Book 2

Commentaries on the Book of 1 Kings

BOOK TWO.

CHAPTER I.

1. In the previous book, while we were discussing the text of sacred history in a moral sense, we placed Anna's fruitfulness in the perfection of the highest contemplation, because for the mind to conceive is to rejoice ineffably in the contemplation of the supreme omnipotence of God, while to give birth is to be unable to conceal the marks of the charity conceived in the mind. Now, what does it mean for her who gives birth to sing a canticle, if not to proclaim with true praises the Creator whom she loves ineffably? She says therefore: (1 Samuel 2:1) My heart has exulted in the Lord.

2. But she who ate and drank, who had a bitter spirit, who wept abundantly, who made a vow—because that mind can worthily praise almighty God which has arrived at the heights of His love through worthy struggles—she indeed learned through long practice to despise all things; and while she casts aside all created things from her attention, she rejoices all the more in the vision of eternal majesty, inasmuch as no appearance of any creature prevails to hold her back in love of itself. She therefore says: "My heart has exulted in the Lord," she who, despising all things, loves Him alone. He had indeed come to this same affection who said: "What remains for me in heaven, and what have I desired from you upon the earth?" (Ps. 72:25). Hence, exulting in God, she says: "Your face, your face, O Lord, I will seek" (Ps. 26:3). Hence the bride in the Canticles asks, saying: "Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth" (Cant. 1:1). Therefore when she says, "My heart has exulted in the Lord," what else does she glory in than that she has clung to the kisses of Him whom she ardently loves? And for this reason she alone says these things, who knows from experience what the power of love is in the bridegroom's chamber. For illuminated by victories over all passions and raised to the summit of virtues, she arrived at that height from which, through the joy of wondrous devotion and exultation, she placed her heart in God. And because she says "my heart," what else has she declared than the freedom of her mind? The reprobate indeed do not have their own hearts, because the devil possesses them. Whence it is also said of the traitor: "When the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him" (John 13:2). For if Judas, and not the devil, possessed his heart, he himself would rather have placed good in it than the devil evil. On the contrary, the chosen man speaks, saying: "I carry my soul in my hands" (Job 13:14). For what else is the hand of the elect but the power of inner freedom? What then is it for him to carry his soul in his hands, but to retain the glory of inner freedom in his power? Therefore, as often as we gravely sin, we do not have our own heart. Wherefore Jeremiah also, reproaching the Jewish people for sinning gravely, says: "Hear, O foolish people, you who have no heart" (Jer. 5:21). Hence likewise another prophet, turning back, confesses to God, saying: "Your servant has found his heart" (2 Kings 7:27). She therefore says: "My heart has exulted in the Lord," to declare the freedom of mind without which she could not worthily praise God. There follows: (Verse 1.) "My horn is exalted in my God."

3. By the horn, the intention of the elect mind is designated, which is wonderfully exalted when it arrives rejoicing at him who stands above all things. Hence she declares that her horn is exalted not in anything else, but in God. For whoever loves passing goods, his intention is assuredly lowered, not exalted, because it is fixed in the depths where it is placed by desire. Hence it is that the Lord says in the Gospel: Where your treasure is, there is your heart also (Matt. 6:21; Luke 12:34). Therefore the Lord wished to exalt our horn when he said: Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20, 33). Those to whom Paul conformed himself had an exalted horn, when he said: Our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). But whoever loves only heavenly things, if he has not known how to taste that sweetness of intimate delight, although he may be greatly exalted, he has not yet reached the height of this exaltation. He, therefore, is sublime with this exaltation who, advancing through the increase of virtues, has attained the height of supreme contemplation—not only so as to love heavenly things perfectly, but also so as to rest, in the perfection of love, in the contemplation of almighty God alone. He has his horn exalted in God who enjoys the lofty vision of the interior light, in which he glories with a certain familiar singularity. Wherefore she does not say, "In our God," but "in my God." For she says "my" of him whom she loves familiarly and singularly. To which dignity of divine familiarity he had certainly arrived who said: You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, and I will exalt you (Ps. 117:28). Hence Isaiah says, rebuking the unbelieving: Is it a small thing for you to be troublesome to men, that you are troublesome also to my God (Isa. 7:13)? She, therefore, who is raised up by the exaltation of her horn in God, singularly proclaims him her God, because that supreme infusion of divine sweetness makes the exalted mind both receptive of itself and deeply familiar. There follows: (Verse 1.) My mouth is enlarged over my enemies.

4. Who are the enemies of the elect mind, if not evil spirits? What then is it to have a widened mouth over one's enemies, if not to reject all the persuasions of evil spirits by the most ample bounty of grace poured into oneself? For he has a narrow mouth who cannot prevail against all the deceits of evil spirits through the consideration of reason. For the mouth of the mind is reason, and to speak is to deliberate. For the mouth is filled when the reason of the mind is raised up through grace poured into it to the contemplation of the highest truth. Indeed, for it to be filled is to be imbued with the illumination of the highest truth. There it learns both what to desire eternally and what to despise temporally. And because the highest truth is love, the elect soul is raised up by the subtlety of truth and is inflamed with love for that thing which it has learned, and it keeps the teaching all the more strictly, the more fervently the force of love embeds it within itself. To this soul, even if evil spirits suggest evil things, they are confounded by the opening of its widened mouth, because, instructed by the truth of the highest wisdom and kindled by the torches of the highest love, it now possesses against the suggestion of error the immense light of wisdom, and possesses against the offered pomp of this world an ineffable love. In the immensity of light it sees what to reject, and through the force of the highest love it delights in rejecting the unworthy things which it knows. Through wisdom it rebukes the evil things suggested, and in the power of love it refutes the things it has detected. Therefore it widens its mouth over its enemies, because from the abundance of reason it deliberates many things against the demons, and it destroys their objections all the more keenly because it recognizes in lofty things that by which it may reject evil suggestions. Whence, immediately intimating the cause, she says: 56 'Because I have rejoiced in your salvation.'

5. Which is indeed as if she were saying: Because my horn is exalted in my God. This certainly is to rejoice in the salvation of God, namely to have one's horn exalted in one's God. This is not understood of just any joy of salvation, but of that most perfect joy by which the chosen and perfected soul, in the manner of a bride, rejoices in the bridegroom. Concerning which joy David entreats, saying: Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and strengthen me with a princely spirit (Psalm 50:14). She, therefore, who glories in having her mouth opened wide over her enemies, is described as having first rejoiced in the salvation of God, because that blessed mind will be able to powerfully reject the persuasions of malignant spirits, which, having been sublimely raised up through contemplation into the divinity of the Redeemer, receives from Him both the greatness of wisdom and the fullness of charity. Whom indeed she proclaims with worthy praises, saying: (Verse 2.) There is none holy as the Lord is; for there is none other beside you, and there is none strong like our God.

6. For by these words of Anna, every chosen soul cries out this in praise to the Redeemer, which it believes to be a gift from him. But from this order of pious confession, the order is indicated by which we may attain those same goods of the gift which she set forth in sequence. Therefore the Lord is declared holy and strong, by whom we are sanctified, led to rest, and glorified. We receive sanctification from the Lord in the power of regeneration; but being—that is, rest from the changeableness of this corruption—in the ending of exile; and strength in the triumph of the resurrection. Therefore we attain the first of these gifts in this life, when the soul of each chosen one is in the flesh, but both are still placed in the struggle of labor; the next, however, in the soul alone apart from the flesh, after the life of the flesh, and now taken up from the labors of this life; but the last, in flesh and soul, but both now renewed through the glory of eternity. Therefore he is first called holy, because for those regenerated through the washing of salvation, the love of God is poured into our hearts, through whose grace we are prepared for the goods of the eternal homeland, so that while this life slips away through the time of its course, that life may receive us, whose joy the departing souls of the elect from here may possess without fear of death. Then being is ascribed to him, because, secure, we await the day of our consummation, namely the glory of the final resurrection, while in that gift of received rest we learn not to fear the scrutiny of the final judgment, but to await the joy of the promised glory. But in the last place he is declared strong, because in the joy of the future resurrection our weaknesses are strengthened, when the flesh rises from the dust; but that same dust of our flesh, transferred into the glory of perpetual incorruption, returns no more to the misery of its frailty. But it should also be noted that in these three we are led from one to another; but when one begins to have what was not had, he who receives what he did not have does not lose what he had before. For when we are led from sanctification to rest, and from the rest of the soul we are led to the strength of eternal incorruption, both the sanctification of love is increased for us in that rest, and rest and love grow greatly in the resurrection. For let each soul, joined to its Creator through love, beholding such great gifts, say in the words of Anna how well the gift of perfect regeneration and the power of love tastes to it. Let it say: There is none holy as the Lord is. Let it say how much better a gift is the promise of rest in the hour of its passing: Neither is there any other besides you. Let it say how the most excellent and pleasing reward is its final renewal, in the joy of its perfected spirit and glorified flesh. Let it say: And there is none strong like our God. And it should be noted that Anna speaks this in a canticle of prayer. For to the chosen mind, to ask these things in a canticle is to desire such great gifts with joy. Indeed, for it to ask is to desire, and to rejoice is to sing. But she who so joyfully beholds the gifts of her dignity, how strongly she reproaches hidden enemies becomes known. For it follows, and says: (Verse 3) Do not keep talking so very proudly, boasting; let old things depart from your mouth.

7. For evil spirits speak lofty and ancient things, when they suggest to the faithful that the high things of this age, as they appear, should be sought after. Therefore, one who has already learned to exalt his horn in God, who knows how to be held in the joy of Majesty, looks down with reproach upon whatever is offered to him from the enticements of this passing age, saying: "Do not multiply your speech, boasting lofty things; let the old words depart from your mouth." As if he were speaking openly and saying: "The things offered to me displease me precisely because through desire I see other things that greatly please me."

8. Because this is indeed said to apply to one who is already recognized as fit for the ministry of preaching, these words are fittingly understood as directed both against the arrogantly wise and against those who neglect the profession of a holy life. For he speaks lofty things boastfully who glories sublimely in the knowledge he has received, priding himself on his understanding. And he speaks old things who, setting aside the words of Holy Scripture, occupies himself with secular speech. Therefore it is said to the arrogant: "Do not speak lofty things, boasting." By these words it is shown that he does not forbid the manner of speech, but the disposition of the intention. As if he were saying openly: speak lofty things, but flee from glorying in what is called high. Hence Paul also piously admonishes his disciple, saying: "Be not high-minded, but fear" (Rom. 11:20). He did not say "Do not speak high things," but "Be not high-minded"; just as here it does not say "Do not speak lofty things," but "Do not speak boastingly," because the sacred words must be sought out on a deeper level, but the more deeply one advances in seeking them out, the more one ought to restrain oneself from the swelling of vainglory through the custody of humility. It is also said to those who speak idly: "Let old things depart from your mouth." For old things are the words of the world, because while the mind of the speaker is fixed upon them through intention, it is stripped of the beauty of its devotion. The reason why those who boast should not speak lofty things, and why old things should depart from their mouth, is shown by the cause that follows: (Verse 3) "Because the Lord is a God of knowledge."

9. Let the one who is knowing and arrogant therefore hear that he himself is not the lord of knowledge, but God is. For he would rightly speak boastfully if he himself, not almighty God, had been the master of the knowledge by which he is puffed up. Let us also hear, when we speak the words of the world, that God is the Lord of knowledge. For indeed the knowledge not only of the New but also of the Old Testament now renews the minds of the elect; for He came who would say: Behold, I make all things new (Isaiah 43:19). Since therefore we have so many new things which we can speak, we are by no means able to speak old things without fault. Let the old things therefore depart from our mouth, so that when the fault of condemned oldness is restrained even from speech, we may pass over into the beauty of the new man. But if indeed we despise this, let us hear: (Verse 3.) And by Him thoughts are prepared.

10. As if from a lesser fault, with the comparison understood, he terrifies us, saying: Hence let those who speak idle words consider how greatly they ought to fear the fault of speech, if he to whom one sins by speaking reserves even the excesses of thoughts for the examination of his judgment. Let the arrogant likewise hear what follows: (Verse 4.) The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girded with strength.

11. For we have already said in the allegorical exposition that unclean spirits are designated by the name of these mighty ones. Since they fell from heavenly glory through pride, they are fittingly set before proud teachers as a warning, so that they may now think humbly of themselves to the degree that they contemplate how even angels fell from supreme glory through the desire for vain glory. We recall that our Redeemer also did this with His proud disciples, who, when they boasted of having demons subject to them, immediately heard from Him: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). The bow of the mighty, therefore, is the pride of malignant spirits. They are called mighty either because they thought great things of themselves, or because they overcome the human race by the force of great temptations. This bow, when impious intent stretched it, strove to hurl the arrows of its malice upward against its Creator. "I will set my throne in the North," said their prince, "I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13–14). But the bow of the mighty was overcome, because God resisted the pride of the apostate spirits, cast them down from heaven, and stripped them of the glory of their created excellence, so that in the fallen angels man might learn what to fear. For what will become of an earthen vessel, if God does not spare even golden ones that are full of the stench of pride? Hence Peter also speaks in his Epistle, saying: "God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down into hell with chains of darkness and delivered them to be reserved for judgment" (2 Peter 2:4). It is as though an elect and humble preacher were saying to the proud: That you may cease from your haughtiness, look upon the penalties of deserved damnation in the angels who are like you — that is, the fallen ones.

12. And setting forth whom they ought to imitate, she says: 'And the weak have been girded with strength.' If on account of the presumption of self-esteem the evil angels are called strong, the name of the weak rightly belongs to the blessed spirits, who, presuming nothing of themselves, are subject in perpetual humility to the power of their Maker. 'The weak have been girded with strength,' because, by the merit of voluntary subjection, the holy angels are joined to their Creator by the bond of inward love. To whom the name of girding fittingly applies, because anyone who is girded is held fast on every side by the belt with which he is girded, because clearly those most blessed spirits are so established in eternity that they can never fall from it. Hence it is that an angel is sent to Daniel preaching in Babylon, who is described as girded with fine gold (Dan. 10:5). Hence it is that the angel with whom John held conversation in the Apocalypse he beheld encircled with a golden girdle about the breast. Because indeed those same blessed spirits have risen from the merit of humility to the glory of love, but because they possess that same glory in the embrace of eternity, and do not possess it in fear of losing it, they are indeed ineffably glorious, but they can never lose that ineffable glory. Therefore, that the arrogant may cease to boast, let him hear: 'The bow of the mighty is overcome.' And that, with the fault of pride condemned, they may advance in humility, it is said to them: 'The weak have been girded with strength.' For strength is bestowed upon the weak when, by the merit of subjection, the power of heavenly charity is poured into the meek. We are also girded when we are prepared for the ministry of the word. Rightly therefore the weak girded with strength are set before those who boast in lofty speech, because those spirits who are sent forth in ministry, for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation, were humble before they were girded for ministry. For weakness is mentioned first, but the girding of strength afterward. Paul indeed points out to us these girded ones, saying: 'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth in ministry, for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation' (Heb. 1:14)? Of whom the prophet also speaks, saying: 'Thousands of thousands ministered to him' (Dan. 7:10). As if therefore she were saying: First know yourselves, and so prepare yourselves for the salvation of others, because the good of preaching is then well fulfilled when the preacher who is lofty in word strives to be humble in ministry. But because she rebukes the proud and arrogant preachers by speaking, she adds, saying: (Verse 5) 'Those who were full before have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have been satisfied.'

13. Those are filled first who, while they receive the foods of pride as refreshment for the mind, cannot take in the delights of holy virtues, as though already full of food. But nevertheless they hire themselves out for bread, because in the Scriptures which they understand they think they receive spiritual gifts of virtues according to the greatness of wisdom. But they cannot be satisfied, because they can in no way add the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the fullness of arrogance. For the spirit of discipline itself flees from what is feigned, and does not dwell in a body full of sins (Wisdom 1:5). Hence it is also written: 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble' (1 Peter 5:5). In vain, therefore, do they eagerly desire to receive the things of God, who by the very fact that they are proud make the bestower of gifts their adversary. Therefore they cannot be satisfied, because they do not obtain the gifts of spiritual graces. But who are the hungry, if not those empty of the foods of vices, fasting from pride? The hungry, therefore, are satisfied, because holy men, endowed with the stronghold of humility, while they do not think highly of themselves, merit the lofty gifts of virtues. For through the good of humility they become seats of the Holy Spirit, and while they receive him abiding in them, they are more fully filled with his gifts. Whence the Lord also says through the Prophet: 'Upon whom does my spirit rest, if not upon the humble, and quiet, and the one trembling at my words' (Isaiah 66:2)? Greatly, therefore, are the hungry satisfied, because in the fullness of gifts the Holy Spirit rests upon the humble.

14. This, however, can not unfittingly be said against negligent ministers of the sacred altar and presumptuous receivers of the Lord's body. For those who hire themselves out for bread were filled beforehand and saturated with the food of vices, because they do not prepare their body for the reception of the Eucharist. They indeed eat and cannot be satisfied, because even though they receive the sacrament with their mouth, they are in no way filled with the power of the sacrament. They therefore fast from that power of the sacrament precisely because they had been filled beforehand. For they do not receive the fruit of salvation in the eating of the saving host, who carry in their mind the sins with which they had filled themselves. Therefore none are satisfied except the hungry, because those who perfectly fast from vices receive the divine sacraments in the fullness of their power. And because even the elect cannot be without sin, what remains except that they strive to be emptied daily of the sins with which human frailty does not cease to stain them? For he who does not daily drain off what he commits in transgression, even if the sins he heaps up are small, little by little the soul is filled, and they rightly take from him the fruit of interior satisfaction. Paul, urging us to empty ourselves of this fullness, says: "Let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup" (1 Cor. 11:28). For what does "prove" mean in this passage, except, having emptied out the wickedness of sins, to present oneself approved and pure at the Lord's table? Concerning those who are full he also adds: "For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment upon himself." Therefore, since we sin daily, let us daily run to the laments of repentance, because that alone is the power which empties out what guilt accumulates in the belly of the soul. And then the hungry are truly satisfied, because the more diligently we are cleansed by the lament of repentance, the more abundant the fruit of divine grace we receive in spiritual refreshment. Because this satisfaction of the elect extends all the way to the end of the world, she adds and says: (Verse 5.) "Until the barren has borne many, and she who had many children has grown feeble."

15. Who therefore is signified by the name of this barren woman, if not she of whom Paul speaks, saying: "The Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother" (Gal. 4:26, 27)? Whence also shortly after he fitted to her the prophecy of Isaiah, saying: "For it is written: Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who do not travail, for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has a husband" (Isa. 54:1). But how is Jerusalem understood as barren—namely, the holy society of the blessed angels—when according to the meaning of its name it is fruitful with everlasting joy from the eternal vision of peace? But if she is the mother of the elect among men, she was indeed barren when the human race had perished in Adam. For she was as though unable to bring forth, since she lost through the persuasions of the fallen spirit him in whom she ought to have extended the bosom of her fruitfulness. The weak are girded so long until the barren one gives birth, because we have need of the powerful ministry of the humble angels until as many as are predestined to life from the human race are gathered together, even to the end of the world. For the Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather His elect from the four winds (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27). For they are to be sent then to gather those for whose salvation they are sent daily, because they will not gather into the kingdom any except those to whom they now offer assistance through the strength of their girding. Even until the end of the world the hungry are filled. But rightly is this barren woman said to bear very many, because not all men, but only the elect, are led to eternal joys. Fittingly therefore she is also said to give birth, because through the ministry of angels we are taught to seek heavenly things, so that we may be able to attain their goods. But when this barren woman gives birth, she who had many children is weakened, because the fuller the gains of the elect that the heavenly kingdoms receive through the ministries of angels, the more the children of this Babylon are diminished. For she is as though weakened in her childbearing, who through the disordered love of passing things cannot, as she was accustomed, bear children. For everywhere the heavenly kingdoms are now preached, and indeed while the minds of the faithful love what they hear, while they also seek those things through good conduct, Babylon is as though constricted in her childbearing, because our mother Jerusalem brings forth throughout the world for God those whom Babylon was accustomed to bear for hell from her exhausted womb of perdition. Yet the strength of those who are girded is ascribed not to themselves, but to Him by whom they are girded. Fittingly therefore it is added: (Verse 6) "The Lord kills and brings to life."

16. In these words, indeed, the order too must be noted. For he is said first to kill, then to make alive, because unless we cease to love the world, we cannot live for God through love, as John attests, who says: "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). Whence also he who remembered that he had been put to death and made alive, that he had been cast down and raised up, spoke, saying: "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14). He was living, but not with the life of the world, because he said: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). Therefore it is not any of those who are girded, but the Lord who kills and makes alive. For to be put to death and made alive is to desire nothing that is present and to long for things eternal. To whom, then, thanks ought to be rendered for these gifts, she sets forth, saying: "The Lord kills and makes alive." Whence also the oft-named preacher of the nations says: "Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:7). But in what order almighty God works these things in His elect, she sets forth, saying: (Verse 6) "He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up."

