§pr#1Desiderasti, Fortunate carissime, ut quoniam pressurarum. et persecutionum pondus incumbit et in fine adque in consummatione mundi antichristi tempus infestum adpropinquare iam coepit, ad praeparandas et corroborandas fratrum mentes de diuinis scripturis hortamenta conponerem quibus milites Christi ad spiritale et caeleste certamen animarem.
have desired, dearest Fortunatus, that since the burden of oppressions and persecutions is looming, and in the end and consummation of the world the hostile time of the antichrist has already begun to approach, I should compose from the divine scriptures exhortations to prepare and strengthen the minds of the brethren, by which I might animate the soldiers of Christ for the spiritual and heavenly contest.
obtemperandum fuit desiderio tuo tam necessario, ut quantum sufficit mediocritas nostra auxilio diuinae inspirationis instructa quasi arma ac munimenta quaedam pugnaturis fratribus de praeceptis dominicis promerentur.
Your so necessary desire had to be complied with, so that, as far as our mediocrity, instructed by the help of divine inspiration, is sufficient, certain weapons and defenses, as it were, might be drawn from the Lord's precepts for the brethren who are about to fight.
parum est enim quod Dei plebem classico nostrae uocis erigimus, nisi credentium fidem et dicatam Deo deuotamque uirtutem diuina lectione firmemus.
For it is not enough that we arouse God's people with the trumpet-call of our voice, unless we strengthen the faith of believers and their dedicated and devoted virtue to God by divine reading.
Quid autem potius aut maiae curae nostrae ac sollicitudini congruit quam commissum nobis diuinitus populum et exercitum in castris caelestibus constitutum aduersus diaboli tela et iacula exhortationibus adsiduis praeparare? neque enim idoneus potest esse miles ad bellum qui non exercitatus in campo prius fuerit, aut qui agonisticam coronam quaerit adipisci in stadio coronabitur, nisi usum et peritiam uirium ante meditetur.
But what fits our care and solicitude more, or is of greater importance, than to prepare the people committed to us by divine authority and the army stationed in the heavenly camps against the weapons and darts of the devil with constant exhortations? For neither can a soldier be fit for war who has not first been trained in the field, nor will he who seeks to obtain the athletic crown be crowned in the stadium unless he beforehand meditates on the use and skill of his strength.
aduersarius uetus est et hostis antiquus cum quo proelium gerimus.
It is an old adversary and an ancient enemy with whom we wage war.
sex milia annorum iam paene conplentur, ex quo hominem diabolus inpugnat.
Almost six thousand years are now being completed since the devil began to attack man.
omnia genera temptandi et artes adque insidias deiciendi usu ipso uetustatis edidicit.
All kinds of tempting, and the arts and snares of casting down, he has learned through the very experience of antiquity.
si inparatum inuenerit Christi militem, si rudem, si non sollicito ac toto corde uigilantem, circumuenit nescium, fallit incautum, decipit inperitum.
If he finds the soldier of Christ unprepared, if untrained, if not watching with an anxious and whole heart, he circumvents the ignorant, deceives the incautious, beguiles the unskilful.
si uero quis dominica praecepta custodiens et fortiter Christo adhaerens contra eum steterit, uincatur necesse est, quia Christus quem confitemur inuictus est.
But if anyone, keeping the Lord's precepts and bravely adhering to Christ, stands against him, he must of necessity be conquered, because Christ, whom we confess, is unconquered.
Ac ne in longum sermonem meum extenderem, frater carissime, et audientem uel legentem stili latioris copia fatigarem, conpendium feci, ut propositis titulis quos quis et nosse debeat et tenere capitula dominica subnecterem et id quod proposueram diuinae lectionis auctoritate solidarem, ut non tam tractatum meum uidear tibi misisse quam materiam tractantibus praebuisse.
And lest I should extend my discourse to a great length, dearest brother, and weary the hearer or reader with the abundance of a more diffuse style, I have made a compendium, so that, having set forth the headings which everyone ought both to know and to hold, I might subjoin the Lord's chapters, and solidify that which I had proposed by the authority of divine reading, so that I may seem to have sent you not so much my own treatise as to have provided material for those who treat of it.
quae res in usum singulis proficit utilitate maiore.
This thing benefits individuals in use with greater utility.
nam si confectam et paratam iam uestem darem, uestis esset mea qua alius uteretur et forsitan non pro habitudine staturae et corporis res alteri facta minus congruens haberetur: nunc uero de agno per quem redempti ac uiuificati sumus lanam ipsam et purpuram misi, quam cum acceperis tunicam tibi pro uoluntate conficies et plus ut in domestica tua adque in propria ueste laetaberis et ceteris quoque, ut conficere et ipsi pro arbitrio suo possint, quod misimus exhibebis, ut uetere illa nuditate contecta perferant omnes indumenta Christi caelestis gratiae sanctificatione uestiti.
For if I were to give a garment already finished and prepared, it would be my garment which another would use, and perhaps, not according to the habit of stature and body, the thing made for another would be found less fitting. But now, we have sent the wool itself and the purple from the Lamb through whom we are redeemed and quickened, which, when you receive it, you will make into a tunic for yourself according to your will, and you will rejoice more as if in your domestic and own garment; and you will also exhibit what we have sent to the others, so that they too may make it according to their own judgment, so that, all of them being covered from that old nakedness, they may carry through the garments of Christ, clothed by the sanctification of heavenly grace.