Bonaventure

The numbered footnotes below correspond to markers in both the Latin body above and the English translation; Quaracchi restart their numbering on every printed page, so the labels are qualified by page.

COLLATIO XX.

De quarta visione, scilicet intelligentiae per contemplationem suspensae, tractatio prima, quae agit in genere de triplici obiecto huius contemplationis sive de contemplatione caelestis hierarchiae, militantis Ecclesiae et mentis humanae hierarchizatae.

Summarium

Introductio, 1. — Haec intelligentia respondet quartae diei, in qua luminaria facta sunt, 2. — Triplex contemplationis obiectum, respondens luci solis, lunae et stellarum, 3. — Pars I. De primo obiecto sive de consideratione caelestis hierarchiae. Haec consideratio assimilatur luci solari ob triplicem rationem, 4. — Primo, propter fulgorem puritatis praecipuae; confirmatur

Scriptura, 5. 6. — Secundo, propter fulgorem limpiditatis praeclarae, 7. — In anima contemplativa ut in speculo describuntur miro modo mundus, quilibet spiritus caelestis et ipse radius supersubstantialis, 8. — Tertio, propter fulgorem inflammationis vivificae; status quatuor in animis, 9. — De perfecta contemplatione, 10. 11. — Epilogus partis I, 12. — Pars II. De secundo obiecto sive de consideratione militantis Ecclesiae. Haec intelligitur per lucem lunarem propter triplicem rationem, 13. — Primo, propter refulgentiam subobscuram sive symbolicam, 14. 15. — Secundo, propter refulgentiam excessivam sive ecstaticam: de luna ut mirabiliter crescit et minuitur; ipsa significat vitam activam et contemplativam, 16-19. — Tertio, propter refulgentiam ordinatam, 20. — Epilogus, 21. — Pars III. De tertio obiecto sive de consideratione mentis humanae hierarchizatae et de contemplatione circa haec tria obiecta. Haec consideratio intelligitur per stellas; triplex radiatio, 22. — Radiatio mansiva, 23. — Radiatio decora, 24. — Radiatio iucunda, 25. — Epilogus praecedentium, 26. — Scriptura de viro contemplativo haec tria contemplante, 27. 28. — Quaedam in Apocalypsi explicantur, 29. — De ordine contemplativo in sexto tempore, 30.

1. Dixit autem Deus: fiant luminaria in firmamento caeli et dividant diem ac noctem; et sint in signa et tempora et dies et annos. Et fecit Deus duo magna luminaria: luminare maius, ut praeesset diei, et luminare minus, ut praeesset nocti, et stellas. Et posuit eas in firmamento caeli, ut lucerent super terram; et vidit Deus, quod esset bonum. Et factum est vespere et mane, dies quartus¹. Dictum est supra, quod Deus dedit Danieli intelligentiam omnium visionum; et occasione eius distinctae sunt sex visiones correspondentes operibus sex dierum. — Nunc dicendum est de quarta, scilicet intelligentiae per contemplationem suspensae. — Sed intelligendum, quod hanc visionem nullus habet, nisi sit vir desideriorum², nec potest eam habere nisi per magnum desiderium. Unde Psalmus: Gustate et videte, quoniam suavis est Dominus. Primo dicit gustate. Gustus enim suavis non est, nisi praecedat appetitus gustabilis vel ad gustabile suscipiendum.

2. Haec autem intelligentia per contemplationem suspensa datur intelligi per opus quartae diei, in qua luminaria facta sunt. Anima autem illa sola per contemplationem suspensa est, quae habet solem et lunam et stellas in firmamento suo. Considera, modo si non esset sol et luna et stellae in firmamento, quid esset mundus? Non esset nisi quaedam massa tenebrosa, quia etiam nox cum lumine siderum adhuc tenebrosa et horribilis est. Sic est de anima. Quae enim non habet gratiam contemplationis est sicut firmamentum sine luminaribus; sed quae habet est firmamentum ornatum luminibus. Et sicut differt caelum non habens haec luminaria a caelo habente, sic anima non habens, ab anima disposita ad hoc; unde differt sicut Angelus a bestia. Bestialis est homo carens his et habens faciem inclinatam ad terram sicut animal; sed plenus luminibus est totus angelicus³.

3. In quarto die fecit Deus solem et lunam et stellas, quia haec visio est principaliter circa tria: circa luculentam considerationem caelestis hierarchiae, circa luculentam considerationem militantis Ecclesiae, circa luculentam considerationem mentis humanae hierarchizatae. Nisi enim speculetur supernam monarchiam et contueatur descensum Ecclesiae militantis ab ea et suam ipsius hierarchicam adornationem, nunquam erit contemplativa; sed tunc habebit lucem solarem, lunarem et stellarem. Prima consideratio comparatur luci solari, secunda luci lunari, tertia luci stellari. Haec anima est felix, quae se contuetur ornatam et conformem illi Ierusalem, et hierarchiam illustratam, scilicet angelicam, et hierarchiam illustrantem, scilicet divinum principatum personarum.

4. Luculenta ergo consideratio caelestis monarchiae assimilatur luci solari propter triplicem rationem: propter fulgorem puritatis praecipuae, propter fulgorem limpiditatis praeclarae, propter fulgorem inflammationis vivificae. Haec tria habet illa consideratio.

5. Ratione primi est summae dignitatis et excellentiae, quae habet puritatem et est elongata ab omni faece corruptionis. De ista puritate Ecclesiasticus⁴: Sicut sol oriens in altissimis Dei, sic mulieris bonae species in ornamentum domus suae. Haec verba conveniunt aeternae sapientiae et menti aeterna sapientia illustratae. Est enim sicut sol in altissimis, non propter positionem, quia sol non est altior omnibus planetis, sed sol dicitur altissimus ratione altissimae puritatis, actualitatis et

luminositatis; unde est secundum Isidorum¹ « quasi solus lucens ». Haec est sapientia aeterna, quae ubique attingit propter suam munditiam. — Comparatur autem mulieri bonae, non propter aliquod femineum vel effeminatum, quod sit in ipso; sed quia in sapientia aeterna est ratio fecunditatis ad concipiendum, producendum et pariendum quidquid est de universitate legum. Omnes enim rationes exemplares concipiuntur ab aeterno in vulva aeternae sapientiae seu utero, et maxime praedestinationis. Unde quia ab aeterno rationes praedestinationis concepit, non potest nos non diligere; et sicut ab aeterno concepit, sic in tempore produxit sive peperit, et postea in carne patiendo parturivit. Et potest hoc intelligere intellectus et habet altissimam contemplationem.

