Bonacursus Catholicus
(The Life of the Heretics)
THE MANIFESTATION OF THE HERESY OF THE CATHARS, WHICH BONACURSUS MADE, WHO WAS FORMERLY THEIR MASTER, AT MILAN, BEFORE THE PEOPLE.
IN THE YEAR OF THE LORD 1190. BONACURSUS, FROM HERETIC TO CATHOLIC. THE LIFE OF THE HERETICS.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who always and everywhere protects and governs His Church, and confirms and preserves the Catholic faith, wishing to manifest and reveal through His holy mercy the errors of those who are called Cathars, mercifully illuminated by the grace of the Holy Spirit a certain bishop and teacher named Bonacursus, and renewed him by grace into the bosom of holy Mother Church; wherefore let us give immense praise to God and all the saints. Indeed their heresy is not only fearsome, but also too terrible and abominable to speak of or even to hear.
For some of them say that God created all the elements, while others say the devil created those elements; nevertheless the opinion of all is that the devil divided those elements. They also say that the same devil made Adam from the mud of the earth, and enclosed a certain angel of light within him by great force, concerning whom they believe it was said in the Gospel: "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, etc." (Luke 10). They say he made Eve, with whom he lay, and thence Cain was born, from whose blood they say dogs were born, and that is why they are so faithful to men. The union of Adam with Eve, as they say, was the forbidden fruit.
They introduce another error, namely that all things made in the air, in the sea, and on the earth were made by the devil, such as men, animate and inanimate things. From the daughters of Eve and demons they say giants were born, who learned through the demons that their father the devil had created all things. Whence the devil, grieving that they knew this, said: "It repents me that I made man" (Gen. 6). Whence because Noah was ignorant of this, he was delivered from the flood, to whom they say the devil said: "Enter into the ark" (Gen. 7). They say Enoch was translated by the same one.
Again they assert that whatever was done or said to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was said and done by a demon. They also say that the devil appeared to Moses in the bush, and spoke to him. Moreover the miracles that were performed in the sight of Pharaoh through Moses; and that the sons of Israel crossed through the Red Sea, and were led out into the promised land; and regarding God's speech to him, and the law which God gave him: all these things they say and believe were done by the devil himself.
(1) The Cathars discussed here are quite different from those ancient Cathars or Novatians who emerged in the times of Emperor Gallienus and Pope Stephen I: which you will be able to learn, reader, if you compare the ancient heresy with the more recent one. Mention is made of the Cathars attacking the Church at Milan in Italia Sacra by Ughelli, where Galdinus, Archbishop of Milan, is discussed: "Moreover, when Galdinus, with divine help, had nearly restored his Church to its former glory... and full of charity had fought against the revived heresy of the Cathars," etc. This from Ughelli at the year 1173. But nothing at all about Bonacursus, who perhaps lived shortly after.
Trithemius mentions in the Hirsau Chronicle, at the year 1163, certain Cathars whom Abbot Eckbert of St. Florin attempted to refute at Cologne — "so that they were utterly unable to contradict," etc. But since they persisted most stubbornly in their resolve, they were utterly cast out from the Church and handed over to the laity, who led them outside the city and consigned them to the flames, etc. Against these Cathars St. Hildegard, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote a letter, etc. The Cataphrygians or Cathars were so called, says Trithemius, because they claimed to be pure and the only Christians. The most abominable heresies of the Cathars were later embraced in the year 1216 by the Albigensians, who began to infect the county of Toulouse and very many cities of Gaul with their poison, and to rage like madmen. Acherius adds that this treatise was copied by D. Jacques Lannoy from a codex of a Cistercian monastery; Baluzius moreover notes that regarding Bonacursus one may consult the specimen of Labbeus's Antiquae Lectiones, page 206.
Concerning the sayings of the holy prophets, they say that some were revealed by the Spirit of God, and some by the evil spirit. Whence the Apostle: "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thess. 5). They condemn David on account of adultery and murder. They say Elijah was carried in a chariot by the devil. Regarding the angel sent by God to Zechariah, they assert it was an angel of the devil. They also condemn John himself, than whom none was greater in the Lord's time: Why? Because the Lord says in the Gospel: "He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matt. 11). And because he doubted about Christ, when he said: "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Luke 7.) They believe Mary, the mother of our Lord, was born...
Concerning Christ they say that he did not have a living body, did not eat, nor drink, nor did he do anything as a man, but only appeared to do so. They say the right-hand thief is in hell. They do not believe that Christ's body rose again, nor that it was taken up into heaven, nor in the resurrection of the flesh, nor that Christ descended into hell. They do not believe the Son is equal to the Father, because he said: "The Father is greater than I" (John 14). They say the cross is the mark of the beast, which is read of in the Apocalypse, and the abomination standing in the holy place.
