§14Obterenda sunt, fratres dilectissimi, uitia et peccata carnalia et terreni corporis infesta labes spiritali uigore calcanda, ne dum iterum ad ueteris hominis conuersationem reuoluimur letalibus laqueis inplicemur, apostolo hoc idem prouidenter et salubriter praemonente.
We must crush, most beloved brethren, carnal vices and sins, and tread down the harmful stain of the earthly body with spiritual vigor, lest, while we are rolled back again to the way of life of the old man, we be entangled in deadly snares, as the apostle providently and wholesomely forewarns us of this very same thing.
itaque, inquit, fratres, non secundum carnem uiuamus.
"Therefore," he says, "brethren, let us not live according to the flesh.
si enim secundum carnem uiuitis, incipietis mori: si autem spiritu opera carnis mortificatis, uiuetis.
For if you live according to the flesh, you shall begin to die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.
quotquot enim spiritu Dei aguntur hi sunt filii Dei. si filii Dei sumus, si templa eius esse iam coepimus, si accepto Spiritu sancto sancte et spiritaliter uiuimus, si de terris oculos ad caelum sustulimus, si ad superna et diuina plenum Deo et Christo pectus ereximus, non nisi quae sunt Deo et Christo digna faciamus, sicut apostolus excitat et hortatur.
For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God." If we are the sons of God, if we have already begun to be His temples, if, having received the Holy Spirit, we live holily and spiritually, if we have lifted up our eyes from the earth to heaven, if we have raised our breast, full of God and Christ, to heavenly and divine things, let us do nothing except what is worthy of God and Christ, even as the apostle rouses and exhorts us.
si consurrexistis, inquit, Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est in dextera Dei sedens: quae sursum sunt sapite, non quae terrena sunt.
"If you are risen," he says, "with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth.
mortui enim estis, et uita uestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo.
For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
cum Christus apparuerit uita uestra, tunc et uos apparebitis [cum eo] in gloria. qui ergo in baptismo secundum hominis antiqui peccata carnalia et mortui et sepulti sumus, qui regeneratione caelesti Christo consurreximus, quae sunt Christi et cogitemus pariter et geramus, sicut idem apostolus docet rursus et monet dicens: primus homo de terrae limo, secundus homo de caelo.
When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory." We, therefore, who in baptism died and were buried according to the carnal sins of the old man, and who by heavenly regeneration rose again with Christ, let us likewise think of and do the things that are of Christ, as the same apostle again teaches and warns, saying: "The first man was from the clay of the earth, the second man is from heaven.
qualis ille e limo, tales et qui de limo: et qualis caelestis, tales et caelestes.
Such as is the earthy, such also are they that are earthy; and such as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly.
quomodo portauimus imaginem eius qui de limo est, portemus et imaginem eius qui de caelo est. imaginem autem caelestem portare non possumus, nisi in eo quod esse nunc coepimus Christi similitudinem praebeamus.
As we have borne the image of him who is of the clay, let us bear also the image of him who is from heaven." But we cannot bear the heavenly image, unless we show the likeness of Christ in that which we have now begun to be.
§15Hoc est enim mutasse quod fueras et coepisse esse quod non eras, ut in te diuina natiuitas luceat, ut ad patrem Deum deifica disciplina respondeat, ut honore et laude uiuendi Deus in homine clarescat ipso exhortante et monente et eis qui se clarificant uicem mutuam pollicente.
For this is to have changed what you were, and to have begun to be what you were not, so that the divine birth may shine in you, so that the deifying discipline may correspond to God the Father, and so that, by the honor and praise of living, God may be glorified in man, as He Himself exhorts and warns, and promises a mutual return to those who glorify Him.
eos, inquit, qui clarificant me clarificabo, et qui spernit me spernetur. ad quam clarificationem formans nos ac praeparans Dominus et filius Dei similitudinem Dei patris insinuans in euangelio suo dicit: audistis quia dictum est: diliges proximum tibi et odibis inimicum tibi. ego autem dico uobis: diligite inimicos uestros et orate pro his qui uos persecuntur, ut sitis similes patris uestri qui in caelis est, qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et mal\'os et pluit super iustos et iniustos. si hominibus laetum est et gloriosum filios habere consimiles et tunc magis generasse delectat, si ad patrem liniamentis paribus suboles subsiciua respondeat, quanto maior in Deo patre laetitia est, cum quis sic spiritaliter nascitur, ut in actibus eius et laudibus diuina generositas praedicetur.
"Them," He says, "that glorify me, I will glorify; and he who despises me shall be despised." Fashioning and preparing us for this glorification, the Lord and Son of God, instilling the likeness of God the Father, says in His gospel: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father who is in heaven, who makes His sun to rise on the good and the bad, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." If it is a joyful and glorious thing for men to have sons like themselves, and it delights them more to have begotten them if the succeeding offspring corresponds to the father with equal features, how much greater is the joy in God the Father when someone is so born spiritually that in his deeds and praises the divine nobility is proclaimed!
quae iustitiae palma est, quae corona esse te talem, de quo Deus non dicat: filios generaui\' et exaltaui, ipsi autem me spreuerunt. conlaudet te potius Christus et inuitet ad praemium dicens: uenite, benedicti patris mei, percipite regnum quod uobis paratum est ab origine mundi.
What a palm of justice, what a crown it is for you to be such a one that God does not say of you: "I have begotten and exalted children, but they have despised me." Let Christ rather commend you and invite you to the reward, saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the beginning of the world."