Jerome

[Daniel 7:10] "There were millions ministering unto Him, and a billion stood by His side." This was not intended to be a specific number for the servants of God, but only indicates a multitude too great for human computation. These are the thousands and tens of thousands of which we read in the Psalms: "The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands; thousands of them that rejoice. The Lord is among them" (Psalm 68:17). And in another place: "He who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire" (Psalm 104:4). Now the duty of angels is twofold: the duty of one group is to bestow rewards upon just men; the duty of the other is to have charge over individual calamities.

"...The court was in session, and the books were opened." The consciences of men, and the deeds of individuals which partake of either character, whether good or bad, are disclosed to all. One of the books is the good book of which we often read, namely the book of the living. The other is the evil book which is held in the hand of the accuser, who is the fiend and avenger of whom we read in Revelation: "The accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10). This is the earthly book of which the prophet says: "Let them be written on earth" (Jeremiah 17:13).

Of all the ornaments of the church our company of monks and virgins is one of the finest.… Let us pass now to the cottage inn that sheltered Christ and Mary.… The stall where he cried as a babe can best be honored by silence, for words are inadequate to speak its praise. Where are the spacious porticoes? Where are the gilded ceilings?… Behold, in this poor crevice of the earth the Creator of the heavens was born; here he was wrapped in swaddling clothes; here he was seen by the shepherds; here he was pointed out by the star; here he was adored by the wise men.… Read the Apocalypse of John, and consider what is sung therein of the woman arrayed in purple and of the blasphemy written upon her brow.… “Come out of her, my people,” so the Lord says, “that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.” … It is true that Rome has a holy church, trophies of apostles and martyrs, a true confession of Christ. The faith has been preached there by an apostle, heathenism has been trodden down, the name of Christian is daily exalted higher and higher. But the display, power and size of the city, the seeing and being seen, the paying and the receiving of visits, the alternate flattery and detraction, talking and listening, as well as the necessity of facing so great a throng even when one is least in the mood to do so—all these things are alike foreign to the principles and fatal to the repose of the monastic life.… But in the cottage of Christ all is simple and rustic, except for the chanting of psalms everything is completely silent.

'And whose leaves never fade.' [Psalm 1:3] The leaves of this tree are by no means useless. Even if one understands Holy Writ only as history, he has something useful for his soul. We read in the Apocalypse of John (a book which, although rejected in these regions, we ought nevertheless to know, because it is accepted and held as canonical throughout the west, and in other Phoenician provinces, and in Egypt, for the ancient churchmen, including Irenaeus, Polycarp, Dionysius, and other Roman expounders of Sacred Scripture, among whom is holy Cyprian, accept and interpret it): 'Behold, I saw a throne set up, and one Lamb and a tree alongside a river, and on both sides of the river was that tree.' [Revelation 22:1-2] This means that the tree 'was both on this side and on that side of the river. 'And this tree,' he says, 'bore fruit and was yielding its twelve fruits for the year according to each month. And it had lean's, too, and the leaves for the healing of the nations.' [Revelation 22:2]

'I saw,' he says, 'a single throne set up.' We believe in the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that is true, and that they are a Trinity; nevertheless the kingship is one. 'I saw a single throne set lip, and I saw a single Lamb standing in the presence of the throne.' [Revelation 5:6] This refers to the Incarnation of the Savior. Scripture says: 'Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world' [John 1:29] 'And there was a fountain of water coming forth from beneath the middle of the throne' [Revelation 22:1] Notice that it is from the midst of the throne that there issues forth a river of graces. That river does not issue forth from the throne unless the Lamb is standing before it, [Revelation 7:17] for unless we believe in the Incarnation of Christ, we do not receive those graces.