They say Blessed Sylvester was the Antichrist, of whom it is read in the Epistles: he is "the son of perdition" who "exalts himself above all that is called God" (2 Thess. 2). And they say the Church was lost at that time. They believe no one can be saved in marriage.
Moreover they condemn all the Doctors of the Church; namely Ambrose, Gregory, Augustine, Jerome — they condemn all universally. If anyone eats meat, or eggs, or cheese, or anything of animal nature, he eats damnation to himself. They in no way believe the Holy Spirit can be received through the baptism of water; nor do they believe any visible substance can in any way be converted into the body of Christ. They also believe that everyone who swears is damned, and they believe no one can be saved except through their own imposition of hands, which they call baptism and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.
They believe heaven itself to be the sun; they say the moon is the Church, and they say that every month they fornicate, as with some harlot. They believe all the stars are demons. Finally they say that without them no one can be saved. Behold, such is the heresy of the Cathars, from which may God turn away the universality of Catholics. Amen.
AGAINST THE HERETICS WHO ARE CALLED CATHARS.
Christ the Son of God, our Lord and Redeemer, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God, foreknowing the error to come, fortified his disciples in this way: "See," he said, "that no one leads you astray; for many will come in my name, saying: I am the Christ, and will lead many astray" (Matt. 24). And after a few words he adds: "And many false prophets will arise, and will lead many astray. And because iniquity will abound, the charity of many will grow cold" (ibid.) And again: "There will arise," he said, "false christs and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead into error, if it be possible, even the elect" (ibid.).
Peter the apostle also in Epistle II: "There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be lying teachers among us, who will introduce sects of perdition, and deny the God who redeemed them; bringing upon themselves sects of perdition — bold, self-pleasing, who make sects blaspheming. These indeed are like irrational beasts. Naturally given to capture and destruction, blaspheming in things they are ignorant of, they will perish in their corruption" (2 Peter 2). Paul also in his Epistle to Timothy: "The Spirit," he says, "clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith, attending to spirits of error, and to the doctrines of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy, etc." (1 Tim. 4).
And who is of such small understanding that he does not most clearly perceive that this is the time of which the aforesaid prophecies speak? Do we not already see cities, suburbs, villages and castles full of such false prophets? Who, trampling the seed of the word with their feet, do not cease to sow the tares of their error, and strive with excessive importunity to corrupt the spouse of Christ, namely the holy Church, with pestilential poison.
Therefore let us arise more swiftly and delay no longer, but having quickly seized the sword of the spirit, let us confront them and manfully resist, and let us most clearly demonstrate by the testimony of Sacred Scripture how pestilential their doctrine is. Let us go up against them and set ourselves as a wall for the house of Israel against the enemies of the cross of Christ, lest, subject to the prophetic curse, we hear: "Cursed is he who withholds his sword from blood" (Jer. 48). Let us take up arms and shield, and rise up in aid of the Lord. Let us strike with the sword and fight against those who persecute and strive to scatter the Lord's sheep, trusting in the help of him who said: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to resist and contradict" (Luke 21).
Let us cast down these seducers, whom we see some confirming their errors by a perverse understanding of the testimony of Scriptures, and others of corrupt sense inventing more by the instigation of demons than supporting by the authority of Scriptures. What therefore they strive to assert by the testimony of Scripture, let us utterly destroy by the same testimony. But what they seem to put forth as delusions, let us trample underfoot as being unworthy of a response.
CHAPTER I. That all things, both visible and invisible, were created by Almighty God.
John chapter 1: "All things were made through him, and without him was made nothing." Likewise: "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world knew him not" (ibid.). Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 1: "For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; whether thrones, or dominations, or powers, or principalities, all things were created through him and in him."
To the Hebrews, chapter 1: "And you in the beginning, O Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they shall perish, but you shall endure forever." Likewise chapter 3: "Every house is built by someone; but he who created all things is God." In the Acts of the Apostles: "But you, O Lord, made heaven and earth, the sea and all things that are in them; grant to your servants to speak your word with confidence" (Acts 4). Likewise: "What house will you build for me; or what is the place of my rest? Has not my hand made all these things?" (Acts 7.) Likewise chapter 17: "Paul: I proclaim to you the God who made this world, and all things that are in it; in whom we live and move and exist."
In the Apocalypse: "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, because you created all things, and by your will they existed, and were created" (Apoc. 4). Likewise: "Fear the Lord and give him honor, because the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, and all things that are in them, and the springs of waters" (Apoc. 14).
CHAPTER II. That Almighty God created Adam and Eve, and all the human race.
