which nothing greater can be thought cannot certainly be in the understanding alone. For if it is
accepted as in thought alone, we may go on farther to accept it as existent; that, however, is something greater’ than what is merely thought. ‘Thus were that beyond which nothing greater can be thought merely in the understanding, that beyond which nothing greater can be thought would be something beyond which something greater can be thought. But that is truly impossible; there thus
without doubt exists both in the understanding and in reality something beyond which nothing greater can
be thought.’ The highest conception cannot be in the understanding alone; it is essential that it should exist. Thus it is made clear that Being is in a superficial way subsumed under the universal of reality, that to this extent Being does not enter into opposition with the Notion. That is quite right; only the transition is not demonstrated—that the subjective understanding abrogates itself. This, however, is just the question which gives the whole interest to the matter. When reality
or completion is expressed in such a way that it is not yet posited as existent, it is something thought, and rather opposed to Being than that this is subsumed under it.

“This mode of arguing held good until the time of Kant; and we see in it the endeavor to apprehend the doctrine of the Church through reason. This opposition between Being and thought is the starting-point in philosophy, the absolute that contains the two opposites within itself—a conception, according to Spinoza, which involves its existence likewise. Of Anselm it is however to be remarked that the formal logical mode of the
understanding, the process of scholastic reasoning is to be found in him; the content indeed is right, but the form faulty. For in the first place the expression ‘the thought of a Highest’ is assumed as prius. Secondly, there are two sorts of objects of thought—one that is and another that is not; the object that is only thought and does not exist, is as imperfect as that which only is without being thought. The third point
is that what is highest must likewise exist. But what is highest, the standard to which all else must conform, must be no mere hypothesis, as we find it represented in the conception of a highest acme of perfection, as a content which is thought and likewise is. This very content, the unity of Being and thought, is thus indeed the true content, but because Anselm has it before him only in the form of the understanding, the opposites are identical and conformable to unity in a third
determination only—the Highest—which, in as far as it is regulative, is outside of them. In this it is involved that we should first of all have subjective thought, and then distinguished from that, Being. We allow that if we think a content (and it is apparently indifferent whether this is God or any other), it may be the case that this content does not exist. The assertion ‘Something that is thought does not exist’ is now subsumed under the above standard and is not conformable to
it. We grant that the truth is that which is not merely thought
but which likewise is. But of this opposition nothing here is said. Undoubtedly God would be imperfect, if He were merely thought and did not also have the determination of Being. But in relation to God we must not take thought as merely subjective; thought here signifies the absolute, pure thought, and thus we must ascribe to Him the quality of Being. On the other hand if God were merely Being, if He were not conscious of
Himself as self-consciousness, He would not be Spirit, a thought that thinks itself.

“Kant, on the other hand, attacked and rejected Anselm’s proof—which rejection the whole world afterwards followed up—on the ground of its being an assumption that the unity of Being and thought is the highest perfection. What Kant thus demonstrates in the present day—that Being is different from thought and that Being is not by any means posited with thought—was a criticism offered even in that time by a monk named Gaunilo. He combated
this proof of Anselm’s in a Liber pro insipiente to which Anselm himself directed a reply in his Liber apologeticus adversus insipientem. Thus Kant says (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, P. 464 of the sixth edition): If we think a hundred dollars, this conception does not involve existence. That is certainly true: what is only a conception does not exist, but it is likewise not a true content, for what does not exist, is merely an untrue conception. Of
such we do not however here speak, but of pure thought; it is nothing new to say they are different—Anselm knew this just as well as we do. God is the infinite, just as body and soul, Being and thought are eternally united; this is the speculative, true definition of God. To the proof which Kant criticises in a manner which it is the fashion to follow now-a-days, there is thus lacking only the perception of the unity of thought and of existence in the infinite; and this
alone must form the commencement.”

J. A. DORNER [8]

“According to the Monologium, we arrive at the mental representation of God by the agency of faith and conscience, therefore by a combined religious and moral method; by the same means we arrive at the representation of the relativity of the world. But as there seemed to Anselm something inadequate in making the Being of the Absolute dependent upon the existence
of the Relative, as if the latter were more certain than the former, he has interpolated in
the Proslogium (Alloquium Dei) the Ontological method. The thought of God, which is always given, and the being of which is to be proved, claims, at any rate, to be the highest thought possible; indeed, upon close comparison with all other thoughts which come and go, with thoughts of such things as may just as well not exist as exist, it has the essential peculiarity, the prerogative, so to speak,—and this is Anselm’s discovery,—that, if it is actually thought of as
the highest conceivable thought, it is also thought of as existent. Were it not thought of as being, it would not for a moment be actually thought. Anselm then proceeds with his proof as follows: ‘We believe Thou art something, beyond which nothing greater can be thought. The fool (Ps. xiv.) denies the existence of such a Being. Is He therefore non-existent? But the very fool hears and understands what I say, “something, greater than which there is nothing,” and what he understands is in his
understanding. That it also exists without him would thus have to be proved. But that, beyond which nothing greater can be thought, cannot exist in mere intellect. For did it exist only in intellect, the thought might be framed that it was realised, and that would be a greater thought. Consequently, were that, a greater than which cannot be thought, existent in mere intellect, the thought quo majus cogitari non potest would at the
same time be quo majus cogitari potest, which is impossible. Consequently, there exists, in reality as well as in the understanding, something a greater than which cannot be thought. And this is so true that its non-existence cannot be thought. Something may be thought which is only to be thought as existent, and that is a majus than that the non-existence of
which may be thought, and that Thou art, O Lord, my God, I must think though I did not believe.’ The nerve of the Anselmic argument lies therefore in the notion that an idea which has an objective existence is a majus than that to which mere subjective existence appertains; that, consequently, as under the idea of God the highest thought possible is at any rate expressed, the idea of God is not thought unless it is thought as
existent. For, he says in another place, it may be thought of everything that it does not exist, with the exception of that quod summe est to which being pre-eminently belongs. That is, the non-existence may be thought of everything which has beginning or end, or which is constituted of parts and is nowhere whole. But that, and it alone, cannot be thought as non-existent which has neither beginning nor end, and is not
constituted of parts, but is thought of as
everywhere existing whole. Gaunilo, Count of Montigny, makes a twofold answer in defence of the atheist. He says that that highest essence has no being in the understanding; it only exists therein by the ear, not by being; it only exists as a man who has heard a sound endeavors to embrace a thing wholly unknown to him in an image. And therein, he says, it is concluded that the mental representation of God in mankind is already a
purely contingent one, and is produced from without by the sound of words; its necessary presence in the spirit is not proved. Thus, he adds, much is wanting to the ability of inferring its existence from the finding of such an image in the spirit. In the sphere of mere imagination no one thing has a less or a greater existence than any other thing; each has equally no existence at all. Therefore, he writes, granted that the presence of the idea of God in the spirit is not contingent, still the
thought or the concept of God does not essentially argue the being of God. Similarly says Kant later on: ‘We are no richer if we think of our ability as one cipher more.’ That Anselm also undoubtedly knew, but he opined that the concept of God is different to any other thought, which remains unaltered, whether it is thought of as existent or non-existent; the concept of God is that thought, which is no longer thought unless it is thought as existent, and which, therefore,
essentially involves being. But, of course, it is insufficiently established by Anselm that a concept of God which does not necessarily include existence, is not the highest thought, and therefore is not the concept of God, and that, consequently, the really highest thought must also be thought of as existent. To this the following objection attaches. Inasmuch as Anselm treated existence as a majus compared with non-existence,
he treated existence as an attribute, whereas it is the bearer of all attributes. So it is not proved by Anselm that the origin of this idea, which, when thought, is thought as existent, is not contingent to the reason, but necessary; and that reason only remains reason by virtue of this idea. Finally, Anselm thinks, thus overrating the Ontological moment, that he has already attained therein the full concept of God. These shortcomings were to be obviated, stage by stage, by his
successors.”

LOTZE [9]

“To conclude that because the notion of a most perfect Being includes reality as one of its perfections, therefore a most perfect Being necessarily exists, is so obviously to conclude falsely, that after Kant’s incisive refutation any attempt to defend such reasoning would be useless. Anselm, in his more free and spontaneous reflection, has here and there touched the thought that the greatest which we can think, if we think it as only
thought, is less than the same greatest if we think it as existent. It is not possible that from this reflection either any one should develop a logically cogent proof, but the way in which it is put seems to reveal another fundamental thought which is seeking for expression. For what would it matter if that which is thought as most perfect were, as thought, less than the least reality? Why should this thought disturb us? Plainly for this reason, that it is an immediate certainty that what is
greatest, most beautiful, most worthy is not a mere thought, but must be a reality, because it would be intolerable to believe of our ideal that it is an idea produced by the action of thought but having no existence, no power, and no validity in the world of reality. We do not from the perfection of that which is perfect immediately deduce its reality as a logical consequence; but without the circumlocution of a deduction we directly feel the impossibility of its non-existence, and all
semblance of syllogistic proof only serves to make more clear the directness of this certainty. If what is greatest did not exist, then what is greatest would not be, and it is not impossible that that which is greatest of all conceivable things should not be.”

PROFESSOR ROBERT FLINT [10]

“Anselm was the founder of that kind of argumentation which, in the opinion of many, is alone entitled to be described as a priori or ontological. He reasoned thus: ‘The fool may say in his heart, There is no God; but he only proves thereby that he is a fool, for what he says is self-contradictory. Since he denies that there is a God, he has in his mind the idea of God, and that idea implies the

existence of God, for it is the idea of a Being than which a higher cannot be conceived. That than which a higher cannot be conceived cannot exist merely as an idea, because what exists merely as an idea is inferior to what exists in reality as well as in idea. The idea of a highest Being which exists merely in thought, is the idea of a highest Being which is not the highest even in thought, but inferior to a highest Being which exists in fact as well as in thought.’ This reasoning found
unfavorable critics even among the contemporaries of Anselm, and has commended itself completely to few. Yet it may fairly be doubted whether it has been conclusively refuted, and some of the objections most frequently urged against it are certainly inadmissible. It is no answer to it, for example, to deny that the idea of God is innate or universal. The argument merely assumes that he who denies that there is a God must have an idea of God. There is also no force, as Anselm showed, in the
objection of Gaunilo, that the existence of God can no more be inferred from the idea of a perfect being, than the existence of a perfect island is to be inferred from the idea of such an island. There neither is nor can be an idea of an island which is greater and better than any other that can ever be conceived. Anselm could safely promise that he would make Gaunilo a present of such an island when he had really imagined it. Only one being—an infinite,
independent, necessary being—can be perfect in the sense of being greater and better than every other conceivable being. The objection that the ideal can never logically yield the real—that the transition from thought to fact must be in every instance illegitimate—is merely an assertion that the argument is fallacious. It is an assertion which cannot fairly be made until the argument has been exposed and refuted. The argument is that a certain thought of God is found
necessarily to imply His existence. The objection that existence is not a predicate, and that the idea of a God who exists is not more complete and perfect than the idea of a God who does not exist, is, perhaps, not incapable of being satisfactorily repelled. Mere existence is not a predicate, but specifications or determinations of existence are predicable. Now the argument nowhere implies that existence is a predicate; it implies only that reality, necessity, and independence of existence are
predicates of existence; and it implies this on the ground that existence in re can be distinguished from existence in conceptu, necessary from contingent existence, self-existence from derived existence. Specific distinctions must surely admit of being
predicated. That the exclusion of existence—which here means real and necessary existence
—from the idea of God does not leave us with an incomplete idea of God, is not a position, I think, which can be maintained. Take away existence from among the elements in the idea of a perfect being, and the idea becomes either the idea of a nonentity or the idea of an idea, and not the idea of a perfect being at all. Thus, the argument of Anselm is unwarrantably represented as an argument of four terms instead of three. Those who urge the objection seem to me to prove only that if our
thought of God be imperfect, a being who merely realised that thought would be an imperfect being; but there is a vast distance between this truism and the paradox that an unreal being may be an ideally perfect being.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Patrologioe Cursus Completus. Series Secunda. Tomi CLVIIICLIX. S. Anselmus. [Ed. ABBE MIGNE]. Paris, 1853.

CHURCH. A. W. St. Anselm. [Third Edition]. London, 1873

FRANCK, G F. Anselm von Canterbury. Tubingen, 1842.

HASSE, F. R. Anselm von Canterbury. Leipzig, 1843. 2 volumes.

-The same. Translated and abridged by W.Turner. London, 1850.

REMUSAT, CHARLES DE. Anselme de Canterbury. Paris, 1854; 2nd ed., 1868.

RIGG, J. M. St. Anselm of Canterbury. London, 1896.

RULE M. The Ltfe and Times of St. Anselm. London, 1883. 2 volumes.

DE VOSGES, LE COMTE DOMET. Saint Anselme, in the series Les Grands Philosophes. Paris, 1901.

WELCH, A. C. Anselm and His Work. Edinburgh, 1901.

BAUR, F. C. Vorlesungen uber die christliche Dogmengeschichte. Leipzig, 1866. Zweiter Band, 249-251, 298 ff.

ERDMANN, J. E. A History of Philosophy. English Translation [Ed. W. S. HOUGH]. London, 1891. Vol I., 303-314.

HEGEL, G. W. F. Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Translated from the German by E. S. Haldane and F. H. Simson. London, 1896. Vol. III., 61-67.

HOOK, W. T. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London, 1862. Vol. VIII., 169-276.

MAURICE, F.D. Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy. London, 1882. Vol. I., 507-533.

PFLEIDERER, 0. The Philosophy of Religion. Translated by A. Menzies. London, 1888. Vol. III., 271-276.

UEBERWEG, F.1 History of Philosophy. Translated by G. S. Morris. New York, 1892. Vol. I., 377-386.

1 Ueberweg gives the titles of German and Latin dissertations on Anselm not included in this list.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

PREFACE

In this brief work the author aims at proving in a single argument the existence of God, and whatsoever we believe of God.—The difficulty of the task.—The author writes in the person of one who contemplates God, and seeks to understand what he believes. To this work he had given this title: Faith Seeking Understanding. He finally named it Proslogium,—that is, A Discourse.

AFTER I had published, at the solicitous entreaties of certain brethren, a brief work (the Monologium) as an example of meditation on the grounds of faith, in the person of one who investigates, in a course of silent reasoning with himself, matters of which he is ignorant; considering that this book was knit together by the linking of many arguments, I began to ask myself whether there might be found a single argument which would require no other for its proof
than itself alone; and alone would suffice to demonstrate that God truly exists, and that there is a supreme good requiring nothing else, which all other things require for their existence and well-being; and whatever we believe regarding the divine Being.

Although I often and earnestly directed my thought to this end, and at some times that which I sought

seemed to be just within my reach, while again it wholly evaded my mental vision, at last in despair I was about to cease, as if from the search for a thing which could not be found. But when I wished to exclude this thought altogether, lest, by busying my mind to no purpose, it should keep me from other thoughts, in which I might be successful; then more and more,
though I was unwilling and shunned it, it began to force itself upon me, with a kind of importunity. So, one day, when I was exceedingly wearied with resisting its importunity, in the very conflict of my thoughts, the proof of which I had despaired offered itself, so that I eagerly embraced the thoughts which I was strenuously repelling.

Thinking, therefore, that what I rejoiced to have found, would, if put in writing, be welcome to some readers, of this very matter, and of some others, I have written the following treatise, in the person of one who strives to lift his mind to the contemplation of God, and seeks to understand what he believes. In my judgment, neither this work nor the other, which I mentioned above, deserved to be called a book, or to bear the name of an author; and yet I thought
they ought not to be sent forth without some title by which they might, in some sort, invite one into whose hands they fell to their perusal. I accordingly gave each a title, that the first might be known as, An Example of Meditation on the Grounds of Faith, and its sequel as, Faith Seeking Understanding. But, after, both had been copied by many under these titles, many urged me, and especially Hugo, the reverend Archbishop of Lyons, who discharges the apostolic office in Gaul, who
instructed me to this effect on his apostolic authority—to prefix my name to these writings.
And that this might be done more fitly, I named the first, Monologium, that is, A Soliloquy; but the second, Proslogium, that is, A Discourse.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER I

Exhortation of the mind to the contemplation of God.—It casts aside cares, and excludes all thoughts save that of God, that it may seek Him. Man was created to see God. Man by sin lost the blessedness for which he was made, and found the misery for which he was not made. He did not keep this good when he could keep it easily. Without God it is ill with us. Our labors and attempts are in vain without God. Man cannot seek God, unless God himself teaches him;
nor find him, unless he reveals himself. God created man in his image, that he might be mindful of him, think of him, and love him. The believer does not seek to understand, that he may believe, but he believes that he may understand: for unless he believed he would not understand.

UP now, slight man! flee, for a little while, thy occupations; hide thyself, for a time, from thy disturbing thoughts. Cast aside, now, thy burdensome cares, and put away thy toilsome business. Yield room for some little time to God; and rest for a little time in him. Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I
seek thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek (Psalms xxvii. 8). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee.

Lord, if thou art not here, where shall I seek thee, being absent? But if thou art everywhere, why do I not see thee present? Truly thou dwellest in unapproachable

light. But where is unapproachable
light, or how shall I come to it? Or who shall lead me to that light and into it, that I may see thee in it? Again, by what marks, under what form, shall I seek thee? I have never seen thee, O Lord, my God; I do not know thy form. What, O most high Lord, shall this
man do, an exile far from thee? What shall thy servant do, anxious in his love of thee, and cast out afar from thy face? He pants to see thee, and thy face is too far from him. He longs to come to thee, and thy dwelling-place is inaccessible. He is eager to find thee, and knows not thy place. He desires to seek thee, and does not know thy face. Lord, thou art my God, and thou art my Lord, and never have I seen thee. It is thou that hast made me, and hast made me anew, and hast bestowed upon
me all the blessing I enjoy; and not yet do I know thee. Finally, I was created to see thee, and not yet have I done that for which I was made.

O wretched lot of man, when he hath lost that for which he was made! O hard and terrible fate! Alas, what has he lost, and what has he found? What has departed, and what remains? He has lost the blessedness for which he was made, and has found the misery for which he was not made. That has departed without which nothing is happy, and that remains which, in itself, is only miserable. Man once did eat the bread of angels, for which he hungers now; he eateth now the
bread of sorrows, of which he knew not then. Alas! for the mourning of all mankind, for the universal lamentation of the sons of Hades! He choked with satiety, we sigh with hunger. He abounded, we beg. He possessed in happiness, and miserably forsook his possession; we suffer want in unhappiness,
and feel a miserable longing, and alas! we remain empty.

Why did he not keep for us, when he could so easily, that whose lack we should feel so heavily? Why did he shut us away from the light, and cover us over with darkness? With what purpose did he rob us of life, and inflict death upon us? Wretches that we are, whence have we been driven out; whither are we driven on? Whence hurled? Whither consigned to ruin? From a native country into exile, from the vision of God into our present blindness, from the joy of
immortality into the bitterness and horror of death. Miserable exchange of how great a good, for how great an evil! Heavy loss, heavy grief, heavy all our fate!

But alas! wretched that I am, one of the sons of Eve, far removed from God! What have I undertaken? What have I accomplished? Whither was I striving? How far have I come? To what did I aspire? Amid what thoughts am I sighing? I sought blessings, and lo! confusion. I strove toward God, and I stumbled on myself. I sought calm in privacy, and I found tribulation and grief, in my inmost thoughts. I wished to smile in the joy of my mind, and I am compelled to frown by
the sorrow of my heart. Gladness was hoped for, and lo! a source of frequent sighs!

And thou too, O Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, dost thou forget us; how long dost thou turn thy face from us? When wilt thou look upon us, and hear us? When wilt thou enlighten our eyes, and show us thy face? When wilt thou restore thyself to us? Look upon us, Lord; hear us, enlighten us, reveal thyself to us. Restore thyself to us, that it may
be well with us,—thyself, without whom it is so ill with us. Pity our toilings and strivings toward thee
since we can do nothing without thee. Thou dost invite us; do thou help us. I beseech thee, O Lord, that I may not lose hope in sighs, but may breathe anew in hope. Lord, my heart is made bitter by its desolation; sweeten thou it, I beseech thee, with thy consolation. Lord, in hunger I began to seek thee; I beseech thee that I may not cease to hunger for thee. In hunger I have come to thee; let me not go unfed. I have come in poverty to the Rich, in misery to the Compassionate; let me not
return empty and despised. And if, before I eat, I sigh, grant, even after sighs, that which I may eat. Lord, I am bowed down and can only look downward; raise me up that I may look upward. My iniquities have gone over my head; they overwhelm me; and, like a heavy load, they weigh me down. Free me from them; unburden me, that the pit of iniquities may not close over me.

Be it mine to look up to thy light, even from afar, even from the depths. Teach me to seek thee, and reveal thyself to me, when I seek thee, for I cannot seek thee, except thou teach me, nor find thee, except thou reveal thyself. Let me seek thee in longing, let me long for thee in seeking; let me find thee in love, and love thee in finding. Lord, I acknowledge and I thank thee that thou hast created me in this thine image, in order that I may be mindful of thee,
may conceive of thee, and love thee; but that image has been so consumed and wasted away by vices, and obscured by the smoke of wrong-doing, that it cannot achieve that for which it was made, except thou renew it, and create it anew. I do not endeavor, O Lord, to penetrate thy sublimity, for in no wise do I
compare my understanding with that; but I long to understand in some degree thy truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I
believe in order to understand. For this also I believe,—that unless I believed, I should not understand.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER II

Truly there is a God, although the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

AND so, Lord, do thou, who dost give understanding to faith, give me, so far as thou knowest it to be profitable, to understand that thou art as we believe; and that thou art that which we believe. And indeed, we believe that thou art a being than which nothing greater can be conceived. Or is there no such nature, since the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God? (Psalms xiv. 1). But, at any rate, this very fool, when
he hears of this being of which I speak—a being than which nothing greater can be conceived—understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his understanding; although he does not understand it to exist.

For, it is one thing for an object to be in the understanding, and another to understand that the object exists. When a painter first conceives of what he will afterwards perform, he has it in his understanding, but he does not yet understand it to be, because he has not yet performed it. But after he has made the painting, he both has it in his understanding, and he understands that it exists, because he has made it.

Hence, even the fool is convinced that something exists in the understanding, at least, than which nothing greater can be conceived. For, when he hears of this, he understands it. And whatever is understood, exists in the understanding. And assuredly that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, cannot exist in the understanding alone. For, suppose it exists in the understanding alone: then it can be conceived to exist in reality; which is greater.

Therefore, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, exists in the understanding alone, the very being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, is one, than which a greater can be conceived. But obviously this is impossible. Hence, there is no doubt that there exists a being, than which nothing greater can be conceived, and it exists both in the understanding and in reality.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER III

God cannot be conceived not to exist.—God is that, than which nothing greater can be conceived.—That which can be conceived not to exist is not God.

AND it assuredly exists so truly, that it cannot be conceived not to exist. For, it is possible to conceive of a being which cannot be conceived not to exist; and this is greater than one which can be conceived not to exist. Hence, if that, than which nothing greater can be conceived, can be conceived not to exist, it is not that, than which nothing greater can be conceived. But this is an irreconcilable contradiction. There is, then, so truly a being than which
nothing greater can be conceived to exist, that it cannot even
be conceived not to exist; and this being thou art, O Lord, our God.

So truly, therefore, dost thou exist, O Lord, my God, that thou canst not be conceived not to exist; and rightly. For, if a mind could conceive of a being better than thee, the creature would rise above the Creator; and this is most absurd. And, indeed, whatever else there is, except thee alone, can be conceived not to exist. To thee alone, therefore, it belongs to exist more truly than all other beings, and hence in a higher degree than all others. For, whatever
else exists does not exist so truly, and hence in a less degree it belongs to it to exist. Why, then, has the fool said in his heart, there is no God (Psalms xiv. 1), since it is so evident, to a rational mind, that thou dost exist in the highest degree of all? Why, except that he is dull and a fool?

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER IV

How the fool has said in his heart what cannot be conceived.—A thing may be conceived in two ways: (1) when the word signifying it is conceived; (2) when the thing itself is understood As far as the word goes, God can be conceived not to exist; in reality he cannot.

BUT how has the fool said in his heart what he could not conceive; or how is it that he could not conceive what he said in his heart? since it is the same to say in the heart, and to conceive.

But, if really, nay, since really, he both conceived, because he said in his heart; and did not say in his heart, because he could not conceive; there is more than one way in which a thing is said in the heart or conceived. For, in one sense, an object is conceived,
when the word signifying it is conceived; and in another, when the very entity, which the object is, is understood.

In the former sense, then, God can be conceived not to exist; but in the latter, not at all. For no one who understands what fire and water are can conceive fire to be water, in accordance with the nature of the facts themselves, although this is possible according to the words. So, then, no one who understands what God is can conceive that God does not exist; although he says these words in his heart, either without any or with some foreign, signification. For, God
is that than which a greater cannot be conceived. And he who thoroughly understands this, assuredly understands that this being so truly exists, that not even in concept can it be non-existent. Therefore, he who understands that God so exists, cannot conceive that he does not exist.

I thank thee, gracious Lord, I thank thee; because what I formerly believed by thy bounty, I now so understand by thine illumination, that if I were unwilling to believe that thou dost exist, I should not be able not to understand this to be true.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER V

God is whatever it is better to be than not to be; and he, as the only self-existent being, creates all things from nothing.

WHAT art thou, then, Lord God, than whom nothing greater can be conceived? But what art thou, except that which, as the highest of all beings, alone exists through itself, and creates all other things from nothing? For, whatever is not this is less than a thing which can be conceived of. But this cannot be conceived
of thee. What good, therefore, does the supreme Good lack, through which every good is? Therefore, thou art just, truthful, blessed, and whatever it
is better to be than not to be. For it is better to be just than not just; better to be blessed than not blessed.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER VI

How God is sensible (sensibilis) although he is not a body.—God is sensible, omnipotent, compassionate, passionless; for it is better to be these than not be. He who in any way knows, is not improperly said in some sort to feel.

BUT, although it is better for thee to be sensible, omnipotent, compassionate, passionless, than not to be these things; how art thou sensible, if thou art not a body; or omnipotent, if thou hast not all powers; or at once compassionate and passionless? For, if only corporeal things are sensible, since the senses encompass a body and are in a body, how art thou sensible, although thou art not a body, but a supreme Spirit, who is superior to body? But, if feeling is
only cognition, or for the sake of cognition,—for he who feels obtains knowledge in accordance with the proper functions of his senses; as through sight, of colors; through taste, of flavors,—whatever in any way cognises is not inappropriately said, in some sort, to feel.

Therefore, O Lord, although thou art not a body yet thou art truly sensible in the highest degree in respect of this, that thou dost cognise all things in the highest degree; and not as an animal cognises, through a corporeal sense.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER VII

How he is omnipotent, although there are many things of which he is not capable.—To be capable of being corrupted, or of lying, is not power, but impotence. God can do nothing by virtue of impotence, and nothing has power against him.

BUT how art thou omnipotent, if thou art not capable of all things? Or, if thou canst not be corrupted, and canst not lie, nor make what is true, false—as, for example, if thou shouldst make what has been done not to have been done, and the like.—how art thou capable of all things? Or else to be capable of these things is not power, but impotence. For, he who is capable of these things is capable of what is not for his good, and of what he ought not to do;
and the more capable of them he is, the more power have adversity and perversity against him; and the less has he himself against these.

He, then, who is thus capable is so not by power, but by impotence. For, he is not said to be able because he is able of himself, but because his impotence gives something else power over him. Or, by a figure of speech, just as many words are improperly applied, as when we use “to be” for “not to be,” and “to do” for what is really not to do,“or to do nothing.” For, often we say to a man who denies the existence of something: “It is as you say it to be,” though it
might seem more proper to say, “It is not, as you say it is not.” In the same way, we say, “This man sits just as that man does,” or, “This man rests just as that man does”; although to sit is not to do anything, and to rest is to do nothing.

So, then, when one is said to have the power of
doing or experiencing what is not for his good, or what he ought not to do, impotence is understood in the word power. For, the more he possesses this power, the more powerful are adversity and perversity against him, and the more powerless is he against them.

Therefore, O Lord, our God, the more truly art thou omnipotent, since thou art capable of nothing through impotence, and nothing has power against thee.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER VIII

How he is compassionate and passionless. God is compassionate, in terms of our experience, because we experience the effect of compassion. God is not compassionate, in terms of his own being, because he does not experience the feeling (affectus) of compassion.

BUT how art thou compassionate, and, at the same time, passionless? For, if thou art passionless, thou dost not feel sympathy; and if thou dost not feel sympathy, thy heart is not wretched from sympathy for the wretched ; but this it is to be compassionate. But if thou art not compassionate, whence cometh so great consolation to the wretched? How, then, art thou compassionate and not compassionate, O Lord, unless because thou art compassionate in terms of our
experience, and not compassionate in terms of thy being.

Truly, thou art so in terms of our experience, but thou art not so in terms of thine own. For, when thou beholdest us in our wretchedness, we experience the effect of compassion, but thou dost not experience the feeling. Therefore, thou art both compassionate, because thou dost save the wretched, and spare those
who sin against thee; and not compassionate because thou art affected by no sympathy for wretchedness.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER IX

How the all-just and supremely just God spares the wicked, and justly pities the wicked. He is better who is good to the righteous and the wicked than he who is good to the righteous alone. Although God is supremely just, the source of his compassion is hidden. God is supremely compassionate, because he is supremely just. He saveth the just, because justice goes with them; he frees sinners by the authority of justice. God spares the wicked out of justice; for it
is just that God, than whom none is better or more powerful, should be good even to the wicked, and should make the wicked good. If God ought not to pity, he pities unjustly. But this it is impious to suppose. Therefore, God justly pities.

BUT how dost thou spare the wicked, if thou art all just and supremely just? For how, being all just and supremely just, dost thou aught that is not just? Or, what justice is that to give him who merits eternal death everlasting life? How, then, gracious Lord, good to the righteous and the wicked, canst thou save the wicked, if this is not just, and thou dost not aught that is not just? Or, since thy goodness is incomprehensible, is this hidden in the unapproachable
light wherein thou dwellest? Truly, in the deepest and most secret parts of thy goodness is hidden the fountain whence the stream of thy compassion flows.

For thou art all just and supremely just, yet thou art kind even to the wicked, even because thou art all supremely good. For thou wouldst be less good if thou wert not kind to any wicked being. For, he who is good, both to the righteous and the wicked, is better than he who is good to the wicked alone;

and he who is good to the wicked, both by punishing and sparing them, is better than he who is good by punishing them alone. Therefore, thou art compassionate,
because thou art all supremely good. And, although it appears why thou dost reward the good with goods and the evil with evils; yet this, at least, is most wonderful, why thou, the all and supremely just, who lackest nothing, bestowest goods on the wicked and on those who are guilty toward thee.

The depth of thy goodness, O God! The source of thy compassion appears, and yet is not clearly seen! We see whence the river flows, but the spring whence it arises is not seen. For, it is from the abundance of thy goodness that thou art good to those who sin against thee; and in the depth of thy goodness is hidden the reason for this kindness.

For, although thou dost reward the good with goods and the evil with evils, out of goodness, yet this the concept of justice seems to demand. But, when thou dost bestow goods on the evil, and it is known that the supremely Good hath willed to do this, we wonder why the supremely just has been able to will this.

O compassion, from what abundant sweetness and what sweet abundance dost thou well forth to us! O boundless goodness of God how passionately should sinners love thee! For thou savest the just, because justice goeth with them; but sinners thou dost free by the authority of justice. Those by the help of their deserts; these, although their deserts oppose. Those by acknowledging the goods thou hast granted; these by pardoning the evils thou hatest. O boundless
goodness, which dost so exceed all understanding, let that compassion come upon me, which proceeds
from thy so great abundance! Let it flow upon me, for it wells forth from thee. Spare, in mercy; avenge not, in justice.

For, though it is hard to understand how thy compassion is not inconsistent with thy justice; yet we must believe that it does not oppose justice at all, because it flows from goodness, which is no goodness without justice; nay, that it is in true harmony with justice. For, if thou art compassionate only because thou art supremely good, and supremely good only because thou art supremely just, truly thou art compassionate even because thou art supremely just. Help
me, just and compassionate God, whose light seek; help me to understand what I say.

Truly, then, thou art compassionate even because thou art just. Is, then, thy compassion born of thy justice? And dost thou spare the wicked, therefore, out of justice? If this is true, my Lord, if this is true, teach me how it is. Is it because it is just, that thou shouldst be so good that thou canst not be conceived better; and that thou shouldst work so powerfully that thou canst not be conceived more powerful? For what can be more just than this? Assuredly it
could not be that thou shouldst be good only by requiting (retribuendo) and not by sparing, and that thou shouldst make good only those who are not good, and not the wicked also. In this way, therefore, it is just that thou shouldst spare the wicked, and make good souls of evil.

Finally, what is not done justly ought not to be done; and what ought not to be done is done unjustly. If, then, thou dost not justly pity the wicked, thou oughtest not to pity them. And, if thou oughtest not to pity them, thou pityest them unjustly. And if
it is impious to suppose this, it is right to believe that thou justly pityest the wicked.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER X

How he justly punishes and justly spares the wicked.—God, in sparing the wicked, is just, according to his own nature because he does what is consistent with his goodness; but he is not just, according to our nature, because he does not inflict the punishment deserved.

BUT it is also just that thou shouldst punish the wicked. For what is more just than that the good should receive goods, and the evil, evils? How, then, is it just that thou shouldst punish the wicked, and, at the same time, spare the wicked? Or, in one way, dost thou justly punish, and, in another, justly spare them? For, when thou punishest the wicked, it is just, because it is consistent with their deserts; and when, on the other hand, thou sparest the wicked, it is
just, not because it is compatible with their deserts, but because it is compatible with thy goodness.

For, in sparing the wicked, thou art as just, according to thy nature, but not according to ours, as thou art compassionate, according to our nature, and not according to thine; seeing that, as in saving us, whom it would be just for thee to destroy, thou art compassionate, not because thou feelest an affection (affectum), but because we feel the effect (effectum); so thou art just, not because thou requitest us as we deserve, but because thou dost that which becomes thee as the supremely good Being. In this way, therefore, without contradiction thou dost justly punish and justly spare.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XI

How all the ways of God are compassion and truth; and yet God is just in all his ways.—We cannot comprehend why, of the wicked, he saves these rather than those, through his supreme goodness: and condemns those rather than these, through his supreme justice.

BUT, is there any reason why it is not also just, according to thy nature, O Lord, that thou shouldst punish the wicked? Surely it is just that thou shouldst be so just that thou canst not be conceived more just; and this thou wouldst in no wise be if thou didst only render goods to the good, and not evils to the evil. For, he who requiteth both good and evil according to their deserts is more just than he who so requites the good alone. It is, therefore, just,
according to thy nature, O just and gracious God, both when thou dost punish and when thou sparest.

Truly, then, all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth (Psalms xxv. 10); and yet the Lord is righteous in all his ways (Psalms cxlv. 17). And assuredly without inconsistency: For, it is not just that those whom thou dost will to punish should be saved, and that those whom thou dost will to spare should be condemned. For that alone is just which thou dost will; and that alone
unjust which thou dost not will. So, then, thy compassion is born of thy justice.

For it is just that thou shouldst be so good that thou art good in sparing also; and this may be the reason why the supremely Just can will goods for the evil. But if it can be comprehended in any way why thou canst will to save the wicked, yet by no consideration can we comprehend why, of those who are
alike wicked, thou savest some rather than others, through supreme goodness; and why thou dost condemn the latter rather than the former, through supreme
justice.

So, then, thou art truly sensible (sensibilis), omnipotent, compassionate, and passionless, as thou art living, wise, good, blessed, eternal: and whatever it is better to be than not to be.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XII

God is the very life whereby he lives; and so of other like attributes.

BUT undoubtedly, whatever thou art, thou art through nothing else than thyself. Therefore, thou art the very life whereby thou livest; and the wisdom wherewith thou art wise; and the very goodness whereby thou art good to the righteous and the wicked; and so of other like attributes.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XIII

How he alone is uncircumscribed and eternal, although other spirits are uncircumscribed and eternal.—No place and time contain God. But he is himself everywhere and always. He alone not only does not cease to be, but also does not begin to be.

BUT everything that is in any way bounded by place or time is less than that which no law of place or time limits. Since, then, nothing is greater than thou, no place or time contains thee; but thou art everywhere and always. And since this can be said of thee alone, thou alone art uncircumscribed and eternal.How is it, then, that other spirits also are said to be uncircumscribed and eternal?

Assuredly thou art alone eternal; for thou alone among all beings not only dost not cease to be but also dost not begin to be.

But how art thou alone uncircumscribed? Is it that a created spirit, when compared with thee is circumscribed, but when compared with matter, uncircumscribed? For altogether circumscribed is that which, when it is wholly in one place, cannot at the same time be in another. And this is seen to be true of corporeal things alone. But uncircumscribed is that which is, as a whole, at the same time everywhere. And this is understood to be true of thee alone. But
circumscribed, and, at the same time, uncircumscribed is that which, when it is anywhere as a whole, can at the same time be somewhere else as a whole, and yet not everywhere. And this is recognised as true of created spirits. For, if the soul were not as a whole in the separate members of the body, it would not feel as a whole in the separate members.

Therefore, thou, Lord, art peculiarly uncircumscribed and eternal; and yet other spirits also are uncircumscribed and eternal.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XIV

How and why God is seen and yet not seen by those who seek him.

HAST thou found what thou didst seek, my soul? Thou didst seek God. Thou hast found him to be a being which is the highest of all beings, a being than which nothing better can be conceived; that this being is life itself, light, wisdom, goodness, eternal blessedness and blessed eternity; and that it is every where and always.

For, if thou hast not found thy God, how is he this being which thou hast found, and which thou hast conceived him to be, with so certain truth and so true certainty? But, if thou hast found him, why is it that thou dost not feel thou hast found him? Why, O Lord, our God, does not my soul feel thee, if it hath found thee? Or, has it not found him whom it found to be light and truth? For how did it understand this, except by seeing light and truth? Or, could it
understand anything at all of thee, except through thy light and thy truth?

Hence, if it has seen light and truth, it has seen thee; if it has not seen thee, it has not seen light and truth. Or, is what it has seen both light and truth; and still it has not yet seen thee, because it has seen thee only in part, but has not seen thee as thou art? Lord my God, my creator and renewer, speak to the desire of my soul, what thou art other than it hath seen, that it may clearly see what it desires. It strains to see thee more; and sees nothing
beyond this which it hath seen, except darkness. Nay, it does not see darkness, of which-there is none in thee; but it sees that it cannot see farther, because of its own darkness.

Why is this, Lord, why is this? Is the eye of the soul darkened by its infirmity, or dazzled by thy glory? Surely it is both darkened in itself, and dazzled by thee. Doubtless it is both obscured by its own insignificance, and overwhelmed by thy infinity. Truly, it is both contracted by its own narrowness and overcome by thy greatness.

For how great is that light from which shines every truth that gives light to the rational mind? How great is that truth in which is everything that is
true, and outside which is only nothingness and the false? How boundless is the truth which sees at one glance whatsoever has been made, and by whom, and through whom, and how it has been made from nothing? What purity, what certainty, what splendor where it is? Assuredly more than a creature can conceive.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XV

He is greater than can be conceived.

THEREFORE, O Lord, thou art not only that than which a greater cannot be conceived, but thou art a being greater than can be conceived. For, since it can be conceived that there is such a being, if thou art not this very being, a greater than thou can be conceived. But this is impossible.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XVI

This is the unapproachable light wherein he dwells.

TRULY, O Lord, this is the unapproachable light in which thou dwellest; for truly there is nothing else which can penetrate this light, that it may see thee there. Truly, I see it not, because it is too bright for me. And yet, whatsoever I see, I see through it, as the weak eye sees what it sees through the light of the sun, which in the sun itself it cannot look upon. My understanding cannot reach that light, for it shines too bright. It does not comprehend it, nor
does the eye of my soul endure to gaze upon it long. It is dazzled by the brightness, it is overcome by the greatness, it is overwhelmed by the infinity, it is dazed by the largeness, of the light.

O supreme and unapproachable light! O whole
and blessed truth, how far art thou from me, who am so near to thee! How far removed art thou from my vision, though I am so near to thine! Everywhere thou art wholly present, and I see thee not. In thee I move, and in thee I have my being; and I cannot come to thee. Thou art within me, and about me, and I feel thee not.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XVII

In God is harmony, fragrance, sweetness, pleasantness to the touch, beauty, after his ineffable manner.

STILL thou art hidden, O Lord, from my soul in thy light and thy blessedness; and therefore my soul still walks in its darkness and wretchedness. For it looks, and does not see thy beauty. It hearkens, and does not hear thy harmony. It smells, and does not perceive thy fragrance. It tastes, and does not recognize thy sweetness. It touches, and does not feel thy pleasantness. For thou hast these attributes in thyself, Lord God, after thine ineffable manner, who hast
given them to objects created by thee, after their sensible manner; but the sinful senses of my soul have grown rigid and dull, and have been obstructed by their long listlessness.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XVIII

God is life, wisdom, eternity, and every true good.—Whatever is composed of parts is not wholly one; it is capable, either in fact or in concept, of dissolution. In God wisdom, eternity, etc., are not parts, but one, and the very whole which God is, or unity itself, not even in concept divisible.

AND lo, again confusion; lo, again grief and mourning meet him who seeks for joy and gladness. My
soul now hoped for satisfaction; and lo, again it is overwhelmed with need. I desired now to feast, and lo, I hunger more. I tried to rise to the light of God, and I have fallen back into my darkness. Nay, not only have I fallen into it, but I feel that I am enveloped in it. I fell before my mother conceived me. Truly, in darkness I was conceived, and in the cover of
darkness I was born. Truly, in him we all fell, in whom we all sinned. In him we all lost, who kept easily, and wickedly lost to himself and to us that which when we wish to seek it, we do not know; when we seek it, we do not find; when we find, it is not that which we seek.

Do thou help me for thy goodness’ sake! Lord, I sought thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek; hide not thy face far from me (Psalms xxvii. 8). Free me from myself toward thee. Cleanse, heal, sharpen, enlighten the eye of my mind, that it may behold thee. Let my soul recover its strength, and with all its understanding let it strive toward thee, O Lord. What art thou, Lord, what art thou? What shall my heart conceive thee to
be?

Assuredly thou art life, thou art wisdom, thou art truth, thou art goodness, thou art blessedness, thou art eternity, and thou art every true good. Many are these attributes: my straitened understanding cannot see so many at one view, that it may be gladdened by all at once. How, then, O Lord, art thou all these things? Are they parts of thee, or is each one of these rather the whole, which thou art? For, whatever is composed of parts is not altogether one, but is
in some sort plural, and diverse from itself; and either in fact or in concept is capable of dissolution.

But these things are alien to thee, than whom
nothing better can be conceived of. Hence, there are no parts in thee, Lord, nor art thou more than one. But thou art so truly a unitary being, and so identical with thyself, that in no respect art thou unlike thyself; rather thou art unity itself, indivisible by any conception. Therefore, life and wisdom and the rest are not parts of thee, but all are one; and each of these is the whole, which thou art, and which
all the rest are.

In this way, then, it appears that thou hast no parts, and that thy eternity, which thou art, is nowhere and never a part of thee or of thy eternity. But everywhere thou art as a whole, and thy eternity exists as a whole forever.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XIX

He does not exist in place or time, but all things exist in him.

BUT if through thine eternity thou hast been, and art, and wilt be; and to have been is not to be destined to be; and to be is not to have been, or to be destined to be; how does thine eternity exist as a whole forever? Or is it true that nothing of thy eternity passes away, so that it is not now; and that nothing of it is destined to be, as if it were not yet?

Thou wast not, then, yesterday, nor wilt thou be to-morrow; but yesterday and to-day and to-morrow thou art; or, rather, neither yesterday nor to-day nor to-morrow thou art; but simply, thou art, outside all time. For yesterday and to-day and to-morrow have no existence, except in time; but thou, although nothing exists without thee, nevertheless dost not exist in space or time, but all things exist in thee. For nothing contains thee, but thou
containest all.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XX

He exists before all things and transcends all things, even the eternal things.—The eternity of God is present as a whole with him; while other things have not yet that part of their eternity which is still to be, and have no longer that part which is past.

HENCE, thou dost permeate and embrace all things. Thou art before all, and dost transcend all. And, of a surety, thou art before all; for before they were made, thou art. But how dost thou transcend all? In what way dost thou transcend those beings which will have no end? Is it because they cannot exist at all without thee; while thou art in no wise less, if they should return to nothingness? For so, in a certain sense, thou dost transcend them. Or, is it also because
they can be conceived to have an end; but thou by no means? For so they actually have an end, in a certain sense; but thou, in no sense. And certainly, what in no sense has an end transcends what is ended in any sense. Or, in this way also dost thou transcend all things, even the eternal, because thy eternity and theirs is present as a whole with thee; while they have not yet that part of their eternity which is to come, just as they no longer have that part which is past? For so thou dost ever
transcend them, since thou art ever present with thyself, and since that to which they have not yet come is ever present with thee.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXI

Is this the age of the age, or ages of ages?—The eternity of God contains the ages of time themselves, and can be called the age of the age or ages of ages.

Is this, then, the age of the age, or ages of ages? For, as an age of time contains all temporal things, so thy eternity contains even the ages of time themselves. And these are indeed an age, because of their indivisible unity; but ages, because of their endless immeasurability. And, although thou art so great, O Lord, that all things are full of thee, and exist in thee; yet thou art so without all space, that neither midst, nor half, nor any part, is in thee.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXII

He alone is what he is and who he is.—All things need God for their being and their well-being.

THEREFORE, thou alone, O Lord, art what thou art; and thou art he who thou art. For, what is one thing in the whole and another in the parts, and in which there is any mutable element, is not altogether what it is. And what begins from non-existence, and can be conceived not to exist, and unless it subsists through something else, returns to non-existence; and what has a past existence, which is no longer, or a future existence, which is not yet,—this does
not properly and absolutely exist.