A tree, he says, one lofty tree had been set up. He did not say trees, but only one tree. If there is but one tree how can it be on both sides of the river? If he had said, I saw trees, it would have been possible for some trees to be on one side of the river and other trees on the other side. Actually, one tree is said to be on both sides of the river. One river comes forth from the throne of God - the grace of the Holy Spirit - and this grace of the Holy Spirit is found in the river of the Sacred Scriptures. This river, moreover, has two banks, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the tree planted on both sides is Christ. During the year, this tree yields twelve fruits, one for each month, but we are unable to receive the fruits except through the apostles. If one approaches the tree through the apostles, he must receive the fruit; he gathers the fruit from the Sacred Scriptures; he grasps the divine meaning abiding within the words. If, therefore, one comes to this tree through the apostles, he gathers its fruit just as we have said. If, indeed, he cannot pluck the fruit, it is because he is still too weak; he is not yet a disciple, but belongs to the throng; he is an outsider, a stranger from the nations. Because he cannot pluck the fruit, he plucks only words, the leaves for the healing of the nations, for it is written: 'and the leaves are for the healing of the nations.' One who belongs to the nations, who is not a disciple, who is as yet only one of the crowd, gathers only leaves from the tree; he receives from Scripture plain words for a healing remedy. Briefly, then, the Scripture says: 'and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations'; in other words, the leaves are medicine. Why have we digressed on the Apocalypse? Simply became of that tree 'that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.'

In what sense should we take what we read in the Epistle to the Romans: for scarcely for a righteous man will one die; for peradventure for the good man some would even dare to die. (Rom. 5:7) For two heretics, because they do not understand this testimony, being in different errors indeed, but with equal impiety, blaspheme. For Marcion, who makes God the righteous, the Creator of the Law, and of the Prophets; but the good [God] of the Gospel and of the Apostle, and would make Him the Christ, introduces two gods - the one righteous, the other good. And he asserts that for the righteous [God] none, or few, suffered death. However, for Christ's sake, countless martyrs have existed. Moreover, Arius refers to Christ as just, of whom it was said: Give the king thy judgment, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son (Psalm 72:1); And in the Gospel he himself says of himself: For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22); And, I judge as I hear (ibid. 30). But goodness belongs to God the Father, of whom the Son himself confesses: Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Luke 18:19). And since up to this point his blasphemies were able to find crooked paths, he stumbles and falls in the following [paths]. For who dares to die for the Father, and scarcely does anyone die for the Son, when on account of the name of Christ so much blood of martyrs has been shed? Therefore, whoever simply expounds this passage can say that in the old Law, in which there is justice, scarcely a few people were found who shed their own blood. But in the new Testament, in which there is goodness and mercy, innumerable martyrs have existed. But from that which he established, it is possible that someone may even dare to die, and with a measured step balanced the sentence, it should be understood that some who dare to die for the Gospel can be found not to be received in this way; but the meaning of this place should be handled from the higher and lower parts. For Paul said he boasted in tribulations: because tribulation works patience; and patience, probation; and probation, hope; and hope is not confounded (Rom. 5.4-5), which has a certain promise from him because the love of God is poured forth in our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who is given to us (Ibid.): according to what God had said through the Prophet: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh (Joel 1.28); he marvels at the goodness of Christ, that he wanted to die for the ungodly, weak, and sinners, and to die at an opportune time, about which he says: In a time accepted I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee (Isaias 49.8). And again: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). When everyone had sinned, they became useless together, there was no one who did good, not even one (Psalm 13.1). Therefore, his incredible goodness and unheard-of mercy, to die for the ungodly, for it is scarcely that someone would die for the just or the good, and he poured out his own blood, with fear of death terrifying all. For it can sometimes be found that someone dares to die for a just and good cause. But the love of God, which he has for us, is most proven by this, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and his life was taken from the earth. And he was led to death for the iniquities of the people; he carried our sins, and his soul was handed over to death, and he was reckoned with the wicked (Isaiah 53); so that he might make us, the ungodly, infirm, and sinners, pious, robust, and just. Some interpret it thus. If he died for us who are impious and sinners, how much more confidently should we not hesitate to lay down our lives for a just and good Christ? Moreover, we do not think that what is just and good is something different or signifies any particular person; but rather a thing which is absolutely just and good, for the sake of which some may find difficulty but at times it can be found, to shed their own blood.