Matthew chapter 19: "He who made them from the beginning, made them male and female. And he said: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife," etc. Mark chapter 10: "From the beginning of creation God made them male and female." Luke chapter 3: "And Jesus himself was beginning to be about thirty years old, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, who was of Eli," up to, "who was of Adam, who was of God." Likewise chapter 11: "Fools, did not he who made what is on the outside, also make what is within?"
Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians chapter 1: "But when it pleased him who set me apart from my mother's womb," etc. Matthew chapter 5: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and the evil, and rains on the just and the unjust." In the Acts of the Apostles chapter 14: "And indeed he did not leave us without testimony, doing good, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."
CHAPTER III. On the law of Moses the servant of God, that it was given by Almighty God.
Matthew chapter 5: "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." Likewise: "All things whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise. For this is the law and the prophets" (Matt. 7). Likewise chapter 19: "And behold, one came to him and said: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have eternal life? Who said to him: Why do you ask me about what is good? One is good, God: if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him: Which? And Jesus said to him: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; nor bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Luke chapter 2: "And after the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord." Likewise chapter 16: "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe if one rises from the dead." Paul in his Epistle to the Romans chapter 7: "The law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good." In his Epistle to the Galatians chapter 3: "Why then the law? It was established on account of transgressions." Likewise the following: "And the law was our tutor in Christ" (ibid.).
CHAPTER IV. That John the Baptist, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses are chosen and friends of God.
Luke chapter 1: "The Angel of the Lord said: Do not fear, Zechariah; for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and he shall be your joy and exultation, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great before the Lord; he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he shall convert many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah," etc.
In Matthew the Lord said to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before your face, who shall prepare your way before you. Amen I say to you, there has not arisen among those born of women one greater than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he" (Matt. 11). Likewise Luke chapter 13: "When you shall see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves cast out. And they shall come from the East and the West, from the North and the South, and shall recline in the kingdom of God. Behold, the last shall be first, and the first shall be last."
In the Acts of the Apostles chapter 3: "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus." And below: "You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God established with our fathers, saying to Abraham: In your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (ibid.). In the Apocalypse chapter 15: "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast, and its image, and the number of its name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps, and singing the canticle of Moses the servant of God, and the canticle of the Lamb, saying: Great and wonderful are your works, O Lord God Almighty."
CHAPTER V. That marriage was instituted by God, and that we can be saved in it.
Matthew chapter 5, it is said: "Whoever puts away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce; but I say to you, that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who has been put away, is an adulterer." Likewise chapter 19: The Pharisees came to him, testing him and saying: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause? He answering said: "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning, made them male and female? And he said: For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be in one flesh. Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined, let not man put asunder." They said to him: Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put away? He said to them: "Because Moses, on account of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, that whoever puts away his wife, unless for the cause of fornication, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a woman put away," etc.
Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 7: "Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman; but because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render the debt to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have power over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband does not have power over his own body, but the wife. Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer, and return again together, lest Satan tempt you because of your incontinence." Likewise: "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you take a wife, you have not sinned. He who gives his virgin in marriage does well; and he who does not give her, does better. A wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of her husband; let her marry whom she will, only in the Lord; but she will be more blessed if she remains so, according to my counsel. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 7).
To Timothy chapter 5: "I wish younger women to marry, bear children, be mothers of families, give no occasion to the adversary for the sake of reproach" (1 Tim. 5).
CHAPTER VI. That the Son of God assumed true flesh, in which he slept, ate and drank, even after the resurrection.
Matthew chapter 1: "Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ." Likewise chapter 8: "But he was sleeping, and they came and woke him." Likewise chapter 11: "The Son of Man came eating and drinking." Luke chapter 24: "Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. But while they still did not believe and marveled for joy, he said: Have you here anything to eat? And they offered him a piece of broiled fish, and a honeycomb. And when he had eaten before them, he took the remains and gave to them." John chapter 1: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
In the First Epistle of John chapter 4: "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is from God; and every spirit that dissolves Jesus, is not from God, and this is the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he comes, and is now already in the world." In the Apocalypse chapter 1: "Who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood."
CHAPTER VII. That the bread which is placed on the altar, and the wine, are converted after the sanctification into the body and blood of the Lord, and that no one, unless he has eaten, shall be saved.
Matthew chapter 26: "As the disciples were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said: Take and eat, this is my body. And taking the cup, he gave thanks, and gave it to them saying: Drink of this, all of you, for this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto the remission of sins."
Behold you have it, O heretic, that bread and wine after the blessing are converted into the body and blood of the Lord. For what before the blessing is called bread, after the blessing he clearly declares to be the body and blood; that whoever has not eaten will not have life, but whoever has eaten will obtain life. Whence the Lord in the Gospel according to John: "Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has life; and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him" (John 6).