But thou art what thou art, because, whatever thou art at any time, or in any way, thou art as a whole and forever. And thou art he who thou art, properly and simply; for thou hast neither a past existence
nor a future, but only a present existence; nor canst thou be conceived as at any time non-existent. But thou art life, and light, and wisdom, and blessedness, and many goods of this nature. And yet thou art only one supreme good; thou art all-sufficient
to thyself, and needest none; and thou art he whom all things need for their existence and wellbeing.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXIII

This good is equally Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. And this is a single, necessary Being, which is every good, and wholly good, and the only good.—Since the Word is true, and is truth itself, there is nothing in the Father, who utters it, which is not accomplished in the Word by which he expresses himself. Neither is the love which proceeds from Father and Son unequal to the Father or the Son, for Father and Son love themselves and one another in the
same degree in which what they are is good. Of supreme simplicity nothing can be born, and from it nothing can proceed, except that which is this, of which it is born, or from which it proceeds.

THIS good thou art, thou, God the Father; this is thy Word, that is, thy Son. For nothing, other than what thou art, or greater or less than thou, can be in the Word by which thou dost express thyself; for thy Word is true, as thou art truthful. And, hence, it is truth itself, just as thou art; no other truth than thou; and thou art of so simple a nature, that of thee nothing can be born other than what thou art. This very good is the one love common to thee and to thy
Son, that is, the Holy Spirit proceeding from both. For this love is not unequal to thee or to thy Son; seeing that thou dost love thyself and him, and he, thee and himself, to the whole extent of thy being and his. Nor is there aught else proceeding from
thee and from him, which is not unequal to thee and to him. Nor can anything proceed from the supreme simplicity, other than what this, from which it proceeds, is.

But what each is, separately, this is all the Trinity at once, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; seeing that each separately is none other than the supremely simple unity, and the supremely unitary simplicity which can neither be multiplied nor varied. Moreover, there is a single necessary Being. Now, this is that single, necessary Being, in which is every good; nay, which is every good, and a single entire good, and the only good.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXIV

Conjecture as to the character and the magnitude of this good.—If the created life is good, how good is the creative life!

AND now, my soul, arouse and lift up all thy understanding, and conceive, so far as thou canst, of what character and how great is that good! For, if individual goods are delectable, conceive in earnestness how delectable is that good which contains the pleasantness of all goods; and not such as we have experienced in created objects, but as different as the Creator from the creature. For, if the created life is good, how good is the creative life! If the salvation
given is delightful, how delightful is the salvation which has given all salvation! If wisdom in the knowledge of the created world is lovely, how lovely is the wisdom which has created all things from nothing! Finally, if there are many great delights in delectable things, what and how great is the delight in him who has made these delectable things.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXV

What goods and how great, belong to those who enjoy this good.—Joy is multiplied in the blessed from the blessedness and joy of others.

WHO shall enjoy this good? And what shall belong to him, and what shall not belong to him? At any rate, whatever he shall wish shall be his, and whatever he shall not wish shall not be his. For, these goods of body and soul will be such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has the heart of man conceived (Isaiah lxiv. 4; I Corinthians ii. 9).

Why, then, dost thou wander abroad, slight man, in thy search for the goods of thy soul and thy body? Love the one good in which are all goods, and it sufficeth. Desire the simple good which is every good, and it is enough. For, what dost thou love, my flesh? What dost thou desire, my soul? There, there is whatever ye love, whatever ye desire.

If beauty delights thee, there shall the righteous shine forth as the sun (Matthew xiii. 43). If swiftness or endurance, or freedom of body, which naught can withstand, delight thee, they shall be as angels of God,—because it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body (I Corinthians xv. 44)—in power certainly, though not in nature. If it is a long and sound life that pleases thee, there a healthful eternity is, and an eternal health. For the righteous shall live for ever (Wisdom v. 15), and the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord (Psalms xxxvii. 39). If it is satisfaction of hunger, they shall be satisfied when the glory of the Lord hath
appeared (Psalms xvii. 15). If it is quenching of thirst, they shall be abundantly
satisfied with the fatness of thy house (Psalms xxxvi. 8). If it is melody, there the choirs of angels sing forever, before God. If it is any not impure, but pure, pleasure, thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures, O God (Psalms xxxvi. 8).

If it is wisdom that delights thee, the very wisdom of God will reveal itself to them. If friendship, they shall love God more than themselves, and one another as themselves. And God shall love them more than they themselves; for they love him, and themselves, and one another, through him, and he, himself and them, through himself. If concord, they shall all have a single will.

If power, they shall have all power to fulfil their will, as God to fulfil his. For, as God will have power to do what he wills, through himself, so they will have power, through him, to do what they will. For, as they will not will aught else than he, he shall will whatever they will; and what he shall will cannot fail to be. If honor and riches, God shall make his good and faithful servants rulers over many things (Luke xii.
42); nay, they shall be called sons of God, and gods; and where his Son shall be, there they shall be also, heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans viii. 17).

If true security delights thee, undoubtedly they shall be as sure that those goods, or rather that good, will never and in no wise fail them; as they shall be sure that they will not lose it of their own accord; and that God, who loves them, will not take it away from those who love him against their will; and that nothing more powerful than God will separate him from them against his will and theirs.

But what, or how great, is the joy, where such and
so great is the good! Heart of man, needy heart, heart acquainted with sorrows, nay, overwhelmed with sorrows, how greatly wouldst thou rejoice, if thou didst abound in all these things! Ask thy inmost mind whether it could contain its joy over so great a blessedness of its own.

Yet assuredly, if any other whom thou didst love altogether as thyself possessed the same blessedness, thy joy would be doubled, because thou wouldst rejoice not less for him than for thyself. But, if two, or three, or many more, had the same joy, thou wouldst rejoice as much for each one as for thyself, if thou didst love each as thyself. Hence, in that perfect love of innumerable blessed angels and sainted men, where none shall love another less than himself,
every one shall rejoice for each of the others as for himself.

If, then, the heart of man will scarce contain his joy over his own so great good, how shall it contain so many and so great joys? And doubtless, seeing that every one loves another so far as he rejoices in the other’s good, and as, in that perfect felicity, each one should love God beyond compare, more than himself and all the others with him; so he will rejoice beyond reckoning in the felicity of God, more than in his own and that of all the others with him.

But if they shall so love God with all their heart, and all their mind, and all their soul, that still all the heart, and all the mind, and all the soul shall not suffice for the worthiness of this love; doubtless they will so rejoice with all their heart, and all their mind, and all their soul, that all the heart, and all the mind, and all the soul shall not suffice for the fulness of their joy.

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

CHAPTER XXVI

Is this joy which the Lord promises made full?—The blessed shall rejoice according as they shall love; and they shall love according as they shall know.

My God and my Lord, my hope and the joy of my heart, speak unto my soul and tell me whether this is the joy of which thou tellest us through thy Son: Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (John xvi. 24). For I have found a joy that is full, and more than full. For when heart, and mind, and soul, and all the man, are full of that joy, joy beyond measure will still remain. Hence, not all of that joy shall enter into
those who rejoice; but they who rejoice shall wholly enter into that joy.

Show me, O Lord, show thy servant in his heart whether this is the joy into which thy servants shall enter, who shall enter into the joy of their Lord. But that joy, surely, with which thy chosen ones shall rejoice, eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man (Isaiah lxiv. 4; I Corinthians ii. 9). Not yet, then, have I told or conceived, O Lord, how greatly those blessed
ones of thine shall rejoice. Doubtless they shall rejoice according as they shall love; and they shall love according as they shall know. How far they will know thee, Lord, then! and how much they will love thee! Truly, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man in this life, how far they shall know thee, and how much they shall love thee in that life.

I pray, O God, to know thee, to love thee, that I may rejoice in thee. And if I cannot attain to full joy
in this life may I at least advance from day to day, until that joy shall come to the full. Let the knowledge of thee advance in me here, and there be made full. Let the love of thee increase, and there let it be full, that here my joy may be great in hope, and there full in truth. Lord, through thy Son thou dost command, nay, thou dost counsel us to ask;
and thou dost promise that we shall receive, that our joy may be full. I ask, O Lord, as thou dost counsel through our wonderful Counsellor. I will receive what thou dost promise by virtue of thy truth, that my joy may be full. Faithful God, I ask. I will receive, that my joy may be full. Meanwhile, let my mind meditate upon it; let my tongue speak of it. Let my heart love it; let my mouth talk of it. Let my soul hunger for it; let my flesh thirst for it; let my whole being desire it, until I
enter into thy joy, O Lord, who art the Three and the One God, blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

PREFACE

In this book Anselm discusses, under the form of a meditation, the Being of God, basing his argument not on the authority of Scripture, but on the force of reason. It contains nothing that is inconsistent with the writings of the Holy Fathers, and especially nothing that is inconsistent with those of St. Augustine. —The Greek terminology is employed in Chapter LXXVIII., where it is stated that the Trinity may be said to consist of three
substances, that is, three persons.

CERTAIN brethren have often and earnestly entreated me to put in writing some thoughts that I had offered them in familiar conversation, regarding meditation on the Being of God, and on some other topics connected with this subject, under the form of a meditation on these themes. It is in accordance with their wish, rather than with my ability, that they have prescribed such a form for the writing of this meditation; in order that nothing in Scripture should be urged
on the authority of Scripture itself, but that whatever the conclusion of independent investigation should declare to be true, should, in an unadorned style, with common proofs and with a simple argument, be briefly enforced by the cogency of reason, and plainly expounded in the light of truth. It was
their wish also, that I should not disdain to meet such simple and almost foolish objections as occur to me.

This task I have long refused to undertake. And, reflecting on the matter, I have tried on many grounds to excuse myself; for the more they wanted this work to be adaptable to practical use, the more was what they enjoined on me difficult of execution. Overcome at last, however, both by the modest importunity of their entreaties and by the not contemptible sincerity of their zeal; and reluctant as I was because of the difficulty of my task and the weakness of my
talent, I entered upon the work they asked for. But it is with pleasure inspired by their affection that, so far as I was able, I have prosecuted this work within the limits they set.

I was led to this undertaking in the hope that whatever I might accomplish would soon be overwhelmed with contempt, as by men disgusted with some worthless thing. For I know that in this book I have not so much satisfied those who entreated me, as put an end to the entreaties that followed me so urgently. Yet, somehow it fell out, contrary to my hope, that not only the brethren mentioned above, but several others, by making copies for their own use, condemned this
writing to long remembrance. And, after frequent consideration, I have not been able to find that I have made in it any statement which is inconsistent with the writings of the Catholic Fathers, or especially with those of St. Augustine. Wherefore, if it shall appear to any man that I have offered in this work any thought that is either too novel or discordant with the truth, I ask him not to denounce me at once as one who boldly seizes upon new ideas, or as a maintainer of
falsehood; but let
him first read diligently Augustine’s books on the Trinity, and then judge my treatise in the light of those.

In stating that the supreme Trinity may be said to consist of three substances, I have followed the Greeks, who acknowledge three substances in one Essence, in the same faith wherein we acknowledge three persons in one Substance. For they designate by the word substance that attribute of God which we designate by the word person.

Whatever I have said on that point, however, is put in the mouth of one debating and investigating in solitary reflection, questions to which he had given no attention before. And this method I knew to be in accordance with the wish of those whose request I was striving to fulfil. But it is my prayer and earnest entreaty, that if any shall wish to copy this work, he shall be careful to place this preface at the beginning of the book, before the body of the
meditation itself. For I believe that one will be much helped in understanding the matter of this book, if he has taken note of the intention, and the method according to which it is discussed. It is my opinion, too, that one who has first seen this preface will not pronounce a rash judgment, if he shall find offered here any thought that is contrary to his own belief.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER I

There is a being which is best, and greatest, and highest of all existing beings.

IF any man, either from ignorance or unbelief, has no knowledge of the existence of one Nature which is the highest of all existing beings, which is also sufficient
to itself in its eternal blessedness, and which confers upon and effects in all other beings, through its omnipotent goodness, the very fact of their existence, and the fact that in any way their existence is good; and if he has no knowledge of many other things, which we necessarily believe regarding God
and his creatures, he still believes that he can at least convince himself of these truths in great part, even if his mental powers are very ordinary, by the force of reason alone.

And, although he could do this in many ways, I shall adopt one which I consider easiest for such a man. For, since all desire to enjoy only those things which they suppose to be good, it is natural that this man should, at some time, turn his mind’s eye to the examination of that cause by which these things are good, which he does not desire, except as he judges them to be good. So that, as reason leads the way and follows up these considerations, he advances
rationally to those truths of which, without reason, he has no knowledge. And if, in this discussion, I use any argument which no greater authority adduces, I wish it to be received in this way: although, on the grounds that I shall see fit to adopt, the conclusion is reached as if necessarily, yet it is not, for this reason, said to be absolutely necessary, but merely that it can appear so for the time being.

It is easy, then, for one to say to himself: Since there are goods so innumerable, whose great diversity we experience by the bodily senses, and discern by our mental faculties, must we not believe that there is some one thing, through which all goods whatever are good? Or are they good one through one thing and another through another? To be sure, it is most
certain and clear, for all who are willing to see, that whatsoever things are said to possess any
attribute in such a way that in mutual comparison they may be said to possess it in greater, or less, or equal degree, are said to possess it by virtue of some fact, which is not understood to be one thing in one case and another in another, but to be the same in different cases, whether it is regarded as existing in these cases in equal or unequal degree. For, whatsoever things are said to be just, when compared one with another, whether equally, or more, or less, cannot be understood
as just, except through the quality of justness, which is not one thing in one instance, and another in another.

Since it is certain, then, that all goods, if mutually compared, would prove either equally or unequally good, necessarily they are all good by virtue of something which is conceived of as the same in different goods, although sometimes they seem to be called good, the one by virtue of one thing, the other by virtue of another. For, apparently it is by virtue of one quality, that a horse is called good, because he is strong, and by virtue of another, that he
is called good, because he is swift. For, though he seems to be called good by virtue of his strength, and good by virtue of his swiftness, yet swiftness and strength do not appear to be the same thing.

But if a horse, because he is strong and swift, is therefore good, how is it that a strong, swift robber is bad? Rather, then, just as a strong, swift robber is bad, because he is harmful, so a strong, swift horse is good, because he is useful. And, indeed, nothing is ordinarily regarded as good, except either for some utility—as, for instance, safety is called good, and
those things which promote safety—or for some honorable character—as,
for instance, beauty is reckoned to be good, and what promotes beauty.

But, since the reasoning which we have observed is in no wise refutable, necessarily, again, all things, whether useful or honorable, if they are truly good, are good through that same being through which all goods exist, whatever that being is. But who can doubt this very being, through which all goods exist, to be a great good? This must be, then, a good through itself, since every other good is through it.

It follows, therefore, that all other goods are good through another being than that which they themselves are, and this being alone is good through itself. Hence, this alone is supremely good, which is alone good through itself. For it is supreme, in that it so surpasses other beings, that it is neither equalled nor excelled. But that which is supremely good is also supremely great. There is, therefore, some one being which is supremely good, and supremely great,
that is, the highest of all existing beings.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER II

The same subject continued.

BUT, just as it has been proved that there is a being that is supremely good, since all goods are good through a single being, which is good through itself; so it is necessarily inferred that there is something supremely great, which is great through itself. But, I do not mean physically great, as a material object is great, but that which, the greater it is, is the better or the more worthy,—wisdom, for instance. And
since there can be nothing supremely
great except what is supremely good, there must be a being that is greatest and best, i. e., the highest of all existing beings.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER III

There is a certain Nature through which whatever is exists, and which exists through itself, and is the highest of all existing beings.

THEREFORE, not only are all good things such through something that is one and the same, and all great things such through something that is one and the same; but whatever is, apparently exists through something that is one and the same. For, everything that is, exists either through something, or through nothing. But nothing exists through nothing. For it is altogether inconceivable that anything should not exist by virtue of something.

Whatever is, then, does not exist except through something. Since this is true, either there is one being, or there are more than one, through which all things that are exist. But if there are more than one, either these are themselves to be referred to some one being, through which they exist, or they exist separately, each through itself, or they exist mutually through one another.

But, if these beings exist through one being, then all things do not exist through more than one, but rather through that one being through which these exist.

If, however, these exist separately, each through itself, there is, at any rate, some power or property of existing through self (existendi per se), by which
they are able to exist each through itself. But, there can be no doubt that, in that case, they exist through this very power, which is one, and through which they are able to exist, each through itself. More truly, then, do all things exist
through this very being, which is one, than through these, which are more than one, which, without this one, cannot exist.

But that these beings exist mutually through one another, no reason can admit; since it is an irrational conception that anything should exist through a being on which it confers existence. For not even beings of a relative nature exist thus mutually, the one through the other. For, though the terms master and servant are used with mutual reference, and the men thus designated are mentioned as having mutual relations, yet they do not at all exist
mutually, the one through the other, since these relations exist through the subjects to which they are referred.

Therefore, since truth altogether excludes the supposition that there are more beings than one, through which all things exist, that being, through which all exist, must be one. Since, then, all things that are exist through this one being, doubtless this one being exists through itself. Whatever things there are else then, exist through something other than themselves, and this alone through itself. But whatever exists through another is less than that, through
which all things are, and which alone exists through itself. Therefore, that which exists through itself exists in the greatest degree of all things.

There is, then, some one being which alone exists in the greatest and the highest degree of all. But that which is greatest of all, and through which exists whatever is good or great, and, in short, whatever
has any existence—that must be supremely good, and supremely great, and the highest of all existing beings.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER IV

The same subject continued.

FURTHERMORE, if one observes the nature of things he perceives, whether he will or no, that not all are embraced in a single degree of dignity; but that certain among them are distinguished by inequality of degree. For, he who doubts that the horse is superior in its nature to wood, and man more excellent than the horse, assuredly does not deserve the name of man. Therefore, although it cannot be denied that some natures are superior to others, nevertheless reason
convinces us that some nature is so preeminent among these, that it has no superior. For, if the distinction of degrees is infinite, so that there is among them no degree, than which no higher can be found, our course of reasoning reaches this conclusion: that the multitude of natures themselves is not limited by any bounds. But only an absurdly foolish man can fail to regard such a conclusion as absurdly foolish. There is, then, necessarily some nature which is so superior to some nature or
natures, that there is none in comparison with which it is ranked as inferior.

Now, this nature which is such, either is single, or there are more natures than one of this sort, and they are of equal degree.

But, if they are more than one and equal, since they cannot be equal through any diverse causes, but only through some cause which is one and the same, that one cause, through which they are equally so
great, either is itself what they are, that is, the very essence of these natures; or else it is another than what they are.

But if it is nothing else than their very essence itself, just as they have not more than one essence, but a single essence, so they have not more than one nature, but a single nature. For I here understand nature as identical with essence.

If, however, that through which these natures are so great is another than that which they are, then, certainly, they are less than that through which they are so great. For, whatever is great through something else is less than that through which it is great. Therefore, they are not so great that there is nothing else greater than they.

But if, neither through what they are nor through anything other than themselves, can there be more such natures than one, than which nothing else shall be more excellent, then in no wise can there be more than one nature of this kind. We conclude, then, that there is some nature which is one and single, and which is so superior to others that it is inferior to none. But that which is such is the greatest and best of all existing beings. Hence, there is a certain
nature which is the highest of all existing beings. This, however, it cannot be, unless it is what it is through itself, and all existing beings are what they are through it.

For since, as our reasoning showed us not long since, that which exists through itself, and through which all other things exist, is the highest of all existing beings; either conversely, that which is the highest exists through itself, and all others through it; or, there will be more than one supreme being. But it
is manifest that there cannot be more than one supreme being. There is, therefore, a certain Nature, or Substance, or Essence, which is through
itself good and great, and through itself is what it is; and through which exists whatever is truly good, or great, or has any existence at all; and which is the supreme good being, the supreme great being, being or subsisting as supreme, that is, the highest of all existing beings.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER V

Just as this Nature exists through itself, and other beings through it, so it derives existence from itself, and other beings from it.

SEEING, then, that the truth already discovered has been satisfactorily demonstrated, it is profitable to examine whether this Nature, and all things that have any existence, derive existence from no other source than it, just as they do not exist except through it.

But it is clear that one may say, that what derives existence from something exists through the same thing; and what exists through something also derives existence from it. For instance, what derives existence from matter, and exists through the artificer, may also be said to exist through matter, and to derive existence from the artificer, since it exists through both, and derives existence from both. That is, it is endowed with existence by both, although it
exists through matter and from the artificer in another sense than that in which it exists through, and from, the artificer.

It follows, then, that just as all existing beings are what they are, through the supreme Nature, and as that Nature exists through itself, but other beings through another than themselves, so all existing beings
derive existence from this supreme Nature. And therefore, this Nature derives existence from itself, but other beings from it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER VI

This Nature was not brought into existence with the help of any external cause, yet it does not exist through nothing, or derive existence from nothing.—How existence through self, and derived from self, is conceivable.

SINCE the same meaning is not always attached to the phrase, “existence through” something, or, to the phrase, “existence derived from” something, very diligent inquiry must be made, in what way all existing beings exist through the supreme Nature, or derive existence from it. For, what exists through itself, and what exists through another, do not admit the same ground of existence. Let us first consider, separately, this supreme Nature, which exists through self;
then these beings which exist through another.

Since it is evident, then, that this Nature is whatever it is, through itself, and all other beings are what they are, through it, how does it exist through itself? For, what is said to exist through anything apparently exists through an efficient agent, or through matter, or through some other external aid, as through some instrument. But, whatever exists in any of these three ways exists through another than itself, and is of later existence, and, in some sort,
less than that through which it obtains existence.

But, in no wise does the supreme Nature exist through another, nor is it later or less than itself or anything else. Therefore, the supreme Nature could be created neither by itself, nor by another; nor could
itself or any other be the matter whence it should be created; nor did it assist itself in any way; nor did anything assist it to be what it was not before.

What is to be inferred? For that which cannot have come into existence by any creative agent, or from any matter, or with any external aids, seems either to be nothing, or, if it has any existence, to exist through nothing, and derive existence from nothing. And although, in accordance with the observations I have already made, in the light of reason, regarding the supreme Substance, I should think such propositions could in no wise be true in the case of supreme
Substance; yet, I would not neglect to give a connected demonstration of this matter.

For, seeing that this my meditation has suddenly brought me to an important and interesting point, I am unwilling to pass over carelessly even any simple or almost foolish objection that occurs to me, in my argument; in order that by leaving no ambiguity in my discussion up to this point, I may have the better assured strength to advance toward what follows; and in order that if, perchance, I shall wish to convince any one of the truth of my speculations, even one
of the slower minds, through the removal of every obstacle, however slight, may acquiesce in what it finds here.

That this Nature, then, without which no nature exists, is nothing, is as false as it would be absurd to say that whatever is is nothing. And, moreover, it does not exist through nothing, because it is utterly inconceivable that what is something should exist through nothing. But, if in any way it derives existence from nothing, it does so through itself, or through another, or through nothing. But it is evident that
in no wise does anything exist through
nothing. If, then, in any way it derives existence from nothing, it does so either through itself or through another.

But nothing can, through itself, derive existence from nothing, because if anything derives existence from nothing, through something, then that through which it exists must exist before it. Seeing that this Being, then, does not exist before itself, by no means does it derive existence from itself.

But if it is supposed to have derived existence from some other nature, then it is not the supreme Nature, but some inferior one, nor is it what it is through itself, but through another.

Again: if this Nature derives existence from nothing, through something, that through which it exists was a great good, since it was the cause of good. But no good can be understood as existing before that good, without which nothing is good; and it is sufficiently clear that this good, without which there is no good, is the supreme Nature which is under discussion. Therefore, it is not even conceivable that this Nature was preceded by any being, through which it
derived existence from nothing.

Hence, if it has any existence through nothing, or derives existence from nothing, there is no doubt that either, whatever it is, it does not exist through itself, or derive existence from itself, or else it is itself nothing. It is unnecessary to show that both these suppositions are false. The supreme Substance, then, does not exist through any efficient agent, and does not derive existence from any matter, and was not aided in being brought into existence by any
external causes. Nevertheless, it by no means exists through
nothing, or derives existence from nothing; since, through itself and from itself, it is whatever it is.

Finally, as to how it should be understood to exist through itself, and to derive existence from itself: it did not create itself, nor did it spring up as its own matter, nor did it in any way assist itself to become what it was not before, unless, haply, it seems best to conceive of this subject in the way in which one says that the light lights or is lucent, through and from itself. For, as are the mutual relations of the light and to
light and lucent (lux, lucere, lucens), such are the relations of essence, and to be and being, that is, existing or subsisting. So the supreme Being, and to be in the highest degree, and being in the highest degree, bear much the same relations, one to another, as the light and to light and lucent.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER VII

In what way all other beings exist through this Nature and derive existence from it.

THERE now remains the discussion of that whole class of beings that exist through another, as to how they exist through the supreme Substance, whether because this Substance created them all, or because it was the material of all. For, there is no need to inquire whether all exist through it, for this reason, namely, that there being another creative agent, or another existing material, this supreme Substance has merely aided in bringing about the existence of all
things: since it is inconsistent with what has already been shown, that whatever things are should exist secondarily, and not primarily, through it.

First, then, it seems to me, we ought to inquire
whether that whole class of beings which exist through another derive existence from any material. But I do not doubt that all this solid world, with its parts, just as we see, consists of earth, water, fire, and air. These four elements, of course, can be conceived of without these forms which we see in actual objects, so that their formless, or even confused, nature appears to be the material of all bodies,
distinguished by their own forms.—I say that I do not doubt this. But I ask, whence this very material that I have mentioned, the material of the mundane mass, derives its existence. For, if there is some material of this material, then that is more truly the material of the physical universe.

If, then, the universe of things, whether visible or invisible, derives existence from any material, certainly it not only cannot be, but it cannot even be supposed to be, from any other material than from the supreme Nature or from itself, or from some third being—but this last, at any rate, does not exist. For, indeed, nothing is even conceivable except that highest of all beings, which exists through itself, and the universe of beings which exist, not
through themselves, but through this supreme Being. Hence, that which has no existence at all is not the material of anything.

From its own nature the universe cannot derive existence, since, if this were the case, it would in some sort exist through itself and so through another than that through which all things exist. But all these suppositions are false.

Again, everything that derives existence from material derives existence from another, and exists later than that other. Therefore, since nothing is other
than itself, or later than itself, it follows that nothing derives material existence from itself.

But if, from the material of the supreme Nature itself, any lesser being can derive existence, the supreme good is subject to change and corruption. But this it is impious to suppose. Hence, since everything that is other than this supreme Nature is less than it, it is impossible that anything other than it in this way derives existence from it.

Furthermore: doubtless that is in no wise good, through which the supreme good is subjected to change or corruption. But, if any lesser nature derives existence from the material of the supreme good, inasmuch as nothing exists whencesoever, except through the supreme Being, the supreme good is subjected to change and corruption through the supreme Being itself. Hence, the supreme Being, which is itself the supreme good, is by no means good; which is a contradiction.
There is, therefore, no lesser nature which derives existence in a material way from the supreme Nature.

Since, then, it is evident that the essence of those things which exist through another does not derive existence as if materially, from the supreme Essence, nor from itself, nor from another, it is manifest that it derives existence from no material. Hence, seeing that whatever is exists through the supreme Being, nor can aught else exist through this Being, except by its creation, or by its existence as material, it follows, necessarily, that nothing besides it
exists, except by its creation. And, since nothing else is or has been, except that supreme Being and the beings created by it, it could create nothing at all through any other instrument or aid than itself. But all that
it has created, it has doubtless created either from something, as from material, or from nothing.

Since, then, it is most patent that the essence of all beings, except the supreme Essence, was created by that supreme Essence, and derives existence from no material, doubtless nothing can be more clear than that this supreme Essence nevertheless produced from nothing, alone and through itself, the world of material things, so numerous a multitude, formed in such beauty, varied in such order, so fitly diversified.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER VIII

How it is to be understood that this Nature created all things from nothing.

BUT we are confronted with a doubt regarding this term nothing. For, from whatever source anything is created, that source is the cause of what is created from it, and, necessarily, every cause affords some assistance to the being of what it effects. This is so firmly believed, as a result of experience, by every one, that the belief can be wrested from no one by argument, and can scarcely be purloined by sophistry.

Accordingly, if anything was created from nothing, this very nothing was the cause of what was created from it. But how could that which had no existence, assist anything in coming into existence? If, however, no aid to the existence of anything ever had its source in nothing, who can be convinced, and how, that anything is created out of nothing?

Moreover, nothing either means something, or does not mean something. But if nothing is something, whatever has been created from nothing has been created from something. If, however, nothing is not
something; since it is inconceivable that anything should be created from what does not exist, nothing is created from nothing; just as all agree that nothing comes from nothing. Whence, it evidently follows, that whatever is created is created from something; for
it is created either from something or from nothing. Whether, then, nothing is something, or nothing is not something, it apparently follows, that whatever has been created was created from something.

But, if this is posited as a truth, then it is so posited in opposition to the whole argument propounded in the preceding chapter. Hence, since what was nothing will thus be something, that which was something in the highest degree will be nothing. For, from the discovery of a certain Substance existing in the greatest degree of all existing beings, my reasoning had brought me to this conclusion, that all other beings were so created by this Substance, that that
from which they were created was nothing. Hence, if that from which they were created, which I supposed to be nothing, is something, whatever I supposed to have been ascertained regarding the supreme Being, is nothing.

What, then, is to be our understanding of the term nothing?—For I have already determined not to neglect in this meditation any possible objection, even if it be almost foolish.—In three ways, then—and this suffices for the removal of the present obstacle—can the statement that any substance was created from nothing be explained.

There is one way, according to which we wish it to be understood, that what is said to have been created from nothing has not been created at all; just
as, to one who asks regarding a dumb man, of what he speaks, the answer is given, “of nothing,” that is, he does not speak at all. According to this interpretation, to one who enquires regarding the supreme Being, or regarding what never has existed and does not exist at all, as to whence it was created, the
answer, “from nothing” may properly be given; that is, it never was created. But this answer is unintelligible in the case of any of those things that actually were created.

There is another interpretation which is, indeed, capable of supposition, but cannot be true; namely, that if anything is said to have been created from nothing, it was created from nothing itself (de nihilo ipso), that is, from what does not exist at all, as if this very nothing were some existent being, from which something could be created. But, since this is always false, as often as it is assumed
an irreconcilable contradiction follows.

There is a third interpretation, according to which a thing is said to have been created from nothing, when we understand that it was indeed created, but that there is not anything whence it was created. Apparently it is said with a like meaning, when a man is afflicted without cause, that he is afflicted “over nothing.”

If, then, the conclusion reached in the preceding chapter is understood in this sense, that with the exception of the supreme Being all things have been created by that Being from nothing, that is, not from anything; just as this conclusion consistently follows the preceding arguments, so, from it, nothing inconsistent is inferred; although it may be said, without inconsistency or any contradiction, that what has been
created by the creative Substance was
created from nothing, in the way that one frequently says a rich man has been made from a poor man, or that one has recovered health from sickness; that is, he who was poor before, is rich now, as he was not before; and he who was ill before, is well now, as he was not before.

In this way, then, we can understand, without inconsistency, the statement that the creative Being created all things from nothing, or that all were created through it from nothing; that is, those things which before were nothing, are now something. For, indeed, from the very word that we use, saying that it created them or that they were created, we understand that when this Being created them, it created something, and that when they were created,
they were created only as something. For so, beholding a man of very lowly fortunes exalted with many riches and honors by some one, we say, “Lo, he has made that man out of nothing”; that is, the man who was before reputed as nothing is now, by virtue of that other’s making, truly reckoned as something.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER IX

Those things which were created from nothing had an existence before their creation in the thought of the Creator.

BUT I seem to see a truth that compels me to distinguish carefully in what sense those things which were created may be said to have been nothing before their creation. For, in no wise can anything conceivably be created by any, unless there is, in the mind of the creative agent, some example, as it were, or (as is more fittingly supposed) some model, or likeness
, or rule. It is evident, then, that before the world was created, it was in the thought of the supreme
Nature, what, and of what sort, and how, it should be. Hence, although it is clear that the beings that were created were nothing before their creation, to this extent, that they were not what they now are, nor was there anything whence they should be created, yet they were not nothing, so far as the creator’s thought is concerned, through which, and according to which, they were created.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER X

This thought is a kind of expression of the objects created (locutio rerum), like the expression which an artisan forms in his mind for what he intends to make.

BUT this model of things, which preceded their creation in the thought of the creator, what else is it than a kind of expression of these things in his thought itself; just as when an artisan is about to make something after the manner of his craft, he first expresses it to himself through a concept? But by the expression of the mind or reason I mean, here, not the conception of words signifying the objects, but the general view in the mind, by the vision of
conception, of the objects themselves, whether destined to be, or already existing.

For, from frequent usage, it is recognised that we can express the same object in three ways. For we express objects either by the sensible use of sensible signs, that is, signs which are perceptible to the bodily senses; or by thinking within ourselves insensibly of these signs which, when outwardly used, are sensible; or not by employing these signs, either sensibly or
insensibly, but by expressing the things themselves inwardly in our mind, whether by the
power of imagining material bodies or of understanding thought, according to the diversity of these objects themselves.

For I express a man in one way, when I signify him by pronouncing these words, a man; in another, when I think of the same words in silence; and in another, when the mind regards the man himself, either through the image of his body, or through the reason; through the image of his body, when the mind imagines his visible form; through the reason, however, when it thinks of his universal essence, which is a rational, mortal animal.

Now, the first two kinds of expression are in the language of one’s race. But the words of that kind of expression, which I have put third and last, when they concern objects well known, are natural, and are the same among all nations. And, since all other words owe their invention to these, where these are, no other word is necessary for the recognition of an object, and where they cannot be, no other word is of any use for the description of an object.

For, without absurdity, they may also be said to be the truer, the more like they are to the objects to which they correspond, and the more expressively they signify these objects. For, with the exception of those objects, which we employ as their own names, in order to signify them, like certain sounds, the vowel a for instance—with the exception of these, I say, no other word appears so similar to the object to which it is applied, or expresses it as does
that likeness which is expressed by the vision of the mind thinking of the object itself.

This last, then, should be called the especially
proper and primary word, corresponding to the thing. Hence, if no expression of any object whatever so nearly approaches the object as that expression which consists of this sort of words, nor can there be in the thought of any another word so like the object, whether destined to be, or already existing, not without reason it may be thought that such an expression of objects existed with (apud) the supreme Substance before their creation, that they might be created; and exists, now that they have been created, that they may be known through it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XI

The analogy, however, between the expression of the Creator and the expression of the artisan is very incomplete.

BUT, though it is most certain that the supreme Substance expressed, as it were, within itself the whole created world, which it established according to, and through, this same most profound expression, just as an artisan first conceives in his mind what he afterwards actually executes in accordance with his mental concept, yet I see that this analogy is very incomplete.

For the supreme Substance took absolutely nothing from any other source, whence it might either frame a model in itself, or make its creatures what they are; while the artisan is wholly unable to conceive in his imagination any bodily thing, except what he has in some way learned from external objects, whether all at once, or part by part; nor can he perform the work mentally conceived, if there is a lack of material, or of anything without which a work premeditated
cannot be performed. For, though a man
can, by meditation or representation, frame the idea of some sort of animal, such as has no existence; yet, by no means has he the power to do this, except by uniting in this idea the parts that he has gathered in his memory from objects known externally.

Hence, in this respect, these inner expressions of the works they are to create differ in the creative substance and in the artisan: that the former expression, without being taken or aided from any external source, but as first and sole cause, could suffice the Artificer for the performance of his work, while the latter is neither first, nor sole, nor sufficient, cause for the inception of the artisan’s work. Therefore, whatever has been created through the former
expression is only what it is through that expression, while whatever has been created through the latter would not exist at all, unless it were something that it is not through this expression itself.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XII

This expression of the supreme Being is the supreme Being.

BUT since, as our reasoning shows, it is equally certain that whatever the supreme Substance created, it created through nothing other than itself; and whatever it created, it created through its own most intimate expression, whether separately, by the utterance of separate words, or all at once, by the utterance of one word; what conclusion can be more evidently necessary, than that this expression of the supreme Being is no other than the supreme Being? Therefore,
the consideration of this expression should not, in my opinion, be carelessly passed over. But before it can be discussed, I think some of the properties
of this supreme Substance should be diligently and earnestly investigated.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XIII

As all things were created through the supreme Being, so all live through it.

IT is certain, then, that through the supreme Nature whatever is not identical with it has been created. But no rational mind can doubt that all creatures live and continue to exist, so long as they do exist, by the sustenance afforded by that very Being through whose creative act they are endowed with the existence that they have. For, by a like course of reasoning to that by which it has been gathered that all existing beings exist through some one being, hence that
being alone exists through itself, and others through another than themselves—by a like course of reasoning, I say, it can be proved that whatever things live, live through some one being; hence that being alone lives through itself, and others through another than themselves.

But, since it cannot but be that those things which have been created live through another, and that by which they have been created lives through itself, necessarily, just as nothing has been created except through the creative, present Being, so nothing lives except through its preserving presence.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XIV

This Being is in all things, and throughout all; and all derive existence from it and exist through and in it.

BUT if this is true—rather, since this must be true, it follows that, where this Being is not, nothing is. It is, then, everywhere, and throughout all things, and
in all. But seeing that it is manifestly absurd that as any created being can in no wise exceed the immeasurableness of what creates and cherishes it, so the creative and cherishing Being cannot, in any way, exceed the sum of the things it has created; it is clear that this Being itself, is what
supports and surpasses, includes and permeates all other things. If we unite this truth with the truths already discovered, we find it is this same Being which is in all and through all, and from which, and through which, and in which, all exist.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XV

What can or cannot be stated concerning the substance of this Being.

NOT without reason I am now strongly impelled to inquire as earnestly as I am able, which of all the statements that may be made regarding anything is substantially applicable to this so wonderful Nature. For, though I should be surprised if, among the names or words by which we designate things created from nothing, any should be found that could worthily be applied to the Substance which is the creator of all; yet, we must try and see to what end reason will lead
this investigation.

As to relative expressions, at any rate, no one can doubt that no such expression describes what is essential to that in regard to which it is relatively employed. Hence, if any relative predication is made regarding the supreme Nature, it is not significant of its substance.

Therefore, it is manifest that this very expression, that this Nature, is the highest of all beings, or greater than those which have been created by it; or any
other relative term that can, in like manner, be applied to it, does not describe its natural essence.

For, if none of those things ever existed, in relation to which it is called supreme or greater, it would not be conceived as either supreme or greater, yet it would not, therefore, be less good, or suffer detriment to its essential greatness in any degree. And this truth is clearly seen from the fact that this Nature exists through no other than itself, whatever there be that is good or great. If, then, the supreme Nature can be so
conceived of as not supreme, that still it shall be in no wise greater or less than when it is conceived of as the highest of all beings, it is manifest that the term supreme, taken by itself, does not describe that Being which is altogether greater and better than whatever is not what it is. But, what these considerations show regarding the term supreme or highest is found to be true, in like manner, of other similar, relative expressions.

Passing over these relative predications, then, since none of them taken by itself represents the essence of anything, let our attention be turned to the discussion of other kinds of predication.

Now, certainly if one diligently considers separately whatever there is that is not of a relative nature, either it is such that, to be it is in general better than not to be it, or such that, in some cases, not to be it is better than to be it. But I here understand the phrases, to be it and not to be it, in the same way in which I understand to be true and not to be true, to be bodily and not to be
bodily, and the like. Indeed, to be anything is, in general, better than not to be it; as to be wise is better than not to be so; that is, it is better to be wise than not to be wise. For, though one who
is just, but not wise, is apparently a better man than one who is wise, but not just, yet, taken by itself, it is not better not to be wise than to be wise. For, everything that is not wise, simply in so far as it is not wise, is less than what is wise,
since everything that is not wise would be better if it were wise. In the same way, to be true is altogether better than not to be so, that is, better than not to be true; and just is better than not just; and to live than not to live.

But, in some cases, not to be a certain thing is better than to be it, as not to be gold may be better than to be gold. For it is better for man not to be gold, than to be gold; although it might be better for something to be gold, than not to be gold—lead, for instance. For though both, namely, man and lead are not gold, man is something as much better than gold, as he would be of inferior nature, were he gold; while lead is
something as much more base than gold, as it would be more precious, were it gold.

But, from the fact that the supreme Nature may be so conceived of as not supreme, that supreme is neither in general better than not supreme, nor not supreme better, in any case, than supreme—from this fact it is evident that there are many relative expressions which are by no means included in this classification. Whether, however, any are so included, I refrain from inquiring; since it is sufficient, for my purpose, that
undoubtedly none of these, taken by itself, describes the substance of the supreme Nature.

Since, then, it is true of whatever else there is, that, if it is taken independently, to be it is better than not to be it; as it is impious to suppose that the substance of the supreme Nature is anything, than which what is not it is in any way better, it must be true that
this substance is whatever is, in general, better than what is not it. For, it alone is that, than which there is nothing better at all, and which is better than all things,
which are not what it is.

It is not a material body, then, or any of those things which the bodily senses discern. For, then all these there is something better, which is not what they themselves are. For, the rational mind, as to which no bodily sense can perceive what, or of what character, or how great, it is—the less this rational mind would be if it were any of those things that are in the scope of the bodily senses, the greater it is than any of these. For by no means should this
supreme Being be said to be any of those things to which something, which they themselves are not, is superior; and it should by all means, as our reasoning shows, be said to be any of those things to which everything, which is not what they themselves are, is inferior.

Hence, this Being must be living, wise, powerful, and all-powerful, true, just, blessed, eternal, and whatever, in like manner, is absolutely better than what is not it. Why, then, should we make any further inquiry as to what that supreme Nature is, if it is manifest which of all things it is, and which it is not?

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XVI

For this Being it is the same to be just that it is to be justice; and so with regard to attributes that can be expressed in the same way: and none of these shows of what character, or how great, but what this Being is.

BUT perhaps, when this Being is called just, or great, or anything like these, it is not shown what it is, but of what character, or how great it is. For
every such term seems to be used with reference to quantity or magnitude; because everything that is just is so through justness, and so with other like cases, in the same way. Hence, the supreme Nature itself is not just, except through justness.

It seems, then, that by participation in this quality, that is, justness, the supremely good Substance is called just. But, if this is so, it is just through another, and not through itself. But this is contrary to the truth already established, that it is good, or great or whatever it is at all, through itself and not through another. So, if it is not just, except through justness, and cannot be just, except through itself, what can be more clear than that
this Nature is itself justness? And, when it is said to be just through justness, it is the same as saying that it is just through itself. And, when it is said to be just through itself, nothing else is understood than that it is just through justness. Hence, if it is inquired what the supreme Nature, which is in question, is in itself, what truer answer can be given, than Justness?

We must observe, then, how we are to understand the statement, that the Nature which is itself justness is just. For, since a man cannot be justness, but can possess justness, we do not conceive of a just man as being justness, but as possessing justness. Since, on the other hand, it cannot properly be said of the supreme Nature that it possesses justness, but that it is justness, when it is called just it is properly conceived of as being justness, but not
as possessing justness. Hence, if, when it is said to be justness, it is not said of what character it is, but what it is, it follows that, when it is called just, it is not said of what character it is, but what it is.

Therefore, seeing that it is the same to say of the supreme Being, that it is just and that it is justness; and, when it is said that it is justness, it is nothing else than saying that it is just; it makes no difference whether it is said to be justness or to be just. Hence, when one is asked regarding the supreme Nature, what it is, the answer, Just, is not less fitting than the answer, Justness. Moreover, what we see to have been proved in the case
of justness, the intellect is compelled to acknowledge as true of all attributes which are similarly predicated of this supreme Nature. Whatever such attribute is predicated of it, then, it is shown, not of what character, or how great, but what it is.

But it is obvious that whatever good thing the supreme Nature is, it is in the highest degree. It is, therefore, supreme Being, supreme Justness, supreme Wisdom, supreme Truth, supreme Goodness, supreme Greatness, supreme Beauty, supreme Immortality, supreme Incorruptibility, supreme Immutability, supreme Blessedness, supreme Eternity, supreme Power, supreme Unity; which is nothing else than supremely being, supremely living, etc.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XVII

It is simple in such a way that all things that can be said of its essence are one and the same in it: and nothing can be said of its substance except in terms of what it is.

IS it to be inferred, then, that if the supreme Nature is so many goods, it will therefore be compounded of more goods than one? Or is it true, rather, that there are not more goods than one, but a single good
described by many names? For, everything which is composite requires for its subsistence the things of which it is compounded, and, indeed, owes to them the fact of its existence, because, whatever it is, it is through these things; and they are not what
they are through it, and therefore it is not at all supreme. If, then, that Nature is compounded of more goods than one, all these facts that are true of every composite must be applicable to it. But this impious falsehood the whole cogency of the truth that was shown above refutes and overthrows, through a clear argument.

Since, then, that Nature is by no means composite and yet is by all means those so many goods, necessarily all these are not more than one, but are one. Any one of them is, therefore, the same as all, whether taken all at once or separately. Therefore, just as whatever is attributed to the essence of the supreme Substance is one; so this substance is whatever it is essentially in one way, and by virtue of one consideration. For, when a man is said to be a material
body, and rational, and human, these three things are not said in one way, or in virtue of one consideration. For, in accordance with one fact, he is a material body; and in accordance with another, rational; and no one of these, taken by itself, is the whole of what man is.

That supreme Being, however, is by no means anything in such a way that it is not this same thing, according to another way, or another consideration; because, whatever it is essentially in any way, this is all of what it is. Therefore, nothing that is truly said of the supreme Being is accepted in terms of quality or quantity, but only in terms of what it is. For, whatever it is in terms of either quality or quantity
would constitute still another
element, in terms of what it is; hence, it would not be simple, but composite.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XVIII

It is without beginning and without end.