17. For in order to kill, He leads down to the depths; and in order to give life, He leads back from the depths. For to Almighty God, to lead to the depths is to terrify the hearts of sinners by the consideration of eternal torments. And for Him, to lead back from the depths is to raise up the terrified minds of the penitent and those mourning their sins, with the hope of unfailing life. For we cease to sin when, our hearts having been softened by heavenly grace, we dread future torments. And we are led back from the depths when, visited by inward consolation, we breathe again with hope of pardon from the lament of penitence. And so the Lord is fittingly said to lead to the depths and to lead back, because human hardness, by the preaching of man alone, is neither shaken by terror nor lifted up by love. For if it belonged to teachers to kill, as many as their preaching touched would cease to sin; and if it belonged to them to give life, whoever heard heavenly things from them, the love of their inmost affection would immediately kindle them to seek those things with every effort. But now, since they often threaten sinners with eternal punishments, since they preach to them what heavenly goods they can, and yet they neither fear the punishments nor desire the joys, let us cry out with the words of Hannah in the praises of God, and attributing to Him also that by which some make progress through them, let us say: The Lord kills and gives life. The Lord therefore leads to the depths and leads back, because those can fear future torments, those can love heavenly joys, in whom through the words that man speaks outwardly, the mercy of God works inwardly. Moreover, there is that by which each person may recognize in himself whether he has already been led to the depths and led back, whether he has died to the world and lives for heaven; for if he is chosen, he makes progress. But concerning this same progress, she adds: (Verse 7) The Lord makes poor and makes rich.

18. The rich of this world therefore glory in their abundant wealth, because by the high and incomprehensible judgment of God, heavenly goods are hidden from them. The Lord therefore makes the poor, because while He reveals eternal goods to the elect, they consider themselves the poorer insofar as they see themselves driven from true riches. Whence also that king who was most abundant in worldly possession, because the Lord had shown him true riches, cried out to Him, saying: Look upon me and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor (Psalm 24:16). Hence the prophet Jeremiah, expressing in himself the illumination of each of the elect, says: I am the man who sees my poverty (Lamentations 3:1). For the Lord to make poor is therefore to rouse the minds of the elect, in the contemplation of everlasting goods, to contempt for all visible things. But since to the one to whom He reveals the highest things He also indicates that these same highest things must be sought through the prolonged price of labor, let it say that He who makes poor also enriches, because assuredly while we receive from Almighty God the knowledge of heavenly goods, from Him also we obtain the strength to strive with worthy labor for them. And well is it added: (Verse 7) He humbles and He lifts up.

19. Because in the contemplation of heavenly things they perceive how lowly they are on earth, but in that same lowliness of temporal want, through the grace of God, they lift themselves on the wings of their merits to the joys of everlasting life. They therefore receive humility in the estimation of their exile, but sublimity in the preparation of holy work. There follows: (Verse 8.) He raises the needy from the dust, and lifts the poor from the dunghill, that he may sit with princes.

20. For dust is the subtle deliberation of illicit thought, which renders foul the mind in which it has settled. For what is designated by dung except the foulness and boldness of committed wickedness? Hence the prophet too, beholding the life of carnal people buried under the filth of foul deeds, says: "The beasts have rotted in their dung" (Joel 1:17). Therefore, the gifts of God are enumerated in fitting order in the conversion of the wicked. For the needy one is first raised from the dust before the poor one is raised from the dung, because the deliberation of impure thought is first cut away from the heart, and afterward the fault is severed from action. Fittingly too the needy one is said to be raised from the dust, and the poor one to be lifted from the dung, because the one inwardly deliberating on wicked things sleeps from the contemplation of justice, while the one outwardly committing unlawful deeds lies in iniquity through action. And because he now wins trophies with the strong over malignant spirits, the text sets forth what the needy one, once raised, and the poor one, once lifted, deserves, saying: "That he may sit with princes, and hold the throne of glory."

21. For to sit belongs to one who triumphs. Hence also in the Apocalypse of John the Lord shows the dignity of our victory, saying: "He who overcomes, I will make him sit on my throne, just as I also overcame and sat with my Father on his throne" (Rev. 3:21). Seeing this, Paul too, counting among God's praises the gifts of our resurrection and our being seated, says: "He raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). Princes therefore sit with him, because those who by his help suppress the forces of malignant spirits hold the dignity of being seated in their triumph over those whom they dominate by the power of the one presiding over them. Likewise princes sit with him, because even though they are seen to stand bodily in the hardship of this passing life, they nevertheless hold a seat of merits with the Redeemer on high, from whose conformity of glory they are not separated even in this valley of corruption. The needy and the poor in possessions are those who for the sake of the Gospel abandoned everything they could have had in the world. They, to be sure, in order to sit with princes, must be raised from the dust and lifted from the dung. For what are the flatteries of the tongue, what are the trappings of fleeting dignities, but dust? For by their fawning they defile the mind and blind it from true splendors. And what are perishing riches and transitory possessions but dung to those who love eternal things? For dung is what holy souls hold in the contempt of humility, not in the appetite of desire. Hence Solomon too, seeing a rich man of the world saddened by the loss of temporal goods, says: "The sluggard is to be pelted with the dung of oxen" (Sir. 22:2). As if to say: He endures the blows of grief from that which the one who desires to labor for eternal life despises as dung. Hence Paul says: "I have counted all things as loss and consider them dung, that I may gain Christ" (Phil. 3:8). The needy one is therefore raised from the dust and the poor one is lifted from the dung when the mind, renouncing the world, tramples underfoot whatever used to please it—the flatteries of human tongues, the honor of dignities, and the abundance of possessions—while it looks only to eternal things, which alone it ardently loves. For to be raised and lifted is to despise by sublimity of mind those things which one leaves behind in the body. And to sit with princes is to share with the citizens of the heavenly fatherland in the joy of eternal rest. Such a one then surely holds the throne of glory, because one who presides so sublimely never falls silent from the praises of his Creator. For the Psalmist, admiring this seat of glory, speaks to the Lord, saying: "Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord; they will praise you forever and ever" (Ps. 83:5). Isaiah proclaims this seat of glory, saying: "Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of praise" (Isa. 51:3). Holy Tobias likewise, showing this same seat, says: "And its streets will be paved with every precious and pure stone, and through all its lanes Alleluia will be sung" (Tob. 13:22). But let the rescued poor man look at what follows, because he is not brought immediately to the seat of princes and the throne of glory as soon as he has been raised up: "The hinges of the earth," it says, "are the Lord's, and he has set the world upon them" (v. 8).

22. Because sinners are designated by the name "earth" in sacred Scripture, these "hinges of the earth" can fittingly be understood as those in whom the world revolves through foolish desires, and leads from one to another. When therefore we behold converted sinners, let us break forth in praise of the Creator with these words of Hannah. For it is as if we say in other words: Those who were long held on the wheel of passing things by worldly desire have now begun to belong to the Lord through His grace. And when, having now abandoned the allurements of secular life, they bravely endure powerful temptations, let us say: "He has set the world upon them." For He has set the world upon them, which, before it was placed upon them, was beneath them. For they now bear as a burden of temptations that which, by flattering them, served them as if subject to them, when they reclined upon it by pursuing pleasures and delights. And because those who had great delights in it suffer great temptations from it, there is added: (Verse 9) "He will guard the feet of His saints."

23. By these words indeed the help of divine protection and propitiation is shown in such a way that the grave dangers of temptations are indicated. For it is as if she were saying: They endure such great trials from the world to which they had clung, that only He suffices to help who cannot be absent from His faithful ones in tribulation. For to preserve the feet of His saints is to strengthen by grace the shaken affections of the elect in temptation, lest they fall. Hence also the prophet, who had wavered toward falling and yet had been preserved by the Lord, said: "But my feet were almost moved, my steps were nearly poured out" (Psalm 72:2). Hence again: "I was pushed and overturned so that I might fall, and the Lord upheld me. The Lord is my strength and my praise, and He has become my salvation" (Psalm 117:13, 14). And concerning the weakness of the enemies she added, saying: (Verse 9) "And the wicked shall be silent in darkness."

24. But what does it mean that when the Lord is said to guard the feet of the saints, the silence of the wicked is mentioned, unless that we are never driven to the fall of sin except when the perverse temptations of malign spirits are suggested to us? When therefore the Lord guards our feet, the wicked are silent in darkness, because while we are protected by divine grace, the unclean spirits are utterly unable to give us the voice by which they might cast us down. Indeed they are silent in darkness, because they possess the darkened hearts of the reprobate, from whose obscurity they dare not advance toward us. Moreover, he explains why he guards the feet of the saints, saying: (Verse 9.) For a man shall not be strengthened by his own might.

25. As if to say: Therefore He holds them, because without Him they could not stand. For even if a man is recognized as a man of virtue, in his strength he has the fear of falling, he does not have the firmness of strength, and he falls by desiring unlawful things as often as his inner steps are abandoned by the Lord who holds him. Was he not indeed a man, he of whom it was sung in the chorus of young women: "Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7)? Who indeed, when he was left amid his burdens to his own strength, fell driven into the sin of his flesh, and learned by experience in himself that a man does not have in himself the firmness of strength, but the fall of weakness. Whence also, fearing to fall back, he earnestly seeks Him by whom he ought to be held firm, saying: "Do not utterly forsake me" (Psalm 119:8). Let no one therefore deceive himself, as if he might find in himself the strength to stand, because even if we often overcome the great wars of hidden enemies, if we worthily pursue them by rejecting their persuasions as though turned to flight, the fleeing spirits do not then fear us, but Him whom they behold in us. Or certainly, if they also fear us, they fear us for this reason indeed: because they see us taken up into the strength of divine grace. Fittingly therefore it is added: (Verse 10.) "The adversaries of the Lord shall fear Him, and He shall thunder upon them from the heavens."

26. For we are heavens when we are lifted up to the height of the divine grace that presides over us. And we have thunders against His adversaries when with the powerful voices of holy desires we shatter everything that breathes upon us from their suggestion. For whatever thunder strikes, it kills. Therefore the thunders of the heavens are the perfect desires of the elect. For they come forth as if sounding terribly from the height of the heavens, when from that summit of the mind they strike the malign spirits, over which Almighty God so presides that by the love of the One presiding, one easily overcomes everything that the audacity of the enemy suggesting evil things could have stirred to battle. But with the Redeemer forewarning, we know that he who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Matt. X, 22). And with the same Lord promising, we have learned that at whatever hour the sinner is converted, he shall be saved (Ezek. XVIII, 21). Therefore at the end of her canticle let Anna add, and let her say what should terrify the sinner, let her say what should make the righteous more cautious. (Verse 10.) The Lord, she says, will judge the ends of the earth.

27. He does not say "the earth," but "the ends of the earth." For the ends of the earth are those who have closed the final moments of their life with the commission of sin. For he who sins and corrects what he has done wrong is earth through sin, but is not the end of the earth, because by sinning he cast down the heights of his redemption, yet from the depths of his fall he rose again before judgment. For he wept over what he had done, and he awaits the coming Judge all the more joyfully, because in the condemnation of his earthliness he holds through penance the scourges of vengeance upon himself. Because, therefore, the Lord judges the ends of the earth, let the converted sinner not be terrified before the Lord by his former or middle deeds. Because likewise the Lord judges the ends of the earth, let the just man not presume upon his begun righteousness. For if sudden death overtakes him while he is still slipping from that righteousness from which he can fall, because sin is enclosed in his final moments, he is judged by the law of the ends of the earth. There follows: (Verse 10.) And He shall give dominion to His king, and shall exalt the horn of His anointed.

28. Since we referred this passage above to the Redeemer, we do not change it in the order of this explanation either. For He Himself is our peace, who made both one (Eph. 2:14). He is also the cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4, 5, 6), in whom, while both walls of the elect are joined together, the structure of the eternal city is arranged. Let our discourse therefore maintain its custom, so that, having now set forth both the moral and allegorical understanding of the sacred canticle, both may converge in Him whom we believe by faith and whom we merit by our conduct.

CHAPTER II. For the divine word follows, and says: (Verse 11.) And Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house.

1. We have shown that this man indeed designates the Redeemer of the human race; Anna his wife, His Church; the boy Samuel, the people of believers from the nations; and Ramatha the city, the heavenly homeland. What then does it mean that after his wife's canticle Elkanah is said to have gone away to Ramatha his city, since Anna sang her canticle to God after the boy was born, and the Redeemer ascended to heaven before the holy Church had begotten the gentile people in faith? This question is raised only by those who are known to understand only the bodily presence of our Lord. For did not Paul, who had ascended to the Father, have Him with him when he said: "Do you seek proof of Christ who dwells in me" (2 Cor. 13:3)? He likewise declares, saying: "As from God, before God and Christ we speak" (2 Cor. 2:17). What does it mean, then, that He was sometimes present to the holy Church through the grace of His gift, and sometimes withdrew Himself from her through the dispensation of trial? For He was present so that in the acquisition of the Gentiles He might abundantly pour forth the words of life; but sometimes, as though absent, He hid Himself, so that, with the gift of the word taken away, she might recognize what she was without His presence. Therefore, after the end of the canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church preaches lofty things from His presence, and He who withdraws Himself from mortals through dispensation continually presents Himself to the eternal citizens. For His house is that eternal fellowship of the heavenly citizens, which the Lord inhabits by loving, filling, and uniting Himself to them. He goes to it, therefore, when He leaves Anna, because He who beneficially withdraws Himself from us who are still making progress, unceasingly joins and shows Himself to the perfected and consummated citizens of the eternal homeland, for whom it is no longer necessary to be tested by His absence, since they have already been proven. Fittingly, therefore, after Anna's canticle it is said: "Elkanah went to his house," because the holy Church, which teaches the elect such sublime things, just as she is always left by the Lord's loving dispensation, so also she does not always have those lofty things to teach. But many hear the words, detest their past wickedness, and resolve upon works of amendment of life; yet when they cease to hear, they return to iniquity as if they had never heard those same words of life. The gentile people, as hearers of the holy Church, were devout in listening and ready in acting. Fittingly, therefore, it is added: The boy Samuel was ministering in the presence of the Lord, before the face of Eli the priest.

2. As if it were openly said: From what he heard, he strove to please Almighty God. He is fittingly called a boy, because even though he had undertaken great things to be done in defense of our faith, nevertheless in that same generation of faith he was still new. And because he rendered a pleasing ministry to Almighty God, he was a minister in the sight of the Creator. For he is in the sight of the Lord whom divine favor gladly looks upon in the offering of his services. Fearing greatly to be cast out from this sight of the Lord, someone prays, saying: "Cast me not away from your face" (Psalm 50:13). Likewise, ardently desiring to be received into it, he considers with himself the delay of his waiting, saying: "When shall I come and appear before the face of God?" (Psalm 41:3). Hence Elijah boasts and says: "As the Lord lives, in whose sight I stand" (3 Kings 17:1). Samuel therefore was a minister in the sight of the Lord, because in the services of the new religion the Gentile people was greatly accepted by Almighty God. By this word indeed the rejection of Judea is also secretly intimated, since Samuel alone, in whom the faithful people of the nations is represented, is said to minister before the Lord. He alone therefore was in His sight, because indeed the Jewish people had ceased to please Him. The Lord speaks both of these things through Malachi. For intimating the rejection of Judea, He says: "I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hand" (Malachi 1:10). But He who cast Jewish faithlessness from His face, adding whom He gladly beholds, says: "From the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations, and in every place a pure offering is offered to my name" (ibid., 11). But it must be carefully observed that it is said: "Before the face of Eli, Samuel ministered to the Lord," because the order of the ancient teachers long before recognized by foreseeing, and proclaimed by prophesying, that the ministry of the holy Church's preachers would bring about the conversion, love, and reverence of the Gentile people concerning service to the Redeemer. For he who said the following knew this people would be devoted in the Lord's service: "All kings of the earth shall adore him, all nations shall serve him" (Psalm 71:11). Hence Haggai speaks, saying: "The desired of all nations shall come, and the house of the Lord shall be filled with glory" (Haggai 2:8). Hence Isaiah says: "There shall be a root of Jesse, who shall rise to rule the nations; in him the nations shall hope" (Isaiah 11:10; Romans 15:12). Hence the Psalmist says: "Praise the Lord, all nations, and praise him together, all peoples" (Psalm 116:1). Hence the patriarch Jacob says: "He shall be the expectation of the nations" (Genesis 49:10). Before the face of Eli, therefore, the boy Samuel was a minister of the Lord, because what the Gentile people afterwards worthily offered to God, the order of the ancient teachers foresaw through the spirit of prophecy. And immediately concerning the rejected ones it is added: (Verses 12, 13.) Now the sons of Eli, not knowing the Lord, and the office of the priest to the people.

3. Supply "were." For who else are the sons of Eli, if not the Israelites according to the flesh, who knew the Sacred Scripture published by the fathers, and yet did not know the one whom Scripture had promised? Whom indeed Truth itself rebukes in the Gospel, saying: "Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). And again: "If you believed Moses, you would certainly believe me also, for he wrote about me" (John 5:46). Therefore they did not know the Lord, who spurned the Redeemer coming in our flesh. Whence He complains through Isaiah, saying: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel has not known me" (Isaiah 1:3). As if to say: I opened to him the ways of my incarnation long before through the prophets, and yet he did not accept what I had promised when it was presented. For this reason he also did not know the duty of the priests toward the people. For he would have recognized the priestly office if he had preached that the one who had been promised by the law and the prophets had already come for the redemption of the human race. Because indeed he not only did not believe in Him, but even raged in persecuting Him, he neither knew the Lord nor the duty of the priests toward the people. Yet his malice would have been less if he who refused to benefit the lesser ones by preaching the coming of the Redeemer had at least feared to do harm. It follows therefore, and says: 67 (Verses 13, 14.) But whenever anyone had offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come while the flesh was being cooked, and he had a three-pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the basin, or the kettle, or the pot, or the cauldron, and whatever the fork brought up, he would take for the priests.

4. For what is it to immolate a victim, except to offer the confession of true faith to almighty God? And what are the vessels in which the flesh is cooked for the sacrifice, except the minds of the faithful? For when they believe that the Mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, is the true Only-begotten of the most high Father, surely in them the flesh is cooked which is to be immolated to God through the service of inmost devotion. Who is the priest's servant other than the people subjected through obedience to the faithless pastors of the Synagogue? He is fittingly called a servant, because while he preferred to hold to the weak things of the law according to the letter, he refused to grow into a perfect man through the Gospel. But what does it mean that he is assigned to seize the portions of food by force? What again does it mean that he is said to hold a three-pronged fork in the violence he inflicts? The food of the chosen soul is the person of the Redeemer. This food is indeed cooked in the sacred vessels, while through the heat of the Holy Spirit it is prepared for the sweetness of refreshment in the minds of the elect. For the flesh is cooked when, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we both firmly believe and effectually confess that the Lord's humanity was assumed into the nature of divinity. Hence also through Moses he suggests that the flesh of the Paschal Lamb is to be eaten, saying: "You shall not eat any of it raw, or cooked in water" (Exodus 12:9). To eat it raw is, apart from the grace of the Holy Spirit, to believe our Redeemer to be a mere man. It is cooked in water when the essence of the Redeemer is sifted through human wisdom. The Jews therefore eat it raw, the heretics cooked in water, because the former deny his divinity, while the latter, through human wisdom, empty out the mysteries of both his divinity and his humanity. The priest's servant is therefore sent to take away the food of the faithful, because the Jewish people, expelled from faith in the Redeemer, strove vehemently to tear away the love of faith in him from the hearts of the faithful. He is fittingly said to have held a three-pronged fork in his hand, with which he might prevent from being cooked whatever portion of flesh he could pierce and draw out. For the fork thrust by the hand of the servant is the persecution of the Jewish people against holy Church. And because he tried to harm the faithful with enticements, punishments, and terrors, the fork indeed had three prongs. But it is rightly said that what the fork lifted up, the servant took for the priests, because it was a great feast for the wicked prelates if the crowd of their fawning or raging attendants could overthrow someone whom they had recognized as standing firm in the height of our faith through confession. There follows: (Verses 14, 15.) "So they did to all Israel who came to Shiloh, even before they burned the fat."

5. Fat indeed is the internal richness, in which that devotion of mind is expressed by which the minds of the elect are joined to their Creator in more perfect charity. They rightly offer sacrifice with meat already cooked, because no one will be able to rise to the sublimity of charity unless he first loves the mysteries of the incarnate divinity which he believes. For to believe through the Holy Spirit that the humanity of the Lord Jesus was assumed into divinity is to cook the flesh that is to be offered to God. Therefore, before the fat could be burned, the boy hastened to seize the flesh in all Israel, because the officers of the Synagogue thought to overthrow the new confessors of Christ before perfect charity could unite them to almighty God. This the very words of the sacred history indicate more plainly, where it says: "While the flesh was being cooked." By which words, certainly, not the completion of the cooking but the preparation is indicated. But the order of this wicked extortion is shown through what follows: (Verse 15.) "The priest's boy would come and say to the one offering sacrifice: Give me flesh to cook for the priest; for I will not accept cooked flesh from you, but raw."

6. He would give raw meat to the boy, who before the persecutors would assert the pure humanity of Christ, and the boy would cook it for the priest, because through the fire of malice the Jewish people would think this: that their leaders would willingly receive it in the refreshment of their mind. Therefore the priest's boy came and demanded raw meat, when the Jewish people, serving the letter of the law, urged the faithful to deny the divinity of the Redeemer. Coming therefore he says: "I will not accept cooked meat from you, but raw." Because the one whom the faithful person was compelled to confess as a mere man, he did not even wish to hear was God. The importunity of this people is indeed shown when sacrilegious words are doubled in wicked exaction. For it follows: "I will not accept cooked meat from you, but raw." Because he greatly desired to hear that Jesus our Lord and Redeemer was not Lord and man, but only a mere man. But those whom he tested as if imperfect in the flesh, he found perfect. For those who were compelled to deny the divinity of the Redeemer not only refused to deny the Redeemer, but took care to draw their very compellers to life. Whence it also follows: (Verse 16.) And the one sacrificing would say to him: "Let the fat be burned first according to custom today, and take for yourself as much as your soul desires."