6. Est ergo haec consideratio illius esse purissimi; purissimum autem, quia simplicissimum, simplicissimum autem, quia summe unum. Ideo dicitur Israel, viro contemplativo: Audi, Israel, Dominus Deus tuus unus est². — Similiter anima contemplativa intelligitur per mulierem illam; et dicuntur animae contemplativae filiae Ierusalem, quia formosae et fecundae. Et formositas est fecunditas, quia, quanto plus concipiunt lumina, tanto formosiores sunt; unde: Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt³. Unde per puritatem, non per rationem, oportet introire in contemplationem. Et ideo cum simplicibus sermocinatio eius; qui habent mentes puras, non excaecatas propter malitiam supervenientem. Animae ergo, quae sunt formosae et fecundae, dicuntur filiae Ierusalem et intelliguntur per solem ratione formositatis, et per mulierem ratione fecunditatis.

7. Secundo comparatur soli propter fulgorem limpiditatis praeclarae; ubi maior fulgor, ibi maior claritas et limpiditas; unde Ecclesiasticus⁴: Sol illuminans per omnia respexit, et gloria Domini plenum est opus eius. Unde Gregorius: « Quid est, quod non videant qui videntem omnia vident »? — Anima beati Benedicti bene fuit contemplativa, quae totum mundum vidit in uno radio solis. Non multum studuerat ipse nec libros habebat, quia decimo tertio anno mundum dimiserat et latitabat inter fruteta cum bestiis, sicut una fera; unde etiam pastores crediderunt eum feram. Et ut dicit Gregorius⁵, mundus non fuit coangustatus in uno radio solis, sed eius animus fuit dilatatus, qui vidit omnia in illo cuius magnitudine omnis creatura angusta est et parva et modica. Unde in Sapientia⁶: Quasi momentum staterae est ante te orbis terrarum et sicut gutta roris antelucani. De hac praeclaritate in libro Sapientiae: Est enim speciosior sole et super omnem dispositionem stellarum, luci comparata invenitur prior.

8. Considera, quod in anima contemplativa describitur universus orbis et quilibet spiritus caelestis, qui in se habet descriptum totum orbem; describitur etiam radius supersubstantialis⁷, qui et universum orbem et universum spiritum continet. Ergo in anima contemplativa mira sunt lumina et mira pulcritudo. Sic ergo mundus, pulcher a summo ad imum, ab initio ad finem, descriptus in anima facit speculum; et quilibet spiritus est speculum⁸: et sic in anima est mira numerositas, summus ordo, summa proportionalitas. Pulcra ergo est universitas spirituum, quia, quoties in anima sic relucet dispositio orbis terrarum et spirituum beatorum et radii supersubstantialis, toties in ea est mira refulgentia; et ex hoc est speciosior sole. Rursus, radius, qui continet omnem dispositionem et repraesentat omnes theorias, est in anima, et in illo anima absorbetur per mentis transformationem in Deum; et ideo est anima super omnem dispositionem stellarum.

9. Tertio, haec consideratio comparatur luci solari propter fulgorem inflammationis vivificae. Est enim radius solis ad vivificandum, non ad consu-

mendum nisi per accidens et ratione alicuius dispositionis. De hoc calore inflammante Ecclesiasticus¹: Sol in aspectu annuntians in exitu, vas admirabile opus Excelsi. In meridiano exurit terram, et in conspectu ardoris eius quis poterit sustinere? Tripliciter sol exurens montes, radios igneos exsufflans et refulgens radiis suis excaecat oculos. — Vult dicere, quod quando ille sol aspicitur, quod ipse sol sic annuntiat quae sunt apud se et in se, et oritur super hemisphaerium mentis nostrae, quod in meridiano exurit, et in conspectu ardoris eius non poterit aliquis sustinere. — Animae enim non sublevatae sunt quasi in hieme; sed quae sunt elevatae ad mediocrem contemplationem sunt quasi in vere; sed quae elevatae sunt ad excessus ecstaticos sunt sicut in aestate et percipiunt fructus autumnales, quia quiescunt. Tunc enim in autumno colligunt fructus et faciunt et celebrant solemnitates in autumno². Sed ubi exurit in meridie? Quando in maxima virtute est, hoc est in caelo.

10. Haec enim est perfecta contemplatio; et illas inflammationes et ardores, quos emittit ille sol in animas illas, quae habent excessus mentales, nullus potest explicare. Si enim secundum Apostolum³ gemitus sunt inenarrabiles, quibus postulat pro nobis Spiritus, quid sunt excessus? quid ardores? Unde: Quis ex vobis poterit habitare cum ardoribus sempiternis? — Et vere sol exurit tripliciter, quia sol aeternus terram illam hierarchicam et istam humanam irradiat et inflammat triplici vel triformi amore et sursum agit in Deum utramque: illam per tentionem, visionem et fruitionem; hanc per caritatem de corde puro, conscientia bona, fide non ficta⁴; hierarchiam, dico, caelestem secundum trinas hierarchias collocatam.

11. Sed quid est, quod iste radius excaecat, cum potius deberet illuminare? Sed ista excaecatio est summa illuminatio, quia est in sublimitate mentis ultra humani intellectus investigationem. Ibi intellectus caligat, quia non potest investigare, quia transcendit omnem potentiam investigativam. Est ergo ibi caligo inaccessibilis, quae tamen illuminat mentes, quae perdiderunt investigationes curiosas. Et hoc est quod dixit Dominus⁵, se habitare in nebula; et in Psalmo: Posuit tenebras latibulum suum.

12. Haec est ergo consideratio luculenta caelestis hierarchiae. Propter haec ergo tria dicitur sol. De hoc potest accipi quod scribitur primo Machabaeorum⁶: Refulsit sol in clypeos aureos, et resplenduerunt montes ab eis sicut lampades ignis. Clypei sunt rationes aeternae praedestinationum aeternarum, quae habent rationem armaturae et rationem fulgoris incorruptibilis. Sol aeternus, scilicet sapientia aeterna, refulget in clypeos, quando sublimat Deus mentem contemplativam ad percipiendum fulgorem veritatis aeternae et illarum rationum; et montes resplendent, quia sol ille per istas rationes quasi per clypeos aureos illuminat montes, hoc est spiritus in aeternitate firmatos et sublimitate, qui recipiunt primo orientales radios primaria infusione, meridionales perfecta illustratione, occidentales postrema retentione. Hi tripliciter oriuntur a sole et splendent sicut lampades ignis, quia est ibi inflammatio permaxima. Et in hoc est tota ratio contemplationis, quia nunquam venit in contemplatione radius splendens, quin etiam sit inflammans. Et ideo in Cantico loquitur Salomon per modum amoris et per modum cantici, quia ad illos fulgores non potest perveniri nisi per amorem.