FROM what time, then, has this so simple Nature which creates and animates all things existed, or until what time is it to exist? Or rather, let us ask neither from what time, nor to what time, it exists; but is it without beginning and without end? For, if it has a beginning, it has this either from or through itself, or from or through another, or from or through nothing.

But it is certain, according to truths already made plain, that in no wise does it derive existence from another, or from nothing; or exist through another, or through nothing. In no wise, therefore, has it had inception through or from another, or through or from nothing.

Moreover, it cannot have inception from or through itself, although it exists from and through itself. For it so exists from and through itself, that by no means is there one essence which exists from and through itself, and another through which, and from which, it exists. But, whatever begins to exist from or through something, is by no means identical with that from or through which it begins to exist. Therefore, the supreme Nature does not begin through or from,
itself.

Seeing, then, that it has a beginning neither through nor from itself, and neither through nor from nothing, it assuredly has no beginning at all. But neither will it have an end. For, if it is to have end, it is not supremely immortal and supremely incorruptible
. But we have proved that it is supremely immortal and supremely incorruptible. Therefore, it will not have an end.

Furthermore, if it is to have an end, it will perish either willingly or against its will. But certainly that is not a simple, unmixed good, at whose will the supreme good perishes. But this Being is itself the true and simple, unmixed good. Therefore, that very Being, which is certainly the supreme good, will not die of its own will. If, however, it is to perish against its will, it is not supremely powerful, or all-powerful. But cogent reasoning has asserted it
to be powerful and all-powerful. Therefore, it will not die against its will. Hence, if neither with nor against its will the supreme Nature is to have an end, in no way will it have an end.

Again, if the supreme nature has an end or a beginning, it is not true eternity, which it has been irrefutably proved to be above.

Then, let him who can conceive of a time when this began to be true, or when it was not true, namely, that something was destined to be; or when this shall cease to be true, and shall not be true, namely, that something has existed. But, if neither of these suppositions is conceivable, and both these facts cannot exist without truth, it is impossible even to conceive that truth has either beginning or end. And then, if truth had a beginning, or shall have an end;
before it began it was true that truth did not exist, and after it shall be ended it will be true that truth will not exist. Yet, anything that is true cannot exist without truth. Therefore, truth existed before truth existed, and truth will exist after truth shall be ended, which is a most contradictory conclusion. Whether, then,
truth is said to have, or understood not to have, beginning or end, it cannot be limited by any beginning or end. Hence, the same follows as regards the
supreme Nature, since it is itself the supreme Truth.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XIX

In what sense nothing existed before or will exist after this Being.

BUT here we are again confronted by the term nothing, and whatever our reasoning thus far, with the concordant attestation of truth and necessity, has concluded nothing to be. For, if the propositions duly set forth above have been confirmed by the fortification of logically necessary truth, not anything existed before the supreme Being, nor will anything exist after it. Hence, nothing existed before, and nothing will exist after, it. For, either something or
nothing must have preceded it; and either something or nothing must be destined to follow it.

But, he who says that nothing existed before it appears to make this statement, “that there was before it a time when nothing existed, and that there will be after it a time when nothing will exist.” Therefore, when nothing existed, that Being did not exist, and when nothing shall exist, that Being will not exist. How is it, then, that it does not take inception from nothing or how is it that it will not come to nothing?—if that Being did not yet exist, when
nothing already existed; and the same Being shall no longer exist, when nothing shall still exist. Of what avail is so weighty a mass of arguments, if this nothing so easily demolishes their structure? For, if it is established that the supreme Being succeeds nothing[11] which
precedes it, and yields its place to
nothing, which follows it, whatever has been posited as true above is necessarily unsettled by empty nothing.

But, rather ought this nothing to be resisted, lest so many structures of cogent reasoning be stormed by nothing; and the supreme good, which has been sought and found by the light of truth, be lost for nothing. Let it rather be declared, then, that nothing did not exist before the supreme Being, and that nothing will not exist after it, rather than that, when a place is given before or after it to nothing, that Being which through itself
brought into existence what was nothing, should be reduced through nothing to nothing.

For this one assertion, namely, that nothing existed before the supreme Being, carries two meanings. For, one sense of this statement is that, before the supreme Being, there was a time when nothing was. But another understanding of the same statement is that, before the supreme Being, not anything existed. Just as, supposing I should say, “Nothing has taught me to fly,” I could explain this assertion either in this way, that nothing, as an entity in itself, which
signifies not anything, has taught me actually to fly—which would be false; or in this way, that not anything has taught me to fly, which would be true.

The former interpretation, therefore, which is followed by the inconsistency discussed above, is rejected by all reasoning as false. But there remains the other interpretation, which unites in perfect consistency with the foregoing arguments, and which, from the force of their whole correlation, must be true.

Hence, the statement that nothing existed before that Being must be received in the latter sense. Nor
should it be so explained, that it shall be understood that there was any time when that Being did not exist, and nothing did exist; but, so that it shall be understood that, before that Being, there was not anything. The same sort of double signification is found in the statement that nothing will exist after that Being.

If, then, this interpretation of the term nothing, that has been given, is carefully analysed, most truly neither something nor nothing preceded or will follow the supreme Being, and the conclusion is reached, that nothing existed before or will exist after it. Yet, the solidity of the truths already established is in no wise impaired by the emptiness of nothing.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XX

It exists in every place and at every time.

BUT, although it has been concluded above that this creative Nature exists everywhere, and in all things, and through all; and from the fact that it neither began, nor will cease to be, it follows that it always has been, and is, and will be; yet, I perceive a certain secret murmur of contradiction which compels me to inquire more carefully where and when that Nature exists.

The supreme Being, then, exists either everywhere and always, or merely at some place and time, or nowhere and never: or, as I express it, either in every place and at every time, or finitely, in some place and at some time, or in no place and at no time.

But what can be more obviously contradictory, than that what exists most really and supremely exists nowhere and never? It is, therefore, false that it exists
nowhere and never. Again, since there is no good, nor anything at all without it; if this Being itself exists nowhere or never, then nowhere or never is there any good, and nowhere and never is there anything at all. But there is no need to state that this is false. Hence, the former proposition is also
false, that that Being exists nowhere and never.

It therefore exists finitely, at some time and place, or everywhere and always. But, if it exists finitely, at some place or time, there and then only, where and when it exists, can anything exist. Where and when it does not exist, moreover, there is no existence at all, because, without it, nothing exists. Whence it will follow, that there is some place and time where and when nothing at all exists. But seeing that this is false—for place and time themselves
are existing things—the supreme Nature cannot exist finitely, at some place or time. But, if it is said that it of itself exists finitely, at some place and time, but that, through its power, it is wherever and whenever anything is, this is not true. For, since it is manifest that its power is nothing else than itself, by no means does its power exist without it.

Since, then, it does not exist finitely, at some place or time, it must exist everywhere and always, that is, in every place and at every time.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXI

It exists in no place or time.

BUT, if this is true, either it exists in every place and at every time, or else only a part of it so exists, the other part transcending every place and time.

But, if in part it exists, and in part does not exist,
in every place and at every time, it has parts; which is false. It does not, therefore, exist everywhere and always in part.

But how does it exist as a whole, everywhere and always? For, either it is to be understood that it exists as a whole at once, in all places or at all times, and by parts in individual places and times; or, that it exists as a whole, in individual places and times as well.

But, if it exists by parts in individual places or times, it is not exempt from composition and division of parts; which has been found to be in a high degree alien to the supreme Nature. Hence, it does not so exist, as a whole, in all places and at all times that it exists by parts in individual places and times.

We are confronted, then, by the former alternative, that is, how the supreme Nature can exist, as a whole, in every individual place and time. This is doubtless impossible, unless it either exists at once or at different times in individual places or times. But, since the law of place and the law of time, the investigation of which it has hitherto been possible to prosecute in a single discussion, because they advanced on exactly the same lines, here separate one
from another and seem to avoid debate, as if by evasion in diverse directions, let each be investigated independently in discussion directed on itself alone.

First, then, let us see whether the supreme Nature can exist, as a whole, in individual places, either at once in all, or at different times, in different places. Then, let us make the same inquiry regarding the times at which it can exist.

If, then, it exists as a whole in each individual place, then, for each individual place there is an individual
whole. For, just as place is so distinguished from place that there are individual places, so that which exists as a whole, in one place, is so distinct from that which exists as a whole at the same time, in another place, that there are individual wholes. For, of what exists as a whole, in any place, there is no part that does not exist in that
place. And that of which there is no part that does not exist in a given place, is no part of what exists at the same time outside this place.

What exists as a whole, then, in any place, is no part of what exists at the same time outside that place. But, of that of which no part exists outside any given place, no part exists, at the same time, in another place. How, then, can what exists as a whole, in any place, exist simultaneously, as a whole, in another place, if no part of it can at that time exist in another place?

Since, then, one whole cannot exist as a whole in different places at the same time, it follows that, for individual places, there are individual wholes, if anything is to exist as a whole in different individual places at once. Hence, if the supreme Nature exists as a whole, at one time, in every individual place, there are as many supreme Natures as there can be individual places; which it would be irrational to believe. Therefore, it does not exist, as a whole,
at one time in individual places.

If, however, at different times it exists, as a whole, in individual places, then, when it is in one place, there is in the meantime no good and no existence in other places, since without it absolutely nothing exists. But the absurdity of this supposition is proved by the existence of places themselves, which are not
nothing, but something. Therefore, the supreme Nature does not exist, as a whole, in individual places at different times.

But, if neither at the same time nor at different times does it exist, as a whole, in individual places, it is evident that it does not at all exist, as a whole, in each individual place. We must now examine, then, whether this supreme Nature exists, as a whole, at individual times, either simultaneously or at distinct times for individual times.

But, how can anything exist, as a whole, simultaneously, at individual times, if these times are not themselves simultaneous? But, if this Being exists, as a whole, separately and at distinct times for individual times, just as a man exists as a whole yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow; it is properly said that it was and is and will be. Its age, then, which is no other than its eternity, does not exist, as a whole, simultaneously, but it is distributed in parts
according to the parts of time.

But its eternity is nothing else than itself. The supreme Being, then, will be divided into parts, according to the divisions of time. For, if its age is prolonged through periods of time, it has with this time present, past, and future. But what else is its age than its duration of existence, than its eternity? Since, then, its eternity is nothing else than its essence, as considerations set forth above irrefutably prove; if its eternity has past, present, and
future, its essence also has, in consequence, past, present, and future.

But what is past is not present or future; and what is present is not past or future; and what is future is not past or present. How, then, shall that
proposition be valid, which was proved with clear and logical cogency above, namely, that that supreme Nature is in no wise composite, but is supremely simple, supremely immutable?—how shall this be so, if that Nature is one thing, at one time, and another, at another, and has parts distributed according
to times? Or rather, if these earlier propositions are true, how can these latter be possible? By no means, then, is past or future attributable to the creative Being, either its age or its eternity. For why has it not a present, if it truly is? But was means past, and will be future. Therefore that Being never was, nor will be. Hence, it does not exist at distinct times, just as it does not exist, as a whole, simultaneously in different individual times.

If, then, as our discussion has proved, it neither so exists, as a whole, in all places or times that it exists, as a whole, at one time in all, or by parts in individual places and times; nor so that it exists, as a whole, in individual times and places, it is manifest that it does not in any way exist, as a whole, in every time or place.

And, since, in like manner, it has been demonstrated that it neither so exists in every time or place, that a part exists in every, and a part transcends every, place and time, it is impossible that it exists everywhere and always.

For, in no way can it be conceived to exist everywhere and always, except either as a whole or in part. But if it does not at all exist everywhere and always, it will exist either finitely in some place or time, or in none. But it has already been proved, that it cannot exist finitely, in any place or time. In no place or time, that is, nowhere and never does it exist. For
it cannot exist, except in every or in some place or time.

But, on the other hand, since it is irrefutably established, not only that it exists through itself, and without beginning and without end, but that without it nothing anywhere or ever exists, it must exist everywhere and always.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXII

How it exists in every place and time, and in none.

HOW, then, shall these prepositions, that are so necessary according to our exposition, and so necessary according to our proof, be reconciled? Perhaps the supreme Nature exists in place and time in some such way, that it is not prevented from so existing simultaneously, as a whole, in different places or times, that there are not more wholes than one; and that its age, which does not exist, except as true eternity, is not distributed among past, present, and
future.

For, to this law of space and time, nothing seems to be subject, except the beings which so exist in space or time that they do not transcend extent of space or duration of time. Hence, though of beings of this class it is with all truth asserted that one and the same whole cannot exist simultaneously, as a whole, in different places or times; in the case of those beings which are not of this class, no such conclusion is necessarily reached.

For it seems to be rightly said, that place is predicable only of objects whose magnitude place contains by including it, and includes by containing it; and that time is predicable only of objects whose duration
time ends by measuring it, and measures by ending it. Hence, to any being, to whose spatial extent or duration no bound can be set, either by space or time, no place or time is properly attributed. For, seeing that place does not act upon it as place,
nor time as time, it is not irrational to say, that no place is its place, and no time its time.

But, what evidently has no place or time is doubtless by no means compelled to submit to the law of place or time. No law of place or time, then, in any way governs any nature, which no place or time limits by some kind of restraint. But what rational consideration can by any course of reasoning fail to reach the conclusion, that the Substance which creates and is supreme among all beings, which must be alien to, and free from, the nature and law of all things which
itself created from nothing, is limited by no restraint of space or time; since, more truly, its power, which is nothing else than its essence, contains and includes under itself all these things which it created?

Is it not impudently foolish, too, to say either, that space circumscribes the magnitude of truth, or, that time measures its duration—truth, which regards no greatness or smallness of spatial or temporal extent at all?

Seeing, then, that this is the condition of place or time; that only whatever is limited by their bounds neither escapes the law of parts—such as place follows, according to magnitude, or such as time submits to, according to duration—nor can in any way be contained, as a whole, simultaneously by different places or times; but whatever is in no wise confined by the restraint of place or time, is not compelled by any law of places or times to
multiplicity of parts,
nor is it prevented from being present, as a whole and simultaneously, in more places or times than one—seeing, I say, that this is the condition governing place or time, no doubt the supreme Substance, which is encompassed by no restraint of place or time, is bound by none of their laws.

Hence, since inevitable necessity requires that the supreme Being, as a whole, be lacking to no place or time, and no law of place or time prevents it from being simultaneously in every place or time; it must be simultaneously present in every individual place or time. For, because it is present in one place, it is not therefore prevented from being present at the same time, and in like manner in this, or that other, place or time.

Nor, because it was, or is, or shall be, has any part of its eternity therefore vanished from the present, with the past, which no longer is; nor does it pass with the present, which is, for an instant; nor is it to come with the future, which is not yet.

For, by no means is that Being compelled or forbidden by a law of space or time to exist, or not to exist, at any place or time—the Being which, in no wise, includes its own existence in space or time. For, when the supreme Being is said to exist in space or time, although the form of expression regarding it, and regarding local and temporal natures, is the same, because of the usage of language, yet the sense is different, because of the unlikeness of the
objects of discussion. For in the latter case the same expression has two meanings, namely: (1) that these objects are present in those places and times in which they are said to be, and (2) that they are contained by these places and times themselves.

But in the case of the supreme Being, the first sense only is intended, namely, that it is present; not that it is also contained. If the usage of language permitted, it would, therefore, seem to be more fittingly said, that it exists with place or time, than that it exists in place or time. For the statement that a thing exists in another implies that it is contained, more than does the statement that it exists with another.

In no place or time, then, is this Being properly said to exist, since it is contained by no other at all. And yet it may be said, after a manner of its own, to be in every place or time, since whatever else exists is sustained by its presence, lest it lapse into nothingness. It exists in every place and time, because it is absent from none; and it exists in none, because it has no place or time, and has not taken to itself distinctions of place or time, neither
here nor there, nor anywhere, nor then, nor now, nor at any time; nor does it exist in terms of this fleeting present, in which we live, nor has it existed, nor will it exist, in terms of past or future, since these are restricted to things finite and mutable, which it is not.

And yet, these properties of time and place can, in some sort, be ascribed to it, since it is just as truly present in all finite and mutable beings as if it were circumscribed by the same places, and suffered change by the same times.

We have sufficient evidence, then, to dispel the contradiction that threatened us; as to how the highest Being of all exists, everywhere and always, and nowhere and never, that is, in every place and time, and in no place or time, according to the consistent truth of different senses of the terms employed.

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CHAPTER XXIII

How it is better conceived to exist everywhere than in every place

BUT, since it is plain that this supreme Nature is not more truly in all places than in all existing things, not as if it were contained by them, but as containing all, by permeating all, why should it not be said to be everywhere, in this sense, that it may be understood rather to be in all existing things, than merely in all places, since this sense is supported by the truth of the fact, and is not forbidden by the proper signification of the word of place?

For we often quite properly apply terms of place to objects which are not places; as, when I say that the understanding is there in the soul, where rationality is. For, though there and where are adverbs of place, yet, by no local limitation, does the mind contain anything, nor is either rationality or understanding contained.

Hence, as regards the truth of the matter, the supreme Nature is more appropriately said to be everywhere, in this sense, that it is in all existing things, than in this sense, namely that it is merely in all places. And since, as the reasons set forth above show, it cannot exist otherwise, it must so be in all existing things, that it is one and the same perfect whole in every individual thing simultaneously.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXIV

How it is better understood to exist always than at every time.

IT is also evident that this supreme Substance is without beginning and without end; that it has neither
past, nor future, nor the temporal, that is, transient present in which we live; since its age, or eternity, which is nothing else than itself, is immutable and without parts. Is not, therefore, the term which seems to mean all time more properly understood, when applied to this Substance, to signify eternity, which is never unlike itself, rather than a
changing succession of times, which is ever in some sort unlike itself?

Hence, if this Being is said to exist always; since, for it, it is the same to exist and to live, no better sense can be attached to this statement, than that it exists or lives eternally, that is, it possesses interminable life, as a perfect whole at once. For its eternity apparently is an interminable life, existing at once as a perfect whole.

For, since it has already been shown that this Substance is nothing else than its own life and its own eternity, is in no wise terminable, and does not exist, except as at once and perfectly whole, what else is true eternity, which is consistent with the nature of that Substance alone, than an interminable life, existing as at once and perfectly whole?

For this truth is, at any rate, clearly perceived from the single fact that true eternity belongs only to that substance which alone, as we have proved, was not created, but is the creator, since true eternity is conceived to be free from the limitations of beginning and end; and this is proved to be consistent with the nature of no created being, from the very fact that all such have been created from nothing.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXV

It cannot suffer change by any accidents[12]

BUT does not this Being, which has been shown to exist as in every way substantially identical with itself, sometimes exist as different from itself, at any rate accidentally? But how is it supremely immutable, if it can, I will not say, be, but, be conceived of, as variable by virtue of accidents? And, on the other hand, does it not partake of accident, since even this very fact that it is greater than all other natures and that it is unlike them seems to be an
accident in its case (illi accidere)? But what is the inconsistency between susceptibility to certain facts, called accidents, and natural immutability, if from the undergoing of these accidents the substance undergoes no change?

For, of all the facts, called accidents, some are understood not to be present or absent without some variation in the subject of the accident—all colors, for instance—while others are known not to effect any change in a thing either by occurring or not occurring—certain relations, for instance. For it is certain that I am neither older nor younger than a man who is not yet born, nor equal to him, nor like him. But I shall be able to sustain and
to lose all these relations toward him, as soon as he shall have been born, according as he shall grow, or undergo change through divers qualities.

It is made clear, then, that of all those facts, called accidents, a part bring some degree of mutability in their train, while a part do not impair at all the immutability
of that in whose case they occur. Hence, although the supreme Nature in its simplicity has never undergone such accidents as cause mutation, yet it does not disdain occasional expression in terms of those accidents which are in no wise inconsistent with supreme immutability; and yet there is
no accident respecting its essence, whence it would be conceived of, as itself variable.

Whence this conclusion, also, may be reached, that it is susceptible of no accident; since, just as those accidents, which effect some change by their occurrence or non-occurrence, are by virtue of this very effect of theirs regarded as being true accidents, so those facts, which lack a like effect, are found to be improperly called accidents. Therefore, this Essence is always, in every way, substantially identical with itself; and it is never in any way
different from itself, even accidentally. But, however it may be as to the proper signification of the term accident, this is undoubtedly true, that of the supremely immutable Nature no statement can be made, whence it shall be conceived of as mutable.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXVI

How this Being is said to be substance: it transcends all substance and is individually whatever it is.

BUT, if what we have ascertained concerning the simplicity of this Nature is established, how is it substance? For, though every substance is susceptible of admixture of difference, or, at any rate, susceptible of mutation by accidents, the immutable purity of this Being is inaccessible to admixture or mutation, in any form.

How, then, shall it be maintained that it is a substance of any kind, except as it is called substance for being, and so transcends, as it is above, every substance? For, as great as is the difference between that Being, which is through itself whatever it is, and which creates every other being from nothing, and a being, which is made whatever it is through another, from nothing; so much does the supreme Substance differ from these beings, which are
not what it is. And, since it alone, of all natures, derives from itself, without the help of another nature, whatever existence it has, is it not whatever it is individually and apart from association with its creatures?

Hence, if it ever shares any name with other beings, doubtless a very different signification of that name is to be understood in its case.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXVII

It is not included among substances as commonly treated, yet it is a substance and an indivisible spirit.

IT is, therefore, evident that in any ordinary treatment of substance, this Substance cannot be included, from sharing in whose essence every nature is excluded. Indeed, since every substance is treated either as universal, i. e., as essentially common to more than one substance, as being a man is common to individual men; or as individual, having a universal essence in common with others, as individual men have in common with individual men the fact that they are men;
does any one conceive that, in the treatment of other substances, that supreme Nature is included, which neither divides itself into more substances than one,
nor unites with any other, by virtue of a common essence?

Yet, seeing that it not only most certainly exists, but exists in the highest degree of all things; and since the essence of anything is usually called its substance, doubtless if any worthy name can be given it, there is no objection to our calling it substance.

And since no worthier essence than spirit and body is known, and of these, spirit is more worthy than body, it must certainly be maintained that this Being is spirit and not body. But, seeing that one spirit has not any parts, and there cannot be more spirits than one of this kind, it must, by all means, be an indivisible spirit. For since, as is shown above, it is neither compounded of parts, nor can be conceived of as mutable, through any differences or accidents,
it is impossible that it is divisible by any form of division.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXVIII

This Spirit exists simply, and created beings are not comparable with him.

IT seems to follow, then, from the preceding considerations, that the Spirit which exists in so wonderfully singular and so singularly wonderful a way of its own is in some sort unique; while other beings which seem to be comparable with it are not so.

For, by diligent attention it will be seen that that Spirit alone exists simply, and perfectly, and absolutely; while all other beings are almost non-existent, and hardly exist at all. For, seeing that of this Spirit, because of its immutable eternity, it can in no wise be said, in terms of any alteration, that it was or will be, but simply that it is; it is not now, by mutation, anything which it either was not at any time, or
will not
be in the future. Nor does it fail to be now what it was, or will be, at any time; but, whatever it is, it is, once for all, and simultaneously, and interminably. Seeing, I say, that its existence is of this character, it is rightly said itself to exist simply, and absolutely, and perfectly.

But since, on the other hand, all other beings, in accordance with some cause, have at some time been, or will be, by mutation, what they are not now; or, are what they were not, or will not be, at some time; and, since this former existence of theirs is no longer a fact; and that future existence is not yet a fact; and their existence in a transient, and most brief, and scarcely existing, present is hardly a fact—since, then, they exist in such mutability,
it is not unreasonably denied that they exist simply, and perfectly, and absolutely; and it is asserted that they are almost nonexistent, that they scarcely exist at all.

Again, since all beings, which are other than this Spirit himself, have come from non-existence to existence, not through themselves, but through another; and, since they return from existence to non-existence, so far as their own power is concerned, unless they are sustained through another being, is it consistent with their nature to exist simply, or perfectly, or absolutely, and not rather to be almost non-existent.

And since the existence of this ineffable Spirit alone can in no way be conceived to have taken inception from non-existence, or to be capable of sustaining any deficiency rising from what is in nonexistence; and since, whatever he is himself, he is not through another than himself, that is, than what he is himself, ought not his existence alone to be conceived of as simple, and perfect, and absolute?

But what is thus simply, and on every ground, solely perfect, simple, and absolute, this may very certainly be justly said to be in some sort unique. And, on the other hand, whatever is known to exist through a higher cause, and neither simply, nor perfectly, nor absolutely, but scarcely to exist, or to be almost non-existent—this assuredly may be rightly said to be in some sort non-existent.

According to this course of reasoning, then, the creative Spirit alone exists, and all creatures are nonexistent; yet, they are not wholly non-existent, because, through that Spirit which alone exists absolutely, they have been made something from nothing.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXIX

His expression is identical with himself, and consubstantial with him, since there are not two spirits, but one.

BUT now, having considered these questions regarding the properties of the supreme Nature, which have occurred to me in following the guidance of reason to the present point, I think it reasonable to examine this Spirit’s expression (locutio), through which all things were created.

For, though all that has been ascertained regarding this expression above has the inflexible strength of reason, I am especially compelled to a more careful discussion of this expression by the fact that it is proved to be identical with the supreme Spirit himself. For, if this Spirit created nothing except through himself, and whatever was created by him was created through that expression, how shall that expression be anything else than what the Spirit himself
is?

Furthermore, the facts already discovered declare
irrefutably that nothing at all ever could, or can, exist, except the creative Spirit and its creatures. But it is impossible that the expression of this Spirit is included among created beings; for every created being was created through that expression; but that expression could not be created through itself. For nothing can be created through itself, since every creature exists later than that through which
it is created, and nothing exists later than itself.

The alternative remaining is, then, that this expression of the supreme Spirit, since it cannot be a creature, is no other than the supreme Spirit. Therefore, this expression itself can be conceived of as nothing else than the intelligence (intelligentia) of this Spirit, by which he conceives of (intelligit) all things. For, to him, what
is expressing anything, according to this kind of expression, but conceiving of it? For he does not, like man, ever fail to express what he conceives.

If, then, the supremely simple Nature is nothing else than what its intelligence is, just as it is identical with its wisdom, necessarily, in the same way, it is nothing else than what its expression is. But, since it is already manifest that the supreme Spirit is one only, and altogether indivisible, this his expression must be so consubstantial with him, that they are not two spirits, but one.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXX

This expression does not consist of more words than one, but is one Word.

WHY, then, should I have any further doubt regarding that question which I dismissed above as doubtful, namely, whether this expression consists of

more words than one, or of one? For, if it is so consubstantial with the supreme Nature that they are not two spirits, but one; assuredly, just as the latter is supremely simple, so is the former. It therefore does not consist of more words than one, but is one Word, through which all things were created.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXI

This Word itself is not the likeness of created beings, but the reality of their being, while created beings are a kind of likeness of reality.—What natures are greater and more excellent than others.

BUT here, it seems to me, there arises a question that is not easy to answer, and yet must not be left in any ambiguity. For all words of that sort by which we express any objects in our mind, that is, conceive of them, are likenesses and images of the objects to which they correspond; and every likeness or image is more or less true, according as it more or less closely imitates the object of which it is the likeness.

What, then, is to be our position regarding the Word by which all things are expressed, and through which all were created? Will it be, or will it not be, the likeness of the things that have been created through itself? For, if it is itself the true likeness of mutable things, it is not consubstantial with supreme immutability; which is false. But, if it is not altogether true, and is merely a sort of likeness of mutable things, then the Word of supreme Truth is
not altogether true; which is absurd. But if it has no likeness to mutable things, how were they created after its example?

But perhaps nothing of this ambiguity will remain if—as the reality of a man is said to be the living
man, but the likeness or image of a man in his picture—so the reality of being is conceived of as in the Word, whose essence exists so supremely that in a certain sense it alone exists; while in these things which, in comparison with that Essence, are in some sort non-existent, and, yet were made something through, and according to, that Word, a
kind of imitation of that supreme Essence is found.

For, in this way the Word of supreme Truth, which is also itself supreme Truth, will experience neither gain nor loss, according as it is more or less like its creatures. But the necessary inference will rather be, that every created being exists in so much the greater degree, or is so much the more excellent, the more like it is to what exists supremely, and is supremely great.

For on this account, perhaps,—nay, not perhaps, but certainly,—does every mind judge natures in any way alive to excel those that are not alive, the sentient to excel the non-sentient, the rational the irrational. For, since the supreme Nature, after a certain unique manner of its own, not only exists, but lives, and is sentient and rational, it is clear that, of all existing beings, that which is in some way alive is more like this supreme Nature,
than that which is not alive at all; and what, in any way, even by a corporeal sense, cognises anything, is more like this Nature than what is not sentient at all; and what is rational, more than what is incapable of reasoning.

But it is clear, for a like reason, that certain natures exist in a greater or less degree than others. For, just as that is more excellent by nature which, through its natural essence, is nearer to the most excellent Being, so certainly that nature exists in a
greater degree, whose essence is more like the supreme Essence. And I think that this can easily be ascertained as follows. If we should conceive any substance that is alive, and sentient, and rational,
to be deprived of its reason, then of its sentience, then of its life, and finally of the bare existence that remains, who would fail to understand that the substance that is thus destroyed, little by little, is gradually brought to smaller and smaller degrees of existence, and at last to non-existence? But the attributes which, taken each by itself, reduce an essence to less and less degrees of existence, if assumed in order, lead it to greater and greater degrees.

It is evident, then, that a living substance exists in a greater degree than one that is not living, a sentient than a non-sentient, and a rational than a nonrational. So, there is no doubt that every substance exists in a greater degree, and is more excellent, according as it is more like that substance which exists supremely and is supremely excellent.

It is sufficiently clear, then, that in the Word, through which all things were created, is not their likeness, but their true and simple essence; while, in the things created, there is not a simple and absolute essence, but an imperfect imitation of that true Essence. Hence, it necessarily follows, that this Word is not more nor less true, according to its likeness to the things created, but every created nature has a higher essence and dignity, the more it is seen
to approach that Word.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXII

The supreme Spirit expresses himself by a coeternal Word.

BUT since this is true, how can what is simple Truth be the Word corresponding to those objects, of which it is not the likeness? Since every word by which an object is thus mentally expressed is the likeness of that object, if this is not the word corresponding to the objects that have been created through it, how shall we be sure that it is the Word? For every word is a word corresponding to some object. Therefore, if there were no creature, there would be no
word.

Are we to conclude, then, that if there were no creature, that Word would not exist at all, which is the supreme self-sufficient Essence? Or, would the supreme Being itself, perhaps, which is the Word still be the eternal Being, but not the Word, if nothing were ever created through that Being? For, to what has not been, and is not, and will not be, then can be no word corresponding.

But, according to this reasoning, if there were never any being but the supreme Spirit, there would be no word at all in him. If there were no word in him, he would express nothing to himself; if he expressed nothing to himself, since, for him, expressing anything is the same with understanding or conceiving of it (intelligere), he would not understand or conceive of anything; if he understood or
conceived of nothing, then the supreme Wisdom, which is nothing else than this Spirit, would understand or conceive of nothing; which is most absurd.

What is to be inferred? For, if it conceived of nothing, how would it be the supreme Wisdom? Or, if there were in no wise anything but it, of what would it conceive? Would it not conceive of itself? But how can it be even imagined that the supreme Wisdom, at any time does not conceive of itself; since a rational mind can remember not only itself, but that supreme Wisdom, and conceive of that Wisdom and of itself? For, if the human mind could have no memory or
concept of that Wisdom or of itself, it would not distinguish itself at all from irrational creatures, and that Wisdom from the whole created world, in silent meditation by itself, as my mind does now.

Hence, that Spirit, supreme as he is eternal, is thus eternally mindful of himself, and conceives of himself after the likeness of a rational mind; nay, not after the likeness of anything; but in the first place that Spirit, and the rational mind after its likeness. But, if he conceives of himself eternally, he expresses himself eternally. If he expresses himself eternally, his Word is eternally with him. Whether, therefore, it be thought of in connection with no
other existing being, or with other existing beings, the Word of that Spirit must be coeternal with him.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXIII

He utters himself and what he creates by a single consubstantial Word.

BUT here, in my inquiry concerning the Word, by which the Creator expresses all that he creates, is suggested the word by which he, who creates all, expresses himself. Does he express himself, then, by one word, and what he creates by another; or does
he rather express whatever he creates by the same word whereby he expresses himself?

For this Word also, by which he expresses himself, must be identical with himself, as is evidently true of the Word by which he expresses his creatures. For since, even if nothing but that supreme Spirit ever existed, urgent reason would still require the existence of that word by which he expresses himself, what is more true than that his Word is nothing else than what he himself is? Therefore, if he expresses himself and what he creates, by a Word consubstantial
with himself, it is manifest that of the Word by which he expresses himself, and of the Word by which he expresses the created world, the substance is one.

How, then, if the substance is one, are there two words? But, perhaps, identity of substance does not compel us to admit a single Word. For the Creator himself, who speaks in these words, has the same substance with them, and yet is not the Word. But, undoubtedly the word by which the supreme Wisdom expresses itself may most fitly be called its Word on the former ground, namely, that it contains the perfect likeness of that Wisdom.

For, on no ground can it be denied that when a rational mind conceives of itself in meditation the image of itself arises in its thought, or rather the thought of the mind is itself its image, after its likeness, as if formed from its impression. For, whatever object the mind, either through representation of the body or through reason, desires to conceive of truly, it at least attempts to express its likeness, so far as it is able, in the mental concept itself. And
the more truly it succeeds in this, the more truly does it think of the object itself; and, indeed, this fact is observed more
clearly when it thinks of something else which it is not, and especially when it thinks of a material body. For, when I think of a man I know, in his absence, the vision of my thought forms such an image as I have acquired in memory through my ocular vision and this image is the word corresponding to the man I express by thinking of him.

The rational mind, then, when it conceives of itself in thought, has with itself its image born of itself that is, its thought in its likeness, as if formed from its impression, although it cannot, except in thought alone, separate itself from its image, which image is its word.

Who, then, can deny that the supreme Wisdom, when it conceives of itself by expressing itself, begets a likeness of itself consubstantial with it, namely, its Word? And this Word, although of a subject so uniquely important nothing can be said with sufficient propriety, may still not inappropriately be called the image of that Wisdom, its representation, just as it is called his likeness.

But the Word by which the Creator expresses the created world is not at all, in the same way, a word corresponding to the created world, since it is not this world’s likeness, but its elementary essence. It therefore follows, that he does not express the created world itself by a word corresponding to the created world. To what, then, does the word belong, whereby he expresses it, if he does not express it by a word, belonging to itself? For what he expresses, he
expresses by a word, and a word must belong to something, that is, it is the likeness of something. But if he expresses nothing but himself or his created world
he can express nothing, except by a word corresponding to himself or to something else.

So, if he expresses nothing by a word belonging to the created world, whatever he expresses, he expresses by the Word corresponding to himself. By one and the same Word, then, he expresses himself and whatever he has made.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXIV

How he can express the created world by his Word.

BUT how can objects so different as the creative and the created being be expressed by one Word, especially since that Word itself is coeternal with him who expresses them, while the created world is not coeternal with him? Perhaps, because he himself is supreme Wisdom and supreme Reason, in which are all things that have been created; just as a work which is made after one of the arts, not only when it is made, but before it is made, and after it is destroyed, is
always in respect of the art itself nothing else than what that art is.

Hence, when the supreme Spirit expresses himself, he expresses all created beings. For, both before they were created, and now that they have been created, and after they are decayed or changed in any way, they are ever in him not what they are in themselves, but what this Spirit himself is. For, in themselves they are mutable beings, created according to immutable reason; while in him is the true first being, and the first reality of existence, the more like unto
which those beings are in any way, the more really and excellently do they exist. Thus, it may reasonably be declared that, when the supreme Spirit expresses
himself, he also expresses whatever has been created by one and the same Word.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXV

Whatever has been created is in his Word and knowledge, life and truth.

BUT, since it is established that his word is consubstantial with him, and perfectly like him, it necessarily follows that all things that exist in him exist also, and in the same way, in his Word. Whatever has been created, then, whether alive or not alive, or howsoever it exists in itself, is very life and truth in him.

But, since knowing is the same to the supreme Spirit as conceiving or expressing, he must know all things that he knows in the same way in which he expresses or conceives of them. Therefore, just as all things are in his Word life and truth, so are they in his knowledge.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXVI

In how incomprehensible a way he expresses or knows the objects created by him.

HENCE, it may be most clearly comprehended that how this Spirit expresses, or how he knows the created world, cannot be comprehended by human knowledge. For none can doubt that created substances exist far differently in themselves than in our knowledge. For, in themselves they exist by virtue of their own being; while in our knowledge is not their being, but their likeness.

We conclude, then, that they exist more truly in themselves than in our knowledge, in the same degree
in which they exist more truly anywhere by virtue of their own being, than by virtue of their likeness. Therefore, since this is also an established truth, that every created substance exists more truly in the Word, that is, in the intelligence of the Creator, than it does in itself, in the same degree in which the creative being exists more truly than the
created; how can the human mind comprehend of what kind is that expression and that knowledge, which is so much higher and truer than created substances; if our knowledge is as far surpassed by those substances as their likeness is removed from their being?

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXVII

Whatever his relation to his creatures, this relation his Word also sustains: yet both do not simultaneously sustain this relation as more than one being.

BUT since it has already been clearly demonstrated that the supreme Spirit created all things through his Word, did not the Word itself also create all things? For, since it is consubstantial with him, it must be the supreme essence of that of which it is the Word. But there is no supreme Essence, except one, which is the only creator and the only beginning of all things which have been created. For this Essence, through no other than itself, alone created all things
from nothing. Hence, whatever the supreme Spirit creates, the same his Word also creates, and in the same way.

Whatever relation, then, the supreme Spirit bears to what he creates, this relation his Word also bears, and in the same way. And yet, both do not bear it simultaneously, as more than one, since there are not more supreme creative essences than one. Therefore,
just as he is the creator and the beginning of the world, so is his Word also; and yet there are not two, but one creator and one beginning.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXVIII

It cannot be explained why they are two, although they must be so.

OUR careful attention is therefore demanded by a peculiarity which, though most unusual in other beings, seems to belong to the supreme Spirit and his Word. For, it is certain that in each of these separately and in both simultaneously, whatever they are so exists that it is separately perfected in both, and yet does not admit plurality in the two. For although, taken separately, he is perfectly supreme Truth and Creator, and his Word is supreme Truth and Creator; yet
both at once are not two truths or two creators.

But although this is true, yet it is most remarkably clear that neither he, whose is the Word, can be his own Word, nor can the Word be he, whose Word it is, although in so far as regards either what they are substantially, or what relation they bear to the created world, they ever preserve an indivisible unity. But in respect of the fact that he does not derive existence from that Word, but that Word from him, they admit an ineffable plurality, ineffable,
certainly, for although necessity requires that they be two, it can in no wise be explained why they are two.

For although they may perhaps be called two equals, or some other mutual relation may in like manner be attributed to them, yet if it were to be asked what it is in these very relative expressions with reference to which they are used, it cannot be expressed plurally, as one speaks of two equal lines,
or two like men. For, neither are there two equal spirits nor two equal creators, nor is there any dual expression which indicates either their essence or their
relation to the created world; and there is no dual expression which designates the peculiar relation of the one to the other, since there are neither two words nor two images.

For the Word, by virtue of the fact that it is a word or image, bears a relation to the other, because it is Word and image only as it is the Word and image of something; and so peculiar are these attributes to the one that they are by no means predicable of the other. For he, whose is the Word and image, is neither image nor Word. It is, therefore, evident that it cannot be explained why they are two, the supreme Spirit and the Word, although by certain properties
of each they are required to be two. For it is the property of the one to derive existence from the other, and the property of that other that the first derives existence from him.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XXXIX

This Word derives existence from the supreme Spirit by birth.

AND this truth, it seems, can be expressed in no more familiar terms than when it is said to be the property of the one, to be born of the other; and of the other, that the first is born of him. For it is now clearly proved, that the Word of the supreme Spirit does not derive existence from him, as do those beings which have been created by him; but as Creator from Creator, supreme Being from supreme Being. And, to dispose of this comparison with all brevity, it is one
and the same being which derives existence
from one and the same being, and on such terms, that it in no wise derives existence, except from that being.

Since it is evident, then, that the Word of the supreme Spirit so derives existence from him alone, that it is completely analogous to the offspring of a parent; and that it does not derive existence from him, as if it were created by him, doubtless no more fitting supposition can be entertained regarding its origin, than that it derives existence from the supreme Spirit by birth (nascendo).

For, innumerable objects are unhesitatingly said to be born of those things from which they derive existence, although they possess no such likeness to those things of which they are said to be born, as offspring to a parent.—We say, for instance, that the hair is born of the head, or the fruit of the tree, although the hair does not resemble the head, nor the fruit the tree.

If, then, many objects of this sort are without absurdity said to be born, so much the more fittingly may the Word of the supreme Spirit be said to derive existence from him by birth, the more perfect the resemblance it bears to him, like a child’s to its parent, through deriving existence from him.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XL

He is most truly a parent, and that Word his offspring.

BUT if it is most properly said to be born, and is so like him of whom it is born, why should it be esteemed like, as a child is like his parent? why should it not rather be declared, that the Spirit is more truly a parent, and the Word his offspring, the more he
alone is sufficient to effect this birth, and the more what is born expresses his likeness? For, among other beings which we know bear the relations of parent and child, none so begets as to be
solely and without accessory, sufficient to the generation of offspring; and none is so begotten that without any admixture of unlikeness, it shows complete likeness to its parent.

If, then, the Word of the supreme Spirit so derives its complete existence from the being of that Spirit himself alone, and is so uniquely like him, that no child ever so completely derives existence from its parent, and none is so like its parent, certainly the relation of parent and offspring can be ascribed to no beings so consistently as to the supreme Spirit and his Word. Hence, it is his property to be most truly parent, and its to be most truly his
offspring.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLI

He most truly begets, and it is most truly begotten.

BUT it will be impossible to establish this proposition, unless, in equal degree, he most truly begets, and it is most truly begotten. As the former supposition is evidently true, so the latter is necessarily most certain. Hence, it belongs to the supreme Spirit most truly to beget, and to his Word to be most truly begotten.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLII

It is the property of the one to be most truly progenitor and Father, and of the other to be the begotten and Son.

I should certainly be glad, and perhaps able, now to reach the conclusion, that he is most truly the Father
, while this Word is most truly his Son. But I think that even this question should not be neglected: whether it is more fitting to call them Father and Son, than mother and daughter, since in them there is no distinction of sex.

For, if it is consistent with the nature of the one to be the Father, and of his offspring to be the Son, because both are Spirit (Spiritus, masculine); why is it not, with equal reason, consistent with the nature of the one to be the mother, and the other the daughter, since both are truth and wisdom (veritas et sapientia, feminine)?

Or, is it because in these natures that have a difference of sex, it belongs to the superior sex to be father or son, and to the inferior to be mother or daughter? And this is certainly a natural fact in most instances, but in some the contrary is true, as among certain kinds of birds, among which the female is always larger and stronger, while the male is smaller and weaker.

At any rate, it is more consistent to call the supreme Spirit father than mother, for this reason, that the first and principal cause of offspring is always in the father. For, if the maternal cause is ever in some way preceded by the paternal, it is exceedingly inconsistent that the name mother should be attached to that parent with which, for the generation of offspring, no other cause is associated, and which no other precedes. It is, therefore, most true
that the supreme Spirit is Father of his offspring. But, if the son is always more like the father than is the daughter, while nothing is more like the supreme Father than his offspring; then it is most true that this offspring is not a daughter, but a Son.

Hence, just as it is the property of the one most truly to beget, and of the other to be begotten, so it is the property of the one to be most truly progenitor, and of the other to be most truly begotten. And as the one is most truly the parent, and the other his offspring, so the one is most truly Father, and the other most truly Son.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLIII

Consideration of the common attributes of both and the individual properties of each.

NOW that so many and so important properties of each have been discovered, whereby a strange plurality, as ineffable as it is inevitable, is proved to exist in the supreme unity, I think it most interesting to reflect, again and again, upon so unfathomable a mystery.

For observe: although it is so impossible that he who begets, and he who is begotten, are the same, and that parent and offspring are the same—so impossible that necessarily one must be the progenitor and the other the begotten, and one the Father, the other the Son; yet, here it is so necessary that he who begets and he who is begotten shall be the same, and also that parent and offspring shall be the same, that the progenitor cannot be any other than what
the begotten is, nor the Father any other than the Son.

And although the one is one, and the other another, so that it is altogether evident that they are two; yet that which the one and the other are is in such a way one and the same, that it is a most obscure mystery why they are two. For, in such a way is one the Father and the other the Son, that when I speak of both I perceive that I have spoken of two;
and yet so identical is that which both Father and Son are, that I do not understand why they are two of whom
I have spoken.

For, although the Father separately is the perfectly supreme Spirit, and the Son separately is the perfectly supreme Spirit, yet, so are the Spirit-Father and the Spirit-Son one and the same being, that the Father and the Son are not two spirits, but one Spirit. For, just as to separate properties of separate beings, plurality is not attributed, since they are not properties of two things, so, what is common to both preserves an indivisible unity, although it
belongs, as a whole, to them taken separately.

For, as there are not two fathers or two sons, but one Father and one Son, since separate properties belong to separate beings, so there are not two spirits, but one Spirit; although it belongs both to the Father, taken separately, and to the Son, taken separately, to be the perfect Spirit. For so opposite are their relations, that the one never assumes the property of the other; so harmonious are they in nature, that the one ever contains the essence of the other.
For they are so diverse by virtue of the fact that the one is the Father and the other the Son, that the Father is never called the Son, nor the Son the Father; and they are so identical, by virtue of their substance, that the essence of the Son is ever in the Father, and the essence of the Father in the Son.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLIV

How one is the essence of the other.

HENCE, even if one is called the essence of the other, there is no departure from truth; but the supreme
simplicity and unity of their common nature is thus honored. For, not as one conceives of a man’s wisdom, through which man is wise, though he cannot be wise through himself, can we thus understand the statement that the Father is essence of the Son, and the Son the essence of the Father. We cannot understand that the Son is existent through the Father, and the
Father through the Son, as if the one could not be existent except through the other, just as a man cannot be wise except through wisdom.