I know certain men for whom the king of Nineveh, (who is the last to hear the proclamation and who descends from his throne, and forgoes the ornaments of his former vices and dressed in sackcloth sits on the ground, he is not content with his own conversion, preaches penitence to others with his leaders, saying, "let the men and beasts, big and small of size, be tortured by hunger, let them put on sackcloth, condemn their former sins and betake themselves without reservation to penitence!) is the symbol of the devil, who at the end of the world, (because no spiritual creature that is made reasoning by God will perish), will descend from his pride and do penitence and will be restored to his former position. To support this opinion they use this example of Daniel in which Nebuchadnezzar after seven years of penitence is returned to his former reign. [Dan. 4:24, 29, 33] But because this idea is not in the Holy Scripture and since it completely destroys the fear of God, (for men will slide easily into vices if they believe that even the devil, the creator of wickedness and the source of all sins, can be saved if he does penitence), we must eradicate this from our spirits. Let us remember though that the sinners in the Gospel are sent to the eternal fire [Mt. 25:41], which is prepared for the devil and his angels, about whom is said, "their worm will not die and their fire will not be extinguished" [Is. 66:24]... Moreover if all spiritual creatures are equal and if they raise themselves up by their virtues to heaven, or by their vices take themselves to the depths, then after a long circuit and infinite centuries, if all are returned to their original state with the same worthiness to all conflicting, what difference will there be between the virgin and the prostitute? What distinction will there be between the mother of the Lord and (it is wicked to say) the victims of public pleasures? Will Gabriel be like the devil? Will the apostles be as demons? Will the prophets be as pseudoprophets? Martyrs as their persecutors? Imagine all that you will, increase by two-fold the years and the time, take infinite time for torture: if the end for all is the same, all the past is then nothing, for what is of importance to us is not what we are at any given moment, but what we will be forever more.

[Daniel 5:19] "'He slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; those whom he wished he set on high, and brought low whomever he would.'" Thus he sets forth the example of the king's great-grandfather, in order to teach him the justice of God and make it clear that his great-grandson too was to suffer similar treatment because of his pride. Now if Nebuchadnezzar slew whomever he would and smote to death whomever he wished to; if he set on high those whom he would and brought low whomever he wished to, there is certainly no Divine providence or Scriptural injunction behind these honors and slayings, these acts of promotion and humiliation. But rather, such things ensue from the will of the men themselves who do the slaying and promoting to honor, and all the rest. If this be the case, the question arises as to how we are to understand the Scripture: "The heart of a king reposes in the hand of God; He will incline it in whatever direction He wishes" (Proverbs 21:1). Perhaps we might say that every saint is a king, for sin does not reign in his mortal body, and his heart therefore is kept safe, for he is in God's hand (Romans 6:1-23). And whatever has once come into the hand of God the Father, according to the Gospel, no man is able to take it away (John 10:28). And whoever is taken away, it is understood that he never was in God's hand at all.