The Apostle also in the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 10: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the Lord? And the bread which we break, is it not the participation of Christ?" And below chapter 11: "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks broke it, and said: Take and eat, this is my body which shall be delivered for you; do this in remembrance of me. Likewise also after he supped, saying: This is the cup of the new testament in my blood; do this in remembrance of me. As often as you shall drink," etc. up to: "He who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord."
CHAPTER VIII. On the resurrection of the dead on the last day.
Luke chapter 20: "The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are counted worthy of that age and of the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor take wives, nor can they die anymore; for they are equal to the angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. And that the dead rise, Moses also showed at the bush, as he said: the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob;" But God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. John chapter 6: "This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up on the last day: and this is the will of my Father who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day."
Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15: "If Christ is preached that he rose from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead, nor has he risen? But if Christ has not risen, our preaching is empty, and our faith is also empty." And many other things which the Apostle says about the resurrection in this chapter, up to: "Behold I tell you a mystery: we shall all indeed rise, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorrupt, and we shall be changed," etc.
CHAPTER IX. That meats, cheese, eggs and milk can be eaten without sin.
Matthew chapter 15: "Hear and understand now. What enters into the mouth does not defile a man; but what proceeds from the mouth, this defiles a man." Paul in his Epistle to the Romans chapter 14: "He who eats, let him not despise him who does not eat; and he who does not eat, let him not judge him who eats." Likewise: "I know and am confident in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is common of itself, except to him who considers anything to be common, to him it is common." Likewise: "All things indeed are clean, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense."
Paul in the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 10: "Whatever is sold in the market, eat, asking no questions for conscience's sake: the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." Likewise: "If any of the unbelievers invites you to supper, and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you." To the Colossians chapter 2: "Let no one judge you in food or in drink."
To Timothy chapter 4: "The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith, attending to spirits of error, and to the doctrines of demons speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, and by those who have known the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer." To Titus chapter 1: "All things are clean to the clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean, if their mind and conscience are in iniquity."
CHAPTER X. That to swear the truth when necessity demands, with greed removed, is not damnable.
Regarding what you say, O seared fool, that it is mortal to swear, because the Lord says, "do not swear at all, let your speech be yes, yes; no, no" (Matt. 5); we respond thus, that he said this not by commanding, but by exhorting and advising, nor did he then impose the necessity of a precept, but gave counsel; nor does he who swears the truth when compelled by necessity, with greed removed, do anything damnable.
And what is swearing, except to confirm with words the certainty of the mind for manifest utility? For the Lord himself swore, where he says: "Amen, amen I say to you" (John 1). And the Apostle where he says in his Epistle: "I call God as witness and my soul" (2 Cor. 1). And again: "God is my witness" (Rom. 1). Likewise in the Epistle to the Hebrews chapter 6: "For God, making a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, swore by himself, saying: Unless blessing I shall bless you, and multiplying I shall multiply you. And so, bearing patiently, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and an oath for confirmation is the end of all their controversy."
Likewise in the Apocalypse chapter 10: "And the Angel of the Lord, whom I saw standing above the sea and upon the earth, raised his hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there shall be time no longer." From these authorities therefore we can clearly gather that not to swear is a counsel, not a precept. Whence you are clearly proven to lie, O heretic, who assert that an oath is mortal sin; because just as everything that is determined in part, inflicts death when not fulfilled; so those things which are counseled rather than commanded, benefit when done, and do not harm when not done.
AGAINST THE HERETICS WHO ARE CALLED PASAGIANS.
What their error is, who are called Pasagians, and how abominable their faith and doctrine is, is now apparent not to a few, but to very many. But because there are some to whose notice it has not yet come, both for the caution and salvation of these, and for the confusion and shame of those, I am not reluctant to write what I think of them, so that the more their madness is known, the more it may be despised and trampled by all. For just as good things should be known so that they may be practiced, so also it is fitting to know evil things so that they may be utterly avoided.
Attend therefore, you who do not know, how perverse their faith and doctrine is. For first of all they say that the Mosaic law must be observed literally, and that the Sabbath and circumcision and other legal observances should still remain in force. They also say that Christ the Son of God is not equal to the Father, and that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, these three persons, are not one God and one substance. Furthermore, to the increase of their error, they judge and condemn all the doctors of the Church, and universally the entire Roman Church. But since they strive to assert this error of theirs by the testimony of the New Testament and the prophets, let us, with the supporting grace of Christ, suffocate them with their own sword, as David did Goliath.
Chapter I. That the Mosaic law is to be observed spiritually.