For, as the supreme Wisdom is ever wise through itself, so the supreme Essence ever exists through itself. But, the perfectly supreme Essence is the Father, and the perfectly supreme Essence is the Son. Hence, the perfect Father and the perfect Son exist, each through himself, just as each is wise through himself.

For the Son is not the less perfect essence or wisdom because he is an essence born of the essence of the Father, and a wisdom born of the wisdom of the Father; but he would be a less perfect essence or wisdom if he did not exist through himself, and were not wise through himself.

For, there is no inconsistency between the subsistence of the Son through himself, and his deriving existence from his Father. For, as the Father has essence, and wisdom, and life in himself; so that not through another’s, but through his own, essence he exists; through his own wisdom he is wise; through his own life he lives; so, by generation, he grants to his Son the possession of essence, and wisdom, and life in himself, so that not through an extraneous
essence, wisdom, and life, but through his own, he subsists, is wise, and lives; otherwise, the existence of
Father and Son will not be the same, nor will the Son be equal to the Father. But it has already been clearly proved how false this supposition is.

Hence, there is no inconsistency between the subsistence of the Son through himself, and his deriving existence from the Father, since he must have from the Father this very power of subsisting through himself. For, if a wise man should teach me his wisdom, which I formerly lacked, he might without impropriety be said to teach me by this very wisdom of his. But, although my wisdom would derive its existence and the fact of its being from his wisdom, yet when my
wisdom once existed, it would be no other essence than its own, nor would it be wise except through itself.

Much more, then, the eternal Father’s eternal Son, who so derives existence from the Father that they are not two essences, subsists, is wise, and lives through himself. Hence, it is inconceivable that the Father should be the essence of the Son, or the Son the essence of the Father, on the ground that the one could not subsist through itself, but must subsist through the other. But in order to indicate how they share in an essence supremely simple and supremely
one, it may consistently be said, and conceived, that the one is so identical with the other that the one possesses the essence of the other.

On these grounds, then, since there is obviously no difference between possessing an essence and being an essence, just as the one possesses the essence of the other, so the one is the essence of the other, that is, the one has the same existence with the other.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLV

The Son may more appropriately be called the essence of the Father, than the Father the essence of the Son: and in like manner the Son is the virtue, wisdom, etc., of the Father.

AND although, for reasons we have noted, this is true, it is much more proper to call the Son the essence of the Father than the Father the essence of the Son. For, since the Father has his being from none other than himself, it is not wholly appropriate to say that he has the being of another than himself; while, since the Son has his being from the Father, and has the same essence with his Father, he may most appropriately be said to have the essence of his
Father.

Hence, seeing that neither has an essence, except by being an essence; as the Son is more appropriately conceived to have the essence of the Father than the Father to have the essence of the Son, so the Son may more fitly be called the essence of the Father than the Father the essence of the son. For this single explanation proves, with sufficiently emphatic brevity, that the Son not only has the same essence with the Father, but has this very essence from
the Father; so that, to assert that the Son is the essence of the Father is the same as to assert that the Son is not a different essence from the essence of the Father nay, from the Father essence.

In like manner, therefore, the Son is the virtue of the Father, and his wisdom, and justice, and whatever is consistently attributed to the essence of the supreme Spirit.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLVI

How some of these truths which are thus expounded may also be conceived of in another way.

YET, some of these truths, which may be thus expounded and conceived of, are apparently capable of another interpretation as well, not inconsistent with this same assertion. For it is proved that the Son is the true Word, that is, the perfect intelligence, conceiving of the whole substance of the Father, or perfect cognition of that substance, and knowledge of it, and wisdom regarding it; that is, it understands, and conceives of, the very essence of the Father, and
cognises it, and knows it, and is wise (sapit) regarding it.

If, then, in this sense, the Son is called the intelligence of the Father, and wisdom concerning him, and knowledge and cognition of him, and acquaintance with him; since the Son understands and conceives of the Father, is wise concerning him, knows and is acquainted with him, there is no departure from truth.

Most properly, too, may the Son be called the truth of the Father, not only in the sense that the truth of the Son is the same with that of the Father, as we have already seen; but in this sense, also, that in him no imperfect imitation shall be conceived of, but the complete truth of the substance of the Father since he is no other than what the Father is.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLVII

The Son is the intelligence of intelligence and the Truth of truth

BUT if the very substance of the Father is intelligence, and knowledge, and wisdom, and truth, it is
consequently inferred that as the Son is the intelligence, and knowledge, and wisdom, and truth, of the paternal substance, so he is the intelligence of intelligence, the knowledge of knowledge, the wisdom of wisdom, and the truth of truth.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLVIII

How the Son is the intelligence or wisdom of memory or the memory of the Father and of memory.

BUT what is to be our notion of memory? Is the Son to be regarded as the intelligence conceiving of memory, or as the memory of the Father, or as the memory of memory? Indeed, since it cannot be denied that the supreme Wisdom remembers itself, nothing can be more consistent than to regard the Father as memory, just as the Son is the Word; because the Word is apparently born of memory, a fact that is more clearly seen in the case of the human mind.

For, since the human mind is not always thinking of itself, though it ever remembers itself, it is clear that, when it thinks of itself, the word corresponding to it is born of memory. Hence, it appears that, if it always thought of itself, its word would be always born of memory. For, to think of an object of which we have remembrance, this is to express it mentally; while the word corresponding to the object is the thought itself, formed after the likeness of that
object from memory.

Hence, it may be clearly apprehended in the supreme Wisdom, which always thinks of itself, just as it remembers itself, that, of the eternal remembrance of it, its coeternal Word is born. Therefore, as the Word is properly conceived of as the child, the memory
most appropriately takes the name of parent. If, then, the child which is born of the supreme Spirit alone is the child of his memory, there can be no more logical conclusion than that his memory is
himself. For not in respect of the fact that he remembers himself does he exist in his own memory, like ideas that exist in the human memory, without being the memory itself; but he so remembers himself that he is his own memory.

It therefore follows that, just as the Son is the intelligence or wisdom of the Father, so he is that of the memory of the Father. But, regarding whatever the Son has wisdom or understanding, this he likewise remembers. The Son is, therefore, the memory of the Father, and the memory of memory, that is, the memory that remembers the Father, who is memory, just as he is the wisdom of the Father, and the wisdom of wisdom, that is, the wisdom wise regarding the wisdom
of the Father; and the Son is indeed memory, born of memory, as he is wisdom, born of wisdom, while the Father is memory and wisdom born of none.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER XLIX

The supreme Spirit loves himself.

BUT, while I am here considering with interest the individual properties and the common attributes of Father and Son, I find none in them more pleasurable to contemplate than the feeling of mutual love. For how absurd it would be to deny that the supreme Spirit loves himself, just as he remembers himself, and conceives of himself! since even the rational human mind is convinced that it can love both itself and him, because it can remember itself and him, and can

conceive of itself and of him; for idle and almost useless is the memory and conception of any object, unless, so far as reason requires, the object itself is loved or condemned. The supreme Spirit, then, loves himself, just as he remembers himself and conceives of himself.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER L

The same love proceeds equally from Father and Son.

IT is, at any rate, clear to the rational man that he does not remember himself or conceive of himself because he loves himself, but he loves himself because he remembers himself and conceives of himself; and that he could not love himself if he did not remember and conceive of himself. For no object is loved without remembrance or conception of it; while many things are retained in memory and conceived of that are not loved.

It is evident, then, that the love of the supreme Spirit proceeds from the fact that he remember himself and conceives of himself (se intelligit). But if, by the memory of the supreme Spirit, we understand the Father, and by his intelligence by which he conceives of anything, the Son, it is manifest that the love of the supreme Spirit proceeds equally from Father and Son.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LI

Each loves himself and the other with equal love.

BUT if the supreme Spirit loves himself, no doubt the Father loves himself, the Son loves himself, and the one the other; since the Father separately is the supreme Spirit, and the Son separately is the supreme
Spirit, and both at once one Spirit. And, since each equally remembers himself and the other, and conceives equally of himself and the other; and since what is loved, or loves in the Father, or in the Son, is altogether the same, necessarily each loves
himself and the other with an equal love.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LII

This love is as great as the supreme Spirit himself.

HOW great, then, is this love of the supreme Spirit, common as it is to Father and Son! But, if he loves himself as much as he remembers and conceives of himself; and, moreover, remembers and conceives of himself in as great a degree as that in which his essence exists, since otherwise it cannot exist; undoubtedly his love is as great as he himself is.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LIII

This love is identical with the supreme Spirit, and yet it is itself with the Father and the Son one spirit.

BUT, what can be equal to the supreme Spirit, except the supreme Spirit? That love is, then, the supreme Spirit. Hence, if no creature, that is, if nothing other than the supreme Spirit, the Father and the Son, ever existed; nevertheless, Father and Son would love themselves and one another.

It therefore follows that this love is nothing else than what the Father and the Son are, which is the supreme Being. But, since there cannot be more than one supreme Being, what inference can be more necessary than that Father and Son and the love of both are one supreme Being? Therefore, this love is
supreme Wisdom, supreme Truth, the supreme Good, and whatsoever can be attributed to the substance the supreme Spirit.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LIV

It proceeds as a whole from the Father, and as a whole from the Son, and yet does not exist except as one love.

IT should be carefully considered whether there are two loves, one proceeding from the Father, the other from the Son; or one, not proceeding as a whole from one, but in part from the Father, in part from the Son; or neither more than one, nor one proceeding in part from each separately, but one proceeding as a whole from each separately, and likewise as a whole from the two at once.

But the solution of such a question can, without doubt, be apprehended from the fact that this love proceeds not from that in which Father and Son are more than one, but from that in which they are one. For, not from their relations, which are more than one, but from their essence itself, which does not admit of plurality, do Father and Son equally produce so great a good.

Therefore, as the Father separately is the supreme Spirit, and the Son separately is the supreme Spirit, and Father and Son at once are not two, but one Spirit; so from the Father separately the love of the supreme Spirit emanates as a whole, and from the Son as a whole, and at once from Father and Son, not as two, but as one and the same whole.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LV

This love is not their Son.

SINCE this love, then, has its being equally from Father and Son, and is so like both that it is in no wise unlike them, but is altogether identical with them; is it to be regarded as their Son or offspring? But, as the Word, so soon as it is examined, declares itself to be the offspring of him from whom it derives existence, by displaying a manifold likeness to its parent; so love plainly denies that it sustains such a relation, since, so long as it is conceived to
proceed from Father and Son, it does not at once show to one who contemplates it so evident a likeness to him from whom it derives existence, although deliberate reasoning teaches us that it is altogether identical with Father and Son.

Therefore, if it is their offspring, either one of them is its father and the other its mother, or each is its father, or mother,—suppositions which apparently contradict all truth. For, since it proceeds in precisely the same way from the Father as from the Son, regard for truth does not allow the relations of Father and Son to it to be described by different words; therefore, the one is not its father, the other its mother. But that there are two beings
which, taken separately, bear each the perfect relation of father or mother, differing in no respect, to some one being—of this no existing nature allows proof by any example.

Hence, both, that is, Father and Son, are not father and mother of the love emanating from them. It
therefore is apparently most inconsistent with truth that their identical love should be their son or offspring.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LVI

Only the Father begets and is unbegotten; only the son is begotten; only love neither begotten nor unbegotten.

STILL, it is apparent that this love can neither be said, in accordance with the usage of common speech, to be unbegotten, nor can it so properly be said to be begotten, as the Word is said to be begotten. For we often say of a thing that it is begotten of that from which it derives existence, as when we say that light or heat is begotten of fire, or any effect of its cause.

On this ground, then, love, proceeding from the supreme Spirit, cannot be declared to be wholly unbegotten, but it cannot so properly be said to be begotten as can the Word; since the Word is the most true offspring and most true Son, while it is manifest that love is by no means offspring or son.

He alone, therefore, may, or rather should, be called begetter and unbegotten, whose is the Word; since he alone is Father and parent, and in no wise derives existence from another; and the Word alone should be called begotten, which alone is Son and offspring. But only the love of both is neither begotten nor unbegotten, because it is neither son nor offspring, and yet does in some sort derive existence from another.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LVII

This love is uncreated and creator, as are Father and Son; and yet it is with them not three, but one uncreated and creative being. And it may be called the Spirit of Father and Son.

BUT, since this love separately is the supreme Being, as are Father and Son, and yet at once Father and Son, and the love of both are not more than one, but one supreme Being, which alone was created by none, and created all things through no other than itseIf; since this is true, necessarily, as the Father separately, and the Son separately, are each uncreated and creator, so, too, love separately is uncreated and creator, and yet all three at once are not more than
one, but one uncreated and creative being.

None, therefore, makes or begets or creates the Father, but the Father alone begets, but does not create, the Son; while Father and Son alike do not create or beget, but somehow, if such an expression may be used, breathe their love: for, although the supremely immutable Being does not breathe after our fashion, yet the truth that this Being sends forth this, its love, which proceeds from it, not by departing from it, but by deriving existence from it, can
perhaps be no better expressed than by saying that this Being breathes its love.

But, if this expression is admissible, as the Word of the supreme Being is its Son, so its love may fittingly enough be called its breath (Spiritus). So that, though it is itself essentially spirit, as are Father and Son, they are not regarded as the spirits of anything, since neither is the Father born of any other nor the Son of the Father, as it were, by breathing; while
that love is
regarded as the Breath or Spirit of both since from both breathing in their transcendent way it mysteriously proceeds.

And this love, too, it seems, from the fact there is community of being between Father and Son, may, not unreasonably, take, as it were its own, some name which is common to Father and Son; if there is any exigency demanding that it should have a name proper to itself. And, indeed, if this love is actually designated by the name Spirit, as by its own name, since this name equally describes the Father and the Son: it will be useful to this effect also, that through
this name it shall be signified that this love is identical with Father and Son, although it has its being from them.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LVIII

As the Son is the essence or wisdom of the Father in the sense that he has the same essence or wisdom that the Father has: so likewise the Spirit is the essence and wisdom etc. of Father and Son.

ALSO, just as the Son is the substance and wisdom and virtue of the Father, in the sense that he has the same essence and wisdom and virtue with the Father; so it may be conceived that the Spirit of both is the essence or wisdom or virtue of Father and Son, since it has altogether the same essence, wisdom, and virtue with these.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LIX

The Father and the Son and their Spirit exist equally the one in the other.

IT is a most interesting consideration that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit of both, exist in one
another with such equality that no one of them surpasses another. For, not only is each in such a way the perfectly supreme Being that, nevertheless, all three at once exist only as one supreme Being, but the same truth is no less capable of proof when each is taken separately.

For the Father exists as a whole in the Son, and in the Spirit common to them; and the Son in the Father, and in the Spirit; and the Spirit in the Father, and in the Son; for the memory of the supreme Being exists, as a whole, in its intelligence and in its love, and the intelligence in its memory and love, and the love in its memory and intelligence. For the supreme Spirit conceives of (intelligit)
its memory as a whole, and loves it, and remembers its intelligence as a whole, and loves it as a whole, and remembers its love as a whole, and conceives of it as a whole.

But we mean by the memory, the Father; by the intelligence, the Son; by the love, the Spirit of both. In such equality, therefore, do Father and Son and Spirit embrace one another, and exist in one another, that none of them can be proved to surpass another or to exist without it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LX

To none of these is another necessary that he may remember, conceive, or love: since each taken by himself is memory and intelligence and love and all that is necessarily inherent in the supreme Being.

BUT, while this discussion engages our attention, I think that this truth, which occurs to me as I reflect, ought to be most carefully commended to memory. The Father must be so conceived of as memory, the Son as intelligence, and the Spirit as love, that it
shall also be understood that the Father does not need the Son, or the Spirit common to them, nor the Son the Father, or the same Spirit, nor the Spirit the Father, or the Son: as if the Father were able,
through his own power, only to remember, but to conceive only through the Son, and to love only through the Spirit of himself and his son; and the Son could only conceive or understand (intelligere) through himself, but remembered through the Father, and loved through his Spirit; and this Spirit were able through himself alone only to love, while the Father remembers for him, and the Son conceives or understands (intelligit) for him.

For, since among these three each one taken separately is so perfectly the supreme Being and the supreme Wisdom that through himself he remembers and conceives and loves, it must be that none of these three needs another, in order either to remember or to conceive or to love. For, each taken separately is essentially memory and intelligence and love, and all that is necessarily inherent in the supreme Being.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXI

Yet there are not three, but one Father and one Son and one Spirit.

AND here I see a question arises. For, if the Father is intelligence and love as well as memory, and the Son is memory and love as well as intelligence, and the Spirit is no less memory and intelligence than love; how is it that the Father is not a Son and a Spirit of some being? and why is not the Son the Father and the Spirit of some being? and why is not this Spirit the Father of some being, and the Son of
some being? For it was understood, that the Father was
memory, the Son intelligence, and the Spirit love.

But this question is easily answered, if we consider the truths already disclosed in our discussion. For the Father, even though he is intelligence and love, is not for that reason the Son or the Spirit of any being; since he is not intelligence, begotten of any, or love, proceeding from any, but whatever he is, he is only the begetter, and is he from whom the other proceeds.

The Son also, even though by his own power he remembers and loves, is not, for that reason, the Father or the Spirit of any; since he is not memory as begetter, or love as proceeding from another after the likeness of his Spirit, but whatever being he has he is only begotten and is he from whom the Spirit proceeds.

The Spirit, too, is not necessarily Father or Son, because his own memory and intelligence are sufficient to him; since he is not memory as begetter, or intelligence as begotten, but he alone, whatever he is, proceeds or emanates.

What, then, forbids the conclusion that in the supreme Being there is only one Father, one Son, one Spirit, and not three Fathers or Sons or Spirits?

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXII

How it seems that of these three more sons than one are born.

BUT perhaps the following observation will prove inconsistent with this assertion. It should not be doubted that the Father and the Son and their Spirit each expresses himself and the other
two, just as each conceives of, and understands, himself and the other two. But, if this is true, are there not in the supreme Being as many words as there are expressive beings, and as many words as there are beings who are expressed?

For, if more men than one give expression to some one object in thought, apparently there are as many words corresponding to that object as there are thinkers; since the word corresponding to it exists in the thoughts of each separately. Again, if one man thinks of more objects than one, there are as many words in the mind of the thinker as there are objects thought of.

But in the thought of a man, when he thinks of anything outside his own mind, the word corresponding to the object thought of is not born of the object itself, since that is absent from the view of thought, but of some likeness or image of the object which exists in the memory of the thinker, or which is perhaps called to mind through a corporeal sense from the present object itself.

But in the supreme Being, Father and Son and their Spirit are always so present to one another—for each one, as we have already seen, exists in the others no less than in himself—that, when they express one another, the one that is expressed seems to beget his own word, just as when he is expressed by himself. How is it, then, that the Son and the Spirit of the Son and of the Father beget nothing, if each begets his own word, when he is expressed by
himself or by another? Apparently as many words as can be proved to be born of the supreme Substance, so many Sons, according to our former reasoning, must there be begotten of this substance, and so many spirits proceeding from it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXIII

How among them there is only one Son of one Father, that is, one Word, and that from the Father alone.

ON these grounds, therefore, there apparently are in that Being, not only many fathers and sons and beings proceeding from it, but other necessary attributes as well; or else Father and Son and their Spirit, of whom it is already certain that they truly exist, are not three expressive beings, although each taken separately is expressive, nor are there more beings than one expressed, when each one expresses himself and the other two.

For, just as it is an inherent property of the supreme Wisdom to know and conceive, so it is assuredly natural to eternal and immutable knowledge and intelligence ever to regard as present what it knows and conceives of. For, to such a supreme Spirit expressing and beholding through conception, as it were, are the same, just as the expression of our human mind is nothing but the intuition of the thinker.

But reasons already considered have shown most convincingly that whatever is essentially inherent in the supreme Nature is perfectly consistent with the nature of the Father and the Son and their Spirit taken separately; and that, nevertheless, this, if attributed to the three at once, does not admit of plurality. Now, it is established that as knowledge and intelligence are attributes of his being, so his knowing and conceiving is nothing else than his expression,
that is, his ever beholding as present what he knows and conceives of. Necessarily, therefore, just as the Father separately, and the Son separately, and their
Spirit separately, is a knowing and conceiving being, and yet the three at once are not more knowing and conceiving beings than one, but one knowing and one conceiving being: so, each taken separately is expressive, and yet there are not three expressive beings at once, but one expressive being.

Hence, this fact may also be clearly recognised, that when these three are expressed, either by themselves or by another, there are not more beings than one expressed. For what is therein expressed except their being? If, then, that Being is one and only one, then what is expressed is one and only one; therefore, if it is in them one and only one which expresses, and one which is expressed—for it is one wisdom which expresses and one substance which is
expressed—it follows that there are not more words than one, but one alone. Hence, although each one expresses himself and all express one another, nevertheless there cannot be in the supreme Being another Word than that already shown to be born of him whose is the Word, so that it may be called his true image and his Son.

And in this truth I find a strange and inexplicable factor. For observe: although it is manifest that each one, that is, Father and Son, and the Spirit of Father and Son equally expresses himself and both the others, and that there is one Word alone among them; yet it appears that this Word itself can in no wise be called the Word of all three, but only of one.

For it has been proved that it is the image and Son of him whose Word it is. And it is plain that it cannot properly be called either the image or son of itself, or of the Spirit proceeding from it. For, neither of itself nor of a being proceeding from it, is it born,
nor does it in its existence imitate itself or a being proceeding from itself. For it does not imitate itself, or take on a like existence to itself, because imitation and likeness are impossible
where only one being is concerned, but require plurality of beings; while it does not imitate the spirit, nor does it exist in his likeness, because it has not its existence from that Spirit, but the Spirit from it. It is to be concluded that this sole Word corresponds to him alone, from whom it has existence by generation, and after whose complete likeness it exists.

One Father, then, and not more than one Father; one Son, and not more than one Son; one Spirit proceeding from them, and not more than one such Spirit, exist in the supreme Being. And, although there are three, so that the Father is never the Son or the Spirit proceeding from them, nor the Son at any time the Father or the Spirit, nor the Spirit of Father and Son ever the Father or the Son; and each separately is so perfect that he is self-sufficient, needing
neither of the others; yet what they are is in such a way one that just as it cannot be attributed to them taken separately as plural, so, neither can it be attributed to them as plural, when the three are taken at once. And though each one expresses himself and all express one another, yet there are not among them more words than one, but one; and this Word corresponds not to each separately, nor to all together, but to one alone.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXIV

Though this truth is inexplicable, it demands belief.

IT seems to me that the mystery of so sublime a subject transcends all the vision of the human intellect
. And for that reason I think it best to refrain from the attempt to explain how this thing is. For it is my opinion that one who is investigating an incomprehensible object ought to be satisfied if this reasoning shall have brought him far enough to recognise that this object most certainly exists; nor ought assured belief to be the less readily given to these
truths which are declared to be such by cogent proofs, and without the contradiction of any other reason, if, because of the incomprehensibility of their own natural sublimity, they do not admit of explanation.

But what is so incomprehensible, so ineffable, as that which is above all things? Hence, if these truths, which have thus far been debated in connection with the supreme Being, have been declared on cogent grounds, even though they cannot be so examined by the human intellect as to be capable of explanation in words, their assured certainty is not therefore shaken. For, if a consideration, such as that above, rationally comprehends that it is incomprehensible in
what way supreme Wisdom knows its creatures, of which we necessarily know so many; who shall explain how it knows and expresses itself, of which nothing or scarcely anything can be known by man? Hence, if it is not by virtue of the self-expression of this Wisdom that the Father begets and the Son is begotten, who shall tell his generation?

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXV

How real truth may be reached in the discussion of an ineffable subject.

BUT again, if such is the character of its ineffability,—nay, since it is such,—how shall whatever conclusion
our discussion has reached regarding it in terms of Father, Son, and emanating Spirit be valid? For, if it has been explained on true grounds, how is it ineffable? Or, if it is ineffable, how can it be such as our discussion has shown? Or, could it be explained to a certain extent, and therefore nothing would disprove the truth of our
argument; but since it could not be comprehended at all, for that reason it would be ineffable?

But how shall we meet the truth that has already been established in this very discussion, namely, that the supreme Being is so above and beyond every other nature that, whenever any statement is made concerning it in words which are also applicable to other natures, the sense of these words in this case is by no means that in which they are applied to other natures.

For what sense have I conceived of, in all these words that I have thought of, except the common and familiar sense? If, then, the familiar sense of words is alien to that Being, whatever I have inferred to be attributable to it is not its property. How, then, has any truth concerning the supreme Being been discovered, if what has been discovered is so alien to that Being? What is to be inferred?

Or, has there in some sort been some truth discovered regarding this incomprehensible object, and in some sort has nothing been proved regarding it? For often we speak of things which we do not express with precision as they are; but by another expression we indicate what we are unwilling or unable to express with precision, as when we speak in riddles. And often we see a thing, not precisely as it is in itself, but through a likeness or image, as when we
look
upon a face in a mirror. And in this way, we often express and yet do not express, see and yet do not see, one and the same object; we express and see it through another; we do not express it, and do not see it by virtue of its own proper nature.

On these grounds, then, it appears that there is nothing to disprove the truth of our discussion thus far concerning the supreme Nature, and yet this Nature itself remains not the less ineffable, if we believe that it has never been expressed according to the peculiar nature of its own being, but somehow described through another.

For whatever terms seem applicable to that Nature do not reveal it to me in its proper character, but rather intimate it through some likeness. For, when I think of the meanings of these terms, I more naturally conceive in my mind of what I see in created objects, than of what I conceive to transcend all human understanding. For it is something much less, nay, something far different, that their meaning suggests to my mind, than that the conception of which my mind
itself attempts to achieve through this shadowy signification.

For, neither is the term wisdom sufficient to reveal to me that Being, through which all things were created from nothing and are preserved from nothingness; nor is the term essence capable of expressing to me that Being which, through its unique elevation, is far above all things, and through its peculiar natural character greatly transcends all things.

In this way, then, is that Nature ineffable, because it is incapable of description in words or by any other means; and, at the same time, an inference regarding it, which can be reached by the instruction of reason
or in some other way, as it were in a riddle, is not therefore necessarily false.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXVI

Through the rational mind is the nearest approach to the supreme Being.

SINCE it is clear, then, that nothing can be ascertained concerning this Nature in terms of its own peculiar character, but only in terms of something else, it is certain that a nearer approach toward knowledge of it is made through that which approaches it more nearly through likeness. For the more like to it anything among created beings is proved to be, the more excellent must that created being be by nature. Hence, this being, through its greater likeness, assists
the investigating mind in the approach to supreme Truth; and through its more excellent created essence, teaches the more correctly what opinion the mind itself ought to form regarding the Creator. So, undoubtedly, a greater knowledge of the creative Being is attained, the more nearly the creature through which the investigation is made approaches that Being. For that every being, in so far as it exists, is like the supreme Being, reasons already considered do not permit us to doubt.

It is evident, then, that as the rational mind alone, among all created beings, is capable of rising to the investigation of this Being, so it is not the less this same rational mind alone, through which the mind itself can most successfully achieve the discovery of this same Being. For it has already been acknowledged that this approaches it most nearly, through likeness of natural essence. What is more obvious, then, than that the more earnestly the rational mind
devotes itself
to learning its own nature, the more effectively does it rise to the knowledge of that Being; and the more carelessly it contemplates itself, the farther does it descend from the contemplation of that Being?

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXVII

The mind itself is the mirror and image of that Being.

THEREFORE, the mind may most fitly be said to be its own mirror wherein it contemplates, so to speak, the image of what it cannot see face to face. For, if the mind itself alone among all created beings is capable of remembering and conceiving of and loving itself, I do not see why it should be denied that it is the true image of that being which, through its memory and intelligence and love, is united in an ineffable Trinity. Or, at any rate, it proves itself to be
the more truly the image of that Being by its power of remembering, conceiving of, and loving, that Being. For, the greater and the more like that Being it is, the more truly it is recognised to be its image.

But, it is utterly inconceivable that any rational creature can have been naturally endowed with any power so excellent and so like the supreme Wisdom as this power of remembering, and conceiving of, and loving, the best and greatest of all beings. Hence, no faculty has been bestowed on any creature that is so truly the image of the Creator.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXVIII

The rational creature was created in order that it might love this Being.

IT seems to follow, then, that the rational creature ought to devote itself to nothing so earnestly as to the
expression, through voluntary performance, of this image which is impressed on it through a natural potency. For, not only does it owe its very existence to its creator; but the fact that it is known to have no power so important as that of remembering, and conceiving of, and loving, the supreme good, proves that it ought to wish nothing else so
especially.

For who can deny that whatever within the scope one’s power is better, ought to prevail with the will? For, to the rational nature rationality is the same with the ability to distinguish the just from the not-just, the true from the not-true, the good from the not-good, the greater good from the lesser; but this power is altogether useless to it, and superfluous, unless what it distinguishes it loves or condemns, in accordance with the judgment of true
discernment.

From this, then, it seems clear enough that every rational being exists for this purpose, that according as, on the grounds of discernment, it judges a thing to be more or less good, or not good, so it may love that thing in greater or less degree, or reject it.

It is, therefore, most obvious that the rational creature was created for this purpose, that it might love the supreme Being above all other goods, as this Being is itself the supreme good; nay, that it might love nothing except it, unless because of it; since that Being is good through itself, and nothing else is good except through it.

But the rational being cannot love this Being, unless it has devoted itself to remembering and conceiving of it. It is clear, then, that the rational creature ought to devote its whole ability and will to remembering, and conceiving of, and loving, the supreme
good, for which end it recognises that it has its very existence.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXIX

The soul that ever loves this Essence lives at some time in true blessedness.

BUT there is no doubt that the human soul is a rational creature. Hence, it must have been created for this end, that it might love the supreme Being. It must, therefore, have been created either for this end, that it might love that Being eternally; or for this, that at some time it might either voluntarily, or by violence, lose this love.

But it is impious to suppose that the supreme Wisdom created it for this end, that at some time, either it should despise so great a good, or, though wishing to keep it, should lose it by some violence. We infer, then, that it was created for this end, that it might love the supreme Being eternally. But this it cannot do unless it lives forever. It was so created, then, that it lives forever, if it forever wills to do that for which it was created.

Hence, it is most incompatible with the nature of the supremely good, supremely wise, and omnipotent Creator, that what he has made to exist that it might love him, he should make not to exist, so long as it truly loves him; and that what he voluntarily gave to a non-loving being that it might ever love, he should take away, or permit to be taken away, from the loving being, so that necessarily it should not love; especially since it should by no means be doubted
that he himself loves every nature that loves him. Hence, it is manifest that the human soul is never deprived
of its life, if it forever devotes itself to loving the supreme life.

How, then, shall it live? For is long life so important a matter, if it is not secure from the invasion of troubles? For whoever, while he lives, is either through fear or through actual suffering subject to troubles, or is deceived by a false security, does he not live in misery? But, if any one lives in freedom from these troubles, he lives in blessedness. But it is most absurd to suppose that any nature that forever loves him, who is supremely good and
omnipotent, forever lives in misery. So, it is plain, that the human soul is of such a character that, if it diligently observes that end for which it exists, it at some time lives in blessedness, truly secure from death itself and from every other trouble.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXX

This Being gives itself in return to the creature that loves it, that that creature may be eternally blessed.

THEREFORE it cannot be made to appear true that he who is most just and most powerful makes no return to the being that loves him perseveringly, to which although it neither existed nor loved him, he gave existence that it might be able to be a loving being. For, if he makes no return to the loving soul, the most just does not distinguish between the soul that loves, and the soul that despises what ought to be supremely loved, nor does he love the soul that loves him;
or else it does not avail to be loved by him; all of which suppositions are inconsistent with his nature; hence he does make a return to every soul that perseveres in loving him.

But what is this return? For, if he gave to what was nothing, a rational being, that it might be a loving soul, what shall he give to the loving soul, if it does not cease to love? If what waits upon love is so great, how great is the recompense given to love? And if the sustainer of love is such as we declare, of what character is the profit? For, if the rational creature, which is useless to itself without this love, is with it preeminent among all creatures,
assuredly nothing can be the reward of love except what is preeminent among all natures.

For this same good, which demands such love toward itself, also requires that it be desired by the loving soul. For, who can love justice, truth, blessedness, incorruptibility, in such a way as not to wish to enjoy them? What return, then, shall the supreme Goodness make to the being that loves and desires it, except itself? For, whatever else it grants, it does not give in return, since all such bestowals neither compensate the love, nor console the loving being,
nor satisfy the soul that desires this supreme Being.

Or, if it wishes to be loved and desired, so as to make some other return than its love, it wishes to be loved and desired, not for its own sake, but for the sake of another; and does not wish to be loved itself, but wishes another to be loved; which it is impious to suppose.

So, it is most true that every rational soul, if, as it should, it earnestly devotes itself through love to longing for supreme blessedness, shall at some time receive that blessedness to enjoy, that what it now sees as through a glass and in a riddle, it may then see face to face. But it is most foolish to doubt whether it enjoys that blessedness eternally; since,
in the enjoyment of that blessedness, it will be impossible to turn the soul
aside by any fear, or to deceive it by false security; nor, having once experienced the need of that blessedness, will it be able not to love it; nor will that blessedness desert the soul that loves it; nor shall there be anything powerful enough to separate them against their will. Hence, the soul that has once begun to enjoy supreme Blessedness will be eternally blessed.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXI

The soul that despises this being will be eternally miserable.

FROM this it may be inferred, as a certain consequence, that the soul which despises the love of the supreme good will incur eternal misery. It might be said that it would be justly punished for such contempt if it lost existence or life, since it does not employ itself to the end for which it was created. But reason in no wise admits such a belief, namely, that after such great guilt it is condemned to be what it was before all its guilt.

For, before it existed, it could neither be guilty nor feel a penalty. If, then, the soul despising that end for which it was created, dies so as to feel nothing, or so as to be nothing at all, its condition will be the same when in the greatest guilt and when without all guilt; and the supremely wise Justice will not distinguish between what is capable of no good and wills no evil, and what is capable of the greatest good and wills the greatest evil.

But it is plain enough that this is a contradiction. Therefore, nothing can be more logical, and nothing ought to be believed more confidently than that the
soul of man is so constituted that, if it scorns loving the supreme Being, it suffers eternal misery; that just as the loving soul shall rejoice in an eternal reward, so the soul despising that Being shall suffer eternal punishment; and as the former shall feel an immutable sufficiency, so the latter shall
feel an inconsolable need.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXII

Every human soul is immortal. And it is either forever miserable, or at some time truly blessed.

BUT if the soul is mortal, of course the loving soul is not eternally blessed, nor the soul that scorns this Being eternally miserable. Whether, therefore, it loves or scorns that for the love of which it was created, it must be immortal. But if there are some rational souls which are to be judged as neither loving nor scorning, such as the souls of infants seem to be, what opinion shall be held regarding these? Are they mortal or immortal? But undoubtedly all human
souls are of the same nature. Hence, since it is established that some are immortal, every human soul must be immortal. But since every living being is either never, or at some time, truly secure from all trouble; necessarily, also, every human soul is either ever miserable, or at some time truly blessed.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXIII

No soul is unjustly deprived of the supreme good, and every effort must be directed toward that good.

BUT, which souls are unhesitatingly to be judged as so loving that for the love of which they were created, that they deserve to enjoy it at some time, and
which as so scorning it, that they deserve ever to stand in need of it; or how and on what ground those which it seems impossible to call either loving or scorning are assigned to either eternal blessedness or misery,—of all this I think it certainly most difficult or even impossible for any mortal to
reach an understanding through discussion. But that no being is unjustly deprived by the supremely great and supremely good Creator of that good for which it was created, we ought most assuredly to believe. And toward this good every man ought to strive, by loving and desiring it with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his mind.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXIV

The supreme Being is to be hoped for.

BUT the human soul will by no means be able to train itself in this purpose, if it despairs of being able to reach what it aims at. Hence, devotion to effort is not more profitable to it than hope of attainment is necessary.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXV

We must believe in this Being, that is, by believing we must reach out for it.

BUT what does not believe cannot love or hope. It is, therefore, profitable to this human soul to believe the supreme Being and those things without which that Being cannot be loved, that, by believing, the soul may reach out for it. And this truth can be more briefly and fitly indicated, I think, if instead of saying, “strive for” the supreme Being, we say, “believe in“ the supreme Being.

For, if one says that he believes in it, he apparently shows clearly enough both that, through the faith which he professes, he strives for the supreme Being, and that he believes those things which are proper to this aim. For it seems that either he who does not believe what is proper to striving for that Being, or he who does not strive for that Being, through what he believes, does not believe in it. And, perhaps, it is indifferent whether we say,
“believe in it,” or “direct belief to it,” just as by believing to strive for it and toward it are the same, except that whoever shall have come to it by striving for (tendendo in) it, will not remain without, but within it. And this is indicated more distinctly and familiarly if we say, “striving for“ (in) it, than if we say, ”toward“ (ad) it.

On this ground, therefore, I think it may more fitly be said that we should believe in it, than that we should direct belief to it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXVI

We should believe in Father and Son and in their Spirit equally, and in each separately, and in the three at once.

WE should believe, then, equally in the Father and in the Son and in their Spirit, and in each separately, and in the three at once, since the Father separately, and the Son separately, and their Spirit separately is the supreme Being, and at once Father and Son with their Spirit are one and the same supreme Being, in which alone every man ought to believe; because it is the sole end which in every thought and act he ought to strive for. Hence, it is manifest that as
none is able to strive for that Being, except he believe
in it; so to believe it avails none, except he strive for it.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXVII

What is living, and what dead faith.

HENCE, with however great confidence so important a truth is believed, the faith will be useless and, as it were, dead, unless it is strong and living through love. For, that the faith which is accompanied by sufficient love is by no means idle, if an opportunity of operation offers, but rather exercises itself in an abundance of works, as it could not do without love, may be proved from this fact alone, that, since it loves the supreme Justice, it can scorn nothing
that is just, it can approve nothing that is unjust. Therefore, seeing that the fact of its operation shows that life, without which it could not operate, is inherent in it; it is not absurd to say that operative faith is alive, because it has the life of love without which it could not operate; and that idle faith is not living, because it lacks that life of love, with which it would not be idle.

Hence, if not only he who has lost his sight is called blind, but also he who ought to have sight and has it not, why cannot, in like manner, faith without love be called dead; not because it has lost its life, that is, love; but because it has not the life which it ought always to have? As that faith, then, which operates through love is recognised as living, so that which is idle, through contempt, is proved to be dead. It may, therefore, be said
with sufficient fitness that living faith believes in that in which we ought to believe; while dead faith merely believes that which ought to be believed.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXVIII

The supreme Being may in some sort be called Three.

AND so it is evidently expedient for every man to believe in a certain ineffable trinal unity, and in one Trinity; one and a unity because of its one essence, but trinal and a trinity because of its three—what? For, although I can speak of a Trinity because of Father and Son and the Spirit of both, who are three; yet I cannot, in one word, show why they are three; as if I should call this Being a Trinity because of its three persons, just as I would call it a
unity because of its one substance.

For three persons are not to be supposed, because all persons which are more than one so subsist separately from one another, that there must be as many substances as there are persons, a fact that is recognised in the case of more men than one, when there are as many persons as there are individual substances. Hence, in the supreme Being, just as there are not more substances than one, so there are not more persons than one.

So, if one wishes to express to any why they are three, he will say that they are Father and Son and the Spirit of both, unless perchance, compelled by the lack of a precisely appropriate term, he shall choose some one of those terms which cannot be applied in a plural sense to the supreme Being, in order to indicate what cannot be expressed in any fitting language; as if he should say, for instance, that this wonderful Trinity is one essence or nature, and three
persons or substances.

For these two terms are more appropriately chosen to describe plurality in the supreme Being, because the word person is applied only to an individual, rational nature; and the word substance is ordinarily applied to individual beings, which especially subsist in plurality. For individual beings are especially exposed to, that is, are subject to, accidents, and for this reason they more properly receive the name sub-stance. Now, it is already
manifest that the supreme Being, which is subject to no accidents, cannot properly be called a substance, except as the word substance is used in the same sense with the word Essence. Hence, on this ground, namely, of necessity, that supreme and one Trinity or trinal unity may justly be called one Essence and three Persons or three Substances.

Monologium - On The Being Of God

CHAPTER LXXIX

This Essence itself is God, who alone is lord and ruler of all.

IT appears, then—nay, it is unhesitatingly declared that what is called God is not nothing; and that to this supreme Essence the name God is properly given. For every one who says that a God exists, whether one or more than one, conceives of him only as of some substance which he believes to be above every nature that is not God, and that he is to be worshipped of men because of his preeminent majesty, and to be appeased for man’s own sake because of some
imminent necessity.

But what should be so worshipped in accordance with its majesty, and what should be so appeased in behalf of any object, as the supremely good and supremely powerful Spirit, who is Lord of all and who rules all? For, as it is established that through the
supreme Good and its supremely wise omnipotence all things were created and live, it is most inconsistent to suppose that the Spirit himself does not rule the beings created by him, or that beings are governed
by another less powerful or less good, or by no reason at all, but by the confused flow of events alone. For it is he alone through whom it is well with every creature, and without whom it is well with none, and from whom, and through whom, and in whom, are all things.

Therefore, since he himself alone is not only the beneficent Creator, but the most powerful lord, and most wise ruler of all; it is clear that it is he alone whom every other nature, according to its whole ability, ought to worship in love, and to love in worship; from whom all happiness is to be hoped for; with whom refuge from adversity is to be sought; to whom supplication for all things is to be offered. Truly, therefore, he is not only God, but the only God,
ineffably Three and One.

Appendix

IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL - AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENT OF ANSELM IN THE PROSLOGIUM

BY GAUNILON, A MONK OF MARMOUTIER.

1. IF one doubts or denies the existence of a being of such a nature that nothing greater than it can be conceived, he receives this answer:

The existence of this being is proved, in the first place, by the fact that he himself, in his doubt or denial regarding this being, already has it in his understanding; for in hearing it spoken of he understands what is spoken of. It is proved, therefore, by the fact that what he understands must exist not only in his understanding, but in reality also.

And the proof of this is as follows.—It is a greater thing to exist both in the understanding and in reality than to be in the understanding alone. And if this being is in the understanding alone, whatever has even in the past existed in reality will be greater than this being. And so that which was greater than all beings will be less than some being, and will not be greater than all: which is a manifest contradiction.

And hence, that which is greater than all, already proved to be in the understanding, must exist not only in the understanding, but also in reality: for otherwise it will not be greater than all other beings.

2. The fool might make this reply:

This being is said to be in my understanding already, only because I understand what is said. Now could it not with equal justice be said that I have in my understanding all manner of unreal objects, having absolutely no existence in themselves, because I understand these things if one speaks of them, whatever they may be?

Unless indeed it is shown that this being is of such a character that it cannot be held in concept like all unreal objects, or objects whose existence is uncertain: and hence I am not able to conceive of it when I hear of it, or to hold it in concept; but I must understand it and have it in my understanding; because, it seems, I cannot conceive of it in any other way than by understanding it, that is, by comprehending in my knowledge its existence in reality.

But if this is the case, in the first place there will be no distinction between what has precedence in time—namely, the having of an object in the understanding—and what is subsequent in time—namely, the understanding that an object exists; as in the example of the picture, which exists first in the mind of the painter, and afterwards in his work.

Moreover, the following assertion can hardly be accepted: that this being, when it is spoken of and heard of, cannot be conceived not to exist in the way in which even God can be conceived not to exist. For if this is impossible, what was the object of this argument against one who doubts or denies the existence of such a being?

Finally, that this being so exists that it cannot be perceived by an understanding convinced of its own indubitable existence, unless this being is afterwards
conceived of—this should be proved to me by an indisputable argument, but not by that which you have advanced: namely, that what I understand, when I hear it, already is in my understanding. For thus in my understanding, as I still think, could be all sorts of things whose existence is uncertain,
or which do not exist at all, if some one whose words I should understand mentioned them. And so much the more if I should be deceived, as often happens, and believe in them: though I do not yet believe in the being whose existence you would prove.

3. Hence, your example of the painter who already has in his understanding what he is to paint cannot agree with this argument. For the picture, before it is made, is contained in the artificer’s art itself; and any such thing, existing in the art of an artificer, is nothing but a part of his understanding itself. A joiner, St. Augustine says, when he is about to make a box in fact, first has it in his art. The box which is made in fact is not life; but
the box which exists in his art is life. For the artificer’s soul lives, in which all these things are, before they are produced. Why, then, are these things life in the living soul of the artificer, unless because they are nothing else than the knowledge or understanding of the soul itself?

With the exception, however, of those facts which are known to pertain to the mental nature, whatever, on being heard and thought out by the understanding, is perceived to be real, undoubtedly that real object is one thing, and the understanding itself, by which the object is grasped, is another. Hence, even if it were true that there is a being than which a greater is inconceivable: yet to this being, when
heard of and understood, the not yet created picture
in the mind of the painter is not analogous.

4. Let us notice also the point touched on above, with regard to this being which is greater than all which can be conceived, and which, it is said, can be none other than God himself. I, so far as actual knowledge of the object, either from its specific or general character, is concerned, am as little able to conceive of this being when I hear of it, or to have it in my understanding, as I am to conceive of or understand God himself: whom, indeed, for this very
reason I can conceive not to exist. For I do not know that reality itself which God is, nor can I form a conjecture of that reality from some other like reality. For you yourself assert that that reality is such that there can be nothing else like it.

For, suppose that I should hear something said of a man absolutely unknown to me, of whose very existence I was unaware. Through that special or general knowledge by which I know what man is, or what men are, I could conceive of him also, according to the reality itself, which man is. And yet it would be possible, if the person who told me of him deceived me, that the man himself, of whom I conceived, did not exist ; since that reality according to which I conceived
of him, though a no less indisputable fact, was not that man, but any man.