7. Indeed, he who promises him cooked meat at his pleasure strives to turn away the one demanding raw meat from a bestial appetite. As if the holy Church were giving an answer to the badly hungering Jews, and in place of the simple humanity which they desire to devour through craving, were promising back the food of divinity, saying: First allow to be cooked what you may have as understanding in the Holy Spirit for the refreshment of life. Did not the priest's servant then seek raw meat, when it was said to the one who had been born blind and was enlightened by the Lord: "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner" (John 9:24)? What is it to say, "Give glory to God," except: do not attribute the praises of your healing to this man, because he is not God? And he who is declared a sinner is not only denied to be God, but even a righteous man. To him indeed the blind man refused to offer the raw meat that was sought, and offered cooked instead, because by firmly declaring him the author of his salvation, from the displayed sign of such great wonder, he showed him to be not only a holy man, but true God. But the people, who had begun to follow beasts, having lost reason, importunately demanded that raw meat be served to them. For it follows: (Verse 16.) "You will give it now, otherwise I will take it from you by force." It follows: (Verse 17.) "For the sin of the servants was exceedingly great before the Lord." And he adds the reason by which this sin was shown to be great, saying: (Verse 17.) "Because they were drawing men away from the sacrifice of the Lord."

8. The sin is recognized to be exceedingly great which is not washed away by the tears of repentance. For the prophet, beholding this exceedingly great sin of the Synagogue, says: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond" (Jeremiah 17:1). Or certainly the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord because it was dragging others into sinning. Wherefore it is also added: "Because they were drawing men away from the sacrifice of the Lord." They were indeed drawing men away from the sacrifice, because they were preventing the hearts of the weak from advancing to the confession of the true faith. And it should be noted that those who are drawn away from the sacrifice are called "men," because surely if they had persisted in the true confession of our faith, the divine word would have marked them with the title of sons of God. To whom indeed the Lord says through the Psalmist: "I have said, you are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High; but you shall die like men" (Psalm 82:6–7). And there follows: (Verse 18.) "But Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy girded with a linen ephod."

9. A linen garment is known to be finer than a woolen one. And fittingly Samuel is said to have been clothed with a linen ephod, by whom the order of priests chosen from the nations is designated. For in comparison with the life under the Law, the new manner of life of the Gospel is the fineness of linen. For there something carnal was commanded; there everyone is cursed by whom no seeds of offspring are left in Zion. But in the New Testament, because all things are more refined, whoever follows its precepts is adorned as if with a more delicate linen garment: there indeed abstinence from marriage is condemned, here it is honored with wondrous praises; there priests beget carnally, here they bring forth the fruit of spiritual offspring all the more abundantly, inasmuch as they cannot suffer any loss of chastity even through the good of marriage. And fittingly, when Samuel's garment is described, it is reported to have been linen, so that it might openly show the glory of the new priesthood, which would shine with the splendors of a new chastity. But when Samuel is said to be a minister in the sight of the Lord, he is recorded as girded with a linen ephod, because divine services are then well performed when the person performing them is not defiled by the filth of carnal pleasure; and the gift of ministry is then acceptable to God when, through the purity of holy living, the person of the minister is pleasing to God. And because he was advancing in the beginnings of his newness, there follows further: (Verse 19.) And his mother made him a little tunic, which she brought to him when she went up with her husband to offer the solemn sacrifice to the Lord.

10. To offer a sacrifice of the Holy Church is to kindle the hearts of one's hearers in love of the Creator through the words of preaching. At that time, therefore, a small garment is said to have been brought to Samuel, because while he was still advancing through the growth of his newness, he received from the Church tokens of righteousness suited to his smallness, with whose splendor he might shine. There follows: (Verse 20.) And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, saying: May the Lord grant you offspring from this woman, in return for the loan which you have entrusted to the Lord.

11. Because in the person of Eli the priest the good teachers of the ancient people are also signified, he is known to have blessed Elkanah and his wife, since indeed the order of those same ancient teachers foresaw the spiritual union of Christ and the holy Church, and preached with devotion that the future offspring of those elect ones would be worthy of heaven. Although this was done long before, nevertheless it then became known that he had thus blessed them, when, with the grace of our redemption now revealed, each faithful person was able to believe that our ancient fathers proclaimed so many good things about this renewal. And so that the order in which this happened may be recognized, it is added: (Verse 20.) And they went to their own place.

12. For her to go away to her own place with her husband is for the holy Church to flee at times from the troubles of the active life and to devote herself through contemplation to the joys of the heavenly life. For that mother had left her child for a time, she who said: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. 1:23). Was she with the child when the force of love had carried that distinguished teacher up to the third heaven (2 Cor. 12:2–4)? Was she then with the child when, received into paradise, she heard words that it is not permitted for man to speak, and was caught up to her own place, because he showed this, saying: "We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come" (Heb. 13:14)? But maternal affection compelled her, who was going away to her own place with her husband, to return to her son. For she spoke and said: "To remain in the flesh is necessary for me on your account" (Phil. 1:24). There follows: (Verse 21.) Therefore the Lord visited Anna, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.

13. By the three sons are designated all the more perfect members of the holy Church, who are known to have always done mighty deeds for the faith of the Trinity. But if the holy Church were to bring forth only the perfect, our weakness could not attain the rewards of eternal life. Therefore the frailty of the two daughters follows the strength of the sons, because although the holy Church has brought forth strong ones against the proud enemy of the human race, nevertheless even her weak members are led to the joys of the eternal homeland through the two precepts of charity. And because whoever had at that time begun to be trained for the priestly ministry did not always remain in the initial stages of his beginning, there follows: (Verse 21.) And the boy Samuel grew great in the sight of the Lord.

14. In this passage it is very much to be noted that the boy Samuel is said to have been both a boy and magnified. But when he is declared to be magnified, this praise of his virtue is said to have been held not in the sight of men, but in the sight of the Lord. Why then is he called a boy, unless because he had been raised to the height of perfection? Samuel is therefore called both a boy and magnified in the sight of the Lord, because the new order of preachers, even if it has attained to the height of great conduct, has not lost the virtue of its humility. Indeed, to be magnified before God would be of no profit if one ceased to be a boy, because having lost humility, one would be unable to please almighty God by the loftiness of one's conduct. For they had already been magnified who were casting out demons from the possessed in the name of Jesus; but because they had lost the good of their childhood, the Truth rebuked them, saying: "I saw Satan falling like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18). Hence again, making a pronouncement, He says: "Unless you are converted and become like little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). Because, therefore, the life of the new preachers is both sublime in merit and lowly through humility, Samuel is fittingly declared to be both magnified and a boy. And because on both accounts they are greatly acceptable to God, he is said to have been magnified not simply, but in the sight of the Lord. There follows: (Verse 22.) Now Eli was very old, and he heard all the things that his sons were doing in all Israel, and how they slept with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle.

15. In the person of Eli, not only the old priesthood but also the teachings of the ancient fathers are prefigured, because from the fact that he presided with spiritual dignity, he undertook this office: that he should instruct with saving preaching those for whom he would offer pleasing sacrifices to the Lord. What then does it mean that Eli is said to be old, except that in the hearts of the reprobate Jews the force of the heavenly commandments is weakened? Indeed Eli was young as long as Sacred Scripture maintained the force of great authority among the elect of the Synagogue, because evidently it had received the promises of the coming Redeemer and awaited him with great desire. Eli therefore grew old when Judea lost the devotion of observing the promise, so that it beheld the Redeemer desired by its fathers proving himself by miracles before it, and, utterly blind in so great a light of his, doubted the presence of truth. He is also said to have been very old, so that it might be taught that all the force of faith in the Synagogue had withered away. And we truly say that if Eli was very old, he lived altogether feebly. For what was it then for the aged Scripture to live, except to minister a very feeble aspiration of faith to the Synagogue? Indeed he could be very old and yet live, since the hearts of the Jews wavered so that they neither believed the Lord Jesus to be the true Redeemer, nor openly condemned him as a blasphemer. For the evangelist John shows the weakness of this old age, saying: "Some said, 'He is good,' but others said, 'No, but he deceives the crowds'" (John 7:12). Hence the Jews themselves, bringing forth the cunning of their craftiness, say: "How long do you hold our souls in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly" (John 10:24). Hence likewise they say: "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you" (Matthew 12:38).

16. But Eli, very old, heard all the things that his sons were doing to all Israel. He certainly heard these things, because he knew them. For what we have come to know, we hold enclosed within the halls of memory. Indeed, the sacred eloquences, when consulted, bring forth from within themselves all the perfidy of the Jews written outwardly, and display it as if long preserved in memory. Amos, as it were ascribing this knowledge of hearing to Eli, says: 'The Lord God will do nothing upon the earth, which He has not revealed to His servants the prophets' (Amos 3:7). Hence Habakkuk confesses to God the Only-begotten, saying: 'O Lord, I have heard your report, and I was afraid; I considered your works, and I was astounded; in the midst of two animals you shall be made known' (Hab. 3:1, from the interpretation of the LXX). For the ancient teachers of the Synagogue to hear of the crimes of the sons is to foreknow them. But he sets forth what he foreknew, because it says: 'All the things that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they were sleeping with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle.' For to sleep with Jewish women is to be defiled by various heresies. And fittingly those same women are reported to keep watch at the door of the tabernacle. For what is the door of the tabernacle, if not the letter of the spiritual law? But when the Jews understand sacred Scripture according to the letter alone, they established heresies at the very place from which they could have entered into the secret of the true faith. For just as one enters through the door into the interior of the tabernacle, so through the letter of sacred Scripture one enters into the spiritual knowledge of the Redeemer. Therefore, because Judea is deceived through observance of the letter, the women are reported to keep watch at the door, not inside the tabernacle. And because the Jews contradict our Redeemer in all the Scriptures, it is said that there was not one woman, but many. These things indeed the sons of Eli do to themselves, because according to the voice of the prophet: 'The soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezek. 18:4, 20); but they are said to do these things to all Israel, because while the leaders perish in the night of their error, they wrap the lesser ones in the blindness of their own darkness. The sons of Eli therefore sleep with the women, because the reprobate Jews are defiled by the mingling of their heresies even until the end of the world. They also sleep, because although they are overwhelmed by the most grievous night of their error, they are nevertheless to be awakened to faith in the Redeemer at the end of the world through Elijah (Matt. 17:11). There follows: (Verse 23.) 'And he said to them: Why do you do things of this kind, the worst things which I hear from all the people?'

17. Behold, Eli was an old man, and he spoke sharply, because the power of sacred eloquence, even if it fails in the heart of the reprobate, nevertheless before those who rightly understand, subtly searches out the faults of the Jews. For examining strictly, he says: "Why do you do such things as these, the very worst things that I hear from all the people?" But he who, searching, asks "Why do you do this?" clearly shows that they were plunging into the night of heresy without the discernment of reason. Moreover, he says that they had done the very worst things, which he was hearing, and he asserts that those very worst things were from all the people. What is this, except that the whole of the Jewish people had fallen into the depths of heresies? But the cause of that ruin was the reprobate priests. Whence also Hosea, prophesying, says: "The cause of the ruin of the people is the wicked priests" (Hosea 5:1). For the subject people fell precisely because they eagerly imitated their fallen leaders. Therefore, when he says, "the very worst things that I hear from all the people," these things should be understood as being done by the people, not reported by them. This is as if he were saying: "The very worst things that I hear are being done by all the people — why do you do them?" Whence also, immediately making clearer what he had said, he adds: (Verse 24) "Do not, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear of you, that you cause the people of the Lord to transgress."

18. But how would the people of the Lord transgress His commandments, if they themselves were sleeping with women? But because this was happening to them in a figure, it was assuredly prefiguring what was destined to occur at the time of the Lord's Incarnation. For when priests sleep with women, their subjects transgress the commandments of the Lord, because while prelates are stained by the admixture of heresies, the reprobate multitude of the subject Synagogue is plunged into the same corruptions. He says therefore: "Why do you do such things as these, which I hear, the worst things, from all the people?" This is as if he were saying: You sin all the more gravely, inasmuch as you stain the entire people more foully by your crime. Something similar is also said through the prophet: "From Dan," he says, "was heard the snorting of his chariots and horses" (Jeremiah 8:16). In this passage, it should certainly not be understood that he is reporting a sound heard from Dan, but rather that Dan himself, raging with chariots and horses, produces the very sound that is heard. In this passage it should also be noted that he who reported having heard the worst things from all the people added words of gentle affection, saying: "Do not, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear about you, that you cause the people of the Lord to transgress." And indeed Eli rebuked sharply and admonished gently, because Scripture, both denouncing the error of the Jewish people on behalf of the ancient fathers and rebuking it, also calls them from the night of that same error of theirs, with benevolent affection, to the day of true faith. He calls them sons, so that they may recognize that they ought to be heirs of the paternal promise, and receive the Savior of the world all the more devoutly inasmuch as they are not unaware that the promise of Him was made to the fathers. But also, desiring to call them back from the audacity of sin, he adds a reason, saying: (Verse 25) "If a man sins against a man, God can be appeased on his behalf; but if he sins against God, who will pray for him?"

19. For a man to sin against a man is for one human to do perverse things against another human. What then does it mean when he says, "God can be appeased for him," unless that such sins were light in comparison with those which the Jews were planning to commit against the Son of God? For they were sinning against God, because he whom they were plotting to kill had shown himself to be God by the most manifest light of miracles. For the Lord showed this through himself, saying: "If I had not done among them the works that no one else has done, they would have no sin" (John 15:24). And to show the implacability of God the Father, he adds, saying: "But now they have no excuse for their sin, because they have seen and hated both me and my Father" (ibid.). It is therefore as if he were saying: By whose prayer is that sin pardoned which is committed against the very one who pardons? Who beseeches the almighty Father on behalf of the one who condemns the coeternal Only-begotten to death? For he would say nothing more plainly if he were to declare openly, saying: This one whom you persecute as a mere man is also God. The law of reason therefore demands that he who persecutes the Creator be deprived of pardon. But divine mercy surpasses the strictness of reason; for he showed the equity of the law, but did not maintain the force of the pronounced declaration in the execution of the promulgated judgment. For by the rigor of equity it was decreed that no prayer would attain the obtaining of pardon; but for those for whom no prayer of man sufficed, the mercy of the Redeemer did not fail. Every man who might pray for the transgressions is removed; but for those for whom no man was sufficient, God himself became man, a merciful intercessor. For hanging on the cross he prayed, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). God was therefore appeased toward those who had sinned against God, not by another's prayer, but by his own. But God was appeased not toward all, but toward some. For some persecutors of the Lord were converted when the apostles preached, but the rest perished. For Luke mentions these, saying: "Their number came to be five thousand" (Acts 4:4). But concerning the reprobate it is added: (Verse 25) "And they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord willed to kill them."

20. The Lord, declaring through the prophet, says: "I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live" (Ezek. 18:23; and 33:11). How then does it befit Him to wish to kill the sinner, and yet not to desire the death of the sinner? But in the aforementioned testimony there follows that from which the truth may be recognized; for He says: "But that he be converted and live." For He who wishes the sinner to live so that he may be converted, if He knows by divine foreknowledge that this one is inconvertible, kills him. The Lord therefore wishes to kill, but those whom He foreknows will refuse to be converted. For He is declared merciful and just when the Prophet implores: "Lord," he says, "deliver my soul; our God is merciful and just" (Ps. 114:5). Through mercy indeed He awaits the conversion of sinners; through justice He condemns those who have not been converted. Through mercy He wishes sinners to be converted and to live, but through justice He wishes to punish those who have refused to be converted; mercifully He saves no one except the willing; through justice He condemns the unwilling. Therefore, when He is said to wish to kill, the greatest and incorrigible impiety of sinners is shown, which is punished by the voluntary execution of divine justice. So indeed we see the most merciful judges of secular affairs act, who would wish that no one transgressed, so that they themselves would have to punish no one; but when crimes are boldly committed by the wicked, they willingly punish those whom they would have more gladly preferred not to have committed punishable offenses. Against this, however, it is observed in this passage that it does not say: "Because they refused to hear the voice of their correcting father," but: "They did not hear, because the Lord wished to kill them." But whoever rightly considers the equity of divine judgment thinks it makes no difference whether someone is killed, or is left in that crime in which he perishes by eternal reprobation. It is as if it said: So great was the magnitude of their guilt that they both received the admonitions of conversion and were in no way able to rise from the pit of their death; and those who had drunk the ocean of God's wrath had as the culmination of their damnation not only the punishment for the crime committed, but also the added vengeance for the preaching they had despised. But why do we marvel at this concerning the past, when we perceive it happening even now: namely, sons despising the admonishing Eli, and the Lord wishing to kill? For what else does Sacred Scripture daily suggest to the Jews other than the darkness of their error? It does not indeed so preach the Redeemer through hidden and spiritual meanings that it does not openly show His incarnation, nativity, passion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Nor are they so irrational that they cannot see that such excellent goods befit the Redeemer; but nevertheless they are blind, so that they hear that the signs promised to their fathers have shone forth in the Redeemer, and do not believe. They are therefore blind not only in seeing what was promised, but in not believing what has been fulfilled. Why do they not hear the voice of Scripture admonishing them, unless because the Lord wishes to kill them? Nor is it surprising, however, if they perish by the judgment of Him whose Only-Begotten they killed. For it is by the strictness of innermost equity that it is dealt with the Jewish people, that they hear the admonitions of life daily as the Scriptures speak, and yet they in no way believe the Scriptures that admonish them. But, having rejected the faithlessness of the Jews, he sets forth with what successes the order of holy preachers prevails among the nations, saying: (Verse 26.) "But the boy Samuel advanced and grew, and was pleasing both to God and to men."

21. Indeed, it was advancing through the gain of preaching, and growing in the number of ministers. For the Apostle boasts of its progress, saying: "From Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ" (Rom. 15:19). Luke also recalls the manner of its growth, saying: "As the number of disciples was growing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were being neglected in the ministry" (Acts 6:1). And shortly after: "They chose," he says, "Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Prochorus, and the rest" (ibid., 5). They set these before the sight of the apostles, and praying, they laid hands upon them. Likewise, concerning this advance of the new preachers, it is written: "Their sound has gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world" (Ps. 18:5).

22. But it must be subtly considered what is said: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' A teacher is pleasing to men when he presents himself as venerable to his subjects and adorned with good character. But he is pleasing to God when he refuses to glory vainly over his good conduct and desires to merit the praise of God alone. Therefore it says: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men,' because some preachers display a pretense of holiness which they do not possess. These, therefore, because even though they please men they displease God, it is now said of Samuel in the type of the new and chosen preacher: 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' They present themselves as venerable to their subjects, and they offer to God the purity of their intention. Indeed, he had strived to please men who said: 'We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place' (II Cor. 2:15). And likewise: 'I have become all things to all men, so that I might save all' (I Cor. 9:22). He also taught his hearers to please men, saying: 'Be without offense to Jews and Gentiles, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking what is useful to me, but what is useful to many' (I Cor. 10:32, 33). But he who had indicated that he was pleasing to men commends the purity of heart, saying: 'Our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience' (II Cor. 1:12). 'He was pleasing both to God and to men.' This new order of preachers presented itself outwardly as venerable to its hearers for imitation, and inwardly as acceptable to God through innocence of will. There follows: (Verse 27.) 'A man of God came to Eli.'

23. What is represented by this man of God, if not that venerable company of the holy apostles? He is indeed called a man of God on account of the excellence of his holiness, because he governed the summit of authority, which he had ascended in the governance of the whole world, with an equal loftiness of virtue. He came to Eli at that time when he approached the chief priests to announce the rejection of the Synagogue. There follows: (Verses 27, 28.) And he said to him: Was I not plainly revealed to the house of your father, when he was in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh, and I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to ascend to my altar, and to burn incense before me, and to wear the ephod in my presence, and I gave to the house of your father all the sacrifices of the children of Israel?

24. Because Judea is rejected by divine judgment, it is shown with what wonderful disposition of equity the severity of that judgment itself was brought about. For first the gifts bestowed upon Eli are enumerated, so that while almighty God is shown to be so generous a giver, it may be known how justly He strikes the one who despises Him. He declared that He had revealed Himself to the house of his father, so that he could have no excuse of ignorance. And He teaches that He had shown him this same knowledge of His revelation in Egypt, so that Eli might by no means think that he had obtained it by his own merits. As if He were openly saying: There I offered Myself to be known by him, where he could forget Me, where he did not know how to remember Me. And lest perhaps the very gifts of divine knowledge might seem small to the reprobate, he is declared to have been raised from the other tribes of Israel to the summit of the priesthood. As if He were saying: I preferred him to those to whom he was not superior, but equal.