In Matthew: "All things whatsoever you wish that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise; for this is the law and the prophets" (Matt. 7). Likewise Luke chapter 16: "For all the law and the prophets were until John, through faith without the works of the law." Likewise to the Romans chapter 6: "For you are not under the law, but under grace." Likewise the following chapter: "Do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who is under a husband, while the husband lives, is bound to the law; but if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of the husband, so that she is not an adulteress if she is with another man. Therefore while the husband lives she will be called an adulteress if she is with another man. And so, my brethren, you also have been made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may belong to another, who rose from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were through the law were at work in our members, that we might bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law of death, in which we were held, so that we serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" (Rom. 7).
Likewise chapter 10: "For being ignorant of the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to the justice of God; for Christ is the end of the law unto justice for every one that believes." And below: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Rom. 13). Paul in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 5: "The old things have passed away, and behold all things are made new." In the same Epistle chapter 3: "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life."
Likewise to the Galatians chapter 3: "What then was the law? It was established on account of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made," etc. And below: "And so the law was our tutor in Christ, that we might be justified by faith; but when faith came, we are no longer under a tutor" (ibid.). Likewise chapter 5: "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And below: "If you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law" (ibid.).
In the First Epistle to Timothy chapter 1: "But we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for the just, but for the unjust and the disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners," etc. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 7: "There is indeed a setting aside of the former commandment, because of its weakness and uselessness." Likewise chapter 8: "Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will consummate upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt; but in saying a new one, he has made the former old; and what grows old and ages, is near to destruction." Likewise chapter 7: "For when the priesthood mentioned above is changed, it is necessary that a change of the law also be made."
On the cessation of the Sabbath, that it is not to be observed literally.
John chapter 5: "They said to the man who had been healed: It is the Sabbath, it is not lawful for you to take up your bed. He answered them: He who made me well, he said to me: Take up your bed and walk." Likewise: "The Jews therefore persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them: My Father works until now; therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his Father, making himself equal to God" (ibid.).
Paul to the Colossians chapter 2: "Let no one judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or new moon, or of Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Isidore: "If it is a crime not to observe the rest of the Sabbath, why did Joshua, the disciple and successor of Moses, at the Lord's command, lead out the army and arms for seven continuous days, among which certainly was the Sabbath, and when the ark went around and the trumpets sounded, overthrew the walls of Jericho?"
What then shall I say again about the Maccabees, about whom it is written: "And the Jews were unwilling to defend themselves against foreigners on the day of the Sabbath, but afterwards, having taken counsel, they fought on the Sabbath day, and triumphed over their enemies." By every testimony we are taught that this elementary Sabbath day does not pertain to the faith, but another special one does. For this carnal Sabbath was not given for the sake of purification, but for the sake of testing, the Lord saying: "That I may test them, whether they walk in my ways or not; for six days you shall gather manna, on the seventh you shall not gather" (Exod. 16). And so he says, that I may test them, so that it may appear that the precept was not given for justification, but for testing.
Hence it is that he speaks through the prophet Ezekiel, saying: "I gave them precepts that were not good" (Ezek. 20), that is, which when observed carnally do not save those who observe them. Certainly some things were permitted to a carnal people to be done carnally, which however ceased when the Gospel came, as he says through the prophet: "I will cause all her joy and her Sabbaths to cease" (Hosea 2).
But it is asked: If, they say, the Sabbath is not to be kept, why was it said in the commandments of the Lord: "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day; for six days you shall labor, and do all your works; but on the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, you shall do no work in it" (Exod. 20). For in the work of six days they signified six thousand years. For a thousand years are compared before God to the space of one day, as the Prophet testifies: "For a thousand years before your eyes are as one day" (Psalm 89). The Sabbath of these days is the time of the seventh thousandth year, and the rest of the coming kingdom and age; where there will be no more work of things, but only the rest of the saints.
There is indeed another Sabbath, of which it is said through Isaiah: "And there shall be month after month a Sabbath" (Isa. 66). Month after month, that is, from the perfection of good works comes the perfect joy of eternal life. And there shall be Sabbath after Sabbath, because he who here ceases from perverse work, shall there rest in heavenly recompense. But again it is asked, why Jeremiah said: "Guard your souls, and do not carry burdens on the Sabbath day" (Jer. 17). Hear therefore the mystery of the same prophecy. He carries burdens on the Sabbath, who believing in Christ does not cease from sin; for he himself is the rest of souls, as he himself says: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11). Yet a third time it is asked, why that man who was gathering wood on the Sabbath day was savagely slain by the people at God's command. Let them understand therefore that all these things happened to them in figure, for they are written for our correction. For that ancient and carnal man who says the Sabbath is violated whenever someone gathers wood, on account of which punishment he suffered, represents the figure of one who, when found in carnal work on the day of judgment, must be driven out by all the angels, and immediately punished with the final death. So therefore whatever befell those Jews through the law is to be understood figuratively.
On circumcision, that it is to be observed spiritually, not literally.