Hence, I am not able, in the way in which I should have this unreal being in concept or in understanding, to have that being of which you speak in concept or in understanding, when I hear the word God or the words, a being greater than all other beings. For I can conceive of the man according to a fact that is real and familiar to me: but of God, or a being greater
than all others, I could not conceive at all, except merely according to the word.
And an object can hardly or never be conceived according to the word alone.

For when it is so conceived, it is not so much the word itself (which is, indeed, a real thing—that is, the sound of the letters and syllables) as the signification of the word, when heard, that is conceived. But it is not conceived as by one who knows what is generally signified by the word; by whom, that is, it is conceived according to a reality and in true conception alone. It is conceived as by a man who does not know the object, and conceives of it only
in accordance with the movement of his mind produced by hearing the word, the mind attempting to image for itself the signification of the word that is heard. And it would be surprising if in the reality of fact it could ever attain to this.

Thus, it appears, and in no other way, this being is also in my understanding, when I hear and understand a person who says that there is a being greater than all conceivable beings. So much for the assertion that this supreme nature already is in my understanding.

5. But that this being must exist, not only in the understanding but also in reality, is thus proved to me:

If it did not so exist, whatever exists in reality would be greater than it. And so the being which has been already proved to exist in my understanding, will not be greater than all other beings.

I still answer: if it should be said that a being which cannot be even conceived in terms of any fact, is in the understanding, I do not deny that this being is, accordingly, in my understanding. But since
through this fact it can in no wise attain to real existence also, I do not yet concede to it that existence at all, until some certain proof of it shall be given.

For he who says that this being exists, because otherwise the being which is greater than all will not be greater than all, does not attend strictly enough to what he is saying. For I do not yet say, no, I even deny or doubt that this being is greater than any real object. Nor do I concede to it any other existence than this (if it should be called existence) which it has when the mind, according to a word merely heard, tries to form the image of an object
absolutely unknown to it.

How, then, is the veritable existence of that being proved to me from the assumption, by hypothesis, that it is greater than all other beings? For I should still deny this, or doubt your demonstration of it, to this extent, that I should not admit that this being is in my understanding and concept even in the way in which many objects whose real existence is uncertain and doubtful, are in my understanding and concept. For it should be proved first that this being
itself really exists somewhere; and then, from the fact that it is greater than all, we shall not hesitate to infer that it also subsists in itself.

6. For example: it is said that somewhere in the ocean is an island, which, because of the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of discovering what does not exist, is called the lost island. And they say that this island has an inestimable wealth of all manner of riches and delicacies in greater abundance than is told of the Islands of the Blest; and that having no owner or inhabitant, it is more excellent than all other countries
, which are inhabited by
mankind, in the abundance with which it is stored.

Now if some one should tell me that there is such an island, I should easily understand his words, in which there is no difficulty. But suppose that he went on to say, as if by a logical inference: “You can no longer doubt that this island which is more excellent than all lands exists somewhere, since you have no doubt that it is in your understanding. And since it is more excellent not to be in the understanding alone, but to exist both in the understanding and in
reality, for this reason it must exist. For if it does not exist, any land which really exists will be more excellent than it; and so the island already understood by you to be more excellent will not be more excellent.”

If a man should try to prove to me by such reasoning that this island truly exists, and that its existence should no longer be doubted, either I should believe that he was jesting, or I know not which I ought to regard as the greater fool: myself, supposing that I should allow this proof; or him, if he should suppose that he had established with any certainty the existence of this island. For he ought to show first that the hypothetical excellence of this island
exists as a real and indubitable fact, and in no wise as any unreal object, or one whose existence is uncertain, in my understanding.

7. This, in the mean time, is the answer the fool could make to the arguments urged against him. When he is assured in the first place that this being is so great that its non-existence is not even conceivable, and that this in turn is proved on no other ground than the fact that otherwise it will not be greater than
all things, the fool may make the same answer, and say:

When did I say that any such being exists in reality, that is, a being greater than all others?—that on this ground it should be proved to me that it also exists in reality to such a degree that it cannot even be conceived not to exist? Whereas in the first place it should be in some way proved that a nature which is higher, that is, greater and better, than all other natures, exists; in order that from this we may then be able to prove all attributes which
necessarily the being that is greater and better than all possesses.

Moreover, it is said that the non-existence of this being is inconceivable. It might better be said, perhaps, that its non-existence, or the possibility of its non-existence, is unintelligible. For according to the true meaning of the word, unreal objects are unintelligible. Yet their existence is conceivable in the way in which the fool conceived of the non-existence of God. I am most certainly aware of my own existence; but I know, nevertheless, that my
non-existence is possible. As to that supreme being, moreover, which God is, I understand without any doubt both his existence, and the impossibility of his non-existence. Whether, however, so long as I am most positively aware of my existence, I can conceive of my non-existence, I am not sure. But if I can, why can I not conceive of the non-existence of whatever else I know with the same certainty? If, however, I cannot, God will not be the only being of which it can be said, it is
impossible to conceive of his non-existence.

8. The other parts of this book are argued with such truth, such brilliancy, such grandeur; and are so replete with usefulness, so fragrant with a certain
perfume of devout and holy feeling, that though there are matters in the beginning which, however rightly sensed, are weakly presented, the rest of the work should not be rejected on this account. The rather ought these earlier matters to be reasoned more cogently, and the whole to be received with great
respect and honor.

Appendix

IN REPLY TO GAUNILON’S ANSWER IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL

IT was a fool against whom the argument of my Proslogium was directed. Seeing, however, that the author of these objections is by no means a fool, and is a Catholic, speaking in behalf of the fool, I think it sufficient that I answer the Catholic.

Appendix

CHAPTER I

A general refutation of Gaunilon’s argument. It is shown that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived exists in reality.

YOU say—whosoever you may be, who say that a fool is capable of making these statements—that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived is not in the understanding in any other sense than that in which a being that is altogether inconceivable in terms of reality, is in the understanding. You say that the inference that this being exists in reality, from the fact that it is in the understanding, is no more just than the inference that a lost island
most certainly exists, from the fact that when it is described the hearer does not doubt that it is in his understanding.

But I say: if a being than which a greater is inconceivable is not understood or conceived, and is not in the understanding or in concept, certainly either God is not a being than which a greater is inconceivable, or else he is not understood or conceived, and is not in the understanding or in concept. But I call on your faith and conscience to attest that this is most false. Hence, that than which a greater cannot be conceived is truly understood and conceived,
and is in the understanding and in concept. Therefore either the grounds on which you try to controvert me are not true, or else the inference which you think to base logically on those grounds is not justified.

But you hold, moreover, that supposing that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived is understood, it does not follow that this being is in the understanding; nor, if it is in the understanding, does it therefore exist in reality.

In answer to this, I maintain positively: if that being can be even conceived to be, it must exist in reality. For that than which a greater is inconceivable cannot be conceived except as without beginning. But whatever can be conceived to exist, and does not exist, can be conceived to exist through a beginning. Hence what can be conceived to exist, but does not exist, is not the being than which a greater cannot be conceived. Therefore, if such a being can be
conceived to exist, necessarily it does exist.

Furthermore: if it can be conceived at all, it must exist. For no one who denies or doubts the existence of a being than which a greater is inconceivable, denies or doubts that if it did exist, its non-existence, either in reality or in the understanding, would be impossible. For otherwise it would not be a being
than which a greater cannot be conceived. But as to whatever can be conceived, but does not exist—if there were such a being, its
non-existence, either in reality or in the understanding, would be possible. Therefore if a being than which a greater is inconceivable can be even conceived, it cannot be nonexistent.

But let us suppose that it does not exist, even if it can be conceived. Whatever can be conceived, but does not exist, if it existed, would not be a being than which a greater is inconceivable. If, then, there were a being a greater than which is inconceivable, it would not be a being than which a greater is inconceivable: which is most absurd. Hence, it is false to deny that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived exists, if it can be even conceived;
much the more, therefore, if it can be understood or can be in the understanding.

Moreover, I will venture to make this assertion: without doubt, whatever at any place or at any time does not exist—even if it does exist at some place or at some time—can be conceived to exist nowhere and never, as at some place and at some time it does not exist. For what did not exist yesterday, and exists to-day, as it is understood not to have existed yesterday, so it can be apprehended by the intelligence that it never exists. And what is not
here, and is elsewhere, can be conceived to be nowhere, just as it is not here. So with regard to an object of which the individual parts do not exist at the same places or times: all its parts and therefore its very whole can be conceived to exist nowhere or never.

For, although time is said to exist always, and the world everywhere, yet time does not as a whole exist
always, nor the world as a whole everywhere. And as individual parts of time do not exist when others exist, so they can be conceived never to exist. And so it can be apprehended by the intelligence that individual parts of the world exist nowhere, as they do not exist where other parts exist. Moreover, what is composed of parts can be dissolved in
concept, and be non-existent. Therefore, whatever at any place or at any time does not exist as a whole, even if it is existent, can be conceived not to exist.

But that than which a greater cannot be conceived, if it exists, cannot be conceived not to exist. Otherwise, it is not a being than which a greater cannot be conceived: which is inconsistent. By no means, then, does it at any place or at any time fail to exist as a whole: but it exists as a whole everywhere and always.

Do you believe that this being can in some way be conceived or understood, or that the being with regard to which these things are understood can be in concept or in the understanding? For if it cannot, these things cannot be understood with reference to it. But if you say that it is not understood and that it is not in the understanding, because it is not thoroughly understood; you should say that a man who cannot face the direct rays of the sun does not see the
light of day, which is none other than the sunlight. Assuredly a being than which a greater cannot be conceived exists, and is in the understanding, at least to this extent—that these statements regarding it are understood.

Appendix

CHAPTER II

The argument is continued. It is shown that a being than which a greater is inconceivable can be conceived, and also, in so far, exists.

I HAVE said, then, in the argument which you dispute, that when the fool hears mentioned a being than which a greater is inconceivable, he understands what he hears. Certainly a man who does not understand when a familiar language is spoken, has no understanding at all, or a very dull one. Moreover, I have said that if this being is understood, it is in the understanding. Is that in no understanding which has been proved necessarily to exist in the reality of
fact?

But you will say that although it is in the understanding, it does not follow that it is understood. But observe that the fact of its being understood does necessitate its being in the understanding. For as what is conceived, is conceived by conception, and what is conceived by conception, as it is conceived, so is in conception; so what is understood, is understood by understanding, and what is understood by understanding, as it is understood, so is in the
understanding. What can be more clear than this?

After this, I have said that if it is even in the understanding alone, it can be conceived also to exist in reality, which is greater. If, then, it is in the understanding alone, obviously the very being than which greater cannot be conceived is one than which a greater can be conceived. What is more logical? For if it exists even in the understanding alone, can it not be conceived also to exist in reality? And if it can be so conceived, does not he who conceives
of this conceive of a thing greater than that being, if it exists
in the understanding alone? What more consistent inference, then, can be made than this: that if a being than which a greater cannot be conceived is in the understanding alone, it is not that than which a greater cannot be conceived?

But, assuredly, in no understanding is a being than which a greater is conceivable a being than which a greater is inconceivable. Does it not follow, then, that if a being than which a greater cannot be conceived is in any understanding, it does not exist in the understanding alone? For if it is in the understanding alone, it is a being than which a greater can be conceived, which is inconsistent with the hypothesis.

Appendix

CHAPTER III

A criticism of Gaunilon’s example, in which he tries to show that in this way the real existence of a lost island might be inferred from the fact of its being conceived.

BUT, you say, it is as if one should suppose an island in the ocean, which surpasses all lands in its fertility, and which, because of the difficulty, or the impossibility, of discovering what does not exist, is called a lost island; and should say that there can no doubt that this island truly exists in reality, for this reason, that one who hears it described easily understands what he hears.

Now I promise confidently that if any man shall devise anything existing either in reality or in concept alone (except that than which a greater be conceived) to which he can adapt the sequence of my reasoning, I will discover that thing, and will give him his lost island, not to be lost again.

But it now appears that this being than which a greater is inconceivable cannot be conceived not to
be, because it exists on so assured a ground of truth; for otherwise it would not exist at all.

Hence, if any one says that he conceives this being not to exist, I say that at the time when he conceives of this either he conceives of a being than which a greater is inconceivable, or he does not conceive at all. If he does not conceive, he does not conceive of the non-existence of that of which he does not conceive. But if he does conceive, he certainly conceives of a being which cannot be even conceived not to exist. For if it could be conceived not to
exist, it could be conceived to have a beginning and an end. But this is impossible.

He, then, who conceives of this being conceives of a being which cannot be even conceived not to exist; but he who conceives of this being does not conceive that it does not exist; else he conceives what is inconceivable. The non-existence, then, of that than which a greater cannot be conceived is inconceivable.

Appendix

CHAPTER IV

The difference between the possibility of conceiving of non-existence, and understanding non-existence.

YOU say, moreover, that whereas I assert that this supreme being cannot be conceived not to exist, it might better be said that its non-existence, or even the possibility of its non-existence, cannot be understood.

But it was more proper to say, it cannot be conceived. For if I had said that the object itself cannot be understood not to exist, possibly you yourself, who say that in accordance with the true meaning of the term what is unreal cannot be understood, would offer the objection that nothing which is can be understood
not to be, for the non-existence of what exists is unreal: hence God would not be the only being of which it could be said, it is impossible to
understand its non-existence. For thus one of those beings which most certainly exist can be understood not to exist in the same way in which certain other real objects can be understood not to exist.

But this objection, assuredly, cannot be urged against the term conception, if one considers the matter well. For although no objects which exist can be understood not to exist, yet all objects, except that which exists in the highest degree, can be conceived not to exist. For all those objects, and those alone, can be conceived not to exist, which have a beginning or end or composition of parts: also, as I have already said, whatever at any place or at any
time does not exist as a whole.

That being alone, on the other hand, cannot be conceived not to exist, in which any conception discovers neither beginning nor end nor composition of parts, and which any conception finds always and everywhere as a whole.

Be assured, then, that you can conceive of your own non-existence, although you are most certain that you exist. I am surprised that you should have admitted that you are ignorant of this. For we conceive of the non-existence of many objects which we know to exist, and of the existence of many which we know not to exist; not by forming the opinion that they so exist, but by imagining that they exist as we conceive of them.

And indeed, we can conceive of the non-existence of an object, although we know it to exist, because at the same time we can conceive of the former and
know the latter. And we cannot conceive of the nonexistence of an object, so long as we know it to exist, because we cannot conceive at the same time of existence and non-existence.

If, then, one will thus distinguish these two senses of this statement, he will understand that nothing, so long as it is known to exist, can be conceived not to exist; and that whatever exists, except that being than which a greater cannot be conceived, can be conceived not to exist, even when it is known to exist.

So, then, of God alone it can be said that it is impossible to conceive of his non-existence; and yet many objects, so long as they exist, in one sense cannot be conceived not to exist. But in what sense God is to be conceived not to exist, I think has been shown clearly enough in my book.

Appendix

CHAPTER V

A particular discussion of certain statements of Gaunilon’s. In the first place, he misquoted the argument which he undertook to refute.

THE nature of the other objections which you, in behalf of the fool, urge against me it is easy, even for a man of small wisdom, to detect; and I had therefore thought it unnecessary to show this. But since I hear that some readers of these objections think they have some weight against me, I will discuss them briefly.

In the first place, you often repeat that I assert that what is greater than all other beings is in the understanding; and if it is in the understanding, it exists also in reality, for otherwise the being which is greater than all would not be greater than all.

Nowhere in all my writings is such a demonstration found. For the real existence of a being which
is said to be greater than all other beings cannot be demonstrated in the same way with the real existence of one that is said to be a being than which a greater cannot be conceived.

If it should be said that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived has no real existence, or that it is possible that it does not exist, or even that it can be conceived not to exist, such an assertion can be easily refuted. For the non-existence of what does not exist is possible, and that whose non-existence is possible can be conceived not to exist. But whatever can be conceived not to exist, if it exists, is not a being than which a greater cannot
be conceived; but if it does not exist, it would not, even if it existed, be a being than which a greater cannot be conceived. But it cannot be said that a being than which a greater is inconceivable, if it exists, is not a being than which a greater is inconceivable; or that if it existed, it would not be a being than which a greater is inconceivable.

It is evident, then, that neither is it non-existent, nor is it possible that it does not exist, nor can it be conceived not to exist. For otherwise, if it exists, it is not that which it is said to be in the hypothesis; and if it existed, it would not be what it is said to be in the hypothesis.

But this, it appears, cannot be so easily proved of a being which is said to be greater than all other beings. For it is not so evident that what can be conceived not to exist is not greater than all existing beings, as it is evident that it is not a being than which a greater cannot be conceived. Nor is it so indubitable that if a being greater than all other beings exists, it is no other than the being than which a greater cannot be conceived; or that if
it were such a being,
some other might not be this being in like manner; as it is certain with regard to a being which is hypothetically posited as one than which a greater cannot be conceived.

For consider: if one should say that there is a being greater than all other beings, and that this being can nevertheless be conceived not to exist; and that a being greater than this, although it does not exist, can be conceived to exist: can it be so clearly inferred in this case that this being is therefore not a being greater than all other existing beings, as it would be most positively affirmed in the other case, that the being under discussion is not,
therefore, a being than which a greater cannot be conceived?

For the former conclusion requires another premise than the predication, greater than all other beings. In my argument, on the other hand, there is no need of any other than this very predication, a being than which a greater cannot be conceived.

If the same proof cannot be applied when the being in question is predicated to be greater than all others, which can be applied when it is predicated to be a being than which a greater cannot be conceived, you have unjustly censured me for saying what I did not say; since such a predication differs so greatly from that which I actually made. If, on the other hand, the other argument is valid, you ought not to blame me so for having said what can be proved.

Whether this can be proved, however, he will easily decide who recognises that this being than which a greater cannot be conceived is demonstrable. For by no means can this being than which a greater cannot be conceived be understood as any other than that which alone is greater than all. Hence, just as
that than which a greater cannot be conceived is understood, and is in the understanding, and for that reason is asserted to exist in the reality of fact: so
what is said to be greater than all other beings is understood and is in the understanding, and therefore it is necessarily inferred that it exists in reality.

You see, then, with how much justice you have compared me with your fool, who, on the sole ground that he understands what is described to him, would affirm that a lost island exists.

Appendix

CHAPTER VI

A discussion of Gaunilon’s argument in his second chapter: that any unreal beings can be understood in the same way, and would, to that extent, exist.

ANOTHER of your objections is that any unreal beings, or beings whose existence is uncertain, can be understood and be in the understanding in the same way with that being which I discussed. I am surprised that you should have conceived this objection, for I was attempting to prove what was still uncertain, and contented myself at first with showing that this being is understood in any way, and is in the understanding. It was my intention to consider, on these
grounds, whether this being is in the understanding alone, like an unreal object, or whether it also exists in fact, as a real being. For if unreal objects, or objects whose existence is uncertain, in this way are understood and are in the understanding, because, when they are spoken of, the hearer understands what the speaker means, there is no reason why that being of which I spoke should not be understood and be in the understanding.

How, moreover, can these two statements of yours
be reconciled: (1) the assertion that if a man should speak of any unreal objects, whatever they might be, you would understand, and (2) the assertion that on hearing of that being which does exist, and not in that way in which even unreal objects are held in concept, you would not say that you conceive of it or have it in concept; since, as you say, you cannot conceive of it in any other way than by
understanding it, that is, by comprehending in your knowledge its real existence?

How, I ask, can these two things be reconciled: that unreal objects are understood, and that understanding an object is comprehending in knowledge its real existence? The contradiction does not concern me: do you see to it. But if unreal objects are also in some sort understood, and your definition is applicable, not to every understanding, but to a certain sort of understanding, I ought not to be blamed for saying that a being than which a greater cannot be
conceived is understood and is in the understanding, even before I reached the certain conclusion that this being exists in reality.

Appendix

CHAPTER VII

In answer to another objection: that the supremely great being may be conceived not to exist, just as by the fool God is conceived not to exist.

AGAIN, you say that it can probably never be believed that this being, when it is spoken of and heard of, cannot be conceived not to exist in the same way in which even God may be conceived not to exist.

Such an objection could be answered by those who have attained but little skill in disputation and argument. For is it compatible with reason for a man to
deny the existence of what he understands, because it is said to be that being whose existence he denies because he does not understand it? Or, if at some times its existence is denied, because only to a certain extent is it understood, and that which is not at all understood is the same to him: is not what
is still undetermined more easily proved of a being which exists in some understanding than of one which exists is no understanding?

Hence it cannot be credible that any man denies the existence of a being than which a greater cannot be conceived, which, when he hears of it, he understands in a certain degree: it is incredible, I say, that any man denies the existence of this being because he denies the existence of God, the sensory perception of whom he in no wise conceives of.

Or if the existence of another object, because it is not at all understood, is denied, yet is not the existence of what is understood in some degree more easily proved than the existence of an object which is in no wise understood?

Not irrationally, then, has the hypothesis of a being a greater than which cannot be conceived been employed in controverting the fool, for the proof of the existence of God: since in some degree he would understand such a being, but in no wise could he understand God.

Appendix

CHAPTER VIII

The example of the picture, treated in Gaunilon’s third chapter, is examined.—From what source a notion may be formed of the supremely great being, of which Gaunilon inquired in his fourth chapter.

MOREOVER, your so careful demonstration that the being than which a greater cannot be conceived is
not analogous to the not yet executed picture in the understanding of the painter, is quite unnecessary. It was not for this purpose that I suggested the preconceived picture. I had no thought of asserting that the being which I was discussing is of such a nature; but I wished to show that what is not understood to exist can be in the understanding.

Again, you say that when you hear of a being than which a greater is inconceivable, you cannot conceive of it in terms of any real object known to you either specifically or generally, nor have it in your understanding. For, you say, you neither know such a being in itself, nor can you form an idea of it from anything like it.

But obviously this is not true. For everything that is less good, in so far as it is good, is like the greater good. It is therefore evident to any rational mind, that by ascending from the lesser good to the greater, we can form a considerable notion of a being than which a greater is inconceivable.

For instance, who (even if he does not believe that what he conceives of exists in reality) supposing that there is some good which has a beginning and an end, does not conceive that a good is much better, which, if it begins, does not cease to be? And that as the second good is better than the first, so that good which has neither beginning nor end, though it is ever passing from the past through the present to the future, is better than the second? And that far
better than this is a being—whether any being of such a nature exists or not—which in no wise requires change or motion, nor is compelled to undergo change or motion?

Is this inconceivable, or is some being greater
than this conceivable? Or is not this to form a notion from objects than which a greater is conceivable, of the being than which a greater cannot be conceived? There is, then, a means of forming a notion of a being than which a greater is inconceivable.

So easily, then, can the fool who does not accept sacred authority be refuted, if he denies that a notion may be formed from other objects of a being than which a greater is inconceivable. But if any Catholic would deny this, let him remember that the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. (Romans i. 20.
)

Appendix

CHAPTER IX

The possibility of understanding and conceiving of the supremely great being. The argument advanced against the fool is confirmed.

BUT even if it were true that a being than which a greater is inconceivable cannot be conceived or understood; yet it would not be untrue that a being than which a greater cannot be conceived is conceivable and intelligible. There is nothing to prevent one’s saying ineffable, although what is said to be ineffable cannot be spoken of. Inconceivable is conceivable, although that to which the word inconceivable can be applied is not conceivable. So,
when one says, that than which nothing greater is conceivable, undoubtedly what is heard is conceivable and intelligible, although that being itself, than which a greater is inconceivable, cannot be conceived or understood.

Or, though there is a man so foolish as to say that there is no being than which a greater is inconceivable, he will not be so shameless as to say that he
cannot understand or conceive of what he says. Or, if such a man is found, not only ought his words to be rejected, but he himself should be contemned.

Whoever, then, denies the existence of a being than which a greater cannot be conceived, at least understands and conceives of the denial which he makes. But this denial he cannot understand or conceive of without its component terms; and a term of this statement is a being than which a greater cannot be conceived. Whoever, then, makes this denial, understands and conceives of that than which a greater is inconceivable.

Moreover, it is evident that in the same way it is possible to conceive of and understand a being whose non-existence is impossible; but he who conceives of this conceives of a greater being than one whose nonexistence is possible. Hence, when a being than which a greater is inconceivable is conceived, if it is a being whose non-existence is possible that is conceived, it is not a being than which a greater cannot be conceived. But an object cannot be at once
conceived and not conceived. Hence he who conceives of a being than which a greater is inconceivable, does not conceive of that whose non-existence is possible, but of that whose non-existence is impossible. Therefore, what he conceives of must exist; for anything whose non-existence is possible, is not that of which he conceives.

Appendix

CHAPTER X

The certainty of the foregoing argument.—The conclusion of the book.

I BELIEVE that I have shown by an argument which is not weak, but sufficiently cogent, that in my former
book I proved the real existence of a being than which a greater cannot be conceived; and I believe that this argument cannot be invalidated by the validity of any objection. For so great force does the signification of this reasoning contain in itself, that this being which is the subject of discussion, is of necessity, from the very fact that it is
understood or conceived, proved also to exist in reality, and to be whatever we should believe of the divine substance.

For we attribute to the divine substance anything of which it can be conceived that it is better to be than not to be that thing. For example: it is better to be eternal than not eternal; good, than not good; nay, goodness itself, than not goodness itself. But it cannot be that anything of this nature is not a property of the being than which a greater is inconceivable. Hence, the being than which a greater is inconceivable must be whatever should be attributed to
the divine essence.

I thank you for your kindness both in your blame and in your praise for my book. For since you have commended so generously those parts of it which seem to you worthy of acceptance, it is quite evident that you have criticised in no unkind spirit those parts of it which seemed to you weak.

Cur Deus Homo

PREFACE

THE first part of this book was copied without my knowledge, before the work had been completed and revised. I have therefore been obliged to finish it as best I could, more hurriedly, and so more briefly, than I wished. For had an undisturbed and adequate period been allowed me for publishing it, I should have introduced and subjoined many things about which I have been silent. For it was while suffering under great anguish of heart, the
origin and reason of which are known to God, that, at the entreaty of others, I began the book in England, and finished it when an exile in Capra. From the theme on which it was published I have called it Cur Deus Homo, and have divided it into two short books. The first contains the objections of infidels, who despise the Christian faith because they deem it contrary to reason; and also the reply of believers; and, in fine, leaving Christ out of view (as if nothing had ever been known
of him), it proves, by absolute reasons, the impossibility that any man should be saved without him. Again, in the second book, likewise, as if nothing were known of Christ, it is moreover shown by plain reasoning and fact that human nature was ordained for this purpose, viz., that every man should enjoy a happy immortality, both in body and in soul; and
that it was necessary that this design for which man was made should be fulfilled; but that it could not be fulfilled unless God became
man, and unless all things were to take place which we hold with regard to Christ. I request all who may wish to copy this book to prefix this brief preface, with the heads of the whole work, at its commencement; so that, into whosesoever hands it may fall, as he looks on the face of it, there may be nothing in the whole body of the work which shall escape his notice.

Cur Deus Homo

BOOK FIRST: CHAPTER I

The question on which the whole work rests.

I HAVE been often and most earnestly requested by many, both personally and by letter, that I would hand down in writing the proofs of a certain doctrine of our faith, which I am accustomed to give to inquirers; for they say that these proofs gratify them, and are considered sufficient. This they ask, not for the sake of attaining to faith by means of reason, but that they may be gladdened by understanding and meditating on those things which they believe; and that,
as far as possible, they may be always ready to convince any one who demands of them a reason of that hope which is in us. And this question, both infidels are accustomed to bring up against us, ridiculing Christian simplicity as absurd; and many believers ponder it in their hearts; for what cause or necessity, in sooth, God became man, and by his own death, as we believe and affirm, restored life to the world; when
he might have done this, by means of some other being, angelic or human,
or merely by his will. Not only the learned, but also many unlearned persons interest themselves in this inquiry and seek for its solution. Therefore, since many desire to consider this subject, and, though it seem very difficult in the investigation, it is yet plain to all in the solution, and attractive for the value and beauty of the reasoning; although what ought to be sufficient has been said by the holy fathers and their successors, yet I will take pains to disclose to inquirers what God
has seen fit to lay open to me. And since investigations, which are carried on by question and answer, are thus made more plain to many, and especially to less quick minds, and on that account are more gratifying, I will take to argue with me one of those persons who agitate this subject; one, who among the rest impels me more earnestly to it, so that in this way Boso may question and Anselm reply.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER II

How those things which are to be said should be received.

Boso. As the right order requires us to believe the deep things of Christian faith before we undertake to discuss them by reason; so to my mind it appears a neglect if, after we are established in the faith, we do not seek to understand what we believe. Therefore, since I thus consider myself to hold the faith of our redemption, by the prevenient grace of God, so that, even were I unable in any way to understand what I believe, still nothing could shake my
constancy; I desire that you should discover to me, what, as you know, many besides myself ask, for what necessity
and cause God, who is omnipotent, should have assumed the littleness and weakness of human nature for the sake of its renewal?

Anselm. You ask of me a thing which is above me, and therefore I tremble to take in hand subjects too lofty for me, lest, when some one may have thought or even seen that I do not satisfy him, he will rather believe that I am in error with regard to the substance of the truth, than that my intellect is not able to grasp it.

Boso. You ought not so much to fear this, because you should call to mind, on the other hand, that it often happens in the discussion of some question that God opens what before lay concealed; and that you should hope for the grace of God, because if you liberally impart those things which you have freely received, you will be worthy to receive higher things to which you have not yet attained.

Anselm. There is also another thing on account of which I think this subject can hardly, or not at all, be discussed between us comprehensively; since, for this purpose, there is required a knowledge of Power and Necessity and Will and certain other subjects which are so related to one another that none of them can be fully examined without the rest; and so the discussion of these topics requires a separate labor, which, though not very easy, in my opinion,
is by no means useless; for ignorance of these subjects makes certain things difficult, which by acquaintance with them become easy.

Boso. You can speak so briefly with regard to these things, each in its place, that we may both have all that is requisite for the present object, and what remains to be said we can put off to another time.

Anselm. This also much disinclines me from your request, not only that the subject is important, but as it is of a form fair above the sons of men, so is it of a wisdom fair above the intellect of men. On this account, I fear, lest, as I am wont to be incensed against sorry artists, when I see our Lord himself painted in an unseemly figure; so also it may fall out with me if I should undertake to exhibit so rich a theme in rough and vulgar diction.

Boso. Even this ought not to deter you, because, as you allow any one to talk better if he can, so you preclude none from writing more elegantly if your language does not please him. But, to cut you off from all excuses, you are not to fulfil this request of mine for the learned but for me, and those asking the same thing with me.

Anselm. Since I observe your earnestness and that of those who desire this thing with you, out of love and pious zeal, I will try to the best of my ability with the assistance of God and your prayers, which, when making this request, you have often promised me, not so much to make plain what you inquire about, as to inquire with you. But I wish all that I say to be received with this understanding, that, if I shall have said anything which higher authority
does not corroborate, though I appear to demonstrate it by argument, yet it is not to be received with any further confidence, than as so appearing to me for the time, until God in some way make a clearer revelation to me. But if I am in any measure able to set your inquiry at rest, it should be concluded that a wiser than I will be able to do this more fully; nay, we must understand that for all that a man can say or
know still deeper grounds of so great a truth lie concealed.

Boso. Suffer me, therefore, to make use of the words of infidels; for it is proper for us when we seek to investigate the reasonableness of our faith to propose the objections of those who are wholly unwilling to submit to the same faith, without the support of reason. For although they appeal to reason because they do not believe, but we, on the other hand, because we do believe; nevertheless, the thing sought is one and the same. And if you bring up
anything in reply which sacred authority seems to oppose, let it be mine to urge this inconsistency until you disprove it.

Anselm. Speak on according to your pleasure.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER III

Objections of infidels and replies of believers.

Boso. Infidels ridiculing our simplicity charge upon us that we do injustice and dishonor to God when we affirm that he descended into the womb of a virgin, that he was born of woman, that he grew on the nourishment of milk and the food of men; and, passing over many other things which seem incompatible with Deity, that he endured fatigue, hunger, thirst, stripes and crucifixion among thieves.

Anselm. We do no injustice or dishonor to God, but give him thanks with all the heart, praising and proclaiming the ineffable height of his compassion. For the more astonishing a thing it is and beyond expectation, that he has restored us from so great and deserved ills in which we were, to so great and unmerited blessings which we had forfeited; by so much
the more has he shown his more exceeding love and tenderness towards us. For did they but
carefully consider how fitly in this way human redemption is secured, they would not ridicule our simplicity, but would rather join with us in praising the wise beneficence of God. For, as death came upon the human race by the disobedience of man, it was fitting that by man’s obedience life should be restored. And, as sin, the cause of our condemnation, had its origin from a woman, so ought the author of our righteousness and salvation to be born of a woman. And so also was it proper that the
devil, who, being man’s tempter, had conquered him in eating of the tree, should be vanquished by man in the suffering of the tree which man bore. Many other things also, if we carefully examine them, give a certain indescribable beauty to our redemption as thus procured.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER IV

How these things appear not decisive to infidels, and merely like so many pictures.

Boso. These things must be admitted to be beautiful, and like so many pictures; but, if they have no solid foundation, they do not appear sufficient to infidels, as reasons why we ought to believe that God wished to suffer the things which we speak of. For when one wishes to make a picture, he selects something substantial to paint it upon, so that his picture may remain. For no one paints in water or in air, because no traces of the picture remain in them.
Wherefore, when we hold up to infidels these harmonious proportions which you speak of as so many pictures of the real thing, since they do not think this
belief of ours a reality, but only a fiction, they consider us, as it were, to be painting upon a cloud. Therefore the rational existence of the truth first be shown, I mean, the necessity, which proves that God ought to or could have condescended to those things which we affirm. Afterwards, to make the body of the truth, so to speak,
shine forth more clearly, these harmonious proportions, like pictures of the body, must be described.

Anselm. Does not the reason why God ought to do the things we speak of seem absolute enough when we consider that the human race, that work of his so very precious, was wholly ruined, and that it was not seemly that the purpose which God had made concerning man should fall to the ground; and, moreover, that this purpose could not be carried into effect unless the human race were delivered by their Creator himself?

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER V

How the redemption of man could not be effected by any other being but God.

Boso. If this deliverance were said to be effected somehow by any other being than God (whether it were an angelic or a human being), the mind of man would receive it far more patiently. For God could have made some man without sin, not of a sinful substance, and not a descendant of any man, but just as he made Adam, and by this man it should seem that the work we speak of could have been done.

Anselm. Do you not perceive that, if any other being should rescue man from eternal death, man would rightly be adjudged as the servant of that being? Now if this be so, he would in no wise be restored to that
dignity which would have been his had he never sinned. For he, who was to be through eternity only the servant of God and an equal with the holy angels, would now be the servant of a being who was not God, and whom the angels did not serve.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VI

How infidels find fault with us for saying that God has redeemed us by his death, and thus has shown his love towards us, and that he came to overcome the devil for us.

Boso. This they greatly wonder at, because we call this redemption a release. For, say they, in what custody or imprisonment, or under whose power were you held, that God could not free you from it, without purchasing your redemption by so many sufferings, and finally by his own blood? And when we tell them that he freed us from our sins, and from his own wrath, and from hell, and from the power of the devil, whom he came to vanquish for us, because we were
unable to do it, and that he purchased for us the kingdom of heaven; and that, by doing all these things, he manifested the greatness of his love towards us; they answer: If you say that God, who, as you believe, created the universe by a word, could not do all these things by a simple command, you contradict yourselves, for you make him powerless. Or, if you grant that he could have done these things in some other way, but did not wish to, how can you vindicate his wisdom, when you assert that
he desired, without any reason, to suffer things so unbecoming? For these things which you bring up are all regulated by his will; for the wrath of God is nothing but his desire to punish. If, then, he does not desire to punish
the sins of men, man is free from his sins, and from the wrath of God, and from hell, and from the power of the devil, all which things are the sufferings of sin; and, what he had lost by reason of these sins, he now regains. For, in whose power is hell, or the
devil? Or, whose is the kingdom of heaven, if it be not his who created all things? Whatever things, therefore, you dread or hope for, all lie subject to his will, whom nothing can oppose. If, then, God were unwilling to save the human race in any other way than that you mention, when he could have done it by his simple will, observe, to say the least, how you disparage his wisdom. For, if a man without motive should do, by severe toil, a thing which he could have done in some easy way, no one
would consider him a wise man. As to your statement that God has shown in this way how much he loved you, there is no argument to support this, unless it be proved that he could not otherwise have saved man. For, if he could not have done it otherwise, then it was, indeed, necessary for him to manifest his love in this way. But now, when he could have saved man differently, why is it that, for the sake of displaying his love, he does and suffers the things which you enumerate? For does he not
show good angels how much he loves them, though he suffer no such things as these for them? As to what you say of his coming to vanquish the devil for you, with what meaning dare you allege this? Is not the omnipotence of God everywhere enthroned? How is it, then, that God must needs come down from heaven to vanquish the devil? These are the objections with which infidels think they can withstand us.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VII

How the devil had no justice on his side against man; and why it was, that he seemed to have had it, and why God could have freed man in this way.

MOREOVER, I do not see the force of that argument, which we are wont to make use of, that God, in order to save men, was bound, as it were, to try a contest with the devil in justice, before he did in strength, so that, when the devil should put to death that being in whom there was nothing worthy of death, and who was God, he should justly lose his power over sinners; and that, if it were not so, God would have used undue force against the devil, since the devil had
a rightful ownership of man, for the devil had not seized man with violence, but man had freely surrendered to him. It is true that this might well enough be said, if the devil or man belonged to any other being than God, or were in the power of any but God. But since neither the devil nor man belong to any but God, and neither can exist without the exertion of Divine power, what cause ought God to try with his own creature (de suo, in
suo), or what should he do but punish his servant, who had seduced his fellow-servant to desert their common Lord and come over to himself; who, a traitor, had taken to himself a fugitive; a thief, had taken to himself a fellow-thief, with what he had stolen from his Lord. For when one was stolen from his Lord by the persuasions of the other, both were thieves. For what could be more just than for God to do this? Or, should God, the judge of all, snatch man, thus
held, out of the power of him who holds him so unrighteously, either for the
purpose of punishing him in some other way than by means of the devil, or of sparing him, what injustice would there be in this? For, though man deserved to be tormented by the devil, yet the devil tormented him unjustly. For man merited punishment, and there was no more suitable way for him to be punished than by that being to whom he had given his consent to sin. But the infliction of punishment was nothing
meritorious in the devil; on the other hand, he was even more unrighteous in this, because he was not led to it by a love of justice, but urged on by a malicious impulse. For he did not do this at the command of God, but God’s inconceivable wisdom, which happily controls even wickedness, permitted it. And, in my opinion, those who think that the devil has any right in holding man, are brought to this belief by seeing that man is justly exposed to the tormenting of the devil, and that God in
justice permits this; and therefore they suppose that the devil rightly inflicts it. For the very same thing, from opposite points of view, is sometimes both just and unjust, and hence, by those who do not carefully inspect the matter, is deemed wholly just or wholly unjust. Suppose, for example, that one strikes an innocent person unjustly, and hence justly deserves to be beaten himself; if, however, the one who was beaten, though he ought not to avenge himself, yet does strike the person who beat
him, then he does it unjustly. And hence this violence on the part of the man who returns the blow is unjust, because he ought not to avenge himself; but as far as he who received the blow is concerned, it is just, for since he gave a blow unjustly, he justly deserves to receive one in return. Therefore, from opposite views, the same action is

both just and unjust, for it may chance that one person shall consider it only just, and another only unjust. So also the devil is said to torment
men justly, because God in justice permits this, and man in justice suffers it. But when man is said to suffer justly, it is not meant that his just suffering is inflicted by the hand of justice itself, but that he is punished by the just judgment of God. But if that written decree is brought up, which the Apostle says was made against us, and cancelled by the death of Christ; and if any one thinks that it was intended by this decree that the devil, as if under the writing of a sort of compact,
should justly demand sin and the punishment of sin, of man, before Christ suffered, as a debt for the first sin to which he tempted man, so that in this way he seems to prove his right over man, I do not by any means think that it is to be so understood. For that writing is not of the devil, because it is called the writing of a decree of the devil, but of God. For by the just judgment of God it was decreed, and, as it were, confirmed by writing, that, since man had sinned, he should not
henceforth of himself have the power to avoid sin or the punishment of sin; for the spirit is out-going and not returning (est enim spiritus vadens et non rediens); and he who sins ought not to escape with impunity, unless pity spare the sinner, and deliver and restore him. Wherefore we ought not to believe that, on account of this writing, there can be found any justice on the part of the devil in his tormenting man. In fine,
as there is never any injustice in a good angel, so in an evil angel there can be no justice at all. There was no reason, therefore, as respects the devil, why God should not make use of his own power against him for the liberation of man.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VIII

How, although the acts of Christ’s condescension which we speak of do not belong to his divinity, it yet seems improper to infidels that these things should be said of him even as a man; and why it appears to them that this man did not suffer death of his own will.

Anselm. The will of God ought to be a sufficient reason for us, when he does anything, though we cannot see why he does it. For the will of God is never irrational.

Boso. That is very true, if it be granted that God does wish the thing in question; but many will never allow that God does wish anything if it be inconsistent with reason.

Anselm. What do you find inconsistent with reason, in our confessing that God desired those things which make up our belief with regard to his incarnation?

Boso. This in brief: that the Most High should stoop to things so lowly, that the Almighty should do a thing with such toil.

Anselm. They who speak thus do not understand our belief. For we affirm that the Divine nature is beyond doubt impassible, and that God cannot at all be brought down from his exaltation, nor toil in anything which he wishes to effect. But we say that the Lord Jesus Christ is very God and very man, one person in two natures, and two natures in one person. When, therefore, we speak of God as enduring any humiliation or infirmity, we do not refer to the
majesty of that nature, which cannot suffer; but to the feebleness of the human constitution which he assumed.
And so there remains no ground of objection against our faith. For in this way we intend no debasement of the Divine nature, but we teach that one person is both Divine and human. In the incarnation of God there is no lowering of the Deity; but the nature of man we believe to be exalted.

Boso. Be it so; let nothing be referred to the Divine nature, which is spoken of Christ after the manner of human weakness; but how will it ever be made out a just or reasonable thing that God should treat or suffer to be treated in such a manner, that man whom the Father called his beloved Son in whom he was well pleased, and whom the Son made himself? For what justice is there in his suffering death for the sinner, who was the most just of all men?
What man, if he condemned the innocent to free the guilty, would not himself be judged worthy of condemnation? And so the matter seems to return to the same incongruity which is mentioned above. For if he could not save sinners in any other way than by condemning the just, where is his omnipotence? If, however, he could, but did not wish to, how shall we sustain his wisdom and justice?

Anselm. God the Father did not treat that man as you seem to suppose, nor put to death the innocent for the guilty. For the Father did not compel him to suffer death, or even allow him to be slain, against his will, but of his own accord he endured death for the salvation of men.

Boso. Though it were not against his will, since he agreed to the will of the Father; yet the Father seems to have bound him, as it were, by his injunction. For it is said that Christ “humbled himself, being made obedient to the Father even unto death,
and that the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath highly exalted him;” and that “he learned obedience from the things which he suffered;” and that God spared not his own Son, but gave him up
for us all.” And likewise the Son says: “I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.” And when about to suffer, he says; “As the Father hath given me commandment, so I do.” Again: “The cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? ” And, at another time : “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” And again: “Father, if this cup may not pass from me except I drink it, thy will be done.” In all these
passages it would rather appear that Christ endured death by the constraint of obedience, than by the inclination of his own free will.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER IX

How it was of his own accord that he died, and what this means: “he was made obedient even unto death; ” and: “for which cause God hath highly exalted him;” and: “I came not to do my own will; ” and: “he spared not his own Son;” and: “not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Anselm. It seems to me that you do not rightly understand the difference between what he did at the demand of obedience, and what he suffered, not demanded by obedience, but inflicted on him, because he kept his obedience perfect.

Boso. I need to have you explain it more clearly.

Anselm. Why did the Jews persecute him even unto death?

Boso. For nothing else, but that, in word and in life, he invariably maintained truth and justice.

Anselm. I believe that God demands this of every rational being, and every being owes this in obedience to God.

Boso. We ought to acknowledge this.

Anselm. That man, therefore, owed this obedience to God the Father, humanity to Deity; and the Father claimed it from him.

Boso. There is no doubt of this.

Anselm. Now you see what he did, under the demand of obedience.

Boso. Very true, and I see also what infliction he endured, because he stood firm in obedience. For death was inflicted on him for his perseverance in obedience and he endured it; but I do not understand how it is that obedience did not demand this.

Anselm. Ought man to suffer death, if he had never sinned, or should God demand this of him?

Boso. It is on this account that we believe that man would not have been subject to death, and that God would not have exacted this of him; but I should like to hear the reason of the thing from you.

Anselm. You acknowledge that the intelligent creature was made holy, and for this purpose, viz., to be happy in the enjoyment of God.

Boso. Yes.

Anselm. You surely will not think it proper for God to make his creature miserable without fault, when he had created him holy that he might enjoy a state of blessedness. For it would be a miserable thing for man to die against his will.

Boso. It is plain that, if man had not sinned, God ought not to compel him to die.