25. It should be noted that three things are indicated in the office of the priesthood itself. "That he should go up," it says, "to my altar, and burn incense to me, and wear the ephod before me." What is shown by this altar, if not that stone which the patriarch Jacob set up as a pillar (Gen. 28:18)? And what other stone is expressed by this, if not the one Paul proclaims in praise of the faithful, saying: "Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20)? The father Eli was therefore chosen by the Lord for the priesthood so that he might go up to the altar, because the order of the ancient teachers presided over the people subject to them for this purpose: to proclaim the restoration of the human race that was to come in the advent of the Redeemer. And he burned incense, because he joined the hearts of his hearers through desire to the one whom he proclaimed as the future Redeemer. He also wore the ephod, because through the longing of so great an expectation he displayed the adornment of a worthy manner of life. He would indeed burn incense and yet not wear the ephod if he set the hearts of his hearers ablaze with desire for the coming Redeemer, from whom he himself would differ by the inconsistency of a shameful way of life. And because almighty God sought the truth of religion and not its pretense, "before himself" and not before the people, he declared that he had commanded him to wear the ephod. To wear the ephod before the Lord is to seek from the innocence of one's life the reward of divine goodness alone. Now these things are openly spoken against Eli by way of reproach. For he did not go up to the altar, because that priesthood which presided over the Synagogue in the time of the revealed truth in no way proclaimed to the peoples subject to it the one who shone forth as the Redeemer of the human race with such greatness of signs. And he did not burn incense to God, because he stirred the people to persecution of him, not to love. He also disdained to wear the ephod before the Lord, because he shone with no truth of religion. For even if that outward adornment of life displayed certain marks of respectability, it was from the pretense of deceit, not from the intention of charity. Hence the Lord also rebuked this very thing in them, saying: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful to men, but inside are full of dead men's bones" (Matt. 23:27). But to the one to whom he had given so many spiritual gifts, he would have seemed to have conferred too little unless he also provided temporal things. Hence it is added: "And I gave to the house of your father all the sacrifices of the children of Israel." As if he were recounting to him with open accusation, saying: "In nothing did I fail him; I bestowed the heights of spiritual honor and power, and I supplied an abundance of earthly plenty for temporal uses." But let us hear with what urgency of inquiry he who so reasonably enumerates the gifts he bestowed now examines the audacity of his transgression. For it follows: (Verse 29.) "Why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offerings, which I commanded to be offered in the temple?"

26. For "why" is not said except by a judge who urgently investigates. And he who is rebuked for having kicked away the victim of God and His gifts is judged to have done injury without the counsel of reason. It should be noted that he speaks in the plural number: "Why have you kicked away my victim," so that what is said may seem to pertain not only to Eli but also to his sons. For wild animals are accustomed to kick away things clinging to them. For what other victims did the faithful have than to persist in the praises of their Redeemer, to proclaim that Christ Jesus died for the salvation of the world, and that by rising again He restored the life of the human race? And what other offerings were theirs, except to ceaselessly offer thanksgivings to Almighty God for such great benefits bestowed upon them? These indeed the sons of Eli kicked away, because in their rejection of the new preaching, they did not follow the counsel of reason through the sacred Scriptures, but the impulse of savagery. For the Truth desired to call them back from irrational cruelty to the intention of rational counsel, saying: "Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life; and they bear witness of me" (John 5:39). Whence here also it is said: "Which I commanded to be offered in the temple." For in the law, the psalms, and the prophets, it had been written concerning the passion, the resurrection of the Lord, and the state of the universal Church. Therefore the leaders of the Synagogue kicked away with their heel the victim and the gifts of the Lord commanded to be offered in the temple of the Lord, because indeed they strove not to examine the preaching of the holy Church by the authority of Holy Scripture, but to reject and cast it away by the sole impulse of their savagery. For if they consulted the commandments of God in sacred Scripture with an enlightened mind, they would have received the holy preachers, whom they fiercely cast out, as though divinely sent to them. But He who rebukes the sons of Eli, that is, the old teachers of the lesser order, for their irrational savagery, also accuses the father himself of negligence, saying: (Verse 29) "You have honored your sons more than me."

27. As if openly rebuking, he says: They have driven others away, and you have honored those who drive them away. He honored his sons more than God, because while he despised their openly wicked deeds, he provided them with temporal gains. Hence he also adds: (Verse 29.) That you might eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice of mine.

28. By which words indeed he seems to reproach the greater order of teachers, who for this reason consented to the Redeemer's death, because they feared losing the profits of the old offerings. Whence also, having taken counsel with the Pharisees, they said: What do we do, because this man performs many signs? If we let him go on like this, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation (John 11:47, 48). And again: See that you are gaining nothing; behold, the whole world has gone after him (Ibid. 12:19). He therefore honored his sons so that they might eat, because he fell silent from the intention of preaching, lest while he asserted the truth of the new offering, he would no longer be able to have the old things for the indulgence of his own pleasure. Since therefore he has set forth the greatness and character of the guilt, let us now see with how great an equity of examination he suggests the measure of punishment. For adding he says: (Verse 30.) Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: Speaking I spoke, that your house and the house of your father would minister in my presence, henceforth and forever. But now far be this from me.

29. As if striking with an open and fitting meaning, he says: You honored your sons, so that you might eat the firstfruits of every sacrifice; but therefore the rights of the firstfruits are taken from you, because those who were honored were unworthy. For what does it mean to say: "Far be it from me that your house should minister in my sight," except: I cast you down from that summit to which the rights of the firstfruits were owed? By a wonderful execution of justice, therefore, he was caught, so that from the very thing for which he greedily sought the eating of the firstfruits, from that very thing he fasted from the receiving of the firstfruits. For he endured the Redeemer's death lest he lose the priestly gains, but He received from the triumph of death that by which He destroyed the profits of the old sacrifice. And He says: "I spoke and declared that your house and the house of your father would minister in my sight; but now, far be this from me." As if He were saying in plainer words: That you might stand on so great a height of dignity, I frequently admonished you, but now you are not such as I desired you to be. And because this is said concerning the rejection of the Jewish people, there is added concerning the order of the new preachers: (Verse 30.) "But whoever glorifies me, him will I glorify."

30. For now we behold the glory of the one who glorifies, because the preachers of holy Church sing the praises of almighty God with great splendor of life, and rejoice in their universal preeminence throughout the world. Behold, now all the Gentile nations are laid beneath the footsteps of the priests, and those whom they rejoice to submit themselves to in obedience they glory to possess as patrons in heaven. The Lord therefore glorifies the one who glorifies Him, because those from whom He daily receives devoted praises He raises up to honor throughout the whole world. Is it not the glory of one who has been glorified to remain on earth and to shut heaven? To live life in common with other men, and yet to open the heavenly seats above to those subject to the authority of their power? For he was glorifying the Lord who said: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). But the Lord glorified the one who glorified Him, because He answered him, saying: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (ibid., 19). But concerning the cast-off reprobates of the Jews it is added: (Ver. 30.) "But they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."

31. Indeed they themselves despise, who by no means believe that he is the Redeemer of the world: about whom certainly the Truth itself complains in the Gospel, saying: "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14). But we now see their ignobility, because they are proscribed both in lineage and in condition. They are indeed ignoble in lineage, because they heard from the Truth itself: "You are of your father the devil" (John 8:44). They are also ignoble in condition, because having lost their liberty and kingdom, they are oppressed by perpetual servitude among the nations. But he shows the order of punishments more clearly, saying: (Verse 31.) "Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of the house of your father, so that there will be no old man in your house."

32. Now he is without an arm, because he who lost the temple and the tabernacle does not extend his hand for the offering of the old sacrifice. And because He was speaking to Eli, that is, to the chief priests of the Synagogue, He threatens to cut off not only his arm but also his house, so that He might clearly indicate the universal destruction of the old rite, and so that we might perceive that what we now see accomplished in the new age was ordained in ancient times. Therefore the Lord cut off both his arm and his house, because He utterly removed both the high priests of Judea and the lesser priests from the old sacrifice. Whence it is fittingly added: 'So that there shall not be an old man in your house.' By old men we should understand priests, whose office, because it is carried out with the weight of great dignity, is emptied of no childish levity by the burden of religion. His arm, therefore, and the house of his father were so cut off that there is no old man in his house, because the rite of the old priesthood so vanished that absolutely no one remained who could any longer sacrifice according to the old custom. For after the Redeemer of the human race offered Himself for our sins in the new manner of sacrifice, being a priest according to the ancient custom ceased. But he who suffers the losses of a forfeited priesthood bears the torment of a greater punishment from the pain of envy. Wherefore it is added: (Verse 32.) 'And you shall see your rival in the temple, in all the prosperity of Israel.'

33. For he sees his rival within the temple, because he himself has already been cast out. For who else is the rival of the old priesthood, if not the order of the new preachers? Who indeed, while striving to equal the zealous efforts of the ancient and chosen fathers by their manner of living and teaching, assuredly emulates the good things of Eli in a good way. Hence Paul admonishes, saying: "Be zealous for good in all good things" (Gal. 4:18). And what are the prosperous things of Israel to be understood as, if not the felicities of this passing age, in which Israel according to the flesh greatly rejoiced? Therefore, in all the prosperous things of Israel, he sees his rival—that is, he who beholds the preachers of truth in the holy Church prospering both in abundance of resources and in the eminence of their dignity. What is also asserted about his being seen in the temple is made clear by a more perfect understanding. For in all prosperous things the rival is in the temple, because the order of preachers arranges everything that serves them from temporal happiness in the contemplation of eternity. There follows: (Verse 33.) "Yet I will not entirely remove from you a man from my altar."

34. For He would have entirely removed the man from His altar, if He had admitted none to the unity of our faith. Therefore He did not entirely remove him, because even though He rejected the reprobate priests of the Synagogue, He nevertheless mercifully brought many of them to the knowledge of Himself. Of these indeed Luke makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles, saying: 'A great multitude of the priests were obedient to the faith' (Acts 6:7). For those were found worthy of so great and new a ministry, who were unwilling to remain in their old state with the lost. But because not only the elect preachers from the Gentiles, but also those who believed from Judaea, were a source of tormenting envy to the Jewish priesthood, there follows: (Verse 33.) 'But one to make your eyes fail and your soul to waste away.'

35. Or for this reason He did not entirely remove a man from His altar descended from him, so that Eli's eyes might fail and his soul waste away, because indeed He did not wish to take up the elect from Judea for the ministry of the new preaching, so that, with them removed, guilt might hold the reprobate fast unto punishment. For the eyes of Eli failed when the supreme priesthood had the truth of faith on the lips of preachers within its hearing, and did not recognize it. His soul also wastes away, because indeed through the punishment of its rejection it withered, when it lost the grace of the Holy Spirit. There follows: (v. 33.) 'And a great part of your house shall die when they have reached manhood.'

36. The age of manhood is the time of the Lord's Incarnation, which indeed the Apostle indicates, saying: "When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, and that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4, 5). What then were the precepts of Judea, if not certain instructions of infancy? The Apostle likewise indicates the time of this childhood, saying: "When we were little ones, we were serving under the elements of this world" (Ibid., 3). In the age of manhood, therefore, she died, because in the fullness of time she raged against the Redeemer of the world, and pierced herself through with the sword of unbelief. But it is well that not the whole house, but a great part of his house is foretold as about to die, because some of them believed in the Redeemer. And adding the cause of greater grief, he says: (Ver. 34.) "And this shall be the sign to you, that which shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In one day they shall both die."

37. We have shown above that in the two sons of Eli the twofold order of the old priesthood is designated. They certainly died on one day, because they came together simultaneously in the death of the Redeemer. Moreover, the death of the priests is fittingly recorded as placed as a sign of the house that was to die, because when the shepherds perish, it is necessary that the flock follow to the same destruction. And because they were deceived by a false reasoning, they are said to die in the day. Of the falseness of which light blessed Job speaks, saying: 'So in darkness, as in light they walk' (Job 24:17). But He who cast out the old prepared a new priesthood. Whence it is also added: (Verse 35.) 'And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest.'

38. For when the sons of Eli were dead, the Lord raised up a faithful priest for Himself, because when the leaders of the ancient people were destroyed in their faithlessness, He chose elect ones to carry out the ministry of our redemption. He is indeed called a faithful one who was taken up, because the old one, whom he succeeded, was rejected on account of unfaithfulness. And because that faith of his is ascribed to the praises of the priest, which works through love, the very works of love are indicated by the words that follow. For it continues: 80 (Verse 35.) 'Who shall do according to my heart and my soul.'

39. For the ineffable divine substance wished to be signified through the parts of a human being, which ought not to be understood according to the letter as referring to God Himself. And so He said: "Who shall act according to my heart and my soul." Not that the incorporeal and uncircumscribed substance of God has a heart and soul, but He speaks to man as a man is accustomed to speak to a man, so that through what a person recognizes from hearing His word, he may openly know what God also wills. This indeed could have been said more simply: "Who shall do my will." And He sets forth the rewards of the work, saying: (Verse 35.) "And I will build him a faithful house."

40. For what else is this house understood to be, if not the eternal homeland? Which house indeed the Lord, commending it, speaks of: 'In my Father's house there are many mansions' (John 14:2). But this house is now said to be built, because it is prepared through the actions of a pious life. Nevertheless, for meriting it, the work of man is unworthy if the grace of a merciful God does not accomplish this. Rightly therefore, when the building of the house is set forth, the Lord promises to build it for him, because indeed human powers fall short of so great a work if they are not divinely aided. Hence Paul says: 'It is God who works in me both to will and to accomplish' (Phil. 2:13). Hence again he says: 'It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy' (Rom. 9:16). He was promising to build this house when He said: 'I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come again, and will receive you to myself, that where I am, you also may be' (John 14:2, 3). But because he was going to devoutly follow, from the freedom of his will, the grace calling him, it is added: (Verse 35.) 'And he shall walk before my Christ all his days.'

41. For to walk before Christ for each of the elect is to always see oneself in the sight of the Redeemer, and to do those things which one knows are acceptable to Him. Or certainly one walks before Christ who in everything he does always looks to Him, and directs the uprightness of his life toward Him whom he recognizes as having come through the assumed humanity to set in order the form of the elect. But Judea is not to be forever abandoned in the darkness of her blindness, because through the prophet it is said: "If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant shall be saved" (Isaiah 10:22). Hence Paul says: "Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles enters in, and so all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11:25-26). Therefore he subsequently shows this visitation of Judea, because he says: (Verse 33.) "And it shall come to pass that whoever remains in your house shall come, that he may be prayed for."

42. Then indeed Judea asks that the Lord be prayed for on her behalf, when, with the elect already gathered from the nations, she does not ignore the darkness of her own blindness, when she desires that offering be made to her through the priests of almighty God by the confession of the Holy Trinity, because in her former old state she does not presume to merit heavenly joys, but also bestows the faith of the Redeemer, which she received upon her conversion, by preaching it to others who are yet to be converted. It is also well added: (Verse 33.) That he might offer a piece of silver money. For by silver the divine utterances are signified, because it is said through the Prophet: The words of the Lord are words tested by fire, silver tried by fire (Psalm 11:7). And indeed Judea then spends this silver in the praises of God, when she openly preaches our faith, which she previously contradicted while established in unbelief. And because she also imitates through compassion the same Redeemer whom she preaches through love, it is added: (Verse 33.) And a cake of bread.

43. For by the name of bread, He is expressed who says of Himself: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:51). The cake of bread, therefore, is the flesh of the Redeemer, afflicted with sufferings. For the prophet, beholding this cake of bread, said: "Truly He has borne our griefs, and He Himself has carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4). And because it is said by a certain wise man: "If you sit down at the table of a powerful man, wisely consider what is set before you, for you must prepare similar things" (Proverbs 23:1–2, according to the LXX), Judea then offers a cake of bread and a piece of silver when she proclaims our Redeemer with open confession, and for the love of Him whom she proclaims, does not refuse to endure torments from the faithless. And because she is greatly delighted in this imitation of the Passion and refreshment of sweetness, there follows: (Verse 33.) "And let her say: 'Send me, I beseech you, to one of the priestly portions.'"

44. "Dismiss me," she says, as if to say: Do not reject me as infamous and stained with the blood of the Redeemer's death. She also begs that one priestly portion be granted to her, because she desires to be joined to the true priests, so that she may be able to share in the joys of those whose offerings she desires to imitate by offering herself. Hence, setting forth the desire of her refreshment, she says: (Verse 33) "That I may eat a morsel of bread." In this matter it should be noted that she is foretold as having a cake of bread in the devotion of offering, and a morsel in the appetite of eating. Why then is not a cake of bread, but a morsel desired for eating? And why is not a morsel, but a cake said to be offered? But because a morsel is made in roundness, and roundness itself is in a certain way recognized as having neither beginning nor end, rightly by the morsel of bread the eternity of the Redeemer is signified. A cake of bread therefore can be offered by us, and not a morsel, because we who can imitate the Lord's passion by dying or by afflicting the flesh do not have eternity in ourselves which we might present before His sight. And a morsel, not a cake of bread, ought to be for us in the perfection of desire, because we who follow the Redeemer of the human race by suffering temporally with Him desire to possess Him in the heavenly homeland no longer as mortal or suffering, but as eternal and reigning. Therefore she who desires to offer a cake of bread says: "That I may eat a morsel of bread," because those converted from Judea desire to possess our Redeemer in the eternity of refreshment, whose passion they imitated here for the vigor of warfare, not for the reward of recompense.

CHAPTER III.

45. We have run through these matters from sacred history by way of typological explanation, so that we might seek out something of moral understanding in the same words of sacred history. And so the boy Samuel is declared a minister in the sight of the Lord; yet this ministry is recorded as being rendered to the Lord not absolutely, but before the face of Eli. By these words, therefore, what is shown is not the perfection of ministry, but of humility. For the face of Eli represents the judgment of each one's instructor. For he ministers to the Lord before the face of his teacher who does not follow the reasoning of his own judgment in the performance of his ministry, who walks along that path of work which is foreseen for him by the knowledge of his master. For all perfect men, and those taught by God (John 6:45; Isaiah 54:13), are indeed ministers in the sight of the Lord, but are not His ministers before the face of man, because the divinity itself teaches them inwardly how they should be ordered outwardly also in life, conduct, and teaching; whence also it is promised to the forerunner of the Redeemer with the praise of a paternal oracle: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways" (Luke 1:76). He is described as going before the face of the Lord who in his ministry was not going to follow the judgment of a superior man, but the inspiration of the divinity. Therefore Samuel is said to minister to the Lord before the face of Eli, so that all who are subject may be taught by his example, that they should strive to please their Creator in their ministry in such a way that they do not presume to do anything contrary to the judgment of their superiors. For he who is declared a minister of the Lord before the face of his instructor, if through pride he disdains to go before his face, does not exist as a minister in the sight of the Lord, because he is proved to be ignorant of the Almighty, whom he disdains to please through his instructor's judgment—the Almighty who subjected him to that authority so that he might please Him. Whence the sons of Eli are said both to be sons of Belial and not to know the Lord, and not to know the office of the priests toward the people. For sons are those who are subjected to spiritual fathers for instruction. Who indeed, when through pride they disdain to follow the counsels of those same fathers, are rightly called sons of Belial, because they become imitators of that apostate spirit who fell from heaven through pride. Who certainly are ignorant of the Lord all the more grievously, the more arrogantly they ascribe knowledge of Him to themselves. For it comes about that they are ignorant of what they ought to know all the more dangerously, because, not knowing what they think they know, they do not care to learn. And because they cannot love the invisible Creator whom they do not know, in their appetite for visible things they squander the very ministries of God which they have usurped for themselves. Whence those who are reported as priests who do not know the Lord are also said not to know the office of the priests toward the people.

2. And to reveal the causes of his reproof, the priest's servant is recorded as coming with a three-pronged fork to every one who was sacrificing, and violently demanding raw flesh. By these words, indeed, three species of gluttony are noted in the greediness of their rapacity. For he whose servant came to inflict violence on their behalf before the flesh was cooked could not endure the lawful hour of refreshment; and he for whom flesh was sought did not know how to use simple foods; and because, refusing what was cooked, he demanded raw flesh, he disdained to eat that flesh prepared in the common manner. But since the perversity of the servants served the pleasure of the priests, why is it recorded that the sin was exceedingly great before the Lord, not of the priests themselves, but of the servants? Yet by these same words the greater guilt of the priests is shown; for he who asserts that the sin of the lesser ones was exceedingly great before the Lord recognized to what a heap of condemnation the iniquity of the greater ones had grown. This magnitude of guilt, however, is asserted not only on account of the appetite for unlawful eating, but also on account of the violence of their rapacity.

3. But the divine discourse returns to the narrative of the chosen boy, so that in him we may more attentively consider not what is to be condemned, but what is to be imitated. And so he is said to have been girded with a linen ephod and to have been in the sight of the Lord. What then is shown in the linen ephod except the brightness of continence? With which ephod we are indeed girded when we are restrained on every side toward the splendor of chastity, when no part of soul or flesh is released from the law of strictness through which we might dissolve into the darkness of luxury. Such a minister, therefore, is in the sight of the Lord, because he is not deceived concerning the hoped-for vision of almighty God, whom he serves with such great splendor of his girding. To this boy indeed his mother, ascending with her husband to sacrifice the solemn offering, is said to have brought a small tunic. The mother indeed ascends with her husband when the mind of the preacher raises itself through the foreknowledge of the interior spouse to contemplate those sublime joys of eternity. Then indeed she sacrifices the solemn offering, because while she is joined to the Creator through the ineffable sweetness of that love, a festive devotion is presented at the heavenly altars. And then indeed she brings a small tunic, because even if through the great grace of interior visitation the soul of the pastor is lifted up to heavenly things, nevertheless he ought to impose the precepts of conduct upon the little one not according to the measure of his own subtlety, but according to their strength. Hence also Moses, returning from the mountain in the immense splendor of his countenance, veiled his face so that the people might be able to direct their gaze upon him (Exod. 34:33). Therefore let her who is a spiritual mother bring a small tunic to her son, so that she may prescribe to the little ones still certain beginnings and plain things, and not impose upon them the burden of her own strength. For often those who can conquer the enemy through lesser works fall amid great ones. Hence also David, advancing into battle against the mightiest of the Philistines, laid aside the breastplate, shield, and all military equipment; and he who could not wield himself against the enemy under their weight struck him down with a single stone from a sling (1 Sam. 17:39, 40 ff.). That mother had ascended to sacrifice the solemn offering, who said: "I know such a man, who was caught up into paradise" (2 Cor. 12:4). But from such great magnitude he did not bring a great garment to the little ones, because he says: "He heard secret words which it is not permitted for a man to speak" (ibid.). Likewise: "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food" (1 Cor. 3:2). Therefore let the mother bring a small tunic to her small son, and let the measure of the garment be stretched according to the size of the body, so that while he fights with the virtue of a temperate way of life, the enemy may not overthrow him with an unequal burden of arms.

