§10Nec est pro dolor iusta aliqua et grauis causa quae tantum facinus excuset.
And there is not, alas, any just and grave cause which may excuse so great a crime.
relinquenda erat patria et patrimonii facienda iactura.
One's country was to be left behind, and the sacrifice of patrimony was to be made.
cui enim non nascenti adque morienti relinquenda quandoque patria et patrimonii sui facienda iactura est? Christus non relinquatur, salutis ac sedis aeternae iactura timeatur.
For to whom, being born and dying, must not his country at some time be left behind, and the loss of his patrimony be made? Let Christ not be left behind; let the loss of salvation and of the eternal dwelling-place be feared.
clamat ecce per prophetam Spiritus sanctus: discedite, discedite, exite inde et inmundum nolite tangere: exitede medio eius, separamini qui fertis uasa Domini. et qui uasa sunt Domini ac templum Dei ne inmundum tangere et feralibus cibis pollui uiolarique cogantur, non exeunt de medio nec recedunt? alibi quoque uox auditur e caelo praemonens quid Dei seruos facere oporteret et dicens: exi de ea, populus meus, ne particeps sis delictorum eius et ne perstringaris plagis eius. qui exit et cedit delicti particeps non fit, plagis uero et ipse perstringitur qui socius criminis inuenitur.
Behold, the Holy Spirit cries out through the prophet: 'Depart, depart, go out from thence, and touch not the unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be separate, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.' And do they, who are the vessels of the Lord and the temple of God, not go out from the midst nor depart, lest they be forced to touch the unclean and to be polluted and violated by deadly foods? Elsewhere also a voice is heard from heaven, forewarning what it behoved the servants of God to do, and saying: 'Go out from her, my people, lest you be partaker of her sins, and lest you be stricken with her plagues.' He who goes out and withdraws does not become a partaker of the sin, but he indeed is stricken with the plagues who is found a companion in the crime.
et ideo Dominus in persecutione secedere et fugere mandauit adque ut id fieret et docuit et fecit.
And therefore the Lord commanded to withdraw and flee in persecution, and both taught that this should be done, and did it Himself.
nam cum corona de Dei dignatione descendat nec possit accipi nisi fuerit hora sumendi, quisque in Christo manens interim cedit non fidem denegat sed tempus expectat: qui autem cum non secederet cecidit, negaturus remansit.
For since the crown descends from God's condescension, and cannot be received unless it be the hour of receiving, whoever remaining in Christ withdraws for the time does not deny the faith, but waits for the time. But he who, when he did not withdraw, fell, remained behind to deny.
§11Dissimulanda, fratres, ueritas non est nec uulneris nostri materia et causa reticenda.
¦15 The truth, brethren, must not be disguised, nor must the matter and cause of our wound be kept silent.
decepit multos patrimonii sui amor caecus, nec ad recedendum parati aut expediti esse potuerunt quos facultates suae uelut conpedes ligauerunt.
A blind love of their patrimony deceived many, nor could they be prepared or unencumbered for departing, whom their riches bound like fetters.
illa fuerunt remanentibus uincula, illae catenae quibus et uirtus retardata est et fides pressa et mens uincta et anima praeclusa, ut serpenti terram secundum Dei sententiam deuoranti praeda et cibus fierent qui terrestribus inhaererent.
Those were the bonds to them who remained, those the chains by which both virtue was retarded, and faith oppressed, and the mind bound, and the soul shut out, so that they who clung to earthly things became prey and food to the serpent that devours the earth according to God's sentence.
et idcirco Dominus bonorum magister et praemonens in futurum, si uis, inquit, perfectus esse, uende omnia tua et da pauperibus et habebis thesaurum in caelis: et ueni, sequere me. si hoc diuites facerent, per diuitias non perirent, thesaurum in caelo reponentes hostem nunc et expugnatorem domesticum non haberent: esset in caelo cor et animus et sensus, si thesaurus esset in caelo, nec uinci a saeculo posset qui unde uinceretur in saeculo non haberet.
And therefore the Lord, the teacher of good things and forewarning for the future, said: 'If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' If rich men did this, they would not perish through riches; storing up treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy and a domestic conqueror. The heart and mind and sense would be in heaven, if the treasure were in heaven; nor could he be conquered by the world, who had nothing in the world whereby he might be conquered.
sequeretur Dominum solutus et liber, ut apostoli et sub apostolis multi et nonnulli saepe fecerunt qui et rebus suis et parentibus derelictis indiuiduis Christi nexibus adhaeserunt.
He would follow the Lord untied and free, as the apostles, and under the apostles many, and some often have done, who, abandoning both their possessions and their parents, clung to Christ with indivisible bonds.
§12Sequi autem Christum quomodo possunt qui patrimonii uinculo detinentur? aut quomodo caelum petunt et ad sublimia et alta conscendunt qui terrenis cupiditatibus degrauantur? possidere se credunt qui potius possidentur, census sui serui nec ad pecuniam domini sed magis pecuniae mancipati.
But how can they follow Christ, who are held back by the chain of their patrimony? Or how do they seek heaven, and ascend to sublime and high things, who are weighed down by earthly desires? They believe they possess, who rather are possessed; slaves of their own wealth, not lords over their money, but rather enslaved to their money.
hoc tempus, hos homines apostolus denotat dicens: qui autem uolunt diuites fieri incidunt in temptationem et muscipula et desideria multa et nocentia quae mergunt hominem in perditionem et in interitum. radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas quam quidam adpetentes errauerunt a fide et inseruerunt se doloribus multis. Dominus autem quibus nos praemiis ad contemptum rei familiaris inuitat? parua haec et exigua huius temporis damna quibus mercedibus pensat? nemo est, inquit, qui relinquat domum aut agrum aut parentes aut fratres aut uxorem aut filios propter regnum Dei et non recipiat septies tantum in isto tempore, in saeculo autem uenturo uitam aeternam. quibus cognitis et de Dei pollicentis ueritate conpertis non tantum timenda non est eiusmodi sed et optanda iactura est ipso denuo Domino praedicante et monente: beati eritis, cum persecuti uos fuerint et separauerint uos et expulerint et maledixerint nomini uestro ut nequam propter filium hominis.
This time, these men the apostle points out, saying: 'But those who want to become rich fall into temptation and a snare and many and harmful desires, which plunge a man into ruin and destruction.' 'For the root of all evils is cupidity, which some desiring have erred from the faith and entangled themselves with many sorrows.' But with what rewards does the Lord invite us to the contempt of family property? With what wages does He compensate these small and tiny losses of this time? 'There is no one,' He says, 'who leaves home or field or parents or brothers or wife or children for the sake of the kingdom of God, and does not receive seven times as much in this time, and in the world to come eternal life.' When these things are known and discovered concerning the truth of God promising, not only must a loss of this kind not be feared, but it is even to be desired, the Lord Himself again preaching and warning: 'Blessed shall you be, when they persecute you, and separate you, and cast you out, and curse your name as evil for the sake of the Son of Man.
gaudete in illa die et exultate: ecce enim merces uestra multa in caelis.
Rejoice in that day and exult: for behold, your reward is great in heaven.'