Anselm. God did not, therefore, compel Christ to die; but he suffered death of his own will, not yielding
up his life as an act of obedience, but on account of his obedience in maintaining holiness; for he held out so firmly in this obedience that he met death on account of it. It may, indeed be said, that the Father commanded him to die, when he enjoined that upon him on account of which he met death. It was in this sense, then, that “as the Father
gave him the commandment, so he did, and the cup which He gave to him, he drank; and he was made obedient to the Father, even unto death;” and thus “he learned obedience from the things which he suffered,” that is, how far obedience should be maintained. Now the word “didicit,” which is used, can be understood in two ways. For either “didicit” is written for this: he caused others to learn; or it is used, because he did learn by experience what he had an understanding of before. Again, when the
Apostle had said: “he humbled himself, being made obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross,” he added: “wherefore God also hath exalted him and given him a name, which is above every name.” And this is similar to what David said: “he drank of the brook in the way, therefore did he lift up the head.” For it is not meant that he could not have attained his exaltation in any other way but by obedience unto death; nor is it meant that his exaltation was conferred on him, only as a
reward of his obedience (for he himself said before he suffered, that all things had been committed to him by the Father, and that all things belonging to the Father were his); but the expression is used because he had agreed with the Father and the Holy Spirit, that there was no other way to reveal to the world the height of his omnipotence, than by his death. For if a thing do not take place,
except on condition of something else, it is not improperly said to occur by reason of that
thing. For if we intend to do a thing, but mean to do something else first by means of which it may be done; when the first thing which we wish to do is done, if the result is such as we intended, it is properly said to be on account of the other; since that is now done which caused the delay; for it had been determined that the first thing should not be done without the other. If, for instance, I propose to cross a river only in a boat, though I can cross it in a boat or on horseback, and
suppose that I delay crossing because the boat is gone; but if afterwards I cross, when the boat has returned, it may be properly said of me: the boat was ready, and therefore he crossed. And we not only use this form of expression, when it is by means of a thing which we desire should take place first, but also when we intend to do something else, not by means of that thing, but only after it. For if one delays taking food because he has not to-day attended the celebration of mass; when that
has been done which he wished to do first, it is not improper to say to him: now take food, for you have now done that for which you delayed taking food. Far less, therefore, is the language strange, when Christ is said to be exalted on this account, because he endured death; for it was through this, and after this, that he determined to accomplish his exaltation. This may be understood also in the same way as that passage in which it is said that our Lord increased in wisdom, and in favor with
God; not that this was really the case, but that he deported himself as if it were so. For he was exalted after his death, as if it were really on account of that. Moreover, that saying of his: “I
came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me,” is precisely like that other saying: “My doctrine is not mine;” for what one does not have of himself, but of God, he ought not to call his own, but God’s. Now no one has the truth which he teaches, or a holy will, of himself, but
of God. Christ, therefore, came not to do his own will, but that of the Father; for his holy will was not derived from his humanity, but from his divinity. For that sentence: “God spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all,” means nothing more than that he did not rescue him. For there are found in the Bible many things like this. Again, when he says: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt;” and “If this cup may not pass from
me, except I drink it, thy will be done;” he signifies by his own will the natural desire of safety, in accordance with which human nature shrank from the anguish of death. But he speaks of the will of the Father, not because the Father preferred the death of the Son to his life; but because the Father was not willing to rescue the human race, unless man were to do even as great a thing as was signified in the death of Christ. Since reason did not demand of another what he could not do,
therefore, the Son says that he desires his own death. For he preferred to suffer, rather than that the human race should be lost; as if he were to say to the Father: “Since thou dost not desire the reconciliation of the world to take place in any other way, in this respect, I see that thou desirest my death; let thy will, therefore, be done, that is, let my death take place, so that the world may be reconciled to thee.” For we often say that one desires a thing, because he does not
choose
something else, the choice of which would preclude the existence of that which he is said to desire; for instance, when we say that he who does not choose to close the window through which the draft is admitted which puts out the light, wishes the light to be extinguished. So the Father desired the death of the Son, because he was not willing that the world should be saved in any other way, except by man’s doing so great a thing as that which I have mentioned. And this, since none other could
accomplish it, availed as much with the Son, who so earnestly desired the salvation of man, as if the Father had commanded him to die; and, therefore, “as the Father gave him commandment, so he did, and the cup which the Father gave to him he drank, being obedient even unto death.”

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER X

Likewise on the same topics; and how otherwise they can be correctly explained.

IT is also a fair interpretation that it was by that same holy will by which the Son wished to die for the salvation of the world, that the Father gave him commandment (yet not by compulsion), and the cup of suffering, and spared him not, but gave him up for us and desired his death; and that the Son himself was obedient even unto death, and learned obedience from the things which he suffered. For as with regard to that will which led him to a holy life, he did not
have it as a human being of himself, but of the Father; so also that will by which he desired to die for the accomplishment of so great good, he could not have had but from the Father of lights, from
whom is every good and perfect gift. And as the Father is said to draw by imparting an inclination, so there is nothing improper in asserting that he moves man. For as the Son says of the Father: “No man cometh to me except the Father draw him,” he might as well have said, except he move him.
In like manner, also, could he have declared: “No man layeth down his life for my sake, except the Father move or draw him.” For since a man is drawn or moved by his will to that which he invariably chooses, it is not improper to say that God draws or moves him when he gives him this will. And in this drawing or impelling it is not to be understood that there is any constraint, but a free and grateful clinging to the holy will which has been given. If then it cannot be denied that the Father
drew or moved the Son to death by giving him that will; who does not see that, in the same manner, he gave him commandment to endure death of his own accord and to take the cup, which he freely drank. And if it is right to say that the Son spared not himself, but gave himself for us of his own will, who will deny that it is right to say that the Father, of whom he had this will, did not spare him but gave him up for us, and desired his death? In this way, also, by following the will received
from the Father invariably, and of his own accord, the Son became obedient to Him, even unto death; and learned obedience from the things which he suffered; that is, be learned how great was the work to be accomplished by obedience. For this is real and sincere obedience when a rational being, not of compulsion, but freely, follows the will received from God. In other ways, also, we can properly explain the Father’s desire that the Son should die, though these would appear sufficient.

For as we say that he desires a thing who causes another to desire it; so, also, we say that he desires a thing who approves of the desire of another, though he does not cause that desire. Thus when we see a man who desires to endure pain with fortitude for the accomplishment of some good design; though we acknowledge that we wish to have him endure that pain, yet we do not choose, nor take pleasure in, his suffering, but in his choice. We are, also, accustomed to say that he who can prevent a
thing but does not, desires the thing which he does not prevent. Since, therefore, the will of the Son pleased the Father, and he did not prevent him from choosing, or from fulfilling his choice, it is proper to say that he wished the Son to endure death so piously and for so great an object, though he was not pleased with his suffering. Moreover, he said that the cup must not pass from him, except he drank it, not because he could not have escaped death had he chosen to; but because, as has
been said, the world could not otherwise be saved; and it was his fixed choice to suffer death, rather than that the world should not be saved. It was for this reason, also, that he used those words, viz., to teach the human race that there was no other salvation for them but by his death; and not to show that he had no power at all to avoid death. For whatsoever things are said of him, similar to these which have been mentioned, they are all to be explained in accordance with the belief
that he died, not by compulsion, but of free choice. For he was omnipotent, and it is said of him, when he was offered up, that he desired it. And he says himself: “I lay down my life that I may take it again; no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” A man cannot, therefore, be properly said to have been driven to a thing which he does of his own power and will.

Boso. But this simple fact, that God allows him to be so treated, even if he were willing, does not seem becoming for such a Father in respect to such a Son.

Anselm. Yes, it is of all things most proper that such a Father should acquiesce with such a Son in his desire, if it be praiseworthy as relates to the honor of God, and useful for man’s salvation, which would not otherwise be effected.

Boso. The question which still troubles us is, how the death of the Son can be proved reasonable and necessary. For otherwise, it does not seem that the Son ought to desire it, or the Father compel or permit it. For the question is, why God could not save man in some other way, and if so, why he wished to do it in this way? For it both seems unbecoming for God to have saved man in this way; and it is not clear how the death of the Son avails for the
salvation of man. For it is a strange thing if God so delights in, or requires, the blood of the innocent, that he neither chooses, nor is able, to spare the guilty without the sacrifice of the innocent.

Anselm. Since, in this inquiry, you take the place of those who are unwilling to believe anything not previously proved by reason, I wish to have it understood between us that we do not admit anything in the least unbecoming to be ascribed to the Deity, and that we do not reject the smallest reason if it be not opposed by a greater. For as it is impossible to attribute anything in the least unbecoming to God; so
any reason, however small, if not
overbalanced by a greater, has the force of necessity.

Boso. In this matter, I accept nothing more willingly than that this agreement should be preserved between us in common.

Anselm. The question concerns only the incarnation of God, and those things which we believe with regard to his taking human nature.

Boso. It is so.

Anselm. Let us suppose, then, that the incarnation of God, and the things that we affirm of him as man, had never taken place; and be it agreed between us that man was made for happiness, which cannot be attained in this life, and that no being can ever arrive at happiness, save by freedom from sin, and that no man passes this life without sin. Let us take for granted, also, the other things, the belief of which is necessary for eternal salvation.

Boso. I grant it; for in these there is nothing which seems unbecoming or impossible for God.

Anselm. Therefore, in order that man may attain happiness, remission of sin is necessary.

Boso. We all hold this.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XI

What it is to sin, and to make satisfaction for sin.

Anselm. We must needs inquire, therefore, in what manner God puts away men’s sins; and, in order to do this more plainly, let us first consider what it is to sin, and what it is to make satisfaction for sin.

Boso. It is yours to explain and mine to listen.

Anselm. If man or angel always rendered to God his due, he would never sin.

Boso. I cannot deny that.

Anselm. Therefore to sin is nothing else than not to render to God his due.

Boso. What is the debt which we owe to God?

Anselm. Every wish of a rational creature should be subject to the will of God.

Boso. Nothing is more true.

Anselm. This is the debt which man and angel owe to God, and no one who pays this debt commits sin; but every one who does not pay it sins. This is justice, or uprightness of will, which makes a being just or upright in heart, that is, in will; and this is the sole and complete debt of honor which we owe to God, and which God requires of us. For it is such a will only, when it can be exercised, that does works pleasing to God; and when this will cannot be
exercised, it is pleasing of itself alone, since without it no work is acceptable. He who does not render this honor which is due to God, robs God of his own and dishonors him; and this is sin. Moreover, so long as he does not restore what he has taken away, he remains in fault; and it will not suffice merely to restore what has been taken away, but, considering the contempt offered, he ought to restore more than he took away. For as one who imperils another’s safety does not enough by merely
restoring his safety, without making some compensation for the anguish incurred; so he who violates another’s honor does not enough by merely rendering honor again, but must, according to the extent of the injury done, make restoration in some way satisfactory to the person whom he has dishonored. We must also observe that when any one pays what he has unjustly taken away, he ought to give something which could not have been
demanded of him, had he not stolen what belonged to another. So
then, every one who sins ought to pay back the honor of which he has robbed God; and this is the satisfaction which every sinner owes to God.

Boso. Since we have determined to follow reason in all these things, I am unable to bring any objection against them, although you somewhat startle me.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XII

Whether it were proper for God to put away sins by compassion alone, without any payment of debt.

Anselm. Let us return and consider whether it were proper for God to put away sins by compassion alone, without any payment of the honor taken from him.

Boso. I do not see why it is not proper.

Anselm. To remit sin in this manner is nothing else than not to punish; and since it is not right to cancel sin without compensation or punishment; if it be not punished, then is it passed by undischarged.

Boso. What you say is reasonable.

Anselm. It is not fitting for God to pass over anything in his kingdom undischarged.

Boso. If I wish to oppose this, I fear to sin.

Anselm. It is, therefore, not proper for God thus to pass over sin unpunished.

Boso. Thus it follows.

Anselm. There is also another thing which follows if sin be passed by unpunished, viz., that with God there will be no difference between the guilty and the not guilty; and this is unbecoming to God.

Boso. I cannot deny it.

Anselm. Observe this also. Every one knows that justice to man is regulated by law, so that, according to the requirements of law, the measure of award is bestowed by God.

Boso. This is our belief.

Anselm. But if sin is neither paid for nor punished, it is subject to no law.

Boso. I cannot conceive it to be otherwise.

Anselm. Injustice, therefore, if it is cancelled by compassion alone, is more free than justice, which seems very inconsistent. And to these is also added a further incongruity, viz., that it makes injustice like God. For as God is subject to no law, so neither is injustice.

Boso. I cannot withstand your reasoning. But when God commands us in every case to forgive those who trespass against us, it seems inconsistent to enjoin a thing upon us which it is not proper for him to do himself.

Anselm. There is no inconsistency in God’s commanding us not to take upon ourselves what belongs to Him alone. For to execute vengeance belongs to none but Him who is Lord of all; for when the powers of the world rightly accomplish this end, God himself does it who appointed them for the purpose.

Boso. You have obviated the difficulty which I thought to exist; but there is another to which I would like to have your answer. For since God is so free as to be subject to no law, and to the judgment of no one, and is so merciful as that nothing more merciful can be conceived; and nothing is right or fit save as he wills; it seems a strange thing for us to say that he is wholly unwilling or unable to put away an injury done to himself, when we are wont to
apply
to him for indulgence with regard to those offences which we commit against others.

Anselm. What you say of God’s liberty and choice and compassion is true; but we ought so to interpret these things as that they may not seem to interfere with His dignity. For there is no liberty except as regards what is best or fitting; nor should that be called mercy which does anything improper for the Divine character. Moreover, when it is said that what God wishes is just, and that what He does not wish is unjust, we must not understand that if God
wished anything improper it would be just, simply because he wished it. For if God wishes to lie, we must not conclude that it is right to lie, but rather that he is not God. For no will can ever wish to lie, unless truth in it is impaired, nay, unless the will itself be impaired by forsaking truth. When, then, it is said: “If God wishes to lie,” the meaning is simply this: “If the nature of God is such as that he wishes to lie;” and, therefore, it does not follow that falsehood is right,
except it be understood in the same manner as when we speak of two impossible things: “If this be true, then that follows; because neither this nor that is true;” as if a man should say: “Supposing water to be dry, and fire to be moist;” for neither is the case. Therefore, with regard to these things, to speak the whole truth: If God desires a thing, it is right that he should desire that which involves no unfitness. For if God chooses that it should rain, it is right that it
should rain; and if he desires that any man should die, then is it right that he should die. Wherefore, if it be not fitting for God to do anything unjustly, or out of course, it does not belong to his liberty or compassion or will to let the sinner go unpunished
who makes no return to God of what the sinner has defrauded him.

Boso. You remove from me every possible objection which I had thought of bringing against you.

Anselm. Yet observe why it is not fitting for God to do this.

Boso. I listen readily to whatever you say.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIII

How nothing less was to be endured, in the order of things, than that the creature should take away the honor due the Creator and not restore what he takes away.

Anselm. In the order of things, there is nothing less to be endured than that the creature should take away the honor due the Creator, and not restore what he has taken away.

Boso. Nothing is more plain than this.

Anselm. But there is no greater injustice suffered than that by which so great an evil must be endured.

Boso. This, also, is plain.

Anselm. I think, therefore, that you will not say that God ought to endure a thing than which no greater injustice is suffered, viz., that the creature should not restore to God what he has taken away.

Boso. No; I think it should be wholly denied.

Anselm. Again, if there is nothing greater or better than God, there is nothing more just than supreme justice, which maintains God’s honor in the arrangement of things, and which is nothing else but God himself.

Boso. There is nothing clearer than this.

Anselm. Therefore God maintains nothing with more justice than the honor of his own dignity.

Boso. I must agree with you.

Anselm. Does it seem to you that he wholly preserves it, if he allows himself to be so defrauded of it as that he should neither receive satisfaction nor punish the one defrauding him.

Boso. I dare not say so.

Anselm. Therefore the honor taken away must be repaid, or punishment must follow; otherwise, either God will not be just to himself, or he will be weak in respect to both parties; and this it is impious even to think of.

Boso. I think that nothing more reasonable can be said.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIV

How the honor of God exists in the punishment of the wicked.

Boso. But I wish to hear from you whether the punishment of the sinner is an honor to God, or how it is an honor. For if the punishment of the sinner is not for God’s honor when the sinner does not pay what he took away, but is punished, God loses his honor so that he cannot recover it. And this seems in contradiction to the things which have been said.

Anselm. It is impossible for God to lose his honor; for either the sinner pays his debt of his own accord, or, if he refuse, God takes it from him. For either man renders due submission to God of his own will, by avoiding sin or making payment, or else God subjects him to himself by torments, even against man’s will, and thus shows that he is the Lord of man, though man refuses to acknowledge it of his own accord. And here we must observe that as man in
sinning takes away what belongs to God, so God in punishing gets in return what pertains to man. For not
only does that belong to a man which he has in present possession, but also that which it is in his power to have. Therefore, since man was so made as to be able to attain happiness by avoiding sin; if, on account of his sin, he is deprived of happiness and every good, he repays from his own inheritance what he has stolen, though he repay it against his will. For although God does not
apply what he takes away to any object of his own, as man transfers the money which he has taken from another to his own use; yet what he takes away serves the purpose of his own honor, for this very reason, that it is taken away. For by this act he shows that the sinner and all that pertains to him are under his subjection.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XV

Whether God suffers his honor to be violated even in the least degree.

Boso. What you say satisfies me. But there is still another point which I should like to have you answer. For if, as you make out, God ought to sustain his own honor, why does he allow it to be violated even in the least degree? For what is in any way made liable to injury is not entirely and perfectly preserved.

Anselm. Nothing can be added to or taken from the honor of God. For this honor which belongs to him is in no way subject to injury or change. But as the individual creature preserves, naturally or by reason, the condition belonging, and, as it were, allotted to him, he is said to obey and honor God; and to this, rational nature, which possesses intelligence, is especially bound. And when the being chooses what he ought, he honors God; not by bestowing

anything upon him, but because he brings himself freely under God’s will and disposal, and maintains his own condition in the universe, and the beauty of the universe itself, as far as in him lies. But when he does not choose what he ought, he dishonors God, as far as the being himself is concerned, because he does not submit himself freely to God’s disposal. And he disturbs the order and beauty of the universe, as relates to himself, although he cannot injure nor tarnish the power and majesty
of God. For if those things which are held together in the circuit of the heavens desire to be elsewhere than under the heavens, or to be further removed from the heavens, there is no place where they can be but under the heavens, nor can they fly from the heavens without also approaching them. For both whence and whither and in what way they go, they are still under the heavens; and if they are at a greater distance from one part of them, they are only so much nearer to the opposite part. And
so, though man or evil angel refuse to submit to the Divine will and appointment, yet he cannot escape it; for if he wishes to fly from a will that commands, he falls into the power of a will that punishes. And if you ask whither he goes, it is only under the permission of that will; and even this wayward choice or action of his becomes subservient, under infinite wisdom, to the order and beauty of the universe before spoken of. For when it is understood that God brings good out of many forms
of evil, then the satisfaction for sin freely given, or if this be not given, the exaction of punishment, hold their own place and orderly beauty in the same universe. For if Divine wisdom were not to insist upon things, when wickedness tries to disturb the
right appointment, there would be, in the very universe which God ought to control, an unseemliness springing from the violation of the beauty of arrangement, and God would appear to be deficient in his management. And these two things
are not only unfitting, but consequently impossible; so that satisfaction or punishment must needs follow every sin.

Boso. You have relieved my objection.

Anselm. It is then plain that no one can honor or dishonor God, as he is in himself; but the creature, as far as he is concerned, appears to do this when he submits or opposes his will to the will of God.

Boso. I know of nothing which can be said against this.

Anselm. Let me add something to it.

Boso. Go on, until I am weary of listening.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVI

The reason why the number of angels who fell must be made up from men.

Anselm. It was proper that God should design to make up for the number of angels that fell, from human nature which he created without sin.

Boso. This is a part of our belief, but still I should like to have some reason for it.

Anselm. You mistake me, for we intended to discuss only the incarnation of the Deity, and here you are bringing in other questions.

Boso. Be not angry with me; “for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver;” and no one shows better how cheerfully he gives what he promises, than he who gives more than he promises; therefore, tell me freely what I ask.

Anselm. There is no question that intelligent nature
, which finds its happiness, both now and forever, in the contemplation of God, was foreseen by him in a certain reasonable and complete number, so that there would be an unfitness in its being either less or greater. For either God did not know in what number it was best to create rational beings, which is false; or, if he did know, then he appointed such a number as he perceived was most fitting.
Wherefore, either the angels who fell were made so as to be within that number; or, since they were out of that number, they could not continue to exist, and so fell of necessity. But this last is an absurd idea.

Boso. The truth which you set forth is plain.

Anselm. Therefore, since they ought to be of that number, either their number should of necessity be made up, or else rational nature, which was foreseen as perfect in number, will remain incomplete. But this cannot be.

Boso. Doubtless, then, the number must be restored.

Anselm. But this restoration can only be made from human beings, since there is no other source.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVII

How other angels cannot take the place of those who fell.

Boso. Why could not they themselves be restored, or other angels substituted for them?

Anselm. When you shall see the difficulty of our restoration, you will understand the impossibility of theirs. But other angels cannot be substituted for them on this account (to pass over its apparent inconsistency with the completeness of the first creation), because they ought to be such as the former angels
would have been, had they never sinned. But the first angels in that case would have persevered without ever witnessing the punishment of sin;
which, in respect to the others who were substituted for them after their fall, was impossible. For two beings who stand firm in truth are not equally deserving of praise, if one has never seen the punishment of sin, and the other forever witnesses its eternal reward. For it must not for a moment be supposed that good angels are upheld by the fall of evil angels, but by their own virtue. For, as they would have been condemned together, had the good sinned with the bad, so, had the unholy stood
firm with the holy, they would have been likewise upheld. For, if, without the fall of a part, the rest could not be upheld, it would follow, either that none could ever be upheld, or else that it was necessary for some one to fall, in order by his punishment to uphold the rest; but either of these suppositions is absurd. Therefore, had all stood, all would have been upheld in the same manner as those who stood; and this manner I explained, as well as I could, when treating of the reason why
God did not bestow perseverance upon the devil.

Boso. You have proved that the evil angels must be restored from the human race; and from this reasoning it appears that the number of men chosen will not be less than that of fallen angels. But show, if you can, whether it will be greater.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVIII

Whether there will be more holy men than evil angels.

Anselm. If the angels, before any of them fell, existed in that perfect number of which we have spoken,
then men were only made to supply the place of the lost angels; and it is plain that their number will not be greater. But if that number were not found in all the angels together, then both the loss and the original deficiency must be made up from men, and more men will be chosen than there were fallen angels. And so we shall say that men were made
not only to restore the diminished number, but also to complete the imperfect number.

Boso. Which is the better theory, that angels were originally made perfect in number or that they were not?

Anselm. I will state my views.

Boso. I cannot ask more of you.

Anselm. If man was created after the fall of evil angels, as some understand the account in Genesis, I do not think that I can prove from this either of these suppositions positively. For it is possible, I think, that the angels should have been created perfect in number, and that afterwards man was created to complete their number when it had been lessened; and it is also possible that they were not perfect in number, because God deferred completing the
number, as he does even now, determining in his own time to create man. Wherefore, either God would only complete that which was not yet perfect, or, if it were also diminished, He would restore it. But if the whole creation took place at once, and those days in which Moses appears to describe a successive creation are not to be understood like such days as ours, I cannot see how angels could have been created perfect in number. Since, if it were so, it seems to me that some, either men or
angels, would fall immediately, else in heaven’s empire there would be more than the
complete number required. If, therefore, all things were created at one and the same time, it should seem that angels, and the first two human beings, formed an incomplete number, so that, if no angel fell, the deficiency alone should be made up, but if any fell, the lost part should be restored; and that human nature, which had stood firm, though weaker than that of angels, might, as it were, justify God,
and put the devil to silence, if he were to attribute his fall to weakness. And in case human nature fell, much more would it justify God against the devil, and even against itself, because, though made far weaker and of a mortal race, yet, in the elect, it would rise from its weakness to an estate exalted above that from which the devil was fallen, as far as good angels, to whom it should be equal, were advanced after the overthrow of the evil, because they persevered. From these reasons, I am
rather inclined to the belief that there was not, originally, that complete number of angels necessary to perfect the celestial state; since, supposing that man and angels were not created at the same time, this is possible; and it would follow of necessity, if they were created at the same time, which is the opinion of the majority, because we read: “He, who liveth forever, created all things at once.” But if the perfection of the created universe is to be understood as consisting, not so much
in the number of beings, as in the number of natures; it follows that human nature was either made to consummate this perfection, or that it was superfluous, which we should not dare affirm of the nature of the smallest reptile. Wherefore, then, it was made for itself, and not merely to restore the number of beings possessing another nature. From which it is plain that, even had no
angel fallen, men would yet have had their place in the celestial kingdom. And hence it follows that there
was not a perfect number of angels, even before a part fell; otherwise, of necessity some men or angels must fall, because it would be impossible that any should continue beyond the perfect number.

Boso. You have not labored in vain.

Anselm. There is, also, as I think, another reason which supports, in no small degree, the opinion that angels were not created perfect in number.

Boso. Let us hear it.

Anselm. Had a perfect number of angels been created, and had man been made only to fill the place of the lost angels, it is plain that, had not some angels fallen from their happiness, man would never have, been exalted to it.

Boso. We are agreed.

Anselm. But if any one shall ask: “Since the elect rejoice as much over the fall of angels as over their own exaltation, because the one can never take place without the other; how can they be justified in this unholy joy, or how shall we say that angels are restored by the substitution of men, if they (the angels) would have remained free from this fault, had they not fallen, viz., from rejoicing over the fall of others?” We reply: Cannot men be made free
from this fault? nay, how ought they to be happy with this fault? With what temerity, then, do we say that God neither wishes nor is able to make this substitution without this fault!

Boso. Is not the case similar to that of the Gentiles who were called unto faith, because the Jews rejected it?

Anselm. No; for had the Jews all believed, yet the
Gentiles would have been called; for “in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him.” But since the Jews despised the apostles, this was the immediate occasion of their turning to the Gentiles.

Boso. I see no way of opposing you.

Anselm. Whence does that joy which one has over another’s fall seem to arise?

Boso. Whence, to be sure, but from the fact that each individual will be certain that, had not another fallen, he would never have attained the place where he now is?

Anselm. If, then, no one had this certainty, there would be no cause for one to rejoice over the doom of another.

Boso. So it appears.

Anselm. Think you that any one of them can have this certainty, if their number shall far exceed that of those who fell?

Boso. I certainly cannot think that any one would or ought to have it. For how can any one know whether he were created to restore the part diminished, or to make up that which was not yet complete in the number necessary to constitute the state? But all are sure that they were made with a view to the perfection of that kingdom.

Anselm. If, then, there shall be a larger number than that of the fallen angels, no one can or ought to know that he would not have attained this height but for another’s fall.

Boso. That is true.

Anselm. No one, therefore, will have cause to rejoice over the perdition of another.

Boso. So it appears.

Anselm. Since, then, we see that if there are more men elected than the number of fallen angels, the incongruity will not follow which must follow if there are not more men elected; and since it is impossible that there should be anything incongruous in that celestial state, it becomes a necessary fact that angels were not made perfect in number, and that there will be more happy men than doomed angels.

Boso. I see not how this can be denied.

Anselm. I think that another reason can be brought to support this opinion.

Boso. You ought then to present it.

Anselm. We believe that the material substance of the world must be renewed, and that this will not take place until the number of the elect is accomplished, and that happy kingdom made perfect, and that after its completion there will be no change. Whence it may be reasoned that God planned to perfect both at the same time, in order that the inferior nature, which knew not God, might not be perfected before the superior nature which ought to enjoy God; and
that the inferior, being renewed at the same time with the superior, might, as it were, rejoice in its own way; yes, that every creature having so glorious and excellent a consummation, might delight in its Creator and in itself, in turn, rejoicing always after its own manner, so that what the will effects in the rational nature of its own accord, this also the irrational creature naturally shows by the arrangement of God. For we are wont to rejoice in the fame of our ancestors, as when on the
birthdays of the saints we delight with festive triumph, rejoicing in their honor. And this opinion derives support from the fact that, had not Adam sinned, God might yet put off the completion
of that state until the number of men which he designed should be made out, and men themselves be transferred, so to speak, to an immortal state of bodily existence. For they had in paradise a kind of immortality, that is, a power not to die, but since it was possible for them to die, this power was
not immortal, as if, indeed, they had not been capable of death. But if God determined to bring to perfection, at one and the same time, that intelligent and happy state and this earthly and irrational nature; it follows that either that state was not complete in the number of angels before the destruction of the wicked, but God was waiting to complete it by men, when he should renovate the material nature of the world; or that, if that kingdom were perfect in number, it was not in
confirmation, and its confirmation must be deferred, even had no one sinned, until that renewal of the world to which we look forward; or that, if that confirmation could not be deferred so long, the renewal of the world must be hastened that both events might take place at the same time. But that God should determine to renew the world immediately after it was made, and to destroy in the very beginning those things which after this renewal would not exist, before any reason appeared for their
creation, is simply absurd. It therefore follows that, since angels were not complete in number, their confirmation will not be long deferred on this account, because the renewal of a world just created ought soon to take place, for this is not fitting. But that God should wish to put off their confirmation to the future renewing of the world seems improper, since he so quickly accomplished it in some, and since we know that in regard to our first parents, if they had not sinned as they did,

he would have confirmed them, as well as the angels who persevered. For, although not yet advanced to that equality with angels to which men were to attain, when the number taken from among them was complete; yet, had they preserved their original holiness, so as not to have sinned though tempted, they would have been confirmed, with all their offspring, so as never more to sin; just as when they were conquered by sin, they were so weakened as to be unable, in themselves, to live
afterwards without sinning. For who dares affirm that wickedness is more powerful to bind a man in servitude, after he has yielded to it at the first persuasion, than holiness to confirm him in liberty when he has adhered to it in the original trial? For as human nature, being included in the person of our first parents, was in them wholly won over to sin (with the single exception of that man whom God being able to create from a virgin was equally able to save from the sin of Adam), so had
they not sinned, human nature would have wholly conquered. It therefore remains that the celestial state was not complete in its original number, but must be completed from among men.

Boso. What you say seems very reasonable to me. But what shall we think of that which is said respecting God: “He hath appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel;” which some, because for the expression “children of Israel” is found sometimes “angels of God,” explain in this way, that the number of elect men taken should be understood as equal to that of good angels?

Anselm. This is not discordant with the previous opinion, if it be not certain that the number of angels who fell is the same as that of those who stood. For
if there be more elect than evil angels, and elect men must needs be substituted for the evil angels, and it is possible for them to equal the number of the good angels, in that case there will be more holy men than evil angels. But remember with what condition I undertook to answer your inquiry,
viz., that if I say anything not upheld by greater authority, though I appear to demonstrate it, yet it should be received with no further certainty than as my opinion for the present, until God makes some clearer revelation to me. For I am sure that, if I say anything which plainly opposes the Holy Scriptures, it is false; and if I am aware of it, I will no longer hold it. But if, with regard to subjects in which opposite opinions may be held without hazard, as that, for instance, which we now
discuss; for if we know not whether there are to be more men elected than the number of the lost angels, and incline to either of these opinions rather than the other, I think the soul is not in danger; if, I say, in questions like this, we explain the Divine words so as to make them favor different sides, and there is nowhere found anything to decide, beyond doubt, the opinion that should be held, I think there is no censure to be given. As to the passage which you spoke of: “He hath
determined the bounds of the people (or tribes) according to the number of the angels of God;” or as another translation has it: “according to the number of the children of Israel;” since both translations either mean the same thing, or are different, without contradicting each other, we may understand that good angels only are intended by both expressions, “angels of God,” and “children of Israel,” or that elect men only are meant, or that both angels and elect men are included, even the

whole celestial kingdom. Or by angels of God may be understood holy angels only, and by children of Israel, holy men only; or, by children of Israel, angels only, and by angels of God, holy men. If good angels are intended in both expressions, it is the same as if only “angels of God” had been used; but if the whole heavenly kingdom were included, the meaning is, that a people, that is, the throng of elect men, is to be taken, or that there will be a people in this stage of existence,
until the appointed number of that kingdom, not yet completed, shall be made up from among men. But I do not now see why angels only, or even angels and holy men together, are meant by the expression “children of Israel”; for it is not improper to call holy men “children of Israel,” as they are called “sons of Abraham.” And they can also properly be called “angels of God,” because they imitate the life of angels, and they are promised in heaven a likeness to and equality with angels, and all
who live holy lives are angels of God. Therefore the confessors or martyrs are so called; for he who declares and bears witness to the truth, he is a messenger of God, that is, his angel. And if a wicked man is called a devil, as our Lord says of Judas, because they are alike in malice; why should not a good man be called an angel, because he follows holiness? Wherefore I think we may say that God hath appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of elect men, because men will
exist and there will be a natural increase among them, until the number of elect men is accomplished; and when that occurs, the birth of men, which takes place in this life, will cease. But if by “angels of God” we only understand holy angels, and by “children of Israel ” only holy men; it may
be explained in two ways: that “God hath appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of the angels of God,” viz., either that so great a people, that is, so many men, will be taken as
there are holy angels of God, or that a people will continue to exist upon earth, until the number of angels is completed from among men. And I think there is no other possible method of explanation: “he hath appointed the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel,” that is, that there will continue to be a people in this stage of existence, as I said above, until the number of holy men is completed. And we infer from either translation that as many men will be
taken as there were angels who remained steadfast. Yet, although lost angels must have their ranks filled by men, it does not follow that the number of lost angels was equal to that of those who persevered. But if any one affirms this, he will have to find means of invalidating the reasons given above, which prove, I think, that there was not among angels, before the fall, that perfect number before mentioned, and that there are more men to be saved than the number of evil angels.

Boso. I by no means regret that I urged you to these remarks about the angels, for it has not been for nought. Now let us return from our digression.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIX

How man cannot be saved without satisfaction for sin.

Anselm. It was fitting for God to fill the places of the fallen angels from among men.

Boso. That is certain.

Anselm. Therefore there ought to be in the heavenly
empire as many men taken as substitutes for the angels as would correspond with the number whose place they shall take, that is, as many as there are good angels now; otherwise they who fell will not be restored, and it will follow that God either could not accomplish the good which he begun, or he will repent of having undertaken it; either of which is absurd.

Boso. Truly it is fitting that men should be equal with good angels.

Anselm. Have good angels ever sinned?

Boso. No.

Anselm. Can you think that man, who has sinned, and never made satisfaction to God for his sin, but only been suffered to go unpunished, may become the equal of an angel who has never sinned?

Boso. These words I can both think of and utter, but can no more perceive their meaning than I can make truth out of falsehood.

Anselm. Therefore it is not fitting that God should take sinful man without an atonement, in substitution for lost angels; for truth will not suffer man thus to be raised to an equality with holy beings.

Boso. Reason shows this.

Anselm. Consider, also, leaving out the question of equality with the angels, whether God ought, under such circumstances, to raise man to the same or a similar kind of happiness as that which he had before he sinned.

Boso. Tell your opinion, and I will attend to it as well as I can.

Anselm. Suppose a rich man possessed a choice pearl which had never been defiled, and which could not be taken from his hands without his permission;
and that he determined to commit it to the treasury of his dearest and most valuable possessions.

Boso. I accept your supposition.

Anselm. What if he should allow it to be struck from his hand and cast in the mire, though he might have prevented it; and afterwards taking it all soiled by the mire and unwashed, should commit it again to his beautiful and loved casket; will you consider him a wise man?

Boso. How can I? for would it not be far better to keep and preserve his pearl pure, than to have it polluted?

Anselm. Would not God be acting like this, who held man in paradise, as it were in his own hand, without sin, and destined to the society of angels, and allowed the devil, inflamed with envy, to cast him into the mire of sin, though truly with man’s consent? For, had God chosen to restrain the devil, the devil could not have tempted man. Now I say, would not God be acting like this, should he restore man, stained with the defilement of sin, unwashed, that
is, without any satisfaction, and always to remain so; should He restore him at once to paradise, from which he had been thrust out?

Boso. I dare not deny the aptness of your comparison, were God to do this, and therefore do not admit that he can do this. For it should seem either that he could not accomplish what he designed, or else that he repented of his good intent, neither of which things is possible with God.

Anselm. Therefore, consider it settled that, without satisfaction, that is, without voluntary payment of the debt, God can neither pass by the sin unpunished, nor can the sinner attain that happiness, or happiness
like that, which he had before he sinned; for man cannot in this way be restored, or become such as he was before he sinned.

Boso. I am wholly unable to refute your reasoning. But what say you to this: that we pray God, “put away our sins from us,” and every nation prays the God of its faith to put away its sins. For, if we pay our debt, why do we pray God to put it away? Is not God unjust to demand what has already been paid? But if we do not make payment, why do we supplicate in vain that he will do what he cannot do, because it is unbecoming?

Anselm. He who does not pay says in vain: “Pardon”; but he who pays makes supplication, because prayer is properly connected with the payment; for God owes no man anything, but every creature owes God; and, therefore, it does not become man to treat with God as with an equal. But of this it is not now needful for me to answer you. For when you think why Christ died, I think you will see yourself the answer to your question.

Boso. Your reply with regard to this matter suffices me for the present. And, moreover, you have so clearly shown that no man can attain happiness in sin, or be freed from sin without satisfaction for the trespass, that, even were I so disposed, I could not doubt it.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XX

That satisfaction ought to be proportionate to guilt; and that man is of himself unable to accomplish this.

Anselm. Neither, I think, will you doubt this, that satisfaction should be proportionate to guilt.

Boso. Otherwise sin would remain in a manner exempt
from control (inordinatum), which cannot be, for God leaves nothing uncontrolled in his kingdom. But this is determined, that even the smallest unfitness is impossible with God.

Anselm. Tell me, then, what payment you make God for your sin?

Boso. Repentance, a broken and contrite heart, self-denial, various bodily sufferings, pity in giving and forgiving, and obedience.

Anselm. What do you give to God in all these?

Boso. Do I not honor God, when, for his love and fear, in heartfelt contrition I give up worldly joy, and despise, amid abstinence and toils, the delights and ease of this life, and submit obediently to him, freely bestowing my possessions in giving to and releasing others?

Anselm. When you render anything to God which you owe him, irrespective of your past sin, you should not reckon this as the debt which you owe for sin. But you owe God every one of those things which you have mentioned. For, in this mortal state, there should be such love and such desire of attaining the true end of your being, which is the meaning of prayer, and such grief that you have not yet reached this object, and such fear lest you fail of it, that
you should find joy in nothing which does not help you or give encouragement of your success. For you do not deserve to have a thing which you do not love and desire for its own sake, and the want of which at present, together with the great danger of never getting it, causes you no grief. This also requires one to avoid ease and worldly pleasures such as seduce the mind from real rest and pleasure, except so far as you think suffices for the accomplishment of that object.
But you ought to
view the gifts which you bestow as a part of your debt, since you know that what you give comes not from yourself, but from him whose servant both you are and he also to whom you give. And nature herself teaches you to do to your fellow servant, man to man, as you would be done by; and that he who will not bestow what he has ought not to receive what he has not. Of forgiveness, indeed, I speak briefly, for, as we said above, vengeance in no sense belongs to you, since you are not your own, nor
is he who injures you yours or his, but you are both the servants of one Lord, made by him out of nothing. And if you avenge yourself upon your fellow servant, you proudly assume judgment over him when it is the peculiar right of God, the judge of all. But what do you give to God by your obedience, which is not owed him already, since he demands from you all that you are and have and can become?

Boso. Truly I dare not say that in all these things I pay any portion of my debt to God.

Anselm. How then do you pay God for your transgression?

Boso. If in justice I owe God myself and all my powers, even when I do not sin, I have nothing left to render to him for my sin.

Anselm. What will become of you then? How will you be saved?

Boso. Merely looking at your arguments, I see no way of escape. But, turning to my belief, I hope through Christian faith, “which works by love,” that I may be saved, and the more, since we read that if the sinner turns from his iniquity and does what is right, all his transgressions shall be forgotten.

Anselm. This is only said of those who either
looked for Christ before his coming, or who believe in him since he has appeared. But we set aside Christ and his religion as if they did not exist, when we proposed to inquire whether his coming were necessary to man’s salvation.

Boso. We did so.

Anselm. Let us then proceed by reason simply.

Boso. Though you bring me into straits, yet I very much wish you to proceed as you have begun.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXI

How great a burden sin is.

Anselm. Suppose that you did not owe any of those things which you have brought up as possible payment for your sin, let us inquire whether they can satisfy for a sin so small as one look contrary to the will of God.

Boso. Did I not hear you question the thing, I should suppose that a single repentant feeling on my part would blot out this sin.

Anselm. You have not as yet estimated the great burden of sin.

Boso. Show it me then.

Anselm. If you should find yourself in the sight of God, and one said to you: “Look thither;” and God, on the other hand, should say: “It is not my will that you should look;” ask your own heart what there is in all existing things which would make it right for you to give that look contrary to the will of God.

Boso. I can find no motive which would make it right; unless, indeed I am so situated as to make it necessary for me either to do this, or some greater sin.

Anselm. Put away all such necessity, and ask with
regard to this sin only whether you can do it even for your own salvation.

Boso. I see plainly that I cannot.

Anselm. Not to detain you too long; what if it were necessary either that the whole universe, except God himself, should perish and fall back into nothing, or else that you should do so small a thing against the will of God?

Boso. When I consider the action itself, it appears very slight; but when I view it as contrary to the will of God, I know of nothing so grievous, and of no loss that will compare with it; but sometimes we oppose another’s will without blame in order to preserve his property, so that afterwards he is glad that we opposed him.

Anselm. This is in the case of man, who often does not know what is useful for him, or cannot make up his loss; but God is in want of nothing, and, should all things perish, can restore them as easily as he created them.

Boso. I must confess that I ought not to oppose the will of God even to preserve the whole creation.

Anselm. What if there were more worlds as full of beings as this?

Boso. Were they increased to an infinite extent, and held before me in like manner, my reply would be the same.

Anselm. You cannot answer more correctly, but consider, also, should it happen that you gave the look contrary to God’s will, what payment you can make for this sin?

Boso. I can only repeat what I said before.

Anselm. So heinous is our sin whenever we knowingly oppose the will of God even in the slightest
thing; since we are always in his sight, and he always enjoins it upon us not to sin.

Boso. I cannot deny it.

Anselm. Therefore you make no satisfaction unless you restore something greater than the amount of that obligation, which should restrain you from committing the sin.

Boso. Reason seems to demand this, and to make the contrary wholly impossible.

Anselm. Even God cannot raise to happiness any being bound at all by the debt of sin, because He ought not to.

Boso. This decision is most weighty.

Anselm. Listen to an additional reason which makes it no less difficult for man to be reconciled to God.

Boso. This alone would drive me to despair, were it not for the consolation of faith.

Anselm. But listen.

Boso. Say on.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXII

What contempt man brought upon God, when he allowed himself to be conquered by the devil; for which he can make no satisfaction.

Anselm. Man being made holy was placed in paradise, as it were in the place of God, between God and the devil, to conquer the devil by not yielding to his temptation, and so to vindicate the honor of God and put the devil to shame, because that man, though weaker and dwelling upon earth, should not sin though tempted by the devil, while the devil, though stronger and in heaven, sinned without any to tempt him. And when man could have easily effected this,
he, without
compulsion and of his own accord, allowed himself to be brought over to the will of the devil, contrary to the will and honor of God.

Boso. To what would you bring me?

Anselm. Decide for yourself if it be not contrary to the honor of God for man to be reconciled to Him, with this calumnious reproach still heaped upon God; unless man first shall have honored God by overcoming the devil, as he dishonored him in yielding to the devil. Now the victory ought to be of this kind, that, as in strength and immortal vigor, he freely yielded to the devil to sin, and on this account justly incurred the penalty of death; so, in his
weakness and mortality, which he had brought upon himself, he should conquer the devil by the pain of death, while wholly avoiding sin. But this cannot be done, so long as from the deadly effect of the first transgression, man is conceived and born in sin.

Boso. Again I say that the thing is impossible, and reason approves what you say.

Anselm. Let me mention one thing more, without which man’s reconciliation cannot be justly effected, and the impossibility is the same.

Boso. You have already presented so many obligations which we ought to fulfil, that nothing which you can add will alarm me more.

Anselm. Yet listen.

Boso. I will.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXIII

What man took from God by his sin, which he has no power to repay.

Anselm. What did man take from God, when he allowed himself to be overcome by the devil?

Boso. Go on to mention, as you have begun, the evil things which can be added to those already shown for I am ignorant of them.

Anselm. Did not man take from God whatever He had purposed to do for human nature?

Boso. There is no denying that.

Anselm. Listen to the voice of strict justice; and judge according to that whether man makes to God a real satisfaction for his sin, unless, by overcoming the devil, man restore to God what he took from God in allowing himself to be conquered by the devil; so that, as by this conquest over man the devil took what belonged to God, and God was the loser, so in man’s victory the devil may be despoiled, and God recover his right.

Boso. Surely nothing can be more exactly or justly conceived.

Anselm. Think you that supreme justice can violate this justice?

Boso. I dare not think it.

Anselm. Therefore man cannot and ought not by any means to receive from God what God designed to give him, unless he return to God everything which he took from him; so that, as by man God suffered loss, by man, also, He might recover His loss. But this cannot be effected except in this way: that, as in the fall of man all human nature was corrupted, and, as it were, tainted with sin, and God will not choose one of such a race to fill up the number in his
heavenly kingdom; so, by man’s victory, as many men may be justified from sin as are needed to complete the number which man was made to fill. But a sinful man can by no means do this, for a sinner cannot justify a sinner.

Boso. There is nothing more just or necessary; but, from all these things, the compassion of God and the hope of man seems to fail, as far as regards that happiness for which man was made.

Anselm. Yet wait a little.

Boso. Have you anything further?

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXIV

How, as long as man does not restore what he owes God, he cannot be happy, nor is he excused by want of power.

Anselm. If a man is called unjust who does not pay his fellow-man a debt, much more is he unjust who does not restore what he owes God.

Boso. If he can pay and yet does not, he is certainly unjust. But if he be not able, wherein is he unjust?

Anselm. Indeed, if the origin of his inability were not in himself, there might be some excuse for him. But if in this very impotence lies the fault, as it does not lessen the sin, neither does it excuse him from paying what is due. Suppose one should assign his slave a certain piece of work, and should command him not to throw himself into a ditch, which he points out to him and from which he could not extricate himself; and suppose that the slave,
despising his master’s command and warning, throws himself into the ditch before pointed out, so as to be utterly unable to accomplish the work assigned; think you that his inability will at all excuse him for not doing his appointed work?