What does the Apostle mean when he writes to the Romans: "For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me" (Rom 7:11)? Let us examine the whole passage and, with the help of Christ, try to understand its meaning. We do not wish to impose upon you our interpretation, but only to explain briefly what seems to us to be the true sense of the words. So what shall we say? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! Yet, I would not have known sin except through the Law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the Law had said, "You shall not covet." But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But in order for sin to appear sin, it worked death to me through what is good, so that sin by the commandment might become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So I find the law, that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! How can medicine not be a cause of death, if it reveals deadly poisons, although evil people abuse them for death, either by killing themselves or lying in wait for their enemies: thus the Law was given, to show the poisons of sins; and to hold back the man who abuses his freedom, who before was thoughtless and stumbled dangerously, with the reins of the law, and to teach him to walk by rules so that we may serve in the newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter, that is, we live by the command which we previously called in the manner of brute animals; Let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (1 Cor. 15:32). But if, under the influence of the Law (which teaches us what we ought to do and prohibits what we ought not to do), we are carried away by our fault and incontinence against legal precepts, it seems that the Law causes sin: since while prohibiting desire, it is known to kindle it in a certain manner. The secular opinion among the Greeks is: Whatever is allowed is desired less. Therefore, on the contrary, whatever is not allowed receives the fuel of desire. Hence, Tullius also denies having written about the punishments of the parricides in Athens by Solon, so that he may not seem to prohibit so much as to admonish. Therefore, the law, disregarded by lawbreakers and those trampling on its precepts, seems to be the occasion for offenses: by forbidding what they do not wish to be done, it binds them with the chains of commandments; whereas, prior to sinning without law, they were not held guilty. We have said these things, understanding the Law which was given through Moses. But because it is written in the subsequent writings: the Law of God and the law of the flesh and members, which fights against the Law of our mind and leads us captive in the Law of sin, and that four laws, contending against each other, are known to be written in one place, I consider it not irrelevant if I inquire how many kinds of law are remembered in the Holy Scriptures. It is said that the Law, which was given through Moses, is cursed according to what is written to the Galatians: For all who are of the works of the Law are under a curse. For it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them" (Gal. 3:10). And again in the same epistle: The Law was established for transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise was made, having been arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator (Galatians 3:19). And again: Therefore the Law was our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith which is in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:24, etc.). Also, the history which does not contain orders, but reports what has been done, is called the Law by the Apostle. "Tell me," he said, "you who want to be under the Law, have you not read the Law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, but the son of the free woman was born by promise (Ibid. 4.22-23). And the Psalms are also called Law: May the word written in their Law be fulfilled: They hated me without reason (Ps. 68.5). Isaiah's prophecy, the Apostle calls the Law: In the Law it is written: "With other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and they will not even hear me, saith the Lord." (Isai. 21). This is the same passage which I find written in Hebrew in the book of Isaiah; and the Law also is styled the mystical intelligence of the Scriptures: "For we know that the Law is spiritual." (Rom. 7. 14). Besides all this, the Apostle tells us that the natural law is written on our hearts: For when the Gentiles that have not the Law do by nature the things that are of the Law, they are a Law to themselves, who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them. (Rom. 2. 14 et 15). This law which is written in the heart contains all nations: and there is no human who does not know this law. Therefore, the just judgment of God is upon the human race; "What you do not want to happen to yourself, do not do to others." For who is unaware that murder, adultery, theft, and every form of desire are evil, because he would not want them to be done to himself? For if he were unaware that they were evil, he would not be pained by them being inflicted upon himself. Through this natural law, Cain also knew his sin, saying: "My punishment is greater than I can bear." Adam and Eve also knew their sin, and therefore they hid under the tree of life. Pharaoh before the law was given through Moses, confessed his sins, and said: The Lord is just, but I and my people are wicked. This law is unknown in childhood, ignored in infancy, and sinning without command, one is not held by the law of sin. He curses his father and mother, and beats his parents, and because he has not yet received the law of wisdom, sin is dead within him. But when the command comes, that is, the time when one seeks good and avoids evil, then sin begins to revive, and he dies, guilty of sin. And so it happens, that the time of understanding, in which we know the commandments of God, that we might attain to life, works death in us: if we act more negligently, and occasion seduces and supplants us with wisdom, and leads us to death. Not that understanding is sin (for the Law of Understanding is holy and just and good), but through understanding of sins and virtues, sin is born in me, which before I understood, I