4. And because God multiplies for the preacher the gains of converts through the discerning zeal of pastoral care, Anna is said to have been visited by the Lord, and through the grace of the divine gift to have merited the grace of fruitfulness in sons and daughters. She bears sons when she gains through the word those through whom she bestows the seeds of preaching to others. She bears daughters when she calls back to the service of almighty God those minds which, although they are not suited for preaching, nevertheless diligently nurture the seed of the word of God received from preachers, which, as if giving birth, the daughters afterwards bring forth through good works as an example to their neighbors. But since Samuel is first said to have been girded with a linen ephod, and then the mother's fruitfulness in the multitude of children can reasonably be understood as what we observe happening daily—namely, that from the good reputation of a chosen disciple, the gains of converts increase for the master. Hence after the birth of brothers and sisters, Samuel is said to have been magnified before the Lord, because indeed those are already great before the Lord who through the examples of their devout way of life turn the hearts of their neighbors to the service of almighty God.

5. But a great fear is struck into us, because Eli is condemned for the fault of his sons, though no sins of his own are reported. For good subjects, living well suffices for salvation, but for prelates their own life does not suffice. For he is truly very old who always strives to live blamelessly. Whence it is also written: "For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years; but the understanding of a man is grey hairs, and the age of old age is an unspotted life" (Wisdom 4:8). But some excel by living well, who have none of the authority that leadership demands. For even if they are eager to rouse their subjects to do good, they are yet ashamed to oppose offenders through zeal for righteousness. Who indeed, even if they sometimes come forth to reprove them, harm rather than help by speaking, because they do not confound their obstinacy with fitting severity. For Eli himself heard the crimes of his sons, and how they slept with the women at the door of the tabernacle; who, as though beginning with a harsh rebuke of authority, declared that he had heard the worst things from all the people. But he who ought to have pursued the faults he had set forth softened them through his subsequent words, saying: "Do not, my sons." In which address of kinship, indeed, it is clear how far he dissented from the Lord's will, because he called them sons whom the divine word above declared to be sons of Belial, that is, of a wicked spirit, saying: "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial." For to sleep with women is to sin securely and without fear of future punishment. For the harlot women are worldly desires. Who are rightly said to watch at the door of the tabernacle, because they lie in wait for those striving toward the entrance of the heavenly kingdom. But he who follows the desires of the world in such a way that he is often terrified by the consideration of divine fear is indeed defiled with women, but does not sleep, because even if he falls through transgression, he nevertheless by no means rests in security in the crimes he has committed. Therefore, one who sleeps with women is not to be honored with the name of kinship, because those who, having already cast off the fear of God, are obstinate in their crimes, are not to be rebuked with a lighter reproof, lest they think the weight of the sin into which they fall is light, when what is preached to them from authority does not sound grave to them. But lax pastors, amid their soothing words, are accustomed to bring forth certain arguments of reason. Whence it is also said in the voice of Eli: "If a man sin against a man, God may be appeased for him; but if a man sin against God, who shall pray for him?"

6. For a man to sin against a man is for people to harm one another in matters of passing things. But to sin against God is to take away from Him those things which He established for eternity. Therefore whoever draws either his own or another faithful person's soul into sinning is convicted of sinning against God, because he strives to take away from Him what is properly His. This is shown to be a sin all the more grave, inasmuch as one who might stand as a worthy intercessor for its absolution is more rarely found. For under the question "Who will pray for him?" it is not said that the remedies of repentance are denied even to such persons, but that the deeper wounds of sins are healed with greater difficulty.

7. However, this can be understood to have been said because the priests are being rebuked. For a man sins against a man when he offends whose fault looks to the judgment of a superior person for correction. Therefore, since the sins of the subject people, which pertain to the priests, are wiped away by the prayers of those same priests, when the priest falls into fault, there is no superior person by whose prayers he may be expiated. And the Truth Himself intimates this, saying: "If the salt has lost its savor, with what shall it be salted?" (Matt. 5:13). Let him therefore say: "Who will pray for him?" As if to say, who remains as intercessor for him, when the one who was ordained to intercede for others casts himself down by transgressing? By this indeed the magnitude of the guilt is shown, because many of them are cast by the Lord into the darkness of an impenitent heart, and they do not come to their senses by any human exhortation. For this reason it is fittingly added: (Verse 25.) "They did not listen to the voice of their father, because the Lord willed to kill them."

8. Now the boy Samuel is recorded as both advancing and growing, and as pleasing both God and men, so that the zeal of the chosen hearer may be indicated—one who directs his efforts toward the heavenly homeland by the path of an upright life, as he grows stronger toward greater things. Hence it is also said through the Psalmist: They shall go from strength to strength; the God of gods shall be seen in Zion (Psalm 83:8). Therefore, advancement in conduct means to grow in merits; to please God and men belongs to consummate perfection. And because conduct pertains to works, and merit proceeds from charity, those hearers advance but do not grow who perform good works out of a desire for vanity and do not have charity. We therefore advance and grow if, together with a more exalted manner of life, we are raised up through better works, and from that very sublimity of work we direct our attention solely to the joys of eternity. Moreover, to please both God and men belongs to great virtue, because very often we offend our neighbors by our good work if we do not perform those same good works with great caution. He therefore pleases both God and men who is careful in the good work that he devotes to the service of Almighty God—who so takes care to please God that he offends no one through God's ministry.

9. And because this is said about Samuel, still a boy and placed under another's instruction, the life of those living in community is thereby instructed. For some living in community in sacred places, with the fervor of novices, desire to devote themselves to their own pursuits under the appearance of great works, and the less useful they are to their fellow brothers, the less they please them. Therefore through Samuel a model is set forth for those living in community, upon which they may be formed. Each of them therefore pleases both God and men when he is useful to his brothers and devoted to God. Therefore let them so attend to their own care that they do not neglect the things that belong to their neighbor, so that through kindness they may please those who are with them in the lowly place, while before heavenly eyes they cautiously display the strength of their devotion, lest they crush the hearts of the weak while hastening toward heavenly things with the force of their own strength.

10. Now a man of God is described as having come to Eli, who, being about to bring forth the severity of the divine sentence, carefully enumerated how many gifts He had bestowed upon him. And because he finally announces the punishment of the vengeance that he deserved, what does this give us to understand, except that the faults of pastors are judged more strictly? And not only do their sins increase the punishment of retribution, but also the gifts that were granted. Likewise, because he recounts those same gifts one by one, he indicates something more serious: that each individual gift comes to be a torment, when it is proved to have been poorly preserved. For he poorly guards in himself the gifts of almighty God who defiles the splendor of the pastoral summit through the stains of wicked conduct. Whence also the house of Eli is fittingly rebuked for having kicked away the gifts and sacrifices of the Lord with the heel. The heel indeed is that part of the body by which we touch the ground. In this lower part of the body, therefore, is shown that disposition of the soul by which earthly things are desired.

11. And because, as it has seemed to some, victims were customarily offered for a victory obtained or to be obtained, and gifts given to friends, what is signified by victims and gifts except the vows of those still advancing and the devotions of the perfect in the praises of almighty God? For we who advance through the temptations of hidden enemies, when we prepare virtue for the conflict against them, surely hold victims in the praises of almighty God. But when the battles that are thrust upon us have now been conquered, when we give thanks to almighty God for the victory obtained, we undoubtedly sacrifice victims to the same Lord. But those who offer him the affection of intimate love bestow gifts as if upon a friend. Gifts, therefore, are the affections of charity, by which the hearts of the elect burn with desire for their Creator. And because when a ruler pursues earthly things, he harms many who are engaged in spiritual conflict and many also who are now beginning to aspire upward, he indeed kicks aside the victims and gifts of God with his heel, because by the example of his depravity he drives away the endeavors of both groups. And so the victims are cast aside, because often the labor of spiritual warfare is abandoned by the untrained soldiers of Christ, when the leaders of the Christian campaign are seen to pursue bodily leisure in the repose of earthly pleasures. The gifts are kicked aside, because the affections of charity grow cold in the minds of many who already love heavenly things, while they see their prelates seeking the heavenly homeland through no desires of love, but lying bound by the coldness of the body in the lowest pleasures. Among whom indeed there are some who bestow spiritual honors in a carnal manner, and attribute to kinship what is owed to merits. Who would surely tremble at the guilt of their presumption, if they carefully considered what the Lord complains about concerning Eli the priest. (Verse 29.) "You have honored your sons more than me," He says, "so that you might eat the first portions of every sacrifice of my people Israel."

12. For he honors his sons and relatives more than the Lord, who chooses persons for sacred orders not from the integrity of their conduct, but from love of kinship. Therefore the sons are said to have been honored, so that they might eat the firstfruits of the sacrifice, because carnal prelates bestow the heights of spiritual honor upon their carnal relatives for this reason: that they may be enriched with ecclesiastical resources and heaped with an abundance of plenty in the loftiness of their office. Nor do they care what sort of persons come to the spiritual ministry, but only that they may advance in temporal dignity those whom they embrace with carnal affection. He is therefore accused of having honored his sons—but wicked ones, who ought not even to be held as close by carnal kinship, if they in no way shine forth in the conduct of ecclesiastical teaching. But those who promote the reprobate are shown to confound the very order of promotion, since it says he honored his sons so that they might eat the firstfruits of the sacrifice. For the priest does not preach in order to eat, but rather he ought to eat in order to preach. This Paul also suggests, saying: "Let him who preaches the Gospel live from the Gospel" (1 Cor. 9:14). Hence he says again: "Do not muzzle the ox that treads the grain" (1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18; Deut. 25:4), so that, namely, the preacher of the holy Church may supply nourishment to his body for this reason: that he may be able to bear the labor of preaching. Therefore those who promote their relatives are proven to pervert the right order of promotion—not for the purpose of ministry, but for the pursuit of dignity. This they certainly would not do if they did not love themselves and their relatives in a carnal manner while in a spiritual position. But if they understand the rejection of Eli, let them also fear the judgments of their own guilt. For by the divine voice it is said: "You have honored your sons more than me, so that you might all eat the firstfruits of my people Israel." (Verse 30.) "Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: I spoke and declared that your house and the house of your father would minister in my sight forever. But now, far be this from me."

13. Behold, Eli is deposed from the height of his dignity by divine sentence, who is convicted of having honored his wicked sons for the eating of the firstfruits, so that indeed the preachers of holy Church may understand that if through carnal love they knowingly commit spiritual ministries to the reprobate, they have fallen by the equity of the internal Judge from that summit on which they appear outwardly to stand. And because He subsequently added: (Verse 30.) But whosoever shall glorify me, him will I glorify.

14. Their audacity also secretly suggests that He was dishonored. To whom indeed Paul also, reproaching this very thing, says: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Rom. 2:24). For because they stain the beauty of the dignity they received through the filth of a wretched reputation, they indeed dishonor the Lord. For he is rightly driven from the height of honor who does injury to the one by whom he is proved to have been honored. Against which He affirms with a general promise, saying: "But whoever glorifies me, I will glorify him." For the pastor glorifies God who shines by the example of good works for the imitation of the faithful, who from the height of governance radiates with the great light of an excellent manner of life, who, regarding the mirror of sacred orders, does not accept the persons of reprobate ministers, but chooses for the pattern of the subject flock those whom everyone who looks to imitation, because he follows the true light in them, does not stumble against. To whom indeed Truth speaks through Himself, saying: "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). The Lord indeed glorifies those who glorify Him, because what the chosen pastors of the holy Church outwardly bear of the glory of their high position, this they inwardly receive from the grace of divine goodness, and the honor by which they are exalted in the eyes of men, they merit by worthy effort inwardly from the bounty of the interior majesty. Against which He complains that the glory of those who dishonor Him was not bestowed upon them by Him, saying: "They have reigned, but not from me; they became princes, and I did not know it" (Hosea 8:4). For they reign from themselves, and not from the election of the supreme ordination, because they are not called by divine will to the glory of the ecclesiastical summit, but are led there through cupidity. Whom indeed the Lord does not know, because He rejects them through the judgment of interior equity. It is therefore as if He were saying: Even if the honor they hold appears to be mine, they did not merit it by obedience, but seized it through cupidity. Whence He also subsequently adds: (Verse 30.) "But those who despise me shall be without honor."

15. As if he were speaking openly, saying: Even though they display the nobility of their dignity under the pretext of religion, they are nevertheless ignoble, because they do not match the excellence of the glory they possess through sublimity of life. But since all of this is promised in the expression of the future tense, it can not unfittingly be referred to the merit of the coming retribution. About which indeed John says: "When he shall appear, we shall be like him" (1 John 3:2). Hence the evangelist Mark, affirming, says: "Then they shall see the Son of man coming with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26). Moreover, when he declares that he will glorify the one who glorifies him, he assuredly promises him the glory of his own likeness. For the Lord glorifies the one who glorifies him, because he rewards with eternal sublimity those who now within holy Church shine in the eyes of the elect through the examples of good works. But the despisers will be ignoble, because they do not deserve to be received into the glory of the elect. For because they now clothe themselves in the image of the fallen angel through their reprobate way of life, they will then be ignoble with him, when they are joined to him in internal punishment. For the Prophet, beholding the glorification of the former and the ignobility of the latter, says: "The saints shall exult in glory, they shall rejoice in their resting places. The praises of God shall be in their throats, and two-edged swords in their hands. To execute vengeance upon the nations, rebukes among the peoples. To bind their kings in shackles, and their nobles in iron chains." For the Lord glorifies the one who glorifies him, because the humble elect exult with him in eternal glory. And because they receive the brightness of glorification from the manner of their own way of life, they are said to rejoice in their resting places over the glory they have obtained. But his despisers are struck with perpetual ignobility, because the kings and nobles of the nations are bound with iron, that is, eternal chains for punishment. Moreover, the kings and princes of the nations are the proud and vainglorious leaders of carnal people. And they will then be ignoble, when they are bound with iron chains, because those who now temporarily exalt themselves against the little ones are restrained by eternal punishment from the splendor of honor and from the audacity of their tyranny. Whence here also it is added: (Verse 31.) "Behold, the days are coming, and I will cut off your arm, and the arm of the house of your father."

16. For the arm of the scorner is temporal strength. And because he departed from the household of the supreme Father by transgressing, the fallen angel began to have him as a father, now cast out from heavenly glory. Therefore the house of his father is that society of subjects which favors him in evil. Of whom indeed it is said above: "You have honored your sons more than me." The arm of the scorner, therefore, and the house of his father is cut off when, with the intervention of the death of the flesh, both the prelate and his subjects alike lose the violence of their tyranny. For then he is without an arm, when he can in no way exercise violence in the oppression of the little ones. Whence it is also decreed by the equity of the eternal Judge: "Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the outer darkness" (Matt. 22:13). In whose house also there shall be no old man. For the house of a condemned man is hell. But true old age is the maturity of wisdom. Therefore in his house there shall be no old man, because in hell no counsels of salvation can be found. Whence also sacred Scripture stirs us to works of true wisdom, saying: "Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly, for there is neither reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge in the underworld, where you are hastening" (Eccles. 9:10). Hence Paul says: "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Therefore in the house of the scorner there shall be no old man, because whoever rightly has wisdom has prepared a dwelling for himself not in hell but in heaven. This scorner also, to the increase of his punishment, sees his rival in the temple amid all the prosperity of Israel. For the temple of God is the heavenly homeland, of which it is also said through the Prophet: "The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven" (Ps. 11:4). And by Israel, which is interpreted as "seeing God," is signified that blessed multitude of angels, of whom the Lord says in the Gospel: "Their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 18:10). And the prosperity of Israel is the everlasting joy of those blessed spirits. Therefore the scorner will behold his rival in the temple, because the reprobate preacher, now condemned, recognizes the order of the humble already rejoicing in the heavenly places. To this rival indeed all the prosperity of Israel is granted; for it is written: "God will be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). Therefore all the prosperity of Israel designates all that God is to those most blessed citizens. For although that eternal essence—namely, the supreme and simple good—exists in itself, nevertheless, because by the revelation of his Majesty he satisfies all the desires of those blessed spirits, the distinguished Teacher shows this to be so. Whence he also carefully preaches that God is not all things in himself, but all things in all, because he who in his own nature exists ineffably as one and simple good, is as many goods to all the good as they themselves are filled with joys from the contemplation of his glory. Therefore all the prosperity of Israel is granted to the rival, because the order of the humble elect is received among the choirs of angels, so that it may be satisfied with an eternal perception of the joys of divine contemplation. He is rightly said to be the rival of the scorner, because the elect of God receive the encouragements of good admonition even from proud and negligent preachers. Whence the Lord also commands, saying: "Whatever they tell you, do; but do not act according to their works" (Matt. 23:3). Hence Paul says: "Be zealous for good in all things" (Gal. 4:18). But since Scripture says: "Let the wicked be removed, lest he see the glory of the Lord" (Isa. 26:10), it seems contradictory that those who are condemned in hell should be understood to see those who rejoice in heaven. But since "to see" also pertains to knowledge, he sees his rival in the temple because, even though the wicked man is held bound by the punishments of hell, he does not doubt that the humble elect, whom he does not see with his eyes, share in the joys of angels in heaven. And it should be noted that it is said twice: "There shall be no old man in your house," because the condemned is instructed unto salvation neither from the experience of punishments which he endures, nor from the knowledge of another's happiness, nor from the experience of punishments which he does not endure. Sometimes, however, the elect are born as children through the teaching of reprobate pastors. The guilt of pastors does not hold these bound, because they follow the encouragements of good preaching that they hear, and not the perverse works that they see. Whence it is also added: (Verse 33.) "Nevertheless I will not entirely remove from you a man from my altar."

17. For they are men who shine forth from the lofty citadel of strict conduct. As if therefore He were saying: For this reason I do not remove them from My altar, because they are men. For according to the merit of their conduct, strength and loftiness of power is preserved for them. Whence also through the prophet the Lord proclaims the decrees of equity, saying: 'The soul that sins, it itself shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father that of the son' (Ezek. 18:20). The Lord would therefore justly remove a man from His altar on this account, if the son were to bear the iniquity of the father. But from this very fact that a chosen hearer is seen in glory, punishment is heaped upon the reprobate teacher. Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 33.) 'But that your eyes may fail, and your soul may waste away.'

18. For his eyes fail, because those who fulfilled what he perfected by his exhortation are put to shame by his life. His soul also wastes away, because he is compelled to grieve all the more abundantly, while he knows that the good which he taught flourishes through the glory of recompense in his subjects, and yet he himself did not take care to practice it. In these words it should also be noted that he who promises that he will not entirely remove a man from his altar is found to be rare in whom he receives, because indeed of a reprobate teacher there are more hearers who follow the wicked things he does than the right things he teaches. Whence here also a great part of his house is declared to be about to die in the prime of manhood.

19. For the age of manhood is the time of administering the priesthood. Therefore the imitator of the reprobate teacher is brought to manhood when he is promoted to the height of holy orders. When indeed he has reached that age, he dies, because whoever has approached so great a ministry unworthily, or has lived unworthily in it, is condemned. Whence Paul also, making mention of the Lord's body and blood, says: "He who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself" (1 Cor. 11:29). Therefore they die in manhood, because they perish from the presumption and boldness of a higher ministry. Hence therefore, hence indeed let the reckless take heed, and let them not eagerly seek but rather dread to undertake the burdens of so great a ministry. For he who is foretold to die when he reaches manhood lives until he reaches it, because indeed all who are weak and unequal to so great a ministry, if they consider the measure of their own smallness, have a place in the holy Church in which, guarding themselves, they may live. Whence the Lord also declares through Moses, saying: "If a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned" (Exod. 19:12; Heb. 12:20). Hence it is also that when Lot went out from Sodom, he refrained from ascending the mountain and turned aside to Zoar, a small city (Gen. 19:20ff.), lest while still small he strives for higher things and, striking against manhood, dies. For we leave Sodom when we turn away from the fires of burning desire. We do not immediately ascend to lofty things, because we do not touch the heights of a superior ministry, while we consider our own weakness by measuring it, lest if we despise keeping the measure of our weak age, we who have lived as little ones may die in manhood. As a sign indeed of the house about to die, both sons of Eli are foretold to die in one day. We have said that those sons signify those who are promoted to holy orders by carnal relatives, not with the intention of administering the order, but for the glory of worldly dignity. Therefore both die in one day, because they perish in the desire for worldly happiness. Worldly glory, the reverence of honor, the power of high position, the splendor of dignity, the throng of attendants, the abundance of possessions loved in a worldly manner—this is a day, but one that kills.