Boso. By no means, but will rather increase his crime, since he brought his inability upon himself. For doubly hath he sinned, in not doing what he was
commanded to do and in doing what he was forewarned not to do.

Anselm. Just so inexcusable is man, who has voluntarily brought upon himself a debt which he cannot pay, and by his own fault disabled himself, so that he can neither escape his previous obligation not to sin, nor pay the debt which he has incurred by sin. For his very inability is guilt, because he ought not to have it; nay, he ought to be free from it; for as it is a crime not to have what he ought, it is also a crime to have what he ought not. Therefore,
as it is a crime in man not to have that power which he received to avoid sin, it is also a crime to have that inability by which he can neither do right and avoid sin, nor restore the debt which he owes on account of his sin. For it is by his own free action that he loses that power, and falls into this inability. For not to have the power which one ought to have, is the same thing as to have the inability which one ought not to have. Therefore man’s inability to restore what he owes to God,
an inability brought upon himself for that very purpose, does not excuse man from paying; for the result of sin cannot excuse the sin itself.

Boso. This argument is exceedingly weighty, and must be true.

Anselm. Man, then, is unjust in not paying what he owes to God.

Boso. This is very true; for he is unjust, both in not paying, and in not being able to pay.

Anselm. But no unjust person shall be admitted to happiness; for as that happiness is complete in which there is nothing wanting, so it can belong to no one who is not so pure as to have no injustice found in him.

Boso. I dare not think otherwise.

Anselm. He, then, who does not pay God what he owes can never be happy.

Boso. I cannot deny that this is so.

Anselm. But if you choose to say that a merciful God remits to the suppliant his debt, because he cannot pay; God must be said to dispense with one of two things, viz., either this which man ought voluntarily to render but cannot, that is, an equivalent for his sin, a thing which ought not to be given up even to save the whole universe besides God; or else this, which, as I have before said, God was about to take away from man by punishment, even against
man’s will, viz., happiness. But if God gives up what man ought freely to render, for the reason that man cannot repay it, what is this but saying that God gives up what he is unable to obtain? But it is mockery to ascribe such compassion to God. But if God gives up what he was about to take from unwilling man, because man is unable to restore what he ought to restore freely, He abates the punishment and makes man happy on account of his sin, because he has what he ought not to have. For he
ought not to have this inability, and therefore as long as he has it without atonement it is his sin. And truly such compassion on the part of God is wholly contrary to the Divine justice, which allows nothing but punishment as the recompense of sin. Therefore, as God cannot be inconsistent with himself, his compassion cannot be of this nature.

Boso. I think, then, we must look for another mercy than this.

Anselm. But suppose it were true that God pardons
the man who does not pay his debt because he cannot.

Boso. I could wish it were so.

Anselm. But while man does not make payment, he either wishes to restore, or else he does not wish to. Now, if he wishes to do what he cannot, he will be needy, and if he does not wish to, he will be unjust.

Boso. Nothing can be plainer.

Anselm. But whether needy or unjust, he will not be happy.

Boso. This also is plain.

Anselm. So long, then, as he does not restore, he will not be happy.

Boso. If God follows the method of justice, there is no escape for the miserable wretch, and God’s compassion seems to fail.

Anselm. You have demanded an explanation; now hear it. I do not deny that God is merciful, who preserveth man and beast, according to the multitude of his mercies. But we are speaking of that exceeding pity by which he makes man happy after this life. And I think that I have amply proved, by the reasons given above, that happiness ought not to be bestowed upon any one whose sins have not been wholly put away; and that this remission ought not to take place,
save by the payment of the debt incurred by sin, according to the extent of sin. And if you think that any objections can be brought against these proofs, you ought to mention them.

Boso. I see not how your reasons can be at all invalidated.

Anselm. Nor do I, if rightly understood. But even if one of the whole number be confirmed by impregnable
truth, that should be sufficient. For truth is equally secured against all doubt, if it be demonstrably proved by one argument as by many.

Boso. Surely this is so. But how, then, shall man be saved, if he neither pays what he owes, and ought not to be saved without paying? Or, with what face shall we declare that God, who is rich in mercy above human conception, cannot exercise this compassion?

Anselm. This is the question which you ought to ask of those in whose behalf you are speaking, who have no faith in the need of Christ for man’s salvation, and you should also request them to tell how man can be saved without Christ. But, if they are utterly unable to do it, let them cease from mocking us, and let them hasten to unite themselves with us, who do not doubt that man can be saved through Christ; else let them despair of being saved at all. And
if this terrifies them, let them believe in Christ as we do, that they may be saved.

Boso. Let me ask you, as I have begun, to show me how a man is saved by Christ.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXV

How man’s salvation by Christ is necessarily possible.

Anselm. Is it not sufficiently proved that man can be saved by Christ, when even infidels do not deny that man can be happy somehow, and it has been sufficiently shown that, leaving Christ out of view, no salvation can be found for man? For, either by Christ or by some one else can man be saved, or else not at all. If, then, it is false that man cannot be saved all, or that he can be saved in any other way, his salvation must necessarily be by Christ.

Boso. But what reply will you make to a person who perceives that man cannot be saved in any other way, and yet, not understanding how he can be saved by Christ, sees fit to declare that there cannot be any salvation either by Christ or in any other way?

Anselm. What reply ought to be made to one who ascribes impossibility to a necessary truth, because he does not understand how it can be?

Boso. That he is a fool.

Anselm. Then what he says must be despised.

Boso. Very true; but we ought to show him in what way the thing is true which he holds to be impossible.

Anselm. Do you not perceive, from what we have said above, that it is necessary for some men to attain to felicity? For, if it is unfitting for God to elevate man with any stain upon him, to that for which he made him free from all stain, lest it should seem that God had repented of his good intent, or was unable to accomplish his designs; far more is it impossible, on account of the same unfitness, that no man should be exalted to that state for which he
was made. Therefore, a satisfaction such as we have above proved necessary for sin, must be found apart from the Christian faith, which no reason can show; or else we must accept the Christian doctrine. For what is clearly made out by absolute reasoning ought by no means to be questioned, even though the method of it be not understood.

Boso. What you say is true.

Anselm. Why, then, do you question further?

Boso. I come not for this purpose, to have you remove doubts from my faith, but to have you show me the reason for my confidence. Therefore, as you have
brought me thus far by your reasoning, so that I perceive that man as a sinner owes God for his sin what he is unable to pay, and cannot be saved without paying; I wish you would go further with me, and enable me to understand, by force of reasoning, the fitness of all those things which the Catholic
faith enjoins upon us with regard to Christ, if we hope to be saved; and how they avail for the salvation of man, and how God saves man by compassion; when he never remits his sin, unless man shall have rendered what was due on account of his sin. And, to make your reasoning the clearer, begin at the beginning, so as to rest it upon a strong foundation.

Anselm. Now God help me, for you do not spare me in the least, nor consider the weakness of my skill, when you enjoin so great a work upon me. Yet I will attempt it, as I have begun, not trusting in myself but in God, and will do what I can with his help. But let us separate the things which remain to be said from those which have been said, by a new introduction, lest by their unbroken length, these things become tedious to one who wishes to read them.

Cur Deus Homo

BOOK SECOND: CHAPTER I

How man was made holy by God, so as to be happy in the enjoyment of God.

Anselm. It ought not to be disputed that rational nature was made holy by God, in order to be happy in enjoying Him. For to this end is it rational, in order to discern justice and injustice, good and evil, and between the greater and the lesser good. Otherwise
it was made rational in vain. But God made it not rational in vain. Wherefore, doubtless, it was made rational for this end. In like manner is it proved that the intelligent creature received
the power of discernment for this purpose, that he might hate and shun evil, and love and choose good, and especially the greater good. For else in vain would God have given him that power of discernment, since man’s discretion would be useless unless he loved and avoided according to it. But it does not befit God to give such power in vain. It is, therefore, established that rational nature was created for this end, viz., to love and choose the highest good supremely, for its own sake and
nothing else; for if the highest good were chosen for any other reason, then something else and not itself would be the thing loved. But intelligent nature cannot fulfil this purpose without being holy. Therefore that it might not in vain be made rational, it was made, in order to fulfil this purpose, both rational and holy. Now, if it was made holy in order to choose and love the highest good, then it was made such in order to follow sometimes what it loved and chose, or else it was not. But
if it were not made holy for this end, that it might follow what it loves and chooses, then in vain was it made to love and choose holiness; and there can be no reason why it should be ever bound to follow holiness. Therefore, as long as it will be holy in loving and choosing the supreme good, for which it was made, it will be miserable; because it will be impotent despite of its will, inasmuch as it does not have what it desires. But this is utterly absurd. Wherefore rational nature was made
holy, in order to be happy in enjoying the supreme good, which is God. Therefore man, whose
nature is rational, was made holy for this end, that he might be happy in enjoying God.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER II

How man would never have died, unless he had sinned.

Anselm. Moreover, it is easily proved that man was so made as not to be necessarily subject to death; for, as we have already said, it is inconsistent with God’s wisdom and justice to compel man to suffer death without fault, when he made him holy to enjoy eternal blessedness. It therefore follows that had man never sinned he never would have died.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER III

How man will rise with the same body which he has in this world.

Anselm. From this the future resurrection of the dead is clearly proved. For if man is to be perfectly restored, the restoration should make him such as he would have been had he never sinned.

Boso. It must be so.

Anselm. Therefore, as man, had he not sinned, was to have been transferred with the same body to an immortal state, so when he shall be restored, it must properly be with his own body as he lived in this world.

Boso. But what shall we say to one who tells us that this is right enough with regard to those in whom humanity shall be perfectly restored, but is not necessary as respects the reprobate?

Anselm. We know of nothing more just or proper than this, that as man, had he continued in holiness, would have been perfectly happy for eternity, both in
body and in soul; so, if he persevere in wickedness, he shall be likewise completely miserable forever.

Boso. You have promptly satisfied me in these matters.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER IV

How God will complete, in respect to human nature, what he has begun.

Anselm. From these things, we can easily see that God will either complete what he has begun with regard to human nature, or else he has made to no end so lofty a nature, capable of so great good. Now if it be understood that God has made nothing more valuable than rational existence capable of enjoying him; it is altogether foreign from his character to suppose that he will suffer that rational existence utterly to perish.

Boso. No reasonable being can think otherwise.

Anselm. Therefore is it necessary for him to perfect in human nature what he has begun. But this, as we have already said, cannot be accomplished save by a complete expiation of sin, which no sinner can effect for himself.

Boso. I now understand it to be necessary for God to complete what he has begun, lest there be an unseemly falling off from his design.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER V

How, although the thing may be necessary, God may not do it by a compulsory necessity; and what is the nature of that necessity which removes or lessens gratitude, and what necessity increases it.

Boso. But if it be so, then God seems as it were compelled, for the sake of avoiding what is unbecoming
, to secure the salvation of man. How, then, can it be denied that he does it more on his own account than on ours? But if it be so, what thanks do we owe him for what he does for himself? How shall we attribute our salvation to his grace, if he saves us from necessity?

Anselm. There is a necessity which takes away or lessens our gratitude to a benefactor, and there is also a necessity by which the favor deserves still greater thanks. For when one does a benefit from a necessity to which he is unwillingly subjected, less thanks are due him, or none at all. But when he freely places himself under the necessity of benefiting another, and sustains that necessity without reluctance, then he certainly deserves greater thanks
for the favor. For this should not be called necessity but grace, inasmuch as he undertook or maintains it, not with any constraint, but freely. For if that which to-day you promise of your own accord you will give to-morrow, you do give to-morrow with the same willingness; though it be necessary for you, if possible, to redeem your promise, or make yourself a liar; notwithstanding, the recipient of your favor is as much indebted for your precious gift as if you had not promised it, for
you were not obliged to make yourself his debtor before the time of giving it: just so is it when one undertakes, by a vow, a design of holy living. For though after his vow he ought necessarily to perform, lest he suffer the judgment of an apostate, and, although he may be compelled to keep it even unwillingly, yet, if he keep his vow cheerfully, he is not less but more pleasing to God than if he had not vowed. For he has not only given up the life of the world, but also his personal liberty,
for the sake of God; and
he cannot be said to live a holy life of necessity, but with the same freedom with which he took the vow. Much more, therefore, do we owe all thanks to God for completing his intended favor to man; though, indeed, it would not be proper for him to fail in his good design, because wanting nothing in himself he begun it for our sake and not his own. For what man was about to do was not hidden from God at his creation; and yet by freely creating man, God as it were
bound himself to complete the good which he had begun. In fine, God does nothing by necessity, since he is not compelled or restrained in anything. And when we say that God does anything to avoid dishonor, which he certainly does not fear, we must mean that God does this from the necessity of maintaining his honor; which necessity is after all no more than this, viz., the immutability of his honor, which belongs to him in himself, and is not derived from another; and therefore it is not
properly called necessity. Yet we may say, although the whole work which God does for man is of grace, that it is necessary for God, on account of his unchangeable goodness, to complete the work which he has begun.

Boso. I grant it.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VI

How no being, except the God-man, can make the atonement by which man is saved.

Anselm. But this cannot be effected, except the price paid to God for the sin of man be something greater than all the universe besides God.

Boso. So it appears.

Anselm. Moreover, it is necessary that he who can
give God anything of his own which is more valuable than all things in the possession of God, must be greater than all else but God himself.

Boso. I cannot deny it.

Anselm. Therefore none but God can make this satisfaction.

Boso. So it appears.

Anselm. But none but a man ought to do this, other wise man does not make the satisfaction.

Boso. Nothing seems more just.

Anselm. If it be necessary, therefore, as it appears, that the heavenly kingdom be made up of men, and this cannot be effected unless the aforesaid satisfaction be made, which none but God can make and none but man ought to make, it is necessary for the God-man to make it.

Boso. Now blessed be God! we have made a great discovery with regard to our question. Go on, therefore, as you have begun. For I hope that God will assist you.

Anselm. Now must we inquire how God can become man.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VII

How necessary it is for the same being to be perfect God and perfect man.

Anselm. The Divine and human natures cannot alternate, so that the Divine should become human or the human Divine; nor can they be so commingled as that a third should be produced from the two which is neither wholly Divine nor wholly human. For, granting that it were possible for either to be changed into the other, it would in that case be only God and not man, or man only and not God. Or, if they were
so commingled that a third nature sprung from
the combination of the two (as from two animals, a male and a female of different species, a third is produced, which does not preserve entire the species of either parent, but has a mixed nature derived from both), it would neither be God nor man. Therefore the God-man, whom we require to be of a nature both human and Divine, cannot be produced by a change from one into the other, nor by an imperfect commingling of both in a third; since these things cannot be, or, if they could be, would
avail nothing to our purpose. Moreover, if these two complete natures are said to be joined somehow, in such a way that one may be Divine while the other is human, and yet that which is God not be the same with that which is man, it is impossible for both to do the work necessary to be accomplished. For God will not do it, because he has no debt to pay; and man will not do it, because he cannot. Therefore, in order that the God-man may perform this, it is necessary that the same being should be
perfect God and perfect man, in order to make this atonement. For he cannot and ought not to do it, unless he be very God and very man. Since, then, it is necessary that the God-man preserve the completeness of each nature, it is no less necessary that these two natures be united entire in one person, just as a body and a reasonable soul exist together in every human being; for otherwise it is impossible that the same being should be very God and very man.

Boso. All that you say is satisfactory to me.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER VIII

How it behoved God to take a man of the race of Adam, and born of a woman.

Anselm. It now remains to inquire whence and how God shall assume human nature. For he will either take it from Adam, or else he will make a new man, as he made Adam originally. But, if he makes a new man, not of Adam’s race, then this man will not belong to the human family, which descended from Adam, and therefore ought not to make atonement for it, because he never belonged to it. For, as it is right for man to make atonement for the sin of man, it is
also necessary that he who makes the atonement should be the very being who has sinned, or else one of the same race. Otherwise, neither Adam nor his race would make satisfaction for themselves. Therefore, as through Adam and Eve sin was propagated among all men, so none but themselves, or one born of them, ought to make atonement for the sin of men. And, since they cannot, one born of them must fulfil this work. Moreover, as Adam and his whole race, had he not sinned, would have stood firm
without the support of any other being, so, after the fall, the same race must rise and be exalted by means of itself. For, whoever restores the race to its place, it will certainly stand by that being who has made this restoration. Also, when God created human nature in Adam alone, and would only make woman out of man, that by the union of both sexes there might be increase, in this he showed plainly that he wished to produce all that he intended with regard to human
nature from man
alone. Wherefore, if the race of Adam be reinstated by any being not of the same race, it will not be restored to that dignity which it would have had, had not Adam sinned, and so will not be completely restored; and, besides, God will seem to have failed of his purpose, both which suppositions are incongruous: It is, therefore, necessary that the man by whom Adam’s race shall be restored be taken from Adam.

Boso. If we follow reason, as we proposed to do, this is the necessary result.

Anselm. Let us now examine the question, whether the human nature taken by God must be produced from a father and mother, as other men are, or from man alone, or from woman alone. For, in whichever of these three modes it be, it will be produced from Adam and Eve, for from these two is every person of either sex descended. And of these three modes, no one is easier for God than another, that it should be selected on this account.

Boso. So far, it is well.

Anselm. It is no great toil to show that that man will be brought into existence in a nobler and purer manner, if produced from man alone, or woman alone, than if springing from the union of both, as do all other men.

Boso. I agree with you.

Anselm. Therefore must he be taken either from man alone, or woman alone.

Boso. There is no other source.

Anselm. In four ways can God create man, viz., either of man and woman, in the common way; or neither of man nor woman, as he created Adam; or of man without woman, as he made Eve; or of woman
without man, which thus far he has never done. Wherefore, in order to show that this last mode also under his power, and was reserved for this very purpose, what more fitting than that he should take that man whose origin we are seeking from a woman without a
man? Now whether it be more worthy that he be born of a virgin, or one not a virgin, we need not discuss, but must affirm, beyond all doubt, that the God-man should be born of a virgin.

Boso. Your speech gratifies my heart.

Anselm. Does what we have said appear sound, or is it unsubstantial as a cloud, as you have said infidels declare?

Boso. Nothing can be more sound.

Anselm. Paint not, therefore, upon baseless emptiness, but upon solid truth, and tell how clearly fitting it is that, as man’s sin and the cause of our condemnation sprung from a woman, so the cure of sin and the source of our salvation should also be found in a woman. And that women may not despair of attaining the inheritance of the blessed, because that so dire an evil arose from woman, it is proper that from woman also so great a blessing should arise,
that their hopes may be revived. Take also this view. If it was a virgin which brought all evil upon the race, it is much more appropriate that a virgin should be the occasion of all good. And this also. If woman, whom God made from man alone, was made of a virgin (de virgine), it is peculiarly fitting for that man also, who shall spring from a woman, to be born of a woman without man. Of the pictures which can be superadded to
this, showing that the God-man ought to be born of a virgin, we will say nothing. These are sufficient.

Boso. They are certainly very beautiful and reasonable.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER IX

How of necessity the Word only can unite in one person with man.

Anselm. Now must we inquire further, in what person God, who exists in three persons, shall take upon himself the nature of man. For a plurality of persons cannot take one and the same man into a unity of person. Wherefore in one person only can this be done. But, as respects this personal unity of God and man, and in which of the Divine persons this ought to be effected, I have expressed myself, as far as I think needful for the present inquiry, in a
letter on the Incarnation of the Word, addressed to my lord, the Pope Urban.

Boso. Yet briefly glance at this matter, why the person of the Son should be incarnated rather than that of the Father or the Holy Spirit.

Anselm. If one of the other persons be incarnated, there will be two sons in the Trinity, viz., the Son of God, who is the Son before the incarnation, and he also who, by the incarnation, will be the son of the virgin; and among the persons which ought always to be equal there will be an inequality as respects the dignity of birth. For the one born of God will have a nobler birth than he who is born of the virgin. Likewise, if the Father become incarnate,
there will be two grandsons in the Trinity; for the Father, by assuming humanity, will be the grandson of the parents of the virgin, and the Word, though having nothing to do with man, will yet be the grandson of the virgin, since he will be the son of her son. But all these
things are incongruous and do not pertain to the incarnation of the Word. And there is yet another reason which renders it more fitting for the Son to become incarnate than the other persons. It is, that for the Son to
pray to the Father is more proper than for any other person of the Trinity to supplicate his fellow. Moreover, man, for whom he was to pray, and the devil, whom he was to vanquish, have both put on a false likeness to God by their own will. Wherefore they have sinned, as it were, especially against the person of the Son, who is believed to be the very image of God. Wherefore the punishment or pardon of guilt is with peculiar propriety ascribed to him upon whom chiefly the injury was inflicted.
Since, therefore, infallible reason has brought us to this necessary conclusion, that the Divine and human natures must unite in one person, and that this is evidently more fitting in respect to the person of the Word than the other persons, we determine that God the Word must unite with man in one person.

Boso. The way by which you lead me is so guarded by reason that I cannot deviate from it to the right or left.

Anselm. It is not I who lead you, but he of whom we are speaking, without whose guidance we have no power to keep the way of truth.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER X

How this man dies not of debt; and in what sense he can or cannot sin; and how neither he nor an angel deserves praise for their holiness, if it is impossible for them to sin.

Anselm. We ought not to question whether this man was about to die as a debt, as all other men do.
For, if Adam would not have died had he not committed sin, much less should this man suffer death, in whom there can be no sin, for he is God.

Boso. Let me delay you a little on this point. For in either case it is no slight question with me whether it be said that he can sin or that he cannot. For if it be said that he cannot sin, it should seem hard to be believed. For to say a word concerning him, not as of one who never existed in the manner we have spoken hitherto, but as of one whom we know and whose deeds we know; who, I say, will deny that he could have done many things which we call
sinful? For, to say nothing of other things, how shall we say that it was not possible for him to commit the sin of lying? For, when he says to the Jews, of his Father: “If I say that I know him not, I shall be a liar, like unto you,” and, in this sentence, makes use of the words : “I know him not,” who says that he could not have uttered these same four words, or expressing the same thing differently, have declared, “I know him not?” Now had he done so, he would have been a liar, as he himself
says, and therefore a sinner. Therefore, since he could do this, he could sin.

Anselm. It is true that he could say this, and also that he could not sin.

Boso. How is that?

Anselm. All power follows the will. For, when I say that I can speak or walk, it is understood, if I choose. For, if the will be not implied as acting, there is no power, but only necessity. For, when I say that I can be dragged or bound unwillingly, this is not my power, but necessity and the power of another; since I am able to be dragged or bound in no other sense than this, that another can drag or bind
me. So we can say of Christ, that he could
lie, so long as we understand, if he chose to do so. And, since he could not lie unwillingly and could not wish to lie, none the less can it be said that he could not lie. So in this way it is both true that he could and could not lie.

Boso. Now let us return to our original inquiry with regard to that man, as if nothing were known of him. I say, then, if he were unable to sin, because, according to you, he could not wish to sin, he maintains holiness of necessity, and therefore he will not be holy from free will. What thanks, then, will he deserve for his holiness? For we are accustomed to say that God made man and angel capable of sinning on this account, that, when of their own free
will they maintained holiness, though they might have abandoned it, they might deserve commendation and reward, which they would not have done had they been necessarily holy.

Anselm. Are not the angels worthy of praise, though unable to commit sin?

Boso. Doubtless they are, because they deserved this present inability to sin from the fact that when they could sin they refused to do so.

Anselm. What say you with respect to God, who cannot sin, and yet has not deserved this, by refusing to sin when he had the power? Must not he be praised for his holiness?

Boso. I should like to have you answer that question for me; for if I say that he deserves no praise, I know that I speak falsely. If, on the other hand, I say that he does deserve praise, I am afraid of invalidating my reasoning with respect to the angels.

Anselm. The angels are not to be praised for their
holiness because they could sin, but because it is owing to themselves, in a certain sense, that now they cannot sin. And in this respect are they in a measure like God, who has, from himself, whatever he possesses. For a person is said to give a thing, who does not take it away when he can; and to do a thing is but the same as not to prevent it, when that is in one’s power. When, therefore, the angel
could depart from holiness and yet did not, and could make himself unholy yet did not, we say with propriety that he conferred virtue upon himself and made himself holy. In this sense, therefore, has he holiness of himself (for the creature cannot have it of himself in any other way), and, therefore, should be praised for his holiness, because he is not holy of necessity but freely; for that is improperly called necessity which involves neither compulsion nor restraint. Wherefore, since
whatever God has he has perfectly of himself, he is most of all to be praised for the good things which he possesses and maintains not by any necessity, but, as before said, by his own infinite unchangeableness. Therefore, likewise, that man who will be also God since every good thing which he possesses comes from himself, will be holy not of necessity but voluntarily, and, therefore, will deserve praise. For, though human nature will have what it has from the Divine nature, yet it will
likewise have it from itself, since the two natures will be united in one person.

Boso. You have satisfied me on this point; and I see clearly that it is both true that he could not sin, and yet that he deserves praise for his holiness. But now I think the question arises, since God could make such a man, why he did not create angels and our
first parents so as to be incapable of sin, and yet praiseworthy for their holiness?

Anselm. Do you know what you are saying?

Boso. I think I understand, and it is therefore I ask why he did not make them so.

Anselm. Because it was neither possible nor right for any one of them to be the same with God, as we say that man was. And if you ask why he did not bring the three persons, or at least the Word, into unity with men at that time, I answer: Because reason did not at all demand any such thing then, but wholly forbade it, for God does nothing without reason.

Boso. I blush to have asked the question. Go on with what you have to say.

Anselm. We must conclude, then, that he should not be subject to death, inasmuch as he will not be a sinner.

Boso. I must agree with you.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XI

How Christ dies of his own power, and how mortality does not inhere in the essential nature of man.

Anselm. Now, also, it remains to inquire whether, as man’s nature is, it is possible for that man to die?

Boso. We need hardly dispute with regard to this, since he will be really man, and every man is by nature mortal.

Anselm. I do not think mortality inheres in the essential nature of man, but only as corrupted. Since, had man never sinned, and had his immortality been unchangeably confirmed, he would have been as really man; and, when the dying rise again, incorruptible,
they will no less be really men. For, if mortality was an essential attribute of human nature, then he who was immortal could not be man. Wherefore, neither corruption nor incorruption belong
essentially to human nature, for neither makes nor destroys a man; but happiness accrues to him from the one, and misery from the other. But since all men die, mortality is included in the definition of man, as given by philosophers, for they have never even believed in the possibility of man’s being immortal in all respects. And so it is not enough to prove that that man ought to be subject to death, for us to say that he will be in all respects a man.

Boso. Seek then for some other reason, since I know of none, if you do not, by which we may prove that he can die.

Anselm. We may not doubt that, as he will be God, he will possess omnipotence.

Boso. Certainly.

Anselm. He can, then, if he chooses, lay down his life and take it again.

Boso. If not, he would scarcely seem to be omnipotent.

Anselm. Therefore is he able to avoid death if he chooses, and also to die and rise again. Moreover, whether he lays down his life by the intervention of no other person, or another causes this, so that he lays it down by permitting it to be taken, it makes no difference as far as regards his power.

Boso. There is no doubt about it.

Anselm. If, then, he chooses to allow it, he could be slain; and if he were unwilling to allow it, he couId not be slain.

Boso. To this we are unavoidably brought by reason.

Anselm. Reason has also taught us that the gift which he presents to God, not of debt but freely, ought to be something greater than anything in the possession of God.

Boso. Yes.

Anselin. Now this can neither be found beneath him nor above him.

Boso. Very true.

Anselm. In himself, therefore, must it be found.

Boso. So it appears.

Anselm. Therefore will he give himself, or something pertaining to himself.

Boso. I cannot see how it should be otherwise.

Anselm. Now must we inquire what sort of a gift this should be? For he may not give himself to God, or anything of his, as if God did not have what was his own. For every creature belongs to God.

Boso. This is so.

Anselm. Therefore must this gift be understood in this way, that he somehow gives up himself, or something of his, to the honor of God, which he did not owe as a debtor.

Boso. So it seems from what has been already said.

Anselm. If we say that he will give himself to God by obedience, so as, by steadily maintaining holiness, to render himself subject to his will, this will not be giving a thing not demanded of him by God as his due. For every reasonable being owes his obedience to God.

Boso. This cannot be denied.

Anselm. Therefore must it be in some other way
that he gives himself, or something belonging to him, to God.

Boso. Reason urges us to this conclusion.

Anslem. Let us see whether, perchance, this may be to give up his life or to lay down his life, or to deliver himself up to death for God’s honor. For God will not demand this of him as a debt; for, as no sin will be found, he ought not to die, as we have already said.

Boso. Else I cannot understand it.

Anselm. But let us further observe whether this is according to reason.

Boso. Speak you, and I will listen with pleasure.

Anselm. If man sinned with ease, is it not fitting for him to atone with difficulty? And if he was overcome by the devil in the easiest manner possible, so as to dishonor God by sinning against him, is it not right that man, in making satisfaction for his sin, should honor God by conquering the devil with the greatest possible difficulty? Is it not proper that, since man has departed from God as far as possible in his sin, he should make to God the greatest
possible satisfaction?

Boso. Surely, there is nothing more reasonable.

Anselm. Now, nothing can be more severe or difficult for man to do for God’s honor, than to suffer death voluntarily when not bound by obligation; and man cannot give himself to God in any way more truly than by surrendering himself to death for God’s honor.

Boso. All these things are true.

Anselm. Therefore, he who wishes to make atonement for man’s sin should be one who can die if he chooses.

Boso. I think it is plain that the man whom we
seek for should not only be one who is not necessarily subject to death on account of his omnipotence, and one who does not deserve death on account of his sin, but also one who can die of his own free will, for this will be necessary.

Anselm. There are also many other reasons why it is peculiarly fitting for that man to enter into the common intercourse of men, and maintain a likeness to them, only without sin. And these things are more easily and clearly manifest in his life and actions than they can possibly be shown to be by mere reason without experience. For who can say how necessary and wise a thing it was for him who was to redeem mankind, and lead them back by his teaching from
the way of death and destruction into the path of life and eternal happiness, when he conversed with men, and when he taught them by personal intercourse, to set them an example himself of the way in which they ought to live? But how could he have given this example to weak and dying men, that they should not deviate from holiness because of injuries, or scorn, or tortures, or even death, had they not been able to recognise all these virtues in himself?

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XII

How, though he share in our weakness, he is not therefore miserable.

Boso. All these things plainly show that he ought to be mortal and to partake of our weaknesses. But all these things are our miseries. Will he then be miserable?

Anselm. No, indeed! For as no advantage which one has apart from his choice constitutes happiness,
so there is no misery in choosing to bear a loss, when the choice is a wise one and made without compulsion.

Boso. Certainly, this must be allowed.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIII

How, along with our other weaknesses, he does not partake of our ignorance.

Boso. But tell me whether, in this likeness to men which he ought to have, he will inherit also our ignorance, as he does our other infirmities?

Anselm. Do you doubt the omnipotence of God?

Boso. No! but, although this man be immortal in respect to his Divine nature, yet will he be mortal in his human nature. For why will he not be like them in their ignorance, as he is in their mortality?

Anselm. That union of humanity with the Divine person will not be effected except in accordance with the highest wisdom; and, therefore, God will not take anything belonging to man which is only useless, but even a hindrance to the work which that man must accomplish. For ignorance is in no respect useful, but very prejudicial. How can he perform works, so many and so great, without the highest wisdom? Or, how will men believe him if they find him ignorant?
And if he be ignorant, what will it avail him? If nothing is loved except as it is known, and there be no good thing which he does not love, then there can be no good thing of which He is ignorant. But no one perfectly understands good, save he who can distinguish it from evil; and no one can make this distinction who does not know what evil is. Therefore, as he of whom we are speaking perfectly comprehends
what is good, so there can be no evil with which he is unacquainted. Therefore must
he have all knowledge, though he do not openly show it in his intercourse with men.

Boso. In his more mature years, this should seem to be as you say; but, in infancy, as it will not be a fit time to discover wisdom, so there will be no need, and therefore no propriety, in his having it.

Anselm. Did not I say that the incarnation will be made in wisdom? But God will in wisdom assume that mortality, which he makes use of so widely, because for so great an object. But he could not wisely assume ignorance, for this is never useful, but always injurious, except when an evil will is deterred from acting, on account of it. But, in him an evil desire never existed. For if ignorance did no harm in any other respect, yet does it in this, that it
takes away the good of knowing. And to answer your question in a word: that man, from the essential nature of his being, will be always full of God; and, therefore, will never want the power, the firmness or the wisdom of God.

Boso. Though wholly unable to doubt the truth of this with respect to Christ, yet, on this very account, have I asked for the reason of it. For we are often certain about a thing, and yet cannot prove it by reason.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIV

How his death outweighs the number and greatness of our sins.

Boso. Now I ask you to tell me how his death can outweigh the number and magnitude of our sins, when the least sin we can think of you have shown to be so monstrous that, were there an infinite number of
worlds as full of created existence as this, they could not stand, but would fall back into nothing, sooner than one look should be made contrary to the just will of God.

Anselm. Were that man here before you, and you knew who he was, and it were told you that, if you did not kill him, the whole universe, except God, would perish, would you do it to preserve the rest of creation?

Boso. No! not even were an infinite number of worlds displayed before me.

Anselm. But suppose you were told: “If you do not kill him, all the sins of the world will be heaped upon you.”

Boso. I should answer, that I would far rather bear all other sins, not only those of this world, past and future, but also all others that can be conceived of, than this alone. And I think I ought to say this, not only with regard to killing him, but even as to the slightest injury which could be inflicted on him.

Anselm. You judge correctly; but tell me why it is that your heart recoils from one injury inflicted upon him as more heinous than all other sins that can be thought of, inasmuch as all sins whatsoever are committed against him?

Boso. A sin committed upon his person exceeds beyond comparison all the sins which can be thought of, that do not affect his person.

Anselm. What say you to this, that one often suffers freely certain evils in his person, in order not to suffer greater ones in his property?

Boso. God has no need of such patience, for all things lie in subjection to his power, as you answered a certain question of mine above.

Anselm. You say well; and hence we see that no enormity or multitude of sins, apart from the Divine person, can for a moment be compared with a bodily injury inflicted upon that man.

Boso. This is most plain.

Anselm. How great does this good seem to you, if the destruction of it is such an evil?

Boso. If its existence is as great a good as its destruction is an evil, then is it far more a good than those sins are evils which its destruction so far surpasses.

Anselm. Very true. Consider, also, that sins are as hateful as they are evil, and that life is only amiable in proportion as it is good. And, therefore, it follows that that life is more lovely than sins are odious.

Boso. I cannot help seeing this.

Anselm. And do you not think that so great a good in itself so lovely, can avail to pay what is due for the sins of the whole world?

Boso. Yes! it has even infinite value.

Anselm. Do you see, then, how this life conquers all sins, if it be given for them?

Boso. Plainly.

Anselm. If, then, to lay down life is the same as to suffer death, as the gift of his life surpasses all the sins of men, so will also the suffering of death.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XV

How this death removes even the sins of his murderers.

Boso. This is properly so with regard to all sins not affecting the person of the Deity. But let me ask you one thing more. If it be as great an evil to slay him as his life is a good, how can his death overcome
and destroy the sins of those who slew him? Or, if it destroys the sin of any one of them, how can it not also destroy any sin committed by other men? For we believe that many men will be saved, and a vast many will not be saved.

Anselm. The Apostle answers the question when he says: “Had they known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.” For a sin knowingly committed and a sin done ignorantly are so different that an evil which they could never do, were its full extent known, may be pardonable when done in ignorance. For no man could ever, knowingly at least, slay the Lord; and, therefore, those who did it in ignorance did not rush into that transcendental crime
with which none others can be compared. For this crime, the magnitude of which we have been considering as equal to the worth of his life, we have not looked at as having been ignorantly done, but knowingly; a thing which no man ever did or could do.

Boso. You have reasonably shown that the murderers of Christ can obtain pardon for their sin.

Anselm. What more do you ask? For now you see how reason of necessity shows that the celestial state must be made up from men, and that this can only be by the forgiveness of sins, which man can never have but by man, who must be at the same time Divine, and reconcile sinners to God by his own death. Therefore have we clearly found that Christ, whom we confess to be both God and man, died for us; and, when this is known beyond all doubt, all things which
he says of himself must be acknowledged as true, for God cannot lie, and all he does must be received as wisely done, though we do not understand the reason of it.

Boso. What you say is true; and I do not for a moment doubt that his words are true, and all that he does reasonable. But I ask this in order that you may disclose to me, in their true rationality, those things in Christian faith which seem to infidels improper or impossible; and this, not to strengthen me in the faith, but to gratify one already confirmed by the knowledge of the truth itself.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVI

How God took that man from a sinful substance, and yet without sin; and of the salvation of Adam and Eve.

Boso. As, therefore, you have disclosed the reason of those things mentioned above, I beg you will also explain what I am now about to ask. First, then, how does God, from a sinful substance, that is, of human species, which was wholly tainted by sin, take, a man without sin, as an unleavened lump from that which is leavened? For, though the conception of this man be pure, and free from the sin of fleshly gratification, yet the virgin herself, from whom he
sprang, was conceived in iniquity, and in sin did her mother bear her, since she herself sinned in Adam, in whom all men sinned.

Anselm. Since it is fitting for that man to be God, and also the restorer of sinners, we doubt not that he is wholly without sin; yet will this avail nothing, unless he be taken without sin and yet of a sinful substance. But if we cannot comprehend in what manner the wisdom of God effects this, we should be surprised, but with reverence should allow of a thing of so great magnitude to remain hidden from us. For the restoring of human nature by God is more
wonderful
than its creation; for either was equally easy for God; but before man was made he had not sinned so that he ought not to be denied existence. But after man was made he deserved, by his sin, to lose his existence together with its design; though he never has wholly lost this, viz., that he should be one capable of being punished, or of receiving God’s compassion. For neither of these things could take effect if he were annihilated. Therefore God’s restoring man is more wonderful
than his creating man, inasmuch as it is done for the sinner contrary to his deserts; while the act of creation was not for the sinner, and was not in opposition to man’s deserts. How great a thing it is, also, for God and man to unite in one person, that, while the perfection of each nature is preserved, the same being may be both God and man! Who, then, will dare to think that the human mind can discover how wisely, how wonderfully, so incomprehensible a work has been accomplished?

Boso. I allow that no man can wholly discover so great a mystery in this life, and I do not desire you to do what no man can do, but only to explain it according to your ability. For you will sooner convince me that deeper reasons lie concealed in this matter, by showing some one that you know of, than if, by saying nothing, you make it appear that you do not understand any reason.

Anselm. I see that I cannot escape your importunity; but if I have any power to explain what you wish, let us thank God for it. But if not, let the things above said suffice. For, since it is agreed that God ought to become man, no doubt He will not lack the wisdom or the power to effect this without sin.

Boso. This I readily allow.

Anselm. It was certainly proper that that atonement which Christ made should benefit not only those who lived at that time but also others. For, suppose there were a king against whom all the people of his provinces had rebelled, with but a single exception of those belonging to their race, and that all the rest were irretrievably under condemnation. And suppose that he who alone is blameless had so great favor with the king, and so deep love for us, as to
be both able and willing to save all those who trusted in his guidance; and this because of a certain very pleasing service which he was about to do for the king, according to his desire; and, inasmuch as those who are to be pardoned cannot all assemble upon that day, the king grants, on account of the greatness of the service performed, that whoever, either before or after the day appointed, acknowledged that he wished to obtain pardon by the work that day accomplished, and to subscribe to the
condition there laid down, should be freed from all past guilt; and, if they sinned after this pardon, and yet wished to render atonement and to be set right again by the efficacy of this plan, they should again be pardoned, only provided that no one enter his mansion until this thing be accomplished by which his sins are removed. In like manner, since all who are to be saved cannot be present at the sacrifice of Christ, yet such virtue is there in his death that its power is extended even to
those far remote in place or time. But that it ought to benefit not merely those present is plainly evident, because there could not be so many living at the time of his death as are necessary to complete the heavenly state, even if all who were upon the earth at that time were admitted to the benefits of redemption. For the number of evil
angels which must be made up from men is greater than the number of men at that time living. Nor may we believe that, since man was created, there was
ever a time when the world, with the creatures made for the use of man, was so unprofitable as to contain no human being who had gained the object for which he was made. For it seems unfitting that God should even for a moment allow the human race, made to complete the heavenly state, and those creatures which he made for their use, to exist in vain.

Boso. You show by correct reasoning, such as nothing can oppose, that there never was a time since man was created when there has not been some one who was gaining that reconciliation without which every man was made in vain. So that we rest upon this as not only proper but also necessary. For if this is more fit and reasonable than that at any time there should be no one found fulfilling the design for which God made man, and there is no further objection
that can be made to this view, then it is necessary that there always be some person partaking of this promised pardon. And, therefore, we must not doubt that Adam and Eve obtained part in that forgiveness, though Divine authority makes no mention of this.

Anselm. It is also incredible that God created them, and unchangeably determined to make all men from them, as many as were needed for the celestial state, and yet should exclude these two from this design.

Boso. Nay, undoubtedly we ought to believe that God made them for this purpose, viz., to belong to the number of those for whose sake they were created.

Anselm. You understand it well. But no soul, before the death of Christ, could enter the heavenly
kingdom, as I said above, with regard to the palace of the king.

Boso. So we believe.

Anselm. Moreover, the virgin, from whom that man was taken of whom we are speaking, was of the number of those who were cleansed from their sins before his birth, and he was born of her in her purity.

Boso. What you say would satisfy me, were it not that he ought to be pure of himself, whereas he appears to have his purity from his mother and not from himself.

Anselm. Not so. But as the mother’s purity, which he partakes, was only derived from him, he also was pure by and of himself.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVII

How he did not die of necessity, though he could not be born, except as destined to suffer death.

Boso. Thus far it is well. But there is yet another matter that needs to be looked into. For we have said before that his death was not to be a matter of necessity; yet now we see that his mother was purified by the power of his death, when without this he could not have been born of her. How, then, was not his death necessary, when he could not have been, except in view of future death? For if he were not to die, the virgin of whom he was born could not be
pure, since this could only be effected by true faith in his death, and, if she were not pure, he could not be born of her. If, therefore, his death be not a necessary consequence of his being born of the virgin, he never could have been born of her at all; but this is an absurdity.

Anselm. If you had carefully noted the remarks made above, you would easily have discovered in them, I think, the answer to your question.

Boso. I see not how.

Anselm. Did we not find, when considering the question whether he would lie, that there were two senses of the word power in regard to it, the one referring to his disposition, the other to the act itself; and that, though having the power to lie, he was so constituted by nature as not to wish to lie, and, therefore, deserved praise for his holiness in maintaining the truth?

Boso. It is so.

Anselm. In like manner, with regard to the preservation of his life, there is the power of preserving and the power of wishing to preserve it. And when the question is asked whether the same God-man could preserve his life, so as never to die, we must not doubt that he always had the power to preserve his life, though he could not wish to do so for the purpose of escaping death. And since this disposition, which forever prevents him from wishing this,
arises from himself, he lays down his life not of necessity, but of free authority.

Boso. But those powers were not in all respects similar, the power to lie and the power to preserve his life. For, if he wished to lie, he would of course be able to; but, if he wished to avoid the other, he could no more do it than he could avoid being what he is. For he became man for this purpose, and it was on the faith of his coming death that he could receive birth from a virgin, as you said above.

Anselm. As you think that he could not lie, or that his death was necessary, because be could not avoid
being what he was, so you can assert that he could not wish to avoid death, or that he wished to die of necessity, because he could not change the constitution of his being; for he did not become man in order that he should die, any more than for this purpose, that he should wish to die. Wherefore, as you ought not to say that he could not help
wishing to die, or that it was of necessity that he wished to die, it is equally improper to say that he could not avoid death, or that he died of necessity.

Boso. Yes, since dying and wishing to die are included in the same mode of reasoning, both would seem to fall under a like necessity.

Anselm. Who freely wished to become man, that by the same unchanging desire he should suffer death, and that the virgin from whom that man should be born might be pure, through confidence in the certainty of this?

Boso. God, the Son of God.

Anselm. Was it not above shown, that no desire of God is at all constrained; but that it freely maintains itself in his own unchangeableness, as often as it is said that he does anything necessarily?

Boso. It has been clearly shown. But we see, on the other hand, that what God unchangeably wishes cannot avoid being so, but takes place of necessity. Wherefore, if God wished that man to die, he could but die.

Anselm. Because the Son of God took the nature of man with this desire, viz., that he should suffer death, you prove it necessary that this man should not be able to avoid death.

Boso. So I perceive.

Anselm. Has it not in like manner appeared from
the things which we have spoken that the Son of God and the man whose person he took were so united that the same being should be both God and man, the Son of God and the son of the virgin?

Boso. It is so.

Anselm. Therefore the same man could possibly both die and avoid death.

Boso. I cannot deny it.

Anselm. Since, then, the will of God does nothing by any necessity, but of his own power, and the will of that man was the same as the will of God, he died not necessarily, but only of his own power.

Boso. To your arguments I cannot object; for neither your propositions nor your inferences can I invalidate in the least. But yet this thing which I have mentioned always recurs to my mind: that, if he wished to avoid death, he could no more do it than he could escape existence. For it must have been fixed that he was to die, for had it not been true that he was about to die, faith in his coming death would not have existed, by which the virgin who gave him
birth and many others also were cleansed from their sin. Wherefore, if he could avoid death, he could make untrue what was true.

Anselm. Why was it true, before he died, that he was certainly to die?

Boso. Because this was his free and unchangeable desire.

Anselm. If, then, as you say, he could not avoid death because he was certainly to die, and was on this account certainly to die because it was his free and unchangeable desire, it is clear that his inability to avoid death is nothing else but his fixed choice to die.

Boso. This is so; but whatever be the reason, it
still remains certain that he could not avoid death, but that it was a necessary thing for him to die.