13. Item, contemplatio consistit in consideratione luculenta militantis Ecclesiae. Haec consideratio intelligitur per lucem lunarem; qui enim non novit hanc non potest quidquam comprehendere. Unde non est ornatum caelum, nisi habeat luminare maius et luminare minus⁷. Unde Ioannes vidit civitatem Ierusalem non solum stantem, immo etiam descendentem a Deo, formatam et ornatam. Sicut enim radius solis per lunam illuminat noctem, sic radius divinus per Ecclesiam illuminat ipsam animam contemplativam. Radius enim divinus in caelesti hierarchia umbram non habet, sicut lux solis non habet tenebrositatem in se sive in suo fonte; sed in luna, quae habet obscuritatem, non est simpliciter clarus. Sic in Ecclesia militante, in qua est radius in figuris et in aenigmatibus. — Comparatur autem Ecclesia militans lunae propter refulgentiam subobscuram sive symbolicam, propter refulgentiam excessivam sive ecstaticam, et propter refulgentiam ordinatam.

14. Prima ergo refulgentia in Ecclesia est symbolica per symbola Sacramentorum et figurarum, per quae decurrit Ecclesia a principio usque ad finem. De hoc Ecclesiasticus⁸: Luna in omnibus in tempore suo, ostensio temporis et signum aevi. Dicit ergo, quod luna est manifestatio temporum et per modum signationis; et hoc est in Ecclesia per symbola; quia « aliter non est possibile, nobis lucere

divinum radium, nisi varietate sacrorum velaminum anagogice circumvelatum », secundum Dionysium.

15. Unde lunam videre possumus, non solem, quia radius solis contemperatur nobis per lunam. Sic radius aeternitatis non potest aspici in se, sed si aspicimus illum radium, ut est in Ecclesia, velatum per Sacramenta et figuras; possumus aspicere ipsum, qui nobis ostendit, quae sunt facta, quae facienda, quae sunt in aeternitate: quae sunt facta, per allegoriam; quae facienda, per tropologiam; quae in aeternitate, per anagogiam. Intelligimus enim aliquo modo figurarum doctrinam, quibus testamentum vetus et etiam novum plenum est; ut patet per Apostolum¹, quod passio Christi et veritas fuit et figura, similiter resurrectio. — Et ideo figurae nondum explanatae sunt; sed quando luna erit plena, tunc erit apertio Scripturarum, et liber aperietur, et septem sigilla solventur, quae adhuc non sunt aperta. — Credite mihi, tunc videbimus quasi per plenilunium, quando leo noster de tribu Iuda surget et aperiet librum², quando consummabuntur passiones Christi, quas modo corpus Christi patitur. Oportet enim surgere Herodem, sub quo illudatur Christus, et Petrus incarceretur.

16. Item, comparatur lunae propter refulgentiam excessivam. Ecclesiasticus³: A luna signum diei festi, luminare, quod minuitur in consummatione. Mensis secundum nomen eius est, crescens mirabiliter in consummatione. Duo dicit de luna: et quod mirabiliter crescit in consummatione et mirabiliter diminuitur. Et hoc verum est sive in coniunctione cum sole, sive in oppositione: in oppositione fit; quando enim est in plena oppositione ad solem, tunc distat ab eo magis, quam potest, et tunc minus illuminatur secundum veritatem quam in alio tempore quocumque. — Quod sic probatur. Regula est in perspectiva, quod quando corpus luminosum maius est quam corpus opacum sphaericum, quod illuminat; quanto magis appropinquat corpus ad corpus, tanto magis illuminatur opacum, quia basis corporis luminosi est maior, et angulus radiorum maior; quando vero plus distat, tunc angulus minor est, et basis minus de corpore opaci attingit. Sed quando est in plena oppositione, tunc est in maxima distantia: ergo tunc minus illuminatur secundum veritatem, sed plus secundum apparentiam, quia tunc vocatur luna plena.

17. Item, apud coniunctionem est e contrario, quia, cum sit in maxima appropinquatione, qua esse potest, tunc illuminatur magis secundum veritatem et minus secundum apparentiam, quia tunc nihil videmus de luna⁴. — Ergo sive consummatio intelligatur vel quantum ad oppositionem, vel quantum ad coniunctionem, utrumque verum est: et quod mirabiliter crescit et mirabiliter minuitur in consummatione.

18. Luna, quae crescit et minuitur, significat hominem in vita activa et contemplativa, sicut stella matutina, quae aliquando praecedit solem, et tunc significat vitam contemplativam; et aliquando sequitur, et tunc significat vitam activam. — Haec luna est Ecclesia, vacans contemplationi et actioni. Quando vacat contemplationi, tunc summe illuminatur fulgoribus caelestibus; quando vero vacat actioni, tunc minus illuminatur; et non vivit homo, qui non minuatur, quando dat se actioni, excepto Christo, qui fuit perfectus et in actione et contemplatione. Unde nullus homo sapiens unquam descendit ad actionem, maxime praesidentium, nisi quadam necessitate; quia, secundum Gregorium in Pastoralibus⁵, « pollens virtutibus invitus accedit, carens vero virtutibus nec coactus ». Quare? quia ex hoc minuitur lumen illud, quod est maximae illuminationis, scilicet contemplationis.

19. Sed econtra, sicut sponsa desiderat sponsum, et materia formam, et turpe pulcrum⁶; ita anima appetit uniri per excessum contemplationis; et tunc, quando hemisphaerium animae totum luminibus plenum est, tunc homo exterius fit totus deformis, tunc homo fit sine loquela. Unde tunc habet veritatem illud in Cantico⁷: Nolite me considerare, quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol, quia tunc maxime coniungitur interioribus illuminationibus; unde in Exodo: Ex quo locutus es ad servum tuum, impeditioris et tardioris linguae factus sum. Similiter Iacob, scilicet Israel, vir fortis, fortificatus fuit in lucta Angeli, emarcuit tamen nervus femoris eius, et factus est claudus, quia haec contemplatio facit

vilem animam apparere hominibus, quando summo soli coniungitur. — Haec est Esther¹, quae non quaerit mundum muliebrem, sed contenta est naturali pulcritudine nec quaerit istos ornatus meretricios. — Et dicebat: quia dico vobis, quod nunquam qui vult apparere potest venire ad contemplationem.