20. Let the sons of Eli hear, therefore, that both die on a single day. For those who, from the pastoral eminence they have received, love the happiness of a fleeting life, have indeed the intention of joy but the fruit of lamentation, a purpose set on the exultation of life but an arrival at the sorrow of death. They hasten toward death, therefore, as often as they vainly rejoice over temporal happiness. The Apostle also confirms this when he mentions the apostatizing widow, saying: "But she who lives in pleasures is dead while she lives" (1 Tim. 5:6). For he declared that she dies on this day, who showed that pleasures are the cause of the widow's death. But the death of the sons would be less grievous if it did not itself become the cause of another's death. Hence they are foretold not simply to die, but to die as a sign of a house about to perish, because when those nearby imitate a reprobate teacher, they fall into the same ruin, and the followers of followers are heaped together in collapse. Let those who love temporal happiness from the office of the eminence they have undertaken hear this, therefore, and let them dread the magnitude of their guilt. They are deserving of a punishment all the graver inasmuch as they openly see that they do not die alone from the vanity they love, because while they drink down death under the pretext of worldly gladness, they transmit the poison of their drink to the multitude of those who follow them. Yet by these words the brevity of the present life can be made known to reprobate teachers. For they die in a single day, because when they reach the end of this life, all that they have lived is seen to have been brief. Hence it is said by a certain wise man: "The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment" (Job 20:5). Again, blessed Job speaks of the lovers of this world, saying: "They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment they go down to hell" (Job 21:13). But when the reprobate are snatched away to punishment, wise and chosen pastors are raised up for the care of the Lord's flock. Wherefore he adds next: (Verse 35.) "And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest."

21. For the Lord raises up a faithful priest for Himself, because indeed the highest position demands for its care one who not only rightly understands, but who faithfully ministers. Moreover, he will then be able to minister rightly when he recognizes the measure of his ministry from sacred Scripture. Hence, when a faithful priest is promised, he is declared to act according to the heart and soul of Almighty God. For what do we understand by the heart and soul of God, if not His sacred Scripture? For with the heart we think toward deliberation, and with the soul we are moved toward love. Since, therefore, in sacred Scripture we recognize the counsels of Almighty God, and there we find the love with which He loved the human race, that same Scripture reasonably designates His heart and soul. Accordingly, Almighty God chooses for His ministry the priest who acts according to His heart and soul, because indeed no one else is worthy of so great an office unless he has learned His will from sacred Scripture and devotes what he has learned to the benefit of his neighbors through the zeal of charity. But we must still attentively consider what is said: (Verse 35.) 'According to my heart and my soul.'

22. For certain precepts are found in Sacred Scripture which are indeed precepts of God's dispensation, and not of God's love. If the priest who is promised to be raised up were to fulfill these, he would indeed act according to the heart of God, and not according to His soul, since he would have rendered in works the counsel of divine dispensation, and not the precept of love. Were not those commandments of His, of which He speaks, saying: "I gave them statutes that were not good" (Ezek. 20:25), from the dispensation of God? And when the Pharisees disputed with Truth Himself about giving a bill of divorce, they heard: "Because of your hardness of heart Moses gave you the law" (Matt. 19:8). Since therefore those things were from the dispensation of His counsel, whoever made use of those same precepts acted according to the heart of the Lord, and not according to His soul. For the precept of the heart and soul is that of which it is said: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12). Because what He commands through counsel, He embraces through the embrace of charity. Hence He likewise says: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27). Hence He likewise commands, saying: "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them." These therefore and precepts of this kind are precepts of God's heart and soul, because by the revelation of His secret counsel it is shown what is received in His sight through the proof of charity. Therefore the faithful priest is known by this sign: namely, if he acts according to His heart and soul, because indeed he is then truly faithful if he follows not the license of His dispensation, but the precepts of love. But because he is chosen not in vain, but for the profit of the people subject to him, he adds and says: (Verse 35) "And I will build him a faithful house."

23. For the house of the priest is the congregation over which the subject peoples dwell. This house is indeed built for him as faithful by the Lord, because it is raised up to the zeal of obedience by divine inspiration. For an unfaithful house is that society of subjects which daily receives the preaching of a good ruler, yet does not intend to obey him through the pursuit of good works. For it is recognized as an unfaithful house, because the currency of God's word, which is entrusted to it through the ministry of its preacher, is squandered through the negligence of a prodigal life, and what is committed to it for the profit of business is by no means found at the time when an accounting must be rendered. Therefore a faithful house is built by the Lord for a good preacher when the hearts of the subject people are divinely prepared to obey his voice, so that it not only guards what is stored within it from the talent of the word, but brings it, accumulated with manifold profit, to the table of eternal reception. And it should be noted that a faithful house is said to be built by the Lord, so that the preacher may never glory vainly in the good conduct of the subject people. It should also be noted that the Lord raises up a faithful priest for himself, so that the hearts of subjects may not presume to attribute to their own merits the very fact that they are governed by an excellent ruler. It should also be noted that the Lord calls the priest whom he raises up faithful to himself, but the house which he builds for him he says will be faithful to the priest himself; because indeed the preacher owes obedience to God, and the subject to the prelate. But then the prelate rightly walks before the subject if truth itself is seen to direct all the paths of his life. Therefore it follows: (Verse 35.) And he shall walk before my Christ all his days.

24. But the Christ of the Lord is the Redeemer of the human race. Who indeed, because He is now believed to have ascended to the heavens, is seen by His faithful not with bodily eyes, but with the mind. Therefore he walks before Him all his days who does nothing from sudden impulse. For in order to place right steps outwardly in action, he looks inwardly to Christ, whom he carries in his heart through contemplation. But because He still speaks to the reprobate pastor, He adds, saying: (Verse 36.) And it shall come to pass that whoever remains of your house shall come that it may be prayed for him.

25. For someone is said to be about to remain from his house, because a great part of it is declared to be about to die. For from the house of the wicked pastor, he remains whom the consciousness of sin does not extinguish from the hope of obtaining pardon. He remains, therefore, because the weight of conscience is lightened through the resolution of repentance by the hope of obtaining life. He indeed comes so that prayer may be offered for him, and hastens through repentance to God, from whom he departed by sinning. He comes, therefore, so that prayer may be offered for him, because he who has made himself unworthy of God requires a worthy intercessor, so that he who is recognized as unable to be cleansed by his own prayers may be expiated by the prayers of others. Whence James also devoutly admonishes, saying: Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be saved (James 5:16). Hence again: The persistent prayer of a righteous man avails much. But prayer avails for him who, while he restrains himself from the uncleanness of sin, restores himself to the likeness of God, of which he stripped himself by sinning. Whence here also it is added: (Verse 36.) That he may offer a piece of silver.

26. On the coin, therefore, the image of the Lord is engraved, so that it may be recognized as belonging to him by whom it is commanded to be formed. The coin is accordingly understood as his likeness to God. Whence he speaks in Genesis, saying: 'Let us make man in our image and likeness' (Gen. 1:26). And because from sacred Scripture we recognize the image and likeness of God to which we are to be restored, it is declared to be a silver coin. He therefore who comes from the way of sin so that prayer may be offered for him ought to offer a silver coin, because it profits him nothing that he is pricked with compunction in repenting, nor that he confesses with weeping, if, unamended and uncorrected, he is recognized as in no way shining inwardly with the beauty of good will and the light of God's image. For the image and likeness of God is to hate evil with noble hatred and to love God with perfect love. Whence the Prophet also, seeing that the brightness of the divine likeness had perished from the human race, looks to him who came from heaven with the glorious light of our restoration, saying: 'You have loved justice and hated iniquity' (Ps. 44:8). Hence, considering himself now renewed through contemplation of him into the form of perfection, he says: 'I have hated the unjust, and I have loved your law' (Ps. 118:113). He therefore who comes from the house of the reprobate through confession, who through humility asks the Lord that prayer be made for him, must take care entirely to offer a silver coin, so that, having taken on the splendor of good will, he may perfectly hate the evil he has done and love with whole love the good he has neglected. Whence also by the examination of the just Judge, decrees of propitiation are proclaimed. 'On whatever day or hour', he says, 'the sinner is converted, he shall live with life and shall not die' (Ezek. 18:21, 27). But the conversion of the sinner does not consist in the humility of confession, but in the renewal of the inner man, when to the sinner, now corrected by divine inspiration, the evil he loved displeases him, and the good he hated pleases him. For there are some who accuse themselves of the wickedness of their crime and yet do not correct the depravity of their will. These are certainly not believed to be converted to the Lord, because true conversion is not received in the mouth but in the heart. For to be converted is to be completely turned around. The true conversion of the sinner, therefore, is when both our inner and outer man is brought back to the good pleasure of our Creator, when both our flesh is restrained from the perpetration of crime through hatred of iniquity, and through love of justice our mind extends itself to the intention of good works. But because there are some within the Church who come to the satisfaction of penance only at the end of their life, and it is said by the judgment of Truth, 'At whatever hour the sinner is converted, he lives', it is often greatly asked by some whether those who commit sins during the great span of their life and only at the end of life accuse themselves of having acted wickedly immediately find life after the death of the flesh. To which it must be said that by the power of conversion the magnitude of the crime is blotted out. But the power of conversion is the affection of charity infused into the heart by the visitation of the Holy Spirit. And it is written of the same Spirit: 'That he himself is the remission of sins.' For when he graciously visits the hearts of the elect, he powerfully purges them from all uncleanness of sins, because as soon as he pours himself into the mind, he immediately and ineffably stirs it into hatred of sins and vices and into love of virtues. He makes it immediately hate what it loved and ardently love what it had hated, and greatly groan at both, because it recalls that it damnably loved the evils it now hates and hated the good things it now loves. For who would dare to say, even though one is weighed down by every kind of burden of sins, that anyone visited by the grace of the Holy Spirit can perish? Since therefore the sinner is converted at no hour except that in which he is illuminated by the Holy Spirit, what remains except that, just as he abandons the death of sin by execrating it, so he lives by the life of justice to which he longingly turns? He is received into life immediately after death, if he receives such a fire of love in his conversion as can consume in his soul all the accumulated rust of sin. Whence it is also said of the sinful woman: 'Her many sins are forgiven her, because she loved much' (Luke 7:47). Hence by the same Truth hanging on the cross it is said: 'Amen I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise' (Luke 23:43). At the end of life, therefore, only those come wholesomely to their senses who both through internal visitation perfectly love good things and hate the evils they had loved. Yet if they cannot grieve sufficiently for the iniquities they have committed, nevertheless even these live in the hour in which they are converted. For those who had the perfection of good will in the confession of sin pass through to life after death by the purgatorial punishment of sin, if they did not at all have sufficient power of love for blotting out their sins. Whence Paul also says: 'So they shall be saved, yet as through fire' (1 Cor. 3:15). But let the sinner who has merited to be saved there through fire fulfill here through the affliction of the flesh what he recognizes is lacking to him in the power of love. (Verse 36.) 'And a cake of bread.'

27. For by the name of bread, the refreshment of earthly delight is sometimes designated. Wherefore the prophet Jeremiah also, recalling the people of corrupted Judea in their worldly appetite, says: 'All her people groan' (Lam. 1:11), 'and seek bread.' The converted sinner therefore twists bread when he torments his past delight through the affliction of repentance. For to twist bread is to afflict the flesh for the delight that was committed. He therefore who desires to pass to salvation without the torment of fire, let him offer a cake of bread with a silver coin, so that he who abandons sins through good will may utterly extinguish them by vigorous affliction of the flesh. For he was offering a silver coin who, having already received the likeness of God, by confessing execrated what he had done, saying: 'My wounds have festered because of my foolishness' (Ps. 38:5). And again: 'I am bowed down and humbled exceedingly.' But he who feared that a silver coin would not suffice for his offering took care to add a cake of bread. For he confesses and says: 'I roared from the groaning of my heart' (Ibid., 9). For roaring suggests the weeping of great sorrow in the affliction of the penitent. Joining this cake of bread to the silver coin, he himself speaks, saying: 'For I will declare my iniquity, and I will think upon my sin' (Ibid., 19). For to think upon one's sin is to set before oneself a fitting affliction of the flesh for past delight. He was therefore twisting bread to be offered, who, while declaring the shameful deeds he had committed, was thinking about how he might blot them out. And because the desire for praise is wont sometimes to creep upon penitents from the austerity of their way of life, the intention of the truly converted sinner is indicated by what is added next: (Verse 36.) 'And let him say: Send me, I beseech you, to one of the priestly portions.'

28. For the priestly portion of each one is the reward of the elect in eternal life. For all His elect are priests of God, because they never cease to offer sacred gifts to Him whom they unceasingly serve through the offering of their ministry. Whence also those rejoicing in the kingdom say: 'You have redeemed us to God in your blood, and have made us a kingdom and priests to our God' (Rev. 5:9, 10). Therefore, for the converted sinner to say: 'Let me go, I beseech you, to one priestly portion', is from the austerity of life and penance to await only a portion of eternal blessedness, so that he may find the security of delight, which he may possess in perpetual enjoyment, and never drag behind him the torments of penance. Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 36.) 'That I may eat a morsel of bread.'

29. For if bread in sacred Scripture is taken to mean delight, a morsel of bread is the unfailing delight of eternal life. Concerning which delight, indeed, it is said through the prophet: 'Joy and gladness shall be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of praise' (Isa. 51:3). Hence likewise, now looking upon the guests invited to the table not of a cake of bread but of a morsel, he says: 'Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and exultation' (Isa. 35:10). Hence the Psalmist, speaking in the voice of the corrected penitent, says: 'You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, delights at your right hand forever' (Ps. 15:10). For the ways of life are the afflictions of penance, by which indeed the sinner is led from the abyss of his damnation to the heavenly homeland, while he is voluntarily tormented for the iniquities he has committed. Whence also, when he indicates that he is a corrected sinner, he presumes to say: 'You are, O Lord, who have restored my inheritance to me' (Ps. 15:5). And likewise trusting, he says: 'For you will not abandon my soul in hell' (Ps. 15:10). For the ways of life become known to the sinner when the afflictions of penance are divinely impressed upon him—when, that is, with enlightened mind he considers what bitterness of life he should set against each pleasure of his past sin. He indeed glories in being filled with joyful gladness in the presence of Almighty God, because he is refreshed by the manifest fullness of divine contemplation; and he who on the left hand of the present life is pierced with compunction for a time through penance, on the right hand of eternal life is satisfied with delights forever. He therefore who offered a cake of bread is brought to the eating of a morsel, because he who for love of the heavenly life crucifies harmful pleasures prepares for himself perpetual refreshment at the banquet of eternal joy. There follows:

CHAPTER IV. (1 Kings III, 1.) Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli.

1. Moreover, it is shown that he repeated in this passage what is mentioned above concerning the chosen boy, where it says: "But the boy Samuel was a minister in the sight of the Lord before the face of Eli." For to minister to the Lord before Eli is the same as to be the Lord's minister before the face of Eli. And because we explained that passage more fully there, with the Lord's help, we do not delay at all in repeating its exposition. But since it is the divine word that speaks this both in this passage and in that one, it is shown that He did this not without a useful reason. Therefore, out of concern for the reader's weariness, we pass over the explanation in silence, but we state the reason for the repetition for his benefit. For certain people who are subject to the authority of the prelates of holy Church obey as untrained beginners; but when they advance a little higher through their manner of life, they by no means persist in that same humility of obedience. The handmaid Hagar of Sarah fittingly represents these in a spiritual sense, for when she saw that she had conceived by Abraham her husband, she despised her mistress (Gen. 16:5). For Hagar conceives when the reprobate mind of a subordinate believes that it is advancing either through the acquisition of knowledge or through its manner of life. And she, being pregnant, is said to have despised her mistress, because she now disdains to submit herself through obedience to the will of her superior who is set over her. But she who despises her mistress is declared to be a handmaid, because proud subjects are also weak through their arrogance, and they do not attain to the number of the children of God. Moreover, Samuel's progress is set forth because it was said above: "But the boy Samuel advanced and grew and was pleasing both to God and to men" (1 Kings 2:18). With what sublimity of life he accomplished these three things has been explained above. Since, therefore, even now he is mentioned as ministering before his master, what does this mean except that he provides a pattern for chosen hearers, so that the higher the life to which they advance, they never forget to preserve the good of obedience? For they truly advance if they strive toward the height of merits both by the strength of their works and by the virtue of humility.

2. In this passage there is another thing that ought to be noted: because Samuel is shown to be ministering to the Lord before Eli at the very time when Eli himself is rebuked by the Lord for his negligence regarding his sons. For some subjects, while they consider the measure of their own strength, prefer to be severe judges of their superiors rather than pious listeners. These indeed, because they are accustomed to exaggerating and scrutinizing the lives of their superiors, if they observe stains of even the slightest fault in their conduct, refuse to submit to their authority by obeying. But they would be truly strong if they humbly bore what they consider to be the weaknesses of their superiors. For before God, that person is known to be great in merit who submits himself in good obedience to one who does not seem venerable in some respect. For behold, Eli is rebuked by the open sentence of God for the guilt of his committed negligence, yet the boy Samuel is recorded as ministering to the Lord before him, so that one may indeed reflect within himself what kind of person he is who despises his superior for a lighter fault, if Samuel submitted himself in obedience to one whom almighty God condemned with such severity of his judgment. But because Eli is rebuked for having honored his sinning subjects too greatly, the very dignities of the sacred orders must be weighed. For a ruler ought not to honor a sinning subject unless he has been corrected, but the subject ought not to despise his superior even when he recognizes himself as just and the other as a sinner, because the eternal Judge has given the judgment of subjects to the rulers of Holy Church, but has reserved those same rulers to be examined at his own judgment. Yet this very thing ought to be greatly feared by rulers, that they are reserved for God's examination, because they must prepare all the more exacting accounts of their life and teaching as the Judge whom they face is wiser. Nor should they fear his future judgment in the life to come only, as though it were placed far off, lest he who is everywhere present strike the unwary from close at hand. For negligent pastors, in order to escape the punishment of future vengeance, count on the long stretches of present life before punishment comes; but the Judge, who is everywhere, inflicts retribution from close at hand, because he first withdraws from them the light of contemplation, then snatches them away to torments through death. Whence also concerning the same Eli, who a little further on dies with a broken neck, it is added: (Verse 1.) In those days there was no manifest vision.

3. For when the ruler despises doing what he knows should be done, it is dealt with him by strict judgment, so that he does not see what should be done, because he was unwilling to fulfill what he saw. For the manifest vision belongs not to the negligent pastor, but to the loving one. Whence also Truth itself says: 'He who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him' (John 14:21). For the brightness of manifest vision is the revelation of beloved truth. Which truth indeed, if it is shown by the merit of love, is most justly hidden from those who are sluggish in good work, because the sign of love is not in the affection of the mind, but in the zeal of good works. Whence also in the Gospel the Lord said beforehand: 'He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me' (Ibid.). Because therefore from negligence of work the darkness of inward vision is incurred, most fittingly, while the priest is rebuked for contempt of the commandments, the hidden vision is mentioned. There follows: (Verse 1.) 'And the word of the Lord was precious.'

4. As far as the truth of the sacred history is concerned, he used "precious" in place of "rare." The word was therefore precious, because while he who discerned the highest things by contemplation was rare, he who proclaimed good things by speaking could not be frequent. Which we see happening now also in the holy Church, because while many seek the glory of honor from the reverence of high position, while they neglect the ministries of sacred order, they cannot preach to the peoples subject to them the highest things which they are unable to see, and in their household the word is known to be precious, because they rarely hear the encouragements of good preaching, whose prelates do not seek from desire the heavenly things they might speak, but the earthly things they might pursue. Whom indeed sacred Scripture marks, which says: 'Dumb dogs unable to bark' (Isa. 56:10). It did not say "unwilling," but "unable," because certainly while they love the glory of the world with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their mind and strength, they would wish to speak lofty things to the people, so that they might also have glory from the sublimity of their word. Therefore dumb dogs, wishing to bark, cannot, because while they meditate on earthly things with a corrupt heart, they grasp by no revelation the hidden things of truth that they might set forth. But because what is precious is usually guarded with great diligence, this which is said, "There was no open vision," can be referred to the negligence of carnal prelates.

5. But as for what is added, 'And the word of the Lord was precious', this pertains to the burning zeal of good subjects, since faithful subordinates, even if they do not have someone who frequently preaches heavenly things to them from the treasury of sacred speech, embrace with wondrous devotion only that which they were once able to learn, and guard it as something ineffably precious, while through good works they store it up in heaven, where thieves who might take it away by no means draw near. Whence also in the Gospel it is said of the buyer of the good pearl: 'Having found one precious pearl, he gave all that he had and bought it' (Matt. 13:46). Therefore, when in the time of hidden vision the word is described as precious among the elect, the praises of the subjects are proclaimed, because they are to be extolled with a glory all the more sublime, inasmuch as that good which was lost from a higher place remained among those in lower positions through the perfection of great charity. By their good conduct it is indeed often brought about that the vision which had been hidden is made manifest, so that those who devoutly guard the least things may come to know and do greater things as well. Whence it is also added: (Verses 2–4.) 'And it came to pass on a certain day that Eli was lying in his place, and his eyes had grown dim, nor could he see the lamp of God before it was extinguished. And Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. And the Lord called Samuel.'