did not know it was sin. And thus it has become, that what was given to me for good, is changed through my fault into evil; and that I may use a new word to explain my meaning: sin, which before I had understanding, was without sin, by the transgression of the commandment, becomes more sinful to me. Before, let us ask what this desire is, of which the Law says: Thou shalt not covet. Some think that the command in the Decalogue "You shall not covet your neighbor's goods" (Deut. 5:21) means. But we consider all disturbances of the soul, by which we grieve and rejoice, fear and desire, to be covetousness. And this Apostle, vessel of election, whose body was the temple of the Holy Spirit, and who said, " Do you seek proof of the Christ who speaks in me?" (1 Cor. 13:3)? And in another place: "Christ redeemed us" (Gal. 3:13). And again: "But I now live, not I, but Christ lives in me" (Ibid. 2:20), he speaks not of himself but of Him who wills to do penance after sins, and, under his own person, describes the frailty of the human condition, which perpetuates the wars between two men, who are internal and external, and fighting with each other. The inner man agrees with both written and natural law, that it is good, and holy, and just, and spiritual. The outer [man], I say, is carnal, sold under sin. For I do not know what I am working, and I do not do what I will, but what I hate (Rom. 7. 14). But if the outer [man] does what he does not want, and works what he hates, he shows that the commandment is good, and that he does not do what is evil; but sin dwells in his flesh: this is the vices of the body, and the desire for pleasure, which is implanted in human bodies for descendants and offspring; and if it goes beyond its limits, it turns into sin. Let every person consider and accuse themselves, and manage the incentives to their vices: how often they speak, think, and suffer in the heat of the body what they do not want; I do not want to say that they should do it, lest I seem to accuse holy men, of whom it is written: "This man was true and unblemished, a worshipper of God, shunning every evil work" (Job 1.1). And of Zacharias and Elizabeth: "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (Luke 1.6). And it was commanded to the Apostles: Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:46). But He never would have commanded it unless He knew man was capable of being perfect. Unless perhaps we should say that departing from all evil means improvement and transition from the errors of childhood and the vices of a licentious age to correction and virtues; and that righteousness, as preached in Zacharias and Elizabeth, is external; and that the concupiscence that is said to dwell in our members now abides within us. But it is not only to boys, but already to those of robust age, that the apostles are commanded to take on the perfection which we ourselves confess to be in perfect age. Nor saying this, do we flatter vices; but we follow the authority of the scriptures, which says no man is without sin, but that God has included all under sin; that He may have mercy on all. (Gal. 3.22): except Him alone, who has not sinned, nor has deceit been found in His mouth. (Isaiah 53). From there, it is also said by Solomon, 'that the tracks of the serpents are not found in the rock.' (Prov. 30) And the Lord further said of himself, "Behold, the ruler of this world is coming, and there is nothing in me that he can use (John 14:30)," that is, of his own work and his own trace. For this reason, we are commanded not to reproach those who turn away from their sins and not to despise the Egyptians for they themselves were once in Egypt, and we built cities out of mud and bricks for the Pharaoh (Deut. 23). And we were taken captive to Babylon because of the law of sin that resided in our bodies. And when it seemed that there was extreme despair, indeed an open confession, that every man was ensnared by the snares of the devil, the Apostle, rather the man under whose person the Apostle speaks, turns to give thanks to the Savior, that he was redeemed by his blood, and that he has shed the filth in baptism, and that he has taken up the new garment of Christ, and having put to death the old man, a new man was born who says: Miserable man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7. 24) I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, who has freed me from this body of death. If anyone does not see that the Apostle is speaking about others in his own person, let him explain how Daniel, whom we know to have been just, speaks as if of himself when he pleads for others: We have sinned, we have acted unjustly, we have done wickedly, we have departed and have gone away from thy commandments and thy judgments; and we have not listened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To thee, O Lord, belongs justice, but to us confusion (Dan. 3:29 et seqq.). Also, what is said in the thirty-first Psalm: I have made known to you my sin, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said: I will confess my injustice to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my sin. For this let every holy one pray to you in an opportune time (Psalm 31:5) - not David, or a just man, or (to speak plainly) a Prophet, whose words are narrated, but it fits with the sinner. And when the righteous man, under the guise of a penitent, has uttered such utterances, he deserves to hear from God: I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. (Ibid. 8) In the thirty-seventh Psalm also, the title of which is In Remembrance, that we may be taught to be always mindful of our sins, and to repent of them, we read as follows: There is no peace for my bones, because of my sins. "Since my iniquities have risen above my head, like a heavy burden they weigh upon me. My wounds have become corrupt and have festered because of my foolishness. I am troubled and bowed down to the end." (Psalms 38:5-6 in the Vulgate) This whole passage of the Apostle, both in the preceding and in the following, nay, his whole Epistle to the Romans, is wrapped in too many obscurities, and if I wished to discuss everything, it would not be one book for me, but large, and there would be many volumes to be written.