Primo ponit laudandi modum quantum ad devotionem, quia clamabant ex magnitudine affectionis; quantum ad concordiam, quia uterque; et quantum ad ordinem, quia ad alterum: unus enim accipit ab alio, ut vult Dionysius, Job XXXVIII 4, 7 ubi eras, cum me laudarent simul astra matutina et jubilarent omnes filii Dei?
First, he sets out the manner of praising as to their devotion, for they cried from the greatness of their affection; as to their concord, for both cry out; and as to their order, for they cry out one to another: for one receives from the other, as Dionysius holds. Where were you . . . when the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody? (Job 38:4, 7).
219. Secundo ponit laudis canticum, ibi sanctus, sanctus, sanctus. Et tria laudant: personarum trinitatem: sanctus, sanctus, sanctus; unitatis majestatem: Dominus Deus exercituum, qui omnibus praeest, Apoc. IV 8 sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus omnipotens, qui est et qui erat et qui venturus est; provisionis liberalitatem: plena est omnis terra gloria ejus, quia usque ad ultimas creaturas, quae per terram intelliguntur, et extendit diffusionem suae bonitatis, Jer. XXIII 24 numquid non caelum et terram ego implebo, ait Dominus. Et hoc secundum Dionysium, VII cap. Caelestis hierarchiae. Hieronymus: plena est omnis terra, per notitiam fidei, Eccli. XLII 16–17 gloria Domini plenum est opus ejus. Nonne Dominus fecit sanctos enarrare omnia mirabilia sua, quae confirmavit Dominus omnipotens stabilis in gloria sua.
219. Second, he sets out their song of praise, where it says, holy, holy, holy. And they praise three things: the Trinity of persons: holy, holy, holy; the unity of majesty: the Lord God of hosts, who is before all things: holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, who was and who is and who is to come (Rev 4:8); the liberality of his providence: all the earth is full of his glory, for he also extends the diffusion of his goodness to the last creature, which is understood by the earth: do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? (Jer 23:24). And this is according to Dionysius in the Celestial Hierarchy 7.4. Jerome: all the earth is full, through the knowledge of faith. Sirach 42:16–17: full of the glory of the Lord is his work. Has not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord almighty has firmly settled to be established for his glory?
220. Tertio ibi et commota, ponit laudis effectum, scilicet punitionem peccantium, infra LXV 13–14 ecce servi mei comedent, et vos esurietis; ecce servi mei bibent, et vos sitietis; ecce servi mei laudabunt prae exultatione cordis, et vos clamabitis prae dolore cordis, et prae contritione spiritus ululabitis. Et significatur templum diruendum: commota sunt superliminaria cardinum, Amos IX 1 percute cardinem, et commoveantur superliminaria; et comburendum: et domus repleta est fumo combustionis a Romanis post agnitam fidem Christi. Vel per fumum, infidelitates Judaeorum; per commotionem cardinum, amotionem legalium vel caeremoniarum, quae erant quasi umbrae claudentes aditum veritatis.
220. Third, where it says, and the lintels, he sets out the effect of their praise, namely, the punishment of sinners, below: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: behold my servants shall drink, and you shall be thirsty . . . Behold my servants shall praise for joyfulness of heart, and you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for grief of spirit (Isa 65:13–14). And the destruction of the temple is signified: the lintels of the hinges were moved: strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook (Amos 9:1); and the burning of the temple: and the house was filled with smoke of burning by the Romans after the faith of Christ was known. Or by smoke the infidelity of the Jews is signified; by the movement of the hinges, the removal of their legal observances or ceremonies, which were like shadows enclosing the entrance to the truth.
221. Et dixi. Hic ponitur sententiae denuntiator.
221. And I said. Here the announcer of the sentence is set out.
Et primo ostenditur ejus humilitas;
And first, his humility is shown;
secundo ejus puritas: et volavit;
second, his purity: and one of the seraphim flew to me (Isa 6:6);
tertio auctoritas: et audivi.
third, his authority: and I heard (Isa 6:8).
Humilitas in confessione peccati. Confitetur autem triplex peccatum.
His humility shown in confession of sin. And he confesses a threefold sin.
Primum in locutione, omissionis: quia tacui, non arguendo Oziam regem, et sic deplangit culpam; tacui a laude Dei, et sic deplangit damnum, infra LVI 10 speculatores ejus caeci omnes, nescierunt universi, canes muti non valentes latrare, videntes vana, dormientes et amantes somnia, Eccli. XV 9 non est speciosa laus in ore peccatoris; commissionis: quia vir pollutus labiis, Eccli. XXIII 17 indisciplinatae loquelae ne assuescat os tuum, est enim in illa verbum peccati.