20. Tertio comparatur lunae propter refulgentiam ordinatam. Ecclesiasticus²: Vas castrorum in firmamento caeli resplendet; dicitur de luna. Omnia enim, quae sunt in Ecclesia, sunt secundum rationem ordinis ordinata et robusta seu indissipabilia et iucunda. — Propter primum dicitur: Vas castrorum in firmamento caeli, quia terribilis est, ut castrorum acies ordinata³. Quid videbis in Sulamite nisi choros castrorum? Quia iste ordo totus est ad pugnandum contra universitatem hostium. — Item, habet iucunditatem; ideo dicit resplendet. Et haec est gloria, quae est formositas cum iucunditate; unde et divites ostendunt gloriam suam, incedendo in gloria vestium et laetitia, sicut in nuptiis et festis.

21. Haec est secunda pars contemplationis, considerare scilicet Ecclesiam, secundum quod est supervestita figuris et theoriis, et secundum quod est illustrata a sole, et secundum quod est ordinata ad pugnandum; et sic habetur luna in firmamento animae, ut consideratur per theologiam symbolicam, per theologiam mysticam, per theologiam proprie dictam.

22. Tertia pars contemplationis est in consideratione mentis humanae hierarchizatae; et haec intelligitur per stellas sive per lucem stellarum, quae quidem habet radiationem mansivam, decoram et iucundam. Anima, quae habet haec tria, est hierarchizata.

23. De radiatione mansiva, quae est in anima hierarchizata, dicitur in libro Iudicum⁴: Stellae, manentes in ordine et cursu suo, pugnaverunt contra Sisaram. Sicut enim stellae sunt fixae in caelo, sic oportet quod contemplativus sit fixus et mansivus, non vacillans nec habens oculos tremulos, sed aquilinos. Unde Dionysius⁵: Habens oculos, scilicet investigationis rationis, debet esse fixus, fixione siderea manens. Non manet autem, nisi habeat cursum et ordinem, ordinem scilicet hierarchicorum graduum et virtutum, et postmodum currat incessanter per illos de virtute in virtutem⁶; et hoc est pugnare contra diabolum. Mens enim fixa in stabilitate graduum hierarchicorum et virtutum non est otiosa, sed dormit homo exterius et vigilat interius; hoc autem est hominum vivacium, stabilitorum infatigabiliter. Hae considerationes faciunt animas robustas.

24. Item, habet radiationem decoram. Unde Ecclesiasticus⁷: Species caeli gloria stellarum. Caeli sunt animae caelestes, speciosae, decorae; sed in gloria stellarum, scilicet in gloriosa refulgentia, quae consistit in consideratione decora. Unde debet esse manens in Deo, crescens de virtute in virtutem, ut attentissime attendat ad illos fulgores, ut, si dormiat, cor suum vigilet perspicaciter. Multi enim sunt, qui amant pulcritudinem; pulcritudo autem non est in exterioribus, sed ipsius effigies; vera autem pulcritudo est in illa pulcritudine sapientiae.

25. Tertio assimilatur luci stellarum propter radiationem iucundam. Baruch⁸: Stellae dederunt lucem in custodiis suis et laetatae sunt, vocatae sunt et dixerunt: Adsumus, et luxerunt cum iucunditate ei qui fecit illas. His anima comparatur, quando vocatur a Deo per inspirationem, et ipsa currit per desiderium; in Psalmo⁹: Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Domini ibimus. Gaudete, quia nomina vestra scripta sunt in caelis; quia ex gaudio in illis illuminationibus nascitur lumen indeficiens. Psalmus: Ex ore infantium et lactentium perfecisti laudem. Quoniam videbo caelos tuos, opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas, quae tu fundasti; quae radiant radiatione mansiva, contemplativa et hierarchica; sed debet esse cum virtute, cum decore, cum iucunditate. Unde in Cantico¹⁰: Pulcra es, amica mea, suavis et decora: quia iucunda, ideo suavis; quia decora, ideo pulcra; quia mansiva, ideo terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.

26. Fecit ergo Deus die quarta solem et lunam et stellas, quia Deus dedit animae, ut habeat considerationem sui ipsius et Ecclesiae militantis et cae-

lestis monarchiae. In Cantico¹: Quae est ista quae ascendit quasi aurora consurgens, pulcra ut luna, electa ut sol, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata. Aurora est, quando consurgit in considerationem sui; luna, in considerationem Ecclesiae militantis; sol, quando in Deum absorbetur; et ex his est terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.

27. De viro contemplativo dicitur in laudem Simonis, Oniae filii, in Ecclesiastico²: Quasi stella matutina in medio nebulae et quasi luna plena in diebus suis lucet et quasi sol refulgens; sic ille refulsit in templo Dei, quasi arcus refulgens inter nebulas gloriae. — Stella in consideratione proprii adornatus, sed in medio nebulae propter humilitatem, quae est necessaria viro contemplativo; non sit ut lucifer, sed ut magis dicat: Quoniam tu illuminas lucernam meam, Domine; Deus meus illumina tenebras meas³. — Quasi luna per considerationem Ecclesiae militantis, considerando eius principium, medium et finem. Unde non habetur illuminatio, nisi quando Ecclesia consideratur secundum sua tempora; Rachel adhuc concipiet et parturiet, et Beniamin nascetur. — Sicut sol refulsit, quando scilicet elevata est in contemplatione Dei. — Et tunc est sicut luna plena, quando istos splendores pulcherrimos et praeclaros ab illa praeclara luce suscipit; et tunc talis anima est sicut arcus, quia reconciliatrix Dei et hominis⁴, sicut lumina portabat Moyses a Deo ad populum.