Paul in his Epistle to the Romans chapter 2: "For it is not he who is outwardly a Jew; nor is that circumcision which is outward, in the flesh; but he who is inwardly a Jew; and circumcision of the flesh is in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God." Likewise Galatians chapter 5: "Behold, I Paul say to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing." In his Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 2: "You are circumcised with a circumcision not made by hand, in the stripping off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ."
The reason why circumcision was given to Abraham, and for what signification.
Isidore: Receive now the first cause of circumcision. For since Christ was to be born according to the flesh, in whom the blessing of all nations had been promised, and from Abraham to Christ many ages were to pass: God, foreseeing that the race of Abraham might be mixed with other nations, and gradually his lineage might become uncertain, marked the Jewish people with the sign of circumcision, so that it might be distinguished among the Egyptians, Assyrians, among the Babylonians and Chaldeans, by this seal from these and other nations. Finally, for forty years in the desert no one was circumcised, for there they lived without mixture with others; but when the Israelite people crossed the bed of the Jordan, and arrived in the promised land, the sign of circumcision foresaw the error that would come from mingling with the nations.
Which we believe should reasonably be kept until Christ should be born, who had been promised from the seed of Abraham, who would cleanse the hearts of all nations not through circumcision of the flesh, but through the cutting away of vices. Whence Moses says: "In the last days he will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed" (Deut. 30). And the Lord announced through Isaiah, saying: "Do not remember former things, and do not look upon the ancient things; behold I will do new things which shall now spring forth, and you shall know them" (Isa. 43). And rightly circumcision was performed with stone knives, for the second is the rock, which is Christ, through whom believers are cleansed by spiritual circumcision from all the enticements of vices.
Chapter II. That Christ is God, equal to the Father and consubstantial.
John chapter 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Likewise chapter 5: "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Christ, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his Father, making himself equal to God." Likewise chapter 14: "Philip said to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you have not known me? Philip, he who sees me, sees also my Father. How can you say: Show us the Father? The Father is in me." And below: "All things whatsoever the Father has, are mine" (chapter 16).
Likewise chapter 20: "Thomas answered and said: My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me and believed, blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed." Likewise in the last chapter 21, Peter said to him: "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you." In the Apocalypse chapter 1: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." And below: "I am the first and the last; and I was dead, and behold I am living forever and ever" (ibid.).
CHAPTER III. That Christ is begotten, and that he is one and the same with the Father.
Isidore: "With you is the principality in the day of your strength, from the womb before the daystar I begot you" (Psalm 109). From the womb, that is, from that intimate and incomprehensible substance of the Father. And again: "My heart has uttered a good word" (Psalm 44). And elsewhere: "You are my son, this day I have begotten you" (Psalm 2). Whom kings obey, and nations serve, and the kings of the earth shall worship, "All nations shall serve him" (Psalm 71).
Looking upon this Son of God in Daniel, that impious king said: "Behold I see four men loosed and walking in the midst of the fire, and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Dan. 3). If it is objected that in Daniel the Son of God is also called an Angel above, I agree; for Christ the Son of God is also called an Angel. For as the prophet says of him: "The ruler whom you seek shall come to his holy temple, and the Angel of the Covenant, whom you desire" (Mal. 3). Christ, in that he was begotten by the Father, is called the Son of God; in that he is read to have been sent by the Father to announce to the fathers, he is proclaimed an Angel.
"The voice of the Lord rendering retribution to his enemies" (Isa. 66), that is, to the Jews who do not believe. "Before she was in labor, she brought forth; and before her time came, she brought forth a male child" (ibid.). As if to say openly: Before the Virgin brought forth Christ in the flesh, she bore the Son in his divinity, as it is written of him: "His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5). And again: "His name endures before the sun, and before the moon and stars" (Psalm 71).
Which the Son of God himself, the Word, the power and wisdom, confirms concerning his birth, saying: "The depths did not yet exist, and I was already conceived; the springs of waters had not yet burst forth, nor had the mountains been established with their heavy mass; before the hills I was brought forth, he had not yet made the earth, and the rivers, and the poles of the world. When he was preparing the heavens, I was there; when with sure law and a circle he enclosed the depths, when he was hanging the foundations of the earth, I was with him arranging all things" (Prov. 8). Finally this is asked, how he is the same who was begotten, when the secrets of his sacred birth neither the Apostle tells, nor the prophet discovered, nor the angel knew, nor any creature recognized, as Isaiah testifies, who says: "Who shall declare his generation?" (Isa. 53.) Therefore if his birth could not be told by the prophet, who professes to know when the Son could have been begotten by the Father?
Hence also that passage in the book of Job: "Where will you find the wisdom of God the Father? For it is hidden from the eyes of men, and concealed from the birds of heaven" (Job 28), that is, unknown even to the angels themselves. For Christ so shone forth from the Father, as radiance from light, as a word from the mouth, as wisdom from the heart.