In his speech, sin of omission: woe is me, because I have held my peace, in not denouncing Ozias the king, and thus he laments the fault; I have held my peace, from praising God, and thus he laments the harm, below: his watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams (Isa 56:10). Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner (Sir 15:9); sin of commission: because I am a man of unclean lips: let not your mouth be accustomed to indiscreet speech: for therein is the word of sin (Sir 23:17[13]).
Secundo malorum conversationis: et in medio populi, I Cor. XV 33 corrumpunt enim bonos mores colloquia prava.
Second, the sin of association with wicked men: and I dwell in the midst of a people that has unclean lips: evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor 15:33).
Tertio peccatum praesumptionis: et regem Dominum exercituum, quasi dicat: qui impurus est non potest intrare templum ejus, quanto magis nec ipsum videre, Judicum XIV morte moriemur quia vidimus Dominum; et hoc fuit reverentiae. Sed Jacob dixit, Gen. XXXII 30 vidi Dominum facie ad faciem, et salva facta est anima mea; et hoc est confidentiae. Hieronymus: felix conscientia quae tantum in locutione peccavit, non suo vitio, sed populi polluta labia habentis.
Third, the sin of presumption: I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts, as if to say: he who is impure cannot enter the Lord’s temple; how much more can he not see the Lord himself? We shall certainly die, because we have seen God (Judg 13:22); and this was from reverence. But Jacob said: I have seen the Lord face to face, and my soul has been saved (Gen 32:30); and this is from confidence. Jerome: happy conscience which has sinned in speech, not by his own vice, but only of a people that has unclean lips.
222. Et volavit ad me. Hic ostenditur puritas ex peccatorum purgatione. Et circa hoc tria ponuntur.
222. And one of the seraphim flew to me. Here he shows his purity from the cleansing of his sins. And concerning this he sets out three things.
Purgationis minister: volavit ad me.
The minister of the cleansing: one of the seraphim flew to me.
Purgationis instrumentum: et in manu ejus calculus de altari holocaustorum. Altare interius erat de terra, sicut dicitur Exo. XX 24 altare de terra facietis mihi; circumquaque autem erat de lapidibus, ubi congregabantur ignes sacrificii: et de his accepit. Forcipe, instrumento habente duo brachia, per quod potest significari virtus receptiva, et per altare ipsa divina lux vel bonitas, et per calculum donum receptum ad officium purgationis. Vel per ignem tribulatio, per seraphim Christus, per forcipe duo testamenta, per calculum caritas quae in manu, id est operatione, ipsius est.
The instrument of cleansing: and in his hand was a live coal . . . off the altar of holocausts. The inner altar was made of earth as is said in Exodus 20:24: you shall make an altar of earth unto me; all around, however, was made of stone, where the fires of sacrifice were assembled; from these he took the coal. With the tongs, that is, with an instrument having two arms, by which receptive virtue may be signified, and by the altar, divine light itself or goodness, and by the coal, the gift received for the office of cleansing. Or by the fire tribulation may be signified; by the seraphim, Christ; by the tongs, the two testaments; by the coal, charity, which is in his hand, that is, his works.
Tertio purgandi modus: et tetigit os meum et dixit; sicut in sacramentis est actio et verborum forma; ecce tetigit exprimit actum; et auferetur iniquitas, in homines, peccatum, in Deum. Et non dicit “auferam,” quia solius Dei est peccatum dimittere, infra XLIII 25 ego sum, ego sum ipse qui deleo iniquitates tuas propter me, et peccatorum tuorum non recordabor. De omnibus his Dan. IX 21–22 ecce vir Gabriel, quem videbam in visione a principio, cito volans tetigit me in tempore sacrificii vespertini, et docuit me et locutus est mihi.
Third, the manner of cleansing: and he touched my mouth, and said, just as in the sacraments there is an action and a form of words; behold this has touched your lips, he expresses the act, and your iniquities, against men, shall be taken away, and your sin, against God. And he does not say, “I shall take away,” for to forgive sins belongs to God alone, below: I am he that blot out your iniquities for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins (Isa 43:25). Concerning all these things, Daniel 9:21–22 says: behold the man, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me at the time of the evening sacrifice. And he instructed me, and spoke to me.