Anselm. You make a great ado about nothing, or, as the saying is, you stumble at a straw.

Boso. Are you not forgetting my reply to the excuses you made at the beginning of our discussion, viz., that you should explain the subject, not as to learned men, but to me and my fellow inquirers? Suffer me, then, to question you as my slowness and dullness require, so that, as you have begun thus far, you may go on to settle all our childish doubts.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVIII (a)

How, with God there is neither necessity nor impossibility, and what is a coercive necessity, and what one that is not so.

[13]Anselm. We have already said that it is improper to affirm of God that he does anything, or that he cannot do it, of necessity. For all necessity and impossibility is under his control. But his choice is subject to no necessity nor impossibility. For nothing is necessary or impossible save as He wishes it. Nay, the very choosing or refusing anything as a necessity or an impossibility is contrary to truth. Since, then, he does what he chooses and nothing
else, as no necessity or impossibility exists before his choice or refusal, so neither do they interfere with his acting or not acting, though it be true that his choice and action are immutable. And as, when God does a thing, since it has been done it cannot be undone, but must remain an actual fact; still, we are not correct in saying that it is impossible for God to prevent a past action
from being what it is. For there is no necessity or impossibility in the case whatever but the
simple will of God, which chooses that truth should be eternally the same, for he himself is truth. Also, if he has a fixed determination to do anything, though his design must be destined to an accomplishment before it comes to pass, yet there is no coercion as far as he is concerned, either to do it or not to do it, for his will is the sole agent in the case. For when we say that God cannot do a thing, we do not deny his power; on the contrary, we imply that he has invincible authority and
strength. For we mean simply this, that nothing can compel God to do the thing which is said to be impossible for him. We often use an expression of this kind, that a thing can be when the power is not in itself, but in something else; and that it cannot be when the weakness does not pertain to the thing itself, but to something else. Thus we say “Such a man can be bound,” instead of saying, “Somebody can bind him,” and, “He cannot be bound,” instead of, “Nobody can bind him.” For to be able to
be overcome is not power but weakness, and not to be able to be overcome is not weakness but power. Nor do we say that God does anything by necessity, because there is any such thing pertaining to him, but because it exists in something else, precisely as I said with regard to the affirmation that he cannot do anything. For necessity is always either compulsion or restraint; and these two kinds of necessity operate variously by turn, so that the same thing is both necessary and impossible. For
whatever is obliged to exist is also prevented from non-existence; and that which is compelled not to exist is prevented from existence. So that whatever exists from necessity cannot
avoid existence, and it is impossible for a thing to exist which is under a necessity of nonexistence, and vice versa. But when we say with regard to God, that anything is necessary or not necessary, we do not mean that, as far as he is concerned, there is any necessity either coercive or prohibitory,
but we mean that there is a necessity in everything else, restraining or driving them in a particular way. Whereas we say the very opposite of God. For, when we affirm that it is necessary for God to utter truth, and never to lie, we only mean that such is his unwavering disposition to maintain the truth that of necessity nothing can avail to make him deviate from the truth, or utter a lie. When, then, we say that that man (who, by the union of persons, is also God, the Son of God) could not
avoid death, or the choice of death, after he was born of the virgin, we do not imply that there was in him any weakness with regard to preserving or choosing to preserve his life, but we refer to the unchangeableness of his purpose, by which he freely became man for this design, viz., that by persevering in his wish he should suffer death. And this desire nothing could shake. For it would be rather weakness than power if he could wish to lie, or deceive, or change his disposition, when before
he had chosen that it should remain unchanged. And, as I said before, when one has freely determined to do some good action, and afterwards goes on to complete it, though, if unwilling to pay his vow, he could be compelled to do so, yet we must not say that he does it of necessity, but with the same freedom with which he made the resolution. For we ought not to say that anything is done, or not done, by necessity or weakness, when free choice is the only agent in the case. And, if this
is
so with regard to man, much less can we speak of necessity or weakness in reference to God; for he does nothing except according to his choice, and his will no force can drive or restrain. For this end was accomplished by the united natures of Christ, viz., that the Divine nature should perform that part of the work needful for man’s restoration which the human nature could not do; and that in the human should be manifested what was inappropriate to the Divine. Finally, the virgin herself, who
was made pure by faith in him, so that he might be born of her, even she, I say, never believed that he was to die, save of his own choice. For she knew the words of the prophet, who said of him: “He was offered of his own will.” Therefore, since her faith was well founded, it must necessarily turn out as she believed. And, if it perplexes you to have me say that it is necessary, remember that the reality of the virgin’s faith was not the cause of his dying by his own free will; but, because
this was destined to take place, therefore her faith was real. If, then, it be said that it was necessary for him to die of his single choice, because the antecedent faith and prophecy were true, this is no more than saying that it must be because it was to be. But such a necessity as this does not compel a thing to be, but only implies a necessity of its existence. There is an antecedent necessity which is the cause of a thing, and there is also a subsequent necessity arising from the thing
itself. Thus, when the heavens are said to revolve, it is an antecedent and efficient necessity, for they must revolve. But when I say that you speak of necessity, because you are speaking, this is nothing but a subsequent and inoperative necessity. For I only mean that it is impossible
for you to speak and not to speak at the same time, and not that some one compels you to speak. For the force of its own nature makes the heaven revolve; but no necessity obliges you to speak. But wherever
there is an antecedent necessity, there is also a subsequent one; but not vice versa. For we can say that the heaven revolves of necessity, because it revolves; but it is not likewise true that, because you speak, you do it of necessity. This subsequent necessity pertains to everything, so that we say: Whatever has been, necessarily has been. Whatever is, must be. Whatever is to be, of necessity will be. This is that necessity which Aristotle treats of (“de propositionibus singularibus et futuris“), and which seems to destroy any alternative and to ascribe a necessity to all things. By this subsequent and imperative necessity, was it necessary (since the belief and prophecy concerning Christ were true, that he would die of his own free will), that it should be so. For this he became man; for this he did and suffered all things undertaken by him; for this he chose as he did. For therefore were they
necessary, because they were to be, and they were to be because they were, and they were because they were; and, if you wish to know the real necessity of all things which he did and suffered, know that they were of necessity, because he wished them to be. But no necessity preceded his will. Wherefore if they were not save by his will, then, had he not willed they would not have existed. So then, no one took his life from him, but he laid it down of himself and took it again; for he had power
to lay it down and to take it again, as he himself said.

Boso. You have satisfied me that it cannot be proved that he was subjected to death by any necessity
; and I cannot regret my importunity in urging you to make this explanation.

Anselm. I think we have shown with sufficient clearness how it was that God took a man without sin from a sinful substance; but I would on no account deny that there is no other explanation than this which we have given, for God can certainly do what human reason cannot grasp. But since this appears adequate, and since in search of other arguments we should involve ourselves in such questions as that of original sin, and how it was transmitted by our first
parents to all mankind, except this man of whom we are speaking; and since, also, we should be drawn into various other questions, each demanding its own separate consideration; let us be satisfied with this account of the matter, and go on to complete our intended work.

Boso. As you choose; but with this condition that, by the help of God, you will sometime give this other explanation, which you owe me, as it were, but which now you avoid discussing.

Anselm. Inasmuch as I entertain this desire myself, I will not refuse you; but because of the uncertainty of future events, I dare not promise you, but commend it to the will of God. But say now, what remains to be unravelled with regard to the question which you proposed in the first place, and which involves many others with it?

Boso. The substance of the inquiry was this, why God became man, for the purpose of saving men by his death, when he could have done it in some other way. And you, by numerous and positive reasons, have shown that the restoring of mankind ought not to take place, and could not, without man paid the
debt which he owed God for his sin. And this debt was so great that, while none but man must solve the debt, none but God was able to do it; so that he who
does it must be both God and man. And hence arises a necessity that God should take man into unity with his own person; so that he who in his own nature was bound to pay the debt, but could not, might be able to do it in the person of God. In fine, you have shown that that man, who was also God, must be formed from the virgin, and from the person of the Son of God, and that he could be taken without sin, though from a sinful substance. Moreover, you have clearly shown the life of this man to
have been so excellent and so glorious as to make ample satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and even infinitely more. It now, therefore, remains to be shown how that payment is made to God for the sins of men.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XVIII (b)

How Christ’s life is paid to God for the sins of men, and in what sense Christ ought, and in what sense he ought not, or was not bound, to suffer.

Anselm. If he allowed himself to be slain for the sake of justice, he did not give his life for the honor of God?

Boso. It should seem so, but I cannot understand, although I do not doubt it, how he could do this reasonably. If I saw how he could be perfectly holy, and yet forever preserve his life, I would acknowledge that he freely gave, for the honor of God, such a gift as surpasses all things else but God himself, and is able to atone for all the sins of men.

Anselm. Do you not perceive that when he bore
with gentle patience the insults put upon him, violence and even crucifixion among thieves that he might maintain strict holiness; by this he set men an example that they should never turn aside from the holiness due to God on account of personal sacrifice? But how could he have done this, had he, as he might have done, avoided the death brought upon him for such a reason?

Boso. But surely there was no need of this, for many persons before his coming, and John the Baptist after his coming but before his death, had sufficiently enforced this example by nobly dying for the sake of the truth.

Anselm. No man except this one ever gave to God what he was not obliged to lose, or paid a debt he did not owe. But he freely offered to the Father what there was no need of his ever losing, and paid for sinners what he owed not for himself. Therefore he set a much nobler example, that each one should not hesitate to give to God, for himself, what he must at any rate lose before long, since it was the voice of reason; for he, when not in want of anything
for himself and not compelled by others, who deserved nothing of him but punishment, gave so precious a life, even the life of so illustrious a personage, with such willingness.

Boso. You very nearly meet my wishes; but suffer me to make one inquiry, which you may think foolish, but which, nevertheless, I find no easy thing to answer. You say that when he died he gave what he did not owe. But no one will deny that it was better for him, or that so doing he pleased God more than if he had not done it. Nor will any one say that he was not bound to do what was best to be done, and what
he knew would be more pleasing to God. How
then can we affirm that he did not owe God the thing which he did, that is, the thing which he knew to be best and most pleasing to God, and especially since every creature owes God all that he is and all that he knows and all that he is capable of?

Anselm. Though the creature has nothing of himself, yet when God grants him the liberty of doing or not doing a thing, he leaves the alternative with him, so that, though one is better than the other, yet neither is positively demanded. And, whichever he does, it may be said that he ought to do it; and if he takes the better choice, he deserves a reward; because he renders freely what is his own. For, though celibacy be better than marriage, yet neither is
absolutely enjoined upon man; so that both he who chooses marriage and he who prefers celibacy, may be said to do as they ought. For no one says that either celibacy or marriage ought not to be chosen; but we say that what a man esteems best before taking action upon any of these things, this he ought to do. And if a man preserves his celibacy as a free gift offered to God, he looks for a reward. When you say that the creature owes God what he knows to be the better choice, and what he is able
to do, if you mean that he owes it as a debt, without implying any command on the part of God, it is not always true. Thus, as I have already said, a man is not bound to celibacy as a debt, but ought to marry if he prefers it. And if you are unable to understand the use of this word “debere,” when no debt is implied, let me inform you that we use the word “debere“
precisely as we sometimes do the words “posse, ” and “non posse, ” and also “necessitas,” when the ability, etc., is not in the things
themselves, but in something else. When, for instance, we say that the poor ought to receive alms from the rich, we mean that the rich ought to bestow alms upon the
poor. For this is a debt not owed by the poor but by the rich. We also say that God ought to be exalted over all, not because there is any obligation resting upon him, but because all things ought to be subject to him. And he wishes that all creatures should be what they ought; for what God wishes to be ought to be. And, in like manner, when any creature wishes to do a thing that is left entirely at his own disposal, we say that he ought to do it, for what he wishes to be ought to be. So our
Lord Jesus, when he wished, as we have said, to suffer death, ought to have done precisely what he did; because he ought to be what he wished, and was not bound to do anything as a debt. As he is both God and man, in connection with his human nature, which made him a man, he must also have received from the Divine nature that control over himself which freed him from all obligation, except to do as he chose. In like manner, as one person of the Trinity, he must have had whatever he possessed of
his own right, so as to be complete in himself, and could not have been under obligations to another, nor have need of giving anything in order to be repaid himself.

Boso. Now I see clearly that he did not give himself up to die for the honor of God, as a debt; for this my own reason proves, and yet he ought to have done what he did.

Anselm. That honor certainly belongs to the whole Trinity; and, since he is very God, the Son of God, he offered himself for his own honor, as well as for that of the Father and the Holy Spirit; that is, he
gave his humanity to his divinity, which is one person of the Triune God. But, though we express our idea more definitely by clinging to the precise truth, yet we may say, according to our custom, that the Son freely gave himself to the Father. For
thus we plainly affirm that in speaking of one person we understand the whole Deity, to whom as man he offered himself. And, by the names of Father and Son, a wondrous depth of devotion is excited in the hearts of the hearers, when it is said that the Son supplicates the Father on our behalf.

Boso. This I readily acknowledge.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XIX

How human salvation follows upon his death.

Anselm. Let us now observe, if we can, how the salvation of men rests on this.

Boso. This is the very wish of my heart. For, although I think I understand you, yet I wish to get from you the close chain of argument.

Anselm. There is no need of explaining how precious was the gift which the Son freely gave.

Boso. That is clear enough already.

Anselm. But you surely will not think that he deserves no reward, who freely gave so great a gift to God.

Boso. I see that it is necessary for the Father to reward the Son; else he is either unjust in not wishing to do it, or weak in not being able to do it; but neither of these things can be attributed to God.

Anselm. He who rewards another either gives him something which he does not have, or else remits some rightful claim upon him. But anterior to the
great offering of the Son, all things belonging to the Father were his, nor did he ever owe anything which could be forgiven him. How then can a reward be bestowed on one who needs nothing, and to whom no gift or release can be made?

Boso. I see on the one hand a necessity for a reward, and on the other it appears impossible; for God must necessarily render payment for what he owes, and yet there is no one to receive it.

Anselm. But if a reward so large and so deserved is not given to him or any one else, then it will almost appear as if the Son had done this great work in vain.

Boso. Such a supposition is impious.

Anselm. The reward then must be bestowed upon some one else, for it cannot be upon him.

Boso. This is necessarily so.

Anselm. Had the Son wished to give some one else what was due to him, could the Father rightfully prevent it, or refuse to give it to the other person?

Boso. No! but I think it would be both just and necessary that the gift should be given by the Father to whomsoever the Son wished; because the Son should be allowed to give away what is his own, and the Father cannot bestow it at all except upon some other person.

Anselm. Upon whom would he more properly bestow the reward accruing from his death, than upon those for whose salvation, as right reason teaches, he became man; and for whose sake, as we have already said, he left an example of suffering death to preserve holiness? For surely in vain will men imitate him, if they be not also partakers of his reward. Or whom could he more justly make heirs of the inheritance, which he does not need, and of the superfluity of
his
possessions, than his parents and brethren? What more proper than that, when he beholds so many of them weighed down by so heavy a debt, and wasting through poverty, in the depth of their miseries, he should remit the debt incurred by their sins, and give them what their transgressions had forfeited?

Boso. The universe can hear of nothing more reasonable, more sweet, more desirable. And I receive such confidence from this that I cannot describe the joy with which my heart exults. For it seems to me that God can reject none who come to him in his name.

Anselm. Certainly not, if he come aright. And the Scriptures, which rest on solid truth as on a firm foundation, and which, by the help of God, we have somewhat examined,—the Scriptures, I say, show us how to approach in order to share such favor, and how we ought to live under it.

Boso. And whatever is built on this foundation is founded on an immovable rock.

Anselm. I think I have nearly enough answered your inquiry, though I might do it still more fully, and there are doubtless many reasons which are beyond me and which mortal ken does not reach. It is also plain that God had no need of doing the thing spoken of, but eternal truth demanded it. For though God is said to have done what that man did, on account of the personal union made; yet God was in no need of descending from heaven to conquer the devil, nor
of contending against him in holiness to free mankind. But God demanded that man should conquer the devil, so that he who had offended by sin should atone by holiness. As God owed nothing to the devil but punishment, so man must only make amends by
conquering the devil as man had already been conquered by him. But whatever was demanded of man, he owed to God and not to the devil.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XX

How great and how just is God’s compassion.

NOW we have found the compassion of God which appeared lost to you when we were considering God’s holiness and man’s sin; we have found it, I say, so great and so consistent with his holiness, as to be incomparably above anything that can be conceived. For what compassion can excel these words of the Father, addressed to the sinner doomed to eternal torments and having no way of escape: “Take my only begotten Son and make him an offering for yourself;” or these words
of the Son: “Take me, and ransom your souls.” For these are the voices they utter, when inviting and leading us to faith in the Gospel. Or can anything be more just than for him to remit all debt since he has earned a reward greater than all debt, if given with the love which he deserves.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXI

How it is impossible for the devil to be reconciled.

IF you carefully consider the scheme of human salvation, you will perceive the reconciliation of the devil, of which you made inquiry, to be impossible. For, as man could not be reconciled but by the death of the God-man, by whose holiness the loss occasioned by man’s sin should be made up; so fallen angels cannot be saved but by the death of a God-angel who by his holiness may repair the evil occasioned by the
sins of his companions. And as man must not be
restored by a man of a different race, though of the same nature, so no angel ought to be saved by any other angel, though all were of the same nature, for they are not like men, all of the same race. For all angels were not sprung from one, as all men were. And there is another objection to their restoration, viz , that, as they fell with none to plot their fall, so they must rise with none to aid them; but this is impossible. But otherwise they cannot be restored to their original dignity.
For, had they not sinned, they would have been confirmed in virtue without any foreign aid, simply by the power given to them from the first. And, therefore, if any one thinks that the redemption of our Lord ought to be extended even to the fallen angels, he is convinced by reason, for by reason he has been deceived. And I do not say this as if to deny that the virtue of his death far exceeds all the sins of men and angels, but because infallible reason rejects the reconciliation of the fallen
angels.

Cur Deus Homo

CHAPTER XXII

How the truth of the Old and New Testament is shown in the things which have been said.

Boso. All things which you have said seem to me reasonable and incontrovertible. And by the solution of the single question proposed do I see the truth of all that is contained in the Old and New Testament. For, in proving that God became man by necessity, leaving out what was taken from the Bible, viz., the remarks on the persons of the Trinity, and on Adam, you convince both Jews and Pagans by the mere force of reason. And the God-man himself originates

the New Testament and approves the Old. And, as we must acknowledge him to be true, so no one can dissent from anything contained in these books.

Anselm. If we have said anything that needs correction, I am willing to make the correction if it be a reasonable one. But, if the conclusions which we have arrived at by reason seem confirmed by the testimony of the truth, then ought we to attribute it, not to ourselves, but to God, who is blessed forever.—

Psalms 15

A Psalm by David.

1

Yahweh, who shall dwell in your sanctuary?

Who shall live on your holy hill?

2

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right,

and speaks truth in his heart;

3

he who doesn’t slander with his tongue,

nor does evil to his friend,

nor casts slurs against his fellow man;

4

in whose eyes a vile man is despised,

but who honors those who fear Yahweh;

he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;

5

he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury,

nor take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be shaken.

Psalms 18

For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,

1

I love you, Yahweh, my strength.

2

Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer;

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

3

I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised;

and I am saved from my enemies.

4

The cords of death surrounded me.

The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

5

The cords of Sheol were around me.

The snares of death came on me.

6

In my distress I called on Yahweh,

and cried to my God.

He heard my voice out of his temple.

My cry before him came into his ears.

7

Then the earth shook and trembled.

The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken,

because he was angry.

8

Smoke went out of his nostrils.

Consuming fire came out of his mouth.

Coals were kindled by it.

9

He bowed the heavens also, and came down.

Thick darkness was under his feet.

10

He rode on a cherub, and flew.

Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

11

He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him,

darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

12

At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed,

hailstones and coals of fire.

13

Yahweh also thundered in the sky.

The Most High uttered his voice:

hailstones and coals of fire.

14

He sent out his arrows, and scattered them.

He routed them with great lightning bolts.

15

Then the channels of waters appeared.

The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh,

at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16

He sent from on high.

He took me.

He drew me out of many waters.

17

He delivered me from my strong enemy,

from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

18

They came on me in the day of my calamity,

but Yahweh was my support.

19

He brought me out also into a large place.

He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20

Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness.

According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me.

21

For I have kept the ways of Yahweh,

and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22

For all his ordinances were before me.

I didn’t put away his statutes from me.

23

I was also blameless with him.

I kept myself from my iniquity.

24

Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25

With the merciful you will show yourself merciful.

With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

26

With the pure, you will show yourself pure.

With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

27

For you will save the afflicted people,

but the arrogant eyes you will bring down.

28

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh.

My God will light up my darkness.

29

For by you, I advance through a troop.

By my God, I leap over a wall.

30

As for God, his way is perfect.

Yahweh’s word is tried.

He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

31

For who is God, except Yahweh?

Who is a rock, besides our God,

32

the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

33

He makes my feet like deer’s feet,

and sets me on my high places.

34

He teaches my hands to war,

so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

35

You have also given me the shield of your salvation.

Your right hand sustains me.

Your gentleness has made me great.

36

You have enlarged my steps under me,

My feet have not slipped.

37

I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them.

I won’t turn away until they are consumed.

38

I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise.

They shall fall under my feet.

39

For you have armed me with strength to the battle.

You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

40

You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,

that I might cut off those who hate me.

41

They cried, but there was no one to save;

even to Yahweh, but he didn’t answer them.

42

Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind.

I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

43

You have delivered me from the strivings of the people.

You have made me the head of the nations.

A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

44

As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me.

The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

45

The foreigners shall fade away,

and shall come trembling out of their strongholds.

46

Yahweh lives! Blessed be my rock.

Exalted be the God of my salvation,

47

even the God who executes vengeance for me,

and subdues peoples under me.

48

He rescues me from my enemies.

Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me.

You deliver me from the violent man.

49

Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations,

and will sing praises to your name.

50

He gives great deliverance to his king,

and shows loving kindness to his anointed,

to David and to his offspring, forever more.

Psalms 26

By David.

1

Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity.

I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.

2

Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me.

Try my heart and my mind.

3

For your loving kindness is before my eyes.

I have walked in your truth.

4

I have not sat with deceitful men,

neither will I go in with hypocrites.

5

I hate the assembly of evildoers,

and will not sit with the wicked.

6

I will wash my hands in innocence,

so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,

7

that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard

and tell of all your wondrous deeds.

8

Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house,

the place where your glory dwells.

9

Don’t gather my soul with sinners,

nor my life with bloodthirsty men;

10

in whose hands is wickedness,

their right hand is full of bribes.

11

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.

Redeem me, and be merciful to me.

12

My foot stands in an even place.

In the congregations I will bless Yahweh.

Psalms 28

By David.

1

To you, Yahweh, I call.

My rock, don’t be deaf to me,

lest, if you are silent to me,

I would become like those who go down into the pit.

2

Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,

when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.

3

Don’t draw me away with the wicked,

with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors,

but mischief is in their hearts.

4

Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.

Give them according to the operation of their hands.

Bring back on them what they deserve.

5

Because they don’t respect the works of Yahweh,

nor the operation of his hands,

he will break them down and not build them up.

6

Blessed be Yahweh,

because he has heard the voice of my petitions.

7

Yahweh is my strength and my shield.

My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.

Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.

With my song I will thank him.

8

Yahweh is their strength.

He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.

9

Save your people,

and bless your inheritance.

Be their shepherd also,

and bear them up forever.

Psalms 37

By David.

1

Don’t fret because of evildoers,

neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

2

For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,

and wither like the green herb.

3

Trust in Yahweh, and do good.

Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.

4

Also delight yourself in Yahweh,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5

Commit your way to Yahweh.

Trust also in him, and he will do this:

6

he will make your righteousness shine out like light,

and your justice as the noon day sun.

7

Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him.

Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,

because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.

8

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.

Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.

9

For evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for Yahweh shall inherit the land.

10

For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more.

Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.

11

But the humble shall inherit the land,

and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

12

The wicked plots against the just,

and gnashes at him with his teeth.

13

The Lord will laugh at him,

for he sees that his day is coming.

14

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,

to cast down the poor and needy,

to kill those who are upright on the path.

15

Their sword shall enter into their own heart.

Their bows shall be broken.

16

Better is a little that the righteous has,

than the abundance of many wicked.

17

For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but Yahweh upholds the righteous.

18

Yahweh knows the days of the perfect.

Their inheritance shall be forever.

19

They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil.

In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

20

But the wicked shall perish.

The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields.

They will vanish—

vanish like smoke.

21

The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back,

but the righteous give generously.

22

For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land.

Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.

23

A man’s steps are established by Yahweh.

He delights in his way.

24

Though he stumble, he shall not fall,

for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.

25

I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his children begging for bread.

26

All day long he deals graciously, and lends.

His offspring is blessed.

27

Depart from evil, and do good.

Live securely forever.

28

For Yahweh loves justice,

and doesn’t forsake his saints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.

29

The righteous shall inherit the land,

and live in it forever.

30

The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom.

His tongue speaks justice.

31

The law of his God is in his heart.

None of his steps shall slide.

32

The wicked watch the righteous,

and seek to kill him.

33

Yahweh will not leave him in his hand,

nor condemn him when he is judged.

34

Wait for Yahweh, and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land.

When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35

I have seen the wicked in great power,

spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

36

But he passed away, and behold, he was not.

Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

37

Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,

for there is a future for the man of peace.

38

As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together.

The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

39

But the salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh.

He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

40

Yahweh helps them and rescues them.

He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,

because they have taken refuge in him.

Psalms 38

A Psalm by David, for a memorial.

1

Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your wrath,

neither chasten me in your hot displeasure.

2

For your arrows have pierced me,

your hand presses hard on me.

3

There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation,

neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.

4

For my iniquities have gone over my head.

As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

5

My wounds are loathsome and corrupt

because of my foolishness.

6

I am in pain and bowed down greatly.

I go mourning all day long.

7

For my waist is filled with burning.

There is no soundness in my flesh.

8

I am faint and severely bruised.

I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.

9

Lord, all my desire is before you.

My groaning is not hidden from you.

10

My heart throbs.

My strength fails me.

As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.

11

My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague.

My kinsmen stand far away.

12

They also who seek after my life lay snares.

Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

and meditate deceits all day long.

13

But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear.

I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.

14

Yes, I am as a man who doesn’t hear,

in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15

For I hope in you, Yahweh.

You will answer, Lord my God.

16

For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me,

or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

17

For I am ready to fall.

My pain is continually before me.

18

For I will declare my iniquity.

I will be sorry for my sin.

19

But my enemies are vigorous and many.

Those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20

They who render evil for good are also adversaries to me,

because I follow what is good.

21

Don’t forsake me, Yahweh.

My God, don’t be far from me.

22

Hurry to help me,

Lord, my salvation.

Psalms 145

A praise psalm by David.

1

I will exalt you, my God, the King.

I will praise your name forever and ever.

2

Every day I will praise you.

I will extol your name forever and ever.

3

Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised!

His greatness is unsearchable.

4

One generation will commend your works to another,

and will declare your mighty acts.

5

I will meditate on the glorious majesty of your honor,

on your wondrous works.

6

Men will speak of the might of your awesome acts.

I will declare your greatness.

7

They will utter the memory of your great goodness,

and will sing of your righteousness.

8

Yahweh is gracious, merciful,

slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.

9

Yahweh is good to all.

His tender mercies are over all his works.

10

All your works will give thanks to you, Yahweh.

Your saints will extol you.

11

They will speak of the glory of your kingdom,

and talk about your power,

12

to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts,

the glory of the majesty of his kingdom.

13

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.

Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

Yahweh is faithful in all his words,

and loving in all his deeds.

14

Yahweh upholds all who fall,

and raises up all those who are bowed down.

15

The eyes of all wait for you.

You give them their food in due season.

16

You open your hand,

and satisfy the desire of every living thing.

17

Yahweh is righteous in all his ways,

and gracious in all his works.

18

Yahweh is near to all those who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

19

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him.

He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

20

Yahweh preserves all those who love him,

but he will destroy all the wicked.

21

My mouth will speak the praise of Yahweh.

Let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Isaiah 64

1

Oh that you would tear the heavens,

that you would come down,

that the mountains might quake at your presence.

2

As when fire kindles the brushwood,

and the fire causes the water to boil;

Make your name known to your adversaries,

that the nations may tremble at your presence!

3

When you did awesome things which we didn’t look for,

you came down, and the mountains quaked at your presence.

4

For from of old men have not heard,

nor perceived by the ear,

nor has the eye seen a God besides you,

who works for him who waits for him.

5

You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness,

those who remember you in your ways.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned.

We have been in sin for a long time.

Shall we be saved?

6

For we have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment.

We all fade like a leaf;

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7

There is no one who calls on your name,

who stirs himself up to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

8

But now, Yahweh, you are our Father.

We are the clay and you our potter.

We all are the work of your hand.

9

Don’t be furious, Yahweh.

Don’t remember iniquity forever.

Look and see, we beg you,

we are all your people.

10

Your holy cities have become a wilderness.

Zion has become a wilderness,

Jerusalem a desolation.

11

Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised you

is burned with fire.

All our pleasant places are laid waste.

12

Will you hold yourself back for these things, Yahweh?

Will you keep silent and punish us very severely?

Wisdom of Solomon 5

1

Then the righteous man will stand in great boldness

before the face of those who afflicted him,

and those who make his labors of no account.

2

When they see him, they will be troubled with terrible fear,

and will be amazed at the marvel of salvation.

3

They will speak among themselves repenting,

and for distress of spirit they will groan,

“This was he whom we used to hold in derision,

as a parable of reproach.

4

We fools considered his life madness,

and his end without honor.

5

How was he counted among sons of God?

How is his lot among saints?

6

Truly we went astray from the way of truth.

The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us.

The sun didn’t rise for us.

7

We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction.

We traveled through trackless deserts,

but we didn’t know the Lord’s way.

8

What did our arrogance profit us?

What good have riches and boasting brought us?

9

Those things all passed away as a shadow,

like a message that runs by,

10

like a ship passing through the billowy water,

which, when it has gone by, there is no trace to be found,

no pathway of its keel in the billows.

11

Or it is like when a bird flies through the air,

no evidence of its passage is found,

but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of its pinions,

and torn apart with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through.

Afterwards no sign of its coming remains.

12

Or it is like when an arrow is shot at a mark,

the air divided by it closes up again immediately,

so that men don’t know where it passed through.

13

So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;

and we had no sign of virtue to show,

but we were utterly consumed in our wickedness.”

14

Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff carried by the wind,

and as foam vanishing before a tempest;

and is scattered like smoke by the wind,

and passes by as the remembrance of a guest that waits but a day.

15

But the righteous live forever.

Their reward is in the Lord,

and the care for them with the Most High.

16

Therefore they will receive the crown of royal dignity

and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand,

because he will cover them with his right hand,

and he will shield them with his arm.

17

He will take his jealousy as complete armor,

and will make the whole creation his weapons to punish his enemies:

18

He will put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and will wear impartial judgment as a helmet.

19

He will take holiness as an invincible shield.

20

He will sharpen stern wrath for a sword.

The world will go with him to fight against his frenzied foes.

21

Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim.

They will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow.

22

Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled from an engine of war.

The water of the sea will be angered against them.

Rivers will sternly overwhelm them.

23

A mighty blast will encounter them.

It will winnow them away like a tempest.

So lawlessness will make all the land desolate.

Their evil-doing will overturn the thrones of princes.

Matthew 13

1

On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the seaside.

2

Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3

He spoke to them many things in parables, saying,

“Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4

As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5

Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6

When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7

Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8

Others fell on good soil and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10

The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

11

He answered them,

“To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12

For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

14

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘By hearing you will hear,

and will in no way understand;

Seeing you will see,

and will in no way perceive;

15

for this people’s heart has grown callous,

their ears are dull of hearing,

and they have closed their eyes;

or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their heart,

and would turn again,

and I would heal them.’

16

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17

For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.

18

“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19

When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20

What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately with joy receives it;

21

yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23

What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”

24

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25

but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds

also among the wheat, and went away.

26

But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27

The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’

28

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’

29

“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30

Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

31

He set another parable before them, saying,

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field,

32

which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

33

He spoke another parable to them.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures

of meal, until it was all leavened.”

34

Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,

35

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”

36

Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”

37

He answered them,

“He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38

the field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39

The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40

As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity,

42

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

46

who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind,

48

which, when it was filled, fishermen drew up on the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

49

So it will be in the end of the world.

The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50

and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

51

Jesus said to them,

“Have you understood all these things?”

They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”

52

He said to them,

“Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

53

When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54

Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

55

Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

56

Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?”

57

They were offended by him.

But Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.”

58

He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Luke 12

1

Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all,

“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

2

But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.

3

Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

4

“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

5

But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna.

Yes, I tell you, fear him.

6

“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two assaria coins

? Not one of them is forgotten by God.

7

But the very hairs of your head are all counted. Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

8

“I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God;

9

but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of God’s angels.

10

Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

11

When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;

12

for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

13

One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14

But he said to him,

“Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

15

He said to them,

“Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

16

He spoke a parable to them, saying,

“The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly.

17

He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’

18

He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

19

I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

20

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

21

So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

22

He said to his disciples,

“Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

23

Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

24

Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

25

Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit

to his height?

26

If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?

27

Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

28

But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

29

Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.

30

For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

31

But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.

32

Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

33

Sell what you have and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

34

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

35

“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning.

36

Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the wedding feast; that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.

37

Blessed are those servants whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you that he will dress himself, make them recline, and will come and serve them.

38

They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.

39

But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into.

40

Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”

41

Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?”

42

The Lord said,

“Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

43

Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.

44

Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has.

45

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My lord delays his coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,

46

then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he isn’t expecting him, and in an hour that he doesn’t know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful.

47

That servant, who knew his lord’s will, and didn’t prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,

48

but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

49

“I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

50

But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

51

Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

52

For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

53

They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

54

He said to the multitudes also,

“When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens.

55

When a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens.

56

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you don’t interpret this time?

57

Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

58

For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

59

I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny.

”

John 16

1

“I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.

2

They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.

3

They will do these things

because they have not known the Father, nor me.

4

But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

5

But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’

6

But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.

7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

8

When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;

9

about sin, because they don’t believe in me;

10

about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more;

11

about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.

12

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.

13

However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

14

He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.

15

All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes

of mine and will declare it to you.

16

A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”

17

Some of his disciples therefore said to one another, “What is this that he says to us,

‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me;’

and,

‘Because I go to the Father’

?”

18

They said therefore, “What is this that he says,

‘A little while’

? We don’t know what he is saying.”

19

Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them,

“Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

20

Most certainly I tell you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

21

A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.

22

Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

23

“In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

24

Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

25

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But the time is coming when I will no more speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

26

In that day you will ask in my name; and I don’t say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,

27

for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God.

28

I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”

29

His disciples said to him, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figures of speech.

30

Now we know that you know all things, and don’t need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”

31

Jesus answered them,

“Do you now believe?

32

Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

33

I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

Romans 1

1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the Good News of God,

2

which he promised before through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,

3

concerning his Son, who was born of the offspring of David according to the flesh,

4

who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

5

through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for his name’s sake;

6

among whom you are also called to belong to Jesus Christ;

7

to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.

9

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the Good News of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my prayers,

10

requesting, if by any means now at last I may be prospered by the will of God to come to you.

11

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that you may be established;

12

that is, that I with you may be encouraged in you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.

13

Now I don’t desire to have you unaware, brothers, that I often planned to come to you, and was hindered so far, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.

14

I am debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.

15

So as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News to you also who are in Rome.

16

For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

17

For in it is revealed God’s righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, “But the righteous shall live by faith.”

18

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19

because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.

20

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse.

21

Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened.

22

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23

and traded the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things.

24

Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;

25

who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26

For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.

27

Likewise also the men, leaving the natural function of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men doing what is inappropriate with men, and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.

28

Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

29

being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil habits, secret slanderers,

30

backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31

without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;

32

who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 8

1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.

3

For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;

4

that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

6

For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;

7

because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

8

Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.

9

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

10

If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

11

But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

13

For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.

15

For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

16

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;

17

and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.

19

For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

20

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21

that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.

22

For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

23

Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.

24

For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?

25

But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.

26

In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.

27

He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

28

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

29

For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30

Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.

31

What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

32

He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?

33

Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.

34

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36

Even as it is written,

“For your sake we are killed all day long.

We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37

No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39

nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 2

1

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

2

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

3

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

4

My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,

5

that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6

We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.

7

But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,

8

which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.

9

But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,

which didn’t enter into the heart of man,

these God has prepared for those who love him.”

10

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

11

For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.

12

But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.

13

We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

14

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15

But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.

16

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

1 Corinthians 15

1

Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2

by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5

and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6

Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8

and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

9

For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

10

But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

11

Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

12

Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

14

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

15

Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

16

For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised.

17

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18

Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19

If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

20

But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruit of those who are asleep.

21

For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

22

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

23

But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.

24

Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

25

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

26

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

27

For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

28

When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

29

Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead aren’t raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

30

Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

31

I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

32

If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then “let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

33

Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.”

34

Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

35

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?”

36

You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

37

That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

38

But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

39

All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

40

There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

41

There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

42

So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.

43

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

44

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

45

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46

However that which is spiritual isn’t first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

47

The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven.

48

As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

49

As we have borne the image of those made of dust, let’s also bear the image of the heavenly.

50

Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s Kingdom; neither does the perishable inherit imperishable.

51

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

52

in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

53

For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54

But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

55

“Death, where is your sting?

Hades, where is your victory?”

56

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

57

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Proslogium; Monologium; An Appendix in Behalf of the Fool by Gaunilon; and Cur Deus Homo

Footnotes

1. From Weber’s History of Philosophy. Trans. by F. Thilly. New York Scribner’s. Price, $2.50.

2. The Philosophy of Descartes in Extracts from His Writings. H. A. P. Torrey. New York, 1892. P. 161 et seq.

3. The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza. Translated by R.H.M.Elwes. London, 1848. VoI. II., P. 51 et seq.

4. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. London: Ward, Lock, Co. P. 529 et seq.

5. New Essays Concerning Human Understanding. Translated by A.G. Langley. New York, 1896. P. 502 at seq.

6. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by F. Max Muller. New York, 1896. P. 483 et seq.

7. Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Translated by E. S. Haldane and F.H. Simson. London, 1896. Vol. III., p. 62 et seg.

8. A System of Christian Doctrine. Translated by A. Cave and J. S. Banks, Edinburgh, 1880. Vol. I., p. 216 et seq

9. Microcosmus. Translated by E. Hamilton and E. E. C. Jones. Edinburgh, 1887. Vol. II., p. 669 et seq.

10. Theism. New York, 1893. Seventh edition. P. 278 et seq.

11. ,Nothing is here treated as an entity, supposed actually to precede the supreme Being in existence. The fallacy involved is shown below.—Tr.

12. Accidents, as Anselm uses the term, are facts external to the essence of a being, which may yet be conceived to produce changes in a mutable being.

13. This and the succeeding chapter are numbered differently in the different editions of Anselm’s texts.

St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers

1. Introduction

2. First Meditation: Of The Dignity And The Woe Of Man’S Estate.

3. Second Meditation: Of The Awful Judgment: For Awakening Fear In Oneself.

4. Third Meditation: A Bemoaning Of Virginity Sadly Lost.

5. Fourth Meditation: Teaching The Sinner To Bestir Himself For The Amendment Of His Sins.

6. Fifth Meditation: [§ 22] On The Life Of Soul And Of Flesh, [§ 23] And Of The Glory Of The Good Soul, [§ 24] And The Misery Of The Wicked Soul, On Their Departure From The Body.

7. Sixth Meditation: Designed To Brace The Heart Against Despair, Forasmuch As We Shall Without Doubt Find True Mercy For All Our Sins If We Do True Penance.

8. Seventh Meditation

9. Eighth Meditation: The Penitent’S Address To God His Father.

10. Ninth Meditation: Of The Humanity Of Christ.

11. Tenth Meditation: [§ 50.] Of The Passion Of Christ.

12. Eleventh Meditation: Of The Redemption Of Mankind.

13. Twelfth Meditation: Of The Humanity Of Christ.

14. Thirteenth Meditation: Of Christ.

15. Fourteenth Meditation

16. Fifteenth Meditation: Of The Memory Of Past Benefits From Christ, Of The Experience Of Present Benefits, And Of The Hope Of Future.

17. Sixteenth Meditation: Of Present Benefits From God.

18. Seventeenth Meditation: Of Future Benefits From God.

19. Eighteenth Meditation: Thanksgiving For The Benefits Of The Divine Mercy, And Prayer For The Divine Assistance.

20. Nineteenth Meditation: Of The Sweetness Of The Divine Majesty, And Of Many Other Things.

21. Twentieth Meditation

22. Twenty-First Meditation: [§ 103. The Soul Of Man Urged To Seek And To Find Its God. The Mind Aroused To The Contemplation Of God.]

The Devotions of Saint Anselm

1. Introduction

2. Proslogion Or Address To God Concerning His Existence

1. Preface

2. Chapter I

3. Chapter II

4. Chapter III

5. Chapter IV

6. Chapter V

7. Chapter VI

8. Chapter VII

9. Chapter VIII

10. Chapter IX

11. Chapter X

12. Chapter XI

13. Chapter XII

14. Chapter XIII

15. Chapter XIV

16. Chapter XV

17. Chapter XVI

18. Chapter XVII

19. Chapter XVIII

20. Chapter XIX

21. Chapter XX

22. Chapter XXI

23. Chapter XXII

24. Chapter XXIII

25. Chapter XXIV

26. Chapter XXV

27. Chapter XXVI

3. Preface To The Meditations

4. Meditation I

1. I

2. II

3. III

4. IV

5. V

6. VI

7. VII

8. VIII

9. IX

10. X

11. XI

12. XII

13. XIII

14. XIV

5. Meditation II

6. Meditation III

7. Meditation IV

8. Prayers Of St Anselm

1. I

2. II

3. III

4. IV

9. Letters Of Spiritual Counsel

1. INTRODUCTORY NOTE

2. I

3. II

4. III

5. IV

6. V

Contents

Introduction

Proslogium - Or Discourse On The Existence Of God

1. PREFACE

2. CHAPTER I

3. CHAPTER II

4. CHAPTER III

5. CHAPTER IV

6. CHAPTER V

7. CHAPTER VI

8. CHAPTER VII

9. CHAPTER VIII

10. CHAPTER IX

11. CHAPTER X

12. CHAPTER XI

13. CHAPTER XII

14. CHAPTER XIII

15. CHAPTER XIV

16. CHAPTER XV

17. CHAPTER XVI

18. CHAPTER XVII

19. CHAPTER XVIII

20. CHAPTER XIX

21. CHAPTER XX

22. CHAPTER XXI

23. CHAPTER XXII

24. CHAPTER XXIII

25. CHAPTER XXIV

26. CHAPTER XXV

27. CHAPTER XXVI

Monologium - On The Being Of God

PREFACE

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIV

CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXVI

CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXIII

CHAPTER XXXIV

CHAPTER XXXV

CHAPTER XXXVI

CHAPTER XXXVII

CHAPTER XXXVIII

CHAPTER XXXIX

CHAPTER XL

CHAPTER XLI

CHAPTER XLII

CHAPTER XLIII

CHAPTER XLIV

CHAPTER XLV

CHAPTER XLVI

CHAPTER XLVII

CHAPTER XLVIII

CHAPTER XLIX

CHAPTER L

CHAPTER LI

CHAPTER LII

CHAPTER LIII

CHAPTER LIV

CHAPTER LV

CHAPTER LVI

CHAPTER LVII

CHAPTER LVIII

CHAPTER LIX

CHAPTER LX

CHAPTER LXI

CHAPTER LXII

CHAPTER LXIII

CHAPTER LXIV

CHAPTER LXV

CHAPTER LXVI

CHAPTER LXVII

CHAPTER LXVIII

CHAPTER LXIX

CHAPTER LXX

CHAPTER LXXI

CHAPTER LXXII

CHAPTER LXXIII

CHAPTER LXXIV

CHAPTER LXXV

CHAPTER LXXVI

CHAPTER LXXVII

CHAPTER LXXVIII

CHAPTER LXXIX

Appendix

1. IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL - AN ANSWER TO THE ARGUMENT OF ANSELM IN THE PROSLOGIUM

2. IN REPLY TO GAUNILON’S ANSWER IN BEHALF OF THE FOOL

3. CHAPTER I

4. CHAPTER II

5. CHAPTER III

6. CHAPTER IV

7. CHAPTER V

8. CHAPTER VI

9. CHAPTER VII

10. CHAPTER VIII

11. CHAPTER IX

12. CHAPTER X

Cur Deus Homo

1. PREFACE

2. BOOK FIRST: CHAPTER I

3. CHAPTER II

4. CHAPTER III

5. CHAPTER IV

6. CHAPTER V

7. CHAPTER VI

8. CHAPTER VII

9. CHAPTER VIII

10. CHAPTER IX

11. CHAPTER X

12. CHAPTER XI

13. CHAPTER XII

14. CHAPTER XIII

15. CHAPTER XIV

16. CHAPTER XV

17. CHAPTER XVI

18. CHAPTER XVII

19. CHAPTER XVIII

20. CHAPTER XIX

21. CHAPTER XX

22. CHAPTER XXI

23. CHAPTER XXII

24. CHAPTER XXIII

25. CHAPTER XXIV

26. CHAPTER XXV

27. BOOK SECOND: CHAPTER I

28. CHAPTER II

29. CHAPTER III

30. CHAPTER IV

31. CHAPTER V

32. CHAPTER VI

33. CHAPTER VII

34. CHAPTER VIII

35. CHAPTER IX

36. CHAPTER X

37. CHAPTER XI

38. CHAPTER XII

39. CHAPTER XIII

40. CHAPTER XIV

41. CHAPTER XV

42. CHAPTER XVI

43. CHAPTER XVII

44. CHAPTER XVIII (a)

45. CHAPTER XVIII (b)

46. CHAPTER XIX

47. CHAPTER XX

48. CHAPTER XXI

49. CHAPTER XXII