28. De hoc Ioannes in Apocalypsi⁵: Vidi signum magnum in caelo: mulier amicta sole, et luna sub pedibus eius, et in capite eius corona duodecim stellarum. Prima visio est de candelabris et filio hominis et septem stellis; secunda de septem sigillis; tertia de Angelis tuba canentibus; quarta, quando apertum est templum, et signum magnum apparuit de muliere amicta. In prima manifestatur fulgor ordinis praesidentium; in secunda, fulgor pugnantium ut martyrum; in tertia, fulgor docentium, per clangorem tubae; in quarta, fulgor contemplantium, qui habent solem et lunam et stellas. — Ex consideratione caelestis monarchiae est amicta sole, quia est principale. — Sed quando descendit anima ad considerationem Ecclesiae militantis, habet lunam sub pedibus, non ad conculcandum, sed quia se fundat et sustentat super Ecclesiam. Nec enim est anima contemplativa, nisi per Ecclesiam sustentetur quasi super basim. — Post considerationem hierarchicarum illuminationum est quasi habens stellas duodecim. Stellae sunt duodecim mysteria reseranda, quae per duodecim signationes in futuro significantur, quae sunt signationes electorum.

29. Nota, quod duodecim signationes sunt sub sexto sigillo et sub sexto Angelo⁶, et mensuratio civitatis et ostensio civitatis et apertio libri; et sexto Angelo, scilicet Philadelphiae, qui interpretatur, conservans hereditatem, dictum est de clave David, et de quo dicitur⁷: Qui vicerit scribam super eum nomen meum et nomen civitatis novae Ierusalem — vide, quod adhuc non fecerat mentionem de civitate — hoc est, dabo notitiam Scripturarum isti sexto Angelo; sed amaricabitur venter eius, et in ore eius erit dulce tanquam mel. Et iste ordo intelligitur per Ioannem, cui dictum est⁸: Sic eum volo manere, donec veniam.

30. Et dicebat, quod malignitatibus latrantium necesse est impleri hoc sexto tempore, in quo fecit Deus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem suam⁹. Et addebat: Videte vocationem vestram, quia magna est. Et dicebat, quod malignitatibus ipsorum iudicium Deus pauperibus tribuet, ut sint iudicantes duodecim tribus Israel; et in hac vita talibus debetur contemplatio. Contemplatio non potest esse nisi in summa simplicitate; et summa simplicitas non potest esse nisi in maxima paupertate; et haec est huius ordinis. Intentio beati Francisci fuit esse in summa paupertate. — Et dicebat, quoniam multum retrocessimus a statu nostro, et ideo permittit nos Deus affligi, ut per hoc reducamur ad statum, qui debet habere terram promissionis. Magna promi-

sit Deus Israeli, et magni ex illis electi sunt, ut Apostoli sui. — Iudaei fuerunt excaecati, isti fuerunt illustrati; sed illi dederunt se carni; quidam volunt dare loculos Christo. — Nota etiam, quod pauci intraverunt terram promissionis; et illi qui dissolverunt cor populi, non introierunt¹.

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COLLATION XX.

On the fourth vision, namely that of the understanding suspended through contemplation: the first treatment, which treats in general of the threefold object of this contemplation, or of the contemplation of the heavenly hierarchy, of the Church militant, and of the human mind made hierarchic.

Summarium

Introduction, 1. — This understanding answers to the fourth day, on which the lights were made, 2. — The threefold object of contemplation, answering to the light of the sun, of the moon and of the stars, 3. — Part I. On the first object, or on the consideration of the heavenly hierarchy. This consideration is likened to the light of the sun for a threefold reason, 4. — First, because of the brightness of surpassing purity; it is confirmed

from Scripture, 5. 6. — Second, because of the brightness of resplendent limpidity, 7. — In the contemplative soul, as in a mirror, there are described in a wonderful manner the world, every heavenly spirit, and the supersubstantial ray itself, 8. — Third, because of the brightness of the life-giving enkindling; the four states in souls, 9. — On perfect contemplation, 10. 11. — Epilogue of Part I, 12. — Part II. On the second object, or on the consideration of the Church militant. This is understood through the moon's light, for a threefold reason, 13. — First, because of the half-dark or symbolic refulgence, 14. 15. — Second, because of the transporting or ecstatic refulgence: of the moon, how it wondrously waxes and wanes; it signifies the active and the contemplative life, 16-19. — Third, because of the ordered refulgence, 20. — Epilogue, 21. — Part III. On the third object, or on the consideration of the human mind made hierarchic, and on the contemplation concerning these three objects. This consideration is understood through the stars; the threefold radiation, 22. — Abiding radiation, 23. — Comely radiation, 24. — Joyous radiation, 25. — Epilogue of the preceding, 26. — Scripture on the contemplative man contemplating these three, 27. 28. — Certain things in the Apocalypse are set out, 29. — On the contemplative order in the sixth age, 30.

1. And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, and let them divide the day and the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And God made two great lights: a greater light, to rule the day, and a lesser light, to rule the night, and the stars. And he set them in the firmament of heaven, to shine upon the earth; and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day¹. It has been said above that God gave Daniel understanding of all visions; and on that occasion the six visions were distinguished, answering to the works of the six days. — Now we must speak of the fourth, namely of the understanding suspended through contemplation. — But it must be understood that no one has this vision unless he be a man of desires², nor can he have it save through a great desire. Whence the Psalm: Taste and see, for the Lord is sweet. First he says taste. For taste is not sweet unless there go before it an appetite for the thing to be tasted, or for the receiving of the thing to be tasted.

2. Now this understanding suspended through contemplation is given to be understood through the work of the fourth day, on which the lights were made. And that soul alone is suspended through contemplation which has the sun and the moon and the stars in its own firmament. Consider, if there were no sun and moon and stars in the firmament, what would the world be? It would be nothing but a certain dark mass, since even the night with the light of the stars is still dark and horrible. So it is with the soul. For the soul that has not the grace of contemplation is like a firmament without lights; but the soul that has it is a firmament adorned with lights. And as a heaven not having these lights differs from a heaven having them, so a soul not having them differs from a soul disposed to this; whence it differs as an Angel from a beast. Bestial is the man who lacks these and has his face bent down to the earth like an animal; but full of lights he is wholly angelic³.

3. On the fourth day God made the sun and the moon and the stars, because this vision is principally about three things: about the luminous consideration of the heavenly hierarchy, about the luminous consideration of the Church militant, about the luminous consideration of the human mind made hierarchic. For unless the soul gaze upon the supernal monarchy, and behold the descent of the Church militant from it, and its own hierarchic adornment, it will never be contemplative; but then it will have the light of the sun, of the moon and of the stars. The first consideration is compared to the light of the sun, the second to the light of the moon, the third to the light of the stars. Happy is that soul which beholds itself as adorned and conformed to that Jerusalem, and the hierarchy illumined, namely the angelic, and the hierarchy illumining, namely the divine principate of the persons.