223. Sed contra hoc objicitur quod Dionysius dicit, quod illi de superioribus ordinibus non mittuntur in ministerium; sed constat seraphim supremos esse: ergo non videtur verum quod veniant ad purgationem prophetae.
223. But against this it is objected that Dionysius says, that those who belong to the higher orders are not sent in service; but it is certain that the seraphim are the highest; therefore it does not seem true that they came to cleanse the prophet.
Ad quod dicendum quod Gregorius istam quaestionem tangit in quadam homilia de centum ovibus, et dimittit sub dubio. Dionysius autem expresse vult quod tantum inferiores mittantur ad nos, et hoc dicit esse per ordinem divinae legis ut inferiora reducantur per media. Quod autem hic dicitur dupliciter solvit: uno modo quod iste angelus purgans dicatur seraphim aequivoce, non ab ordine sed ab actu quem tunc exercuit: quia igne purgavit, et seraphin dicitur incendium; alio modo solvit quod seraphim dicatur proprie ille qui est de ordine illo, et dicitur purgare non quia ipse immediate purgat, sed quia ejus auctoritate vel percepta ab ipso illuminatione inferior angelus purgavit; et ponit exemplum: sicut dicitur episcopus absolvere quando alius auctoritate ipsius absolvit. Et ideo propter reverentiam angelus inferior, qui visionem formavit, reducit in Deum primo et in seraphim secundo, ac si diceret: ego purgo te per lumen receptum a Deo mediante seraphim. Septuaginta habent carbunculos, propter similitudinem ignis: habet enim colorem flammantem.
To which is to be said that Gregory touches on this question in a certain homily concerning the hundred sheep, and he leaves it in doubt. Dionysius, however, expressly holds that only the inferior orders are sent to us; and he says this is by the order of divine law that lower things are restored through the middle. But he explains what is said here in two ways. In one way, he says that this cleansing angel is called a seraph equivocally, not from his order, but from the act which he was then carrying out, because he cleansed with fire, and “seraph” means “fire”; in another way, he explains it saying that he is called a seraph properly because he is of this order, and he is said to cleanse, not because he himself immediately cleanses, but because by his authority, or by an illumination received from him, a lower angel cleansed; and he gives an example: it is just as a bishop is said to absolve when another absolves by his authority. And therefore because of reverence, the lower angel, who formed the vision, restores to God first, and to the seraph second, as if he were saying: “I cleanse you by light received from God, by the mediation of a seraph.” In verse 6, instead of live coal, the Septuagint has carbuncle, because of their similarity to fire, for they have a flaming color.
Lectio 2
Lecture 2
6:8 Et audivi vocem Domini dicentis: quem mittam? Et quis ibit nobis? Et dixi: ecce ego sum, mitte me.
6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: whom shall I send? And who shall go for us? And I said: lo, here am I, send me.
6:9 Et dixit: vade, et dices populo huic: audite audientes et nolite intelligere, et videte visionem et nolite cognoscere.
6:9 And he said: go, and you shall say to this people: hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
6:10 Excæca cor populi hujus et aures ejus aggrava et oculos ejus claude, ne forte videat oculis suis et auribus suis audiat et corde suo intelligat, et convertatur et sanem eum.
6:10 Blind the heart of this people, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.
6:11 Et dixi: usquequo Domine? Et dixit: donec desolentur civitates absque habitatore et domus sine homine, et terra relinquetur deserta,
6:11 And I said: how long, O Lord? And he said: until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land shall be left desolate.
6:12 et longe faciet Dominus homines, et multiplicabitur quæ derelicta fuerat in medio terræ,
6:12 And the Lord shall remove men far away, and she shall be multiplied that was left in the midst of the land.
6:13 et adhuc in ea decimatio, et convertetur, et erit in ostensionem sicut terebinthus et sicut quercus quæ expandit ramos suos. Semen sanctum erit id quod steterit in ea.
6:13 And there shall be still a tithing therein, and she shall turn, and shall be made a show as a turpentine tree, and as an oak that spreads its branches: that which shall stand therein, shall be a holy seed.
224. Et audivi vocem. Hic ostenditur ministri auctoritas ex iniunctione officii: et circa hoc tria facit.
224. And I heard the voice of the Lord. Here the authority of the minister is shown from his charge of office, and concerning this he does three things.