6. For the boy Samuel is called by the Lord whenever the secrets of divine counsel are revealed to humble subjects, and they acquire by the merit of their humility the light of contemplation, which proud preachers lose as the recompense of their pride. But it should be noted that this is shown to have happened on a certain day, on which Eli is reported both to have been lying in his place and to have been unable to see. For he is called in the daytime who is raised up to know the secrets of heavenly wisdom for his own and others' salvation. On the contrary, Solomon received wisdom in the night, so that the darkness of the time might indicate that he would not receive that same wisdom with perseverance (1 Kings 3:5, 12). This can also be understood in another way, since the darkness of Eli is mentioned. By the setting of the daytime, the greatness of his blindness is shown, because he surely had great darkness who did not see in the day. Now also, if we look to the state of the Church, there is a general grace of light. For He came who, scattering the rays of true brightness, would say: "I am the light of the world; he who follows me does not walk in darkness" (John 8:12). And because the glory of His inner splendor is ineffable, it does not say "on this day" or "on that day," but "on a certain day"—whose brightness certainly exists, but the greatness of whose brightness is unknown. Therefore the Pastor endures great darkness if he who is known to be the eye of the Church by his office does not have vision amid the grace of so great a light. Wherefore Truth itself shows the darkness of that same eye to be great, saying: "How great will that darkness be!" (Matthew 6:23). But now the text suggests whence so great a darkness arises for him, because it says: "He was lying in his place." For the place of the preacher carries the duty of standing, not of lying down. Whence also the Lord provides an example of this to preachers concerning Himself, saying: "But I am in the midst of you as one who serves" (Luke 22:27). For to stand in the midst of the brethren is to offer oneself as an example to those beneath through a laborious manner of life. To stand, therefore, pertains to the labor of work and to the necessity of battle. Whence also the director of the spiritual contest commands, saying: "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth" (Ephesians 6:14). And because lying down belongs to one who is at rest, he who is said to lie in his place is rebuked for following the lukewarmness of rest in the place of battle and labor. To stand is also the mark of the just man. Whence Paul also says: "For by faith you stand" (2 Corinthians 1:23). To lie down therefore also pertains to the negligence of a more lax life. Thus Eli lies in his place when a reprobate preacher rests in the seat of the just man through a fall into wickedness. Therefore the eyes of one lying in his place grow dim, because those who do not carry out works of virtue from the height of the pastoral summit, but are immersed in the allurements of a more lax life, are unable to see the highest things. He is indeed called the lamp of God no longer in the truth of praise, but as a reproach of derision. For he who bears the title of lamp of God and is reported to be unable to see is rather mocked by so great a name by which he is called. For in true praise of the just man it is said: "He was a burning and shining lamp" (John 5:35). For the radiance of the true light which he had drunk in by loving, he poured forth by speaking. Even the carnal preacher is called a lamp by his office but blind in his intention, because he holds the dignity of providing light but fixes his mind on the darkness of vanity.

7. His thoroughly consummate perversity is indicated by the fact that it does not say "he did not see," but "he could not see." For this reason also, when the Lord mentions the bad tree, He says: "A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit" (Matt. 7:18). The lamp of God, therefore, cannot be seen when he who stands preeminent in pastoral dignity is pressed down by so great a thickness of worldly love that he is raised by no inspiration of grace toward the vision of interior brightness; when, that is, cast out by the just indignation of God, he is left in the blindness of his own darkness, so that he is never again visited by the infusion of heavenly light. But it is well said: "Before it was extinguished." For not to see is the punishment of a sinner still living in this present age, but not to be able to see belongs to the dead wicked man already condemned to eternal punishment in the age to come. Hence also, by the judgment of the Creator, he is commanded to be shut in outer darkness, so that he may never be brought back to the sight of light. Therefore, when the reprobate preacher, still living in this present age, is said to have been unable to see before the lamp was extinguished, he is likened to the wicked man already condemned to perpetual blindness. Now the lamp is extinguished when the pastor dies. Or certainly the lamp is extinguished because when the reprobate preacher perishes through the death of the flesh, whatever in him seemed to shine he loses from the glory of his high position, and he remains like the mere clay vessel of a lamp without light, when the person is forced to be kept for the eternal judgment who is utterly stripped of all worldly splendor. Therefore, before the lamp of God is extinguished, he cannot see, because he both possesses the merit of future damnation through the eternity of his blindness, and yet still shines before men through the splendor of the dignity he received. (Verse 3.) Now Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

8. Now rightly the reprobate prelate is said not to sleep but to lie down, while the boy, a subject and one of the elect, is said not to lie down but to sleep, because "to sleep" is sometimes taken in a good sense, while "to lie down" is almost always taken in a bad sense. Hence also the Bride in the Song of Songs says: 'I sleep, and my heart watches' (Song 5:2). In the sleep of the perfect boy, therefore, the rest of every elect subject from wicked work is signified. For he sleeps in the temple and where the ark is who, occupied with heavenly desire and with meditation on Sacred Scripture, does not attend to those things that pertain to perversity. For some sleep in the temple but do not sleep in the place where the ark of God is, because certain simple people rest in heavenly contemplation through love, but do not know how to meditate on the hidden things of sacred speech. But Samuel, who is said to sleep not only in the temple but before the ark of God, signifies the learned and elect subjects alike, because while they draw the flames of their love from sacred Scripture by meditating more frequently, they are raised up more highly to the desire of the heavenly homeland, and they choose, as it were, the innermost parts of the temple for sleep, since they are separated the further from the public activity of earthly work the more secretly they are hidden away through meditation in the sanctuary of inner vision. (Verse 4.) 'And the Lord called Samuel.'

9. For to call is to rouse through the force of a greater grace. For the Lord calls one who is sleeping, because He stirs up those who are resting from earthly pursuits to an increase of heavenly knowledge. For while we keep watch through concern for outward things, we do not perceive what is inward and spiritual. The setting aside of earthly care, therefore, is our preparation for receiving heavenly grace, because in the elect the outpouring of the divine gift becomes more abundant in proportion as the mind has been purer through the keeping of interior meditation. There follows: (Verses 4–9.) And the Lord called Samuel. Who answering, said: Here I am, and he ran to Eli and said: For you called me. Who said: I did not call you, my son; go back and sleep. And he went away and slept. And the Lord again called Samuel once more. And rising up, he went to Eli and said: Here I am, for you called me. Who answered: I did not call you, my son; go back and sleep. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again a third time. Who rising up, went to Eli and said: Here I am, for you called me. Eli therefore understood that the Lord was calling the boy, and he said to Samuel: Go and sleep, and if He calls you henceforth, you shall say: Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

10. What is it then that almighty God introduces his calling with such skill that the mind of the one called is restrained from recognizing the one who calls him; that hearing God, he thinks this master is a man; that he sends forth the calling yet conceals the cause; that he allows him to go to his master, to return so many times to the quiet of sleep, and yet does not permit the sleeper to rest? For surely he who called whomever he wished to know his secrets, with a voice merely resembling Eli's—could he not have called with whatever voice he wished? And he who called when he wished—could he not have immediately indicated the cause of the calling? And he who wished to rouse him so that he might hear—could he not have taught him how he ought to listen except through his master? But in this matter almighty God employs a great dispensation, so that the hearts of the elect may indeed be taught by a twofold instruction: that on the surface of the history those who are subjects may see the good of obedience which they should follow, and that superiors may perceive the hidden mysteries which they may bring to the light of understanding by examining them. But what I think should be said first is this: the boy who thought the Lord speaking was his master heard a bodily voice. Therefore God spoke to the boy not through himself but through an angelic spirit, because he who is not confined by bodily form is not restricted to the sound of a voice by a bodily instrument. Which indeed was fitting for a childish hearer. For even if the merits of a beginning subject are great, because nevertheless he is recognized as not yet being in perfection but in the progress of his way of life, he does not attain to that speech by which almighty God speaks through himself. Indeed almighty God through himself, that is, the supreme and uncircumscribed Spirit, speaks spiritually to great and spiritual men, when by spiritual speech he indicates to their minds both the things to be done that they should do and the things to be spoken that they should know. Therefore he produced the outward voice through an angelic spirit, but by the presence of his grace the Creator Spirit indicated what he wished. Therefore calling with a voice, while he was thought to be Eli, he remained hidden from recognition, so that the boy might run to his master, and while hearing that he had not been called, being mistaken he might show on what a summit of virtue he stood. Therefore the boy, humbly subject to a man and raised up on the lofty citadel of obedience—when called he came, when commanded he returned—what else does he offer us by his example, if not the pattern of the highest obedience?

11. For true obedience neither examines the intention of superiors nor distinguishes between commands, because he who has submitted all judgment of his life to a greater rejoices in this alone: that he carries out what is commanded him. For whoever has perfectly learned to obey knows not how to judge, because he considers this alone to be good: that he obeys commands. But in such great glory of his perfect way of life, our own life is put to shame. For behold, we have resolved to set out for the heavenly homeland under the leaders of the Christian army, yet we murmur when we are ordered to perform various tasks even at various times. For who would restrain himself from murmuring, who would hold back from anger, if he heard himself called two and three times, and yet perceived from the caller's response that he had not actually been called at all? We suffer indeed this darkness of our slothfulness because we do not see with what brightness of reward so great a virtue of goodness corresponds. For obedience is the sole good for the recovery of life, if the fault of disobedience was a sufficient evil for bringing about death. If therefore death prevailed through the evil of disobedience, we are restored to life as many times as we obey. And so the boy Samuel was offended neither when called nor when turned away, because he did not wish to scrutinize the mind of the one calling or turning him away, for he had learned to rejoice in this alone: that he obeyed. And since rising pertains to labor, but returning to sleep pertains to rest, what does this suggest, except that both prepare life for us, if the obedient mind in what it does considers nothing but the good of obedience? For a command ought to be weighed solely on this basis: that it is the command of a superior; and he who carries out the good of obedience ought not to consider the task enjoined, but its fruit, because for meriting the joys of eternal life, what is required is not the quality of the work, but the mortification of one's own will and the execution of another's. Hence Paul also says: "Circumcision profits nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God" (1 Cor. 7:19). Therefore now, in the sight of almighty God, neither those things that pertain to labor nor those that pertain to rest are small, if they can prepare eternal life for the obedient. Whoever therefore is subject to another's authority, let him consider this alone: that what is enjoined upon him according to God is exceedingly great and lofty as gain to the mind, because it prepares life as the reward of recompense. On the other hand, let the disobedient observe that the first parent of the human race fell from the joys of paradise not by theft, nor by robbery, nor by adultery, nor by murder, but by disobedience regarding the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6). From this it is also fittingly gathered that if small things—as they seem—when the commands of superiors are despised, separate us from inward joys, then even the least things that are carried out in obedience prepare life.

12. Therefore the diligent worker of the communal life, and the pious emulator of those serving God together with him, if he desires to obtain a greater reward of eternal merit through the good of obedience, let him recognize that he excels in this alone: if above all others he has subjected his own will to the judgment of his superior. For neither the great gains of fasting nor the pursuits of an austere life are to be greatly weighed by devoted soldiers of Christ against the command of their superiors. For a meal enjoined by charity is of greater merit than a fast undertaken by one's own deliberation. For he who, being commanded, refreshes the flesh, has unwillingly earned the reward of fasting through devotion, and has obtained a greater reward of obedience by eating. Therefore God called the boy, but with a voice similar to the master's, so that He might indeed indicate the manner of His speaking. He was silent about the reason for the calling, so that the chosen boy might show by what humility of obedience he would be exalted. He endured going to his master, so that he might offer the gift of his devotion. He is allowed to return to the rest of sleep, so that indeed we may not despise even the things that are least. He rouses him again, so that He might show that he whom He wished to set as a pattern for the elect would not be wearied even by the urgency of commands. Through him who was to be rejected he learned how he ought to respond, so that indeed we may know that the commands of superiors are to be venerated even when they themselves do not have a praiseworthy life, because their teaching, which through wicked conduct can become worthless to the proud, causes humble hearers to arrive at the height of divine intimacy.

13. But because what follows is, "Moreover Samuel did not yet know the Lord," and above he is reported to have ministered to the Lord, what is said seems very contradictory, because he could not be ignorant of the one whom he was serving. For who serves one whom he does not know? But indeed through what is added, it becomes clear by what fitting reasoning that which sounds contradictory ought to be understood: "Nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him." By which it is surely given to understand that the one whom he knew by love and ministry, he did not know by the revelation of His word. For he had not yet heard calling him the one whom he testified that he had known both by the devotion of ministry and by the power of love. But this is fittingly understood in the life of the faithful; for many advance well under another's guidance, who in the time of their newness perform services to almighty God, and yet do not attain by the purity of contemplation to the vision of His inner beauty. When by the merit of their submission they also receive the gift of divine contemplation, they understand by the experience of inner vision that they did not yet know the one whom they were serving. This Jacob well represents, setting out to receive a wife, who after the labor of his journey saw the Lord through the sleep of rest, but awakening from sleep said: "Truly the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it" (Gen. 28:16). For he who perceived that He exists everywhere could not have doubted that the Lord was there before he fell asleep; but because he then learned Him more perfectly, he declared that he had been ignorant of Him when he had not known Him more intimately. For the way by which one travels to a wife is the intention of devoted obedience, by which the fruitfulness of inner charity is desired to be attained. Jacob therefore sleeps on the way when the faithful subject, the supplanter of the evil spirit, is received through the labor of obedience into the rest of inner vision. Who will indeed then confess that he has come to know the Lord, because while he marvels at that vision of inner light to which he has been newly raised, he recognizes by the experience of revealed beauty how much he did not know before. For by faith, as if by report, we know God, but by the love of contemplation He who became known to us by report is revealed to us as if by the showing of His presence. And rightly the subject advancing through obedience, while he is led to the height of contemplation, is said to have long been ignorant of the Lord, because He is found as if from the truth of His presence, who before seemed as if unknown by report and not known as if present.

14. But because it is said separately, "He did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him," it can be understood more subtly. For in one and the same internal contemplation of God, both a wondrous charity is poured into the one contemplating from the fruit of so great a glory, and a great amazement at the revelation of the secret word. Some therefore know the Lord and receive the revelation of His word, because they are both filled with wondrous sweetness from that infusion of so great a charity which they draw from habitual practice, and they are instructed with great wisdom by the revelation of the word. But by some the Lord is known to whom the word of the Lord is by no means revealed, because certain simple men, yet perfected by a great manner of life, receive indeed an ineffable sweetness of love by contemplating the glory of divine contemplation, but nevertheless do not reach the height of His revealed word, because they have been taken up into the order of those who love, not to the loftiness of preaching. The word is indeed revealed to him so that it may be loved, and lest it be preached, it is hidden. But it is well said of him who is raised to the ministry of preaching, "He did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord been revealed to him," so that while he, still unformed, indicates the things he does not yet possess, he openly shows with what good things a preacher ought to be enriched. For he who has not yet received that power of intimate love assuredly does not know the almighty Lord—whom he knows by faith as if by report—by the great presence of His charity. And if he loves ardently but does not yet know how to examine the secrets of the mysteries through the Spirit, he indeed already knows the Lord, but has not yet arrived at the revelation of His word. But concerning the obedient boy it is immediately added: (Verse 9) "So Samuel went and lay down to sleep."

15. For now the boy, having been instructed, is sent to the knowledge of divine speech, when the chosen one, subject to the counsel of his superior, is prepared for knowing spiritual things. And indeed for him to sleep is to rest in the desire of eternal life, when, that is, to the soul now thirsting for heavenly things alone, all present things are held in contempt, so that the more eagerly everything corporeal is driven from its attention, the more abundantly it is filled with the love of invisible things. And it should be noted that he is now commanded to return to the rest of sleep four times, because while we carelessly occupy ourselves with this world regarding visible things, we are awake in deed, speech, and thought. Therefore we are commanded to sleep three times, so that we may be prepared for the knowledge of heavenly things through rest from works, silence of the mouth, and the rejection of superfluous thoughts. But in the fourth place we are sent to sleep when by the permission of our superiors we are commanded to cease even from useful ministry, so that while we are hindered by no care of anxiety, the mind may gather itself entirely to the contemplation of the heavenly vision.

16. And it should be noted that the Lord rouses the boy while he is resting, without Eli knowing, yet once roused, He by no means reveals the reason for his calling unless that same Eli instructs him, because He raises chosen subjects through hidden inspiration toward the desire for the heavenly homeland, yet through their rest He does not permit them to be called to the homeland they love without the permission of their superiors. Since, therefore, as many times as the boy is called, so many times he is allowed to go to his master, what else does this mean except that the desires of subjects, divinely inspired, are submitted to the judgment of superiors? For the work of a subject that is divinely inspired is recognized as pleasing to God when it is carried out by the command or permission of a superior. The boy is therefore called four times by the Lord, and the quiet of sleep is commanded four times by the master, because we are kindled by divine inspiration toward the moderation of work, the silence of the mouth, the casting away of inner anxiety, and the cessation of ministry, for the love of a more secluded life, and yet we are forbidden to fulfill the desires of our love without the permission of our superiors. The Lord therefore calls and is silent about the reason for the calling, so that, with the master's permission, He may reveal Himself to the called subject. For He who, unbidden to listen, fell silent after He had called, once the human teacher gave the command, God who was calling made known the reason for the calling. For there follows: (Verses 9–11.) So Samuel went and slept in his place. And the Lord came and stood, and called as He had called the second time, Samuel. And Samuel said: Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. And the Lord said to him.

17. By these words indeed, because what is known to pertain to a body is said of the incorporeal and invisible divine substance, it is necessary that it be understood in a rational manner. For where does he come who is everywhere? In what way is he said to stand and speak who is not formed of bodily substance? But while that substance governs all things, the words of our poverty are employed, through which we may be able to rise to knowing the mysteries of his working. For the Lord's coming is to touch the hearts of the elect by the presence of his grace; his standing is, by the abiding gift of his grace, to retain the minds he touches with the unwavering gift of his grace. His calling, moreover, is to arouse the chosen mind to the increase of greater grace. For the Lord comes and does not stand when the hearts of the negligent are touched by grace, and yet they do not at all persevere in the affection and love of the grace that touches them. For he is as it were present when coming, and departing when not standing, when from the present touch of divine grace they suddenly resolve to do good, and immediately, being abandoned, they forsake the intention of that same good resolve. But if this is referred to the power of contemplation, the Lord comes and stands when he both suddenly touches the hearts of the elect by grace and does not suddenly abandon them once touched, so that by coming he may visit, by standing he may confirm, and he who is shown to the joy of the mind beloved to him may not himself depart before that mind is satisfied in its living experience. But because he is said to stand, it is indicated that he will at some point depart, because even if he sometimes satisfies chosen souls in his revelation through a brief lingering, he withdraws the sweetness of his presence, so that they may more ardently desire what has been withdrawn. The Lord therefore comes by visiting, stands by sweetly showing himself, and calls by arousing through most ardent desire toward the love of his revealed glory. Hence also the boy was aroused so many times by the repeated name. He is called because a calling by name designates the affection of great charity and intimacy. Hence he also speaks to Moses, saying: "I know you by name" (Exodus 33:12, 17). The name of the one called is therefore repeated when the mind of the one who sees is now received into great intimacy with the interior Majesty, and is elevated by its burning desires toward the love of the one who calls, so that nothing may please it beyond what it hears, and it may desire to dwell perpetually in the joy of what it has heard. Hence it is also openly added here: "Samuel therefore said: Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." He who therefore said "Speak" was compelled by necessity. For it is as if he were saying in plainer words: I answered "Speak," because I could not have answered otherwise. For what else can a mind desire that has been taken up into that joy of the speaking Majesty? For to say to God in the mind "Speak" is to desire always to hear that ineffably sweet speech. He therefore says "Speak" who would wish that he never be silent. Hence it is also added: "for your servant hears." As if to say: because that which I receive by the experience of interior affection, I desire to enjoy in eternal perception. He therefore asks that he speak, who desires that he never be silent in his interior affections, lest he who is lifted up by such sublime exultation when the Lord speaks be cast down, when he is silent, to endure the straits of condemned humanity. For if we are raised from the darkness of our corruption when he speaks, when he is silent to us through the withdrawal of grace, we are subjected to those same darknesses. Rightly therefore, having been raised to such a height, he says to the Lord "Speak," because he takes pleasure in that joy of interior hearing in which nothing in his outward circumstances pleases him; and he would desire all the more ardently to remain with the one conversing with him, the more gladly he would have wished never to be cast down to his own infirmities.