4. The luminous consideration, therefore, of the heavenly monarchy is likened to the light of the sun for a threefold reason: because of the brightness of surpassing purity, because of the brightness of resplendent limpidity, because of the brightness of the life-giving enkindling. These three that consideration has.

5. By reason of the first it is of the highest dignity and excellence, having purity and being far removed from every dreg of corruption. Of this purity Ecclesiasticus⁴: As the sun rising in the highest places of God, so is the beauty of a good wife for the ornament of her house. These words are fitting to the eternal wisdom and to the mind illumined by the eternal wisdom. For it is like the sun in the highest places, not because of position — since the sun is not higher than all the planets — but the sun is called highest by reason of its highest purity, actuality and

luminosity; whence it is, according to Isidore¹, « as it were alone shining ». This is the eternal wisdom, which everywhere reacheth because of her cleanness. — But it is compared to a good wife, not because of anything feminine or effeminate that is in it, but because in the eternal wisdom there is the character of fecundity for conceiving, producing and bringing forth whatever belongs to the universality of laws. For all the exemplar reasons are conceived from eternity in the womb or matrix of the eternal wisdom, and most of all those of predestination. Whence, because from eternity it conceived the reasons of predestination, it cannot but love us; and as from eternity it conceived, so in time it produced or bore, and afterwards, suffering in the flesh, it travailed. And the understanding can understand this, and it has the highest contemplation.

6. This consideration, therefore, is of that most pure being; and it is most pure because most simple, and most simple because supremely one. Therefore it is said to Israel, to the contemplative man: Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one². — Likewise the contemplative soul is understood through that woman; and contemplative souls are called daughters of Jerusalem, because shapely and fruitful. And shapeliness is fecundity, because the more lights they conceive, the more shapely they are; whence: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God³. Whence through purity, not through reasoning, must one enter into contemplation. And therefore his converse is with the simple; who have minds pure, not blinded through supervening malice. Souls, therefore, which are shapely and fruitful are called daughters of Jerusalem and are understood through the sun by reason of shapeliness, and through the woman by reason of fecundity.

7. Second, it is compared to the sun because of the brightness of resplendent limpidity; where there is greater brightness, there is greater clarity and limpidity; whence Ecclesiasticus⁴: The sun, giving light, hath looked upon all things, and full of the glory of the Lord is his work. Whence Gregory: « What is there that they should not see, who see him that seeth all things »? — The soul of blessed Benedict was rightly contemplative, which saw the whole world in one ray of the sun. He himself had not studied much nor had he books, because in his thirteenth year he had left the world and lay hidden among the thickets with the beasts, like a wild creature; whence the shepherds even believed him to be a wild beast. And, as Gregory says⁵, the world was not narrowed into one ray of the sun, but his mind was enlarged, who saw all things in him by whose greatness every creature is narrow and small and slight. Whence in Wisdom⁶: As the least grain of the balance is the whole world before thee, and as a drop of the morning dew. Of this resplendence, in the book of Wisdom: For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars; being compared with the light, she is found before it.

8. Consider that in the contemplative soul the whole world is described, and every heavenly spirit, which has in itself the whole world described; there is described also the supersubstantial ray⁷, which contains both the whole world and every spirit. Therefore in the contemplative soul there are wonderful lights and a wonderful beauty. So then the world, beautiful from the highest to the lowest, from the beginning to the end, described in the soul, makes a mirror; and every spirit is a mirror⁸: and so in the soul there is a wonderful numerousness, the highest order, the highest proportionality. Beautiful, therefore, is the universality of spirits, because as often as there shines in the soul thus the disposition of the world and of the blessed spirits and of the supersubstantial ray, so often is there in it a wonderful refulgence; and from this it is more beautiful than the sun. Again, the ray, which contains every disposition and represents all contemplations, is in the soul, and in it the soul is absorbed through the transformation of the mind into God; and therefore the soul is above all the order of the stars.

9. Third, this consideration is compared to the sun's light because of the brightness of the life-giving enkindling. For the sun's ray is for giving life, not for consu-

ming, save by accident and by reason of some disposition. Of this enkindling heat Ecclesiasticus¹: The sun in his aspect, showing forth at his going out, an admirable vessel, the work of the Most High. At noonday he burneth the earth, and in the sight of his burning heat who shall be able to abide? Thrice as much the sun burning the mountains, breathing out fiery beams, and shining with his rays he blindeth the eyes. — He means to say that, when that sun is looked upon, that sun so shows forth the things that are with him and in him, and rises above the hemisphere of our mind, which at noonday burneth, and in the sight of his burning heat none shall be able to abide. — For souls not lifted up are as it were in winter; but those which are raised to a middling contemplation are as it were in spring; but those which are raised to ecstatic transports are as in summer and take the autumn fruits, because they rest. For then, in autumn, they gather the fruits and keep and celebrate the solemnities in autumn². But where does he burn at noon? When he is at his greatest strength, that is, in heaven.

10. For this is perfect contemplation; and those enkindlings and burnings which that sun sends into those souls that have mental transports, no one can explain. For if, according to the Apostle³, the groanings are unspeakable with which the Spirit asketh for us, what are the transports? what the burnings? Whence: Which of you shall be able to dwell with everlasting burnings? — And truly the sun burneth threefold, because the eternal sun irradiates and enkindles that hierarchic earth and this human one with a threefold or triform love, and bears both upward into God: the former through holding, vision and fruition; the latter through charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith⁴; the hierarchy, I say, the heavenly one, set in place according to the three hierarchies.

11. But how is it that this ray blindeth, when rather it ought to illumine? But this blinding is the highest illumination, because it is in the sublimity of the mind, beyond the searching of the human intellect. There the intellect is darkened, because it cannot search out, because it transcends every searching power. There is, therefore, there an inaccessible darkness, which nevertheless illumines the minds that have lost their curious searchings. And this is what the Lord said⁵, that he dwells in a cloud; and in the Psalm: He made darkness his covert.