Likewise that Christ is God, Isaiah declares, showing both persons to be one God. "You are," he says, "God, and in you is God" (Isa. 45). In that he says, "You are God," he shows the Father; in that he added, "In you is God," he declares the Son. But to show that the same Father and Son are one God, he added: "There is no God apart from you. Truly you are a hidden God, the God of Israel" (ibid.).
In another place also the same Isaiah, comprehending the whole Trinity in the number of the fingers, thus proclaims saying: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers?" (Isa. 40.) Indeed in the three fingers the prophet declared the threefold person of divine omnipotence, and the unity which is one and the same in the Trinity, in three fingers.
Likewise that Christ is God, Jeremiah shows in the book of Baruch, where he says: "This," he says, "is our God, and there is no other beside him; he found every way of knowledge, and showed it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved; afterwards he was seen on earth, and conversed with men" (Bar. 3). But hence they do not think Christ is God, because they heard on Mount Sinai the voice of the Lord thundering: "Hear," he says, "O Israel, the Lord your God is one God" (Deut. 6). And again: "I am God, and there is no other beside me" (Deut. 32). And that: "I am the Lord God, and I do not change; I will not give my glory to another" (Mal. 3).
While therefore the faithless and those blinded by error read these things, they do not believe Christ to be God. Let them therefore recognize that these things were proclaimed to them at that time, lest perhaps, departing from the unity of the faith, they might pass over to many false gods, and worship the idols of the pagans; which indeed they did.
CHAPTER IV. That the Holy Spirit is God, and that the same Spirit with the Father and the Son is one substance; and he is one Almighty God, not three gods.
In the Gospel of John chapter 4: "God is Spirit." Job 33: "The Spirit of the Lord made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life. Behold, God made me just as he made you." In the second book of Kings: "David the son of Jesse said: The man said to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob, the excellent Psalmist of Israel: The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, and his word through my tongue" (2 Kings 23).
But who he was, he added: "The God of Israel spoke to me, the strong one of Israel, the just ruler of all" (ibid.). For in saying the Christ of the God of Jacob, he showed both the Son and the Father. Likewise in saying the Spirit of the Lord spoke through me, he clearly revealed the Holy Spirit also. Likewise in the Psalms: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of his mouth all their power" (Psalm 32). In the person of the Lord we receive the Father, in the Word we believe the Son, in the breath of his mouth we understand the Holy Spirit.
In Genesis also an equal signification of the Trinity is expressed through the plurality of persons, where God says: "Let us make man in our image and likeness" (Gen. 1). Where nevertheless, to show the unity of the Godhead, he immediately added, saying: "And God created man in his image" (ibid.). In Isaiah also the Trinity is declared, the same Son saying: "And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit" (Isa. 48). Behold two persons, the Lord and his Spirit who send, and the third person of the same Lord who is sent.
In another place the same Isaiah, comprehending the whole Trinity in the number of the fingers, thus proclaims, saying: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and who has weighed the heavens with his palm? Who has suspended the mass of the earth with three fingers?" (Isa. 40.) Indeed in the three fingers the prophet declared the threefold equality of divine omnipotence balanced as it were on a scale of mystery, and the parity of power, the comparison and unity of might, which is one and the same in the Trinity, in three fingers.
Likewise John in his First Epistle chapter 5: "For it is the Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is truth, since there are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father and the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one."
CHAPTER V. What carrion is, and that certain things in the law were forbidden for eating by way of signification.
I think carrion is what the use of men has not admitted for food, because it is the dead flesh not of slaughtered but of dead animals, and is not suitable for the health of the body, for which reason we take nourishment. For regarding what was commanded to the ancients as a figure concerning the eating of blood, that is, that flesh should not be eaten with blood, but that they are ordered to eat the flesh after the blood has been poured out, blessed Augustine in book 12 against Faustus acknowledges that these things were prefigured, lest the former life, as if suffocated, be retained in the conscience, but rather that it should have an outpouring through confession.
In the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 15) this is read to have been commanded by the apostles, that the Gentiles should abstain only from fornication, and from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, that is, they should by no means eat flesh whose blood had not been poured out. Which others do not understand in this way, but that abstaining from blood was commanded lest anyone defile himself by murder; or perhaps at that time the apostles found some easy regulation, which the Gentiles along with the Israelites might commonly observe. But now that saying of Truth must be firmly held by all: "Not what enters the mouth defiles a man; but what proceeds from a man's mouth, this defiles a man" (Matt. 15).