Primo quaeritur mittendi consensus, unde dicit quem mittam?, in quo notatur auctoritas ex parte mittentis, Ro. X 15 quomodo vero praedicabunt nisi mittantur?; et quis ibit?, missi voluntas, nobis, acquisitive, ut non quaerat vanum honorem et non quaerat lucrum; e converso, Phil. II 21 omnes enim quae sua sunt quaerunt, non quae Jesu Christi. Mittam, in quo notatur unitas essentiae, nobis, in quo pluralitas personarum.
First, the consent of the one to be sent is sought; hence he says, whom shall I send, in which the authority on the part of the sender is noted: and how shall they preach unless they be sent? (Rom 10:15). And who shall go? The will of the one who is sent, for us, acquisitively, that he may not seek vain honor and may not seek profit; conversely: for all seek the things that are their own not the things that are Jesus Christ’s (Phil 2:21). I send, in which the unity of essence is noted, for us, in which the plurality of persons is noted.
225. Secundo ponitur oblatum obsequium: et dixi: ecce ego, mitte me, infra L 5 ego autem non contradico, retrorsum non abii.
225. Second, the subservience offered by the prophet is set out: and I said: lo, here am I, send me, below: and I do not resist: I have not gone back (Isa 50:5).
Sed videtur quod hoc fuerit praesumptionis, quia Moyses recusavit, Exo. III 11 quis ego sum ut vadam ad Pharaonem, et educam filios Israel ex Aegypto?, Jer. I 6 et dixi: a, a, a, Domine Deus, ecce nescio loqui quia puer ego sum.
But it seems that this would be presumptuous, because Moses declined his office: who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exod 3:11); and I said: ah, ah, ah, Lord God: behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child (Jer 1:6).
Et dicendum quod, sicut dicit Gregorius in Pastorali, et ponitur in principio Jeremiae in Glossa, utrumque fuit ex radice caritatis: ille enim propter dilectionem Dei noluit perdere solatium contemplationis, iste propter dilectionem proximi voluit mitti ut prodesset; et tamen nec ille jussus pertinaciter recusavit, nec iste prius quam purgatus aut requisitus esset se obtulit.
And to this is to be said, as Gregory says in his Book of Pastoral Rule (and in the Gloss at the beginning of Jeremiah): each arose from the root of charity: for the one [Jeremiah] for the love of God did not wish to lose the solace of contemplation; the other [Isaiah] for the love of neighbor wished to be sent that he might be useful; and nevertheless, the one did not decline the command pertinaciously, nor did the other offer himself until he was cleansed and sought for.
226. Tertio injungitur officium; quantum ad duplicatum actum praedicit discurrere: et dixit: vade, Matth. X 16 ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum; et dices populo huic, Jer. XV 19 si separaveris pretiosum a vili, quasi os meum eris.
226. Third, the office is enjoined on him; as to the double act he foretells to discuss: and he said: go: behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt 10:16); and you shall say to this people: and you will separate the precious from the vile, you shall be as my mouth (Jer 15:19).
227. Audite audientes. Hic ponitur sententia.
227. Hearing, hear. Here the sentence is set out.
Et primo ponitur sententia obdurationis; non obdurat autem immittendo malitiam sed non impartiendo gratiam, et hoc quia non se volunt ad gratiam convertere.
And first, the sentence of hardness of heart is set out; he does not, however, harden hearts by sending malice into them, but by not imparting grace, and this is because they do not wish to be converted to grace.
Secundo quaeritur sententiae duratio, ibi et dixi.
Second, the length of the sentence is sought, where it says, and I said: how long, O Lord? (Isa 6:11).
Circa primum tria facit.
Concerning the first, he does three things.
Primo ponitur sententiae pronuntiatio a Domino quantum ad duos sensus disciplinales: scilicet auditum qui deservit disciplinae, unde dicit audite, auribus exterioribus, audientes Christum vel alium praedicantem, et nolite intelligere; quasi: quia non vultis, non intelligitis. Permissivum est. Et quantum ad visum qui servit inventioni: et videte visionem, Christum corporaliter, vel magnalia Dei; et nolite cognoscere, permissivum est et non imperativum, infra XLII 19 quis caecus nisi servus meus?
First, the pronouncement of the sentence by the Lord is set out, as to the two senses that produce knowledge: namely hearing, which serves instruction; hence he says hear, with the outer ears, hearing, Christ, or another who preaches, and understand not, as if to say: because you do not wish it, you do not understand. This is permissive. And as to sight, which serves discovery: and see the vision, Christ, corporeally, or the mighty works of God; and know it not; this is permissive and not imperative, below: who is blind, but my servant? (Isa 42:19).