12. This, then, is the luminous consideration of the heavenly hierarchy. For these three, therefore, it is called the sun. Of this may be taken what is written in the first book of Machabees⁶: The sun shone upon the shields of gold, and the mountains glittered from them like lamps of fire. The shields are the eternal reasons of the eternal predestinations, which have the character of armour and the character of incorruptible brightness. The eternal sun, namely the eternal wisdom, shineth upon the shields, when God lifts up the contemplative mind to take in the brightness of the eternal truth and of those reasons; and the mountains glitter, because that sun through those reasons, as through shields of gold, illumines the mountains, that is, the spirits established in eternity and in sublimity, who receive first the eastern rays by a primary infusion, the southern by a perfect illustration, the western by a final retention. These rise threefold from the sun and shine like lamps of fire, because there is there the greatest enkindling. And in this is the whole account of contemplation, because never does a shining ray come in contemplation but that it is also enkindling. And therefore in the Canticle Solomon speaks after the manner of love and after the manner of a song, because to those brightnesses one cannot come save through love.

13. Likewise, contemplation consists in the luminous consideration of the Church militant. This consideration is understood through the moon's light; for he who knows not this can comprehend nothing. Whence the heaven is not adorned unless it have a greater light and a lesser light⁷. Whence John saw the city Jerusalem not only standing, but even descending from God, formed and adorned. For as the sun's ray through the moon illumines the night, so the divine ray through the Church illumines the contemplative soul itself. For the divine ray in the heavenly hierarchy has no shadow, as the sun's light has no darkness in itself or in its source; but in the moon, which has darkness, it is not simply clear. So it is in the Church militant, in which the ray is in figures and in enigmas. — But the Church militant is compared to the moon because of the half-dark or symbolic refulgence, because of the transporting or ecstatic refulgence, and because of the ordered refulgence.

14. The first refulgence, then, in the Church is symbolic, through the symbols of the Sacraments and of the figures, through which the Church runs its course from the beginning to the end. Of this Ecclesiasticus⁸: The moon in all things in her season, a declaration of times and a sign of the world. He says, then, that the moon is the manifestation of the times and after the manner of a signing; and this is in the Church through symbols; because « otherwise it is not possible for the divine ray to shine

upon us, save as anagogically veiled round about with a variety of sacred veils », according to Dionysius.

15. Whence we can see the moon, not the sun, because the sun's ray is tempered to us through the moon. So the ray of eternity cannot be gazed upon in itself; but if we gaze upon that ray as it is in the Church, veiled through the Sacraments and the figures, we can gaze upon it, which shows us the things that have been done, the things to be done, the things that are in eternity: the things that have been done, through allegory; the things to be done, through tropology; the things in eternity, through anagogy. For we understand in some manner the doctrine of the figures, of which the old testament and the new also is full; as appears through the Apostle¹, that the passion of Christ was both truth and figure, and likewise the resurrection. — And therefore the figures are not yet explained; but when the moon shall be full, then there will be the opening of the Scriptures, and the book will be opened, and the seven seals will be loosed, which are as yet not opened. — Believe me, then we shall see as it were by a full moon, when our lion of the tribe of Juda shall rise and open the book², when the passions of Christ shall be consummated, which now the body of Christ suffers. For a Herod must arise, under whom Christ shall be mocked, and Peter imprisoned.

16. Likewise, it is compared to the moon because of the transporting refulgence. Ecclesiasticus³: From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that decreaseth in her consummation. The month is called after her name, increasing wondrously in her consummation. He says two things of the moon: both that it wondrously increases in its consummation and wondrously diminishes. And this is true whether in conjunction with the sun or in opposition: in opposition it comes about thus; for when it is in full opposition to the sun, then it is farther from him than it can be, and then it is less illumined according to truth than at any other time whatsoever. — And this is proved thus. There is a rule in perspective, that when a luminous body is greater than the opaque spherical body which it illumines, then the nearer body approaches to body, the more is the opaque body illumined, because the base of the luminous body is greater, and the angle of the rays greater; but when it is farther off, then the angle is smaller, and the base attains less of the opaque body. But when it is in full opposition, then it is at the greatest distance: therefore then it is less illumined according to truth, but more according to appearance, because then it is called a full moon.

17. Likewise, at conjunction it is the contrary, because, since it is at the greatest nearness that it can be, then it is more illumined according to truth and less according to appearance, because then we see nothing of the moon⁴. — Therefore, whether the consummation be understood in respect of opposition or in respect of conjunction, both are true: both that it wondrously increases and wondrously diminishes in the consummation.

18. The moon, which increases and diminishes, signifies man in the active and the contemplative life, as does the morning star, which sometimes goes before the sun, and then signifies the contemplative life; and sometimes follows, and then signifies the active life. — This moon is the Church, giving itself to contemplation and to action. When it gives itself to contemplation, then it is supremely illumined with heavenly brightnesses; but when it gives itself to action, then it is less illumined; and no man lives who is not diminished when he gives himself to action, except Christ, who was perfect both in action and in contemplation. Whence no wise man ever came down to action, above all to the action of those who preside, save by a certain necessity; because, according to Gregory in the Pastorals⁵, « he who abounds in virtues comes unwillingly, but he who lacks virtues comes not even when compelled ». Why? because from this that light is diminished which is of the greatest illumination, namely of contemplation.

19. But on the contrary, as the bride desires the bridegroom, and matter form, and the base the beautiful⁶; so the soul desires to be united through the transport of contemplation; and then, when the hemisphere of the soul is wholly full of lights, then the man outwardly becomes wholly deformed, then the man becomes without speech. Whence then that word in the Canticle has its truth⁷: Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath discoloured me, because then it is most of all joined to the inward illuminations; whence in Exodus: Since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am become of a more hindered and a slower tongue. Likewise Jacob, that is, Israel, a strong man, was strengthened in wrestling with the Angel, yet the sinew of his thigh shrank, and he was made lame, because this contemplation makes

the soul appear vile to men, when it is joined to the highest sun. — This is Esther¹, who seeks not women's ornament, but is content with natural beauty and seeks not those harlot's adornings. — And he said: for I say to you that never can he who wishes to appear come to contemplation.

20. Third, it is compared to the moon because of the ordered refulgence. Ecclesiasticus²: The vessel of the camps shineth in the firmament of heaven; it is said of the moon. For all things which are in the Church are, by reason of order, ordered and robust or indissipable and joyous. — Because of the first it is said: The vessel of the camps in the firmament of heaven, because it is terrible as an army set in array³. What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps? Because this whole order is for fighting against the whole host of enemies. — Likewise, it has joyousness; therefore he says it shineth. And this is glory, which is shapeliness with joyousness; whence also the rich show their glory, going about in the glory of garments and in gladness, as at weddings and feasts.