18. Indeed, when by God's authorship we say "Speak" to the Lord, we say it by His own gift; yet we cannot express with what affection the more perfect elect say this to Him, because what belongs to ineffable desire is not expressed by the utterance of reason. Peter indeed well suggests this affection, who, when he stood by the Lord transfigured on the mountain, and beheld His face shining like the sun, and had seen His garments gleaming white like snow, said: "It is good for us to be here; if You will, let us make here three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" (Matt. 17:4; Luke 9:33). For he who says, "It is good for us to be here," would never have wished to be taken away from that vision of such great glory, if he could have remained. For when Peter says, "Lord, it is good for us to be here," and Samuel says, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears," the words indeed are different, but the affections are equal. For Peter signifies on the mountain, with the Lord transfigured, what Samuel signifies when he is called by the Lord coming, standing, and standing a second time. But even though Peter is reproved by the Evangelist as one not knowing what he was saying, this does not seem contrary to this meaning. For the Evangelist reproves not Peter's affection but his reasoning, because, having been taken up with the Lord apart in glory, he desired to remain so always, and did not want Him to descend to the ignominy of the cross for the common redemption. He did not know, therefore, what he was saying, but he ardently loved what he saw, because indeed he beheld so great a good that it could in no way not be loved. Hence, even though Peter is justly reproved, he is nonetheless reasonably pardoned, because he was overcome by love of such great Majesty through its enjoyment. Nevertheless, when Peter is charged with ignorance of what he was saying, the cause of that same ignorance is mentioned. For the Evangelist adds: "For they were terrified with fear." For that ineffable beauty of the inner Majesty sometimes shakes with wondrous dread the chosen mind to which it delightfully reveals itself, lest it leap into pride from the greatness of the vision, if the spirit that advances it—whose gentle contemplation raises it to such heights—does not restrain it with the governance of fear. In one and the same vision of revealed glory, both the goodness of the Redeemer is beheld as ineffably gentle and His justice as ineffably terrifying, so that the more sweetly the soul of the beholder is nourished by the regard of God's goodness, the more, terrified by the consideration of His justice, it may take care not to be vainly satisfied. Hence also, when Samuel is raised to the intimacy of divine speech, not joyful things about the progress of the elect are announced to him, but terrible things about the downfall of the great. For it continues: (Verse 11) "And the Lord said to Samuel: Behold, I am doing a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle."

19. For among sublime gifts, the elect mind is restrained from pride all the more cautiously, the more it perceives through the justice of almighty God that even those who seemed to be supported by more sublime gifts have been cast away. For this reason also, concerning the word which the Lord threatens He will accomplish, the ears of those who hear are declared to ring. For the ears of the body ring when they are struck by an unbearable sound. For when a cry is poured into the ear beyond the capacity of hearing, the narrowness of its function converts the sound it rejects into a ringing, because while the voice hisses through the caverns of the ears, having been poured in all at once, it does not pass into the interior. But to the ears of minds, the unbearable cry is the rejection of some great preacher. Therefore the magnitude of the outpoured cry is not grasped, because while the sublime gifts granted to the rejected preacher are recalled, it remains unknown by what examination of divine equity he is cast out. Therefore the magnitude of the outpoured voice is converted into a ringing of the ears, because even if the judgment of God by which it happens is not grasped by the mind's attention, while it is long weighed through consideration, hearts are struck with terror by that consideration. For just as ears ring from the confined sound of a great voice, so the hearts of the righteous tremble greatly from the long-considered rejection of great men. But both ears are said to ring, namely the right and the left. And because by the right eternal life is signified, and by the left the present life, and through the ear we hear what is said, what do we understand by the left ear except the attention to pious works, and what by the right ear except the attention to the heavenly vision? And so both ears of the hearer will ring, because when the ruin of the greatest men is shown, both directions of the elect's attention are disturbed, because they both raise themselves with trembling heart to contemplate eternal things, and do not manage temporal things without great dread. For he had suffered this ringing of the ears, who spoke to the Lord, saying: "Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are a great abyss" (Psalm 35:7). For by the mountains of God are understood the highest and elect men. And indeed God's righteousness is matched to those mountains, when they fulfill His lofty commands in deed; but yet the divine judgments are a great abyss, because even if in the eyes of holy men what they do is upright, before the eyes of almighty God they cannot know what quality those things possess. Whence they both ceaselessly do the good works they are able, and tremble at that abyss of judgments thundering above them, because by the accomplished word of the Lord which they hear, their hearts are shaken with the ringing of great terror. But fittingly, only the ears of those who hear are declared to ring. For in the Gospel too He warns of this, saying: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8:8). For those who with all their attention are watchful for outward things do not know this ringing of fear, because they in no way weigh the height of divine judgments above them. But behold, upon him who refused to weigh God's subtle judgments above himself, how sharp the sentences of those judgments are now unfolded. For He adds, saying: (Verses 13 and 14) "For I foretold that I would judge his house forever because of iniquity, in that he knew his sons were acting unworthily, and he did not correct them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of his house shall not be expiated by victims and offerings forever."

20. For since the sentence of just severity is usually tempered by clemency, it is a judgment of great strictness where the sentence of punishment is affirmed by repetition. For He foretold above to Eli when, through a man of God, without naming him, He announced the sentence of his rejection. But because now too He swears that He will do the same thing, He indeed repeats the judgment of condemnation. In this matter it should also be noted that he who did not correct his sons when they acted wickedly is reproved for having committed an iniquity that will never be expiated by sacrifices and offerings. What then will be the severity for one's own iniquity, if the negligence of caring for others is an irremediable fault? For if the uncorrected sins of subjects bind us with perpetual guilt, with what punishments does the boldness of our own iniquity bind us? Rightly therefore do the ears of the hearer tingle, because indeed the minds of the elect, which consider this attentively, tremble at such great severity. Rightly do the ears of the hearer tingle at this, because it indeed possesses an immensity of outcry that chosen hearts can scarcely endure. And indeed the right ear of the hearer tingles, because even if anyone raises himself by the merit of his perfection to contemplate heavenly things, yet he does not trust in the loftiness of his life. The left ear also tingles, because even if one has the gift of knowledge to order temporal things perfectly, yet he has no confidence in the perfection of his ministry. For amid sublime gifts they hear a word from whose outcry each ear suffers a ringing, under which, as long as this life of uncertainty is led, one does not cease to tremble. Whence also it is fittingly added: (Verse 15) Samuel slept until morning.

21. For he sleeps until morning who rests in the conduct of a good work begun until the splendor of the coming Redeemer appears. He sleeps until morning who throughout the whole night of the present life waits through the purpose of justice begun, so that the brightness of the promised Redeemer may shine forth for him unto the joy of a merited reward. For he heard the word promised in Israel, about which his ears do not cease to ring, because from the observed severity of divine justice he drew in a spirit of fear, under whose weight he will not be able to awake to the love of the world. But perhaps he is said to sleep until morning on account of the ringing of the right ear. For the right ear rings, because while the perfect lover of the interior life doubts about the perfection of contemplation, he desires more and more to advance in that sublimity of life which he has begun. But as long as we are in this mortal flesh, evil spirits lay snares for those striving toward the heights; and in order to draw them back from the vision of interior glory, they gather together phantoms of foolish thoughts, which they set before their interior eyes. Well therefore is it said: 'Samuel slept until morning.' The temptation of unclean spirits is night; but he who sleeps until morning does not open his eyes the whole night. He therefore sleeps in the night who disdains to look upon the phantoms of demons in temptation. He also sleeps the whole night, because he is not overcome by the darkness of temptation, but manfully endures, until he is visited by the light of heavenly brightness through the coming of grace. And then indeed he awakens as at morning, because he is gladdened by the delight of light poured back upon him after the darkness. For as one awakening he then opens his eyes, because he joyfully beholds the light with which he is bathed, he who did not care to look upon the darkness brought against him. From the ringing of the right ear indeed he obtains that he who rests upon heavenly things disdains to behold wicked things, and it suggests the certainty of his progress, since what he gains in peace he does not lose through open and violent wars. There follows: (Verse 15.) 'And he was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.'

22. For he feared to reveal to him what the Lord had shown to him, so that he might restrain the recklessness of human boldness with the force of discipline. For some are so reckless that they easily rush forth to rebuke their superiors, and do not tremble to threaten them with future punishments for their errors. These indeed, because they do not know the manner of Holy Scripture, have in no way heard the Lord speaking to them. For those to whom Almighty God, speaking, reveals the punishments of their superiors, dread to tell them what they have heard. From this, therefore, let those who rebuke their superiors consider with how great thoughtlessness they cast themselves headlong, and let them greatly fear the depths of their fall. For if those to whom Almighty God speaks fear to speak to their superiors, those to whom God has in no way spoken — with how great terror ought they to have hidden themselves under the silence of their tongue? Therefore Samuel's fear does not suggest a servile dread, but the reverence due to the eminence of pastoral authority. For even if a negligent preacher deserves rebuke and threats on account of his own guilt, the loftiness of his order demands the fear of reverence. There follows: (Verse 15.) And he opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

23. What does it mean that he who feared to speak opened the doors of the Lord's house, except that he who dreaded announcing sorrowful things was not ashamed to obey? For it was said above: Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. For the boy, who is said to have slept in the temple of the Lord and now to open its doors, is shown to have had an assigned ministry, so that at the proper hours he would open and close the doors. He therefore who dreaded revealing the vision and yet opened the doors of the Lord's house, showed double reverence to his master: namely, the care of his ministry and the guarding of his speech. How strictly he maintained this guard over his speech is shown, if what follows is carefully considered. For it is immediately added: (Verses 16-18.) So Eli came to Samuel and said: Samuel, my son. He answered: Here I am. And he asked him: What is the word that the Lord spoke to you? I beg you, do not hide it from me. May God do this to you and add this, if you conceal from me any word out of all the things that were said to you. So Samuel told him all the words and hid nothing from him.

24. For he who is said to have been compelled to speak by such great urgency of entreaty is shown to have been bound by a great strictness of silence. And because some subjects are accustomed to keep silent not so much for the preservation of purity as from the obstinacy of impudence, Samuel showed the pattern of a chosen subject, who kept silent reverently, but when commanded to speak, was afraid to keep silent. And so he shone with the twofold light of his conduct, since he who had kept silent by the virtue of filial fear gained by speaking the benefit of speaking. There follows: (Verse 18.) And he answered: It is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes.

25. He who considers this response of Eli more simply than he ought thinks that he responded as rightly as he did humbly. For as it is heard outwardly, what could he have responded more humbly, he who heard his own reprobation and offered to God who was threatening—indeed, promulgating the sentence of his reprobation—whatever He wished to do concerning him? But certainly if this humility of response is examined more carefully, it is not true humility. For that is recognized to be true humility which accompanies the good of obedience in carrying out the commands of a superior. He would therefore truly have been humble if he had offered himself for the amendment of the fault for which he was being rebuked. But perhaps he would have been even more truly humble if, when rebuked, he had not responded at all, but had applied to his wicked sons the correction he had neglected—if even then he had persisted with pastoral zeal and had punished the crimes of the flagitious priests with fitting vengeance. Therefore, when he says, "He is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes," he is recognized to have uttered a word of his own choosing rather than a response of humility, because indeed he preferred to incur the causes of God's threats rather than condemn his sons for the iniquities they had committed. Oh, how many are still imitators of Eli, who, though they daily perceive from sacred Scripture that Almighty God threatens them, nevertheless tremble at displeasing men and do not fear to incur the threats of divine indignation, and while they dread the enmities of men as though they were implacable, they presume upon God's mercy even while sinning!

26. But disordered confidence can have a place of vengeance before almighty God, yet cannot obtain pardon. For to an uncorrected sinner, persisting in the purpose of his fault, what is it to say concerning God who threatens him, "It is the Lord; let Him do what is good in His eyes," except to trust in a disordered way in the most ordered mercy of God? For he trusts in an ordered way in the mercy of almighty God who corrects by repenting what he committed by sinning, and wipes it away by weeping. Therefore, to sin and to presume upon the clemency of God the Creator is to be exposed to the deep of His justice. Thus indeed, not to wipe away sins committed by repenting, and to presume upon God's mercy, is to stumble into the judgment of His severity. Therefore, while Eli's life is described as a pattern of reprobate preachers, not only is the fault of his fall shown, but also the false security in the headlong rush of fault. For he who could have appeased the greatness of divine indignation by the fear of repentance, while he neglected what he heard, incurred what he deserved.

27. For Almighty God, although He is just in equity, is nevertheless believed to be more abundantly compassionate in mercy. Whence it is also said through the Prophet: "His mercies are over all His works" (Psalm 144:9). Hence it is that through the prophet Jonah He brought forth threats of overthrow against the Ninevites, and yet spared the penitent from the punishment of destroying the city (Jonah 3:1, 2, ff.). Hence it is also that to King Hezekiah (IV Kings 20:1, ff.) the punishment of death was promised through the oracle of the prophet (Isaiah 38:1, ff.), but because the king, fearing death, afflicted himself before the Lord with tears of repentance, he did not find the death by which he was to die with Him whom he feared. And above indeed the Lord declared that He had spoken so that the house of Eli and of his father should minister in His sight forever, but He who had spoken good things concerning one who acted well changed His sentence concerning the house now become reprobate, saying: "But now far be it from me" (1 Kings 2:30). If therefore Almighty God revokes good things promised, because those to whom He had promised them are changed for the worse, how much more does He withdraw the execution of threats, when He sees those well converted to whom He had announced the punishment of retribution for their committed iniquities? What then do we say to these things, we who sin daily and are unconcerned in the bondage of our guilt? Therefore this very thing, that we do not apprehend the severity of divine justice, is greatly to be feared by us, because behold, he who is cast off by divine indignation is reported to have been troubled by no fear for the fault of his perpetrated negligence. But since we have learned of the reprobate preacher's rejection unto fear, let us hear of the progress of the elect. For there follows: (Verse 19.) "And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him."

28. If this is read according to the historical sense, it is indicated that the boy Samuel grew in bodily age; but if, as with the rest, we examine these things by spiritual investigation, the Lord is described as being with him who is recorded to have grown. But he grows who advances in the age of mind toward a perfect man. Whence also through the Prophet it is said of the elect who are advancing: 'They shall walk from virtue to virtue; the God of gods shall be seen in Zion' (Psalm 83:8). Hence Paul says: 'Until we all come to meet him in a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ' (Ephesians 4:13). But there are some who, while they grow in virtues, fall through pride. These indeed appear to grow, but nevertheless the Lord is not with them, because by thinking lofty things of themselves they cast away from themselves him whom, when established in the progress of virtues, they could have had with them through humility. Or if he is understood to have grown through outward dignity, the Lord is recorded as being with him, because indeed many are devout in a humbler rank; but when they suddenly reach the summit of dignity, they abandon their first works together with humility. Samuel therefore both advanced and in advancing had the Lord with him, so that he indeed displayed the manner of the elect preachers, who when they obtain gifts and dignities by which they may benefit others, do not neglect to please God in themselves, and from that source they multiply the gifts which they received for others, whereby they show forth in themselves the good which they desire to spread among them by speaking. Wherefore it is also added: (Verse 19.) 'And none of all his words fell to the ground.'

29. Indeed, the word of the preacher falls on the ground when it becomes worthless because of the preacher's reprobate conduct. Hence it is said by the voice of Truth: "It is good for nothing anymore, except to be cast out and trampled underfoot by men" (Matt. 5:13). And it should be noted that of all his words not one is said to have fallen to the ground, so that assuredly the preacher may do nothing that he rightly condemns. For whatever he forbids to be done, if he himself does it, his word falls to the ground, because while it is despised by the one speaking it, those who hear it by no means revere it. The Lord was forbidding any word from falling to the ground when He set forth to negligent preachers the sentence of their own negligence, saying: "Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19). For the preacher breaks not even the least commandment whose word, of all his words, does not fall to the ground. Moreover, when it is said that of all Samuel's words not one fell to the ground, whose character does Samuel represent, if not those who by the merit of both their preaching and their works are great in the kingdom of heaven? And so of all his words not one falls to the ground, because everything lofty that the perfect preacher of Holy Church speaks is also proclaimed by him through his sublime manner of life, since, as though stationed on a high watchtower, he both instructs the wise by his word and shows the simple by his works the path by which they ought to enter the eternal homeland. Hence it is also added: (Verse 20.) "And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord."

30. For what is designated by Dan except the simple, and what by Beersheba except the wise? From Dan even to Beersheba Samuel is acknowledged as the faithful prophet of the Lord, when the life of a chosen preacher is set forth to the simple as an example of salvation, and to the wise the mysteries of Holy Scripture are revealed through his teaching. But since Beersheba is interpreted as "the seventh well," by Beersheba can be designated not only the wise, but also the righteous. For what is the seventh well except the grace of the sevenfold Spirit? By Dan the life of sinners is shown, because it is said through the ancient prophet: 'Let Dan be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, biting the horse's heels, so that his rider shall fall backward' (Gen. 49:17). Therefore from Dan even to Beersheba Samuel is known as the prophet of the Lord, since the life and teaching of a chosen preacher is venerable both to sinners and to the righteous—so that in him, namely, the fallen may see the good by which they may correct themselves through repentance, and the good may marvel at the loftiness of life toward which they may daily grow stronger by advancing. There follows: (Verse 21.) And the Lord continued to appear in Shiloh.

31. Above, concerning the time of the reprobate pastor, it is said: "In those days there was no open vision." When therefore the best preacher is shown forth from sacred Scripture, the Lord is said to appear again, because indeed the knowledge of the divine counsel, which is hidden from the reprobate, is revealed to the elect by the merit of purity. For if even the counsels of men are not entrusted except to close friends, is Almighty God to be thought to lay open the secrets of His plan to His enemies? First, therefore, the life of the just teacher is proclaimed, then the Lord is said to have added that He appeared, because indeed the manifestation of the divine light flees the reprobate and the false, while it opens itself to the elect and to pure hearts. Hence the true Light itself also, speaking through itself, enlightens us, saying: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). Therefore, the Lord added that He appeared because He saw the pure eye of His preacher. But when it added "that He appeared in Shiloh," it is indicated that He appeared to him in the same place on another occasion. But because it said where He appeared, lest it be believed that He appeared to Eli, it subsequently shows also the person to whom He appeared, saying: (Verse 21) "Because the Lord had revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh, according to the word of the Lord."

32. For He then revealed Himself to him when He opened to him the secret of His counsel concerning the rejection of the reprobate priest. This is indeed affirmed to have been accomplished according to the word of the Lord, so that what had been said above, not very long before, through the man of God to Eli might be perceived to have been fulfilled also according to the historical sense: 'And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall act according to My heart and My soul, and he shall walk before My Christ all his days' (1 Kings 2:35). And again: 'You shall see your rival in the temple, amid all the prosperity of Israel' (ibid., 32). But if we search according to the spiritual understanding, how does the Lord "add" so as to appear to the elect, unless because He who marvelously terrifies His elect through the contemplation of His justice also ineffably soothes them through the display of His glory? For He who, by appearing as just, strikes the hearts of the saints with terror, "adds" that He may appear, when the sweetness of His loving-kindness is poured back into the terrified heart. For this is why He did not always appear to Moses in fire, but sometimes in fire, sometimes in a cloud. In fire, indeed, there is the terror of judgment. Whence also concerning the second coming of our Redeemer it is said through the Psalmist: 'Fire shall go before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest' (Ps. 49:3). But in the cloud the protection of mercy is expressed, because the Lord, promising to His elect the gentle comfort of that same protection, says: 'Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud' (Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). Therefore the Lord appears in fire and cloud to those journeying through the desert, because the minds of those contemplating Him in this pilgrimage of exile, even if He sometimes terrifies them with His justice, He raises up when cast down by fear through the gentle comfort of His protection. The Lord therefore appeared to Samuel, and "added" that He might appear, because He who is beheld by the minds of the elect in the fire of terror is also manifested in the cloud of sweetness. For he had seen inwardly a vision of fire who proclaimed outwardly, saying: 'Holy and terrible is His name' (Ps. 111:10). Likewise, desiring to show Him seen in fire, he said: 'Come and see the works of the Lord, terrible in His counsels over the sons of men' (Ps. 66:5). But He who appeared to him in fire "added" that He might appear, because He also offered him from the cloud the sweetness of glory and of His own gentleness. Wherefore he who had been terrified, now gladdened, said: 'How great is the multitude of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden for those who fear You' (Ps. 31:20). Hence also, marveling at the added apparition, he said: 'How good is the God of Israel to those who are upright in heart' (Ps. 73:1).

33. But we must attentively consider what is added next: According to the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord, therefore, must be known before we deserve to attain to the appearing of the Lord, lest an unjust and indiscriminate vision of fire and cloud not only fail to show us the perfection of the heavenly journey, but drive us into the submersion of error. For Origen, while he wished to see the Lord appearing without the word of the Lord, beheld the vision of the cloud in a disordered way, because he shrank in horror from the appearing of the fire. For while he denied or diminished the justice of God and preached His excessive clemency, he asserted that God would not only spare all condemned men, but would even at some point free the reprobate angels from eternal punishment. Novatus, however, loved to gaze more upon the vision of fire, for while he called the severe justice of almighty God implacable, he took away from sinners all hope of obtaining pardon and every remedy of repentance. Therefore the Lord appeared neither to Novatus nor to that other one, because each of them did not behold the almighty Lord according to what is perceived through the truth of sacred Scripture. The Lord therefore appears according to His word when He reveals Himself to the mind by that manifestation which the faith of Sacred Scripture does not reject. Hence it is aptly added next: (Verse 21.) And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

34. For the word of heretics does not come to pass. For the word of Novatus was that a just God by no means spares the faithful who have once fallen. The word of Origen was that the merciful Lord permits no rational creature to perish through eternal damnation. But because sinners who are converted to the Lord by no means perish, and the angels who once fell and sinners who died in their sin are never saved, the word of heretics assuredly does not come to pass. Therefore the word of Samuel came to all Israel, because the preaching of a catholic man is fulfilled, which is rightly recognized in the truth of sacred speech. And it should be noted that the word is said to have come to him to whom the Lord is reported to have added His vision, because surely his preaching is true to whom the terror of divine justice is so shown that the abundant grace of His kindness is not concealed; namely, so that the truth beheld may so terrify the mind of the one seeing it that the kindness also shown may not permit the terrified mind to fall into despair; so that one may so trust in His kindness as not to rush headlong into the boldness of transgression. But let these things that have been discussed in the second book of the present work suffice, so that while we arrange to begin what follows with a new starting point, our zeal for speaking may also be renewed through devotion.