Likewise Isidore: By those animals which neither chew the cud nor divide the hoof, unbelievers are figured, because they neither separate good from evil, nor chew the cud of God's precepts by meditating on them; by ravens are represented those who shed human blood; by hawks and kites, those who seize what belongs to others; by swans, the proud; by fish that lack scales and fins, those who lack the scales of virtues, and the fins of heavenly conduct: and therefore they cannot leap above the waters, that is, they cannot penetrate heavenly things.
AGAINST THE ARNALDISTS.
Because they say that the sacraments of the Church are to be avoided on account of the wickedness of the clergy, incline your ear and hear, open your eyes and see, cleanse your heart and understand. Just as Noah's ark contained both clean and unclean animals, so in the present Church no one should doubt that the wicked are mixed with the good. But if to the wicked, while they are tolerated or unknown, an ecclesiastical office has been committed, or perhaps a good man after receiving a benefice begins to become wicked, who are you to judge another's servant? He stands or falls before his own master; for the power of office which he received, he does not lose, so long as he has not been condemned by the judgment of the Church by his prelate.
Therefore receive the sacraments of the Church from him, if you receive them worthily — even though he has administered them unworthily — they will profit you, not him. Hear therefore the testimonies written on this very matter from the Old and New Testament, and from the writings of the holy doctors, namely the authorities of Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and the others, from the Old and New Testament.
In the first book of Kings, you will find that the priest Eli sinned gravely, in that he tolerated his delinquent sons. Likewise Saul "did evil in the eyes of the Lord" (1 Kings 15), and David was anointed as King by Samuel privately, and the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and was directed upon David; and yet David obeyed Saul as king, and regarded and sustained him as king, as long as Saul lived. In the second book of Kings, Uzzah stretched out his hand to the ark of God, and held it, and the Lord was wrathful with indignation against Uzzah, and struck him for his rashness, and he died there beside the ark.
Matthew chapter 7: "Do not judge, and you shall not be judged." Likewise chapter 13: "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will say to the reapers: Gather first the weeds, and bind them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." Likewise chapter 13: "So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Likewise chapter 23: "The Scribes and Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses: therefore all things whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do not do, for they say and do not."
Mark chapter 1: "Go, show yourself to the priests, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them." John chapter 11: "Caiaphas, since he was the high priest of that year, said to them: You know nothing at all, nor do you consider, that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish. This he did not say of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied."
Augustine: If the minister is just, I count him with Paul, who does not seek his own glory, saying: "I planted, Apollos watered, but the Lord gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3). But if the minister is proud, he is counted with Zabulon, but the gift of Christ is not contaminated, because a pure river passes through him, and comes to fertile ground. I also know that a stone cannot bear fruit from water, but water passes through stone channels to the garden beds. In the stone channel nothing is generated, but the garden bears much fruit; for there is a special power of the sacrament, so that pure light is received for those to be illuminated, but is not defiled through unclean passages.
Likewise in the book On the Body of the Lord: Within the Catholic Church in the mystery of the body and blood of the Lord, nothing greater is accomplished by a good priest, and nothing less by a bad one, because it is accomplished not by the merit of the one consecrating, but by the word of the Creator and the power of the Holy Spirit. For if it depended on the merit of the priest, it would in no way pertain to Christ. But now just as he himself is the one who baptizes, so he himself is the one who through the Holy Spirit makes this his flesh, and transfuses the blood; for it must be believed that the sacraments are confected in the words of Christ, and by whose command they were first created, by his power they are certainly recreated for the better.
Likewise in book 2 against the Letter of Parmenian: All sacraments, though they harm those who handle them unworthily, nevertheless benefit those who receive them worthily through such ministers, just as the word of the Lord does. Whence it was said: "What they say, do; but what they do, do not do." Gregory: The wickedness of a bishop does not harm either the baptism of an infant, or the consecration of the Church, because baptism is given by God, it does not come from man. So the Eucharist and whatever else is placed on the altar receive their sanctification not from man, but from God.
Augustine in the book On the Word of the Lord: Depart and go out from there, and do not touch the unclean thing — but with the touch of the heart, not of the body. For what is it to touch the unclean, except to consent to sin? To do what pertains to their correction, as much as is possible for each person's rank and station, while preserving peace? If it displeased you that someone sinned, you have not touched the unclean thing; you rebuked, you corrected, you admonished, you also applied, if the matter required it, fitting discipline that does not violate unity; you have gone out from there.
Moses cried out these things, Isaiah cried out, Jeremiah cried out, Ezekiel cried out. Let us see whether they abandoned the people of God and transferred themselves to other nations. How greatly and how vehemently Jeremiah rebuked sinners and the wicked! Yet he was one among them, and when he entered the temple, he celebrated the same sacraments, he lived in the same congregation of wicked men, but by crying out he went out from there. This therefore is what it means to go out from there, this is not to touch the unclean thing: not to consent to their will, and not to spare with the mouth.