21. This is the second part of contemplation, namely to consider the Church according as it is overclothed with figures and contemplations, and according as it is illumined by the sun, and according as it is ordered for fighting; and so the moon is had in the firmament of the soul, as it is considered through symbolic theology, through mystical theology, through theology properly so called.

22. The third part of contemplation is in the consideration of the human mind made hierarchic; and this is understood through the stars or through the light of the stars, which indeed has an abiding, comely and joyous radiation. The soul which has these three is made hierarchic.

23. Of the abiding radiation, which is in the soul made hierarchic, it is said in the book of Judges⁴: The stars, remaining in their order and course, fought against Sisara. For as the stars are fixed in heaven, so must the contemplative be fixed and abiding, not wavering, nor having tremulous eyes, but eagle's eyes. Whence Dionysius⁵: He that has eyes, namely of the searching of reason, must be fixed, abiding with a starry fixity. But he does not abide unless he have a course and an order, the order, namely, of the hierarchic degrees and of the virtues, and afterwards run unceasingly through them from virtue to virtue⁶; and this is to fight against the devil. For a mind fixed in the stability of the hierarchic degrees and of the virtues is not idle, but the man sleeps outwardly and watches inwardly; and this belongs to men of vigour, established unweariedly. These considerations make souls robust.

24. Likewise, it has a comely radiation. Whence Ecclesiasticus⁷: The beauty of heaven is the glory of the stars. The heavens are the heavenly souls, beautiful, comely; but in the glory of the stars, namely in the glorious refulgence, which consists in a comely consideration. Whence it must be abiding in God, growing from virtue to virtue, so that it may attend most attentively to those brightnesses, so that, if it sleep, its heart may watch clear-sightedly. For there are many who love beauty; but beauty is not in outward things, but only the image of it; the true beauty, however, is in that beauty of wisdom.

25. Third, it is likened to the light of the stars because of the joyous radiation. Baruch⁸: The stars have given light in their watches and rejoiced; they were called and they said: Here we are; and with joyousness they have shined forth to him that made them. To these the soul is compared, when it is called by God through inspiration, and itself runs through desire; in the Psalm⁹: I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven; because from the joy in those illuminations is born a light that never faileth. The Psalm: Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise. For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast founded; which shine with an abiding, contemplative and hierarchic radiation; but it must be with strength, with comeliness, with joyousness. Whence in the Canticle¹⁰: Thou art beautiful, my love, sweet and comely: because joyous, therefore sweet; because comely, therefore beautiful; because abiding, therefore terrible as an army set in array.

26. God, therefore, made on the fourth day the sun and the moon and the stars, because God gave to the soul that it should have the consideration of itself and of the Church militant and of the hea-

venly monarchy. In the Canticle¹: Who is she that cometh up as the morning rising, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in array. The morning is when it rises to the consideration of itself; the moon, to the consideration of the Church militant; the sun, when it is absorbed into God; and from these it is terrible as an army set in array.

27. Of the contemplative man it is said, in praise of Simon the son of Onias, in Ecclesiasticus²: As the morning star in the midst of a cloud, and as the moon at the full in her days shineth, and as the sun when it shineth; so did he shine in the temple of God, as the rainbow shining among the clouds of glory. — A star, in the consideration of his own adornment, but in the midst of a cloud because of humility, which is necessary to the contemplative man; let him not be as Lucifer, but rather let him say: For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord; O my God, enlighten my darkness³. — As the moon, through the consideration of the Church militant, considering its beginning, its middle and its end. Whence illumination is not had save when the Church is considered according to its own times; Rachel shall yet conceive and bring forth, and Benjamin shall be born. — As the sun he shone, namely when it is raised in the contemplation of God. — And then it is like a full moon, when it receives those most beautiful and resplendent splendours from that resplendent light; and then such a soul is as a rainbow, because a reconciler of God and man⁴, as Moses bore the lights from God to the people.

28. Of this John in the Apocalypse⁵: I saw a great sign in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. The first vision is of the candlesticks and of the son of man and of the seven stars; the second, of the seven seals; the third, of the Angels sounding the trumpet; the fourth, when the temple was opened, and a great sign appeared concerning the woman clothed. In the first is manifested the brightness of the order of those who preside; in the second, the brightness of those who fight, as of the martyrs; in the third, the brightness of those who teach, through the blast of the trumpet; in the fourth, the brightness of those who contemplate, who have the sun and the moon and the stars. — From the consideration of the heavenly monarchy it is clothed with the sun, because that is the principal thing. — But when the soul comes down to the consideration of the Church militant, it has the moon under its feet, not for treading upon, but because it founds and supports itself upon the Church. For the soul is not contemplative unless it be supported by the Church as upon a base. — After the consideration of the hierarchic illuminations it is as it were having twelve stars. The stars are the twelve mysteries to be unsealed, which are signified through the twelve signings in time to come, which are the signings of the elect.

29. Note that the twelve signings are under the sixth seal and under the sixth Angel⁶, and the measuring of the city and the showing of the city and the opening of the book; and to the sixth Angel, namely of Philadelphia, which is interpreted, preserving the inheritance, it was said concerning the key of David, and of whom it is said⁷: He that shall overcome, I will write upon him my name and the name of the city of the new Jerusalem — see, that he had not yet made mention of the city — that is, I will give the knowledge of the Scriptures to that sixth Angel; but his belly shall be made bitter, and in his mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And this order is understood through John, to whom it was said⁸: So I will have him to remain till I come.

30. And he said that by the malignities of those who bark it must needs be fulfilled in this sixth age, in which God made man to his own image and likeness⁹. And he added: See your vocation, for it is great. And he said that by their malignities God will give judgment to the poor, that they may be judging the twelve tribes of Israel; and in this life contemplation is due to such men. Contemplation cannot be save in the highest simplicity; and the highest simplicity cannot be save in the greatest poverty; and this belongs to this order. The intention of blessed Francis was to be in the highest poverty. — And he said that we have gone far back from our own state, and therefore God permits us to be afflicted, that through this we may be brought back to the state which ought to have the land of promise. Great things

did God promise to Israel, and great men out of them were chosen, as his Apostles. — The Jews were blinded, these were illumined; but they gave themselves to the flesh; some wish to give the purses to Christ. — Note also that few entered the land of promise; and they who melted the heart of the people did not enter in¹.

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